#In both of these it can be assumed it’s for Falin/he’s thinking about her which. I’m sobbing

[fumifooms]

his flower...

Aww, from the signing doodle board and the Adventurer’s Bible long illustration… He likes flowers he likes shells, just a guy and his flower he picked from the side of the road, what’s not to love. Nature lover boy…

[yuri-puppies]

OP's tags:

honestly i'm kind of interested in the idea of laios in an arranged marriage. because obviously straight-up inherited monarchies are ...bad, to say the least! but it's what the characters are familiar with (even laios' father's extremely local, extremely minor leadership role is inherited, presumably through the male line). and it isn't just about what they think the best way to run melini is; in terms of ensuring that the other longed-lived nations respect melini's continued sovereignty, having it passed down in a manner that's close enough to their own ways for them to understand it and respect it is important. And it seems like most of the other nations have leadership through inheritance - thought that isn't confirmed for certain except with the elves.

Also, a marriage carries the potential to establish foreign allies - something melini is certainly lacking. A marriage could come with resources they'll badly need, treaties of mutual defence, money, legitimacy and political capital... not that these things can't be worked around, but if laios isn't strongly opposed, there are a lot of advantages! and i don't think he would be, because that's the framework for marriage (conferring practical advantages, building intracommunity relationships and providing a partner to do important work that he can't do) that he had grown up with. he isn't exactly a romantic and I doubt he's holding out for any sort of relationship of that nature.

Like, I don't think it's impossible that they would go with this path, because it's the most obvious and it carries a lot of advantages and it's what almost all the decision-making characters would consider normal and not objectionable. and it could be so interesting.

I think Laios would have major hangups if expected (i.e., by Marcille) to establish a genuine, romantic interest in a woman. Whether because of his sexual or romantic orientation, or just his own deep-seated trauma about rejection and being inherently disgusting and scary. And I think he'd hate the idea of having kids, too, and be very frightened of being like his father. But I don't think he'd refuse on that basis; he could cope with a marriage contract, with clearly laid-out expectations and responsibilities. And when it came to having a kid, I think he'd be reluctant to express that he doesn't want to do it, because he isn't naive and he understood when he agreed to be king it would carry responsibilities like this. It's clear from his nightmare that he already felt pressure from his parents to have children, probably magnified by the fact his father has got a position, responsibilities and wealth to pass on. Obviously he isn't a perfect martyr, so he might struggle when it comes to actually going through with it - but I don't think he'd actually, outright refuse. I think he might do it even though he doesn't want to, and I think that could be really messy in a way that appeals to me.

I don't know, there's something about negotiating these kinds of complicated situations that's interesting to me. and i love a platonic marriage. If they find a woman who has an interest in education, for example, and can work with marcille on setting up schools and universities. she'd ideally be politically savvy enough to be an able partner to laios: even though kabru can and would continue to do a lot of that, there are different spheres that a queen and a prime minister can work within!

how would their relationship work? maybe she finds laios' perspective on the world, and his frankness, unexpectedly liberating after an extremely controlled, cloistered upbringing. maybe she had a rebellious phase, has magic, or something else which makes her a relatively unpopular candidate for marriage - even as melini grows in power, i doubt that they'd be getting offers for the cream of the crop in terms of perceived value on the marriage market, because laios' relationship is a bit too ambivalent/monstrous for that, and melini too new. maybe she's a widow! an older woman, wouldn't that be cool - though they'd want her young enough that she could definitely still have kids.

certainly i think he'd be happy for her to pursue other relationships, though ideally in a manner that couldn't produce illegitimate kids. with other relationships in play, that's even more interesting. like, both kabru and toshiro have complicated emotions relating to infidelity. i think kabru would actually find it quite cathartic to be in the kind of high-status environment that rejected his mother for perceived infidelity, pursuing an affair that all parties consent to, though he'd likely be incredibly aware of the public image - since "image" is what he was rejected for. toshiro... i just really really love the way he'd feel about being the "other woman" in laios' marriage, considering his feelings about his father and maizuru. especially given how much closer he is to maizuru than his mother, being in her position...! his emotions would be so complex, it's incredibly tasty. i bet he'd make a bunch of assumptions about how laios' wife feels about it and be totally wrong, and that's so interesting. also, i think laios' wife should fuck marcille (she and falin have an open relationship).

[tofixtheshadows]

Hot take: Laios wouldn't actually mind an arranged marriage. Obviously "reluctant royal being pressured into marriage" is very fun for shipping purposes. But I have harlequin blood, so bear with me. Join me on this journey of character theorizing/shipping nonsense that makes it abundantly clear I have a Scrivener document I'm neglecting.

Laios was promised to someone from a young age. He and Falin both were; it's probably how their parents ended up together. They both broke it off by leaving their village, but it didn't seem to be a factor in Laios's own decision. And when Marcille, presumably, asks about his hypothetical love life (bicorn chapter), he not only brings it up readily, but actually seems kind of flattered? lmao

I love when smug Laios comes out. Underrated factor of Laios's personality for me is how much he enjoys being seen as cool. I think you'd expect Laios to be embarrassed or uneasy over this line of questioning, and the fact that he isn't is fun to me.

So when Yaad and his other old advisors bring up his need for a wife, Laios is ready to go along with it. Not necessarily thrilled by the prospect, but he was raised to think of marriage as a business arrangement you do because it's beneficial for your household/bloodline (as was often the case historically). He's already made the big step to claim a throne, and the idea of becoming village chief after his father seemed to have been vaguely in the back of his head all his life. Besides, if he has to do it anyway, I think he'd take comfort that there was a formalized process for an otherwise socially messy undertaking.

This dovetails neatly with my personal headcanon that Laios is gay but unaware of it. He comes from kind of a repressed culture- or at least I can imagine he does based on context clues- and has spent most of his life being ostracized in one way or another, feeling like he's on the outside of humanity. So he doesn't realize that his lack of attraction to women is unusual- he assumes that nobody really enjoys romance that much. It's not like his own parents married for love. It's just something people play up for stories, right?

It's all tangled up with his fraught desire for human connection and platonic companionship anyway. Meanwhile he's blithely unaware that the things he says about Toshiro are not normal bro things. Oh you'd totally marry Toshiro, Laios? Tell me more.

I see this in Marcille too. Firstly due to her unstable development, which has only recently allowed her to reach maturity (I headcanon her as somewhere between 20-22) and secondly due to her being a half-elf (infertile+a too-long lifespan), I think she has the expectation that she's simply not destined for love. The half-elf character she relates to in her favorite books says as much. So she, too, confuses a genuine lack of heterosexual attraction with the belief that this is just because of her half-elf status distancing her from it. Plus, she spent over a decade as a student/researcher in a nice little sheltered academic bubble, at an all-girls academy populated by adolescents. She's the most sheltered of all the characters: she's only spent the past year in the "real world", and she still focuses all her romantic attention on living vicariously through her favorite characters or her friends (except for Falin, conveniently!).

And Marcille would absolutely want to live vicariously through Laios and his future wife. She would not want him to go through a dispassionate formalized process: she wants her bestie to have a fairytale romance! What is the point of being a heroic king in a mythic castle if you can't even get a love story for the ages out of it?

This would result in a lot of Laios meeting with eligible bachelorettes at Marcille's urging, looking to Kabru for help the entire time and being grilled by Marcille afterwards about what he liked best about each girl. "She had nice, um, teeth?" They're both so close to getting it.

Kabru, meanwhile, is agitating for Yaad and the other advisors not lock the country into a hereditary monarchy, they have the chance to do something radical here, to break away from the systems that the elves and dwarves uphold. At the very least, let Laios marry for love, or formally adopt an heir and name them his successor if he wants, he's already sacrificed enough for the sake of Melini. Don't make him jump through these circus hoops for the chance of some trade agreements, we can get those without a royal marriage. And even if Laios was willing to go along with it, he does look at Kabru like he's his hero for sticking up for him.

The vague unhappiness Kabru feels at the idea of Laios being married off is easy for him to ignore. Kabru didn't actually get better at honoring or even recognizing his own wants just because he's moved past the dungeon. And Laios hasn't gotten the hint about his crush on Toshiro and is still 50/50 on saying casually shocking things, so when he remarks that he doesn't need a wife anyway when he has Kabru, he has no idea why that gets him the looks it does. After all, where he's from, men marry women to run their households, but Laios has castle staff for that, and Kabru is handling the rest?

That comment alone ticks one month off their collective gay awakening countdown.

Anyway. How many repressed gays in their twenties does it take to run a country?

Answer: Yaad can tell you.

[thechekhov]

Dungeon Meshi Quick Reacts

CH. 34 Cockatrice

He's doing his best.

L...Laios no..... LaioS NO

I respect Kui-san so much for the work she puts into not only the Senshi pantyshots but also affirming the fact that Marcille and Laios are in no way sexually interested in one another whatever.

I suppose it itches BECAUSE it's healing but also.... w...why does it look infected?

...did.... did Senshi consent to being a test subject? He looks a bit nervous 😂

FIRMLY GRASP IT.

(Marcille has no time for your internalized homophobia)

Oh??? Is there old-party drama that we're about to be privy to? I'm listening reading.

In a storytelling sense, this is very clever. Chillchuck is clearly drawing parallels (unknowingly, I assume?) between Laios and Kirby(?). That guy is.... In Control of his party in a sense, and clearly has earned their trust as a leader. But he trusts himself a little bit too much for it to result in an unhealthy feedback loop of 'I'm always right, these other people think so too!'

Meanwhile, although Laios isn't actively trying to steer the group, they DO trust him to care about their safety, to an extent, and retain their own goals and judgements about certain other things. In fact, it's arguably BECAUSE they all trust each other to be better judges of character that they keep one another in check, so to speak.

The tea is SIZZLING. The girls are fighiiiing

So. Natural energy points. You're basically using energy of unknown origin to fuel spells instead of tapping into what is available readily.

But that sounds like maybe you'd have some. Hm. Questionable side effects? From adding ingredients into the mix which you can neither understand nor fully control.

......of course............of course it was.

👁👁

it's got business to attend do, presumably. Also, which floor are you guys on? Are you still in that ancient city?

IS THAT A THING?????

Maybe that would have been good to.... lead with.......

.........IS THIS WHAT FALIN IS CAPABLE OF?? IS THIS WHAT SHE USES TO COMMUNICATE WITH SPIRITS? Maybe they ARE both talented, but Laios just never bothered to tap into this.

I'm sure it's fine. Hang on, didn't they fight this before once already?

AH right, that was the basilisk. My bad.

I don't. So this'll be a double surprise for me!

I aLmost thought this was it!!! Marcille don't fuck with me like this!

"I'M MARCILLE AND I DON'T LOOK AT THE EXPLOSIONS I, MYSELF, CREATE!!"

You can't not love her.

NOOOO ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!

This is NOT the time to be a zombie movie deuteragonist

wh--i THOUGHT THIS WAS GOING TO BE A CHANCE FOR HIM TO DO MORE HEALING MAGIC

.........I guess that's. a good point but. Laios. Buddy.

I have nothing to say here. This is peak DnD behavior.

...hang on they never took her out of the pot? 😂

..how proud you are of them?

....................yeah alright I guess that works too.

For a second there I thought maybe her petrified hair was gonna snap off and she'd get a haircut.

[crossover-enthusiast]

HITTING YOU WITH MORE CHARACTERS FOR THE AU!!! /silly

Long post :P

Dexter: A rat king. I know that this is a real phenomenon and not exactly a monster but hear me out: Dexter is literally ALL the rats in town, he can see and move through their bodies, he can also make several of them group together inside his exterminator suit to try to imitate a human form. It has its advantages but Dexter is one of those who have the worst time with his curse.

Bob: Wendigo (a creature so associated with cannibalism was perfect for Bob) is much more violent now and is always on the lookout for new humans who may come to town. With the exception of the protagonists (Ivan, Maurice, etc.) he was the one who killed most of the humans who came to town.

Hatzgang: Merged into a hydra/chimera. I was thinking of something similar to Falin from Dungeon mesi with branching necks connecting their human torsos to the Big body.

They are one of the most aggressive monsters (especially Roy), but it is also easy to defeat them since all they have to do is argue each other to distract them.

Jaune: A mermaid, quite wild and aggressive. Sings to attract all kinds of creatures to the lake and, well, devour them. Lila looks familiar to her but she doesn't remember why.

Aaron: Captain of a ghost ship. Similar to Frank's train, but in his case he only travels across the lake and does not force anyone to join his crew (of which by the way Liv is a member), he spends his nights trying to find Jaune but the curse keeps them separated.

Richard: Harpy, he flyes through the skies of the town looking for any information that may be useful to Carmen. He is along her the king of the mountains.

OOOOOO

Oh my god I love all of these

Dexter literally being 20 rats in a trench coat (or exterminator suit rather) is SO cool!! Also really funny. I like how it also parallels him with his mom, she can flawlessly assume a human form while Dexter, uh... He's trying his best. Him being able to control all the rats is rad too!

Yeah Bob being a wendigo sounds about right. I imagine Ivan has encountered him at least once and has him as top priority on the "find a way to kill/avoid at all costs" list

Immediate thought is the Ceberus Hatz from the SM 6 credits -- usual depictions of chimeras have one head as a lion, another as a goat, and the third as a snake, though looking (briefly) at old art, swapping the snake with a dragon's head wasn't out of the question. I'm gonna assume Roy's the lion, Robert's the goat, and Ross is the snake/dragon (probably snake bc Aaron)

Siren Jaune!!! I love that! Could probably be some cool fish to base her on too-- don't have much to say but her not remembering Lila- aw :[

Also- Oh my god Captain Aaron. That is so cool! I also love how that kind of sets him as a foil to Frank, since while they're both the heads of ghost vessels, Frank kidnaps people and just has the train in mind, while Aaron just has his own funky little crew that willingly came aboard and is trying to find his wife. And then he's never able to find her awww :[

I love the detail of Liv being with him too, she so would. Makes me think of the HH all being split up into different parts of the town

Oooo harpy Richard! Don't have much to say about him either, but I like how he's very much serving Carmen despite being king. Also the mental image I got of Richard as a harpy made me laugh lmao

[ooglywooglies]

FINE, LILY ORCHARD DUNGEON MESHI RESPONSE POST I GUESS

im just going through all the video points and making oppositions to them based on what i think, thats it.

laios useless in the red dragon fight: this is setting up the premise of the story where laios is spacing out because he cannot strategize on an empty stomach which is why the party loses.

there is no urgency to rescuing falin after everyone escapes the dungeon: thats to show that all the adventurers are so used to the dungeons immortality that theyve forgotten about the consequences of death (and also they are not thinking straight bc they are hungry)

dungeon meshi is not slice of life in the traditional low stakes way a slice of life set in the real world might be. the entire premise is about making a fantasy dungeon crawler and its heroes more grounded and showing things that aren't shown in video games, eating, sleeping, bathing, etc. a major theme is life and death, what is needed to sustain life and how death is a necessary part of it.

the tone of the show is not meant to be serious/silly/serious/silly, its not supposed to be wholesome, fun, and heartfelt, though it can be those things, its supposed to be weird and demystifying because its about real life (though a fantasy lense) and real life doesnt adhere to tone either.

resurrecting falin, having a bath and dinner, and then thistle coming to collect her happening in two episodes is not crazy thats almost an hour of runtime

MISGENDERING THISTLE

some of the problems with this video are just the anime format which i cant completely fault, i think the manga is better paced and the humor lands better ill probably ignore those points going forward. but i feel like if you dont watch anime very much you probably dont really know them the common genre tropes, like i certainly dont.

the reason marcille is "infinitely more popular than the rest" is a) lilys girl bias b) everyones girl bias and thats it, a lot of people like decently written generically good looking female characters. but thats not even true laios is probably equally as popular as marcille is and senshi is VERY close behind both of them.

laios is literally only generic in looks and if youre going to bring it up you might as well mention how marcille is therefore EXACTLY as generic as laios is, they are some very regular white people. in terms of looks.

laios only cares about monsters and is an asshole: this is an intentional mischaracterization the OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE STORY make about laios, which is a result of his real flaw which is struggling to connect with other people. this is a character flaw, which is intentional and something laios himself is aware of and tries to overcome, it is part of his character arc. laios is also heavily autistic coded, im not sure if ryoko kui is even aware of it or if she herself is autistic and just wrote a bit of her own struggles into laios's character but this reading is widely recognized by people who are autistic so. like its hard to argue with a mass of people who see their disability in a character. (me included)

comparing his deadpan affect to lloyd (i dont know him tbh)s intentional controlled one makes no sense bc i assume lloyd is yknow a super secret agent who IS a super secret agent because of his self control or whatever. laios is just a guy. literally just a dude, who is autistic.

marcille and laios react to falins resurrection differently because they are different characters, showing different ranges of emotion are part of their characterization. having a limited range of expressed emotion in serious situations where emotion is expected of you is also a commonly recognized autistic trait (see me not crying at the airport when my now husband had to go back to his side of the planet when we were dating)

falin is also autistic coded and shares a lot of traits with laios because its supposed to be funny that everyone thinks falin is so talented and brilliant and lovely when she yknow picks up a bug or something but they think its annoying when laios presents the same traits.

refer to point 10 again

they are literally moving through the dungeon as fast as they can. it gets brought up, laios feels guilty about it but hes not indulging in his special interest as opposed to rescuing his sister, the adventure is enabling it. whats he supposed to do brood the entire way? do you think anyone would be physically capable of doing that? see points 1-4 again if not.

just because a different character would do something different doesnt meant the story would be better, the point of THIS story is an exploration of THESE characters

this is retreading a point but "marcille is the only character who feels like a human being" .... girl the ableism - it can be argued that marcille is a bit ND herself but she is laios's neurotypical foil, the entire point of their dynamic is she is the normal person to compare him to, to act like shes the only character that matters because shes the only one thats normal has some nasty implications.

"you or i would-" thats making some assumptions

marcille is tormented the most by the show because the show is about exploring a dungeon, a major character trait of hers is her inexperience, shes squeamish shes young and naive because she has EXCLUSIVELY studied dungeons in books she has only seen the dungeon in person for like a year or two (i dont remember the time frame but we know how time works for marcille anyway). senshi by contrast has been surviving exclusively off the dungeons resources for like 60 years. you mention that marcille grows a lot by the end but its not just about eating food she learns survival skills, she learns ecology.

sorry i need to take a break to just rant, isnt this woman a writer? i feel like all she can only see characters through common media tropes and so dungeon meshi is just breaking her brain because all of these characters are written from a strong foundation they all have roots that inform all of their flaws. i feel like she isnt willing to see them that way because she assumes that because this is an anime the author didnt put any thought into the characters beyond their designs and gimmicks, thats just speculation obvs its just the impression im getting

but like i see the way people talk about kui on here how she feels like one of us because the dungeon meshi characters are her ocs. how theyre not just characters for a story. its like imagine someone talking this way about YOUR OCS, your babies, the characters you put your heart and soul into and especially for someone like kui who has created so much depth for her characters for someone [who also calls herself a writer] to brush it all off bc it got an anime adaptation and anime has tropes.

i really dont like people who approach media from "ive seen this before" and i mean im a little guilty of it but its kind of a useless thought isnt it, for the most part things get made because someone wanted to make it not because it needed to exist. i guess its a hard thing not to think when theres just SO MANY shows and stuff out there but idk, i dont think its a healthy perspective most of the time.

chilchucks a bitch you cant listen to what he says and be like "the narrative is bullying marcille" chilchuck is bullying marcille, chilchuck is a bully

(oh it seems the numbers have reset, oops)

shes talking about why anime sucks again, i havent seen spy x family and i dont care to it doesnt appeal to me

retreading points but i forgot which ones laios thinking falins dragon form is cool is another example of how laios's character essence is that he doesnt think like other people. and i have to imagine that if not for the mind control aspect falin wouldnt be horrified by her dragon form either. neither of them care about the "obvious" socially expected reaction of "horrified" theyre thinking about a) what they like to think about which tends to be ooh monsters are cool and then b) whatever is most practical at this moment - i think its not just lily that struggles with this i think its a lot of people who follow social scripts tend to follow what the main cast of dungeon meshi is thinking so theyre horrified/confused by whatever laios is doing but he just intuits what actually materially matters and what doesnt. him thinking falin getting to have a cool dragon form has NOTHING to do with his feelings about saving her.

"your experience with autism isnt universal" neither is yours???? isnt that kind of the thing about autism (this is from her comments not the video but thats kind of her point about this point in the video is that she doesnt relate to laios's autistic traits) - guys shes saying sheldon cooper gets called out on his shit and grows as a person but laios doesnt... guys i dont even know what i can specifically say to make someone stop believing that because i dont know why anyone could believe that in the first place.

i dont want to write this point bc i dont want anyone to think i dont have any concept of like pervasive preferential trends in media but i think she specifically hates laios because hes a white man with autistic traits. i think if laios was a woman those traits would be not as bad (which is kinda funny bc i was talking about that being a joke with falins autistic traits earlier)

laios is funny to me :) (in the manga mostly)

i think she shouldve read the manga instead of watching half the anime but i guess thats it. if you (anyone reading this) see this out in the wild please dont make assumptions about me based on this post, it doesnt really tell you anything about me or my wider opinions.

i guess you can assume im autistic i did say that part, go ahead and assume that i suppose.

i think i have some clarifications i was gonna make but i got tired so i cant remember where they go or what they are, this isnt really meant to be a discussion its just me writing down some thoughts indirectly bc i didnt want to comment on her video. but its in response to a video so its only fair i guess if anyone wants me to clarify i can try my best to do that

[britcision]

I LIVE

Which. Is ironic. Considering our topic today 😅

I did say I was gonna do more with our actual main characters in the show eventually, so here’s a little bit of that 😁

I’m just saying, with Marcille’s track record it’s fucking bold of her to assume she’ll make it to 1000

——————

After Dinner Mints - Lifespans

Marcille thought she was handling everything pretty well, considering. She’d been within spitting distance of achieving her life’s dream. She’d finally learned the truth about ancient magic.

She’d nearly killed everyone in the world, or trapped them in an endless prison where they could never move or feel again.

In the end, she’d made the choice to abandon her dream and stop the demon. If she was honest with herself, it had less to do with the way the demon had been manipulating her or honestly anything it had done at all; it was a lot more to do with the journey she’d been on with her friends. With Senshi.

Because at the beginning, sure, she’d been worried about fighting the dragon, but she’d never doubted they’d get Falin back. Her death was just a temporary measure, no matter what, because she wouldn’t let Falin be gone forever.

But… that was literally just what Thistle had wanted. And looking at everything he’d done, and what they now knew about the demon… Marcille knew she would have been just as bad, or worse. Knew how narrowly she’d escaped exactly the same fate; and she couldn’t help but be reminded every time she saw Yaad.

It wasn’t like she wanted to be thanked for deciding not to end the world. It’d just be nice if people could occasionally appreciate what she’d given up for it.

It had been hard, and she’d had to acknowledge she was wrong, which she was damn sure most of the Canary wardens weren’t physically able to do. Nor much of anyone else that she’d met.

She was keeping those thoughts to herself, along with the knowledge of what accepting that she couldn’t fix the world was going to cost her. After all, she’d have decades, centuries yet to think all about that and wonder if she’d made the right decision, if she couldn’t have controlled the demon after all.

She couldn’t have. She’d have had no chance. But it was already eating at her in the dead of night, and it hadn’t even been a week.

She wasn’t going to waste time on it though. Not when the time she still had with some of her friends was so limited.

It’d just be nice if they were even slightly sensitive about that, too.

“C’mon, Chilchuck, you don’t need to go back to Kahka Brud,” she “teased” again, slumping into her folded arms on the table in front of her, “you can just live in the golden city with us! The king’s own locksmith!”

At the end of the table Laios perked up, despite his exhaustion from another long day of hauling meat and cooking.

Chilchuck folded his arms stubbornly and ignored the pair of them.

“All three of my girls are in Kahka Brud, and all my stuff! I was never planning on staying on the Island anyway, and you wanted to meet them all so bad, it’s not like it’s that far to visit,” he added slyly, a smirk tugging at his lips as he shot her a sidelong look.

Which. Was not fair.

Marcille absolutely did want to meet all three of his daughters, and his wife! The sooner the better! It just… could be here.

“They can move here too! We could help them all pick out houses, or where to build more half-foot sized ones, right Laios? It’s gotta be better to live where you’re personal friends with the ruler, right?” She wheedled, giving her best puppy eyes back.

Laios nodded eagerly, fingers playing nervously along the edge of the table.

“Yeah! You said Meijack’s a locksmith too, you could set up shop together! And I’m sure Fleurtom could find a nice dwarf-”

All levity suddenly leaving his face, Chilchuck slammed both hands on the table.

“And that’s exactly why they’re not coming! I’m not having two of my girls chasing around after Senshi giving him googoo eyes!” He snapped loudly, startling the man himself from where he’d been writing in his journal.

“What’s that?” He asked almost absent mindedly.

Chilchuck and Marcille both ignored him, Marcille tossing her hands into the air.

“Kahka Brud’s a dwarf city anyway! There’s got to be way more dwarves there, at least here it’s dwarves you’ve had a chance to get to know!”

“I got to know some of the ones in Kahka Brud anyway! I live there, all the time except when I was working the dungeon, which is gone now! I can’t ask them all to uproot their lives at the drop of a hat!”

“There’s literally never going to be a better time!” It was Marcille’s turn to slam her hands onto the table, surging to her feet too. “We need locksmiths! Half the houses in the risen city are still locked up!”

Chilchuck narrowed his eyes.

“Not all half-foots are locksmiths!”

“MEIJACK is, you told us to hire her if you died!”

“And I’m not fucking dead, am I!”

Senshi and Laios backed slowly away from the table. And went ignored.

Marcille sucked in a sharp breath, the words slamming into the well of fear in her chest. Chilchuck either didn’t notice or didn’t care, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

“And nothing’s stopping you from hiring me! Or hell, coming to visit! You wanted to meet them so bad, Kahka Brud’s not that far away, so why should we be the ones to move!”

Clearly against his better judgement, Laios re approached the table with both hands raised as if to ward off an attack.

“Chilchuck… I dunno how safe it’ll be for Marcille to… y’know, leave…” he said hesitantly, eyes darting between them in case either went for his throat.

To her abject fury, Marcille felt tears welling in her eyes. She didn’t want to cry, she wanted to be angry! He was just being a stubborn asshole for no reason!

But.

Yet.

He wasn’t dead yet.

Scrubbing at her eyes angrily, she did her best to glower at him.

“I can’t leave! You were so scared of the western elves, the only reason they’re not taking me with them when they leave is for Laios! That won’t matter in another few decades maybe, but I can’t wait that long! Because even when you’re a dick, I still want to spend time with you!”

Before you do die.

She couldn’t face the words, but they hung in the air in the silence anyway.

Laios quietly retreated. Senshi disappeared, probably in the direction of a kitchen. Chilchuck’s eyes widened briefly, and he sank back in his chair.

Marcille tried to catch her breath, pushing her hair back off her face. He hadn’t braided it for her today, and she hadn’t been able to work up the will to do it herself. Why couldn’t he just see he was needed here…

Pulling his mug back across the table towards him, Chilchuck took a large gulp and snorted.

“Bold of you to assume you’ll live another decade.”

Marcille. Blinked. Utterly dumbfounded. Had he forgotten somehow?

“Wh…. Chilchuck I’m going to live another nine hundred years?” She even sounded hollow and uncertain.

Chilchuck raised an eyebrow at her, gesturing with his mug.

“No, half-elves can live more than nine hundred years. You are a fucking disaster who got killed by a slime the second you left magic school, and now the immortality spell is gone. The next time any of us fuck up is for keeps, so I’m pretty sure I’ll outlive you,” he said smugly, finishing his beer.

Indignation rose to fill the space shock had emptied.

“What! Hey, you died in the dungeon as much as I did!”

Not that they’d ever actually compared death counts (who kept track of things like that?) but she was pretty damn sure he had. Dying hadn’t exactly been a regular occurence with the Toudens, but it wasn’t unheard of either. They’d both been under Falin’s resurrection more than once.

And he’d been working dungeons for years before she ever showed up! So really, he’d probably died more.

“Not ten minutes into my first day I didn’t,” Chilchuck snickered, pointing at her with the hand holding his tankard, “and I only ever died of things that only happen in dungeons, like mimics and traps. That’s not gonna be hard to avoid on the surface. You’re gonna have a much harder time avoiding your own clumsy ass.”

Especially not if he stayed in Melini, where the monsters wouldn’t go, but Marcille was much too indignant to think of that now.

Mouth opening and closing a few times, Marcille huffed and drew herself up, folding her arms. She couldn’t actually refute the whole “dying on the first day” thing, so there wasn’t much point trying.

(It wasn’t like it was her fault the Toudens had been too busy whispering to notice the slime.)

“It’s not like there’s an overabundance of slimes up here either!” She snapped, both hands on the table. “You’re more likely to be lock picking some trap for some obnoxious lord than I am to find another slime!”

“You’re more likely to do some dumbass magic and blow yourself up in a closed room than I am to find a trap I can’t handle,” Chilchuck shot back, looking entirely too pleased with himself.

Heat building in the tips of her ears, Marcille did her best to ignore it and glared at him.

“I’m not going to need any explosive spells! There’s no monsters to fight!”

“I said blow yourself up, not use explosive spells,” Chilchuck said dismissively, waving a hand, “you’re way too into all that weird magical experimenting, and it’s not like you’ll remember to take care of yourself anyway. Senshi and I will get back to our lives and in a week you’ll have forgotten you need food and be wasting away in a tower.”

“Hey! I can take care of myself!”

“You probably couldn’t make a sandwich.”

“I can cook for myself just fine!”

“You’re gonna confuse one of your weird dark magic potions for a sauce and be dead in a week.”

“That was SENSHI! And it wasn’t a dark magic potion, it was a changeling ointment!”

“Yeah, and when you do it it’ll be a weird dark magic potion. And you’ll turn yourself into a mushroom or something.”

“I’m not even doing the ancient magic anymore! And I’m not gonna turn into a mushroom! No one turns themselves into a mushroom!”

“And how many people accidentally turn dragons into chimeras?”

Breathing heavily, Marcille clenched her fists and forced herself not to cry. Or scream. They were finally, finally so close to fixing that stupid mistake, and it hadn’t even been her who’d made it.

If Thistle hadn’t revived the dragon… but no, that didn’t matter.

She’d known Chilchuck wasn’t comfortable with what she’d done. He’d never been shy about it. Although apparently he’d also been holding more back than she’d thought. And none of that mattered, because she didn’t want to waste what little time they might have left on pointless fighting.

“If I’m that much of a disaster, that’s only more of a reason for you to move closer! Any of us could die tomorrow!” She huffed, dropping gracelessly back into her seat.

Somehow, the words didn’t hurt as much when she was annoyed. Didn’t feel as imminent, as real.

Chilchuck snickered and poured himself another beer.

“You could. I actually know how to take care of myself. And you guys don’t pay me enough to babysit.”

Marcille spluttered indignantly, unable to even find the words. Laios cautiously approached the table again, but didn’t retake his seat. He still looked skittish and uncertain, lost as ever when the subject wasn’t monsters.

“Still, Chilchuck… there’ll always be a place for you here. For you, and your daughters, and your wife if you ever want it? Wasn’t Marcille going to help you try and work things out with your wife anyway?” He asked hopefully, giving Marcille the puppy eyes that looked way too much like Falin’s.

She had no chance against those eyes, but luckily in this case he was on her side. Chilchuck faltered, and she shot him a triumphant grin.

“Yeah! It’s gonna take forever if we have to write letters back and forth,” she agreed smugly… although the idea of the story playing out over a long series of letters was appealing too.

It’d be like having her own private romantic serial.

Unless Chilchuck and his wife both moved to Melini, and then she could watch it in real time, and that’d be even better! Or if Chilchuck moved in, and they both wrote to his wife together…

Senshi reappeared, carrying a tray of steaming mugs that smelled of cinnamon, pausing for just a moment in the door before approaching the table. All three men gradually relaxed as Marcille visibly brightened up, as she always did with the prospect of family drama or a slow romance.

Or not rehashing the death of everyone she’d ever met. Or would meet, for another five hundred years.

Senshi distributed the mugs, gently taking Chilchuck’s beer and only getting a mildly disgruntled look as he switched it out for hot milk. The half-foot took a sip of the new drink anyway, humming happily as he tasted the whiskey.

Marcille played with hers, turning the mug slowly in her hands as she mused over all the possibilities. Then she snapped back, shooting Chilchuck a hopeful smile.

“You know… being the royal locksmith would be the kind of position that might really impress her,” she suggested, heart in her throat.

A reluctant pink tinged Chilchuck’s cheeks.

“She doesn’t care about things like that,” he grumbled, looking into the foam on the milk. Just a little too sullen when combined with that blush.

Marcille squirmed in delight. “Just coworkers” or not, she knew him far too well to miss excuses.

“Oh, but we’ll have to get you fitting clothes! Something very well tailored, with fine fabrics, since you’re on the king’s payroll. What’s her favourite colour?” She asked eagerly, clasping both hands over her heart.

Clearly about to protest again, the last question wrong-footed Chilchuck completely.

“What? Why?” He asked cautiously.

Marcille rolled her eyes.

“Because you need to wrap her present in something, and oh! You’ll have to tell me her favourite flowers, and jewellery, and…”

The possibilities spilled out in front of her, far more infinite than the unknown spans of time that might be left to any of them.

True, to an elf (or a half-elf), they’d see so many years that they almost lost meaning. But she had the same twenty-four hours in a day, every day, and if the dungeon had taught her anything it was that those hours could be as long or short as she made them.

Really, even a thousand years probably wouldn’t be long enough for her to run out of romantic strategies to help Chilchuck win his wife back. They’d have to get down to some serious planning really soon, maybe even before the feast…

Actually, there was one obvious place to start.

Beginning to relax into his drink, Chilchuck twitched when her attention snapped back to him.

“Hey Chilchuck… what’s your wife’s name?”

————————

Finally we’re back to short and sweet 😁 and this one has been living rent free in my head for a while

Aaaaaand spawned another terrible little snippet with my most beloved Mithrun that I hope to be sharing with you soon because the only thing making the Marcille-disaster worst is hanging out with Mithrun 😇

Dungeon Lord Besties

And link to my AO3:

[awellboiledicicle]

I like thinking about a dungeon meshi/bg3 crossover for many reasons, but one of them is the mental image of post-canon Laios and Raphael in the same room.

Because Laios would, in all honesty, reek of demon. Just be fucking soaked in that vibe. Both for eating part of one, and the potent death curse.

Raphael being a devil would have some deeply 'ah, i see. hm' moments watching the group up to that point i think, because approaching anything to do with demons in dnd is basically an exercise in 'how fast do you wish to die'. Because in the abyss connected to the hells there, all demons want is chaos and destruction and generally horrific things that only get worse when they get past the whole 'getting out of the abyss' thing. One cursing you would imply a few things, though, and mostly the fact Laios is not a smear on the ground someplace means he was too strong to immediately kill.

Add in that in dungeon meshi, the mana used for magic is very much a 'from the demon or spirits' thing-- Falin and Marcille are gonna be also giving off Vibes.

AND THEN Add in the curse that monsters would never again willingly be around Laios, and you get a delightful moment of "ok so what does that do in faerun"

I'm running with the assumption that the curse source is far enough removed on the prime material plane that it simply gives non-thinking beings [aside animals] the willies, even if they can't tell where it's coming from.

All of which to say please imagine Raphael gritting his teeth through the worst anxiety attack a devil has ever felt while having He Who Devours All Things Horrible in his house.

Also Astarion having the weirdest case of the jitters around Laios. Not enough to throw him off, and he'd really only ID it as directly being a Laios thing AFTER Cazador is dead, but just enough to make him a little jumpy.

Tangentally related, Falin is basically a cleric. She has no god that we know of. She is just monster enough to be weird if someone sees her feathers. Shadowheart is gonna be sitting there mentally wracking her wiped brain trying to come up with whomst the fuck she belongs to.

Gale and Marcille talk about magic. This would actually go well because they're both nerds, but it WOULD end in her testing out fireball by ordering the weave to do something and Gale would be gobsmacked when it works.

Iztsumi, everyone just assumes she's a catfolk. The timeskip just meant she matured a little hanging around the castle, but she absolutely spends hours talking shit at the party. Shadowheart and her get along on snark, same with Lae'zel, but iztsumi is just like "can you guys stop bitching at one another, we were having a fun talk gdi"

Chilchuck is an old man at this point [35]. Well, more specifically he's gone grey and gained weight now that his whole deal is "run shop and visit Laios on occasion". Routinely roasts Astarion for not being handy enough with traps/locks. AKA Astarion missed 1 trap and Chilchuck has not let him live it down. It doesn't help that Astarion will just point them out, not do much about them on his own. He and Iztsumi put the poor guy through rogue bootcamp and he does not enjoy it at all. Chilchuck, though, mostly stays at camp to keep an eye on their stuff.

Also please imagine Gale being dragged through the forest to help collect forage with Senshi and ending up terribly bedraggled because the dwarf got very excited about similarities of some plants over the differences in others.

[yuri-puppies]

#Oh I love this #The polycule / marriage mishmash grows ever more intricate #and the idea of passing a labru baby off as falin's and kabru's is inspired #This makes me think of kabru having laios and Falin's parents as in laws #which I adore #AND with all this arranged marriage talk. What laios would feel about his parents approving. #He has way more power and status than they expected (since they obviously know he deserted) and he's married. And falin's married. #Shame he can't become chief but his dad is really proud! God. Laios.... agh. He would hate that #And falin would be.... happy? Though I think her being a chimera would complicate that. #Because that's something that they would be scared and sad about and she would dislike that I think (@loriache)

oh g-d. the arranged marriage. if laios has a wife that was expecting to give birth to laios' heir as part of their contract, things could get. complicated.

well. actually, this would depend on what kind of patriarchal society malini is? we know women can hold political power on their own right (marcille and pattadol) but that it's not the norm (yaad's cabinet of old white men, but that could also be him being 1000yo). it also seems fair to assume that the nobility is a lot more old-fashioned than the common people, since no one raises an eye at women adventurers, but nonetheless we still see through daya, asivia and falin (re: why she considered accepting toshiro's proposal) that there is at least some social pressure for all women to marry.

so the question is whether the queen's power comes through marriage and the duties assigned to her (traditionally irl, things like household management, diplomacy and/or trade, but for her it'd also be whatever her special interest is), or does it come from being the future king's mother? that is, if "both" isn't an option, would a woman gain more power and autonomy from being the king's wife, or the queen dowager?

ok let's say it's the former. the queen, like laios, was just resigned to having to have children and is happy to not have to do that and looks forward to spoiling her "niblings". it's fine it's all good.

oh, the touden parents would be so proud that he managed to not just land a good marriage but secure one for his sister. they'd change their tune on laios completely, even more than when he became king. "how inconsiderate and thoughtless not to invite us" becomes "how thoughtful of your brother to think of your mother's health and take care of it himself", and so on. this is something they can actually process and know how to deal with

(unless they decide to get racist about it, but i don't think it'd occur to falin to tell them what her groom to be looks like, queen of vague descriptions. even if she did, the question of "your husband looks... different than i was expecting him to look and my beautiful grandchildren also don't look like i was imagining them" can be filed next to "what do you mean you have fangs and feathers now because your soul got fused to a dragon's" in things the touden parents can't even begin to conceptualize, let alone process, until they see it in person)

i'd like to think that falin gets to a place where she can face how badly her parents fucked up raising her (to put it kindly, but she would), so she'd be happy that they're happy but wouldn't exactly want them involved in their grandchildren's lives. maybe kabru is teaching her the art of not being honest while never telling a lie, which she uses pretty much exclusively for talking to her parents

it would really fuck laios up, i think. he'd be furious and resentful but part of him would soak up the (too little too late) praise and hate himself for it.

(if the touden parents ever visit (third sibling in tow, maybe?), it would have to be after the marriage but before kabru falin gets pregnant. really early pregnancy at most, but she'd have a hard time lying directly to her parents so i don't think they'd want to compromise the ruse, so, pre-pregnancy. laios would not want them in the same continent as his children, let alone the same household, so i don't think he'd budge on that one. if they meet the children it'd be from falin bringing them over on a visit, and that will be the worst fight laios and falin ever get into)

on the topic of arranged marriages in the post-canon, my dumbest and most inescapable headcanon is that falin and kabru get lavander married

partially out of my love of lavander marriages and the historical tradition of queer men arranging marriages between their lovers and their sisters

and partially because every time i see a labru baby fanart i think "the rumor mill believes that falin and kabru had an affair and the king legitimized his sister's bastard as his heir" and the comedy of errors that would result from trying to cover up kabru's pregnancy/fake falin's is hilarious to me

[fumifooms]

Hien & Benichidori compilation

Okay so I put a & but this absolutely a shippy post, the hienichidori community is quiet af and there is no discourse but their comics in their Adventurer’s Bible profiles…!!! Many may ask, does Benichidori canonically have a crush on Hien?! Straightforward answer: It’s left heavily implied but yes. Alternate answer: If the framing of Falin in an explosion as Toshiro says that he loves her isn’t meant to associate the explosion with falling in love when it is mirrored in the next page, then… I think it’s a mix of both, I don’t think just this is true because Hien wouldn’t know who Shuro is talking about or even what Falin looks like, but it could be that the explosion is instead meant to show a world vision being shaken, the thing blowing you away. So for Hien, having Shuro say that breaks this unsaid assumption she’s always had that they might end up together, and thus Falin is taken like an explosion to the face. Similarly, for someone with facial dysmorphia and for who appearances and being subservient are everything, having Hien be confident and totally assume her plain looks, even uplifting herself, that also shakes her world like a bomb. And yes it’s not just about the makeup!! Benichidori’s drawn to her confidence, to her unapologetic attitude, to her attitude. Benichidori unexpectedly snapped at Hien too, but she was totally unshaken and she replied casually and lightheartedly even then; Benichidori saying she can be herself with Hien is about Hien not caring about her mask, both her makeup and her subdued demeanor. Hien is canonically special to Benichidori.

And on the note of that comic, I took a picture from my Adventurer’s Bible for this but I think the fantranslations I’ve seen are lovely too, really gets across all the meaning of the original sentence… Where Benichidori said "She was the only one I could be my unadorned self in front of" (which is my fave) or "I’m able to act my honest self with her". Benichidori having body(more specifically facial) dysmorphia is explicitly stated in the Adventurer’s Bible btw.

Pleasee how Hien’s extra is her talking about her life story and Toshiro to Benichidori… How Hien says "That guy is blind!" and Benichidori says "I’ve noticed that 😊" as if saying that Toshiro is blind to what a catch Hien is… Also in the ninja girls’ shared inn room Benichidori puts her futon next to Hien’s bed.

[tofixtheshadows]

hi!! so there are a lot of improbabilities that make this hypothetical unlikely but: if kabru had met toshiro first & recruited him (toshiro being so passive + not with a clear goal would have helped there & kabru is ptsd-driven but very noble in his goals which can be explained) AND they got all the way down to the bottom (idk if i believe in them...but hypothetically!) would the winged lion find either of them to be a good target for next dungeon lord? one over the other? im thinking kabru has the intensity and complexity of desire necessary but i can't imagine what it would look like if he became lord of the dungeon. do you have any thoughts?

Good morning. This is a very fun thought experiment!

(side note: I got a second anon this morning with a very similar request? not sure if related. I'm gonna let this answer speak for both of them)

Toshiro sure would have had a different time of it if Kabru had gotten to him first, huh? On the one hand, Toshiro seems to like Kabru; I think it's sweet that Kabru seems to gravitate towards hanging out with him when he isn't with the rest of the main cast. So they probably would've been good in a party together.

On the other hand, Toshiro never would have met Falin and fallen in love with her. Even if she didn't reciprocate in the end, I don't think he regrets anything that happened. Even his difficult friendship with Laios was ultimately positive (for both of them!).

They definitely would not have made it to the deeper floors, I think Senshi is crucial to achieving that ... but this is a hypothetical.

I'm puzzling over the question of Toshiro, because he is a secondary character and there's only so much we know about his motivations. His big one in canon is to save Falin, even if it means all he can do is put her to rest. Without that, without her, what sort of desires does he have?

Toshiro originally came to the Island because of a demand from his father: for one of his three sons to find "something interesting" enough on their travels to bring back home that would convince their capricious bastard father to make them his heir over the others. So they're all off on their separate training journeys with their respective retainers with the added caveat that they can't return without something to impress their father. It's implied that after falling in love with Falin, Toshiro had wanted to bring back home a wife.

Since he's said to inherit the family after he returns home without her anyway, I've been assuming that the "thing" Toshiro ended up bringing to Toshitsugu Nakamoto was the story of the dungeon, the demon, and his friend Laios, king of a risen country and Devourer of All Things Horrible.

Anyway, the things we know about Toshiro's home life are kind of fucked. It's amazing he turned out to be so nice. He's always been a shy, sensitive person, and he was sickly as a child; Maizuru cared for him despite her spymaster duties and ended up filling a motherly role for him, even though Toshiro's mother is still alive. Historically, it wasn't uncommon for noble children to be raised more closely by their governesses/household retainers than their parents, so perhaps something similar was happening here (disclaimer that I don't know much about feudal Japan specifically).

We know that Maizuru loves Toshiro and dotes on him, but she's also very strict and frankly terrifying; she used the same Hag summon that she was monitoring Izutsumi with on Toshiro as a child just to keep him from wandering off. We also know that when he found out that Maizuru was having an affair with his father, it put a distance between them. Whether this is because he felt betrayed on his mother's behalf or because he dislikes his father that much, or something else, is unclear.

Toshiro was childhood friends with Hien, but as they got older, she had to take his place as one of his retainers, which seems to have severed that closeness. Canonically, he isn't close to his two younger brothers either. Toshitsugu literally bought Inutade and Izustumi (the latter as a drunken "gift" for Maizuru!). We see that Toshiro is uncomfortable with this, but doesn't know how to approach the issue. He lets Izutsumi go the second she's out of sight for five minutes, which implies to me that he really wanted the excuse to do so. Inutade is harder, because she loves being with the Nakamoto family and hero-worships Toshiro's father.

...all this to say, Toshiro has complicated relationships with his family and household. There's love there, but also a lot of coldness enforced by the upper-class need for propriety. Toshiro falls in line and acts as the proper stoic samurai, but he chafes at this; he envies Laios's gift for feeling and expressing things openly and readily. I think that's what the Winged Lion would prey on, given the chance.

I don't think he would be prime dungeon lord material, but if it came to that, I could see the Lion tempting Toshiro with a kinder vision of his life, one where he and his little brothers weren't pitted against one another, where his family was warmer, where there weren't barriers of class between him and his retainers, where he was allowed to be more himself.

Now ... Kabru.

Kabru is interesting because, since his ultimate goal is to seal the dungeon and eradicate monsters, I imagine that meeting a demon would be like a guy who's given a genie and wants to wish for no more genies. And if said genie is trying to take over the world via wishes, the genie is a bit screwed. I really think that Kabru is the character who would stump the demon(s) the most, despite his complex desires, because they are antithetical to the demon. Laios also had complex desires, but the Winged Lion lured him and set him up as the hero of a fake prophecy because a lot of Laios's desires revolved around monsters, so his wants aligned perfectly with the demon's methods. Oh you want monsters? That's great, they're the things I use to solve most of my problems anyway.

Even in the absence of prior knowledge of demons, I think Kabru's back would be up as soon as the Winged Lion tried speaking to him. Kabru's insight is almost preternatural, and he's well-versed in persuasive speaking thanks to his own silver tongue. He would mistrust the Lion immediately, especially considering its monster-like form.

Giving the demons bestial appearances is an artistic choice on Kui's part, so I don't think there's any indication that the Winged Lion & co can't look human, but the Lion might have been constrained both by Thistle's seals on it and the need to maintain the lie that it's just the innocent guardian deity of the Golden Country. If it could, I think it would try to look less monstrous, with Kabru.

Still, the point of the demons, I see, is that anyone can be tempted, anyone can be manipulated, because we are all full of buried desires that can be unearthed, and wanting things and having to defend them make you susceptible to manipulation.

Consider what Mithrun told Kabru: they keep the knowledge of demons secret because knowing the truth would not stop people from trying to have their wishes granted. After all, Mithrun was a Canary, but he fell for its temptation anyway. I've seen people characterize this as a sort of rock bottom decision, and maybe that's true, but I also pin it on his toxic inferiority/superiority complex. That's exactly the kind of thing that makes you think you're built different.

Would Marcille have stopped before unsealing the Winged Lion if Mithrun(/Kabru) had actually gotten to sit down with her for five minutes and explain why becoming dungeon lord would be a very bad idea? Maybe. Or maybe her desperation, and her own pride, would have made her decide that she knew better, that she'd be careful, that she'd go in with a plan and definitely get what she wanted with no dire consequences.

I think Kabru could be desperate enough to make a similar decision, even if his desires were antithetical to the demon. And the demons have an advantage over the aforementioned genie simile: their ability to eat desires.

If the Winged Lion were smart, it wouldn't let Kabru seal it away like Thistle. Given the opportunity, its best chance for dealing with Kabru would have been to immediately eat his desire to stop another Utaya.

I'm gonna plug this wonderful and tragic little one-shot someone wrote recently about the dungeon lord Kabru hypothetical: This place is not a place of honor.

[the-indie-owl]

Favorite SpongeBob ships?

Oh boy, I have a lot of ships in the show (some of which are divorced ships or semi-canon ships of the Bikini Bottomites) but I'll just start off with the Main Ones that I ship.

SpongeBobXSandy - Probably one of the Main Ships in both the Show and the Fandom. The Two have a lot of perfect chemistry together and they even have such adorable moments, the two protect each other and even enjoy a lot of fun. They're also very helpful of each other since they're close friends and all, and I like how Sandy is the Badass Girl while SpongeBob's usually the "Goofy Nice Guy". Felt a bit disappointed that their past of how they met was retconned since the Third Movie only for the Spin-Offs like "Kamp Koral" and it was also kinda funny that ship was roasted in one episode of a wedding flashback (Truth or Square).

I sometimes think that SpongeBob has a crush on Her, rather or not it'd be a question, yet, they still support each other.

PatrickXMindy - I'm pretty sure everyone shipped them since the first movie in their own childhoods (including mine). Gotta admit, I always find Patrick's crush on her adorable since they are opposites attract and it's one of those "Royal Heir X Peasant" tropes. It was nice to see that Mindy did had a cameo in the Birthday special. Oh, and I guess Patrick does have a type for Girls; Mermaids (which was hinted in Legends of the Bikini Bottom).

Sherm said that Mindy is 14 and that he assumes that SpongeBob and Patrick are like kids (which makes Me believe that he doesn't know their ages which is why he thinks Mindy is young) maybe SpongeBob and Patrick are somewhat Older Adolescents too since No One really knows much about the Characters' Canon Ages (The Writers would never really know about their true ages based on how old they are).

Personally, in my POV/Headcanon, I see Patrick 17, SpongeBob 18 (based on some theories about his age), and even Sandy 19. (But in most of my AUs, Mindy is 19-21 while Patrick is 22 in some of my AUs, mostly from my Human AU.)

SquidwardXSquilvia - It was nice to see that Squidward finally had a love interest of his own (but sadly, much like Mindy, Squilvia is just a one appearance character even though Mindy did at least came back at the show one time). I felt bad for Squidward being so lonely all the time he couldn't find someone like him who he could love. Personally, I think Squilvia has the same interests that Squidward has, if she could find a Man like Him, then Squidward would find a Woman like Her.

Gotta love on how SpongeBob instantly ships them together since Squidward is honestly the Tsundere type who has feelings for Squilvia. I can see Squilvia having sympathy for Squidward on how rough his life was as she could relate to the same way as him. I think these two would have been perfect as Husband and Wife 💙

Hoping for Squilvia, she might make another appearance in the Modern Episodes.

NeptuneXAmphitrite - Surprise to see that I would instantly brought up Neptune's ship since he's one of my favorite characters? Lmao, thought so 🤭

I know that we barley see them together, especially in "The Clash of Triton" and even though it's unknown on what happened to Amphitrite and Triton in the First Movie, I'd like to think that Neptune and his Wife were separated once.

Even though we haven't gotten a backstory about them, I headcanon that in Ancient Times, they didn't mind at first but when they got to know each other, their romance blossomed into love (but Amphitrite was already in a relationship with Poseidon as Neptune technically stole his Greek Counterpart's Girl and won her heart in a fight).

In their Teen Years, I see that their relationship would be pretty similar to Bambi and Faline from "Bambi" (imagine Neptune and Amphitrite's love scene with the song, "I Bring You A Song"/"Looking for Romance" in the background lol)

I guess Amphitrite was chosen to be Neptune's Queen so they can produce an Heir to the Throne but their feelings do matter for each other since hey, Amphitrite respects her Husband a lot.

So yeah, that's about it. I ain't going to feature all of the other ships in cuz that would take a lot of exhausting work to explain a lot. But these that I picked out are my Number One ships in the Show.

[yarrayora]

"is farcille groomer stuff?" you ask the guy whose main farcille content is all about them struggling to communicate with each other and wanting to do better, and also the guy who made a comic about marcille telling kabru he would be able to make falin happy unlike her

i don't think i'll ever be able to tell whether someone is being groomed irl or not just because i've read how it is done in fiction, after all you don't go around claiming you can solve murders just because you've read detective conan

but what i can tell you is how marcille isn't someone who would coerce falin into a romantic/sexual relationship with her by leveraging her status as an authority

you can say that compared to everyone else in the party, marcille is the one who follows societal expectations the best. aside from her usage of dark magic she carries pretty much the standard value of what is expected from a morally upright character according to that world's standard. and we can probably assume that just like in our world the idea of a TA dating a student while they're both still in school is unprofessional at best

but most importantly: she clearly didnt see falin as a romantic interest while they were at school lol

she treated falin as a child who needed her guidance

we also know during canon her ideal lover is...

a character from her favorite novel, the daltian clan, because there is no way she isn't projecting herself into the half-elf protagonist

so if anything marcille's ideal romance is the one where she's the one being chased after by the person who desires her

which is why my headcanon for farcille is that for them to even get together, someone else has to point out marcille's attraction to falin or it will never happen

you still can make marcille a groomer, though, it's easy too, all you have to do is ignore her canon characterization and just write whatever you want

So... Farcille is groomer stuff? Marcille *is* a groomer.

canonically they aren't even together

you CAN make farcille a "groomer stuff" if that's what you decide to fantasize, but if you're asking if a girl who dropped out of college and reunites with her former TA who tries to convince her to finish college so she'll have a better prospect for her future career is grooming then i think you're divorced from reality

[pxiedustnblades]

❣️🍷💓👨‍👩‍👧☂️🎶🖌️💘🐾🧑‍🤝‍🧑🥰 For Claudia and Faline!! :D

Waaaah 🥺😭 Thank you for asking me about my sweet babies. These two have been on the brain a lot lately so this works out perfect for me. Thank you dear! This’ll probably end up being a pretty long post so I’ll include the answers under the cut. ❤️

Misc. Ask Meme - Ft. Claudia and Faline

Claudia Fantana and Faline Brookes are my own OCs. They are shipped with canon characters from different universes. If you do not support canon x oc, please move along. This post is not for you. I do not own rights to the canon characters and their respective universes.

Claudia Fantana

S/o: Vampire!Dutch Van Der Linde. He's not as accurate to canon as you all are thinking. Mostly on the basis he is of sound mind. My friend and I are aware how bad canon Dutch is and she would not be pursuing him if her story took place in canon. V!Dutch behaves more like a grumpier Trelawny - do not come for our throats.

❣️- What are their love languages?

Claudia is a woman of action and passion and thus her love language shows through that way. Either by acts of service or through physical touch. She is often touching her beloved Vampire in some shape or form, even as little as grazing her fingers against his arm. If she is not touching, kissing him or doting on him, then she is doing little things such as making sure her flat has his favorite whiskey or singing to him while he rests.

🍷- How do they feel about alcohol?

Claudia believes that having a glass of wine a night is good for the soul. Drinking red wine helps her relax after a long day. Even on performance nights she makes it a point to drink some to help her. That is to say she doesn't have her fair disdain for alcoholics and drunken men that feel a little too confident in their pants. However, her dear friend, Darius runs several bars so she holds no ill will to the alcohol industry. Just the selfish and reckless folk.

💓- What are some signs they’ve fallen for someone? How do they show their affection?

Generally speaking, Claudia keeps to herself as much as she can outside of work. However, when she is fancying someone - either like her "ex", Darius or Dutch, she will go out of her way to spend time with them. She'll also go through the trouble of keeping something in her house for them if they're visiting. Whether it be cigarettes, whiskey, or something like slippers.

👨‍👩‍👧- What’s their relationship with their parents like?

Nonexistent; they died when she was only a baby. She has no bond or connection to them.

☂️- How do they feel about rain?

She finds it both soothing and a nuisance. Soothing for on the days she has off and she can curl up at home under a blanket. It's more of a nuisance when it comes to work. It can cause delays in the shows and traveling to and from the theatre becomes more challenging.

🎶- What’s a song they really like?

Given the time period in which she lives, she doesn't quite get the luxury of listening to music like today, however; she quite enjoys Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake".

🖌️- Do they have any hobbies?

When she is not on the clock, she loves reading books or going for walks in the nearby park. Currently she is reading "Frankenstein" in the rp.

💘- What do they find attractive about their partner(s)?

I'm going to assume we're just talking about Dutch here. Although Darius is an Ex of sorts, the two are on good terms and still quite close. But for the sake of the ask I'll stick to Dutch only. For Dutch she finds his voice quite attractive. It's very warm and sultry - has a bit of a tart bite to it? (Idk if that makes sense???) And it just makes her melt. She also really admires his fangs. His are much larger and pronounced compared to hers. Seeing his fangs for the first time when he punched a drunken flirt for harassing her, made her feel things. And finally, his hands. He is,,,, a very multi-talented man with those hands. He can shoot, protect, and soothe with those hands - what more could a woman want?

🐾- Do they have any pets?

She does! A sweet little black and white , long-haired cat named Wyatt.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑- Do they have any siblings?

She is an only child.

🥰- What pet names do their partner(s) use for them? How flustered do they get by them?

Darius - Satakieli (Nightingale in finnish) (Yes I'm including him again because their connection makes me weak. He still calls her this even as friends.) Dutch - Dear, my sweet, dove, and Songbird. Songbird gets her the most flustered. -----

Faline Brookes

S/o: Karl Heisenberg (RE: Village)

❣️- What are their love languages?

Sweet miss Faline's love language is a combination of physical touch and words of affirmation. She is not one to shy away from making sure her husband feels loved and cared for. Not only does it make him feel cared for, but it makes her feel good as well. Win-win.

🍷- How do they feel about alcohol?

She tolerates it at best; and that is on a good day. She feels comfortable enough around Heisenberg to be okay when he drinks it. But generally speaking, she doesn't think highly of the products, and she hasn't had good experiences with others when they're drunk.

💓- What are some signs they’ve fallen for someone? How do they show their affection?

Seeing as Heisenberg was her first and only relationship she's had, it's hard to gauge a pattern. However, when she started to catch feelings for Heis, she had a tendency to hum a lot. It wasn't something she did often up until that point. She also started baking more. Leaving little offerings on his work bench of muffins, cookies, apple slices, etc. Just something to ensure he had food in his system, and he wasn't neglecting himself.

👨‍👩‍👧- What’s their relationship with their parents like?

*Sweats* Currently nonexistent considering they live on the other side of the world. Her family abandoned her in Romania, and she was left to her own devices months before being brought towards the lords. However, it's for the best the ties have been severed - Trust me.

☂️- How do they feel about rain?

Faline will get any chance she gets to go dance in the rain. She will drag Heisenberg out with her to play in it. It's the little things like that help them both decompress while living in such a stressful environment. If she isn't smooching her husband in the rain, then they're both curled up on the bed taking advantage of a good nap.

🎶- What’s a song they really like?

Faline's taste in music varies, especially with what's accessible. But "Let me Be Your Superhero" by Smash into pieces would be one she listens to as much as she can.

🖌️- Do they have any hobbies? Baking since its accessible to her. Modern day entertainment isn't always the most available in a crazy village ya know?

💘- What do they find attractive about their partner(s)? Holy moly what doesn't she find attractive? His eyes, his nose, his hands, his squishy dad-bod? His voice?! His determination for freedom, his ambition to create? She adores it all. There's too many things to decide. When she fell for him, she fell deeply and madly in love.

🐾- Do they have any pets?

Does Sturm count?

🧑‍🤝‍🧑- Do they have any siblings? Technically yes, but no.

🥰- What pet names do their partner(s) use for them? How flustered do they get by them?

Buttercup, Pumpkin, Angel, Prinzessin, babygirl, duckie, and sweetheart. Those are but a few but Pumpkin and Angel are the most special to her and they always make her squirm without fail. Thank you again for the lovely ask, Nemo! Hope you enjoyed!

~Faye

[libertasrpg]

We welcome Carlisle Bambi to the city. He’s 24 years old and is a park ranger. Carlisle is often mistaken for Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He’s open.

→ Background Information

As the son of a politician, Carlisle was very well taken care of as a child. A lot of standards were placed on him. He went to the best school around, and was given piano classes by an amazing private tutor. While Carlisle did have an amazing childhood and a very loving mother, he barely ever saw his father. Even so, his father had a massive impact on his life. Everyone always assumed Carlisle would be exactly like his father, and have the same aspects as his father. It was incredibly annoying. From early on though, it was evident that Carlisle was extremely different from Mr Bambi.

→ Living Situation

There is no other place he’d rather live than with his two best friends, Florent and Benjamin. The boys like to think of their home as a lad pad, but none of them are really big enough players for the place to be seen as a lad pad. The lounge has a big gaming set up where the boys will often spend weekends together. Carlisle’s own room is a reflection of his job. It’s light green, and decorated with animal posters. He likes to keep it tidy, apart from the odd pair of boots that he’s kicked off after work and never quite worked up the energy to clean and put away.

→ Relocation Explanation

The standards on Carlisle didn’t seem like much of an issue when he was younger. They didn’t really seem to bother him. They started to become more and more difficult as he grew older though. His parents had managed to get him to college to study politics because he couldn’t think of anything else to do. After graduation though, he detested the idea of doing more politics. College hadn’t been awful, but had shown him that politics definitely wasn’t for him. So when he heard of a new city, he took the opportunity and told his parents he was leaving. It hurt them to see him go, but they let him go regardless.

→ His Personality

If there was one trait Carlisle didn’t mind inheriting from his father was his bravery. Politics may not be the route he decided to take, but Carlisle has no issue with standing and fighting injustice. A particular rights movement that has always interested him has been animals. Carlisle has always had a deep caring for nature. This all only happens when Carlisle gets up to move though. If the situation really doesn’t call for him to do something, there’s a chance he won’t. He can’t be quite docile and passive at times. Thankfully it’s never ended badly for anyone though.

→ His Qualities

Curious, brave, loyal

Sensitive, childish, unmotivated

→ His Relationships

Faline Doe (Love Interest): Carlisle met Faline when she was wondering in the woods one day. He initially approached her because he was concerned that she may be lost, but there was an immediate connection. She’s stunning, and kind, and obviously cares for nature just as much as he does. The pair have been close ever since and Carlisle’s starting to feel like perhaps there’s a chance for something more to happen between the pair.

Florent Leporidae (Friend): Florent and Carlisle met in school and have been the best of friends ever since. They both have parents who work important jobs, so they have a lot of mutual understanding about things. Florent has always been incredibly sweet and really offered Carlisle whatever support he needed.

Benjamin Lepus (Friend): The third member of Carlisle’s friendship group, Carlisle met Benjamin in boarding school. They’ve seen each other through thick and thin. Ever the trickster though, Benjamin was always the one to push Carlisle out of his comfort zone.

→ Possible Connections

Ronald Mallory (Enemy): Carlisle’s romantic interests in Faline may very well mean that he isn’t fond of Ronald. He’s very forward and is always trying it on with Faline. Carlisle doesn’t like that the pair have the history that they do. Plus, he’s incredibly egotistical and ego’s have never sat well with Carlisle.

Astrid Hofferson (Colleague): Both Astrid and Carlisle have a shared love for nature which is reflected in their job choices. While it is rare that there is more than one ranger on shift at one, it’s very well the pair may have crossed paths. She’s a lot more brazen than Carlisle so while he might be a little intimidated, perhaps Astrid can teach him some of her ways.

Carlisle is based on Bambi from Bambi.

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 11/20/18

Black Clover, Vol. 13 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – As long as you’re writing a series which uses every cliche in the book, you may as well go all in and write a tournament arc, and that’s what we’re getting here. Surprisingly, Asta is not paired with Noelle, but with Mimosa, who I’ll be honest I had totally forgotten about. Given that Noelle fills the ‘tsundere’ love interest bucket, it only makes sense that Mimosa is the Hinata of Black Clover, being shy and tripping over her words in front of him. As for the battles themselves, they’re all good ways to spotlight folks who we don’t really get much chance to see in the main storyline. On the downside, so far they’re all very predictable outcomes. I’d like to see some people win who shouldn’t normally win. – Sean Gaffney

The Bride & the Exorcist Knight, Vol. 2 | By Keiko Ishihara | Seven Seas – We get more of the same here—good character development and action sequences. Shame that they’re really pushing the “I am twelve years old and suave as heck” plotline, and Anne does seem to be falling for him, though thankfully we haven’t advanced quite that far. One thing that did impress me was the fate of Anne’s parents, who would normally get killed off to jumpstart the plot in tales like this, especially given Anne’s status as a magical bride MacGuffin. There’s nothing really extraordinary here, but it’s good solid fantasy romance, and it at least makes noises occasionally about Anne being creeped out about Haru’s age. For fans of shoujo starring cute, cool boys. – Sean Gaffney

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 6 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – Remember when this was a funny series about eating monsters? Last time I said the books were getting a bit darker. Here they take a running leap into grim as we continue to see how Laios and company are seen by everyone else around them—as reckless lunatics who endanger everyone around them. What’s more, Falin’s back, but that’s not good news—the slaughter that follows is a kick in the teeth. Honestly, after that sequence, seeing the “which is the original and which is the shapeshifter” plot was a welcome light relief, and the sequence with Laios helping Marcille with her nightmares was rather heartwarming. Still, Falin’s influence on everyone around her, death, and subsequent “came back wrong” are now THE reason to read this. – Sean Gaffney

Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection | By Junji Ito | Viz Media – The first edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was originally published in 1818, so Viz Media’s release of Junji Ito’s rendition of the story is aptly timed for the two-hundred-year anniversary of the groundbreaking novel. Ito has made a few changes here and there—particularly towards the end—but for the most part the manga adaptation is very faithful to Shelley’s original and Ito’s artwork is well-suited to the more grotesque and disturbing elements of the tale. In addition to Frankenstein, the volume also collects a series of six short manga featuring Oshikiri, a young man who is very self-conscious about his short stature but whose real worries are of a more horrific and supernatural kind. (It doesn’t help that his home seems to be a portal to alternate dimensions.) Also included are two unrelated short horror manga as well as two short manga about the Ito family’s pet dog Non-non. – Ash Brown

Haikyu!, Vol. 29 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – It’s all volleyball game this volume, so there’s no real plot I can talk about. We do continue to see character growth from Hinata and Tsukishima, who gets one of the cooler moments that also made me laugh when he talks about blocking the quick set. The other team is no slouch, though, particularly the twins, and our heroes are behind the eight ball most of the time. The opponent’s band is not helping either, which is why for once it’s Saeko who gets to have the Big Damn Heroes moment, arriving with Taiko Drums to drown out the band’s odd rhythms. Other than that, this volleyball manga continues to put the emphasis on volleyball. I’m about ready for it to go to every three months, to be honest, and it will be soon. – Sean Gaffney

Love at Fourteen, Vol. 8 | By Fuka Mizutani | Yen Press – Aside from Love at Fourteen‘s main couple, who are meant to be the cute and sweet default, the series makes a lot of unusual choices for its romantic pairings. Nagai and Hinohara continue to put the “ergh” in non-consensual teacher-student romance. Shiki and the school nurse bond over being tortured lesbians in love with a straight girl who isn’t going to love them back. And we get a new one here, as Kato, the really short boy in the class, ends up getting entangled with what appears to be a cute older girl… except she’s actually eleven. He’s fourteen, so we’re not anywhere Hinohara’s level of wrong, but Love at Fourteen really enjoys giving the reader heartwarming discomfort. – Sean Gaffney

Mob Psycho 100, Vol. 1 | By ONE | Published by Dark Horse – As a fan of One-Punch Man, I went into Mob Psycho 100 expecting to be amused and I’m sorry to say that never really happened. Shigeo Kageyama is an eighth grader with superpowers who works as an underpaid assistant for a fraudulent spirit medium named Arataka Reigen. Shigeo is called “Mob” because he’s an expressionless kid who blends into a crowd, and his desire to be attractive (and win the girl of his dreams) ultimately leads him into strange situations, like being recruited for a creepy cult. My interest was piqued, however, by the meter running throughout the volume that depicts some sort of percentage and the payoff when it reached was 100% was totally worth it. Plus, Reigen’s pep talk to Mob afterwards was completely unexpected and kind of heartwarming. In the end, I think I’ve been convinced to try another volume. – Michelle Smith

Waiting for Spring, Vol. 9 | By Anashin | Kodansha Comics – Both Towa and Aya have now confessed to Mitsuki and she doesn’t know what to do about it. I appreciate that Anashin shows why each boy feels the way that they do, and also that Mitsuki is completely forthcoming with Towa about everything that’s happening with Aya, so that no plot line ever hinges on “completely avoidable misunderstanding.” Instead, there’s more complicated drama, like Towa feeling frustrated that Aya keeps being in a position to heroically save Mitsuki (this time pulling a ligament saving her from being hit by a car) and wondering if perhaps they aren’t destined to be together. Instead of wallowing, however, he seemingly becomes more determined. It’s nice to see Towa start to become less reserved and I look forward to what volume ten will bring. – Michelle Smith

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 3 | By Fujita | Kodansha Comics – About two-thirds of the way through this volume, Narumi and Koyanagi are relaxing at a hot sprint on a company trip. Koyanagi wonders if Narumi feels lonely because she’s barely seeing her boyfriend this trip, but she says that, given Hirotaka’s lack of social aptitude, she’s merely happy to see him getting along with other guy friends. Koyanagi points out that that’s a mature answer, but leaves her a little bored. I’m not bored with Wotakoi yet, but it does appear to me that it’s very dedicated to showing that our leads are all pretty happy, with most conflicts resolved over the course of a single chapter. Given the title, you’d expect a bit more, but while it’s still very sweet, love isn’t that hard for these otaku. – Sean Gaffney

Yotsuba&!, Vol. 14 | By Kiyohiko Azuma | Yen Press – Azuma does not believe in pumping out the chapters for this series—this is the second volume in five years. Still, it’s like we never went away, really. Last time we met Yotsuba’s grandmother, and this time it’s her aunt, who is meeting up with Koiwai in Tokyo so that he can get a car—which I assume will allow for greater scope of adventures in the future. This means that here we get Yotsuba & Tokyo, with much hilarity, including an alien invasion that needs to be stopped, and delicious food at an expensive hotel. Oh yes, and Fuuka and her friend Hiwatari do yoga with Yotsuba, which leads to much frustration as she’s as flexible as a young child and they are not. Yotsuba&! still has its magic; I just wish it was magical more often. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown