"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.
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Please don't shake the cat
[DP x DC fic]
[Love at first... murder? - part 13]
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Part 1
Ao3
---
Private chat nicknames:
RedHood = Jason
Danny = Danny
---
Private chat
RedHood: *picture*
RedHood: this yours???
---
Seeing the picture of Ellie clamped onto Red Hood’s arm Danny lets out a sigh while rubbing his forehead. He takes a few seconds to look at the picture while deciding on how to reply.
---
Private chat
Danny: you don’t happen to be in Mexico right now by any chance, do you?
RedHood: No.
RedHood: I was out patrolling when I was suddenly bitten by her.
RedHood: Thought it might have been a criminal or stray cat or something like that at first.
RedHood: I was not expecting a feral teenager, but I can’t say this is the first time it’s happened.
Danny: damn, she was supposed to be in Mexico 😕😥
Danny: I guess this is what she was trying to tell me with that cryptic message she sent me huh
Danny: and the stray cat analogy isn’t too far off to be perfectly honest 🤔
RedHood: So you know her?
RedHood: Can you help me get her off? I’ve tried prying but she’s got some sick ass jaw strength.
RedHood: Which would have been pretty cool any other time, but it’s currently not really working in my favor.
Danny: I’m so sorry about her 😓 😓
Danny: we’ve been trying to teach her to ask for consent first
Danny: but it’s still a work in progress 😅
Danny: of course I'll help you get her off!! 😊🙃
RedHood: Great! You’re at your apartment, right?
RedHood: I’ll be there in two shakes.
Danny: please don’t shake the cat 😰
Danny: she’ll get grumpy and might latch on even tighter
Danny: I’ll come to you instead 🙃
Danny: you said you were patrolling, so crime alley, right? 🤔🤔
RedHood: Well, yes, but I doubt you’ll be able to get up where I am right now.
RedHood: Let me at least come down to the ground first and I’ll tell you how to get here.
RedHood: Danny?
---
Jason looks down at his unread messages with a slight frown. He puts his phone away and looks back at the teenager on his arm.
He gives his arm a small shake, causing her to growl at him which immediately makes him stop.
Right… No shaking the cat.
Jason lets out a weary sigh before looking down over the edge of the building to the ground below. He’s trying to think of the best way to get down with only one functional arm when a voice breaks him out of his reverie.
“Hey, Hood. I’m here!”
He turns around, slightly alarmed that there’s a second person who managed to sneak up on him tonight.
Damn, he’s getting rusty
Though from anyone whom he had been expecting to see, he had not been expecting to see the guy he messaged a minute ago standing behind him on the roof.
“How did you get here so quickly? And for that matter, how did you even get up here?” Jason asks confused.
“Oh, I flew” is Danny’s casual response, which gives Jason more questions than have been answered. But before he can decide whether he should bother asking for clarification Danny already moves on to the next topic.
“Anyway, let’s see what we can do about this,” he says, approaching Jason’s arm and the girl that’s hanging off of it.
“Good luck,” Jason says, holding out his arm a little better and watching bemused as Danny and the teen have a stare-down.
“Ellie, what did we say about biting others?”
The teen, Ellie, narrows her eyes and growls at him. Danny just crosses his arms and gives her an unimpressed stare.
“Nah-ah, you have to let him go. We ask before we bite someone. It’s called consent. Don’t make me get Jazz to give you another lecture”
It’s clear to Jason that Danny’s attempt at talking to her isn’t working when the teen proceeds to glance at Jason calculatingly before giving Danny a challenging look and biting down harder.
Apparently, it’s clear to Danny as well, as the next thing he does is let out a put-upon sigh before declaring “Well, I gave you a chance. Guess we’ll have to do this the hard way”
Danny then grabs a hold of her and tries pulling her off of him.
What is his life? Jason thinks as he’s standing there while Danny tries to physically pull the teenage girl, who decided his arm looked like a nice snack, off of him.
Though luckily for him, it seems to work as not a few seconds later Danny has pulled her off of his arm and is now holding the teenage girl with a bloody mouth up by her armpits.
Danny sets her down with a sigh but before he can speak up, the teen crosses her arms and levels Jason with a sharp look that makes him straighten up.
“Thou winneth this round, Red-Helmed Knight of the Night. Though thou should be prepareth, as the upcoming trials will be even more toilsome” Ellie declares while pointing at him, uncaring of the blood on her face.
“And I,” She points a finger back at herself for emphasis, ”Sir Ellie of the Infinite Realms, will—” she gets cut off when a fly enters her mouth.
Danny moves to help her but she holds up a hand to stop him, using her other hand to thump on her chest a few times.
She spits the dislodged fly out onto the floor and glares at it.
“Curse you! Foiling my monologuing once again!” she yells after the fly as it flies off.
Right…
Jason turns to Danny.
“So is she your sister?” he asks curiously. And totally not trying to fish for more information about Danny and his family.
Instead of Danny answering the question though, Ellie cuts him off.
“I’m his love child with the mayor of our town.”
Danny gives her a disgusted look.
“Ellie—”
She looks back at Danny with a shit-eating grin on her face.
Yeah, definitely siblings.
“I love my dads!” she says proudly, her eyes still on Danny.
Danny gives her a deadpan look in response before it changes to a more mischievous one.
“Oh, I’m sure Vlad would love to hear all about how you reclaimed him as a father figure—”
“Oh Ancients, no. Don’t even joke about that” She fake gags at him before turning back to Jason.
“Can I change my answer? I’m his bodyguard” She says, pointing her thumb at Danny.
That makes both Danny and Jason raise an eyebrow at her, though Jason’s can’t be seen through the helmet. They speak up at the same time.
“A bodyguard, huh?”
“No, you’re not, that’s Frighty”
Danny’s statement makes Jason pause and turn to look at him.
He’s got a bodyguard?
Ellie shakes her head happily.
“Nope! I took over the position. My knightly title isn’t just for show, y’know? I earned it fair and square!”
“When did this even happen? And why was I not told?” Danny asks, bewilderment covering his face.
Jason stays silent as he tries to make sense of the conversation.
“About…” Ellie takes a moment to think about it “3 months ago? I think it was when you were dealing with some time chores. And I thought it’d be a nice surprise, so… Surprise!” she exclaims, doing some jazz hands at the end of the sentence.
“What did you even do?”
“I snuck up on him and threw a Fenton Wii remote at his head which knocked him out cold. It counted as a win so I earned the position by right of conquest and gained my knighthood” She says with a shrug.
“Huh… think that would’ve worked for Pariah Dark as well? Would’ve made things so much easier…”
Ellie gives another careless shrug as Danny lets out a small reminiscent sigh. Meanwhile, Jason stands awkwardly to the side.
“Well, either way, I’m proud of you. Do you have a video?”
“Tucker filmed it for me, yeah”
“Nice”
They high-five with grins on their faces. At this point, Jason lets out a small cough which has the Fenton siblings turn around startled and proceed to then give him identical sheepish smiles.
They really look like they could be twins…
“Ah, sorry Red Hood. And again, I’m sorry for Ellie.” Danny says, rubbing the back of his neck with a small blush on his face.
“I’ll take her back home. And uhh… see you next time?”
Jason gives him a smile from under his helmet.
“Sure, if you’re still up for that next date?” Jason trails off with some hope.
His words make Danny’s blush darken.
“Ah uh, yeah! Yeah, of course! The next date! Uhmm, I’ll text you! Or you can text me. That’s fine too!”
Next to him, Ellie rolls her eyes and makes some fake gagging motions. She then grabs Danny by his arm and starts dragging him away.
“Come on, Loverboy. You can and your paramour can flirt later. When I’m not there… and after he’s passed my trials” she says, muttering the latter part low enough that Jason can’t hear. But, judging by the way Danny’s head snaps back to her and how his brows furrow, he did hear.
Just as Jason goes to reply, giving them a thank you and a goodbye of his own, perhaps even an offering to help them get down from the roof, he picks up on movement behind him.
Quickly turning around has him regretting not leaving the rooftop earlier, as he watches the Bats (and birds) land.
Fuck.
---
Taglist:
@i-always-say-yea @uraniumwizard @why-must-i-be-like-this @griffinthing @i23432i @imsotiredfanficlovertm
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