#that doesnt really make sense

[sammypog]

confession i wanna join artfight but like i literally have no ocs….. everyone else has ocs am i the only one who just like doesnt really have any……

[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.

[puppppppppy]

the fact that they made the gameplay mechanics actually lean more on solving puzzles and strategy because her element is wisdom

[lukellios]

What a difference six years makes

[szczurherbacany]

yyyyy yyy gays 👍

[st-hedge]

*wheezing and heaving* *shoves metal gear solid and nier automata into a blender* *slams the shitass smoothie into pint glass* *hysterically throws it back* i finished the line up. im at peace now

[correctopinionhaver]

"i just don't think i can bring a child into this world" said person in a developed country whose child would have a greater life expectancy and more resources than 99% of humans throughout history

[wolfythewitch]

Have u considered giving the creature and victor similar factions since you know the whole theme of fatherhood

I kind of made him look like victor and Henry's lovechild LOL. Though basing it off Henry more. I think it's silly and gay but also if I go down the route of how when victor saw Clerval it brought with him memories of home and his family, and the fact that the creature destroys that one by one is very silly to me.

Sees Clerval: serene joy and calm and peace

Sees the creature: oh dear lord

[falloutnewnobody]

a moment from DE that lives rent free in my head is that one exchange where Klaasje is talking about how she's "89% sure," that lely didnt rape her, saying "you know how things are," and a HALF LIGHT check chimes in to confirm that you do, in fact, know how those things are.

not empathy, not esprit de corps, half-light. Harry's fight or flight response. fucking insane i'm screaming crying throwing up.

[adreamoverlife]

I think one of the greatest losses of the QSMP ending is the way the multicultural community completely fell apart like I can’t just scroll casually on tumblr anymore and find a ton of different French or spanish speaking people raving about whatever their streamer did today and that honestly makes me sad. There was a post I saw a bit ago that was talking about how tubbo was “the first one” to stream with his egg (Ryan/sunny) outside the QSMP completely unaware Etoiles had streamed a game with Pomme a week earlier. And while yes interacting with like content and keeping a close community has helped it’s just not as commonplace anymore.

[pstelwitchcraft]

Since I was screaming at the TV at the cast forgetting all the cool stuff they've done, I've decided to live up to my blog name and list all of my favorite Bells Hells achievements:

Those towers in Jrusar are now forever haunted by a little girl with a flower basket

Won the deathwish race

Took down the Paragon's headquarters in Bassuras

Saved Imahara Joe and Dancer + united them to help save Exandria

Zephran tourists are forever banned from flying the glider thingies

Saved the city of Uthodurn from a massive celestial bull

Helped the Hearthdell village

Gathered and united the two shards of Primordial Titans bringing their powers back to life

Saved Keyleth's life after the Solstice

Were the first ones to infiltrate the malleus key and step on Ruidus that weren't Ruby Vanguard

Stablished communication between Exandria and the Volition

Exploded Ludinus' headquarters

Saved Evoroa and brought the first ever Ruidian to Exandria

Killed OTOHAN THULL

Reunited Imogen with her mother and are now fully bringing her to their side

Have met pretty much every single pc and important npc in CR history save for a few

Trapped Delilah forever and got the closest to killing her anyone in history could since she REFUSES TO DIE

Helped kill a Grand Demon trapped for a 1000 yrs under Aeor (tho I'll admit they mostly fumbled about for that one)

[bloominglegumes]

i lied in my last post i have more rung. i'm thinking about old doctors and being cared about when you're not needed and more robot hugs

[aerequets]

this is very messy but it just sprung on me and now i am gonna go to sleep

[cloudemojie]

fairy miku miku

[scribbling-dragon]

missing ranchers forever and ever and ever (a redraw of THIS from a year ago)

[click for better quality! + closeups under the cut]

[k9catastrophe]

hot take therians calling other alterhumans types "rare" rubs me the wrong way. No Jacob lynx and tigers and snow leopards arent "rare" and "hard to find" you are only watching the same four massive creators.