#Additional tags posted in the cut

[ohhcinnybuns]

Gift for BSD Secret Santa 2024

@anticidic I'm sure you are probably giggling right now, but, as prophecy and luck foretold, I am your Santa. And as you watched me panic before your eyes every day, I want you to know that as I finished your gift, I was giggling my ass off. I hope you love it. Merry Christmas! Thank you to @bungostraydogs-secret-santa for the event. Chapters: 2/? Rating: Mature Fandom: 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs

Relationships: Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai Osamu & Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Summary: Every night, he heard a voice singing a song in his dreams, and the lyrics changed each time they met. The young prince knew this voice was singing for him - calling to him - to find them. He's heard them many times before.

The figure waits for him patiently, continuing its melody and stretching out his hand. The more the prince walked the foggy path, the more he felt he needed to know why the faceless ghost sought him relentlessly after many moons.

‘What do you want from me?' he wished he could ask, taking their outstretched hand and standing before them. The silhouette brings the prince’s small frame closer into their embrace with a gentle tug, their other hand gently caressing his cheek to ease any reluctance. The prince has come to learn not to fear their presence, but he doesn't stop the subtle blush and gulp that frames his freckles. He found he could never speak before them, too enchanted by their melody and ghostly caresses to make any words.

“…I’m hoping for a gentle end… Come with me? It's fate…”

The prince grimaced, a knot forming in his stomach at such a thought before his dream world slowly faded away…

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Additional Tags: Tags May Change, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags Contain Spoilers, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, but not in the way that everyone has magic, really it's only Dazai's mother with the bad voodoo, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Inspired by Schneewittchen | Snow White (Fairy Tale), there is some disney influence, Additional Warnings Apply, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, fairytale, Prince Charming Chuuya, Snow White Dazai, Snowzai, Soft Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai Osamu Needs a Hug (Bungou Stray Dogs), Suffering Dazai Osamu (Bungou Stray Dogs), Caring Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs), Protective Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya's Unconventional Mating Rituals (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai-Typical Suicide Mentions (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai-Typical Suicide References (Bungou Stray Dogs), I Will Go Down With This Ship, I live breathe and eat Snowzai nowadays, Angst and Drama, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, This is a fairytale so as most fairytales... HEAVY angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Happy Ending, Slow Burn, like an excruciating slow burn, like we might as well be crawling, Friends to Lovers, Skk, BSD Secret Santa Present 2024, Soulmates, Prophetic Dreams

[thenearsightedmicroraptor]

Seen a lot of posts about people coming into your notifications out of nothing and liking your entire blog, but here's a shoutout to the people who do Not follow you, who appear out of nowhere, reblog One (1) post that you are Not the op of, and then you never see them again. Where did you come from girl.

[hidey-writes]

Day After Day | 日复一日

25k | T | Weilan | Case Fic, Undercover Married, Grief

Shen Wei swallows. “And this is why you asked me to—” he makes a vague gesture that means go undercover as your husband “—pretend with you.” Zhao Yunlan comes to a stop, eyes on Shen Wei. “That’s why the cover is a married couple. The reason I’m asking you is because there are no other options for people to go undercover with.” Shen Wei scoffs to give himself an excuse to look away. “You certainly know how to flatter someone, Zhao Yunlan.” Or: Four Haixingren disappear for two months after a stay at a romantic mountain retreat. Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan book a weekend there to find out what happened.

it's finally here!!! my beloved fic for the 520 day guardian reverse exchange! this was written for trobadora, who gave me the most delicious set of ideas to fit into a story. it was so fun.

i have no idea how to describe this fic, frankly - this is, hands down, the most complex and most heartwrenching and most incredible thing i've ever written in my entire life.

here is a list of some things in it: a kiss, a mystery, a change of heart. old chinese people, dark energy world-building, lesbians, big-time character parallels, forgery of documents, rainstorms, rowboats, lollipop symbolism, [redacted], bedsharing, grading, the stupidest undercover name ever. zhao yunlan described with so many light metaphors. shen wei being the most shen wei i could make him.

read Day After Day | 日复一日 on ao3 here!

[moe-broey]

HELP maybe this is influenced by how I'm writing this, or maybe it was supposed to be gleaned from canon and I just. Haven't fully thought about it til now. Haven't Deeply analyzed it beyond the blaring alarm bells that go off when reading this. But. Alfonse's,

Straight into.

This isn't him doubling down. This is him BACKTRACKING. This is him going, "oh fuck I think maybe I came on a little too strong maybe I was a bit too vulnerable and that's really scary. How do I fix this" and he's running through all the dialogue options in his head like Okay. Play it Cool. Keep it Casual. Proclaim your undying loyalty and devotion to your Trusted Partner (person he just told in the beginning of this conversation that he didn't intend to become friends with) by making yourself a blade and shield for them. NAILED IT 👍

[copia]

Papa Emeritus III by Jason Miller

[love-songs-for-emma]

accidentally snipped my own hand with scissors just now and went, "what am i, 8?" so of course i'm thinking about the short story "eleven" by sandra cisneros. we are every age that we've ever been and it's always possible to feel what you felt before, like "wow, that was a silly way to try and cut that fabric. hopefully i wont do that again." but you will. if not exactly like that, then something similar. because, yes life is about learning, but it's not as linear or simple as that. you will cry like you're three and you will whine like you're 13 and you'll complain about backaches like you're 45 no matter how old or young you are. it's all within you, even the stuff that isn't technically you /yet/. it's all within you

[n1et]

I'm sharing a traditional soup recipe with a friend so i figured I might as well make it into a post. Polish mutuals and non mutuals alike please weigh in.

I'll be describing how to make Rosół sometimes localized as golden soup. It holds for about 3 days without freezing. As a little bonus I'll also add in some dishes that use rosół as a base; mostly mentions tho as to not balloon the post. Rosół is a savory meat based broth like soup usually eaten with noodles, it is similar in composition to ramen but places less stress on additions and plating.

Prep time: 10-20 minutes (with great room to spare)

Cooking time: >4h (generally the longer the better)

You'll need: A rather large pot, a strainer (any size, optional), a source of continuous flame (either a gas stove or a candle tea heater both work well, a blowtorch or kitchen torch works in a pinch but I don't recommend it, don't bother with a lighter; it's not worth it, also optional but VERY strongly encouraged)

[recipe under the read more]

Rosół is cooked differently in each household; sometimes according to tradition but usually to taste so the ingredients I'm about to give are tentative and should be adjusted

Ingredients:

about 3lbs Meat

1 Onion (charred)

1 or 2 Parsley roots

1 Carrot

1 Celeriac / Celery Root (large)

1/2 a Leek or as much as will fit in the pot

1 bundle of Fresh Parsley

2-4 Celeriac Stems (optional)

12 whole grains of Peppercorn

1 whole grain of Allspice

1/2 a Bay Leaf

A lot of how the end result will taste depends on the meat used in cooking, that includes both animal and cuts. Traditionally rosół is made with beef cuts such as the shank (or flank) and brisket (you're looking for chewy cuts and ones with some fat on them, tho usually the cheaper the meat is, the better it will do) (as an aside, traditionally when an old dairy cow would die it's meat would be used for rosół among other things, so don't be concerned about the general quality and age of the meat you're using) and poultry wings (including wing tips) and necks such as chicken, duck, or goose. Something more controversial nowadays but still very traditional would be horse tail and horse meat, both it and oxtail is a really good choice if you can get them cheaply.

Beef adds a little bit of sourness to the broth so it should be balanced by either adding in a little bit more carrot or about 1/3 of it's weight in turkey. I'd advise against using only turkey as it makes the broth too sweet in my experience, but it remains a great addition for balancing. The gamyer the meat the more intense in flavor and light in feel the broth will be, so for special occasions getting a goose or duck can make for an amazing dish.

Preparation:

Peel and wash all the vegetables thoroughly, make sure to get the dirt from in between the leek leafs (I usually use a high pressure shower head but I'm sure a sink is sufficient), and to get all the nooks and crevices of the celeriac (tho don't cut off the knotted part it's not imperative you keep it but it is a bit wasteful to do so)

chop the root vegetables into thumb sized dice, this includes; the parsley roots, the celeriac, and the carrot. Do Not chop the onion.

Char the peeled onion! Set it onto a source of open flame so that it is touching the onion directly but is not engulfing the onion and wait about a minute or 5, then turn the onion over and repeat the process. Do not try to scrape off the char, it's supposed to stay. (skip this step if you don't have an open flame handy)

Tie the parsley into a knot so it will stay together while cooking.

Cooking:

Put all the meat into the largest pot you can muster, anything you could fit your head in (or maybe even a bit smaller) will work, and pour water into it so that it covers the raw meat completely. Add the peppercorns, allspice, bay, and the onion. Put the pot on high heat and bring it up to almost a gentle boil before cutting the heat completely. If you want to, you can strain the broth to get rid of the meat fuss, keeping all the spices and the onion, or just let the fuss settle to the bottom of the pot. I've also seen people use a smaller strainer to skim the fuss off the top. Put the pot on low heat and watch if it tries to boil, if it does, add a table spoon of cold water to quiet it down and lower the temperature, ideally your soup should be moving but not quite boiling, do not stir as it'll only damage the onion and redisperse the fuss. If at any point the onion begins to disintegrate simply pull it out so it doesn't make the soup cloudy, you can eat it as is or add it back later and have it with the soup. After at least an hour, or after the meat can be pierced with a meat fork, start putting in other ingredients in order of cook time: first the Parsley root, then the carrot, then the celeriac, the leek should get added at the very end with all the herbs (parsley and celeriac stems). I like to wait an hour between each ingredient but not everyone has 6 hours to make soup, even if you don't have to watch it, so ration your time accordingly. The soup is ready when the leak is cooked through or about half an hour to an hour after putting it in.

Plating and further processing:

Rosół is generally eaten with noodles, any size and shape will do but short thin strands are the most common. You can eat it as a 2 course meal with the broth and noodles as soup and the less chewy meat from it as the second course, my favorite way to eat it is with horseradish sauce made with the broth for which I will provide a recipe later!

Rosół is also a base for many different dishes. You can use the broth as a base for other soups like żurek, and the tougher, stringyer peaces of meat can be ground into pierogi filling, but one of the simplest ways to enhance another dish with it is using it in a horseradish sauce recipe:

ingredients: a table spoon of unsalted butter, a teaspoon of flour, 2 table spoons of rosół (substitutable with any kind of broth), horseradish paste (I use jarred, if you plan on grinding the horseradish yourself add a little bit of cream)

Into a very small pot on low to medium heat add the butter and melt it. Before it burns add the teaspoon of flour and wait for it to brown slightly, stir constantly to make sure it doesn't burn. Quench the rue with the broth, it should foam slightly so try not to spill any, and after it deflates a bit add the horseradish paste to taste. I tend to go for 2 table spoons (quite spicy) but make sure to make the sauce as spicy as you want it to be, the more horseradish the spicier it'll be.

Pour your sauce onto one of the tender peaces of meat extracted from your rosól and enjoy. This seemingly simple dish always fills me with great glee and a sense of accomplishment. There's nothing quite like a peace of meat with horseradish sauce, both a result of delicious soup.

[rsenak]

long time no horse! 1/3

alt. versions under the cut

[land-of-classpects-and-analysis]

Since I've already started work on Prince of Blood a few weeks prior, I'll be posting a longer snippet tonight! Don't want to be missing any of that Princely context ;P

[sforzesco]

i just - your two ao3 bookmarks are in supernatural and metal gear? impeccable, flawless taste, no notes, but aye, the horrors -

SHDHGSDHDKJ Y EAH I started watching spn back in 2008 or 2009, I actually have a million more bookmarks on my browser because I was reading spn fic on. livejournal.

speaking of metal gear, borrowing this ask as an opportunity to connect some dots because my god do I think about metal gear constantly

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Trauma, and History in Metal Gear Solid V, Amy M. Green

Rome, Blood, & Power, Gareth C Sampson

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Trauma, and History in Metal Gear Solid V, Amy M. Green

The Deaths of the Republic, Brian Walters

its like. the recurring violence of it all!! the last generations of the roman republic, snake eater/peace walker/phantom pain, none of you ever stood a fucking chance! the rot of military imperialism already doomed you!!!! you are trying to fix a decaying corpse, but the putrid flesh from the limbs is sloughing off in your hands!!! assigning a higher ideal, a fantasy, to the economy of war/imperialism/political violence won't change what it is!! do you think love can bloom on a battlefield? yeah, but it sure as hell won't save any of you! it will make you cannibalize each other**

**love wins for dave and otacon tho

[izzy-b-hands]

"Alright," Stede sits by Ed on the bed and grins. "Sworn to secrecy meeting is a go!"

Ed smiles and kicks a boot playfully against the floor. "Did you guess what it's about?"

"Not at all," Stede replies and fights off the urge to tell him how he shook Lucius to try and help him figure it out (he didn't.) "So either there's something cool and important to talk about or you maybe wanted..."

He pats the bed. "I'm good with either or both, of course. Both would be lovely, but-"

Ed pushes him over onto the pillows and lays on top of him, giggling and kissing him silly. "Mhm, I think we could test the bed again."

"Make sure it won't fall out of the ship no matter how hard we-"

"I mean, we're the captains; we need to keep things safe," Ed continues, grabbing at his chest and and grinding his hips down. "And this bed, mate? Needs constant testing, because it could go at any moment."

Stede can't help but think that at the present, the bed isn't the only thing on a hair trigger. "You'd better tell me the secret for the meeting then, before we get into quality testing."

Ed sits up to straddle him, hands pressed down lightly on his tits as if to ground himself. "Right! I thought maybe this year, since we do something for everyone else's birthdays usually, we could do something for Izzy's."

Had Ed asked for this when they'd first come aboard, Stede wouldn't have considered it. But things have changed, and he and Izzy both have opened up at least a little to everyone else and even more to each other.

"What day is it this week?" Stede asks, hands moving to Ed's hips. "We can think up ideas for it now, late meeting with the crew tonight to plan it all out, and-"

"Oh fuck."

"What?"

Ed blushes bright red, only for the color to drain from his face immediately after. "Man, I know he and I have both been...yeah. But I know he knows when mine is."

"Oh Ed," Stede sighs gently. "Is it even coming up any time soon?"

"If I can't remember it, how would I be able to answer that?"

"Huh," Stede pauses. "Good point. Well, maybe even if we just get it within the month, if you rec-"

"Stede."

"Ah. Well. I might have an idea or two, after we finish up here..."

--

"So we're planning gifts, a small surprise party, and whatever other random fun things we can think up for this," Lucius says. "But we don't actually know when any of this needs to be ready."

"Exactly!" Stede smiles. "You're all ready to help us then?"

"Oh, no, I didn't-" Lucius splutters. "Fuck. How old is he going to be?"

Ed stares wide-eyed, straight ahead. "Oh my fucking-"

"It's okay," Stede wraps an arm around his waist. "I could never remember how old the kids were, or Mary! I know they have their birthdays in the fall though."

"Autumn," Lucius stage whispers. " Louis is in late September, and Mary and Alma are in October, remember?"

Stede nods.

"On the same day? You had me write up that memory of yours of Mary, in bed, screaming that if she had to share a birthday with the little gremlin ripping her in hal-"

"Yeah," Stede interjects with an awkward chuckle. He'd not been at his best that day, if he ever had been with Mary. "To be fair to her, I think I would say the same. It wasn't Alma's fault of course-"

"Oh my god no shit," Jim scoffs. "She was a baby!"

"We're off topic," Olu adds. "Let's pretend his birthday is... let's say in a few weeks. Time to prepare, buy things wherever we stop next, and if we're too early or too late he'll be equally pissed off either way."

"They share a birthday?" Ed gently slaps his arm. "Why didn't you tell me? That's awesome."

"I really think Mary would have preferred it to have even a day between," Stede says. "But Alma does love it. They always want to bake their cakes together, and-"

"Cake is a good start," Olu interrupts again. "What sort of cake does he like, or maybe more accurately, can he eat?"

"He's never been picky," Ed replies.

"Bullshit," Pete scoffs. "He totally told you at some point that he has a favourite flavour of cake. Nobody hides that information."

"It's true," Roach nods. "I've tortured a lot of people, when needed or requested, and they give up three things super easy: favourite cake flavour, parent they think loved them least, and favourite colour."

Stede can't help but stare. "That. Is a fun torture fact! Thank you; I didn't know that!"

"So we torture him and find out what cake he wants," Frenchie muses. "Sounds good. John, you and me could drag him in here I bet-"

"Why are we having this meeting here?" Roach asks. "People come in and out of the galley day and night. What if he wants a snack?"

"Because I told him to rejam the Jam Room," Stede replies.

"I said make up an excuse for all of us being away from him," Ed says. "That is one, I suppose. What does that mean though, to rejam the..."

"I don't know; I panicked and pretended to get mad that he was questioning an order when he asked me that," Stede winces.

Ed's eyes light up. "We have hours then! He's stubborn; he'll be determined to figure it out at least partially on his own first, and even then-"

"I'm gonna go make coffee," Roach sighs. "Extra strong. Feel like this is going to be awhile. Anyone else want a cup, mug, bowl, tureen..."

--

"Like, if you were forced to eat a cake though."

Izzy frowns. "Who would torture me that way, when flaying me or ripping out my nails would be far more efficient?"

"That's what I'm saying," Jim smiles awkwardly. "But about the cake-"

"If you're planning on poisoning me, just put it in the food when Roach makes lunch," he sighs. "Honestly, the urge to overcomplicate murder isn't like you. Not at all. Odd."

Jim shoves past him and runs away down the deck.

"... I'll prepare for my poisoning then."

--

"I didn't fucking choke!" Jim shouts. "You get out there and find it out then!"

"It's okay," Stede says gently. "You did your best."

"He's scared of me; I know he is! How did that work against me just now?" Jim continues.

"You did well," Olu wraps them up in a hug. "Captain, maybe they're right. You and Ed are at the forefront of this, just go ask him! We've got like a billion other things to try and have Ed remember or guess or ask him yet in addition to this, so if we do all of it this way?"

Olu shakes his head. "Then we may as well save it all for his birthday in two years for long it'll take."

He's right. So is Jim.

"Okay," Stede sighs. "You two shouldn't have had to be involved in that bit. I'll send Buttons to him instead."

--

"The sea," Buttons states as he walks up beside Izzy.

"...yeah?"

"If the sea were a cake-"

"For fuck's sake," Izzy growls.

"I know," Buttons shrugs. "I told them it wouldn't work. Besides, who even remembers when their birthday actually is? I don't, so I just choose my favourite day each year to be my birthday."

Izzy turns. "Huh. How do you know which day will be your favourite?"

"It's September fifth this year."

"That doesn't ans-" Izzy cuts himself off before he says anything else useless. "Wait. Birthday? Are they trying to plan something for my-"

"Ah, you know too much now," Buttons pats his shoulder. "I'll have to go before I have to kill you."

"Why? Buttons? Buttons?!"

--

"Okay," Stede sighs deeply. "Well. We've got more than we had before."

Lucius takes the journal back from him and peers over the page for Izzy's Birthday Planning. "What information did we gain, exactly?"

"That he knows we know about his birthday, and that he at least probably enjoys cake."

"Mhm," Lucius nods. "And you guys think we should move everything up to tonight because..."

"He knows!"

"Next time, maybe we can just ask when his birthday is and start there," Lucius continues. "Not that this was a bad idea, Ed. Not at all! Your first mate is a weird enigma, that's all."

"I'm not good with remembering shit like that," Ed rubs at the back of his neck. "We kept a calendar for the first few years, with everyone's birthdays on it, but after we lost the first fifteen crew members, it seemed silly to keep it going, but-"

"Clearly he appreciates it regardless, or he would have said something," Stede moves back over to Ed, leaned against the galley wall, and pulls him close. "If anything, he could help us by being more forthcoming."

"Yeah," Ed sighs. "Not usually how that goes though."

"No. No I suppose not."

--

"Frmhph?"

"Yeah, sorry, need your boyfriend for a moment," Izzy tries not to step on Pete as he jabs Lucius' arm. "Hey! I'll make it worth your while."

"Normally when I'm this tired I'd say no, but honestly," Lucius yawns. "I'm not sleeping well anyway, so, if you two want to disrobe first-"

"No, babe," Pete whispers. "I mean. I guess I shouldn't speak for Izzy, but-"

"I need someone to help me find and read through Bonnet's journal."

At that, Lucius nearly knocks him over with how quickly he moves.

"You could have just said you wanted to snoop," he adds as he leads Izzy into the galley and behind the counter. "Kept in here for now because-"

"Usually he keeps it with him, so no one, me, would think to look here and read up on the birthday plans."

Lucius nods and sets the journal on the countertop. "Look, Izzy..."

"All I need you to do is tell me what they want to know and to write it down for me," Izzy continues. "Then we can both fuck off back to bed."

"You're fully dressed; you absolutely took the night watch shift from whoever was supposed t-" Lucius pauses. "Oh. That was my turn. Whoops!"

"Consider us even with this," Izzy taps the journal cover. "Let's get it done."

"Okay," Lucius opens up to a very empty page. "Oh. Ah."

"What?"

"... favourite cake flavour?"

"Oh god."

--

"The detail," Ed muses as he reads over the pages. "Lucius, how did you get him to tell you all this? I think there's some of this he hasn't told me since...well, reading about it reminds me of being kids together, so..."

Stede watches a hint of panic cross Lucius' face.

"They fucked," Pete blurts out. "Um. In here. We all did; all three of us, but we cleaned up right away."

"Why wouldn't you?" Roach asks. "Pete. Peter."

Pete keeps his eyes locked towards them though. "And then he was so grateful, that he agreed to tell us everything we needed!"

"But he doesn't know it's for his birthday?" Ed asks. "How?"

Pete frowns. "We're just that good."

"At sex or interrogation?"

"Yeah."

Ed hands Stede the journal. "Oh, look here! It's on August-oh that little shit."

"What?" Lucius asks.

"August is my mum's birthday," Ed scoffs. "One of the few I can remember. And...wait. No."

"What?" Stede runs his eyes back over the page. "I'm not...Ed, give us something here."

"Lucius telling us about Alma and Mary should have been a hint," Ed chuckles. "I can't believe I forgot! He and my mum have the same birthday."

"So had we just talked about your mum-" Olu starts.

"He probably would have remembered right away," Jim sighs.

There's a gentle, awkward, silence that fills the room.

"Did we overcomplicate it all?" Stede asks, breaking the silence as loudly as he dares.

"We may have done," Ed nods. "Plus, I think Fang knows some of this stuff too, actually. We could have waited until him and Ivan were back from vacation, in a week, I guess."

Stede can feel everyone's eyes on them. Not mad exactly, not judging, he isn't entirely sure of the word for it, but it is Something.

"Ah."

"Mhm, yeah."

--

Izzy stares at the paper on the floor by his boots. Something is written on it, which is lovely, but he can't read well enough to figure out what the fuck it says.

Handwriting is Bonnet's though, so there's a small clue.

He dresses and readies himself for the day, pondering if it isn't somehow more birthday nonsense. Sweet nonsense, but nonsense all the same. As if they'd actually follow through on any of it anyway, and to do so nearly four months in advance would be odd.

A knife nearly takes off his left ear as he steps out in the barely there sunrise.

"Fuck," Jim scowls and rushes towards him. "I wasn't actually trying to do that."

"I know. If you'd wanted to kill me with that, you would have."

Jim nods. "Okay, so this was a whole-the captains did a... it's like a game?"

"Birthday?"

"Yeah."

"Do they know it's all of May...fuck."

"I think it's the fourteenth," Jim sighs. "Did you read the note Captain Stede left in there by chance?"

"I can't read that well."

Jim looks exhausted. "I'm just gonna tell you what to do for each step."

--

"Okay," Izzy sighs to himself and crouches in front of the goat. "Betsy. You apparently got yourself involved in this?"

She chews some hay, which may as well be a yes. That, and the gift box balanced on her back.

"You thought you had it bad enough trying to make sure Edward has enough milk for his tea," Izzy scoffs and snags the box. "Bet you never thought your life would end up here, hm?"

She gently headbutts his shoulder.

"Yeah, I didn't see this for myself either. But..."

He peeks out of the room. Clear.

"I'm not totally hating this," Izzy whispers. "I haven't gotten to fuck around like this since Ed and I were kids. Used to do just enough to not get punished too badly, but the rest of the time I think you would have been more useful than us to have aboard."

She headbutts his shoulder again, enough to hurt.

"Sorry, sorry. You're more useful than us now, so of course you would have been back then too."

He's putting off opening the box. He knows he is, so he shoves it in his trouser pocket before standing and leaving.

He's got at least six more stops before the galley, and it's nearly lunch already.

--

"Hi."

Buttons nods, and gestures to the scene he's centered in on the long dinner table. "A bit of theatre, if you will."

"Is this still about my birthday?"

Buttons, completely nude except for the frosting covering his cock, nods. "We all got to add our personal flavour to this bit though."

"I'd guessed that. Not to be too forward but yours... vanilla?"

"Poppy seed, actually," Buttons runs a finger along the frosting. "Care for a taste?"

Izzy hesitates. "I can't tell if you're hitting on me or if this is scripted."

"Script called for a bit of conversation between us, topic was my choice. As was the costume."

Buttons gestures to the box, back out of his pocket and in his right hand. "Betsy did her job well! She's a good ship's goat."

"She is," Izzy says. "I didn't know...can I open this?"

"They didn't say you had to wait."

For whatever reason, it feels safest enough to do in front of Buttons and his frosted cock, of all things.

The hinge opens easily, and he peers at the-

"Fucking christ," he gasps. "Bonnet picked this out."

"How could you tell?"

It's a gorgeous necklace, with what seems like a decently reinforced chain (something he's shocked Stede thought of) and a teardrop emerald in it. Not all that big to most of the people Stede probably knew before them, but for sailing, it's almost ostentatious.

He loves it.

"Um. The theatre thing?" Izzy asks as he puts the necklace on, and fights the urge to immediately hide it under his shirt. No one is going to rip it off his neck, not like before, not like-

"That's just what he wanted to call frosting his dick and displaying it," Roach steps into the room. "Sorry, took a moment to finish up the frosting on this!"

He has to smile. He can't even try to hide it. They'd actually done some of it, and cared enough to get it right.

"Before you ask, yes, I made separate bowls of frosting for each...item," Roach says. "Technically, everyone was going to be in here with us right away, but the ship is a tiny bit on fire-"

Izzy stands. "Why didn't you lead with that?!"

"Because it was way more on fire earlier while you were below deck, and now it's better!" Roach protests. "Sit, we don't have to wait for them for the food. The rest of the gifts we do though."

"This isn't it? I've been at this since dawn though!"

"Look," Roach sighs and plates up slices of cake for the three of them. "It was going to be just a party and one gift, but we felt sort of bad about how weird it all went and Ed not remembering-"

"Ed never remembers birthdays," Izzy shrugs. "That's why we had a calendar, for a bit."

"Yeah, he mentioned the calendar. Point is, we wanted to really do it up since...all of that and-"

Roach splutters. "Um. Vanilla, really?"

"Doesn't smell much of vanilla," Izzy frowns and sniffs the frosting on his slice. "Smells like smoke."

Roach freezes, and looks to Buttons. "They had it under control more or less, right?"

In a flash, they're out of the room leaving him alone with the increasing heat, smell of smoke, and the cake.

Izzy studies the slice of cake, then digs in. If he's going to burn alive, he'll do it with his birthday cake, on his fake birthday, in one of the nicest necklaces he's ever been given.

Beats how terrible his twentieth through thirtieth birthdays were by a long shot, that's for sure.

[elftwink]

since i have made this post i have been overwhelmed at the sheer variety of characters that people will append the description "asshole" to. nothing has ever before shown me the limitations of language with such striking clarity because theres just no way you all could possibly mean the same thing. short list of characters that act like that because they suck according to the notes of this post:

sasuke

"so many [warrior cats] villains"

dean winchester

mike wheeler

roman roy

jeff the killer

both izzy hands and ed teach from ofmd

both kurapika and hisoka from hxh

ianthe tridentarius

ebeneezer scrooge

jason todd

nandor whatwedointheshadows

santana lopez

anakin skywalker

minecraft youtuber scott smajor

howl [of the titular moving castle, i assume]

taako from tv

shadow the hedgehog

miles edgeworth

edmund from king lear

beetlejuice

the riddler

now im not saying any of these people are wrong (and obviously for the love of god do NOT bother anybody in the notes over character opinions) i am just saying if you provided me this list without context and told me you would kill me unless i could correctly identify what single trait links all of these people together then brother i would just die

“my favourite character only acts like an asshole because he’s deflecting/covering up his insecurities 🥺🥺🥺” you are so boring. he acts like that because he sucks. worst motherfucker on earth (affectionate). stop making excuses for him

[pausegame]

See you on the other side 💜✨

[sailorsallyart]

Hellers gather around, it’s Destiel Pride Month! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

More info under the cut ⬇️

It's no secret that this is the Destiel website and I am a Destiel girlie. For years I've wanted to host an event that would let us come together to celebrate Dean & Cas and their queerness. This June seems the perfect time to finally commit to it! 

I know the Destiel fandom hasn't had it easy over the years - we've been called many things from delusional to perverted but the truth is that Dean & Cas' love is beautiful and deserves to be celebrated, openly and fiercly!  So let's celebrate! 💚💙

Here are 30 prompts for the 30 days in June.

All types of creations - art, fic, edits, gif sets etc. are welcome! 

You can post on the day of the prompt or later during the entire month of June. No need to do all of the prompts, pick and choose at your own pace!

Please use the tag #destielpride to make sure I won’t miss any of your wonderful creations 😊

*N*S*F*W content is allowed as long as it's tagged with #destielpridensfw in addition to the main tag. 

For creators under 18: please refrain from posting works that aren't SFW.

(Even though this is meant to be a Destiel centric event, everyone is welcome to join & use the prompts to create works for other SPN pairs or even for other fandoms.)

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone spread some Destiel love over the next month. Oh and happy pride! 🌈

[dlxxv-vetted-donations]

Help support Reema's academic career and family

This post will no longer be updated, see here instead.

URGENT: We have 281 hours to get Reema registered in university. Done!!!

My other promotion lists

Updated: Sep 22

Update Sep 20: This campaign is NOT done, Reema is waiting for her campaign manager to raise it to $25,000. A short-term goal is CAD $1,800 for a new laptop (including gfm and banking fees), but this is a projected estimate and I'll have a clearer number when I get more details.

Member(s): @reemash46 (shadowbanned), @reema16 (shadowbanned), @reemagaza (Reema), IG: reema_shurr (confirmed hers, see under cut for proof)

Verification: Operation Olive Branch Masterlist #18

Payment methods: Credit/debit, Paypal through my Kofi (Be warned that Paypal takes a cut. I will post proof of donation within 24h under the 'receipts' tag)

Donation match: $5 CAD (see under cut), $5 CAD

Summary: Reema is an evacuated Palestinian studying pharmacy abroad in Egypt and just paid off her tuition. She needs additional funds to care for herself and her family back home.

Current progress:

CAD $ 15,514 20,051 / 25,000

CAD is weak compared to other common currencies. Your donation can go a long way.

Campaign details:

Reema is the cousin of @mohamedabushaban06 (source). A few days ago, I made an emergency promotion to get Mohammed registered for college abroad here (It's not urgent anymore but he can still use support).

She's a 4th (out of 5) year pharmaceutical student currently studying abroad in Egypt after her school in Gaza was destroyed. Pharmacy school is difficult but she has a high average.

She just fundraised enough to pay her tuition for all her remaining schooling (see fund allocation section) and will start her semester on Sep 21, 2024.

The campaign goal was raised to $25,000 and the additional $5,000 will go towards academic needs and Reema's family back in Palestine.

She needs a new laptop after losing her old one.

Fund allocation:

All the original $20k is for paying off all of Reema's remaining schooling. There was a rush to get her from $15k to $20k to pay off her current semester due to banking complications. Her campaign manager was not in Canada until very recently and could not access the funds already in the campaign.

Even now, the manager can only send $1,500 at a time. At the time of writing this (Sep 22), I'm not sure when Reena can access the $15k and she isn't online often because she has the flu.

MISC:

Sep 10: Donation match $5 CAD

Reema on IG confirms the Tumblr is hers

[fumifooms]

#As an aroace obviously obsessed with shipping. Me 🤝 Marcille very possibly being uncomfortable at the thought of being in a relationship #Considering her fear of loss + loss of control at categorizing her relationships and the Falin bath scene analysis yk the one #How she pushes herself to think of Falin as a kid still bc it’s more digestible and less scary. Bc change and aging and vulnerability #Like she could totally be super on board to get into a romance at a snap of fingers buuut there’s enough basis for how she could also not be

^ original tags Got more thoughts and decided to reblog instead of editing more in like a clown

Just to go into stuff I didn’t state clearly previously but is part of my general understanding of Marcille: I think she uses gossip and stories as a way to shallowly engage with people in a safer way. It’s easier for her to process her emotions and others through seeing the world in shades of tropes and words on a page which sometimes makes her think in a black and white way or get carried away with her own ideas. And it’s half that she grew up very isolated from peers, both because of age shenanigans and because she grew up in a rural place, so she learned social things from novels a lot, and half that yeah it’s just her comfort zone and reality can be harder to confront than fiction or characters you can interpret and understand on your own call.

And so and so, I was saying that she keeps an emotional distance from others that way consciously or not, where she always knows better than others even about themselves or their circumstances. She pulls away by simplifying people and putting a storybook film over her relationships, makes it less real less threatening less complex to deal with. She repeatedly removes herself from romantic or sexual contexts as a possible agent and actor, as an involved piece herself.

If we go by the romantic farcille bath scene analysis where Marcille pushes her away compulsively because re-examining their relationship is scary, that the thought that there may be other feelings than childhood friends is scary (rather than just having to confront that your vision of your friend is falsified and they’vre grown more than you realize)— It’s actually so interesting to me how she reacts to learning Chilchuck likes blondes.

She’s half-blushing in it, either from learning this or from the naked women succubi. She doesn’t comment on the naked thing though, and more interestingly her reaction is "you like blondes? Is your wife blonde?". Her first instinct is to make this about someone else, wether or not she did make the link and get the thought "I’m blonde does that mean he thinks I’m attractive?" she immediately makes this about anyone other than herself and grasps at her first guess. Like idk I think not even commenting at all on it ever, even afterwards, when she’s so curious about 1) his wife 2) everyone’s types as shown by her asking Senshi, shows avoidance… Though not necessarily a conscious one, not unlike my take on Laios’ reaction to his succubus.

The wife roleplay in itself is telling too. This is her way to think through and solve interpersonal problems, turning it into a story and distancing herself from it. She didn’t go "I think that your wife may have thought this and this" she goes "if i was your wife i’d have thought this and this", which seems more personal but what she’s doing here is making herself an actor in this so she actually has less presence of her own, it’s not her opinion but his wife’s opinion through her mouth.

Like it might feel more personal at first to go "let me pretend to be the wife for a sec and tell you how I’d feel" but, in a way, it’s instead going "I’m going to become this character so whatever I say it’s not my opinion it’s your wife’s" which I think is supported by how she’s unreliable with her theories from an audience perspective, she goes a bit overboard with the narrative and says that for instance she left to test his love into the night when in truth that seems unlikely, and we know she left during a work travel of his. She gets carried away, she’s not being objective, but she’s still sort of self-effacing, denying involvement through this roundabout way. The roleplay isn’t about her but it is about her but it isn’t.

She finds romance fun to learn about but also being involved in it is something she implicitly rejects every time we see it being a possibility, except for her succubus, which I think comes around to being about her needing a sense of control over the nature of the relationships she has. Because again, with a fictional character you set the scene, you set the emotional investment and story beats, you have the control, etc etc. Like she has the romance-obsessed label so people would expect her to jump at any opportunity to be involved in romance herself but in actuality, especially depending on again your interpretation of farcille bath scene, she seems almost scared of it, instinctively and automatically deflective and avoidant.

Good post on this I saw recently actually, real life example below both for aroace people loving characters and for the innate difference of romantically engaging with someone in fiction vs reality, which I imagine to be very close to Marcille’s succubus situation/how it felt to her.

In some ways it’s probably similar/akin to being lithoromantic or cupioromantic 🤔

… Wait right, since last week, actually I’ve been thinking a lot about Marcille’s whole disconnect with romance, distancing herself as an actor in romantic situations, only entertaining it in fiction or gossip etc etc, but like… I think she really did want a compliment here and was disappointed and embarrassed when she didn’t get it. And that’s like the one example we have of a scene with Marcille about romance where she’s involved & where the romantic attention is Real and seemingly desired/considered to some degree?

Of course there are many ways that this doesn’t have to be romantic, it feels nice to be complimented, and aesthetic attraction isn’t equal to romantic or sexual either so it can be separated to avoid discomfort (unlike the pretty straightforward sexual nature of Chil’s succubi type and the romantic-sexual one of the farcille bath scene subtext). In a similar way that Marcille liked to be courted-ish by General Hareus but that doesn’t meant she wants to marry him lol, she could like nice princely attentions like getting complimented as a well-dressed lady without any further like, involvement. I bet she’d like roleplay cafes hah like the ones where the waiters are princes. So yes while it doesn’t ~need~ to mean anything I think it’s notable and interesting, as far as I remember it’s the only scene where she in a way expects and reciprocates interest. Marcille’s mind rn: "This is just like in my novels…"

And next up, again on her relationship to Dalclan, why it’s important to her and what that reveals about her:

Interestingly, I’ve used this as support that she likes the brooding archetype before, but the "I am fated to never love" is explicitly framed as something she relates to, perhaps very deeply. Maybe she’s grown out of that particular thinking since then, but I think it’s very likely she at least has remnants of insecurity about it. How she feels about her half-elf heritage is somewhat ambiguous, she doesn’t seem ashamed but she does seem embarrassed for example. We know she has massive insecurities about outliving others, but maybe this also makes her feel undesirable as well, like others couldn’t love someone so different or so doomed for tragedy. For her differences, for societal standards, for lifespan angst, she in some ways feels like she’s "fated to never love". This could be a neat canon tidbit to base off what the core of this "instinctively pulling away from intimate relationships" thing is. It’s not about others and how they’re short lived or too complex or this or that, it’s always been about her, about how she’s not fit to love and suited to have all these meaningful relationships with people that’ll leave her in so little time.

I keep getting distracted by sidequests rn but the upcoming Mar & Chil arc analysis has so much talking about this stuff because fantasy & fiction are the central topic, since it’s mostly about Marcille’s POV of it. I definitely won’t be going this in-depth about this particular facet of it though so this is a good post to make first I think.

And man this angle makes the "Don’t you want to meet my family?" "-gasp- I really do want to! -turns away from eldritch power and living in her demon-made dreamscape that can allow her to live in fantasy to instead go back to flawed reality with her friends-" all that more meaningful and striking. A fitting end to her arc, a fitting hook to get her to turn back towards her and tempt her to give up on being dungeon lord.

It’s always been just asking things and anecdotes about him and his family, never talking about meeting them, but by having someone so "fated with doomed love" open up and reach out to her "fated to never love", she opens up too, is willing to take the risk that any relationship entails, the same one that he took by offering it, the same risk they’re both averse to and scared of. By actually meeting his family she involves herself in the stories she creates. It makes them real.

She’s finally involving herself intimately with others, despite the real threat of loss that she will have to experience, wether through time and death or rejection. Marcille and Chil’s arc, man…….. See, this is why I’ve been tilling the fields of that analysis for months this is why I’m insane about them, not only is there so much to say but her relationship with Chil deconstructs her perspective on the world as idealized and influenced by fiction and fantasy and optimism. Like, he’s at the core of that part of her arc and man!! Man

Below the cut is extra thoughts I think are relevant and tasty bc the length is getting ridiculous

Tacking this on bc the topic cropped up earlier today and it’s topical to Marcille’s relationship to sexuality, so.

Marcille is shown to have regressive views on gender, being strict on gender presentation both for what is considered to be a pretty man (elven standards) and for women (feminine clothes and hairstyles), but does she have regressive views on sexuality? And I think in a ‘no sex before marriage!!’ way of regressive sexuality I think there’s some basis to it. Bath scene and just generally keeping romance sanitized kinda vibe, probably influenced by novels fairytale type of standards for romance and what’s "proper". But i will say she didn’t seem to mind Chilchuck’s succubi so that’s a point against it I think. I’m not sure if I’d call Marcille’s discomfort at Falin ripping her shirt as the chimera an example of this mindset since it’s a friend unexpectedly undressing herself in public yk yk, and otherwise she seems fine with casual nudity with Falin and being in just a towel around her party members. Like there’s no categorical evidence or anything but I think the assumption is reasonable, though i wouldn’t characterize her like a scandalized prude or christian saint or anything. Even with the stuff she’s more vocal about aka gender regressivity, like Laios and Falin looking alike in any capacity, she’s not that raging about it (most of the time, the shapeshifter monster tidbit was pretty intense all things considered lol).

Especially if we go the route that it’s subconsious I think her being on the more sex negative side makes sense and is reflected here and there… Casual physical touches & affection in healing and cuddling with friends is all fine and great, but slight sexual intimacy is offered and straight away she has to do a mental block on it, deny and pull back. Ofc that’s more of a personal thing than something that she pushes onto others and is bad, but yeah i think there’s sooome basis for it, sex only after marriage that sorta stuff. It’s harder to really tell bc Dunmeshi avoids sex a bunch but again the succubi are a point against this theory imo and more a point towards "Marcille acts like an ostrich pulling her head in the sand whenever romance or sexuality happens around her and/or tries to involve her" which is, as this post can point towards, my preferred reading.

I sometimes draw Milsiril-Marcille parallels bc of the stifling mothering tendency, but she also reflects some other characters, I should eventually make an analysis on her. The protagonist of Dalclan does visually remind me of Milsiril, haircut and outfit cut mostly, and I do wonder if that’s intended like with Mithrun-Hareus and the reality vs idealized fiction thing. Milsiril the recluse™️ instead of just the meek and fair heroine. And onto the Milsiril-Marcille parallels, Milsiril’s a bit like Marcille’s dark mirror: refuses to interact with other humans beyond ones she idealizes and infantilizes to avoid the complicated and sometimes hurtful sides of relationships like loss and confrontation. She can be overly caring and crowding, with how she gave Falin a bath and was intense about checking for injuries or scars, or how she of course insists about learning about Chilchuck’s personal life despite his clear refusals and reticence. Infantilization with, again, Chilchuck and Falin, like when Falin said "Marcille still thinks I’m about 10 years old" when Marcille was coming to get her —Which, some of that classic elf "I know what’s good for you better than you do" mentality with her attitude of coming to rescue Falin from her brother and take her back if she didn’t like it— Some unwillingness in that sense to part from her loved ones even if that’s their wish like Milsiril coming to check on Kabru. Very enthusiastic about caring closely after people, a bit regardless of if wanted or not… Oh, and unwanted physical contact too, again with Chilchuck early on, and how touchy feely Milsiril is. Sometimes I make jokes about Marcille’s flaws and then my brain flashes like……. Milsiril 💀…… And then I go back to talking about Marcillle

In a way, like Laios and party sometimes explicitly mentions, their journey and all this self-growth wouldn’t have happened if Falin hadn’t died. There is the whole "exceptional circumstances" situation where it made them take risks and grow closer naturally through the obstacles they faced together, but on another hand I wonder if being in a group growing increasingly not just simply professional but friends as well without Falin was the crux of her growth. (While Marcille initially made efforts to be social and liked by each party member to integrate well, she’s not shown to make efforts to hang out outside of work with them after that, how it’s mentioned they don’t go to taverns together etc. We don’t know how much efforts, she’s always been pretty withdrawn. There’s the academic pedestral she was put on that made it rougher to make friends I imagine, but now I can’t help but think that she kept distance on purpose, because ~relationships and friendships are something fated to end badly for her~ etc.) So yes I think she didn’t really try to make friends with anyone. Even, as far as we know Falin has been Marcille’s only friend ever. Falin is her comfort zone, even if it’s a comfort zone she does a lot of metaphorical mind-block cleaning and caring remodelling in. She’s her comfort doll she wants to always carry around with her. Think she clings onto Falin a lot, defaults to just sticking by Falin, etc. Much like Laios, losing her was their catalyser to open up to other people in their lives too instead of just her.

The lion ate her desire to take care of her hair… To pretty it up and arrange it. Instead it becomes something that people around her have to do for her. Something caring and patient and in an atmosphere of no judgement. How fitting an end for her, who considered herself so undesirable, a mule, who sought social recognition through achievements, academic and professional with the classmates at the academy and the party during the mandrake collecting, so so afraid of being unwanted, a burden.

This is giving me emotional damage help me. I might have to redo this into a proper & clean analysis post after all... You poor asker I’m so sorry for hijacking your question and dropping this on you lol

You're always so on point with your posts. On that note, it made me realize that; Considering the themes of desires in DunMeshi. It's also to say that what you think you want isn't what you actually want.

Like, Marcille thinks she wants the handsome prince from the novels she reads... But what she actually wants is someone maybe more like her father who she admired so much. Kind, virtuous, caring to a fault, a family man. Things she later finds in Chilchuck.

Because as traumatizing as it was to see her mother's spiral after her father's death; Her memories of her father itself are some of the most important to her. And it fits with her pursuit to increase her loved ones' lives, because she does want what her mother and father had.

Sipping. I do go over ‘what you think you want vs what you actually want + what you need’ in my (upcoming) Marcille & Chil arc analysis ;) It’s a part of Dunmeshi that I really like and is super fascinating, I’d honestly like to make an analysis-post on the topic: all the different threads and characters in canon that reflect that, desires vs wants and themes of idealization in Dunmeshi, but it’s one of those things that’s just so huge to make. See this is the freaking problem with doing Dunmeshi meta you start talking about the themes or a narrative and everything is so interwoven you get distracted with tangents BUT IT’S ALL COMPELLING AND RELEVANT

I know that’s something laimar does a lot too, the dad thing, with Marcille in a post-canon comic knitting beside him paralleling her parents and whatnot. I don’t know if I fully agree on the angle but there’s definitely stuff to dig at there…

Like I know that I’d like to analyze Marcille’s succubus more, it comes up in my analysis draft but it’s not the point I’m trying to make there so I focus on other stuff but… I always saw the focus of Marcille’s succubus as that she sought out an emotional connection most of all, it’s romantic and courtly in nature but more importantly there’s personality and behavior there and it’s a character she already loves and knows deeply from having read the series, so it’s not like Chil where it’s just a pretty face whose identity doesn’t matter. A friend of mine though, @room-surprise, goes with the angle that it shows she isn’t ready for a relationship and that the appeal is very self-centered, and I def think compelling points are made…

Point I was trying to make, the succubus is definitely at the crux of figuring what it is Marcille wants and craves in someone I’d say, where she’s emotionally at wether consciously or subconsciously, or how she sees herself being involved in romance at least… It’s true Marcille is enthusiastic about romance, but always someone else’s, never hers, and she seems unwilling to examine her own relationships with people. She oversteps boundaries either obliviously or carelessly and doesn’t like change…

And then there’s how complex people’s relationship to fiction can be on top of that and graaaaah

Edit in bc I forgot I wanted to mention this like an idiot: OH and I do think the Daltian Clan serves a role in the general tapestry of Dunmeshi as well, sometimes in in depth ways that Room-Surprise will tackle in their research paper way better than me I’m sure. My understanding of the importance of general Hagreus in a more general narrative sense is that he reinforces the theme of idealization/fantasy vs reality that’s super present through the manga. Beyond just Marcille’s arc and his importance to her he’s designed uncannily close to Mithrun, it parallels real elves and their very flawed military system and the broken people it cultivates vs the romanticized elves put on an aesthetic pedestral in novels, especially considering it’s "general" Hareus

To give some previews of the analysis wip: Thus the succubus targets Marcille’s wish for a perfect knight who could cherish her forevermore, someone safe and known and fantastical, just hers in a way, free to see and construct however she wants because he’s a character to interpret Dungeon Meshi is in part about resisting desires, the irrational cravings, mostly through the character of the demon. I mentioned needs earlier, and to ideals vs wants we also add vs needs, both emotional and physical. And needs alongside wants are what Dungeon Meshi wishes to promote for a healthier person. Dungeon Meshi illustrates very well with the dungeon lords that you can be a slave to your desires. Dunmeshi prones the important of balance for both a healthy body and a healthy mind, and the arc of optimism vs pessimism with Marcille & Chilchuck is one such case <3

Ouuuugh how flawed relationships with flawed people can still be made into somehing good and healthy that make the world brighter…

We’ve gone far from the topic of how her family shaped what she seeks in relationships haha, I think you put it well already though I don’t have much to add on that front Edit in 2: SIKE! I’ll add that there’s an interesting thread in the manga of Marcille maturing and becoming more like her mother, which would be interesting and fun to pair with the fatherhood of Chil. Because Marcille is sometimes a mother figure as well: she’s the mom friend. I go over it here, and since when I made that post I’ve seen more interesting analysis on the topic too, like noticing she hides behind her mother’s portrait in the nightmare chapter, perhaps the inspiration behind her more mature reserved academic persona she sometimes has. Her parents are def important to her so it’s interesting to see how all the dynamics and her own psychology fit into that….

But yeah I think what she (thinks she) wants out of romance has a lot of layers, both conscious and subconscious… I haven’t gone into the bigger picture of how fiction affects her relationships here but it’s the central topic of my Marcille & Chil arc analysis so. She idealizes the trope of the prince charming and finds it attractive but is that what she would actually latch onto… Is it fully superficial, is it more about herself than it is about her potential partner... Is it mainly because she wants to get validation, from being special that she typically gets from high academic performance… We do see she can be rather insecure and worried about others’ perspective of her, that they think she’s not useful or capable enough, especially in the mandrake chapter… Unconditional love perhaps

What is your emotional landscape Marcille. How emotionally intelligent are you. I don’t think she knows what she wants romantically. I think she has a job so she don’t really care about that rn I’m just not sure if we can figure out what she ~actually~ wants on her behalf that might be too many levels of interpretation but idk idk, thinking on it still