#the goal is understanding

[prolibytherium]

I will say I get the vibe that a lot of peoples interest and support for strikers is a bit too much for a vicarious ‘burn it down’ thrill, rather than for the actual goals of a strike.

Like UPS has agreed to come back to the table and it is very possible they will concede to Union demands and avert a strike. And if that happens (so long as the union does not make concessions on its key demands) it’s a good thing. It’s a victory for the laborers. It is the same ultimate conclusion that a strike would intend to produce except without the workers having to go on (not so great) strike pay for a week or two.

[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.

[stealingpotatoes]

heres a crappy venn (??) diagram explaining the dynamics in the tl4j time travel au bc it's easier than trying to write a full plot

[lafaiette]

When Solas says

"I was trying to determine some way to show you what you mean to me."

and

"For now, the best gift I can offer is the truth."

it makes me cry SO MUCH because that "for now" really implies he was planning ahead, that he was hoping Lavellan would accept his full identity, and they would stay together.

That "for now" means he already had more gifts in mind, more ways to show her what she meant to him. In that moment, in that glade, under those circumstances, he could only give her the truth she deserved - so words, knowledge, love and respect in the form of a spoken revelation -, but what about later? What was his next gift to her going to be? Something tangible, like a love memento, something precious to wear and show everyone? More knowledge and wisdom to share with her? Memories and scenes from his old life?

Weekes said Solas was ready to tell her the truth, forget about his duty, and lose himself in Lavellan, but chickened out at the last second. So I'm really curious to know what kind of future he envisioned in those blissful last moments before he lost his courage - what other presents and displays of love he was ready to give to her.

[frodo-a-gogo]

Let us be brutally honest with ourselves and with eachother for a moment. If he weren't obese you motherfuckers would be capable of percieving evrart claires sexy sexy moral ambiguity and complex charms

[psykopaths]

Romeo + Juliette (1996)

[howtomakeyousee]

[theeroticlover]

[lovepassionheart]

[housecow]

i love when a feedee is obviously a little dumb… like, awww you really couldn’t stop, could you?? no wonder you’re so big. did the thought to stop eating ever cross your mind, or did you just finish everything on your plate because that’s what you were always told to do? did you even realize your portion sizes were getting bigger, too? i bet you get a little mad when people point out how much you’re eating. of course it’s not your fault, you didn’t know any better..

stupid feedees that have to be told they’re out of control. they think they’re not even that big yet

[mioakem]

techno: “join me, let’s destroy l’manburg”

tommy: “you’ll help me get back my discs if i team with you?”

techno: “i’ll help you get back your discs tommy”

tommy: “i won’t help you but you’ll help me?”

techno: “tell you what, we’ll do some minor terrorism from which the government can- ehhh, you know what tommy? we’ll get the details on the way

tommy: “technoblade, i am a huge fan of minor terrorism”

CTOMMY MADE IT CLEAR THAT HE DIDNT WANT TO HELP CTECHNO DESTROY LMANBURG, AND CTECHNO KNEW THAT AND AGREED TO HELP ANYWAYS. NEITHER OF THEM BETRAYED EACHOTHER

[adhd-languages]

“Fluency” is an okay goal to have, but I find it more motivating to accept I’ll never be “fluent”.

I’m never going to sound perfectly native. I’m always going to be learning more about the language.

Think of the languages you learn as companions, as a world to explore, not something to check off and be done with.

[vero-niche]

they balance each other out <3

[ticklace]

Why would you intentionally try to make your lee safeword when instead you could tease them over the fact that they haven't?

I mean, consider:

"No stop you're killing me!"

"Do I hear a 'time out'?"

"No please not there!!"

🎶 "I don't hear a 'time outttt'..." 🎶

"I'm dying! I'm dying!"

"If only there was something you could say to make me stop..."

"SHUTUP"

"It's *almost* like you don't actually want me to stop at all..."

"SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP"

"If I didn't know better, I'd suspect you might even be enjoying yourself..."

[flustered hysterics]

[witchlingcirce]

I think the funniest thing to me about the “Kit and Ash will fight for the faerie throne” discussion is that Kit is most likely to be like “yoooo it’s all yours man” to ash 😭

[sachaabadeer11]

I want a love without any doubt. I wanna be able to say, I love this person without ever thinking I might be looking stupid for saying that. I wanna look into your eyes and see the multiple universes where you and I always align. I wanna love myself through you. I want the relationship to be so pure, so fun, so youthful, but at the same time so mature. Every time I hold your hand I wanna feel like I’m being electrocuted. And every time we kiss I wanna feel like we’re the reason why this world stops revolving. I wanna spend hours in bed just talking and laughing, never sleeping, and then just deciding, “hey let’s go chase the sunrise real quick.” I wanna make love to you mentally, I wanna caress you with my poetry. I want love to feel like the first time again. And when we’re apart I wanna miss you missing me missing you. I want the butterflies in my stomach to evolve into moths. I want real. I want our connection to transcend the physical and dive into the depths of our souls. I want our love to be a masterpiece painted with the strokes of our passion and understanding. I want our love to be an eternal flame, illuminating the darkest corners of our lives.