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|| Republic Commando: Targets || 2005 || Short story || Military, Sci-fi || 18+ for violence and harrowing themes ||
I have multiple readings about the skirts jokes in RepComm:
1. Karen Traviss was forbid to explicitly write about queer relationships in RepComm (hello, we are in 2005) but she managed to put subtle gay jokes in it.
2. It's a depiction of the sissyfication as a form of humiliation in IRL military between men. A form of toxic masculinity.
3. The author wanted to put a contrast between aruetii cultures and Mandalorian culture. In Mandalorian culture wearing a "skirt" - KAMA - is not something inherently masculine or feminim, but when exposed to people who have gender binaries in mind, people will think men in skirt are fetishists, weirdos, gay, transwomen, etc... -> It makes you wonder where Fi was exposed to bigotry like this that made him aware of calling a men wearing a skirt can be an insult. Not from Kal or the Nulls that's for sure.
The skirt joke will be a reoccuring thing in Triple Zero and Fi is doing that because he knows he can tease Ordo with it (Ordo REACTS) and also knows he can get away with it (more or less).
But as for this scene in the present, Fi is in shock. He barely can't believe he survived the explosion and the first thing he does is mouth with Ordo. So I don't think he had malicious intents like deliberately humiliating Ordo. Doing jokes likes this is his coping mechanism so he doesn't fall apart right on the spot:
The ARC stared down at him, fists on hips. Skirata kept calling him Ordo: Skirata insisted men had names, not numbers, whatever the rules said.“Nice move,” said Ordo.“Nice skirt.” Fi indicated Ordo’s battle-scarred belt-spat, shredded at the hem like a flag that had been left too long on its mast. Fi wiped his armor, trying to forget what was smeared on the plastoid-alloy but the smell kept reminding him. “Really suits you. Handwashable?”Ordo’s expression was hidden behind his visor but his tone wasn’t. “It’s a kama,” he said, all ice.“Someday, Fi, someone’s going to belt you one,” Atin muttered. “And it’s probably going to be Ordo.”
I have multiple readings about the skirts jokes in RepComm:
1. Karen Traviss was forbid to explicitly write about queer relationships in RepComm (hello, we are in 2005) but she managed to put subtle gay jokes in it.
2. It's a depiction of the sissyfication as a form of humiliation in IRL military between men. A form of toxic masculinity.
3. The author wanted to put a contrast between aruetii cultures and Mandalorian culture. In Mandalorian culture wearing a "skirt" - KAMA - is not something inherently masculine or feminim, but when exposed to people who have gender binaries in mind, people will think men in skirt are fetishists, weirdos, gay, transwomen, etc... -> It makes you wonder where Fi was exposed to bigotry like this that made him aware of calling a men wearing a skirt can be an insult. Not from Kal or the Nulls that's for sure.
The skirt joke will be a reoccuring thing in Triple Zero and Fi is doing that because he knows he can tease Ordo with it (Ordo REACTS) and also knows he can get away with it (more or less).
But as for this scene in the present, Fi is in shock. He barely can't believe he survived the explosion and the first thing he does is mouth with Ordo. So I don't think he had malicious intents like deliberately humiliating Ordo. Doing jokes likes this is his coping mechanism so he doesn't fall apart right on the spot:
But Fi didn’t know any other way to keep his gut from shaking at times like this. It was how he coped. He was relieved and he was shocked, and now he had to get on with the job.
