#and limited by dialogue options based on his psyche

[fleshadept]

since i played disco elysium the only way i've been able to describe the feeling it instills is "shrimp emotions" because i really just have no words for it. none do it justice. melancholy, catharsis, hope, regret. there's so much and it's so interwoven

[incorrect-pokespe-quotes]

Let’s Talk About Norman

I’m going to start off by telling you all something you probably already know: Norman is abusive. I try not to use super strong language on this blog because calling someone abusive / toxic is a pretty big deal, but Norman is an abuser, full stop. Aside from the obvious physical violence though, there’s a lot of emotional trauma he causes Ruby through his actions— this post is mostly going to be talking about Norman’s emotional abuse and how it affects Ruby’s psyche and actions throughout the arc instead of just “oh he punched his son down some stairs” because I think it goes way deeper than that. With that out of the way, the rest of the post is below the cut!

PHYSICAL VIOLENCE

I can’t talk about Ruby and Norman without mentioning this— it’s the most clear cut evidence of his abuse on-panel. He punches his son down the stairs, engages in a high stakes fight with him, and puts him in mortal danger (which Ruby has to save himself from). What I’m concerned with isn’t the actual incidence of violence itself, but rather the emotional baggage that comes with it.

The interesting thing about the Big Fight scene to me is that Norman instigates the conflict. Norman lures Ruby into a “dark and scary building” in the rain and away from others, appears behind him, threatens him, and throws him against a wall. The only thing Ruby had done in that moment is ask his dad how / why he had found him— Norman was the instigator of violence. It is Ruby’s reaction to this immediately violent start that segues into the next Big Thing about their relationship.

ENVIRONMENT OF FEAR

It is obvious from the minute Norman appears on panel that he is intimidating. Multiple characters throughout the arc mention that they are scared of / intimidated by him, but none are more obvious than Ruby. In fact until we reach the scene at the Weather Institute, Norman hasn’t been shown in a positive light at all from Ruby’s perspective. Ruby continuously mentions fear about his father: he imagines his father grabbing him, looking angrily at him, and generally seems to be afraid of him. Ruby expresses worry and concern about the consequences of his father’s anger— and that’s ALL he thinks about. Ruby mentions explicitly that he has seen “Norman’s Dark Side” and tries to hide as soon as he appears. He even shivers at the mere mention of Norman. Ruby’s entire motivation is his fear of his dad, which is bad, obviously. 

Every thought about Norman that Ruby has up until the Weather Institute about Norman express fear and stress Norman’s emotional distance. Whether or not Ruby and Norman love each other is not of importance here, what is important is that Ruby has constant worry and anxiety about how Norman will react. His entire motivation at the beginning of the arc is centered around doing things behind Norman’s back and giving him definitive proof of Ruby’s accomplishments— Ruby is so nervous around Norman that he considers communicating to be a risk. This is typical abuse victim behavior and it continues through the arcs. Living under the constant threat of (often violent) punishment has taught Ruby that disagreements and communication in general are dangerous and can spiral into violence very, very quickly— he displays this same fear time and time again.

Quick Aside: As everyone here probably knows, the main conflict in the oras arc is centered around Ruby’s unwillingness to tell Sapphire what is going on for fear of how she will react. Ruby’s hiding of his memory of their confession in the Emerald arc is the same— Ruby refuses to communicate because he is afraid of how Sapphire will react. His main emotional flaw is the fact that he is driven by fear; Norman has shown him there are consequences to communication and Ruby carries this lesson throughout his entire life. He is a victim of abuse and this hampers his ability to communicate and be emotionally vulnerable. He is so caught up in the idea of consequences that he is more than willing to lie or omit the truth to avoid the consequences of talking to people about stressful topics. This is not to say that Ruby’s actions are excusable— he’s still a dick with communication issues, but whether or not Kusaka intended it, Norman’s abuse and its consequences define Ruby’s emotional arc.

ANGER ISSUES

I can’t really talk about the environment of fear that Norman created without talking about his anger issues. He crushes a phone, shoves people out of the way, knocks multiple Pokemon out at once, and otherwise acts aggressively in various situations throughout the arc without any real Reason. As if these hints weren’t enough, we actually get confirmation through Ruby’s mother that Norman “does this often”— and judging by Birch’s reaction, these displays of destructive anger aren’t normal in in-universe. Whether or not there is a violent / strict parenting style within the universe doesn’t matter, because Norman is shown to be uncharacteristically aggressive in comparison to other adults in the series. Judging by Ruby’s reaction at the Weather Institute, he implies that his type of violence towards him isn’t uncommon; he seems almost resigned to it.

To wrap up this section: Norman’s aggressiveness is atypical even in-universe, he is shown to be unable and unwilling to curb his violent anger, and this creates an environment of fear among his family that permanently impacts Ruby’s ability to communicate effectively with others.

PART 2

DISCLAIMER: This is where things get… dicey. Everything I’ve mentioned previously is rooted in the actual drawings and actions of the characters or overarching themes / problems. This next part however focuses on dialogue. It is almost impossible to truly understand the tone of each line without being a fluent Japanese speaker (which I am not) so instead I’m going to use Viz and CY to the best of my ability for this section. I’m not going to extrapolate this to Kusaka’s intentions, since without the original work that’s nearly impossible, but I can at least talk about the way these come off in English.

EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Admittedly, Viz is the worst about this. They constantly hype Norman up and excuse his behavior, outright censoring some of the physical and emotional abuse. Viz absolutely mangling the tone of RS, however, is a post for another time.

Because Norman actually speaks to Ruby at length a grand total of twice times in the RS arc, we can break down his actions into these two instances: the first is at the weather institute and the second is as he’s dying.

Rather than go based on overall theme, this scene is best done line by line (this is using the CY version due to limited censorship compared to Viz). 

Scene 1: Volume 17, Chapters 208-210

(Norman is dangling Ruby off the roof of a building by his collar. There are sharp rocks at the bottom)

Ruby: Re… release me…! Norman: Insolent brat!! Is that how you talk to your father?!

To start, Norman uses tone policing and deflection. He focuses on the fact that Ruby is “talking back” to him and making demands of his father, which doesn’t acknowledge Ruby’s request or the fact that Ruby is being dangling over the roof of a building. Also note that this is the first time the words are bolded and that they stay this way throughout the fight— Norman verbally escalates the fight. Norman is abusing his position of power over Ruby in order to excuse his actions and pass the blame back to his son.

Ruby: I don’t care how furious you are with me… I’m ready for it!

(Norman decks Ruby down a flight of stairs)

Norman: Why did you run away from home?!

Note once again that Norman is implied to start raising his voice first even when Ruby isn’t. There’s another deflection here: Norman changes the subject rather than actively respond to anything Ruby says.

Norman: Well? Say something! You’d better voice your complaints right now!!

(Ruby has a conversation with the Swimmer, who advises him to apologize to avoid his father’s rage and “just go home” which… fuck you Swimmer Jack. I’m skipping that part of the dialogue bc it isn’t that important).

(While Ruby is debating what to do, Norman’s Slaking lifts the stairs that Ruby is on and tries to fling him into next Tuesday).

Ruby is physically prevented from escaping by being dangled above Norman. I shouldn’t have to tell why physically preventing someone from leaving an argument is a bad thing.

(Ruby decides to fight Norman)

Note that Norman is physically and emotionally forcing Ruby into two possible options: Fight or be obedient. He is preventing Ruby from running and deflecting Ruby’s attempts to explain himself. He then shifts the blame to Ruby *again*, attacking Ruby and his pokemon with full force and implying it was Ruby who instigated the conflict in the first place.

Norman: … so you wish to fight me? … Iron Tail and Hyper Beam… I was the one who taught you those attacks. There’s nothing about your attacks and strategies I don’t know about. You’re just wasting your time! Give up!

Here, Norman does two things: he stresses Ruby’s dependence on him and his power over Ruby. It’s a typical “your success is dependent on me” and a “there is no option except obedience” rhetoric, and is likewise typical of abusers. Norman is stressing the things Norman has gifted to Ruby (battling knowledge) and using whatever he can to force Ruby to do what he wants— he’s exerting his control.

(Ruby turns the tide of the battle, so Norman likewise switches tactics by attacking Ruby himself and attempting to hit him with a staircase. Ruby falls down the stairs and is dangling over a pit of spikes when Norman stands on the edge, blocking Ruby’s only escape route).

Norman: Now will you come quietly? Stop being so stubborn

Not only is Norman forcing his son to choose between obedience and Literal Death, he also shifts the blame again. He excuses his own actions by claiming it is Ruby’s stubbornness that forced him into this position. He deflects the whole “putting my 11 year old in harm’s way” by claiming Ruby’s own resistance to Norman’s violence is the trigger for the violence itself. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s victim-blaming nonetheless and sadly, it works

(Flashback time: Norman admits he was going to give Ruby permission to participate in contests and gets emo about it. They fall, but Norman catches Ruby. This doesn’t matter though, because they both end up falling and Ruby uses his running shoes to save them both).

Ruby: (thinking) Ru- running shoes… my birthday present from dad… saved both… our lives

Ruby displays pretty typical abuse victim behavior here, focusing not on Norman’s 3 threats to literally kill him but instead on the One Good Thing Norman did. He doesn’t mention that it was Ruby himself who saved them both or that Norman was the one who put them in danger in the first place— he’s in total denial about the severity of everything that happened.

(At this point, Norman looms above Ruby with an angry expression and a raised pokeball. Bystanders panic because it appears that Norman is going to attack Ruby who, by the way, is unconscious on the ground, but Norman gets a surprise call from Winona and turns away after realizing that Winona can see him).

“I only stopped attacking my son when I realized people were watching”… alright fuck off then Norman

Norman: HEY!! Idiot son! You disobeyed your parents, then you ran away from home. I’ve had enough! Just do what you want! In return, you’d better accomplish your goals!! A man should complete what he has set out to do… … before he can return home!!

Hoo boy. Norman never apologizes, deflects all the blame onto Ruby, insults him twice, and then tries to save face with Winona and the people around him by giving Ruby permission to do contests— which he was apparently planning to do all along. He emphasizes the things Ruby did in response to Norman’s actions (Ruby ran away from home because he knew his dad would be unsupportive and gets violent during disagreements, so in essence Norman is to blame for backing him into a corner). Norman twists the narrative in order to make Ruby the instigator in every case, justifying Norman’s responses as reactions to Ruby’s problematic behavior

Swimmer Jack: Isn’t that a wonderful father? Ruby: Thank you… father.

Ok first of all Jack is a dumbass, so jot that down. Second of all, while it’s unintentional, Ruby is being gaslit to hell and back. It is only after Norman’s omission of all the abusive behavior and bystanders’ affirmation of Norman’s love that Ruby starts to think positively towards his father. The threat Ruby used to think was so large has been downplayed and outright denied by the people around him, so Ruby’s prior fear of Norman diminishes. Ruby’s fear of Norman and the violence Norman took against him is denied, downplayed, and ignored, so Ruby begins to doubt his own animosity towards his father. Thanks Swimmer Jack you unintentionally gaslit an 11 year old.

SCENE 2: (this one is much shorter, thank god)

(Norman, while he is dying, explains the whole deal with how he was ordered to search for Rayquaza yada yada. Throughout the exchange, Ruby gets increasingly upset).

Ruby: (thinking) barred from the test and forced to search for Rayquaza… It must be some kind of punishment! What could Dad have done to warrant such… why was he made responsible… ?!

Ruby: … … but… come to think of it, dad is not someone who makes mistakes easily… something’s not right!

Slight aside, Ruby has been so convinced of his father’s power by others that he is unwilling to even CONSIDER that his dad fucked up, which… wow!

Ruby: That day… Dad must have taken the rap for someone else… and… (flashbacks to Salamence Incident) that person… was….

Ruby: (out loud) … me?! That person who set Rayquaza free… was it me…?!

Norman: Yes.

And then he dies!

(Technically he says “oh I did all that out of love” (paraphrased) and then dies but it’s just a continuation of the previous thing).

Norman, before dying, does not say “I’m proud of you” or “I’m sorry for everything” or anything remotely comforting, instead he says “hey Ruby, you’re responsible for my death and all your childhood trauma alongside your friend’s. Peace.” (this is paraphrased).

Even on his actual deathbed, Norman places the blame on Ruby for Norman’s own actions. He makes Ruby feel guilty for Norman leaving, Norman hiding information from him, and Ruby’s tumultuous childhood.

CONCLUSION

None of this is to say that Norman doesn’t love Ruby or that Ruby doesn’t love him back— I’m fairly positive the two of them love each other dearly and want the best for each other. However, Norman is a child abuser who reacts violently, instigates violence, and then turns around and denies said violence. He creates a culture of fear among his family, gives Ruby some serious communication issues, and the narrative takes his side. Norman is a child abuser in canon and has a very VERY profound effect on Ruby which has emotional ramifications throughout Ruby’s entire character arc all the way until oras.

TLDR: Normans sucks man

[kaesaaurelia]

deals and contracts and paperwork fiddle-faddle

For @whumptober2020 day 11: Psych 101 (specifically "defiance," although this turned out to be much less “one person defies their captor” than I intended it to be and more “one person inspires another’s defiance.”)

Continues on from day four, wherein Aziraphale met up with a distraught coworker, waited for Crawly at the base of the Tower of Babel, and then it fell on him, day five, wherein Aziraphale did his best to help the citizens of Babylon, and was caught by demons for his trouble, and day eight, wherein Aziraphale found brief and unexpected camaraderie among the prisoners of Hell.

Background Aziraphale/f!Crawly, although this is mostly Aziraphale having a dialogue with an OC who’s trying (slightly) to sell him on a deal with the Devil.

When somebody finally came for Aziraphale, though, it wasn't Crawly.  It was Nisroc, with a gaggle of Legions.  "Hey, buddy, how's it going?" she asked brightly.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.  He'd been planning to have an argument with Crawly about whether she'd betrayed him, and found himself very disappointed she wasn't here, but Nisroc had betrayed Heaven, so Aziraphale was determined to pick a fight with her instead.

"Ugh," she said, rolling her eyes.  "So, turns out Michael is a huge bitch?  Like, I guess God had to sign off on it all but I'm sure She would have been fine with it if She had the real story, Michael probably --"

"What are you doing here in front of my cell?" Aziraphale cut in.  "Can you get me out of here?"

"Hmm, well, yes and no?" said Nisroc.  "Satan's authorized me to give you his proposal, and if you accept it, you can get you out of here."

"But you're not even a demon yet!" said Aziraphale.  "Are you?"  He squinted at her.  She didn't look like a demon, but maybe it was subtle.

"Nope," she said.  "He's too busy fixing everyone's languages to remake me, all he did was give me Hell's new standard common language.  Turns out I'm the only person we know can talk to you already, so..."  She said something incomprehensible to the Legions, one of whom presented her with a clay tablet.  "Okay, so, just so you know the stakes of this?  Good news is, my whole status isn't gonna be affected by whether I can get you to do this, so no pressure there.  Bad news is, I think they might kill you if you don't?  So, probably a lot of pressure overall!  Sorry about that," she said.

Aziraphale sighed.  "What exactly is the deal?  Do they want me to become a demon?"

"Pretty much, yeah," said Nisroc.  "I guess some other demon was talking about what a great asset you'd be?  Slimy or something, I don't know, Satan trusts whoever they are."

His heart sank.  Crawly had betrayed him, hadn't she?  He might as well stop pretending it was at all likely that she hadn't.  "Crawly," he said.

"Yeah, something like that," Nisroc said.  She skimmed the tablet.  "You won't get to keep your name, unfortunately -- but honestly, probably more trouble than it's worth if you're not pregnant?  Like, that was why I did that whole --"  She waved vaguely upwards.  "-- y'know, that thing.  Also, apparently you have no control over what kind of animal stuff you end up with, just generally?  I am so worried.  Like what if Satan turns me into a slug or something?  That would ruin my whole aesthetic."  She looked at Aziraphale.  "Sorry, don't want to make you worry, I'm sure you'll be fine on that count.  You'd make a great slug."

Aziraphale gritted his teeth.  "Is there anything I actually get out of this supposed deal?" he asked.

"You get to live," said Nisroc.  "If you want more you can probably negotiate up?  But also Satan's a huge asshole so I super wouldn't bother if I was you.  I did and it's still a really shitty deal."

"Why did you take it, then?" he asked.

"My options are pretty limited these days," said Nisroc.  "Being powerless but unchanging and immortal, doomed to walk the Earth forever, accepted neither by Heaven nor Hell was not cutting it.  Especially since being pregnant literally forever is worse than Hell.  Or, I think it is?  God, I hope it is," she said, sighing.

"Ah," said Aziraphale.  "So -- you actually are --"

"Yeah, like I said, Michael got really mad," said Nisroc.  "Although actually I think Raphael snitched on me?  Which I would not have expected out of him.  Don't trust that fucker."

"I... didn't think anybody did?" Aziraphale said.  There had been a big scandal a while back, where it had become obvious that Raphael's blueprints for primates and Gabriel's blueprints for humans were awfully similar, enough so that somebody had obviously been copying.  Officially, no conclusion had ever been reached; unofficially, though, Raphael had been pushed out of all the important decision-making and shuffled off to the perpetually understaffed Recorporation Office.

"Well, good for them," said Nisroc.  "So, uh, what do you say?  You gonna take the offer?

"You make it sound so appealing," said Aziraphale, “how could I possibly say no?”

"Yeah, no, I get that it sucks," said Nisroc.  "Listen, do you know anyone else down here you could bribe?"  Aziraphale looked pointedly at the Legions.  "Oh, don't worry about them, they don't understand me," she said.  "Isn't that right?" she asked them.  "You are all very cute, but kinda stupid!  It's great!"  They smiled confusedly at her, and Aziraphale was satisfied that they didn't understand her.

"Why can't you help me, then?" he asked.

"Oh, no, I don't think I should.  Everything's a little..."  She made a gesture representing the shakiness of the situation.  "Like, if it was just me I'd totally help, but I'm kinda scheming for two here?"

"Ah," said Aziraphale.  He was still so terribly uncomfortable with the idea of... of reproducing like that with humans.  Still, he tried to dredge up some of the etiquette he had learned for dealing with new parents.  "Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked.

"Probably," said Nisroc, shrugging.  "I just want it to be okay.  I'm sure God would have understood if I could have explained.  It's creation, that's Her jam."  She began to cry again, and tearfully turned to the Legions, giving them some instruction Aziraphale didn't understand.  They looked very sympathetic, and scurried off.  Nisroc wiped the tears from her eyes quickly.  "Sorry," she said.  "I just -- I really don't wanna be a demon, what if I don't even want my kid after all of this?  What if I'm a totally different person?"

Aziraphale felt terrible for her then.  "Is that what happens?" he asked.  What had Crawly been like, before she had become this?  He couldn't really imagine her as a better person -- not that she was particularly good, and not that badness was fundamental to her personality, but... he didn't really like the idea of a Better Crawly.  Unless maybe it was a Crawly who hadn't got him stuck here.

"I don't know," said Nisroc.  "That's what everyone says happens?  That you stop being able to love, and, and you can't be nice, and stuff like that."

"Oh, I don't think that's all true," said Aziraphale, surprising himself slightly.  He'd thought he was just saying it to be comforting, but he did believe it.  Crawly could be kind, whether she'd betrayed Aziraphale or not.  "I think you'll still be yourself," he said.  "Just... different."

"I really hope so," she said, blinking back more tears.  "But -- but just in case I don't..."  With some difficulty, she dug a little hole in the dirt with her toe.  Then she showed Aziraphale the key she had.  "You're gonna say no, right?"

"Well..."  Aziraphale didn't want to be a demon.  Hell was a miserable place, and Crawly seemed to avoid it as best she could.  It wouldn't suit Aziraphale at all.

"You should say no," she said.  "If you have any way of getting out of here.  I bet you could bribe someone easy enough.  It's a shitty job."  She lifted something over her head and Aziraphale realized she'd been wearing a key on a chain around her neck.  "This goes to the cell.  I don't want them to connect this to me, so I'm not gonna give this to you, I know you'll bolt -- but if you can get someone to give it to you later when I have an alibi?  Go for it," she said.  Then she dropped the key in the hole and scuffed dirt over it.  "God, I'm so tired," she said.

"You probably shouldn't have done that," Aziraphale said, eyeing the patch of dirt.

"I probably shouldn't have, yeah," she said, sadly.  "But what if I stop being a good person when Satan remakes me?  What if I never really did anything good at all and this is my last opportunity?"

"I think if Satan could make you a worse person against your will, he wouldn't bother with all the deals and contracts and paperwork fiddle-faddle," Aziraphale said.

"Well, I hope you're right," said Nisroc.  "Ah.  Looks like my pals are coming back," she said, glancing off to her left, and indeed, the cadre of Legions were stumbling towards her, all of them at once bearing aloft a small scrap of cloth, which they argued over before one of them successfully handed it to her.  She dabbed at her tears with it, and gave them a grateful smile.  "I'll tell him you're thinking about it but you need more time.  A little while longer in here should convince you, right?"

"Perhaps," said Aziraphale, doing his best not to look at the spot where the key was buried.

"Good luck," she said, and she walked off, dabbing her eyes with the cloth and talking to the Legions in nonsense words.

[next part]

[teaandgames]

Revisited - Aviary Attorney (2015)

I feel like ‘Courtroom’ should be a collective noun for something. After all, we have a Parliament of Owls and all they do is spin their heads around and scream. Admittedly, that is also a description of the average modern politician, so we’ll cut it some slack. After playing Aviary Attorney, perhaps ‘Courtroom’ can be used to describe a collective of Falcons, as they did rather dominate the court. A Google search reveals that a group of Falcons can be called a ‘kettle’ though, and I’m not sure I can compete with that, given my whole shtick.

I caught on to this peculiar strand of thought thanks to just how unusual Aviary Attorney is on first glance. Its style borrows the artwork, and pays homage to, the works of caricaturist J. J. Grandville. You may not know the name, but you’ll probably know the influence if you’ve ever been into an old school pub. A big body of his work surrounded political cartoons featuring characters with the bodies of men and the heads of animals. It’s borderline surreal, especially when they’re barking objections in a courtroom.

So, our Falcon. Jayjay Falcon to be precise. The head of a falcon stapled on the body of a rather broad man. Takes some getting used to. He’s a lawyer; one of questionable reputation. He and his petite sidekick, Sparrowson, soon get a defence request that propels them into the limelight. A wealthy entrepreneurial frog is murdered in a local Baron’s manor, bringing Jayjay onto the scene. From there, he must break out the usual visual novel toolbox. First up is the investigation.

Jayjay and Sparrowson must poke around Paris in 1848, which, if you remember your French history, was rather a tumultuous time. That revolution is a major plot point in Aviary Attorney, and Falcon and Co. do get swept up in it, but the bulk of the game is split into separate cases. But, back on track, investigation is done in a point and click manner. Le cadavre is inevitably the first thing you poke and it sort of spirals out from there. It’s a standard format and, as such, is a little dry. There usually isn’t that much evidence to find so, aside from the witty dialogue, it often feels a bit like padding.

With one caveat, which we’ll get to in a moment. While I’m loath to make comparisons like these, I felt like these investigations could take note of Ace Attorney’s Psyche Locks. Little trial-like intermissions in the investigation. There’s a bit here and there, but it’s limited to fetch quests. The trials themselves sort of suffer from the same thing. It’s a classic courtroom, jury and all, and you need to make your argument based off of the evidence. Witnesses give their testimonies and you tear them to shreds. It’s fairly limited though, with the right choice usually being blindingly obvious. Though, as Jayjay says, it’s not your job to find the truth. Just to convince the Jury. God bless the justice system.

This actually forms the basis of one of the most interesting parts of Aviary Attorney: you can lose trials and still progress. Missing important evidence or making an arse out of yourself in front of the jury will throw the case to the prosecution and change the ending; change how you are at the end of the revolution. In one case in particular, it can lead to something a whole lot worse. It’s a pretty bold move. Though in the case of the weak willed players - like, say, me - the option to go back to earlier days does undercut things a bit.

This branching story and the emphasis on witty dialogue makes it feel like they’re pushing the ‘novel’ part of visual novel a lot harder than the game part. The writing is pretty good, with the main cast all being generally fun to listen to. It does dip into cliche at times, particularly with the cold-with-a-heart-of-gold prosecutor, who has the requisite dark backstory. In that sense, it borrows a little bit too much from Ace Attorney. Still, the clever dialogue and tongue-in-cheek references made me warm up to the cast pretty quickly.

It doesn’t do wonders for the tone though, particularly as the end of the first case is quite significantly dark. This tonal conflict could also be down to the fact that we’re dealing with animal heads here. There’s an odd lack of animation to them, aside from a few unique movements, which makes some of the critical moments lack punch. It doesn’t quite have the proper breakdown at the end of a case to justify the struggle. Still, it’s a minor point given how interesting the cases usually are. Particularly the one that takes place in the Paris catacombs. I’m fairly certain it’s illegal to set something in Paris and not involve the catacombs.

Bearing all this in mind, Aviary Attorney feels like a passion project through and through. The use of the particular art style, the music and the use of the beautiful map of Paris on the overworld screen - it smacks of a developer who loved what they were doing. Hell, their Twitter account (which even admits it used a map that was published a hundred years after the year Aviary Attorney is set in) is still active and talking about it today, five years after its original release. If that’s not passion, I don’t know what is.

Unfortunately, when it comes to being creative, passion size is rarely equal to purse size. That would go to explain some of the limited gameplay and animation problems. That and we’re using existing artwork here. There’s only so much you can change. It’s also brutally, disappointingly short. It barely hits its stride before it's over. A shame really, as it really is a charming game. If it could find more to do with its investigations, and subsequently stretch things out, it would be a damn fine title. As it is, it’s a surreal and quirky visual novel, with a few too many caveats holding it back. As for where it stands amongst others in the genre? Well, that’s a whole other kettle of falcons.

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

Pros -Interesting art style -Amusing, decently written characters -Nice music -Some deep, dark cases Cons -Brutally, crushingly short -The gameplay is a little stale -Characters risk dipping into cliche Aviary Attorney Developer: Sketchy Logic Release Date: 22nd December 2015 Play it on: Windows, Mac, Nintendo Switch (30th Jan 2020) Played on: Windows

[gem-quest]

[ B A L E S T R A  . . . ]

“A great battle is a terrible thing,“ the old knight said, "but in the midst of blood and carnage, there is sometimes also beauty, beauty that could break your heart.” – George R R Martin

Real Name: Esther Meier (Nicknamed Essie at school, but she hates it)

Age: 19

FC: Alexia Giordano

Species & Class: Celestial Knight

Guild: Moonstone

Description of In-Game Powers: (Sorry this is super long. This is largely based off of DnD Aasimar and Paladins, but without trying to bring in actual divine powers. Instead I tried to make it more centered around a player’s perception of themselves and their actions. If this doesn’t fit with other species or the world, let me know!)

Celestials are what could arguably be defined as a light-based typically Moonstone-aligned species similar to sylphs or fae but without the connection to the environment around them. Instead, they seem to draw power from their own actions and convictions, making them a lot more internal than elemental species. Their path and their thoughts about their path define their progression. This makes their dialogue options, interactions with other PCs, and their approaches to passing certain levels very important in how they develop and the skills they gain. But it also makes their own assessment of their actions pivotal in their direction, unlike many other species. They don’t gain skills just by completing tasks, but based on how they perceive how they completed these tasks. Usually Celestial players tend to go for high Psyche/Charisma stats to boost their mental fortitude and balance. But Balestra doesn’t really understand balance beyond proper footwork. She makes up for this with a high willpower that shot even higher after her return to level 1. Willpower is a double-edged sword for Celestials since it enhances however a Celestial feels about their own actions regardless of whether this has a positive or negative effect, whereas other stats merely increase the potential for a Celestial to regard their action as good or heroic.

The interaction between player actions, player perspective, and leveling opportunities makes them a relatively unpopular species choice except for those gamers who like to save before every major NPC interaction and religiously google the different effects of game routes and encyclopedic lore entries before making any choices. In other words, most people find them tedious with a slow ramp and unpredictable leveling. Now that players can’t exit the game or return to save points, they’ve become pretty rare as they tend to die off quicker. But if they survive long enough and can find a good balance between mental stats, goals, and their class, they can become power houses. If not, they tend to be ineffective or even self-detrimental. An unstable Celestial can be equally powerful, but usually just as destructive to themselves as those around them…whether intended or not.

While they have the ability to learn flight, like sylphs, they have large feathered wings instead of diaphanous insect wings. Unlike fae, some classes of Celestials can even use these as melee weapons or shields, especially with specialized armor. Celestials also tend to have a strong affinity to light and some classes can practice light magic. The power of this is also connected to their perception of their actions, along with stats like psyche and charisma.

Regardless of other stats, Celestials’ main buff is in their luck, which extends to the rest of their party when in close proximity. In truth, Balestra didn’t even want to be a Celestial (or a Moonstone player, for that matter). But her school friends wanted that luck buff, and as always she played along. There was some fault with her copy of the game though, and when facing an attack against her party where she should have died, she ended up using up all of her luck buff (and even her luck stat) to reset to the beginning level while her friends died. In turn, her luck stat points randomly shifted to other traits. She can’t decide if she’s one of the luckiest or unluckiest Gem Quest players. In effect she died. All her items are gone, which happens to dead players. And all of her level progress disappeared. But something happened when she was reset. Not only does she have a luck of zero while still retaining all the negatives of the Celestial species; she lost the wings, flight abilities, and light affinity that are the only other Celestial perks. And moreover (and much more pressing), she can’t seem to use potions or magic on herself. Who knows if she can even get out of the game now if she can’t use Relinquium on herself.

Place of Birth: Berkshire, UK

Appearance:

She is most well known for defeating the wyrm Miro in nothing but the default character attire of white tunic and leather pants (mostly because she was on her second playthrough by then, trying frantically to regain all her lost ground, and partly not caring whether she died or not). While she does have a suit of engraved silver armor which she tends to wear in more active levels, and isn’t opposed to trading out her more martial attire for something a bit more flowy and delicate (god knows she needs whatever charisma bonus she can get on the levels that don’t rely on stabbing things), the beginning character outfit has become a bit of a calling card for her, along with her wild halo of curls. No matter what, she prefers to stick to more medieval or renaissance inspired clothing.

“Delicate in every way but one (the swordplay) God knows we like archaic kinds of fun (the old way) Chance is the only game I play with, baby We let our battles choose us” – Glory and Gore, Lorde

Places Most Likely to be Found In-Game: When not clearing levels, she tends to wander the Valley of Monsters since it’s Destrier’s home level. She’s found he’s easiest to deal with in a setting where he belongs, and becomes increasingly harder to control in more incongruous places (Few can forget that disastrous foray into the peaceful Moonstone haunt of the Gardens of Finvarra where Balestra and Destrier learned that no, eating fae NPCs does not count as eating fairy food. Balestra is needless to say not very popular among her guild). Beyond being known as a strange pariah figure people tell stories about having glimpsed speeding through levels in little more than the default character attire, she has gained a reputation as a pretty capable monster hunter for those in the market for parts but unable to handle battling beasties themselves. So she tends to spend more time in the monster-infested areas of levels than most players.

Current Inventory:

Not really inventory, but has somewhat tamed (keyword somewhat) a griffin she calls Destrier. To her that’s basically naming something horse, but she’s killed so many other mounts that she tries not to get attached. The two get along like a house fire. He has all the worst attributes of cats and birds; namely wanting to steal and then eat anything remotely shiny, wanting to kill and then eat anything that moves whether alive or not, not wanting to eat anything actually given to him as food because he didn’t get to kill it himself, being at once stubborn and proud while impressively lazy, and being altogether too smart for his own good and too stupid for Ess’s.

Halberd x 1

Quicksilver Longsword x 1 (This magical sword has the ability to change forms, shifting between rapier, longsword, knife, zweihander, and other bladed weapons which provide different stat bonuses. But it does have the distinct drawback of slowly poisoning its wielder with every use, lowering their hp and psyche dramatically for a period of time. The more its transformation powers are activated, the longer this effect lasts, which can eventually lead to an almost permanent madness. It has also been rumored to be addictive, causing the user to want more and more to shift between its forms.)

Rope x 1

Fire Salamander Gizzard x1 (Rare drop from Fire Salamanders used as a fire starter. Not as fast or reliable as a potion, and a lot more work to acquire. But if you can’t use potions you learn to make due)

Astragali Fortuna x6 (hippogriff knucklebones covered in runes which must be coated in the intended target’s warm blood to be used. They are rolled and then either buff/nerf a stat or induce the effect of a random potion in the game’s database depending on the symbols rolled. The probability of which potion effect is induced depends on the rarity of the potion. This effect does not last as long as a real potion’s. It is about as often detrimental as helpful to its target and is regarded by most players as unreliable for both personal and offensive use. A high luck score increases the chance of a positive outcome, as in part does willpower. But the exact formula for the RNG behind the item is unknown, and most players regard it as a possibly disastrous joke item.)

Venison Jerky x10

Full suit of armor x1 (she usually just wears bits and pieces since it does tend to lower her dexterity)

Beastmaster’s Gorget x1 (Ess actually isn’t a rider, but she needed that speed of a mount to regain her level progress, and she desperately wants to fly again. So she still uses a mount despite not having any of the helpful traits of a Rider player like knowing where your mount is, being able to call it, or being able to control its actions in battle. The gorget helps limit some of those problems. She thinks of it as a “Rogue Griffin GPS” with a bit of a defence buff. It ties him to her by a certain distance though it doesn’t really force him to obey her at all)

Strongest character trait: Stubborn, and she hates that about herself despite how many times it has saved her.

Strengths: creative and determined when she has a goal. She’s had to go about the game very differently her second time around, but she hasn’t succumbed to any of her handicaps yet and in many ways is a stronger player now than she ever was with her original group as her original Celestial Knight self.

Weaknesses: Conflicted, overthinking, and overly controlled when in reality she’s a lot more instinctive than she allows herself to be. She still has a hard time trusting herself 

Player Stats: (I’m going based off of an average individual stat score being 5, so the average total should be around 50. But if that doesn’t seemed balanced, please let me know! Also, after Balestra used up all of her luck returning to level 1 instead of dying, her luck stat was redistributed randomly to her other stats –hence her having 2 sets of numbers. She thinks of herself like a paladin pre-glitch and something entirely different afterwards. The closest she can think of is cursed).

STRENGTH: 6  || 7

DEFENCE: 5  || 6

CHARISMA: 2  || 2

PSYCHE: 2  || 2

WILLPOWER: 6  || 9

CAUTIOUSNESS: 2 || 2

AGILITY: 8  || 8

ENDURANCE: 6  || 7

INTELLIGENCE: 7  || 7

LUCK: 6  || 0

Destrier Stats: He was once a fightable monster, right? So that means he has to have stats. I just figure he’d have fewer stat points than a PC, so I arbitrarily gave him 2/3 the total points I gave my PC. Again, let me know if that’s unbalanced. Since Balestra’s not a Rider (despite acting like one a lot of the time), she doesn’t get any stat bonus from him. He just does his own thing, which only sometimes aligns with what she wants him to do. She’s only able to marginally control him based on having a higher willpower and charisma, though only barely.

STRENGTH: 7

DEFENCE: 5

CHARISMA: 0

PSYCHE: 0

WILLPOWER: 7

CAUTIOUSNESS: 1

AGILITY: 6

ENDURANCE: 5

INTELLIGENCE: 3

LUCK: 1

Personality:

tld;dr: She’s goal/cause driven but without a cause, has spent so long being a malleable persona shaped by family and peer expectations and status but has found that without that microcosm she’s just a hollow shell reeling with misplaced anger and stifled independence that’s eating her from the inside out. She is quite intelligent and has taught herself to be disciplined despite actually being much more volatilely reactive than she’d like to admit.

Inscrutable, private, and quiet

Determined (when she has a goal, although she gets frustrated and dangerously unpredictable even to herself when she feels aimless)

So used to carefully crafting her image that she’s lost a lot of her internal sense of self and self-worth. She’s also quite comfortable with blanketing herself in little lies rather than show people the more vulnerable reality underneath. This doesn’t always mean she tries to make herself more appealing, sometimes she tries to push others away with lies instead.

Creative and Resourceful

Does best when faced with a problem. She likes solving things, and tends to pull herself together when faced with an external threat.

Vacillates between a guilt complex and a rigid disregard for the effects of her actions. In reality, she’s somewhere in the middle, but it’s unsettling having to face both what she’s done and how she’s not entirely sorry about it in order to actually come to terms with herself.

Overthinker to the extreme, but more because she’s trained herself to be so. In reality she’s pretty instinctive and reactive. But from family, school, and friends she’s learned to gauge every possible effect of her actions before taking a step. This led her to be paralyzed by indecision and more of a follower in real life, but now that she’s on her own and in charge of an even more instinctive and wild creature she’s had to chip away at that protective calculation and just act. It’s terrifying and freeing all at once.

Has a hard time reconciling her softer side with her sharp and harder tendencies. She tends to come off as biting, rigid, and distant but has a softer and more delicate side she tries to bury. 

Quite independent but doesn’t fully trust herself. She’s so used to being part of something and deferring to others that she feels at times lost being on her own. She has cycles of loneliness and defiance where she just wants to push people away and forge her own path.

Has a very dark sense of humor, but she doesn’t let that out for just anyone. She’s gotten most comfortable with Destrier, just by sheer amount of time spent with him and the fact that she has few other people to talk to. Sure, he doesn’t quite talk back, but he has his own brand of snark and the two have a weird back and forth.

“And each man stands with his face in the light. Of his own drawn sword, ready to do what a hero can.” –Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Biography: 

Why was she here? Esther asked that often, as she stared down the slathering maw of some fabled beast with nothing but a halberd between them, as she grasped tight to a half-tamed griffin’s feathers and fought it all the way into the sky for some semblance of control, or as she sat alone beside a sputtering fire and stared up at the false constellations of another simulated night which seemed to hulk too low and too heavy above her.

Why was she here, in this chaotic mess of monsters fighting for nothing, in this broken body which couldn’t remember how to heal or shine or fly? Of course, she knew the answer. Every time a blow missed, or a lingering wound ached as she tried to find some substitute for a potion, or a new party passing on a trail gave her the wide berth of a plague ship, she knew. Helena. Everything had always been Helena.

It was Helena who found her when she first started Wellington, when she was just some state school scholarship kid whose father was a jumped-up real estate agent with notions. It was Helena who dragged Esther to her family’s events like some new toy to show off, where Esther would sit still as a statue while Helena left her to talk with old friends, afraid to touch anything, afraid they would know she didn’t belong. It was Helena who had crowned her “Essie” and stared down the boys who threw pencils in her curls to see if they would stick. But it was Helena who would braid her hair into messy pigtails and make sure to tug, just a few times, just to see if she would wince. It was Helena who tasted like candy apple vodka and stifled laughter at a pre-exam party, all the grace and perfect ease of a sun with its planets in orbit. But it was Helena who kissed her full on the lips and left her wide-eyed and speechless, and then told her in that whimsical tone that made it seem like you had a choice through the underlying bite of a command, “I think you and Thom would be cute together. I think I would like that.” It was Helena who threw the two of them together. Thom with his clumsy, grasping hands and his jealous streak. Thom who only had two things in common with her; the fencing team (where he waddled about like a safety hazard with an epee), and Helena, who they would do anything for.

It was Helena who was beautiful and bright, shining and sharp, commanding and fickle and cruel. So of course, after graduation when their group was thrown to the wind and Esther found herself at the Sorbonne for Medieval Studies which Helena had always called “pointless, dull old nonsense,” when Helena had called up “on a whim,” Esther dropped everything. In all honestly, there hadn’t been much to drop. Her father had called the day before. Something about a bad deal and money troubles, how they couldn’t afford her program or apartment anymore. Something about money for the next train from Paris. Something about problems at home, something with his secretary, of course because her father didn’t have the creativity for an affair beyond the cliche. So of course Helena appeared like salvation, something to follow, something to hide in, something to drown herself in so she wouldn’t have to think. Instead of packing up her apartment and buying a ticket home, she spent the last of her money on a VR headset for this new game Helena had heard of. 

It was Helena who wanted to be in Moonstone; she heard there was a level just for Moonstone players to throw wild parties, that the simulation was better than any drug on the street. It was Helena who wanted Esther to be a Celestial; it would be more fun for everyone with that luck bonus, and that much easier for them all to get to that party level. And nobody else wanted to play as one, they were “hopelessly dull” after all.

But it was Esther who got them through the levels. It was Esther whose fencing skills saved them from beast after beast, whose studies gave her hints to riddles the rest of the group were too impatient and bored to puzzle through. It was Esther who first heard the announcement, that there was no way out of the game anymore, that relinquium was off the market and chances to bribe Jacqueline were disappearing. And she heard the whispering, how Thom and Helena and the others wondered how much their parents would pay to bribe their way out, how it really wasn’t that much fun here anyways, how they all just wanted to leave. They were all so sure, so confident with their parents’ money behind them that nothing could hurt them, that they could just leave when they were bored. They didn’t even spare a thought for her, they didn’t even stop to wonder what would happen if they left her behind, just like they never stopped to wonder what would happen to them if they didn’t have her there in the first place. 

It was Esther who suggested storming the dragon’s lair. She told herself she just wanted to convince them why it was worth staying, why they needed her, why they couldn’t just leave her behind. But she knew it was a lie. Thom was the first to die, and she didn’t have to do anything. He was always rash, thoughtless, always trying to impress and always falling short. Those clumsy hands that had fumbled with her uniform as she disgustedly lay there and thought, ‘this was what Helena wanted,’ never really got the hang of the in-game sword mechanics. Not even Esther’s luck bonus could help him. For a glorious, fire-choked moment somewhere between heaven and hell as the dragon slashed him to pieces and charred the remains, Esther felt right. She felt free. Some tried to fend off the beast, but they were of little use without her there to lead the charge. The others tried to flee, desperately trying to search through inventories for any potions or scrolls to help. But Esther had always been the fastest, and she had luck on her side. Their blows came to nothing. Their magic fizzled in their hands. They were left shocked and frozen as she swung at them in perfect, practiced confidence. Helena didn’t even have time for fear. She just stared with offended disbelief, as if somehow she was more upset Esther had acted without her approval than that Esther was plunging a sword into her chest. And then there was nothing, Esther had killed not just some random NPC, not just some nameless member of another guild or even some unknown from her own guild; she had killed her friends. She had swung the sword with the vicious satisfaction that they would well and truly die. And worse, she didn’t care. For once, it felt right. She didn’t stop to think. She didn’t worry. She just swung her blade.

The last thing Esther remembered was the dragon reaching down for her; the sharp kiss of its claws; the warmth of flames as her hair and face and glorious wings charred away. And then she was back at the beginning, with nothing.

Relationships:

Char 1 -

Balestra Playlist

Heretic Pride || The Mountain Goats

Falling || HAIM

Glory and Gore || Lorde

Horse & I || Bat for Lashes

Arsonist’s Lullaby || Hozier

Torches || The Oh Hellos

Miracle || CHVRCHES

Shrike || Hozier

I of the Storm || Of Monsters and Men

The Yawning Grave || Lord Huron

Fire Rides || MØ

Extras:

Esther Playlist

Oxford Comma || Vampire Weekend

Friends || RAYE

Don’t Save Me || HAIM

Karma || Years & Years

The Hamptons || Transviolet

Academia || Sia

Mirror || IDER

Only if For a Night || Florence + the Machine

Other:

After she glitched out she can’t use any potions. She doesn’t know exactly why, but she simply can’t affect herself with temporary magic without horrible glitchy side effects (this does not make her immune to spells from other players though, much to her general dismay). It’s made regaining levels a bit of a nightmare, but mostly she just misses being able to fly. It’s also meant that she’s had to get creative on some levels, especially those tailored to other guilds where the main strategy for non-guild members is a specific magical item. Also, because of this she doesn’t know if she even can leave the game, since the only method now is the potion Relinquium.

Hasn’t been the member of a party since her original party was wiped out and she reset back to level 1. She also has little to no guild loyalty. In fact, she seems much better suited to Obsidian and enjoys most of their claimed levels more than those of Moonstone, which tend to have more goals and interactions which wreak havoc with her corrupted Celestial nature.

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/euclidice/balestra/

[svartikotturinn]

Tel-Aviv huh? Whats your stance on the occupation?

It’s fucked up. Aside from politicians profiting off of it, journalism here is doing a shitty fucking job of covering it properly, preferring to publish fluff pieces about the army instead of covering the daily dickery going on in the Palestinian Territories (I’m not calling it Palestine strictly because de facto, it’s not an independent country yet; whether or not it should be is a separate issue I won’t go into now). But I do put a whole lot of blame on mainstream Israeli society who is hardly keen on hearing about it.

But the thing is, outsiders don’t quite realize how complicated the situation actually is. They don’t know, for example, that a lot of the territories conquered in the Israeli War of Independence were conquered for the sake of territorial continuity that was vital for the protection of Jewish territories that were too isolated to protect (Israelis aren’t aware that those territories amounted to 6% of the land here though). Or that the Green Line is extremely close to Gush Dan, where Tel-Aviv and its satellite cities are: if the rockets from Gaza make life for towns and kibbutzim around it hellish, you can imagine what kind of damage rockets on Gush Dan could deal. They also don’t seem to get how deeply ingrained the history of animosity towards Jews is ingrained in the Jewish psyche: I’ve heard quite a few Europeans and Americans talking about how anti-Semitism was pretty much a thing of the past, and while to a great extent they’re right, you can see Jews were pretty much spot on about their fear that it could come back any time, and that’s without even bringing up the rampant anti-Semitism in Muslim communities. (This is why Jews here are very suspicious of Western mediation.)

People don’t get just how hard dismantling the Occupation actually is. Aside from ‘mainstream’ right-wing Jews who see land ownership in terms of collective ownership by peoples rather than individuals (a notion I parodied here) and bring up historic Jewish presence dating back millennia (e.g. old coins with Jewish inscriptions or the notable absence of pig bones), or nuttier Jews claiming the evil psychopath Yahweh promised them the land, there are more practical concerns. Dismantling all the Settlements and re-settling Jews within the Green Line would be an economic and logistical nightmare: Israel is already struggling with a serious shortage of real estate as it is.

Also, Jews don’t really trust Palestinians for pretty good reason: their leadership has repeatedly talked about how they want to destroy all of Israel and take it over, relying on alternative historic facts claiming e.g. that Tel-Aviv was originally ‘Tal Rabí‘’ (nonsense, aside from a few neighbourhoods it was mostly built by Jews before the war on land bought legitimately and named after a monumental piece of Zionist literature). They believe that getting full control of Judæa and Samaria (using these terms instead of ‘the West Bank’ to emphasize that it’s an area much larger than just the strip of land along the Jordan River) and the Gaza Strip is just a way to get their foot in the door before taking over everything. And, of course, there’s the humanitarian concern of what establishing an overwhelmingly Muslim independent state would mean for its women and minorities and plain old political dissidents: so far their record hasn’t been all too great (honour killing, civil war between Fatah and Hamas, brutal murder of suspected collaborators, GSM persecution, Christian persecution…).

On top of that, Israelis have a lot of misunderstanding on their part. First off, Hebrew does not distinguish between ‘conquest’ and ‘occupation’ (both are כִּבּוּשׁ kibúsh), and most Israelis don’t get the difference between ‘conquest’ and annexation, as has traditionally been the case. For many Israelis, war is a process where participants essentially wager their territory in armed conflict, and territory lost fair and square should be ceded. This is especially the case for Israelis, who believe that they’ve never instigated a war; at most, they responded to aggressive actions the only reasonable way they could.

In general, international law and the customs of war are very recent, dating back to only a few decades ago. Israelis think that Western powers preaching to them about how wrong conquering territories is is incredibly hypocritical, not realizing the rules have changed or thinking they apply selectively. This is particularly infuriating to them as they believe that unlike Western empires, Israel needs its extra territories for survival (whether or not that’s true is an issue I won’t go into).

What complicates matters further is that English terminology also has its limits: while Hebrew distinguishes between ‘Palestine’ as a geographic term (אֶרֶץ יְשׂרָאֵל Èretz Yisra’él, lit. ‘Land of Israel’, also used extensively in religious contexts) and as a (would-be) political entity (פָלַסְטִין Falastín), English has one term for both, as does Arabic (فلسطين Filasṭīn). You can imagine how aggravated Israelis get when they come across what looks like trying to establish a hostile political reality but is actually just a reference to geography, but more pressingly, they don’t get what Palestinians actually claim.

Jewish Israeli narrative centres around the idea that they owned the land fair and square and were driven out of their rightfully owned territory, including Judæa and Samaria (partial truth: the traditional narrative claims Jews were expelled by the Romans, but the truth is many left voluntarily when the Romans started persecuting them), sometimes argued that God Himself gave it to them, and define their ‘peoplehood’ based on (overwhelmingly) religious practice; the Palestinian one, on the other hand, is based on connection to the land, emphasizing a connection to all the people who’ve settled in the region and their heritage. When they say ‘Jesus was Palestinian’ they think that’s true: he was Jewish by faith but was born and raised and lived his whole life here, his roots were here, ergo he was Palestinian. As a matter of fact, Palestinians are the ethnic group most closely related genetically to Jews, but Jews here would normally claim (as is taught in high school history, or at least was when I was in high school) that they are overwhelmingly descended from relatively recent immigrants who came when Jews started prospering, to get a chunk of that working for them. (This is often based on the widely derided claims in Joan Peters’ From Time Immemorial and selective and grossly misleading quotes from Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad.)

The Palestinians, on their part, think Jews came here as some kind of extension of colonial powers: they saw all those Jews coming in from European countries and put two and two together (which has some merit but is a GROSS oversimplification). This is why they often have more respect for Mizrakhi and Sephardi Jews than Ashkenazi Jews. And, of course, as pointed out above, they’re often all too keen on buying into anti-Semitic rhetoric: Israeli right-wingers often point out that Mahmoud Abbas himself was (and, they claim, still is) a Holocaust denier.

So you can see why there is little trust between the two sides and why dismantling the Occupation safely is akin to diffusing a very sensitive bomb. There has to be a lot more earnest dialogue before that can happen.

Also, amusingly (in a dark way), while leftist Jews (moderate and otherwise) are mad about all the money spent on the Settlements, Settlers are mad about how their Settlements don’t actually expand or multiply. The actual problem is that corrupt right-wing politicians pass the money to their own rather than the Settlements…

This is a very complicated issue, but I think there are plenty of steps Israel could take and simply doesn’t for some reason:

More emphasis on Arabic in school. Nowadays students are often given the choice between Arabic and French or Russian in many schools, and many get exempted from studying a third language to avoid learning a ‘terrorists’ language’ by getting a didactic diagnosis and feigning idiocy; about a year ago there was a bill proposed by MK Oren Khazan of all people to make it mandatory from the first grade, but from what I’ve heard it was not realistic considering the massive shortage of Arabic teachers in Israel, and I’m not sure why but it kinda stopped moving forward for some reason. (Personally I think Israeli and Palestinian Sign Languages should be taught too, as well as optional linguistics, but I’m kinda biased as a ling. major with a keen interest in SL and Deaf culture.)

Reforming the way civics and history are taught. Civics is grossly underrepresented in Israeli schools, putting ethnoreligious sentiment on equal footing with democratic concerns. History is often taught through a narrow prism of Jewish persecution, and things like legitimate objections Arabs had before 1948 and what the 1948 Exodus was actually like are barely mentioned if at all. (The 6% figure? I had no idea about it until it was mentioned on a blog and I looked it up myself. And if you ask most Israeli Jews, they’ll tell you the Arabs left willingly to allow Arab forces to take over and finish Israel off, so they’ve no right to complain Israel isn’t too keen on letting them back in.) Also, Tanakh as a subject should be abolished yesterday.

Training combatant soldiers to deal with civilian populations. I recently saw (parts of) a documentary about the Kfir Brigade, where the soldiers explained that they’d never been taught to learn to deal with civilian populations or even any Arabic beyond phrases like ‘stop or I’ll shoot’ or ‘give me your ID’. You can see how counterproductive this is to de-escalating tensions there.

Changing arbitrary regulations used by Border Patrol. You can read more about it here.

Making justice against soldiers who bully Palestinians and worse more visible. The way things go now, while justice is normally served (if only for fear of foreign involvement), far too many get off the hook too easy, with the military court system delaying justice until the law says it’s been too long past their service to prosecute them, or they get comically small punishments (this normally happens when the military needs the soldier for some reason). When it is served, the IDF should e.g. spread leaflets announcing it and claiming repeatedly that they are earnest in their attempts to clean up their act.

Banning openly racist soldiers from serving. There’s a Facebook page dedicated to documenting horrifyingly racist outbursts on Facebook, including people wishing violent death on Arabs, African refugees, and children with a Jewish father and a Jewish mother in Israel, and celebrating events like the recent massacre at the mosque in Québec; the number of comments left by people serving in the IDF (some of which relish the thought of massacring Arab babies) is horrifying. I’ve even met a person in south Tel-Aviv (which is notorious for its rampant xenophobia) who boasted being a war criminal.

Abolishing conscription, or at least restricting it severely. There have been two state committees who looked into it and determined that conscription should be abolished already and replaced with a professional military. Opponents of this move include not only the IDF itself, which absolutely looooves its fat cheques and cushy jobs for its senior officers, but also run-of-the-mill Israelis who are afraid that the IDF would dwindle to the point Israel couldn’t defend itself against its enemies surrounding it (including, according to them, so-called ‘friends’ who signed peace treaties but are just waiting for an opportune moment to stab it in the back). I think it should either be abolished or, as they did in Sweden up until a few years ago, recruit only those who are most fit to serve. Aside from the obvious need for soldiers who do their job right, the current situation means that Israelis normally can’t distinguish between soldiers and civilians and think that attacking soldiers (‘our children’) is as illegitimate as attacking civilians, labelling guerrilla fighters (who, don’t get me wrong, are legitimate targets in an armed conflict) ‘terrorists’ (the media does that too and that sure as hell doesn’t help).

Better coordination within the military. As of now the IDF has a surplus of soldiers who are grossly mismanaged as a result of petty infighting from within. That’s how you can find offices with one secretary collapsing under the workload and another with three secretaries with barely any work to do. This is a pretty serious issue in and of itself, but this gets even worse when you consider that, for example, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip don’t know how far away from the Separation Wall they have to be to avoid getting shot (which is pretty serious because many of them have agricultural lands close to the fence that they can’t work on).

Taking a stronger stand against settlements the State had no hand in building. Some particularly zealous Settlers sometimes take Palestinian land by force, relying on the fact that their legal owners would have to go through a legal hell to get it back, and that the military normally follows an order saying they’re not allowed to physically touch Settlers. Those should be clamped down on HARD.

Abolishing the underhanded techniques the State uses to seize Palestinian land. Israel uses the military to declare certain areas as necessary for training and kicks the locals out, then a year later they say that since the owners left their land for over a year they no longer have a claim to it, and allow Settlers in instead. It does the same with KKL and the Israeli Antiquities Authority. This shit needs to stop.

Applying Israeli law to Settlements that already exist. What Israelis don’t get is that when outsiders talk about the ‘apartheid state’ in Israel they don’t mean ‘within the Green Line’: nominally, Arab Israeli citizens are perfectly equal before the law (aside from where the stupid fucking Millet system is in force). This refers to Judæa and Samaria, where Settlers are generally subject to Israeli law (not always: the mayor of Ariel once boasted how he claimed not to be a legitimate part of Israel when he needed to pay taxes but it was when it needed funds from the State), but Palestinians are subject to martial law. This means, among other things, that employers over there can get away with paying Palestinians below minimum wage. While Israel is in charge it should do so properly.

Reforming imprisoned terrorists. As the UK demonstrates, this is immensely helpful in gutting terrorism from within.

Actually sticking by contractual obligations. Yitzkhak Rabin famously got the Oslo Accords going (hell, he got shot to death for it), but in practice he never actually took down a single Settlements, claiming that ‘there are no sacred dates’ (i.e. ‘I’ll take ‘em down… eventually’). On the other hand, enough violent resistance and outright terrorism on the Palestinians’ part got Israel to leave the Gaza Strip unilaterally. The Palestinians naturally understood that Israelis understand nothing but brute force.

Understanding what actually comprises terrorism. Aside from attacking soldiers, as explained above, Israelis seem to be under the impression that diplomatic moves (e.g. ratifying the Geneva and Rome conventions and pushing for recognition in the UN) are terrorism too (‘state terrorism’). As one blogger put it, they might soon call Palestinians breathing ‘respiratory terrorism’.

Abolish the religious exception to anti-incitement laws. Israel obviously has laws against incitement to violence, but for some bizarre reason those laws do not apply to incitement made on a religious basis. This gives both Jewish and Muslim religious leaders the ability to incite somewhat freely, avoiding persecution, while young hotheads do their bidding and get fucked over for it. (Kinda like right-wing militia leaders, as described here, under #2.) Israel needs to crack down on all the bullshit it allows as part of ‘religious freedom’ in general, but for the purpose of this discussion, this is the #1 priority.

Back in the day I used to believe in cantonizing the country and giving the Gaza Strip and Judæa and Samaria a special status similar to Québec. I wrote about it extensively here. I asked around, and Jews mostly told me that they think it would be nice, but the Arabs would be against it; then I asked Arabs, who mostly had no objections to the idea. I asked MK Zehava Gal’on, who said she didn’t trust the Jews to not turn this country into a full-blown apartheid state all over. I eventually let go of the idea when I talked to an Arab student who was more politically aware, who said it was impractical because the State has the habit of not allowing Arab towns and villages to form or expand (this, coupled with poor law enforcement in Arab areas, creates the problem of violent criminal wars over territories), and keeps building new Jewish communities between them to detach them from one another. You can’t have Arab cantons this way.

On a final note: I want to point out that this is what I think Israel should do. Palestinians also have more than enough steps they can take, but I don’t live there, so I don’t really know what it’s like over there and I don’t get a say anyway. However, I do want to point out that the Palestinian Authority makes selling (and I think renting too, but I’m not sure) lands to Israelis punishable by death; this means that even if Settlers legitimately buy (or rent) the lands they want to settle on, it could be a huge pain to prove the legal owner of their lands allowed them to do so, because they’d be putting them at huge risk. One leftist activist, Ezra Nawi, notoriously boasted turning in would-be sellers to the PA; as a leftist myself, I was utterly infuriated: as far as I’m concerned, as the legal owners of the land, they have every right to do as they please with it.

And that pretty much concludes my views on the issue. Thanks for giving me the chance to clarify it.

[dorethajeffries-blog]

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