#he was the only survivor

[cammohu]

I lost (almost) all my heroes, but I still have this fucking trapezohedron [x3]

[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.

[cryptid-on-a-string]

"I think, therefore, I AM."

(work in progress lineart post here)

[demigods-posts]

maybe i didn't say it loud enough before. but sally grew up relying on and taking care of people who were always going to leave her. and eventually became the only survivor of her family. then she had percy and did everything in her power to be a permanent figure in his life. only to essentially die and doom her son to the same fate of being the only survivor of his family. just wanted to repeat that for those who are in the back.

[latenightsundayblues]

Lawrence squirmed uneasily; the mere sight of the individual across the room had initially managed to knock the air out from his lungs and squeeze his heart mercilessly, a breath held tightly within his chest tinted with the taste of bile. His lips parted absentmindedly when his vision finally cleared itself seconds later and allowed him to take a good look at the man, who, unsurprisingly, was definitely not Adam Faulkner. It's just the new janitor. Gordon wasn't sure whether the pang he felt afterwards was one of relief or disappointment.

Although the uncanny resemblance still disturbed him greatly, he could now identify various signs that should've tipped him off to that sooner (other than Adam being, well, dead); slightly longer hair reaching the base of David's damp neck-- Gordon had managed to catch his name in the tag on his uniform--, a gnarly red line ripped along his cheekbone altering the path of the sweat drops rolling down his forehead and a sarcastic tone of voice without the intention of lightening the mood, but tainted with a certain degree of hostility. Gordon would've risked calling it defensive, even.

He tried not to think too much about the stranger as he drove back to his lamentably empty apartment, to no avail.

[kaitobromota]

thh survivors posting

[mikakuna]

you ever think about jason feeling guilty for being the only one in crime alley to make it out, to get adopted by a wealthy person. do you think he feels guilty for messing up his chance, a chance that any crime alley child could only dream of, by dying?

do you think about the guilt that must've coursed through him when he was younger, sitting at the wayne family table eating a single meal that could've fed other crime alley children for a month? how many sleepless nights must he have had, shifting from his luxurious new bed to the floor because he couldn't remember the last time one of the other children slept in actual beds?

do you think he felt guilty about going to one of the richest schools in gotham knowing that most of the crime alley children would never be able to even step foot in a school, too busy worrying about more important matters? he must've had those moments where he was so happy sitting in class because finally i can go to school and i love it i love it so much but then the regret suddenly hits and he remembers those teenagers who loved school and were so close to making it out, yet eventually they'd be spotted on street corners or running drugs.

the guilt must've weighed so heavy on his little shoulders.

[little-pondhead]

There was another timeline.

One that, at the moment, only Clockwork and a single other person knew about. Both of whom has separately vowed to never let the timeline exist ever again.

That time was dark. It was bloody. The skies were painted red and the oceans boiled. The dead walked the Earth with a freedom not even the living could achieve. It was like the pits of hell had opened up and spit out the things even the Devil couldn’t bear to look at. It made the Dark Ages look like a middle school girl’s slumber party on Halloween.

It was the timeline where Danielle successfully replaced Danny. Both as Phantom, and as a Fenton.

She replaced Danny, under the orders of Vlad. And then she did more. She grew up, committing more and more crimes at Vlad’s command, gaining infamy and hate, eventually surpassing Vlad’s own reputation as a violent ghost.

Vlad knew she’d grown too powerful by the time she was biologically fourteen, the same age Danny had been when Danielle had shattered his core and eaten it. Vlad knew this, and thought the same trick would work again.

He tried to replace Danielle with another clone.

It didn’t work.

In that timeline, Danielle killed Vlad, absorbing his ghost half, just like Dan did. She became Eleanor, the Queen of Death, and ravaged the Earth for many years. Due to the power boost of consuming two other halfas, Eleanor was more powerful than any other variant of herself, Danny, or Dan that Clockwork could find. The only reason she did not expand to other dimensions, was because Danny was not around long enough to pass on the knowledge of time travel, and how to reach Clockwork’s tower.

It was a dark time. But Clockwork’s fears have been laid to rest, as the Dani of the current time had NOT replaced Danny. In fact, she’d been adopted into the Fenton family with open arms, and the Vlad of this world was less psychotic since he didn’t have a mental break. No Fentons died and caused Dan, and Amity has accepted the various Phantoms and other ghosts with open arms. It was the best possible course of events.

Nothing could go wrong, right? Eleanor was a secret Clockwork would take to his grave, if he ever got one. Not even the Observants knew about it.

Booster Gold, however, did not swear to keep the timeline a secret. He swore to prevent the timeline.

No matter what.

[ride-a-dromedary]

Just thinking about the implications of this, but Halsin's way of indicating that his family has long passed is: "save for [him], [his] line perished a long time ago".

Aside from it being a decidedly more old fashioned and more eloquent way of indicating what happened (as is shown in shades in Halsin's speaking patterns, which is likely trying to illustrate his age as well as push the "wise mentor" angle), by stating that his line has ended with him, practically, it means both sets of grandparents are gone, both parents are gone, and either Halsin is an only child (unlikely considering Wood Elves, but possible), or any and all of his siblings are gone, too. And if you stretch what you consider part of a line, rather than just keeping direct, that could extend to aunts and uncles and cousins as well (though it's hard to say concretely what Halsin includes in a familial line).

So it leaves me to wonder what happened to reduce an entire elven line to one elf, when Halsin himself is only just approaching middle-age and he pointedly says it happened a long time ago, so it wasn't a recent event, and the lot of them likely didn't die from old age/natural causes. Was his entire village wiped out at one point? Disease or a raid or orcs or a wildfire or what?

[bardnuts]

going as long as possible with Astarion as your only party member (and playing dark urge) is probably one of the funniest early-game experiences there is

Imagine: random chance frees you from 200 years of slavery and you team up with this random, extremely bad vibes stranger for "protection," except each of you is completely convinced the other might kill you in your sleep (one of you has horrifyingly worrying intrusive thoughts and the other has already pulled a knife at least once). You dont have 20 strength between you. You can barely protect each other but at least this random freak is SOMEONE and you need SOMEONE or Cazador will find you and grab you. So you attach yourself at the hip and try to ignore the way this strange amnesiac mutters "blood" to himself when he thinks you're not listening

and OK, you think, the other guy hasn't killed me yet and he definitely has had ample opportunity, but you're SO THIRSTY and neither of you have slept through the night yet because you're too busy keeping watch on one another, so maybe he's finally tired enough that you can just take a little bite while he's--oh shit

I spent three days like this. It was a delightful little interlude and everyone should try it

[sobaology]

—a dead man's repentance.

the alternate name for this piece was "the judgement of roland." i took inspiration from a piotr stachiewicz painting of unknown title

plus some details that i was proud of but had to be compressed! including a lil ultrakill reference because i like to think that the gabriel knight/roland met really was just our gabe <3

[dragonpyre]

Have my dumb Kestis brother OC. Background is, Cal has an older brother (who he obviously doesn't remember) who decided to go rebel after hearing about the purge of the jedi. Ran into him on an op and immediately was like "YOU!". So anyways, now Cal has an older himbo brother who is also throwing hands with the empire 24/7.

bonus+

[spikeface]

Based on (x).

[mochiajclayne]

The thing is, Sasuke, over time, was healing. Spending more time with Naruto by his side slowly healed him--and Orochimaru noticed this so he exploited Sasuke's survivor guilt through the curse mark then Gaara had to reiterate his purpose, and Itachi reminded him grimly through a genjutsu that left him mentally scarred.

Sasuke himself was aware of this and he perceived it as weakness but at the same time, in VOTE1 he says, it's too late, Naruto. It's already too late. The implication I get from this is Sasuke second guessing his decision and he was waiting for someone to give him one reason to stay and talk him out of it but they were not on the same page anymore. He was struggling with his innate goodness as it always surfaces whenever he's with Naruto, moreover, Naruto himself is the reminder that he cares, he is kind, and he is a being whose affection runs deep.

[exercise-of-trust]

*pops up from an irregularly scheduled lotr reread with blood in my teeth* your honor i simply care so much about him

(lagoon nebula photo by judy schmidt, whose astrophotography is, just, so incredibly cool, and you should check out the rest of her work if you like this kind of thing)

[dykealloy]

Ranata Suzuki // Brenna Twohy, 'A Coworker Asks Me If I Am Sad, Still' // Braelyn Wilson, 'Counting Stars' // Starpeace // Suzy Kassem, 'Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem'