Comment on And then there were Three - Imperium Oneshots

  1. Lin (Guest) on Chapter 5 Sun 22 Jun 2025 11:02PM UTC

    I love this idea so much.

    Not really related, but Gunther dragging Kaiser off to be punished for Vinci breaking a glass makes me think about Kaiser in the whipping boy role for Ringksmof and Imperium. Nobody could punish the General, obviously, not even Thatcher or Wolfe or CMJ. So it is decided that whatever the usual punishment for whatever Walter does wrong is given to Junior. Junior agreed. It made sense, and anyway, Walter probably cared more about Junior suffering than himself suffering... But then that's also true for Thatcher. He's a big man. He take the chops or run the drills or whatever, but he hates to watch Junior go through that, and it evolves to include Junior taking Thatcher's punishments too. Thatcher's behavior and training were great before, but it's borderline perfect after that. He's NEVER willingly disobedient now, not even a little.

    When Wolfe joins Imperium, there's not even a question about it. He's entered with "the same deal Tim had," which basically means unless it's a massive infraction, like abandoning Walter in the ring to beat down or something, Marcel will bear the punishment. Wolfe agreed because he knows himself. He's prideful. He would see a punishment as a challenge. But watching Marcel hurt because of him, he wouldn't want that. Marcel takes each punishment with grace and never seems to MIND. He doesn't want to be punished, obviously, but he understands and respects the reason. Actually, the reason makes him feel loved. How incredible was it to have friends who cared more about his suffering that their own?

    Walter's line, though, was always Aichner. Naturally, Junior always bore his own punishment. He was sweet and kind and quiet. He always accepted the punishment whether it was strikes or running laps or being grounded. To be honest, Marcel probably rarely gets punishments of his own, despite the high standards he has placed on him. And that brings Walter back to Aichner. The Italian doesn't wish harm on Marcel or anything. He's never tried to pass off something as being Marcel's fault. BUT he never learns from Marcel being punished. If Wolfe stepped out of line last week, and Marcel was punished, then there's every chance Aichner would do basically the same thing this week. He needed to feel his own consequences.

    Anyway, Aichner can't wrap his head around it. Why does Wolfe (and Thatcher?) act like Marcel getting punished is the end of the world? Why does Marcel just accept it? More importantly to Aichner, though, is why is he the only person except Marcel to get punished himself?

    The thing is, Aichner never notices the apologies Marcel gets for punishments that belong to the others, how they dote on him with tea and warm baths with Epsom salts. He doesn't see Marcel is intentionally given "the good" blankets or how the others make sure he gets the second shower, only behind Walter, so he always gets hot water regardless of where they are staying. And just stuff like that.

    Basically, Junior/Marcel is the whipping boy, but it's only because everyone's instinct is to protect and coddle him, so the punishments actually do the job of getting everyone to behave.

    Comment Actions