Random Questions Thread

Okay, my friend asked a bunch of people this question and no one really knows how to respond. You'll probably see why in a second.

If an antagonist has raped one of the protagonists and needs to switch sides (he has no choice and it would take too long to explain) and cooperate with his victim and her friends, who are almost certainly doomed without his help, how might he attempt to prove that he has changed his ways?

EDIT: Why must this be a pagetopper? D:

edited 9th Feb '13 12:02:55 AM by LeungBaiFang

The same way as any other villain attempting a Heel–Face Turn. Bear in mind of course, that just because the heroes believe he's turned over a new leaf, that doesn't mean they accept him into the group.

Or even then, that everyone in the group unanimously accepts/believes him. Or that everyone likes the arrangement let alone him. In fact, his presence could be a source of conflict for the protagonists that your friend can mine for drama.

Basically, try not to get too stuck on the rape aspect and try to remember the other factors/motivations also in play that would be either for or against the partnership.

edited 9th Feb '13 3:13:11 AM by peasant

Having thought a little more, and just in case the part you need help with is specifically about the rape aspect, it would depend on how you view criminals, what is to be done with them and how they can make up for past transgressions.

For instance, is it about rehabilitating them (i.e. make him realise what he did was wrong)? Or reparations (i.e. do a good deed to make up for a past bad deed)? Harm reduction (i.e. reducing the damage he has inflicted)? Straight up retribution (i.e. something bad happens to him equal to his past bad deed)? Or is it that nothing can ever make up for what he's done?

Then, there is the issue of the recipient. Who should be the one to deal out the punishment and/or be the recipient of his acts of redemption? Does it specifically have to be the person he wronged? Or will anyone suffice, like some sort of cosmic scales of justice?

I think the issue here is complex enough that you could (maybe even should) explore, discuss and elaborate on it in the story. For instance, you could have the team leader defer the decision of whether to take the villain in to the person he raped. Which might sound fair. Except, it essentially forces her to forgive her rapist for the sake of her friends' survival. Which is a really unfair position to be put in if you look at it that way.

Ultimately, with rape being a touchier than most as more of the audience would have an analogous experience to it versus say something like genocide, they will likely have an opinion on it - and it will probably differ from yours and from one another. As such, you shouldn't try to appease all parties and should instead pursue what works best for your story - or at the very least what you think is right.

Hoped this helped. That said, I'm no authority on the issue. Anyone else care to pitch in?

edited 9th Feb '13 3:10:50 AM by peasant

@risingdreamer: If this is still from the story with the witch race, then why not make that race at a hate war with the humans, then have the villain be an Well-Intentioned Extremist who wants to force them to ally with each other, ending the war?

What's a good website to start a blog at?

I need to post reviews of things for a class project and I don't want to use tumblr or livejournal or something like that.

@Hermiethefrog: Wordpress has been recommended in my direction for such purposes.

Would wooden artifacts like axes and crossbows be handed down over the span of centuries and still be in working order? Or would the wooden components of those weapons rot/breakdown after awhile and become too fragile for combat?

edited 10th Feb '13 1:12:50 PM by peasant

They would definitely rot over that long a period, but depending on the object wooden parts can be easy to replace.

Several cultures (mostly East Asian as far as I know) would lacquer that sort of things, though I'm not sure about how it affects the internal integrity.

@7sunember 123 Dude's cunning enough to come up with something like that.

Help for a Dangan Ronpa AU: in that game, if a murderer is caught, said murderer gets a highly creative execution that fits the person's personality\skill.

Any suggestions on how to execute a brooding spy?

@Noaqiyeum & @betterthanstrawberry:

Thanks. Guess I'll stick to either making specific components (the metal parts) as heirlooms or forgo the angle entirely.

There's two ways. One's the 007-style type of spy, in which case I recommend mashing together several classic James Bond deathtraps. The other's the grittier, John le Carre-style spy. I recommend something personalized to the character in that case. Visions of whoever it is he trusts having betrayed him, followed by a KGB-style bullet in the snow, for instance?

@peasant: Some certain type of wood can last very long, so it's possible.

The reason I linked to Ship Of Theseus was that what can happen is one component wears out or rots away first, and is repaired and replaced, and then another one does, and the same thing happens, until a few generations later the parts are the same but it is still considered the same heirloom that was passed down from generation to generation.

Is fanbase one word, two, or does it have a hyphen in the middle? I'm getting conflicting answers from my google-fu.

Either way is possible.

I need some ideas for words you might see on some wannabe gangster's knuckle tattoos; the more inappropriate, the better. At the moment, I'm going with 'THUG' and 'LIFE'. It's for a cop character who is essentially 'the last person in the world you'd want as a cop'.

'SWAG'

FOAD^note Fuck Off And Die, if you didn't already know that.

edited 12th Feb '13 2:13:51 PM by Madrugada

With DIAF (Die in a Fire) on the other, to complete the "internet variants of fuck off" pairing.

That works. I couldn't come up with a second one.

Thanks for the suggestions. However, the problem with FOAD and DIAF is that they aren't common abbreviations (i.e. people reading it without explanation may not understand or be familiar with) and feels very much like 'internet language', if you know what I mean. Where as, this guy isn't particularly tech savvy. Which is why I'm thinking words over abbreviations work better. Sorry I should've been clearer. Thanks though.

I suggest "KCUF". Not being particularly bright, he decided on the design while looking in a mirror, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something's off.

What's the nautical term for stopping a boat in the middle of the ocean? Is it just "at anchor?"