Emiliana didn’t seem pleased by that information, but she chose not to argue.
Ibai took her hand again, but then paused, thinking. “Oh, I almost forgot to ask: is there anyone else you want me to bust out of here before we go? The more the merrier, I say!”
“...No,” said Emiliana.
“Are you sure? No other hostages or anything? It seems odd that you two would be the only ones.”
She kept a flat expression and shrugged. “If there are any others, they weren’t with me.”
“Hmm.” Ibai tilted his head and squinted. “That’s funny, because I heard one of those soldiers earlier say that I had ‘an Elroy’--as if to imply that there was more than one. I forget how many children House Elroy currently has, but it seems a fair bet that you’re one of them and that more are being held hostage here right now.”
That seemed to put Emiliana at a loss for words.
Chergoa spoke up for her. ‘The rest were killed. Very recently, too, so it’s not surprising that those soldiers didn’t know. Please don’t ask her any more about it. She’s been through considerable trauma already.’
“Ah, that makes sense, then. Oh, and I’m sorry to hear that.”
‘Don’t worry about it,’ said Chergoa, abruptly changing her tone. ‘So what’s this you said about going on an adventure? Because that sure sounded interesting.’
Ibai’s face lit up again. “I’m glad you think so! Let’s go find some fun stuff to do! See if we can put her mind at ease!”
Ibai jumped all three of them up a few floors and immediately ran into another group of unfamiliar soldiers. These ones were already in the middle of subduing a handful of Blackburn guards, and they were all facing the other way or otherwise too busy to notice the new arrivals. Even their reapers didn’t seem to sense Ibai’s presence yet.
“--word of an aberration in the building!” one the soldiers was yelling. The target of his anger was a Blackburn servant with a half-melted face, pinned against the wall alongside his reaper. “If you know something, tell me now!”
As Ibai looked over the scene, his smile waned. That servant’s name was Rafael, and Rafael was a dynamite checkers player.
After a beat, however, Ibai’s smile returned, even wider and toothier than before.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
See! He's no worse than the unholy lovechild of Joker and Batman with teleportation!
ReplyDeleteCome on people, he is just a lonely child who wants friends to play with. Like any other child who was home schooled and kept away from other people, he is socially inept. Plus, everyone he meets except family, treats him like a monster or wishes to kill him. Witch by the way seems very racist to me. He has not hurt anyone or even tried to. Yet, every one just assumes he is evil because other aberrations, who where created to be weapons, turned out as there creators wished them to.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of reminds me of a kid who comes from a racist family and everyone assumes he will be one to. Yet, he meets other kids who are Black, Hispanic, Asian or what ever in school and becomes friends with them.
If you ask me, the so called good guys attacking the fortress are the ones acting evil in this case. They are not even giving the poor kid a chance. Hell, the most he has done is pop out of no ware and say hello.
You know what they say about assuming, it makes an ass out of everyone.
You're missing the fact that he's a sociopath/psycho. No empathy, no real emotions, loves inflicting/receiving pain, is currently undertaking a kidnapping, and can't be cured. Some machines leave the factory broken, he is one such machine. The stuff about being socially inept is true, but treatin him like "not an aberration" is foolish because he is an aberration.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think nova goes too far, I think you're assuming some parts of his character that aren't entirely evident. As Geoffrey said, "I may not be human, but even I know what love feels like." They're capable feeling other things for people, it's just that Abolish heavily stacked the deck in favor of, as you said, sociopathic/psycho behaviors.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that he has the same urges as other Aberrations, but he seems to genuinely care about his family, even if it's displayed in childlike ways. We don't know for sure that it isn't possible for an aberration to be taught humanlike values such that they don't seek to kill people on a whim. He probably IS about to attack the invading reapers and servants, but they ARE attacking his family. It's understandable that he would think them acceptable targets. Personally I'm unwilling to condemn someone to death, who as far as we known hasn't killed any people, simply for existing without giving him a chance to show he can abide by civilized standards of conduct.
He's shown desires other than killing, and he's willing to converse and explain his actions in a logical manner, indicating it's possible to reason with him. Frankly, Ibai is the key to settling the whole conflict. The Blackburns are going to these lengths to protect him, because they're sure the other reapers/servants will seek his death and theirs for his existence. They're correct, but if someone, anyone, such as Chergoa or Emiliana is able to get them to calm down and stop fighting, they might be able to sort things out without anyone dying.
I understand the chances of that don't seem very good right now, but I believe it's possible. They have a common enemy in Parson, who is likely the reason Ibai exists as an aberration in the first place. And again, Ibai hasn't (as far as we know) killed any people. It isn't necessary to convince the Rainlords he's harmless, merely to plant the seed of doubt in their minds. If they can be convinced that he hasn't killed anyone and he hasn't shown himself to be a threat to ordinary people, they will be hesitant to kill him. They are moral people and would balk at killing a potential innocent. Again, it's all up in the air at the moment, but I have some hope things can be worked out to an extent.
Any chances that he'll bring out the checkers out?
ReplyDeletePossible Spoilers You've Been Warned.
ReplyDeleteIbai meet Hector. Hector meet Ibai. I think if they can get past the whole 'the last abberation I met killed my father, my friends, and psychologically tormented me' thing they might end up as good friends. I can't imagine how envious Hector would be of Ibai and vice versa. After all Hector's parent's never cared about him or what he did and Ibai's clearly love him.
But... IBAI KILLED THAT CAT WHEN HE WAS LITTLE. THAT ALONE IS UNFORGIVABLE.
ReplyDelete"Dynamite checkers player" as an accurate portrayal of how one character thinks of another character in the middle of a life and death situation --> priceless.
ReplyDeleteUh... Ibai? Trusteth not a suddenly complacent (if apparently angry) Chergoa, laddie. <_<
ReplyDeleteGirl's all-too-busily channelling her brother in sneaky-mode. You're either going to be trolled, or trapped.
... I'm really beginning to like Ibai. Also, a few chapters ago, someone said "He's got an Elroy!" Like "He's got a gun!" and that was hilarious to me. Anyways, I really hope Ibai will survive and remain a goodish guy. Killing him would be like killing an kid that doesn't know that certain things are bad. He's doing the best he can! I bet if it weren't for the whol Reaper implanted in him thing he'd be a little angel. And I like the imagery of a bunch of the Blacks coddling on little Ibai.
ReplyDeleteActually, they didn't even know about Ibai, they were just getting revenge for the Blackburns joining the traitor vanguard. Also, its unfair to assume that someone is evil because they are black, not so much if they are an unholy abomination created to cause suffering and death, motivated by psychopathy and boredom.
ReplyDeleteHe just so happens to be an ok guy, but they would honestly be fools to expect that considering the natural behavior and personalities of aberrations.
Being an aberration creates a lot of challenges to being a good person, and cripples a lot of the mental mechanisms that a human could use to deal with those challenges. That is not the same as being incurably evil. The condition of having an aberration's personality cannot be cured, but it can be treated and very effectively has been. The way that I would put it (being an aspie and knowing what it is like) is that aberrationism is to morality what aperger's syndrome is to social interaction, only a bit worse. Just like I have to focus and think to get to the same level of social competence as non-aspies, Ibai has to focus and think to get to the same level of decency as humans, reapers and servants.
ReplyDelete