stcriestcld

[anetherealpoetess]

it's vital for my mental health that the show introduces celebrían and we get to see this man fall in love with his wife

[beebeedibapbeediboop]

The forest king and the postwoman

[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.

[egophiliac]

do skully have pokemon?

Pumpkaboo is the obvious one, but y'know, sometimes the obvious one is the right one! (we'll say SUPER SIZE Pumpkaboo, just for fun. big pumpkin for big skeleton boy.) and another person actually also suggested Greavard, which I somehow hadn't considered, but feels so perfect that I feel like I should have. dangit.

(they can also have little Nightmare Suit costumes :D)

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

i vote that next year instead of reading Dracula we do a Jeeves & Wooster Book Club. those two never got the rabid tumblr shipping fandom they deserved (disqualified for the sheer technicality of being published a century too soon). we must correct this injustice

[98chao]

my pitch for a season 2 of last cookie standing

[femd-archive]

cw: nsfw/nsft

ken sato, the baseball star that everyone adores! well...almost everyone.

he always shows himself tall and confident, arrogant for most people. he makes thousands of people swoon with a single wink or one of those filtry smiles with his pearly teeth.

that makes you wonder, how many of his fans would percieve him if they ever saw their biggest idol in this way.

on his knees, half naked and looking up at you like you're the one hanging the stars in the sky. there was, ken sato. you smile back at him and reach one of your hands to cup the side of his face. ken leans on it, shutting his eyes peacfully as he melts into your touch.

his big hands are caressing your bare legs with the most care. like you were a goddess to worship. when your hand moves to his hair, he leans his head on your lap, pressing his cold cheek -the one you didn't touch- on your warm skin.

"are you tired, kenji?" you ask, your hand traveling once again, now to the broad of his exposed back, and making circular motions around his skin, listening to the way his breath got steady.

"i'm never tired for you, baby" he answers in the sweetest tone, contrasting his husky voice that he uses to talk in interviews. he props his chin on your thigh to look up at you with those pretty puppy eyes and his cute smile.

your heart swells with love for him. dragging your thumbs through his cheekbones, both of you get lost in each others eyes for a little, before you whisper. "come here" and he obeys. standing from the floor, he takes a seat besides you on the expensive couch, and smiles into your lips as you drag him in for a kiss.

the kiss gets more heated with every second, and your hands started to caress his body until they're found inside ken's trousers.

it didn't take long before the room was filled with his moans as you stroke him fast and steady. he keeps on holding you, kissing you desperately as you were going to disappear. "please baby" he whimpered against your lips, slightly thrusting his hips into your closed fist.

"wanna cum, kenji?" you ask, nonetheless, smiling when he desperately nods. "do it baby. make a mess for me" he moans before kissing you again, finally allowing himself to release thick ropes of cum that end un shooting on his bare chest.

while he regulated his breathing, you placed kisses along his chest, giving sweet caresses to his waist with your thumb. he speaks. "can we make love?" he asks with those begging eyes.

"but-"

“I don't have any training stuff or games tomorrow” he replied before you even asked, and then flashed one of his charming smiles. "please?" he insists and you sigh.

like all his fans, you can't help but fall for his charms. but unlike them, only you can see the great ken sato cry from pleasure.

pretending like i didn't cry like a baby...

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Horse Meshi. Delicious, in Horse.

[canisalbus]

Their linen closet must be 3/4 of the way full of random blankets people keep gifting Machete (he doesn't understand that he just looks like he's always cold and just wants to know why almost every gift he gets is a blanket)

[axoqiii]

first time drawing blackmask akechi and i almost snapped my pencil out of anger

[k-wame]

PAUL MESCAL as Harry All Of Us Strangers (2023) · dir. Andrew Haigh

[blackkatdraws2]

The narrator and the ugly ahh protagonist [Blank Scripts AU/non-canonical]

[drumlincountry]

Kabru/Mithrun is funny because it's: guy who lives to pull people's strings/guy who doesn't have any strings to pull.

Kabru/Laios is funny because it's: guy who lives to pull people's strings/guy who has one very obvious string to pull but the other guy doesn't want to pull it because its GROSS.

[intermundia]

RotS Web Documentary #15: "Becoming Sidious"

[egophiliac]

LET THE BOY HAVE AN EDUCATION

officially at the point where we're starting to see where it's all headed and I am just going NYEEHEEHEE in delight at it all. ahhh...next week can't come soon enough...

[doctorsiren]

I love you Jhes, I don’t care if me in 2018 reading your page and thinking you were an axolotl creature was a misunderstanding on my part. I’m keeping that headcanon / design since we know so little <3