#he was still on the islands!

[0vergrowngraveyard]

i just dont think the transition from being around someone you raised since he was 4 and having someone to come home to after a solo adventure or a few weeks of exploration to that person being gone for an indeterminate amount of time and always returning to an empty house wouldn't be very smooth-

[loriache]

"I've been waiting for ages for somebody to unmask them."

This moment tends to elicit negative reactions in a first read through, and I've got some opinions about why where Kabru is coming from here actually makes a lot of logical sense. So I thought I'd elaborate on that.

I think people hear this and go, "He thinks they must be hiding something because they gave money to someone? What a cynic." Or "he dislikes them because they did charity?? What's wrong with this guy!". And obviously, a lot, a lot is wrong with him. But I think this makes more sense than it seems at first glance! What people evaluating this judgement miss is why Kabru is paying attention to Laios and co to begin with.

Kabru knows of the Touden siblings because (he's a little bit of a stalker-) he is keeping an eye on all the relevant parties in events developing on the island, in order to be able to guide them to his preferred outcome. This includes adventurers because they are the ones actually exploring the dungeon! He's well aware that something as minor as internal tensions between party members could be key to the historical events that are developing. (He would love the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.)

His desired outcome is that whatever the rewards are of breaking the dungeon's curse, whether that's kingship or the ancient elven secrets of dungeons, are claimed by:

A) a short lived person

B) Someone who will be a good, effective leader and/or use those secrets and the power they carry wisely, with foresight, and to establish a political bloc for short lived people.

The person he can best trust to do this is, of course, himself. But due to his PTSD regarding dungeons and monsters, he's not able to develop the necessary skills to conquer the dungeon. Once he realises this, he starts looking for someone else who he can support to that end.

But most of the adventurers don't have any intentions of conquering the dungeon, don't have the skills, or are unsuitable in other ways. In fact, it seems like some potentially suitable people are the Toudens. There are a lot of good rumours about them going around - they actually seem to have a very positive reputation! That's what Kabru means when he says "unmask".

So when Kabru is observing something like them giving money to an old comrade from their gold-peeling days, he doesn't consider it a problem because "they're giving money to this person who doesn't actually need it" or because they must have some dark secret if they act superficially nice. I think he actually understands this situation and what it implies about Laios (in particular) perfectly well.

Laios and Falin gave money to an old comrade who got injured and couldn't work. That person then healed up but kept taking their money. Then he used the money to start smuggling illicit goods to the island.

The key is that for Kabru, the problem here is the same as with the corpse retrievers - people using the dungeon's resources to fuel dangerous, selfish, or violent pursuits cause problems for the island, attract more criminals and people with motives other than breaking the curse, and increase the chances of the whole situation ending in tragedy.

Kabru is willing to work with the Shadow Lord of the island if it gets him to his goal - he isn't scrupulous - but the criminal element of the island increasing is something he sees as a major issue.

Also, when you're evaluating someone as a candidate for power, riches, secrets, potentially kingship - then being curious about how the money you give to people is going to be used is kind of a relevant trait!

Interpersonally, Kabru's actually very easygoing - I mean, Mickbell isn't exactly an upstanding guy, is he! But Kabru likes him and they get along well. These traits wouldn't be a problem at all in a friend, or a comrade, or someone Kabru was confident he could use. But he can't get a handle on Laios, and Laios is someone who has the potential to be a major player!

On Laios' end, this is the same as with the marriage seeker who joined their party. She kept asking for things and he gave them to her, because he tries to be nice to others. He even gives her money! It's the exact same thing.

That's fine, but it became a problem because he basically wasn't interested in her motives, didn't notice she was trying to manipulate him, and it also didn't occur to him that the other party members would notice or be affected. We can assume the situation with the gold peeler is the same. When Kabru says that "It's not that they're bad people, they just aren't interested in humans," he isn't wrong.

The extent to which this is true of Laios is linked to his autism imo, (because it isn't just disinterest - he genuinely isn't able to notice nonverbal cues that people are lying to him or have ulterior motives) but to a greater or lesser extent I think it's a very common trait. Most people aren't actually that interested in other people who aren't close to them. Kabru is the weird one here. It isn't an issue except as a leader - which is why we see an immediate comparison to the Island's Lord, because that's how Kabru is evaluating them.

And disinterest in/lack of ability with people to the extent Laios exhibits it, it does, actually, make him a worse leader... it's just that as we see in the story, people can help him out. The rest of the party tell him the marriage seeker is taking advantage of him so he tells her he can't give her special treatment anymore. They're pissed and it's a crisis point - he couldn't have recovered their trust without Marcille and Falin - but that's exactly the point. With Marcille and Falin, he was able to recover their trust.

And he has other good traits that make up for it, such as his intelligence, strategic knowledge, open-mindedness and sense of fairplay.

Kabru doesn't disqualify Laios as a candidate based on what he sees about him from afar, though - he still tries very hard to get close to him, obviously hoping that if he manages he can steer Laios to defeat the dungeon and make up for his lack of people-skills in the aftermath. (Which... he does eventually achieve that goal!) He completely fails until the events of the story, so... definitely I think "They just aren't interested in humans" could also partially be a stung reaction to Laios' complete disinterest in him.

Anyway, that's my read on what exactly Kabru's "issue" with Laios is. Obviously, once he does find out what Laios' true nature is like - about his love for monsters - he develops an entirely new set of fears about Laios' priorities. But since Laios kept that a secret until the start of the story, he has no idea of that yet.

Given all that, I think it's interesting that he says that he doesn't think that the Toudens are suitable to defeat the dungeon, and that he's hoping they'll turn out to be the thieves. As some of his few potential candidates, people who he thinks may play a big role in the island's future, you'd think he'd hope they would be good people!

I suppose it's better, in his eyes, because it means that he's involved in something "interesting". They haven't just had their stuff stolen by regular criminals (boring, puts them further away from his goal) - they've been caught up in the beginning stages of "a historic event". The desperate and dwindling group forgetting morals in their quest to retrieve their lost comrade probably appeals to his sense of melodrama. Because he also just... loves drama.

Despite it being "uglier than anything he was expecting", he still pursues Laios as the person he wants to conquer the dungeon pretty much as soon as it becomes clear that he won't be able to do it himself and they are out of time. That's because... well, to be fair, there aren't any other options. And he fits standard A: he's short-lived!

and Kabru still hopes he can fit standard B, too, and be persuaded to use the power he wins for good. No matter how many nightmares he has about Laios, or whether he thinks about killing him. He doubts him, but ultimately he puts his faith in him and seems happy after the manga's ending that he made the right decision.

[o0kawaii0o]

Happy Valentines 💕

[demaparbat-hp]

Oh, Aang, you're really in it now...

This is Zu—I mean, Jian Li and Katara's second meeting in the Kyoshi Warriors AU. The first proper one, anyway.

Once they get through a minor difference of opinion or two (“I can carry my own basket!” “Never said you—” “I'm not weak!” “I didn't—” “Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean—” “Would you listen for once, woman?!” ) they'll become nearly inseparable.

For now Jian Li will carry Katara's basket all the way to the Kyoshi Warriors' dojo and, once there, they'll mercilessly tease Sokka when they see him in uniform.

[br1ghtestlight]

whenever ppl talk about the contestant sleeping arrangements i just think about that one tumblr post that was like Why would they confirm that the ii contestants prefer sleeping in normal beds but mephone makes them sleep outside on the wet grass like dogs when they're in competition why would they show us that. THATS LITERALLY ALL I THINK ABOUT NOW like what is this bro?????

i dont even blame mephone cuz 1. we know he ALSO sleeps outside on the sad wet soggy grass outside with the contestants like a dog without an owner and he never had a real bed to sleep in 2. he probably didn't even think about it until hotel oj was created

but it's so sad cuz the contestants had NEVER slept in a bed before. we know they had no lives before the competition like imagine how much chronic back pain they have as a collective!!!!! theyve been sleeping on the COLD HARD GROUND!!!!!!!

[cinemaocd]

Jack Rackham is my favorite character in Black Sails because Toby Schmitz is the only actor who realizes he is in a prequel for Muppet Treasure Island...

[beatcroc]

i keep seeing this tweet and it keeps making me think of them... 🤝my man

not to do them any disservice, they are like genuine actual legitimate friends who respect eachother beyond just their mutual of disdain for eggman. but surely they must joke about it..... we didn't really get to see much of them being realbuds at the end of scrapnik but i want to believe they are So homies now

[wikoymi]

postgame komahina househouse with pet cat named aki (after chiaki) and she really likes nagito. and hajime i guess but if nagitos home she’ll only sit on hajime if nagito is sitting on hajime

[rapidhighway]

i have to listen to an audiobook before tomorrow im working im workingg i swear, more knuckles gijinka cause apparently, i love drawing him

[fist-of-vengeance]

john locke is such an absolute nutjob and im obsessed with him. imagine having the world's most horrendous daddy issues and chosing to cope with this by forcibly adopting everyone you meet. even if they already have a father. john saw micheal's dysfunctional relationship with walt and went "okay, my son now." charlie's struggling with addiction? adoption time. oh claire's mad at him? i am her dad now and also im raising aaron. boone? my son. this random hitchhiker? my son. dude is collecting surrogate children like pokemon, and he's not even a good father figure. he frequently causes problems for the people in question. BUT BY GOD HE DOES NOT LET THAT STOP HIM

that cop eddie knew all he needed to do was get in john's car and trauma dump about his shitty father and john would immediately go "okay yeah you're my son now."

ben probably could've manipulated him twice as effectively if he used this strategy, but instead he was too busy projecting his own daddy issues by trying to make john kill his abusive dad like he did. meanwhile john is reliving the cycle getting conned by ben over and over again just like he trusted his father. they're competing in the daddy issues olympics and no one is winning

[microwavingfranky]

Big bro 😭 finally got through all of Marineford… these guys make me soft

[guardian-angle22]

911 lone star/tarlos s5 -> every babe & baby in episodes 1-5

[doobledabbadoo]

noah doodles bc hes fun to draw 💔💔💔 hope he gets hit by a meteorite /pos

[celbrini]

[BARZY] after the game against the leafs 31.12.2024

[australet789]

Calypso, baby, im so sorry people can't understand the nuance of your character being a an antagonist and 100% raping someone just because they want to justify liking you, and instead, ignore that men SA exists and try to claim they are cheaters

(and for the record, is canon that Odysseus told Penelope what happened to both Circe and Calypso and she understood and literally said "dont blame yourself for something you were forced to you" so suck it up)

[spoiledskullz]

Trick or treat! 🗣🎃🦇🍬👻