TLV - Graduations & Demotions

[bargemods]

GRADUATIONS & DEMOTIONS

Inmate graduation is a vital aspect of the game, and occasionally, warden demotion crops up in play as well. If you're planning to graduate your inmate or demote your warden in the near future, please fill out this short form!

Graduations and demotions are character decisions made at player discretion, but in the rare situation that we find ourselves concerned that a graduation or demotion is premise-breaking, the player will be contacted privately. Once we've read through a comment and confirmed that it doesn't contain anything premise-breaking, we'll reply with a confirmation.

Once a graduation comment has been confirmed, the warden of the graduating inmate should reply to their inmate's comment either confirming that their character will be fulfilling the deal laid out in their application, or - in situations where they changed their mind about their deal during their time in-game - receive a verdict about whether the new deal idea is doable.

GRADUATION

<b>Player Name</b>: <b>Character Name</b>: <b>Path to Graduation</b>: How have they changed while aboard the Barge, and what helped cause this change? What were their key milestones? What have they come to regret about their past, and what are they going to do differently now going forward? If they're going to be staying on as a warden, what do they have to offer an inmate? We're not looking for more than a paragraph or two of basic overview here, but if you'd like to TL;DR at us, feel free!

DEMOTION

<b>Player Name</b>: <b>Character Name</b>: <b>Path to Demotion</b>: What actions or choice(s) are causing their demotion, and how did they get to this point? What makes them no longer suited for wardenhood, and what issues will they need to work on as an inmate? We're not looking for more than a paragraph or two of basic overview here, but if you'd like to TL;DR at us, feel free!

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Comments

[perfectly_average]

Player Name: Aeacus
Character Name: Jamil Viper
Path to Graduation:
Moments of Increasing Significance

x, IC Intro, (Early May)

"Meeting" Azul

Then he discovers punching Azul doesn't feel nearly as nice as he'd hoped it would.

x, Meeting Yunlan, and that sure was some trolling he fell for (Late May)

x, Start of Bonding With Trixie (Lay May)

x, Sudden Gentleness From Azul, which throws Jamil off. (Early June)

x, Start of Bonding With Kyoko, which surprises him... (Early June)

x, More bonding With Trixie, which solidifies that she's someone he enjoys being around. (Early June)

x, Start of bonding With Yunlan, which is another surprise for him to think on later. (Early June)

x, All of this surprise bonding stuff is interrupted by his being saved by Azul! It felt... weird. Very weird. And is the first moment he's left genuinely hating how off-balance he feels in this place. (Early June)

x, He realizes he doesn't like the thought of Trixie getting hurt... so he makes a point of stopping her from lashing out anymore at Sephiroth. Despite the selfishness of his reasons, Trixie's reaction and their talk afterward has him realizing he might be starting to genuinely care about her. (Early June)

x, Jamil finds out what happened to Trixie, and then he proceeds to try heading off to do something stupid and potentially murdery. Azul decides to kiss him as a distraction, and it winds up working. Thanks, Sephiroth, for accidentally playing matchmaker. You're a bro.

x, Then Jamil discovers what being fretted over by multiple people feels like, and he made a point of reaching out to Trixie and Sweeney - the first being to check up on her, and the latter being to properly thank him. Also, he learns Rags' story, and that has him tentatively thinking of him as a friend. (Late June)

x, Jamil makes a point of asking Yunlan to give Azul a saltwater pool; it's something that would make Azul happier. Despite using the excuse (at himself) that Azul being happier would mean less stress for himself, he found himself happy seeing how Azul felt over it. (Early July)

x, Watching Azul struggling with a warden, Jamil realizes he never wants a warden. He realizes how scared he is of having the full control over someone learning his past taken away. This winds up being a good thing, later. (Late July)

All the while, he's reflecting over Taylor's Graduation, along comes Trixie's. Jamil struggles with admitting to himself that he felt pretty angry over how he learned Rags was leaving, and over how quickly Rags just left them all. He learned a lot from these two incidents - primarily that friendships are fragile things. For a while, this realization did him no good. (Late July)

x, All the changes, all the negative thoughts, all the looming danger... Unsurprisingly, he snaps. Surprisingly, it's at Hunter; he picked him because they hadn't been talking much, however. He nearly Overblots, but is saved by Azul. (Late July)

x, Apologizing to Hunter is a huge deal, for him. It isn't for the sake of softening things between them, but for the sake of seeking help with something that would benefit everyone. No more Overblot risks, letting Hunter have the option of helping with that. Out of everything up to this point, it's possibly the closest thing to a selfless decision he's made. It's certainly the most genuinely mature one. (Late July)

x, While asking Yunlan to have his magic turned off possibly seemed like something with good intentions behind it, this is a moment of backsliding hard. Backsliding beyond the starting point, really. This is the first time he makes a decision to simply try running from the problem. He has no intention of trying to learn anything else. He's quietly considering just easing into the life of a regular human - no more risk of Overblot, no more risk of losing his mind on people. An easy fix, right? (Late July)

x, The backsliding just doesn't stop, either. He uses mind control to unlife some people, and he doesn't feel anything towards that. He's encouraged by Kirei to just keep on proceeding down this path. (Early August)

x, Just one day later, he Overblots and attempts more murder. It's a quick battle, but it's incredibly rough on his mind and body. He falls hard into depression and apathy. (Early August)

x, Tiernan makes use of the blotstone that had been left behind from his Overblot... and that genuinely gets under Jamil's skin, proving to be just the thing to snap him out of his moping. (Late August)

x, During Vibe Check, however, he gets into some trouble... And loses all of his memories of Kalim al Asim - including all the moments during which he was so much as thinking about him. This leads him to forget the moment he'd forced those guys to, ah... unlife, which meant he was no longer anticipating revenge. (Late August)

During this time, Jamil wound up experiencing a period of time without his thoughts drifting back to Kalim. While there were gaps in his memories that never went away, his tendency to fixate led to him focusing on Azul, instead. Azul became his coping mechanism, his One Person that had been there from the start. It wasn't a healthy form of coping, but this is what leads to the development near the start of next month. (Late August)

And, when that revenge for earlier in the month came, he was easily killed. Which saw the start of September bringing death tolling... (End of August)

x, Jamil barely had time to mentally adjust to feeling sick and vulnerable, all over again. He was doing horribly, but he still wanted to try dragging Azul away from Overblot. They'd suffered enough, he felt. He didn't want Azul having to feel what he was feeling - a first, nearly 100% selfless moment. (Start of September)

x, When he comes to, finding himself underwater (how could he breathe???) and everyone fighting Azul, he nearly freaked out. But, thankfully, he was too out of it and feverish to properly do so; it likely would have helped Azul worsen. Fortunately, he manages to prove to Azul - and himself - that he wouldn't just run off, when the going gets tough. He'll stay there, as long as needed. They have each other, and Jamil's discovered what actual loyalty feels like. (Start of September)

x, Jamil demonstrates an ability to keep a boundary up without total conflict. He realizes that he never has to talk about something that he's not ready to talk about, no matter who's initiating the conversation or asking the question. (Start of September)

x, He reaches out to Sephiroth, challenging him to a fight... (Early September)

x, Then his "birthday" comes, and this is the biggest turning point of his development. He actively notes that this must be what happiness and being respected feels like. He decides that this is the kind of feeling he'd rather chase, in life... These are the kinds of people he'd rather keep. This is the kind of realization he'd like to try giving another inmate, one day. (Early September)

x, That fight he was going to have with Sephiroth? He decided... why a fight? Why not a Paintball match, instead. If he can vent his anger at Sephiroth this way, while giving them both a game that they might enjoy? Wouldn't that be better than trying to kill a guy who'll just come back anyway?

He's sure he'll never stop being pissed at Sephiroth - hell, he might never stop hating him for what he did. But, in the end, he will have chosen something other than outright revenge. He'll have proven to himself that he's capable of far more creative outlets, when it comes to his anger problems and desires for vengeance. (September)

x, Unfortunately, by this point, there is still one more thing for him to work on... Handling guilt! He made the decision to make a Statement, out of fear that he'll ever forget how it felt to Overblot. He doesn't want to risk losing that sense of disgust and regret. He doesn't want to forget the look in Azul's eyes, or the sound of Yunlan's voice when he learned about it. Or the way Trixie was when she saw him the first time, upon their return to the Barge. (September)

x, Which is precisely what the next big event forces him onto a path for. The injuries that represent buried pain and other negative feelings became motivation for him to start talking again - and even more, than last time. He manages to fully explain himself to Yunlan, in an attempt to make it clear just why he reacted the way he did over feeling treated like a child. They came to an understanding, and Jamil agreed to try harder at accepting help from others. He even lets Misty stitch his neck up, during this thing, so that he'll be able to properly open up about those injuries. (October)

x, Later on, he accepts help from Xie Lian - someone he barely knows. It's a small request, but it's a small request that comes with a very large amount of effort behind it. (October)

x, With Akira, it was a different kind of progress. He accepted the trade because he genuinely wanted to learn more about this other young man, while helping him. He wanted to... see what it might feel like to try some wardening techniques of his own, but in a subtle way. He realizes around this point that he actually likes coaxing someone to open up and explain their story. It's the first moment he's hit with the thought that he genuinely does want to become a warden. (October)

x, Jamil finally sets his mind to trying to get all of his powers back, so he can actually have a chance to prove to himself (and the Admiral) that he's learned a lot. He's embraced that he's ready to try... but then Crozier tells him he believes he's already close to graduating. Jamil realizes he's kind of scared, actually, of returning home. He questions, too, if he's really earned a redemption... (October)

x, Around this point, he's had time to reflect on the idea of graduating and returning home, and he's come to terms with it all. He isn't ready to return home, but he doesn't need to be - that isn't part of redeeming himself, necessarily. So he gives approaching Sephiroth a try, to see if he's ready to handle even the more problematic inmates. To maybe try helping even one that he still hates, and to see how he handles so much as interacting with someone he once wanted to kill. He does well. (November)

Which brings us to the current time, where he's come to finally understand that his path to graduation wasn't about something as extreme as overwriting the worst parts of his personality. It wasn't about becoming a "good person", but about learning healthier ways to cope with feeling forced into an inferior role. He learned that he can actually work towards a life that will make him happier, and that it isn't selfish to wish for happiness for himself. It's human, and it's okay to be human. It's okay to be flawed, and messed up, and in need of feeling loved by his own parents.

Jamil has many friends, many people he considers family. He has a boyfriend, a crush, and a list of plans for his future. There's a desire to build that future - not just for himself, but for Azul Ashengrotto. He wishes to pay everything forward; yeah, part of it is for his image, but most of it is for the sake of possibly helping anyone else who's feeling the way he used to.

He's decided to take on the role of a warden. He's still unsure exactly what kind of warden he'll be, but he knows he will (at the very least) be a stubborn one. Nobody should ever feel backed into a corner with no escape; part of his personal, unspoken continued path to redemption will be guiding anyone else he can away from that mindset.

[bargemods]

Unscreened! Please have Jamil's warden comment here to finalize what his deal will be.

[goingtobeunwell]

Crozier will ask that the Admiral prevent the Franklin Expedition from ever leaving London. Strike Sir John Barrow with lightning or sink the ships or something. This change to the timeline excludes anyone currently or previously on the Barge; he'll want them to continue on with their own paths.

[bargemods]

Noting that this will also only affect his own personal timeline! Any potential future characters from the canon will be assumed to come from a version of his universe unaffected by the deal.