#but you don't see that as clearly because he isn't interested in the island's lord. he understands him. finds him contemptible but useful.

[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.

#dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #dungeon meshi meta #kabru of utaya #laios touden #labru #laios x kabru #dunmeshi #og post #kabru is such a big picture thinker. and he evaluates people more than he judges them imo #the hater jokes are funny but the people he judges most harshly arent laios and co. they're people like the island's lord. #but you don't see that as clearly because he isn't interested in the island's lord. he understands him. finds him contemptible but useful. #whereas laios lives in his brain rent free because he WANTS to understand him but doesnt quite. #even though he sees the elves as a major threat to his ultimate goals and dislikes the way they treat short lived races #he still understands and evaluates mithrun as an individual based on his own merits #he's one of the characters who is least judgemental in that sense because while he's always making judgements and evaluations #he's also constantly revising them whenever he gets more information #my beautiful machiavellian prince <3 #it's genuinely a really laudable way of understanding others imo. #the only problem is that because he's driven towards his goals by his PTSD and survivors guilt #he pushes himself into situations (the dungeon and also interpersonally) that trigger him or even just upset him #without regard for what he authentically wants or his own wellbeing.

[chromatic-lamina]

chapter 1107 spoilers

Howabout that cover? Howaboutthat cover? How ABOUT that cover?

Bepo, with a lovely warming pot of tea (or a kettle at least), and a club? (to protect the captain?), finds him skiving off with a snow leopard, a funnel, and maybe an empty bottle of Vodka. Chapter title is: "I've been looking for you", and it refers to the giants, I think, looking for the Straw Hats, and Usopp (especially), looking (out) for the giants, and Catarina Devon doing what, exactly? But Caribou, snivelling little sop of a man that he is, looking out for Blackbeard (his current lord and saviour). But, I'm with Bepo, looking out for Law!

The Blackbeards' land on Egghead and St. Jay Garcia Saturn says he knows all about Blackbeard's background, and Catarina knows it too, and I think it's maybe something separate from the "D" initial, cos', after all, it is in Teach's public name. But we see Van Augur--(like, why is the anime captioning him as Van Ogre when Augur is written clearly on the screen? But anyway). The last time we saw him

was

here in chapter 1081 when Bepo went Sulong and escaped with Law. Most of us thought that Blackbeard's crew had been split in half because

it was assumed that events were happening concurrently, but

Van Augur and Catarina Devon are here (on Egghead), and perhaps Van Augur could have warped himself there, but here he says

he hasn't mastered the warp warp fruit enough to get him and Catarina off the island, so it's unlikely that he could have warped himself all the way from Winner Island. SO, did they pursue Law and Bepo, and the two are nearby, or with the giants, or, or, or? Or is there some other explanation (about Van Augur--I know that Law's whereabouts is still relegated to cover pages)? I'm not a close reader, so I'm happy to have anything pointed out.

But, looks like Catarina will be able to clone

Saturn, and looks as if Saturn knows it. Of course, this guy below (Caribou) would be relevant. Can't wait to see his role!

I'm out of order, of course! I don't think that Law got recaptured, but I still think there might be a giant connection. And speaking of the giants

Usopp's reaction was just

heartfelt, was, ahhh, my heart, and Nami and Chopper were really cute too. And yeah, it's been some time, so the quick recap was necessary. AND, lots of small things I just loved either for humour or poignancy, like:

Brook abandoning everything for the sake of a cup of tea (even though he says he wasn't stopping for a cup of tea)---and Lilith sending forth messages (to raise the barrier, I'm guessing) because Brook is all too calm that the Sunny is heading towards the barrier, and bound to be fried by it. Lilith is not at all equipped for dealing with Straw Hat madness. And no-one can seriously out-machismo

Zoro. He's just too silly and strong. And!!!

the Pacifistas turn on the army, the army needing to suppress a workers' revolt. And that's Kuma in the bottom picture, isn't it? It looks like Kuzan, but PX is written on the cap, I think, in the picture. Again, let me know, please!

Bonney just

being in awe that

she gets to see Nika (and Nika teaches her how to throw a rubber punch, extra future bad news for Saturn, I hope). And

Kuma and Vegapunk (what's the far right image?) take in Nika too. Love Franky's way with words here:

telling Bonney she needs make use of her legs, and Vegapunk decides he's gonna stay (or die), and Borsalino's gonna make sure of it. But!

the power of love is all pervasive! (at least when Sanji's wearing the boots). Although his love was used for protecting Bonney rather than Vegapunk, and probably has more to do with Germa modifications than love, but it is Sanji's motivator, and attacks Kizaru's knowledge of "how things work"!

Kizaru/Borsalino's face in the first panel really shows how much power he's losing. Sentomaru took a path Kizaru could have taken, but didn't. He's following Bellamy's path, so it'll be interesting to see where he ends up. Because he's too smart to be a blind lackey. Being an aware lackey is some powerful conditioning/mental gymnastics.

And I think that's about it. Hoping Kid gets a cover page soon too!

#one piece #trafalgar law #blackleg sanji #monkey d. luffy #usopp #roronoa zoro #catarina devon #van augur #borsalino #kizaru #jay garcia saturn #vegapunk #straw hats #one piece spoilers #op spoilers #opspoilers #chapter 1107 #chromamanga #chromacaps #chromalami #blackbeard pirates #long post #fixed some mistakes.

[hils79]

Hils Watches Mysterious Lotus Casebook - Ep 21

So apparently my Ep 20 Post isn't showing up on any of the tags for reasons I cannot fathom. Will anyone be able to see this post? Who even knows.

Yes, call him an asshole. Because that's what he is

Good lord. Qiao Wanmian just explained, quite clearly, that she doesn't have feelings for Li Xiangyi and that the problem is that Xiao Ziji is the one who can't let go of him. Then she explained her disappointment and anger that Xiao Zijin only took on the sect leader job to spite Li Xiangyi and not because he wants to help make the world a better place. Xiao Zijin, after hearing all this: This is all Li Xiangyi's fault

I legit gasped. I get so caught up in the drama of these things. They are definitely doing a good job of framing him.

I thought they were already married? Didn't everyone attend their wedding a couple of episodes ago?

Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing should bond over their love of teasing Li Lianhua about his ex girlfriend

Li Lianhua, who is half dead, slapped Di Feisheng, who is very strong, on the arm. He looks so hurt, and the way he grabbed his arm. He is baby.

I love that he doesn't ask any follow-up questions. 'My idiot twink is crazy, let's go and see what idiocy he's up to now'

This poor sweet boy. He's frantically trying to cure Di Feisheng's amnesia so he can help clear Li Xiangyi's name

LOL

God, I don't want to be there when he finds out just how much Li Lianhua has been lying to him

Oh he was in Immortal Samsara too

So a bunch of unique and interesting men have been invited to an island, they were drugged when they left so they wouldn't know where the place was, and no other men are allowed. Is this like Glass Onion? Is someone going to get murdered? It does feel like a while since they solved a crime

How dare you let a woman bathe you when I, your boyfriend, am right here

#hils watches #hils watches mysterious lotus casebook #hils watches cdramas #mysterious lotus casebook #cdrama

[fenrislorsrai]

I Know Where I'm Going

Season 2 is just Neil Gaiman attempting to get us to read and watch all his favs while looking for Clues.

so got "I Know Where I'm Going" from the library.

as a mundane note on the DVD, the subtitles are incredibly hard to find on the menus for some reason. I finally gave up using the onscreen menu and forced it through opening a track direct on my player. So if you get the DVD, there ARE subtitles, you just gotta work for 'em.

also there's several points where they just subtitle it as "speaking Gaelic". It's effectively shot from a non-Gaelic speaker's POV so I'm okay with it not being translated but it would have been nice is there were subtitles, in Gaelic, for those sections.

This movie rates an enormous HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM from me. Many interesting coincidences.

Free fic title for folks: "may your pulse beat as your heart would wish"

Rest under the cut in case you want to watch this.

You can read the plot on WIkipedia so I'm not gonna focus on the relevant bits for Good Omens cause that's why you're reading this.

First up you get the female lead meeting with her father for dinner, who specifically mentions coming from Eccleshall to see her off. This is a different town than Eccles of the Eccles cake, but did make me go look that up.

The tartan hills sequence really is direct from this movie as part of a dream sequence. Joan's father had warned her she was marrying a man, not his company, but the dream sequence does involve actually marrying the company as shown off by some large industrial machinery. big HMM there on theme.

She's clearly marrying this guy for safety and financial security but you never really learn much else about him. She seems to have worked for him and then climbed into position of getting married. You hear this guy's voice on a shortwave radio but never actually see him. He's also described with general disdain by the locals as an imposter. He's not the real lord, he's just the guy with the money.

Which is something that comes up repeatedly thematically as New Money vs Old Money. even the Old Money doesn't have much and that's why they're renting out to the New Money because they're land rich, cash poor as are post of the people that are in the area.

There's a bit where the rich new folks go call on one of the old nobles and comment on how she's only got three servants on a quite big house and she comments on "don't need them when I have guests" and then you get to see Torquil, who actually is a lord (and the love interest here) getting told to set the table for the elderly noblewoman he's visiting. Which he does. and for the rich New Money folks who do nothing to help.

You also have a conversation with some of the locals making fun of the rich industrialist paying money to import salmon, when he's got salmon swimming in the stream of the land he's renting, but isn't catching. He's also having a swimming pool built... on an inland, which they all think he's mad for. (considering the ocean murdering people is a plot point, wanting to swim in warmer non-murderous water seems pretty reasonable)

But there's an overall Vibe of the new money having MONEY but not class.

Torquil has class but also responsibilities. He's only here because he's been serving in the Navy and is home on shore leave. Catriona, who provides Torquil and Joan somewhere to stay while waiting out the stormy weatehr has been providing housing a unit of soldiers up until about a week ago. So you get that clear "they're doing their part for the war, the New Rich aren't".

You also get Joan attempting to pay a local fisherman quite a lot of cash to take her to the nearby island in heavy weather. It's really too much cash for him to refuse. That could buy him ability to marry and buy a boat of his own. Torquil is Pissed Offabout it though because he considers it thoughtless. You could wait and not risk that man's life over this. He eventually gets talked around but goes with on the boat trip since he actually IS in the Navy and can manage to help get engine restarted in boat when they get swapped.

So a lot of themes in common, but lets get back to the real meat here: THE CURSE.

Torquil has never been in the nearby castle, which is basically just a standing square tower. Not have any of his immediate ancestors because everybody knows about the curse and that he can't set foot in the castle of Something Terrible Will Happen.

This gets called back to several times but without any indication of the exact nature of the curse.

This IS a romance so the whole point is this delay in the travel makes Joan reconsider marrying the rich guy. but before that, you have Joan and Torquil split up. They have a farewell kiss and then part ways. Torquil wishes her well and suggests since some pipers got hired for this delayed wedding, she should have them play a tune they heard earlier in a dance scene.

meanwhile, he's been delayed so many times getting to the same island (which is his home), his shore leave is now over, he has to go back to the Navy. So is walking off to catch a ride and goes past the castle.

Stares at it and is "okay, Joan's right, this is stupid I've been scared by this curse the whole time" so goes into castle to climb the tower actually see the curse carved in stone.

OH HEY, THAT CURSE AIN'T WHAT YOU THOUGHT. It's one of those written in such a way it can be read several ways. One of which is "you can never leave this place without the person you love." oh hey, are those bagpipers playing Our Song???

Happy reunion had, Joan wants to be with Torquil nevermind marrying the company for riches. what they do about Torquil's leave being over, IDK, movie over, this is a romance, off we go.

#good omens #I know where I'm going

[alex51324]

The TV demos at work were showing Shetland ponies and the Island has a pony cart, so does this mean they have a pony? And is it one pony or two? And have any of the gentlemen insisted horses be brought over so they can ride out? Clearly hunting is out due to lack of foxes and poor terrain, but I can see a lot of them pouting over the lack of riding opportunities and wanting one or two they could borrow on occasion since the island isn't big enough for a whole herd I would think. Also, since this is after WWI, would they still observe Daylight Saving time or would they sensible say 'sod this I want my steady sleep schedule, why are we inventing artificial jet lag when passenger jets aren't even a thing yet?'

The pony cart they use for transporting things up from the boat/general village errands is a one-pony cart. The pony is probably a medium-sized* mixed-breed rather than a pure Shetland. There could easily be another pony (or even ponies!) that works in the farming sector of the Island, if your plot calls for multiple ponies.

(*I'm picturing about 12 hands, which is 48 inches, at the shoulder.)

As for riding horses...I don't think there are any yet? It's something that could be arranged, certainly, but I don't think any of the particularly rich gents are all that keen. (In "canon," Lord Gerald rode before the War because it's What One Does, doncha know, and after because of his disability and Clint making Sad Guide Eyes at him if he doesn't.)

But again, if you want there to be riding horses For The Plot, there could be! I do think somebody with relatively deep pockets must've pushed for it. Transporting horses on a small boat isn't the easiest process in the world, plus they'd have to import horse feed from off-Island--grain, definitely, and probably hay as well. (Ponies are generally a lot easier on the grocery bill than horses, and if they have Shetland blood, they're adapted to living on the kind of low-quality grazing/hay that the Island would supply.) Also, I'm not sure if Britain's horse population has recovered from the War yet, by this point. (To the extent that it ever did, I mean.)

James might be interested enough to arrange it--although I'm not sure what his finances are like; I sort of suspect that his estranged wife/another relative has his power of attorney, and they may have him on the economy tier of the paying-patient scale, like Kit is. But anyway, if not James, it could be someone we haven't met yet. (Or, y'know, Phillip. I gather he's too depressed to arrange for much of anything himself, but the Island manifested Gordon's fish-and-chip shop to stop him running away; if Someone decides that having horses might stop Phillip wanting to kill himself, that could happen. )

As for daylight savings time--I have no idea, really. That's one aspect of life in WWI-era-ish England I know nothing about.

#thomas and the island of the gays