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TLV - 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
DEMOTION
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Character Name: Makima
Path to Graduation: Makima came to the barge a conflicted creature. She was angry about her death, angry about her failure, but she was also despondent and lost and very much had given up on finding a place for herself in any world. A few key relationships that succeeded, and some that failed, really helped her to figure out the problems with her original plans and her original goals, as well as how she can be what she is, still be the devil of control and conquest, without being someone who makes the whole planet afraid of her.
Her relationship with Sariss started during a breach and it gave her a strange situation where a relationship began without being subject to the hierarchy that Makima continually tripped herself up with (ranking people as better or less than and determining how to treat them that way) and that continued all throughout her time. It managed to be a steady, loving, and intensely private between them affair that helped Makima see people more clearly and stop ranking them because it made her lose out.
Her relationship with Sweeney helped teach her that she could make friends with, find support, and even love someone who was like her, and the acceptance of her non-human nature without the problem of threat, fear, or wanting to eat one another really helped her get the kinship that she's always wanted, as well as a lot of physical affection that she was missing from her dogs (who she would control to do that) and she found it was better when it was just given freely.
A small mention for Dorian who showed her to use her control and conquest related powers as well as her urges in that direction for consensual BDSM. Thank you, Halloween party!
Then there were the failures, her attempts at manipulation: Daniel, Tim, and Norton. Each one taught her something important about how tricking the system and manipulating people is harmful. Daniel was betrayed that a bond he'd thought they'd built was fake. Tim was upset that she'd put things in his head. Norton was upset that she never gave him the chance to like her properly, that she 'cheated'. They all showed her different facets of how her use of her powers was damaging to people.
A mixed result came with her relationship with B, who only found out later what she was and what she could do. The conflicts and difficulties she had with him, and her willingness to keep trying to make something work and to accommodate him, showed her the difference between trying for appearances and actually trying. When B offered to protect her from the three above after she admitted what she'd done, she realized that someone (a human being, even one who was scared of her and she knew it) could still care about her and want to help her and that these things can be a mix and not so extreme. He also proved to her that humans could do things beyond trying to hurt her and trying to use her even when they WERE scared. They didn't end up friends, exactly, but he helped her immensely.
One of the big lessons she had to learn was not treating her feelings and wants and emotions as 'logic' and that her plans that were for personal gain were really for 'everyone's good' even though no, they really weren't. She got a small microcosm of this in her murder of Doug Eiffel, an act done out of her own frustration and anger at Sariss's apparent permanent death; for all of the calculation and sneakiness involved, she did it out of rage and even she could admit afterwards that she hadn't done it for any other reason than her own satisfaction. She even eventually apologized to Doug about it.
She also learned how to forgive, given what happened with John Seed and Iris. Iris had originally blamed her for John Seed's murder of Trixie but after Iris got to hear more from John about what really happened, Iris apologized and Makima was able to see past her hurt and pain to actually accept and move forward. Trixie helped as well, by reaching out a hand and offering her friendship despite hearing about how Makima had fucked up with some people. That simple acceptance meant a lot.
The biggest hole in her life, though, was the love of a mother, funny enough. Poochita says in the very last issue of volume 1 that the only thing Makima really ever wanted was to be loved like a family member and getting Nadja as her warden was absolutely perfect. Nadja's boundless love and support and her constant willingness to give up blood or strength or time or energy in shows of unconditional motherly love gave her the thing she was actually craving that her plans and schemes never actually would have delivered.
Then during the Bang! breach, she enjoyed having a family to look out for, and got to get back in touch with her love of being a boss and running things, and this time it was channeled in a much healthier way. It was just nice and she could use it to look out for people, bring people in, create an environment she liked and wanted in a small and reasonable fashion.
Last but not least, she made the decision to actively eschew her universe, eschew any kind of revenge or forcing herself back into her own universe and decided to go home with someone else. That last bit was small but... important.
Ultimately, she figured out how to be herself in a healthy, not abusive manner and she figured out that her original goals and her original needs were warped by her own perceptions and desperation. All in all, not too bad for one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
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