#brain problem situation

[drfunk]

we’re in the drunk tank

[isopodretina]

BTW. BY THE FREAKIN WAY.

[sandybrett]

Extremely useful conlanging resource here:

Also, I just learned that languages will occasionally use the same word for "rake" and "comb", which delights me for They Might Be Giants-related reasons.

[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.

[zylphiacrowley]

Code Blood pt.2

<previous - next>

[garfpsycho100]

i didnt really wanna draw today but then i was gifted with a blessed vision of julia as a fish transforming into The Scary Salmon when angered… so then i decided to draw the whole drawfee crew as weird little mascot creaturas.

also i know the drawfee community is sweet but PLS BE NICE I NEVER DRAW IN THIS STYLE AND I HADNT EVEN WARMED UP.

[lemongogo]

[i-am-become-a-name]

Once again holding two opposing thoughts on the fifth doctor in my head, related to Tegan leaving.

In one, he's seen it wearing on her - the deaths, the losses, victories so pyrrhic that they're drowning in blood, the horrific flesh machine on Frontios. The final horror of the Daleks is just the straw that breaks the camel's back, and he knows she's leaving, he just still isn't prepared - isn't prepared for how much grief there is in it for the both of them, of losing that last link to the youthful and hopeful figure he was born as, how sudden the tipping point was. But he's aware that it was going to happen at some point, sooner rather than later, because for all his faults and attempted aloofness, five does care dearly for his companions.

On the second 2-am-brain point, possibly more accurate to his reaction in the episode, is that he doesn't realise. He has intentionally cut himself so far off emotionally that he can't see the people that consider himself his friends (if they do - not sure what to classify Tegan saying the Doctor is her responsibility to mean as to what kind of relationship is going on,) are falling apart at the seams. If he doesn't care about them, his enemies can't use them against him like the Cybermen did with Adric. So he's forcing himself not to see that Tegan is just being ground down by the deaths. That any spark she had with him has been so extinguished that she can't see the wonders for the weight of all those horrors. Her leaving in this case is without any warning to him. Don't go, not like this. But even with that cutting himself off emotionally, it still has enough impact, enough hurt, for him to reach out, to try and chase her, to say please don't. Another person he's failed. Another wall of aloofness that hasn't worked, that hasn't managed to stop it hurting after all.

Anywho, don't know where this was leading, just have more tragic five thoughts chasing themselves around in my brain (they take up a solid 30% of my mind at any one time, lurking amongst the suitcases of penguins.)

[lolathepeacocklord]

gay people i do not respect

[sp0o0kylights]

obsessed with your latest steddie au! steve’s relationship with his parents is so emotionally abusive and manipulative and my heart is breaking that nobody seems to recognise that

Thank you!!

I really wanted to focus on how Steve's parents are abusive in a way that is a lot harder to clock.

They're not out there screaming and kicking him out of the house. These people want you to like them, and they lie like they breath.

These are the adults who downplay serious issues, who make you doubt yourself, who smooth things over or even apologize on your behalf as a way to control and isolate you.

If everyone thinks you're terrible, and your amazing, doting, angelic parents are once again swooping in to save you, then your escape routes close up rapidly--which is of course, the whole point. They want their victims to rely on them and them alone.

For a lot of the Party, that's just not an evil they've encountered yet.

Throw in the fact that Steve does in fact, have a head injury, and things get muddy FAST.

It makes for delicious, angst-ridden scenarios and I am delighted everyone's happy to come along for the ride.

[nightynite]

i'm nobody's you

i love this fucking song man. idk i've been on a Sir Chloe kick recently and... well... i just had to get a little bit of p1p2 art in there. i like all the dudes kissing a little bit... but i am quite fond of this pairing...

[yikes-ajax-thats-sad]

That post rage episode clarity but you're also left numb and still with a distorted view so while you know you should be cleaning things up or doing something you just get stuck because what is there to say? I'm still mad— filled with centuries worth of suppressed rage —but I know it's misplaced, I know it's wrong, but God is it there. It's knowing the main event is over, but there will be aftershocks and you don't trust yourself to not do stupid shit so what can you really do besides lock yourself in your room like some high security prisoner waiting for the next spark to hit your dynamite? Or uh. Something idk haha silly

[lightbulb-warning]

so has anyone figured out WHY there is the Need To Share our Artworks™ or is it just the vibes and our Soul apparently

[magpie-trove]

Just watched the indiest of Romeo and Juliet retellings, made by a college or something, on Amazon Prime. Was it good? No. Was I compelled? Incredibly

[constantvariations]

Tripping on "the goal of a savior is not to be lionized" again and I can't help but think of that one jewish story

Compare Adam and the wealthy man to those with Hero Syndrome: all are (supposedly, in Adam's case) attempting to gain attention and public affection by doing good deeds, but opposing systemic oppression or building an orphanage are acts that benefit large swathes of people as opposed to an individual resolving a purposefully contained conflict. There's reason to condemn the latter, especially when it's done by those with authority over life and death, but the only grievance to the former is thought crime

Which is, like much of this show, a very Christian thing. Having selfish motivations behind actions do not cancel out the good those actions cause yet thoughts are also subjected to the judgement of god with equal weight

I haven't the slightest idea as to the writers' personal beliefs, but seeing as how Texas is 77% christian and christianity dominates American culture as a whole, it's impossible to argue that it hasn't influenced their writing. The theology I believe rwby echoes the most is Calvinism, the most rotten of the bunch. It holds the belief that humanity is so thoroughly stained by the original sin that they are incapable of saving themselves, that only god's grace can bring them salvation

But grace is in short supply

Thus, god decides apropos of naught but ☆~vibes~☆ who gets salvation and who gets eternal damnation. This choice cannot and does not change no matter how much good or evil a person puts into the world

This is why Emerald and Ilia's redemption arcs fall short, why Adam was never even considered for it, why our protagonists will never need it despite their own multitude of sins: redemption is not a thing earned, it is a thing bestowed. Those who have it are Good, now and forever, and those who don't are Bad, now and forever

[rapidhighway]