i was rewatching the hunters exam arc when i remembered the scene that makes me go absojutely fucking feral
each of the main four’s reactions to tonpa characterizes how they perceive goals. not only passing the hunter’s exam, but their larger personal overarching goals.
gon’s initial reaction is “it doesn’t matter. the door opened.” as long as their goal is realized, the end justifies the means. this keeps with what we see at the end of the chimera ant arc, when gon is so traumatized over kite’s death that he makes a nen pact to kill neferpitou. as a result, gon loses his nen, effectively ruining his future as a hunter, but at the time, he had to avenge kite, his only connection to ging.
killua believes in the power of the group to achieve their goal. his faith in the main four shows how he craves connection and belonging, and the need for friends is one of killua’s deepest drives. he doesn’t have a goal of his own until alluka because he is happy protecting gon; only once they split up can he establish his own wants and needs.
kurapika is willing to overlook the implications of tonpa’s choice in order to pass the exam within the time constraint. in his own goal to annihilate the phantom troupe, kurapika is also working against time; as such, he has to abandon his own morals and pride in order to achieve his goal.
leorio is the only one who abandons their goal entirely. his prioritizing tonpa over the test shows that leorio lives more in the present than the other three. he doesn’t need to plan ahead for life and death the way gon, killua, and kurapika do. here, leorio’s two goals (becoming a doctor, and passing the exam in time) clash, and he chooses to adhere to his morals and say something rather than ignore them. leorio’s honesty and humanity grounds the others in the same way a doctor heals a wounded patient.
"Men likes the opposite sex, but that doesn’t mean all men will be hypnotized by the beauties before their eyes"
-Lan Lister
I think a big part of why I read way more fanfiction than books is that there’s just a hell of a lot less exposition
the first 10 pages of most books are always “these are the main characters and here’s some background on each of them and this is the setting etc etc” and it’s such a fucking hassle getting to the plot sometimes
fanfic is just like “fuck it you know all of this already let’s go”
making a tree topper
this is how I wanted their reunions to be
you’re welcome
if i ever see any of you in public, the code is “i like your shoelaces”
that way we know we’re from tumblr without revealing anything