02/26/09 [Abel 2 #47] - Revenge, Pain and Terror

[meany]

Cool.  Thank you both.

Now to get the topic back....


We know that he DOES end up training under her for some extent...but when does he start "rebelling" against Dee?  Before or after the Dead Baby Comedy time?  And if before, what caused THAT action?  

Well, it could be that what she's saying appeals to him-maybe a subconcious thing inplanted in his head by Dest earlier He has very little to lose, and much to gain by becoming stronger, and learning how to 'break him body, mind, and soul' at the moment.

[Pagan]

I would like to add, we do know that Dest teaches Abel how to "Survive without anyone else's help."

[Jairus]

I would like to add, we do know that Dest teaches Abel how to "Survive without anyone else's help."

Hm... that could be her saying "I taught him to live without emotionally relying on others." I mean, um, you know, taught him how to be a jerk and close himself off to prevent him from ever being hurt again. Or, you know, basic survival and combat skills. One of the two.

[inuhanyo]

I would like to add, we do know that Dest teaches Abel how to "Survive without anyone else's help."

Hm... that could be her saying "I taught him to live without emotionally relying on others." I mean, um, you know, taught him how to be a jerk and close himself off to prevent him from ever being hurt again. Or, you know, basic survival and combat skills. One of the two.

They're not mutually exclusive.  So "or both" is a possibility.

Actually, we do know that Abel picks up some combat skills from Destinia somehow.  Dan recognized (and commented on) Abel's moves.

[Tapewolf]

Well, okay. In short, Canon is the main DMFA comic, Abel's Story, the Demonology and Cast Pages, and Word of God(dess) (IE, Amber herself says something). So, for example, the earliest strips (before about 79 or so) are basically not canon as far as I've heard. The wallpaper wars, however, are not canon (um... crud, I don't know where you can look at these). Does that help any?

Note that Amber may sometimes change her mind about the way things work, so older quotes may become obsolete if she decides things would work better another way.  Hence what Amber says may not necessarily be 100% canon, strange as it sounds.  Also she is very good at leading people down the garden path...

EDIT:
If anyone's interested I can probably dig up the citation from Amber where she says this.  Of course, it may itself no longer be canon 

[ANTIcarrot]

Destania apparently finds prospects of revenge, death, and mayhem, (and stealing Fa'Lina's pupils) to be a real turn on. But what is Fa'Lina's emotional affinity? Looking at this panel I get the impression it's something like kindness, or forgiveness. Or possibly overly complex forms of psychological manipulation. I know the official reason she set up the academy, but this panel makes me wonder.

Given the way both cubi have acted in the past, I wouldn't be surprised if this meeting was not only expected but scheduled by one or the other for some purpose. I wouldn't put it past Fa'Lina to have spent all this time guilt-tripping Abel about the wrongness of revenge as a lead up to this encounter. And however you cut it, Aniz is a murderer, and probably a serial killer and mass murderer given how long he's been alive. Revenge aside there's the minor issue of criminal justice. Unless he's much more important than he looks, why is Fa'Lina so against punishing him?

[Michael Chandra]

Maybe Dest is a manipulative bi... unkind female type and Aniz is a total d... jerk.  Maybe both of them are equally at fault for personality problems of their own and its not something as dramatic and deep as clan hatred or such.  Just plain old soap opera stuff.

But Destania's choice of words seems to imply that there is cause for strife between Fa'lina and Aniz. And while any of Aniz's personality defects would certainly apply there, Fa'Lina strikes me as one with a thick skin.

You mean next to the fact his clan was potentially responsible for the extermination of her own clan?

And why can't Destania be evil at this point and change afterwards? It's a 350-year gap between Abel's Story current time and her leaving the academy.

[Naldru]

Well, we know that the distance between love and murderous rage can be a very short one for Destania.  We also know that broken hearted cubi tend to feel like breaking things.  So I don't see conflict in Destania both being in love and wanting to rip Aniz's soul into little pieces.  After all, cubi are the race most likely to rip out your spine at random.

** Edit **

This section appears to be a discussion of something that Aniz's clan did to Fa'lina.  My guess is that that is what Destania is mad about.  The comment by Aniz also matches with Destania's comment about Fa'lina not taking revenge.  Both imply that Fa'lina tries to act for the good of cubi rather than taking revenge.

[jeffh4]

Note that Destiana started and ended her speech to Fa'Lina with "I am talking to you. . . To make him suffer for the suffering he caused you."" 

What suffering did Aniz cause to Fa'Lina?  A political inconvenience, an embarrassment, a major setback for Jin's Clan, a sense of personal failure, but I think suffering is an exaggeration.  Somehow I doubt Aniz had anything to do with the genocide of Fa'Lina's clan. He wouldn't have survived his faux pas if he had: http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Ab_016.php

Perhaps there is more in Aniz and Fa'Lina's past that Destiana knows about.  Any ideas?