#the trauma’s definitely not helping

[britcision]

Oh you’re 1000% right OP, but I am also gonna highlight something for you;

The style Milsiril taught Kabru is heavily focused on striking weak points

That’s why he goes after Falin the way he does, precisely targetting and naming every point he wants to hit… which doesn’t work because she’s a chimera now, but tells Laios a lot of valuable information

(I think it’s also specified somewhere else in the Adventurer’s Bible but I’m not going looking for that)

There’s also this panel, from after his murder spree which says the same thing; he’s all about targeting weak points

And this actually fucking perfectly highlights the difference between him and Laios that makes Laios much more successful in the dungeon!

Because Laios does know the weaknesses of almost every monster in the dungeon, and can target them just as efficiently as Kabru can on humans

(the usual Dun Meshi meaning of human, including elves, dwarves, gnomes, half-foots, etc.

……. Holy shit the qualifier for being counted as human is “Kabru can murder you”)

But because Laios was taught a much more generic fighting style of forms and generalised strikes to apply as needed (and we… don’t know how much formal training he finished), he can confidently and flexibly apply those strikes pretty much anywhere he wants to

He knows where the weak points are, but doesn’t target them exclusively

Kabru, on the other hand, is much more comfortable with assassination style fighting; he removes his armour to attack Falin, fully confident he can finish the fight before he needs it or just sure it’ll get in his way and make him less effective

(And mayyyybe a little too used to dying)

He’s textbook over-prepared; the way he thinks about fighting is extremely rigid and solely focused on taking the opponent down as fast as possible with calculated strikes to vitals

On any human, he knows exactly where those vitals are, how to hit them, and he can do it with terrifying accuracy

On anything else, he stalls out trying to guess where the vitals are and freezes up, 1000% influenced by both his own trauma and his own inflexibility of thinking

(This is also on the Kabru Is Autistic pinboard, because getting stuck in rigid rules and being unable to really act effectively unless you’re doing things In Order is absolutely on the diagnostic criteria)

Now, since Laios has effectively proven that you can memorise detailed weaknesses from every monster in the dungeon, why hasn’t Kabru when he’s the king of over preparation?

This is another one that’s probably two-fold, the first part being his trauma. Kabru doesn’t even like to look at monsters; he doesn’t want to be in the dungeon but sadly for him, everyone else is worthless 🙄

Studying each one in enough detail to learn all their various weak points is… not exactly gonna be high on his to do list, especially when he still gets hit with a freeze response when he sees them

(Which, frankly, should have been the first thing they trained out of him, so it probably used to be a lot worse

Of course, Milsiril also probably didn’t have much access to actual monsters)

The second part is actually purely logistical; there are So Many types of monsters, and while they can be broadly categorised, their physiology is diverse enough even within those categories that for Kabru and Milsiril’s very precise, vitals-focused technique…

Well, it’d take a really, really long time, and frankly wouldn’t exactly be efficient

Milsiril rose to commander of the Canaries and worked in dungeons without dying once for decades; her own application of those skills are probably much more broad than Kabru’s, starting from basic body shape, building with the lived experience of fighting various monsters, and ending flexibly enough that she has several steps planned out after that first blinding strike

Kabru, on the other hand, tends to either one-shot or go down after his first attack

(There is a non-zero possibility that Milsiril intentionally underprepared Kabru to fight monsters specifically as a last ditch attempt to discourage him; as we can see above, she explicitly tells Kabru she’s going to give him the harshest training possible until he gives up

He thought she was gonna kill him directly at several points, so while she does want him to be safe, her primary goal was to persuade him to never go near a dungeon again

Per the dungeon guide:

This does initially sound counterintuitive given that the Canaries are explicitly dungeon delvers… until you remember who the lords of the dungeon always are

Kabru’s been trained specifically to kill dungeon lords, so he needs to build a party that can get him to one, or branch out and work on his monster skills

Given that Milsiril also lived and actively fought through Utaya, she’s probably got a couple buckets of her own trauma that should have been unpacked at some stage)

Kabru’s only 22; he trained under one of the best (although his sword is clearly not his favourite, given how often he drops it for the dagger in a serious fight), and he’s brutally efficient and extremely skilled… so long as he knows what to aim for

Given that he first formed his party at 20, he’s only been dungeon delving for 2 years at this point; given the preparations required in between dives and his favourite hobby of following people around on the surface, he’s probably not done a whole lot of dives

Lived experience might help him get a little better at the monster fighting over time, but at the moment he’s still extremely green (his party got wiped on the third floor and had never done the fourth before, they’re barely past walking mushrooms) despite his extensive training and skill

Fighting Thistle, I’d agree that Kabru’s one of the best characters in the story to beat and break the dungeon in a classic story

As a combo, should Kabru actually start listening to the monster lectures, Laios and Kabru would be a force to be reckoned with

(But frankly the only reason Mithrun didn’t finish the dungeon in five minutes flat was Kabru’s interference, the Canaries - Milsiril’s contemporaries and former coworkers - are put in the story explicitly to be the best people to break the dungeon

Even Kabru swings back and forth on this multiple times and his objection is never their technical skill or that they couldn’t break this thing wide open, it’s that he doesn’t like what comes after that

They even know how to actually seal it after killing the dungeon lord, which Kabru doesn’t

All his plans are for becoming a replacement dungeon lord, which is not in fact part of the sealing process Milsiril what the hell the boy asked for one thing)

I think about how Kabru, who's taught swordsmanship by Milsiril, a very experienced and skilled swordsperson, to the point that Kabru can like take down a group of people with no sweat or no hesitation but finds difficulty when it comes to monsters and think --

Why is it that?

I don't think it's a lack of Milsiril's training. Her training should've covered how to fight monsters. And, I'm not like a swordfighter or anything, but the basics of sword fighting - whether it's against another swordsman or a monster - are the same.

It's also not like she was soft on him, either. You'd think that she would be, since she really doesn't want Kabru anywhere near a dungeon (or a meter away from her side), but it would be much better, and much safer, for Kabru if she trained him seriously. So in case he was stuck in a situation where he needs to fight, he can fight back and win.

And for the most part, Kabru fights well against most monsters.

He's honestly so skilled it's scary. If this was just a standard let's conquer the dungeon and defeat the evil magician! type of story he's the best candidate out of all the characters in the story (yes, even including Laios).

So I find it interesting that we are shown moments where he struggles:

It's not like the other characters didn't struggle against the same monsters. Laios almost didn't make it to some of these monster encounters. And, not to invalidate his achievements thanks to his quick thinking and understanding of monsters (i know he hates his time in the military, but training there really paid off here), but some degree of luck (and perhaps demonic intervention) helped him in little ways.

But Kabru's struggles against monsters are perfectly summed up in this panel:

He's scared.

Yes, he has the skills. Yes, he has the intellect. Yes, he has the experience. But even then, he freezes up in front of some of these monters because of the memory of Utaya. And I think that's such an important detail to his character, really.

At the beginning we get introduced to this Kabru who is confident, all smiles, can do everything.

But deep inside, the nightmare of Utaya haunts him.

[dclovesdanny]

Dcxdp

Dan/Danny/Dani 2/5

Dan raising Ellie and Danny in Central City

Due to the GIW interfering and almost killing everyone, Danielle was destabilized and Danny was almost completely ended.

Dan, who had been doing community service with Clockwork, was now saddled with his younger self who was now a baby, and his younger self’s clone, who was now a toddler, both of whom had very little memories of before.

Due to Vlad and the GIW, being dicks, it wasn’t safe for Danny or Ellie to remain in Amity while the fighting was going on. So, clockwork decided that Dan, for the rest of his parole, was going to raise both halfas in the immortal world, since staying in the infinite realms was not good for them.

Thankfully, clockwork and Tucker created a fake identity. He was now Dante times, a single father of a girl named Eleanor and a boy named Danny. Clock work even lined up a job for him as a mechanic at a shop in Central city.

He even had a slightly odd friendship with a guy named Roy, a single dad who lived in Central City due to some problems with his father, and had an adorable little girl named Lian.(Ellie and Lian were best friends from the moment they met, and both girls doted on baby Danny.)

Wally hadn’t expected much when he found out Roy was living in Central city. It was a well-known fact that he had been feuding with Green Arrow for a while, and the Flash Family had agreed to let Roy hide out here. What he wasn’t expecting to see was the guy who Bart had warned them all about, the guy that had taken out all the heroes, including Batman, in his nightmare future, talking to Roy over coffee while a girl who looked exactly like him play dolls with Lian. He especially wasn’t expecting to see the man Bart described as a sadistic monster soothe a crying baby boy who looked almost exactly like him.

Wally got the feeling they would have to have a Flash Family meeting soon, and started debating on bringing Roy.

[saragapen]

Scorpions from the past

[puppetmaster13u]

So Anyway I Started Another Cryptid Batfam Au

Yeaah, they were human, and might've been the first vigilantes before the JL formed. Might've gotten caught by some mad scientist cultists. Might've gotten gene spliced a bit, but shhh. Don't worry about it :) They're fine. Absolutely Fine. This is Fine.

But anyway, they have wings now. And talons. And a lot of other things they have to adjust to and might straight up not have a civilian identity for a while- becomes more than a bit of social recluses while they figure this shit out.

So anyway, I haven't finished drawing or designing them, if I ever will, so have what each is based off of. There's a lot of robins. :) Also have how old everyone is at the start of the story. (Timelines are a fake thing that never make sense)

Bruce- Black Drongo (31 years old)

Kate- Scarlet Robin (31 years old)

Barbara- Red Backed Scrub Robin (16 years old)

Dick- Blue Fronted Robin (15 year old)

Cass- Hooded Robin (12 years old)

Jason- Red Capped Robin (12 years old)

Steph- Pink Robin (10 years old)

Tim- Collared Bush Robin (10 years old)

Duke- White Starred Robin (10 years old)

Damian- Olive Backed Forest Robin (8 years old)

Jarro- Rose Robin (4 year old equivalent)

Terry- Black Robin (4 years old)

Helena- Bagobo Robin (1 year old)

Matt- Norfolk Robin (1 year old)

[jinxed-sinner]

Look I know Lucifer isn't the best dad ever but I feel like people who say he's a bad dad are purposely ignoring the context of the show. It is very much implied that he thought Charlie wanted nothing to do with him, and Charlie thought he wanted nothing to do with her. Lucifer’s still dealing with trauma from Heaven and his fall and probably will for the rest of time plus he's dealing with what would probably qualify as clinical depression, and simultaneously dealing with trauma, clinical depression, and autistic traits (which Lucifer absolutely has; I do not say, as an autistic person, that Lucifer is a massive autistic mood for no reason) is a fucking NIGHTMARE.

I'm not saying Lucifer shouldn't take responsibility. He should. But he's already doing better than my dad frankly. Lucifer hits me in the daddy issues, I wish my dad made an effort to be more active in my life. Lucifer is fucking trying, and that's better than a lot of people can say about their dads.

[stiffyck]

Can we talk about how Karen definitely has some sort of PTSD because you can't just wake up one day with a knife and bloody hands and a dead coworker on your carpet one and then be fine. You don't get arrested and then almost strangled to death while in custody and be fine. You don't get kidnapped and threatened and then kill someone in self defense and be fine.

Oh my god can we PLEASE talk about Karen and her trauma oh my GOD.

[arsenicflame]

i think the reason izzy can be so blasé about his relationship with ed is not because hes taken to blaming a shark instead, but because hes actually already done a lot of the processing in the previous episode.

hes mourned his leg, hes had his drunk crying rants. hes gone through the five stages of grief. and then? the crew reaches out to him, offers him their support. they make him a new leg, they nominate him their new figurehead. when he stands there on the prow of the ship, leg on, letter in hand, thats his acceptance, thats his moving on.

[ghost-bxrd]

how would your AUs react to joker junior Tim? Like if it happened if they somehow became aware of the canon one, your choice.

just curious, I’m sorry it this stuff isn’t allowed rn

Well in some Au’s (like Court Family, Shuck, and Owl Song) it wouldn’t have a chance to happen. Mostly because I’m a fan of killing off Joker early and in a very unspectacular fashion (because Joker would hate going out without a show).

But in general terms, all of them would be horrified. And I think Jason would spend a fair amount of time being terrified of Tim, depending on how Tim’s recovery process is going. But… yeah, theyre just not a good combo during that time.

The others would try their utmost to help Tim, obviously. With various degrees of success. In most Au’s this would probably also be the last straw for anyone of the Bats (but I’m partial to Jason… which tracks) to kill Joker. Have him out of their lives once and for all.

Still, I think the largest issue here would be helping Tim recover while simultaneously not triggering Jason too hard. So… different wings of the manor for them both.

[theworldsforgottenboy]

very unfair that faerun's greatest technological minds were forced into creating technofachist robots instead of coming up with motorcycles. Hope and Karlach deserve to start a biker club once she gets back from Avernus

[fairiencarnate]

Why did no one tell me that the "chemical imbalance" theory has largely been disproven, that serotonin and dopamine can't cause mental illness on their own? Why have all mental health professionals been pushing this idea as fact? I've always thought the whole BPD diagnosis was bogus, just modern day hysteria slapped onto (mostly) women with complex-PTSD. Almost an official gaslight, like "your trauma wasn't traumatic enough to warrant the PTSD label so we're going to act like your brain is malfunctioning". So I'm not surprised to find all this out.

Can we finally begin a trauma-informed approach toward mainstream mental health shit? Especially mood disorders? Let's not rule chemicals and hormones out entirely, but let's acknowledge that trauma and genes have far stronger ties to mental health.

[oh-surprise-its-me]

I’m really drunkso I think that Jamie really likes soft things but never lets himself have them.

Like his dad threw out childhood stuffed animals when he was back in Jamie’s life. And Jamie was crushed so from that point on he literally never let himself have anything.

But once when he was with Roy and they had Phoebe over she passed out animals to them for story time. Jamie ended up with a bear in a rainbow tutu and a skull shirt.

Phoebe fell asleep and Jamie just kept holding the bear. Roy watched and when he tugged Jamie back to his room he still had the bear.

From about that day on Roy would notice when they were out at shops that Jamie wouldn’t really look at any of the stuffies. He couldn’t figure out why until they went to Georgie’s house and he saw that there weren’t really any around. He made some guesses and figured it out and Jamie begged him not to think he was stupid or childish.

Roy of course didn’t think that, he was mostly furious at Jamie’s dad and planning on how to get Jamie a good first stuffie- he took him to a place that sells jellycats and told Jamie to pick out three, one for Phoebe, one for himself and one for Roy.

[fayesdiary]

reverse unpopular opinion for....aw heck, go ahead with Rhea for this one as well

This might as well be a part 2 to the previous Rhea ask so :D

I find Rhea to be so compelling for several reasons, one of the biggest being the inherent contradiction that she is very much capable of caring, loving and trusting others, sometimes with some insane gestures when you realize their meaning behind them (ie. Saving Jeralt's life by giving him her blood thus risking outing herself because of it, letting Catherine keep Thunderbrand despite the fact it's the one Relic she could safely recover- implicitly trusting her with one of her family's remains without any obligation to do so, risk angering a noble house to give Cyril a better life and treating him like her son in all but name)... And yet she cannot, for the life of her, bring herself to be honest with them.

Something fascinating I noticed about Rhea is that she ironically seems to prefer people who are blunt with her, because look at the people she's closest to - Seteth spends all of Part 1 openly questioning her, Flayn is constantly on the verge of accidentally outing herself, Cyril is so direct and honest he sometimes accidentally comes off as rude (Shamir too even if she's not as close to Rhea) and Catherine wears her heart on her sleeve.

Heck, all of them are either not that religious or outright non-believers, which ironically I believe helps reassure Rhea they love her because of who she is as a person and not because she's the archbishop, especially given how much she implies to find the position incredibly alienating.

And isn't that just so fascinating? That she is more than capable than loving others and caring for them risking her own personal safety, she appreciates people being honest with her.... But cannot, will not be entirely honest with them in turn.

Because make no mistake, that right there is Rhea's true fatal flaw: her compulsive need to keep everything a secret.

From the big but understandable stuff that would get her and her family scrapped for parts if it became public to downright pointless shit to hide like not liking hot drinks, and it's the one trait that screws her over the most, between being the reason Jeralt left (since she didn't tell him ANYTHING about what happened with Byleth so he assumed the worst and fled) and the thing preventing her from making connections as deep as she actually wants (like even just telling her loved ones how much they mean to her), as well as getting the support she actually needs. And because she feels she has to bear everything on her shoulders, she crumbles under the weight because no matter how hard she tries, she will never be good enough.

In that sense the role of archbishop is a sort of mask to her. It's definitely a part of her, but also something she has sort of burrowed into like a safety net preventing her from being true to herself. Because that'd mean making herself vulnerable, in more ways than one. To say nothing about putting her surviving family and remnants of her dead kin to jeopardy.

If she were to open up she'd be... More lively, I think. Definitely sillier if Heroes is any indication, and arguably more willing to take a direct approach in helping people. And definitely more loved and happier.

And perhaps, one day she'd realize she doesn't need to bring her mom back to fix Fódlan. She's not doing it alone anymore, after all.

[autisticburnham]

Listen: Benjamin Sisko has come unstuck in time

[rocketbirdie]

How does Tifa feel about Cloud's changes? (Zack's too I guess but she only met Zack on the worst day of her life so...) Her and Cloud weren't exactly close before things went tits up but she did know him a bit better than most of Nebelheim barring his mom. I think it would be way more complicated than canon. He went from an almost pitiful antisocial to a scary one. Canon Cloud became a little intimidating, more just awkward and a bit cold, but not scary like this one. And yet, he seems to have found someone he cares more about than she's EVER seen before. (Again, barring mama Strife.)

His quiet awkwardness was kind of charming back when they were kids, but that's the innocence of childhood for ya... Nowadays his silence is disturbing. She still nurses an old crush on Cloud, still sees him as the boy next door, still wants him to be okay. She's less scared of Cloud himself, and more afraid of Zack's influence on Cloud.

Tifa's only memories of Zack are some of the worst memories of her life, and Cloud's scary behavior and poor health only serve to strengthen that association. Without the badly needed context of the hell they've endured, to her, it just looks like Zack took him under the wing when he "joined SOLDIER"... and that Cloud's condition is a direct result of Zack's "relationship" with him.

But Tifa keeps that all to herself of course. She'll get Cloud out of this somehow. She can protect him, she just needs a little more time to think, she tells herself...

[davidtennantgenderenvy]

So I just realized that last week I had scheduled my therapy appointment for next Tuesday. Which is tomorrow. Which is Halloween. I am going to go to my therapy appointment dressed as Crowley from Good Omens.

[unfortunatesassycannibals]

watching the baghera & jaiden convo from baghera's pov was so satisfying, like watching someone pick all the correct dialogue options to unlock the Secret Information