#DONT even get me started on Kabru hes got me in even more of a chokehold than these two

[jinbedreams]

It's been so fascinating to see how strongly people react to Toshiro in Dungeon Meshi. When I first read that scene I didn't feel hurt by Toshiro's rejection of Laois at all, I was more shocked at Laios raising a hand to him in anger because Laios had always felt like a man free from such anger and aggression. Although it was very powerful to see that Laios was capable of feeling such a way. I felt the scene was very emotionally charged and an important moment for both characters.

So when I started hearing about how hurt other people were at seeing Toshiro lash out in frustration towards Laios, and seeing people express discomfort towards Toshiro I was surprised but not confused. Honestly I was more surprised at myself for not having a similar reaction because I have also been subject to being led on in "friendships" that the other person secretly despised (or at least did NOT feel the same). It can be very hurtful to discover that someone has built a resentment towards you but never made any attempt to clear the air with you until a point of crisis.

I am autistic and I struggle a lot with relationships but in this instance I didn't see myself in Laios' shoes (although I have been there) instead I found myself relating to Toshiro. A man trapped by social expectations, rigid rules of engagement hammered into him from a young age, only to discover that there is someone who does not follow these rules at all. Even more bizarrely they seem completely free from any of the consequences that would befall Toshiro if he ever deviated from his carefully cultivated mask.

I can say from experience it is confronting to try and unpack your own high masking trauma while also feeling compelled to support the low masking autistic person in your life. Even if the other person means no ill will and has not truly done anything wrong, having them unknowingly walk all over you can be enough to push you to a breaking point. There is an intense frustration that comes with seeing someone else get away with not following the social rules you have beaten yourself painfully into shape to fit.

Yes Toshiro could have chosen any moment to correct Laios on his name, or clarify his discomfort or his personal boundaries, but that is operating under the assumption that Toshiro feels safe enough to do so. He is a stranger in a strange land, and often in that position it is a safer choice to subject yourself to a level of discomfort simply to keep the general peace. Where my fellow high maskers at? We make biting our tongue a fucking art.

[dreamyrat]

now that i’ve written about sappy functional middle aged labru i’m thinking about more realistic and sad scenarios…

kabru who gets married young and has children because HEAR ME OUT he believes it makes him more trustworthy than being a bachelor… not quite aware of why he feels the need to appear as normal as possible around others and encouraging laios to do the same… continuing to be unaware of his feelings for laios, writing it off as purely sexual and therefore easy to deny and ignore, despite the fact that he’s closer to laios than anyone.

laios never marrying because the idea of disrupting the status quo is uncomfortable, since he just got used to being king and kabru’s family. also fundamentally disagreeing with kabru’s opinion on needing to get married just for the sake of others, by extension never having to confront his attraction to kabru, even being afraid to get near it mentally. thinking that his jealousy and insecurity stems purely from the threat of losing his closest friend and confidant, DEFINITELY no other reason.

I think kabru would marry a working class woman rather than nobility because they can relate to each other better, the idea they both have to serve people in some capacity, and all the turmoil and triumph that comes with that. I imagine kabru performing the role of doting father and husband very well. his wife loves how attentive he is and how he notices things about her no one else ever has. he’s patient but stern with the kids and earnestly connects with them. until he ultimately burns out and his wife realizes he can’t be honest with her, despite years of trying to get him to open up. up until that point his romantic relationships had all been fun and non committal, and she took pride in the fact she made him want to settle. she never could fully explain what was off about their relationship, because he really was very kind and loving, until she realizes how deeply kabru has repressed his emotions and cant help but question everything and feel she fundamentally misunderstood kabru as a person…

maybe a near death experience with laios triggers it, and kabru’s unable to take care of himself completely, he can’t mask his fear and neurosis and rage anymore, he can’t eat or sleep until he’s okay. he throws himself into his work and refuses to acknowledge that he is struggling when she asks him about it. her realizing that despite kabru’s best efforts to love her and care for her, his relationship with laios is more emotionally intimate than theirs, will always be what drives him and centers him, and she shouldn’t have to compete with that… she obviously mourns what she thought their marriage was, and can’t help but feel betrayed, but overtime starts to feel a deep empathy for him.

I guess I want to explore how kabru’s social dexterity has the potential to be just as destructive as laios’ social ignorance… even though they both have the best intentions and care about others.

when his wife divorces him, he is forced to be honest with laios about why she left, and he has immense guilt over not being able to love her correctly, about being fundamentally flawed and strange, the child that was raised to be a perfect doll, the monster kid no one wanted to play with, how his efforts to compensate for his innate wrongness blew up in his face anyway, which obviously laios can relate to better than anyone.

I think they would dance around each other after that, both now fully aware of the attraction but being so practiced in the art of denial they dont know what to do. It just feels so good to have it out in the open, they forgot that they can actually do something about it. Also kabru feeling like he shouldn’t be allowed to indulge after causing so much pain.

when they finally do get together, it’s surprisingly shy and chaste at first, like they are scared to face the depth of their desire and the years they wasted. it’s slow until it’s not, and everything bubbles to the surface, and they have mind blowing autistic sex. lol.

as for his children i think laios always really liked them as their weird uncle and since he has no heirs, he’d leave his kingdom to them. I’m not sure if kabru’s ex wife would be able to have a relationship with kabru after they get together, but maybe… maybe they could be friends.

[5-htagonist]

Laios, 1 4 and 8?

why do you like or dislike this character?

ahaaaaa i have so. so much. so much. but well you asked for it!

of course, to begin, hes very relatable. this isnt the only thing that makes me like a character, but its one of the main things that makes a character touch my heart and soul like laios has. i have had so many experiences that align with his...

like, i made my first Bestest Friend apparently by walking up to her and just talking about spunchbob. like weirdstyle. i dont remember it and i didnt remember it even 3 years after the fact lol but i dont know WHAT made me come up to her. that was not something i did. i guess maybe it was because she was new at school in the middle of the year? i dont know! but i saw her, thought she seemed interesting i guess and started talking at her.

when someone shows me that they will listen at all, i was unabashed with my interests. until one of my friends (who i had mistreated before in self interest) when i was 13 sent me a LONG skype message about how im annoying as shit. i dont remember what else it said, but part of it was talking about homestuck all the time and also being socially oblivious.

my sibling and i have a weird relationship- they do theclassic sibling thing of following what i do. their mental health problems (caused, in part, by our guardians not protecting us properly, and my explosive childhood temper) got so bad, i dont think i withdrew from them consciously because of this, but im sure now its because i was guilty. i didnt withdraw until i got my anger under control. i went to live elsewhere, didnt talk to my family at all for a long time, had a rough period of isolation, but eventually reconnected and even made friends again. my sibling has had their agency violated in a traumatizing manner. but instead of turning into a dragon they channeled their feelings into smoking weed and getting buff LMAO

on to more substantive stuff, i love that kui wrote him to be NORMAL! autism is normal! its normal to be neurodivergent! atypical, rare, uncommon, do not equate to abnormal. he isnt just An Autistic or Obsessive single track minded character, although of course he has plenty moments.

he is extremely intelligent, and i LOVE that other characters recognize this, even if its begrudging. i LOVE that he seems to be a good king post canon. i LOVE that he isnt totally socially incompetent, or portrayed as the Im Not Mean Im Just Blunt type. he cares so much, so deeply, for his friends. i love he and falins relationship. i love he and marcilles relationship, he and kabrus, he and shuros. i love how he approaches that conflict, in general!! he doesnt care about being insulted until his resolve is called into question. he is such a cool character!!!!!!! im so happy to have an adult character who is super autistic but not seen as infantile, or stupid, or behind the curve.

also, i love that he has confidence in what he knows, and is aware of the boundaries of his knowledge. i think this is something that shows the intelligence of a character better than them just Doing Smart Stuff. and i love that he can be smug. i love the smug laios images. theres just so much! im sure i could say so much more, but i love that hes loved. i love the chapters btwn the lions defeat and falins revival. i love that he gets recognized for his knowledge. i love that he has kabru, post canon, not because kabru can make up for his social shortcomings, but because kabrus mind works similarly to his and could give him a better sense of belonging, and confidence in his friendships.

also i love that hes puppy *scritches his head*

4. if you could put this character in other media, what would you put them in?

ive actually been trying to cook up crossover aus in my head lately! ive been thinking about if laios (and others) met the cast of mob psycho 100. i think he and serizawa would be great friends! ghosts are some of his least favorite monsters iirc, but i imagine laios would find the spirits of mp100 interesting regardless! but if he were born in that world he and falin for sure would be psychics. i wonder if he would find humans more or less interesting, then?

8. whats something the fandom does to this character that you despise?

i SO hate how a lot of fans interpret the kui interview where she says she didnt intentionally write laios as autistic, she wrote him as someone normal and who anyone can relate to, as if that means he definitely is NOT autistic. like. the thing that makes it autism is how a certain AMOUNT of traits and struggles are present your DAILY life, across different settings!!!!!

so obviously you dont need to have autism to experience these traits, a1. an abnormal social approach, or a2. to have trouble with body language, or a3. to have trouble with peer relations, or b1. to stim, or b2. to experience rigidity/rituals, or b3. to have circumscribed interests, or b4. to have sensory abnormalities. none of these individually or even having a few of them mean youre autistic.

but if you experience all 3 A conditions, and at least 2 B conditions, that were present from a super young age, that are present in your daily life across differnt settings, and causes issues, you probably have autism.

and obviously you cant diagnose a fictional character with a condition weve categorized in the real world. BUT!!! it also doesnt hurt anyone to recognize a common diagnosis in a character. and its pretty obvious laios experiences all the traits, across settings, daily.

he walks up to shuro out of nowhere just bc he needs a party member and thought he looked like an other (which he identifies with). he doesnt notice seemingly basic parts of his companions outfits where the others have no trouble. he has trouble understanding how his peers feel on the day to day (but tends to be very perceptive with those who are emotionally open, even where others dont notice, like with marcille.)

he has been seen stimming at least twice, he has a rigid belief that monsters have a more desirable existence than humans, obviously he has a special interest, and he definitely has sensory abnormalities (laying basically naked in the snow, the clothing drawings from kui where he doesnt like the textures/neckline of the sweaters, he has sensitive hearing, a discriminating palette, and food texture issues. idr if he has any visual/olfactory abnormalities, but he has a high attention to detail.)

like. at that point, to say hes DEFINITELY NOT autistic, you have to argue he has not experienced these traits since he was younger than like 5, that these traits dont cause issues in his daily life, or that he is intellectually disabled. the ONLY one that could be a legitimate is that he didnt experience these from a young enough age.... but even still, thats only if you only pay attention to the main canon and not any extras.

you dont have to have these symptoms at full capacity as a small child, a lot of it only becomes apparent once social demands are too high. BUT! in the laios and falin page where laios's father introduces him to falin, they note he didnt have much of a reaction, and he doesnt. typically, children have a very strong reaction to a new sibling, as young as a year or 2 old. sometimes its anger, sometimes its joy, sometimes its confusion.

laios was 3, and didnt have an apparent reaction, but DID go tell all the animals. to me, this is an excellent demonstration of a prototypical socio emotional reciprocation issues- the animals cant reciprocate with words, and he seemingly has no desire to talk about it to his parents, who should be around a lot at least due to his age. he shouldnt have any reason to avoid them at this point!

but, to be fair, people dont see words like "autism" and "adhd" and "bpd" and "ocd" and think of collections of impairing traits, they think of specific types of people who are defined by solely by their medicalization. so the only way, to these people, for laios to be definitively autistic, is for there to be some sort of in universe explanation for diagnosis of autism, or it has to be word of god, which wouldnt happen (because narratively, saying laios is autistic doesnt add anything, hes the same character.)

i dont really see this attitude tooooo often on here, but regardless, it displays a fundamental misunderstanding of what people are saying when they call laios autistic. lmfao.

also, i hate when people portray him as like. Uniquely sexless or incapable of romance? its not a romance story. very few characters are shown having explicitly romantic or sexually charged interactions, but they do not get this same treatment. because yknow. autism isnt sexy i guess.

[non-fantasy]

ok i have sone words now

the way i blindly trusted laios even when it looked like he had lost then i thought oh he planned all of this (<- foolish assumption, no precedent for me to believe this, his plans often fail) and when things worked out i was so proud of him and everyone is like WOAH I CANT BELIEVE LAIOS PLANNED ALL THIS!! and kabru asked "omg laios did you plan all this from the start?" and laios face became a loading screen like. mf was just so into his special interest (monster) he accidentally succeeded at doing the impossible and saved the world....

the way marcille's lil gay ass was still able to be saved because saving falin was more important to her than her biggest desires and her life goal. pointing at her entire arc. just all of it i dont have words to describe my thoughts theres so many.

izutsumis lil chapter as her fumbass figures out only after everything that she stayed w the group this whole time because she actually does care about them. the way senshi is like a father to her. She ate the pie w vegetables in it so she can be healthy and live longer and see marcille. she was sad about not being able to hang out w her friends immediately after saying those arent her friends. Girl theyre ur besties. The way she got said when yaad thought he was gonna die cause she wanted to go on adventures together... shes so full of love and she doesnt even realize it....

chilchuck wanting to help the other halflings before he goes on to start his shop because making sure his people arent hungry means so much to him its ok bestie laios will never let anyone be hungry in his kingdom the halflings r safe u can go reconnect w ur family and ur grown ass daughters.

senshi just. Actually everything about senshi tbh. i dont have words to express my undying live for senshi. The man of all time. Peak performance.

Thistle. Thats the whole sentence.

Falin!!!! Falin who we get to see so little of but whos so important to the entire plot. Façin ehos full of love and compassion and curiosity and admiration for her friends and her brother even tho shes incredibly powerful on her own!! Falin who is so happy about her fuzzy feathery legs and shes so loved.

The way everyone worked together to eat all that meat. Even if they didnt like the idea at first.

MITHRUN!!!! MITHRUN REALIZING HE HAS WORTH EVEN LEFTOVER VEGETABLES HAVE WORTH MITHRUN WHO REALIZES HE CAN FIND NEW REASONS TO LIVE!!! KABRU AND THE ELVES GIVING HIM IDEAS TO HELP HIM MOVE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

ough my heart.......

OUUGHHHH YEAH RIGHT YOU ARE HITTING ALL THE NAILS ON ALL THE HEADS YOUR BRAIN IS SOOOO HUGE ILU UUUUWAAA

[fedethemace]

Giving my two cents seeing the comments there: even if It looks like youre saying different things from One another, you guys are, infact, all corredt. Let me explains why. Longass character analysis ahead.

Also, MANGA SPOILERS ALERT, SO BEWARE!‼️‼️‼️‼️

You gotta take in the social environment difference there. Yes, Toshiro has grown both as a rich master, hes polite and shy (as reason why he idealizes Falin even).

He also is from a completely different culture than the two siblings, and hes not uses to Laios overly friendliness (which Is a trait that, believe me, I myself share with him with people I'm comfortable with, not blaming the blond Boi for BEING like this).

Laios should not mask Better, not at all: the man should Just learn how to share this trait with people whom are comfortable with this trait. Learning get more social skills isn't masking, It IS respecting other people's boundaries instead.

Notice how the writer points out that some customs in the Island which Is very "general European" coded has different customs from the East, where Toshiro Is from, in his case from a very japanese coded country. There Is not only differences, but unfortunaltely, casual racism as well.Hell, Kabru party even asks Rin the very insensitive question if She knows them because they're both from the East! Sounds familiar?

Which brings us to the mispronouncing of Toshiro name. Can you Imagine coming to a foregein place, learn a new language, try to mind your own business, you start to really like a girl that seem so similar to you, calm and polite, and suddently your cowoker thinks you guys are bestfriends. He keeps mispronouncing your name, gets in your own personal space all the times, he interrupts moments with the girl that you like, and you feel incredibile uncomfortable, to the point that at One point It explodes in a fistfight, you tell the guy that he has to stop, that hes the worse, that you were NEVER bestfriends, why cant this guy get a hint, why Is he so reckless?? Why the fuck did he became a criminal, purring the girl you love in a compromising position with th authorities????

But...on the other hand. Imagine that you're like Laios. You Always lived isolated. Your only friend Is your Little sister, Who became an outcast for a field your parents and your Town dont understand. You are all you have. You don't understand social queue well at all, and are NOT initially aware of It. Just looks like everyone dislikes you for some reason and you don't get why.

Then you and your Lil sis start a new job. You DO get Friends with your cowokers. Sure sometimes they tease you, but they deeply care about you, THEY SPELL IT OUT TO YOU as you are about to get in trouble for your sister wellbeing!

You finally found people you belong with...and then the One you thought you bond with the most, that you considered your bestfriend, tells you that he despises you and you're an horrible person. That you got your sister in danger and are NOT his friend. Then why the hell didnt he told you out BEFORE and didnt tell you out loud??? You WOULD have listened, as many times as you did before. You are so hurt, you guys get in a fistfight even.

This Is literally what the comments there accurately depicted as an autistic nightmare. And I think I wrote enough to explain that this Is 100% a cultural/social Clash and neurodivergence Clash. Because yes I think Toshiro also has a form of neurodivergence + he has a higher status compared to Laios. He cant understand how someone like him cannot take an hint, he probably thinks he Is being annoying on purpose. They're completely different and cannot find a way to get along then, right? Well...

The fact Is tho...they do overcome this at the end.

Not because Laios "stops being autistic", not Toshiro has stopped being himself either: they just grew to understand eachother more. Toshiro also learns Who the real Falin Is (not an idealized girl of his dreams, but a strong sweet Maiden with a LOT of flaws), and despite his feeling persisting, he doesnt assume she'll fall for him... because She never loved him, but grew to like him as a friend, and Will see him in the future.

Dungeon meshi Is an Amazing story about food, growth, and living with your own disability, your own culture, being yourself, and start to respect other people differences and boundaries.

If there's One thing that this story teaches you, Is that people don't live in a vacuum and there are some things that we Will initially fight over. We could LET them head us to war like It often happens...

Or we could learn from eachother and live in peace.

Thank you for coming to mu Ted Talk.

Final disclaimer: I am NOT a Person of color, I'm infact a white European from Italy. All I did was giving my two cents as a probably neurodivergent guy adapting to social queues well into adulthood and learn to respect other people and other cultures. DM surely helped. Thanks again!

Interrupting Falin talk to bring you the scene that shows why Laios really great autistic representation and why Shuro is the worst. he's a well written character but I hate him

[kemafili]

Laois Dungeonmeshi!

GAHHHHHHHH oh holy smokes ok i have been getting ready for this all my life alrgiht i want to be as brief as possible bc if i start to real rant ill never finish

favorite thing about them: puppy sunshine attitude on natural moments, when he needs to change he will do so, sometimes (or maybe even always) he fails at it since he cant read social cues correctly, i adore his social skills epic fail, like i love your autism

least favorite thing about them: idk maybeee ummmm idk nothing i think

favorite line: im going to have to list them

they let me milk a minotaur

i wanted to be born as a quadrupedal monster, too!

at least let me count her nipples!

why am i the only person with a blindfold on..?

im being insulted in a language i dont undersand! and it sounds really nasty!

thats...! so lame.

Just being long-limbed isnt a talent

brOTP: Namari and Laius, they are very fun to see interact with each other, they seem to have a very clear opening on how one likes something a lot like an hyperfixation, Laius appreaciates Namaris knowledge of weapons and such and Namari can appreciate Laius interest for monsters like a tad strange thing but she seems to come around it, in the background panneling of the first-ish chapters and maybe even later on when namari is shown as a flashback, it can be seen that they might have been the second ones to spend more time togheter (Namari and Chilchuck being first, not including Marcille and Falin bc they are basically stuck togheter like glue), oh shit also also the adventurers bible has a few comics where namari and laius are drinking togheter and shes helping him with some shit issues and then they also speak on body hair shit lmfao omggggg fuck my life whatever uuughh i am so normal about them, i do really like them in liek aaaa ummm i say brotp bc i feel like they are very silent of romantic emotion but i also dont want to say everything is platonic lol, they bros in the way straight men that have gay sex are you feel me like that picture of two men almost kissing and it says this is how straight men hang out.

OTP: Laius and Kabru, liek omggg at first i was like they are toxic as hell but just someting so hillyius about them lmfao idk the chad (Kabru) has a love hate situation with the Nerd (Laius) and the nerd doesnt want teh chad? hillaryus idgaf keep chasing that piece of meat though.

nOTP: Laius and Marcille ☹ guhhhhh omg they are besties and Marcille has been so clear on not wanting anything with laius romantically so its liek guhhhhhhh i dont even know what to add here

random headcanon: i said liek 50 million times in the past his favorite food would be cheesecake bc he loves dairy but that is canon now so i want to add that Flan is also his second favorite annnnndddd uhhhh i have so much shit to addd here but i dont have it on my thoguhts rn bc i am Star Trekpilled so i am forgetting my own written lore but like my friends on the server once said

unpopular opinion: i dont like when peopel paint him as a kid or as an idiot because of the autism shit, like he is very much aware of other stuff, saying he doesnt even know what sex is did you forgot when he joked about the crabs inside those treasure shit (i forgot the proper name lmfao) saying if you saw their bottoms ud know their gender and he had a smirk on his face and Chilchuck got pissed off about it or when he found out the armors had sex while holding hands or when the Marcille succubi showed up he knew itd be fucked up if everyone else knew come the fuck on he knows what the hell is up, we need to sexualize autism okay and this doesnt go only there though btw liek stop making him dumber he knows what is up idk how to word it correctly but yeah he cant caught up on social cues but its not a whole umbrella of him being a dumbass

song i associate with them: woah i think its hilarryus that as one of my favorite characters i havent made him a playlist but i feel like hes just. so , so unmusical, like that before mentioned adventurers bible chapter where he says i cant sing or dance i was like yup i am ppretty sure you cant, he doenst seem to have a rhythim LMFAO id say anything that is related to medieval music thats what reminds me of him

favorite picture of them: hi

i hate having to choose only one picture but i love blushing and i love eating so this one

[survivor-all-stars-blog]

EP 10: “Did I really win or is it an alternative win?” - Logan [ PART I ]

matt exposing the dynamics of the game to me is my kink

most of it i already know but i just play dumb

also, apparently people know me and mj are close? so... yikes. i need new allies

I honestly don't know what the hell happened today other than it really sucks to go to two tribals, but I'm laughing because:

[2017-01-25 11:35:37 PM] Owen (Myanmar Host): apparnelty gage told the vl upon arrival that the alliance of u me and logan is "taking over the game" :~) oh we did that huh

And I really almost voted Owen out tonight. If this is a real thing....

ALRIGHT serious update time. Chronologically since the reward:

(-) Both my tribes won. Hell yeah. And thank god Steffen is only around on one tribe, because PHEW. (-) Neither adventure led to anything good, and one actually led to a disadvantage which I immediately shared with my tribes. I'm curious as to how I could be disadvantaged on a list comp. (-) The good news is that between MJ and myself, we've officially concluded that Mars is tapped out. There's nothing left there unless taking a different pair of sunglasses at the start gives something different, and I'm not convinced. (-) Carson and I collaborated as well, as did Steffen and I. Both went to Mercury and guessed at SPF numbers. This is going to be so much random guesswork and process of elimination. I'll be impressed if it's gone any time soon. (-) Like an IDIOT, I totally spaced on telling Kait and she wasted her adventure going to Mars. Dammit. I need to get better at looping her in on things. (-) I called with Lydia yesterday just to soothe her nerves before the vote. We talked politics and board games and it was a super chill and mellow call. One thing we didn't especially discuss is game, and I think it did both of us some good. Turned out her fears were totally unfounded too, which is great. (-) RIP Gage? It's a shame because I like the dude quite a bit, but it's not like we spoke very much. (-) Everyone going to tribal again two rounds after the first is too stressful. Eep. (-) As soon as that came out, Matt came to me saying he knows I'm his target. Which... is a weird way to play that. Why tackle me in an immediately aggressive tone rather than try and continue construction on the half-built bridge? (-) Anyway, he goes on to tell me that this game is all about cliques and it's not meant to be 'Friendvivor.' Super clever. I'm not sure it's about cliques so much as it is about who works well with each other. If it were that simple, Lydia and Kait probably would have taken a million shots at each other by now. (-) But... he made a point about Jakey being the obvious target and about how it wouldn't be in my best interests to get Matt out. He makes a lot of sense. Matt's not gunning for me. It makes more sense for MJ to keep Jake than it does for me, and that's why MJ is the one pushing the Matt idea. Hm. (-) I'm worried for Ruthie on Andaman. She seems like the obvious round-delayed revolving-door boot. I don't like it, but I mean... who else am I going to vote? Not Steffen. As wishy washy as he is, he doesn't seem inclined to vote me out any time soon. And he's super pleasant to talk with when he's not hemming and hawing. Not Lydia or Jack for obvious reasons. Not Kait because duh. Not Carson because he's proven to be an even better ally than I'd anticipated. Ruthie fits into the Steffen category quite a bit, but she also wanted to keep Jake last round. And I know she's against Wes and MJ and Kait, three people who are in my corner. (-) Ugh. I don't like booting Ruthie again. She's the kind of person I'd love to see win if I couldn't. But strategically, our games have been at odds since the Wes vote. I'm trying to find a reason why it makes sense for me to keep her, and the only reasons that come up are applicable to everyone else on the tribe. Friendly. Fun to have around. Not likely targeting me any time soon (?). So I'm not gonna be the one to throw out the name. I need to bide my time and wait until it's beneficial for me to say a name again. Right now, I'm best served to keep my hopes up high, head down low. (-) God, imagine ANOTHER "lol we wouldn't send every tribe to tribal Ryan's not that evil! BUYBACK COMP!" bit. I'd die. (-) Super bummed to read about the VL leaks this morning. Who really wins from affecting the integrity of the game like that? There's plenty of information to process within the game without making the conscious decision to go outside it to gather more.

tl;dr: I like people, I'm dumb for not sharing adventure clues with my close ally, calling with Lydia is fun, targets are Jakey on Thotse and Ruthie on Andaman. Time to go to work.

Oh, and this list comp has always and will always suck mega donkey balls.

I said Thotse. I meant Kabru. Old habits die hard. #megara tribe is still best tribe

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH I AM KAIT ON HER OTHER TRIBE HAVING SO MANY FINAL 2 DEALS THAT SHE COULDN'T SUBMIT A LIST! I HOPE THEY SEND HER PACKING, I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T RANK HER LAST HOW STUPID AM I? 

Kait I love you, I really do but I am going to be so salty if I get out before you. <3

Pat is my favorite thing about this game. 

as nice as it is to float, my name is bound to come up, and it has, from what pat tells me.

most likely, its ruthie going home on andaman, but i REALLY dont want that because she doesnt deserve it and i already feel bad for voting her.

also me and ruthie are just raging about how cliquey this season is

i feel like im about to Get Got™

I'm trying to make Andaman feel paranoid by telling them all to vote for me.  HOPEFULLY this will work and they will think I have an idol and my life will be spared.  This is either really genius or really stupid but I can't wait to see it all play out!  

Pat is legit my favorite person on Andaman though and I'm more than likely going to be voting him out so... we'll see. I'll probably be down to one life but I love little miracles <3

I really want to trust Jimmy/Jenn for this next vote but I'm awful nervous. I'm kinda half tempted to pull out the idol just to direct votes off me in case Owen has an idol. Apparently Jenn spoke with him to tell him he's leaving in game B which sucks because now if he has an idol he'd most likely play it in game A, which would send me home if he votes me, unless he'd like to revenge boot Jenn. I'm scared yet again that my time has come. I don't think Jimmy would lie to me though, but maybe I should push to shift the votes towards Logan should an idol appear...

also it looks like Matt will be "leaving" but I think he has sourced an idol which is great! Rooting for him all the way. 

[1/27/17, 8:54:15 PM] Ruthie: Who should I vote for on Andaman, why is no one suggesting names? D: [1/27/17, 8:55:24 PM] carson (tibet host): Idk people probably think you have an idol when you say to vote you so theyre scared sdjlsjkd [1/27/17, 8:58:06 PM] Ruthie: LOL I wish I had an idol. [1/27/17, 8:58:26 PM] Ruthie: Everyone is still voting for me right?

ESSSSSSSS.  The fact that this may work? Yes. <3 

i have a REALLY bad feeling about this tribal, and honestly, im just hoping i stay in both games.

if matt votes me like ruthie is saying and then plays an idol, im fucked. SO! i might throw a vote somewhere, who knows.

Hmm.

[holmsister]

Cont.d

Isn't this post about the Winged Lion too?

We're getting there.

The Winged Lion's introduction is very subtle. At the start he looks like a random decor choice. Then in the Golden Country chapter we are told about his role as protector deity and that whoever unseals him will defeat the Dungeon Lord and become the next king. Laios has been apparently singled out for this.

Then nothing for a bit... then the succubus chapter. Yeah. Remember succubi? The monster/demon from Kabru's backstory?

The ones we meet are definitely the monster version.

We are told again: the demon succubi are legend. Tho Laios is right, it IS quite mysterious.

And then Laios drops the bomb:

His succubus fantasy started normal enough (for Laios), with a very silly and goofy fantasy of a monster Marcella turning everyone into a monster. But THEN, Laios finds himself conversing with a God, and as noted by various posts I would link to if I could, that's when the real seduction scene starts. Scylla Marcille was just for fun. The WL is the pro.

And, well, let me cut the chase here: we discover soon enough that the charming WL is, in fact, a demon. Who seduces mortals by granting their wishes, much like the succubus demon of legend... altho he doesn't use them as incubators for its children, but rather feeds on their desires and uses their minds to fuel the dungeon, that then acts as a honeypot to attract more humans.

But here's what's interesting to me:

The WL, much like Kabru, has been observing Laios for the chance to introduce himself.

The WL, much like Kabru, has singled out Laios as possible conqueror of the dungeon, and much like Kabru, is worried about his motivations.

In a story in which characters are often poised to be foils and mirrors of each other, i dont think that's a coincidence.

That seems like an asspull dude

IT SO ISNT

1) Kabru's backstory about being possibly the child of a succubus is an extra. The main meat of his story remains the same even if we cut it. We could just say his mom was, say, the widow of a dungeoneer.

Why introduce it at all, if not to introduce a parallelism with the WL?

2) game recognises game.

The WL recognises Kabru might be an obstacle in his plan to groom Laios into the perfect dungeon lord to execute his plan, and enacts a mini-sabotage:

We know at this point the WL is controlling Kensuke. Like three pages later hes speaking thru it. Why else would Kensuke show up at this time, if not to make sure Kabru can't lie his way thru his one and therefore drive a wedge between him and Laios?

Later on, this dialogue happens:

Again I wish I could link to the post that first made me realise that the WL's last line is meant for Kabru as much as Laios. In fact, giving that he's still answering Kabru's comment, it might be meant MORE for him. It sure irks Kabru the wrong way.

"I know what [the WL] is going to say..." Probably because it's similar to what KABRU would say. Again, game recognises game.

So, is Kabru like... an evil demon?

Nah. In fact, i think Kabru as a foil to the Winged Lion entirely exist to say: the desire to connect and understand other humans is great. Kabru is someone who Laios can connect with and feel understood by in the same way the WL made him feel, without the manipulation.

The WL consumes wishes. Kabru wants to understand why people do what they do. It's very similar. But. Consuming is necessarily a one-way action. There's a predator and a prey, a perpetrator and a victim. Understanding can, and should, be reciprocal.

We cannot know if Laios would have made all of the same choices had he not met Kabru. It's possible, Kabru definitely had an influence - we see his little face when Laios thinks back on imposing his wishes on everyone, for starters.

Crucially, however, what got Laios' ear in the end wasn't Kabru's experienced seduction. It was this:

Being a *friend* is different than being an object of seduction. It's reciprocal. Kabru comes clean with his desire to understand Laios, and in exchange, he reveals something of himself. In order to truly understand others, one must in the end submit to the mortifying ordeal of being understood, on an even level.

Ok, my long delayed post about Kabru and the Winged Lion. This does not end here, I'm adding more in a reblog.

Heavy on spoilers. Taking the extra material from @dunmeshistash who I apologise to as usual

Let's start here:

I don't care if you're a wasp you owe him 22 years of alimony

Two important takeaways here:

1) Kabru's hatred of monsters is caused not just by the Utaya catastrophe, but also from the fact that even before that, his unusual eye color was connected to monsters in local lore, and this led to ostracisation and, we can imagine, violence or at least the threat of violence towards him and his mother, serious enough that she escaped to Utaya, aka the place where the dungeon would kill her.

Kabru crucially does not place the fault for this on his father's family, but on himself for being born with 'monstrous eyes'. This is a normal way of reacting to ostracization in children, interiorising instead of projecting the trauma. It's much easier to imagine a world in which there's actually something wrong with you than one in which others might make you suffer for no reason. Monsters are also much more likely to be offered as an explanation by the adults than the actual more realistic explanations (infidelity or rape), which would not be considered appropriate.

This means that indirectly, child Kabru feels that his own 'monstrosity' is responsible for his mother moving to Utaya to protect him and ultimately dying.

2) in the Dungeon Meshi world there are specifically legends about *demon* succubi and incubi (real world lore says succubi prey on men and incubi on women and I assume that's what Laios is referring to with the distinction, but besides that lets assume theyre one and the same), distinct from the *actual monsters* succubi. The demons and monsters have a similar MO of using a person's desires to capture them, but while monster succubi suck a person's vital force, the demons supposedly use the men for their seed and the women for their womb to reproduce (again, completing dungeon meshi lore with bits of real world lore here). Laios, our local monster expert, thinks those demons are just legend. He tells us there are monsters that do use people as incubators for their eggs but I highly doubt that's Kabru's case, uncanny resemblance to a wasp notwithstanding (Laios...)

From here we go to:

Kabru's incredible rizz

This is where the tumblr search function spat in my face and ran away with the rest of my references while giggling. Oh well.

It's noted over and over in canon and extra material that Kabru is charming. More than that: Kabru *will do anything to get someone to like him*.

Worth noting that Daya and Holm *like* Kabru. This is not them disparaging an acquaintance, this is them levelling a criticism at a good friend, a criticism that seems to have been levelled at him before even ("it's no surprise...").

So, important takeaway: Kabru isn't just charming in general, he VERY SPECIFICALLY makes an effort to be charming. He needs people to like him, to trust him, and in order to obtain this, he's willing to lie and pretend.

Like with the Canaries: he needs them to trust him so they will keep him privy to their plans. So he plays up the poor innocent baby orphan angle:

And with Laios? The what (pretending to like monsters) we know, but why?

Kabru thinks Laios is the only one who can conquer the dungeon without the elves or the dwarves intervening and taking control. He is however very worried about his motivation. He wants to know why Laios is going so deep into the dungeon - beyond wanting to save his sister. What motivates him? Can he be trusted?

In the Toshiro chapters we find out that he has been trying to get in contact with him for weeks, possibly months, but this is the first time he has had a real possibility to meet him, and in order to make sure to leave a positive memory and possibly be an influence in the future, he pretends to be aligned with Laios' as much as possible, including hiding his hatred of monsters. I have written tons on this that has now been lost to tumblr like tears in the rain, but: I do not joke when I say that I think Kabru is flirting with Laios before and after the harpy egg incident. Let's be clear: Kabru's intentions are not romantic at this point. But he has noticed how lovestruck Laios was with Toshiro before their confrontation, and he's thinking, well, if I can get him to develop a similar crush on me, I can probably get him to listen to me more easily. Like I can mince words and put things in scary quotes but that's straight up what's happening. Kabru is trying to establish a close bond that wasn't there before: it might not be necessarily sexual, but it's definitely a type of seduction.

It kinda works.

The rest in a reblog because I ran out of space.