Obviously a sketchy sketch where I cut myself a LOT of slack. I was unsure if I should even post that wonky stuff anymore but was kinda encouraged to keep going. However! There's a difference between being lazy and just not knowing wtf I'm doing. So maybe for the future, if you see something that shows you I'm obviously clueless about how stuff looks/works - please point it out, it helps me so much.

This is one of my personal favourite moments from Tani’s arc, which is why I come back to it so often. Not because of him getting sucker punched per se, but because it marks the escalation of some conflicts that have kept building up as well as the changing point where he begins to realize that he can’t just go on being an angry, self-centered douche.


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For you odd fellows who read my rants - the scene plays out as follows:

Bird man is having a really bad day. Not much sleep, some strenuous missions behind him, and the constant rubbing against the decisions of the leadership – his nerves are down to a thread. This is before Castor and his posse make their appearance, so Tani’s been projecting all his insecurities and anger towards a random little guy, a young elite soldier named Jerelard. That day, Jerry makes the mistake of looking at Tani wrong once too often, and this time, Tani decides to go for the confrontation. He demands to know what his problem is, tone and body language signaling clearly that this is going to get serious. Jerry has no fucking idea, but he’s felt for a while that Tani has it out for him, and that in turn doen't exacly make him like him more. So he replies irritatedly and tries to get away, but Tani’s not having it. Finally, Jerry says something that serves Tani as an excuse to just give in to his hate and attack. Jerelard has no chance against him, and a second later, he’s on the ground, Tani kneeling on his back with his hands wrapped around his throat, in the process of murdering him. Tani’s bro Etalyn and a couple of the other guys are nearby and try to pull him away, which he resists and just intensifies his strangling attempts. After a second or two, Captain Etaoloth is also on the scene and able to drag Tani, who barely remembers in time that he mustn’t fight a superior, off his victim. However, Tani spins around to face him, now of course even more furious, like almost shivering with rage. Etaoloth orders him to stand down and explain himself, but with people watching and his ego piqued, Tani says something to the effect of this being none of the Captain’s damned business. Granted, he has plenty of reasons to hate Etaoloth as well. Tani is given a sharp verbal warning, which he replies to with something to the effect of the Captain being a dried-up old alcoholic fossil that missed the point in time when it would’ve been polite to die. Whose most remembered feat is getting his face sliced up by some maniac. As everyone around watches in shocked silence, Tani tries to follow it up with an allusion to Etaoloth fucking the General, but it’s enough. The old man still packs a very mean punch, having learned his technique in his civil war street fighting days, Tani finds out. He’s knocked flat on his ass, completely surprised. Etaoloth snapping like that was utterly unexpected. And he stays down, full of smoldering anger and humiliation. Of course, he could easily take Etaoloth in a fight, but attacking a superior would be literal suicide. The deeply ingrained soldierly part of Tani knows this, and he doesn’t even attempt to show any defiance anymore. But even without it, it dawns on him how badly he just messed up. Without further ado and without resistance, he’s put into jail where he has a few days to stew over the question whether his idiocy will earn him the death penalty yet. It doesn’t, to make it short. The next time he sees the Captain, Etaoloth’s back to his usual distanced self, just maybe a touch amused as he tells Tani his sentence: Menial work, for an indefinite amount of time. No more combat missions. Tani is sort of relieved that he got off easy, but clearly something is afoot here. However, as the weeks drag on to his ever growing frustration, his punishment seems to hold nothing special, just boring, safe, humiliating labor. All the while, the campaign goes on and other people including his friends risk their lives daily, while he, one of the most powerful psychics, has to sit on the sidelines. What a moronic decision, as if he needed more confirmation that the leadership was incompetent! So he goes to complain. But no, he gets told in the same distanced manner, it’s not planned to put him back into the field anytime soon. If he can’t be trusted around his fellow soldiers, maybe he can be trusted around brooms and boxes. It takes another few days for this to sink in fully. But when it finally does, it’s the big game changer for Tani. This is not about him anymore. It’s about his friends and comrades whom he let down. This is his fault only, and it’s up to him to make it right so he can support them in the way they deserve, because he fucking cares more about them than his stupid ego. Etaoloth accepts his apology gracefully, and for a while, everything is good.

And that's another reason why I like Captain Oldfart Mc Oldtimer, he's got great judgement.