#Thistle says this in the original

[bumblingbabooshka]

Speaking of Dungeon Meshi Voyager

[illusorybread]

Remember when Saitama cooked that kombu monster

[knittinglizards]

thinking about this

[monitorkernelaccess]

god I guess this is a question that’s gonna get answered either by more of the anime coming out or me caving and reading the entire manga of dungeon meshi out of impatience but…

why doesn’t thistle/sissel realize that Falin is not (entirely) the red dragon? like it’s entirely ridiculous to assume that she’s the dragon just in a new form. i get that she has the dragon flesh and soul so he’s not entirely wrong, and her coming when he called for the dragon would imply that she is in fact the one he was calling but.

Ok. He calls the dragon because he’s looking at its corpse. Dude that thing is dead it got killed. Why would there be a dragon corpse if the dragon just changed forms?

Also, he himself says the form must be inconvenient, which is why he turns Falin into a chimera. Why the fuck would the dragon randomly decide to change into a new form that’s inconvenient for them?

And like even if he can’t understand all that, can’t he see that he’s hurting her? And like if the dragon already had this order to find Delgal, why would being reminded of it send it crouched down like in pain clutching her head breathing heavily like bro isn’t that at least a little weird for your dragon to behave that way?

And then I guess he doesn’t pay any attention to the party cause they’re just disruptive to him but doesn’t he see that they’re clearly trying to help the person he thinks is just his dragon, calling her by someone’s name and everything?

I guess the party can’t really explain the situation cause they don’t know what’s going on and Falin can’t explain because she is Bearing The Curse but. Ok I’ve seen evidence that Falin and Thistle interact past that first scene. Why doesn’t she try to explain then? Ok I haven’t read it all so maybe she does and this is kind of a dumb rant anyway because my questions probably have answers in the story. But like. From what a friend who has read the manga has said to me, it seems like Falin doesn’t really try to explain and I don’t know why not? Maybe she like physically can’t because in the panels I saw (out of context) there seem to be some communication issues and so maybe Falin just can’t freely talk to Thistle cause of the curse

But ALSO in that same part Falin heals Thistle’s wound and wouldn’t he be like…huh I didn’t know the dragon could do that…why does the dragon know magic now?

And it’s just like. Whyyyyyy don’t they just talk to each other I know it’s cause like they wouldn’t think to do that and also “cause then we wouldn’t have a plot” but it’s so frustrating

And again. Thistle’s reasoning is fucking stupid. You think the dragon for some reason randomly decided to change form. To something that is inconvenient for his work. Left his old form behind as a corpse. And now acts way different and has new skills like magic. And none of that is strange enough to prompt some questions or reevaluation??? Just a “huh that’s weird” every now and then????

maybe I’m expecting too much good reasoning from a character who literally has insanity in their title, but god damn what the fuck

[voidthing]

confession: over the course of the last year, i kept seeing random manga panels floating around on here that piqued my interest, and each time i checked the source, it was from dungeon meshi. when it happened yet another time in june, it was the design of a particular character, young thistle, that caught my attention and i just had to know the context of the panel.

so i went and read chapter 68: "thistle" and was hooked. i really liked the worldbuilding and everything, but most of all thistle's character, backstory and design. i had to stop myself from reading on and put the manga on my to-read list to start from the beginning some time, and didn't actually look into it further, like at all, to avoid spoilers.

imagine my surprise, then, when the anime started airing and people started posting screenshots. i didn't recognize any of the characters. and my beloved thistle was nowhere to be seen.

[pollyanna-nana]

One of the most tragic and compelling aspects of Dunmeshi, to me, is that we’ll probably never know (unless Kui tells us lol) how Delgal actually felt about Thistle. I’ve seen people say that he genuinely cared for him as a brother and his journey to the surface was to save him from his madness as much as it was his people. I’ve seen people say that he saw Thistle as nothing more than a fancy accessory or tool that ended up going astray. Others I’ve seen (and personally agree with) say that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. But honestly, I think any one of these interpretations has the potential to be correct… and that’s just heartbreaking.

After all, Delgal is dead. Like, dead-dead. The very first chapter of the manga starts with his spirit leaving this mortal coil, taking that answer with him. And…

How he talks about Thistle here… it’s interesting. He does not ask for him to be talked down, or captured or imprisoned, but instead “defeated”. Which Mithrun interprets as asking for his death… which is reasonable, because that’s likely how the vast majority of adventurers interpreted his words, too. Obviously as he was crumbling to dust he probably didn’t have the capacity to be particularly verbose or explain the complex backstory to how the kingdom ended up this way, but the effect is the same no matter how he may have felt with it. He asked for Thistle to be killed.

But… even in situations where he wasn’t under any such time limit to explain what was going on, he still seemed not to. Most glaringly:

Yaad seemingly has no idea that it was Delgal’s fault that Thistle sought the demon’s power. Obviously he couldn’t talk to him about it because Thistle was, uh, a little out there by that point, but why didn’t Delgal explain? Was he embarrassed? Mournful? Couldn’t find the words?

Delgal was scared of dying. He wanted prosperity at any cost, and how could Thistle possibly refuse? Did he even realize that what he was the one who pushed his own brother— One who basically helped raise him despite being a child himself, and in many ways is still a child— down this path? Or was it like watching an overzealous employee misinterpret directions?

The way Yaad describes things here makes it sound like Thistle simply dug too deep in his studies and fell into madness, but we know that’s not true. Delgal didn’t “suggest” he learn magic, he wanted a mage who could help himself and his people defy death, which he admits to Thistle openly:

So, why? Why not tell his grandson, at least, the truth of the matter? Did he worry it might make the remaining residents more likely to upset Thistle, and therefore suffer the consequences? Did he just not care? For what it’s worth though, Yaad does suspect the truth from Delgal’s behavior.

He “always blamed himself” for his descent into the dark arts. This is just Yaad’s observation, and that’s without knowing that it was quite literally Delgal’s fault Thistle went down this path. So, why? Why was it all kept a secret?

Of course, this made things ripe for the winged lion to manipulate to its advantage. Clearly despite knowing he’d pushed him into using it, Delgal still thought the lion was a force of good that was misused by Thistle as a result of his madness. His face in that last panel is particularly haunting. He looks terrible, gaunt and pale with overgrown hair and missing teeth. Had he gone mad, with grief and sorrow, as well?

Could he no longer see Thistle the way he did when they were younger? No one can ask him, because he died long before the story even began.

To go back to the original question, well, how did Delgal see Thistle? None of the previous points make a definitive answer any clearer, and I think that’s just brilliant. And so, so tragic.

[fumifooms]

Quick Falin analysis. Congrats on her going along with her loved ones’ wishes becoming explicitly canon and not subtext btw!

Thinking of it, becoming a chimera and literally being puppeteered around by the will of the dungeon and its lord is such an… Explicit visualization of her demeanor in life of letting others’ wants and whims dictate what she does and where she goes. Shows the most extreme & worst version of it, of where that could lead her down the road. Dunmeshi loves often showing that with everyone, with the winged lion warping even the most selfless well-intentioned desire into something intense and destructive.

If Faligon is her retreating into that comfortable role of just on-pilot mode following what others want, that’d be an interesting angle too. Because we see like with the dragons fight at Thistle’s house that the monsters CAN act rebellious, meanwhile Falin was just so on board with the commands she got ever since she got transformed.

Chimera Falin doesn’t have a strong will? Oof

I do also think that Thistle is something that her nursing reflexes latch onto easily, when it comes to comforting and protecting others. It’s unsure how much of her is dormant as Faligon, or how being bound to the dungeon and the dungeon lord’s will affects her, but it’s undeniable that she acts with care when it comes to Thistle. On one hand, she fights ferociously for him, when protecting him or even just sent out to scout, but you can’t really say she’s being assertive either, not when she doesn’t complain or act when he eats all the berries and she’s hungry. She’s still that silent, sidelined guardian, only now very, very literal.

I never bought the angle that chimera Falin mostly represented her repressed anger at the world personally, like yes now she’s loud and big and imperfect, but again, socially she falls into the same pitfalls, it’s just that now she’s top dog, below just one person, and so she’s allowed to be aggressive with everyone else. If anything, it’s the dragon soul pushing her to want more, making her act out, giving her a taste of how it feels to be powerful, carefree and impossible to oversee, but it couldn’t be called catharsis I think. In general, she seems more passive with a "as long as I have what I love, everything else can go burn for all I care" mentality rather than actively(or repressedly) angry to me. Not that she couldn’t have complex feelings over being lonely and cast out either of course, but personally I never got the sense that she resents the world or society at large. I do feel like the dogs treating her like she was at the bottom of the hierarchy also shaped her a lot

Not only cast out by other kids and classmates, but also treated as someone that can be disrespected and roughened up by the dogs at home. She was really pushed into that go with the flow, make yourself scarce and quiet attitude. She’s never really been allowed to hope for better, or to have a dream of her own, her life path being decided for her by others. Besides with Laios, everything she learned everywhere in group dynamics was that she was at the bottom and should be content with whatever others gave her. Maybe that’s why she was so forgiving of her parents too, because at least, to some degree they did care and didn’t want to cut contact, and she takes what she can get.

Thank you @thatsmimi for the fantranslation of the new leaked content, the opening and ending pictures in this post. Their original post about it is here, and as mentioned it is not the official translation.

[obsessivevoidkitten]

Lost in the Weeds

Yandere Plant Man x Gender Neutral Reader (CW: Non-con, anal sex, painful sex, violent sex, bondage, drugged reader, paralysis, sadistic yandere, dacryphilia, general yandere behavior, oviposition?)  Word Count: 1.8k (Sorry this took so long for me to write, I hope you all like it.) 

   You were a deep space interplanetary botanist specializing in the retrieval and propagation of medically important plant species. Right now you were on the barely mapped planet Varliss IV trying to find an extremely rare flowering plant, Solanum volātilis that, despite extraterrestrial origin, appeared to be a member of the family solanaceae.    All previous attempts to propagate this rare species in an artificial environment had failed, but you were sure you could figure it out if you could only find the plant when it had a few seed pods on it.

 Procuring some seed specimens was easier said than done though. The first thing you had to do was keep trudging through this damnable jungle. Luckily there were no life threatening species, but it was still a slog through mud and foliage, and the humidity was oppressive. And even if they were not harmful there were still a number of insects that bit and swarmed around mammals, requiring an explorer’s outfit that covered your legs and arms completely. An outfit that did nothing to help the sweltering heat.  You wiped your brow and continued your trek through thick mud and odd cyan and purple vines and leaves, thorns and thistles scraping and poking uselessly at your clothing.  After what was surely many hours of hiking from the clearing you had landed your spacecraft in you still had found no trace at all of the plant. It was a highly uncommon species though, so it was not like you expected this to be easy. Science seemed amazing and technical and sometimes even magical, but you knew that it all required a lot of grunt work.  You were about to set up your camp for the night in a small clearing you had stumbled across when much to your astonishment you actually found what appeared to be the bloom of the flower you were seeking on a vine.  You pulled out your magnifying glass and reference book as you got closer to make a positive identification. Yes, this was definitely the right flower, a large bell shaped flower that was deep purple with cyan streaks and dark blue freckle-like dots on the inside. Though the vine it was attached to was much thicker than it should be. Though any number of circumstances could account for anomalous growth such as that.  You rubbed the vine out of curiosity and were astounded to find that it felt unnaturally warm. You were much more astounded when it moved away from you entirely and then the figure of a large humanoid, easily 8 feet tall, was suddenly looming above you.  You fell back on your rump and looked up in disbelief, unable to find your words. The tall humanoid appeared to be male, his long hair was red but had several vines with cyan leaves going through it, his mouth had two thorn-like fangs, he had a large vine like tail covered in the flowers that you sought out, his skin was cyan with dark blue freckles and his arms, legs, and the tip of his very much exposed cock were all dark purple. His cock was also leaking a viscous magenta fluid that dripped a bit on your face.  “And just what do you think you’re doing, touching me like that!?” He growled as he looked down at you menacingly before using one arm to easily hoist you up and hold you about a foot off the ground. “How do you like being touched without permission, huh!?” “Wh-wh-what? No! I just- I um. I was ju-just looking for seeds! I didn’t kno-” You barely managed to sputter out before getting cut off by the monstrous plant.  “Oh, you want seeds, well why didn’t you just say so? I can bring you to all of the seeds for the flowers like the ones on me, no problem.” He put you down and brushed you off, something about the way he smirked left you unsettled, but you did not want to risk his anger and so you just muttered a thanks as he took your hand and started leading you away. You exchanged names while walking with him, learning his name was Drosera. You really should have just taken your chances and ran, because as far as Drosera was concerned you had marched into his territory and were now his private property.  He lead you deeper into the strange forest until finally you came to the gaping maw of a cave. You gasped as you entered and were greeted with the surprising sight of rays of sunlight streaming in through a hole in the roof leading to the creation of a sheltered grove. Moss, trees, flowers, vines, and a small babbling brook all hidden away from the world.    There, in the center, were indeed the flowers indicative of the plant you were searching for, this time without being attached to any intelligent life. You rushed towards them in your excitement and did not notice the sprawling vines of your companion quickly approaching you from behind as you were bent down to examine the flora.  Before you knew what had happened each of your limbs and your mouth had been completely wrapped up in tendril like vines. You tried writhing from their grasp but you might as well have been trapped by steel for all the good it did you. Your muffled wails and whines were equally useless, not eliciting even the slightest bit of empathy from your captor.  Tears rolled down your cheeks, pooling a bit at the vines that restrained your lips. The vines suspended you a few feet above the ground and pulled you towards him and he brushed the tears from your face with a deceptively gentle hand. “Awe, why are you crying little human? I am just about to give you exactly what you asked for.”  Drosera brought his mouth to your neck, ghosting his two thorn-like fangs against your sensitive skin before suddenly penetrating your flesh. You writhed in pain as he injected you with a powerful venom. He held you close with both the vines extending from his back and his arms as if trying to comfort you through the pain.  Soon you found yourself almost completely unable to move, capable now of only the most feeble attempts at struggling. Whatever he injected you with was clearly intended to do away with any possibility of escape for what was about to happen next.    The tight grip the vines had had on you loosened a bit, as he no longer needed to keep you so well restrained. He used his vines to slowly, almost sensually, peel off all of your equipment and clothing until you were left exposed under the excited gaze of his violet eyes. All you could manage to do was let out a small whimper as you averted your gaze.  Drosera roughly felt up your body, eager greedy hands rubbing and groping you all over, grabbing on to what was now his.  The vines that extended from his back still held you up despite your limp and envenomed state, they quickly moved you into a bent position, your head facing away from your captor as he gruffly gripped your hips, caring little, if at all, for your comfort.  You could feel more of his vines creeping up your legs, reaching and grabbing like tentacles until they found what they were looking for, your asshole.  They roughly prodded at your entrance as you stammered out pleas of mercy, sobbing and begging Drosera to please just release you, promising that you would never cross into his territory or even come back to this planet at all. But he just laughed sadistically, your cries serving only as fuel for his arousal.  Suddenly and without warning the slender vines prodding at you jammed their way inside, eliciting a scream from your sobbing form. There had been no stretching, no application of lube, just a brutal penetration. And he was certainly not going to stop with just his vines.  You could feel them writhing and probing their way deeper and deeper inside you, after the initial pain of them entering you faded it was replaced with an uncomfortable and disgusting feeling of being unnaturally full and violated.  Your sobs finally slowed down as you became more accustomed to your situation, and that is when Drosera decided he needed to apply more pain. To utterly and completely dominate you mind, body, and spirit. To enjoy those beautiful tears that set his heart aflutter while he was inside you.  So he withdrew his tendrils from your insides and before you could even breathe a sigh of relief replaced them with his giant cock, still dripping with pink fluid. You shrieked so loudly at him ramming himself into your un-lubed ass that he almost came on the spot. He could feel it in his cock each time a scream, whimper, or pained sob racked your body.  He pulled your hair roughly from behind with one hand while gripping your hip hard with the other as he continued abusing your poor hole in as painful a way as he could.  “You should be grateful, slut! You wanted seed so badly and that’s just what you are about to get!!” He chuckled cruelly at his joke as he continued ramming into you with more and more speed as he began to wildly chase his climax.  The plant man put a firm hand on each collar bone and jerk you back painfully to get as deep into you as he possibly could as he filled you with a warm viscous fluid, you were confused though when instead of that being the end of it he then started to fill you up with a lot of something that felt round and hard.  After filling you the vines holding you in place retracted and he sat you down in his lap, causing fluid to leak out of you and onto him, though he did not seem to mind at all or even notice.    It suddenly clicked even in your rattled and abused psyche that he had literally filled you with his seeds. A million panicked thoughts went through your mind. What if they sucked out all your nutrients and moisture to grow in your corpse, what if they burst through your skin, what if th-  Your horror must have been plastered all over your face because Drosera interrupted your downward spiral of fears by saying, “Don’t worry, they won’t harm you. They are like eggs and when they are about to pop open they will come out of you, you will such a lovely incubator to keep full of my children~”  You began sobbing and hyperventilating, still unable to do anything more than weakly twitch under the long lasting effects of his venom.  “Fuck, you’re so hot when you cry for me, so beautiful.” He gently wiped your tears away with his thumb as you realized this is what your life would be like from now on.  No more dreams or a career advancing science. Just sobbing and being a flower pot for some alien monster’s seeds just for the horrible crime of bumbling into his territory.

[diosmaden]

“humans dont consort with demons” <- hilarious thing to say in a setting with cambions in it

if youre new to these two, let me introduce u ^_^

Thistle » she looks human, walks like a human, and talks like a human, and through Selene's arcane senses... appears to be nothing but a regular human, but nonetheless Thistle insists that she was originally a mighty lioness. She doesn't remember how she came to be transformed or anything really of her past, but she knows two things: Her name is Thistle, and she is not human.

Selene » well as you can see, shes a fox demon LOL she wants to be a fabler, to travel the world and record the history of the people and share with them the greatest of tales she discovers. But fox demons are considered an ill omen by many, mistrusted for their inclination for shapeshifting and illusion magic. She doesn't fully believe that Thistle isn't really human at first, and as such keeps her true identity secret. her big dramatic reveal doesnt go as expected LOL 🦁 meow?

(these two do not feature in heart of the storm, theyre part of their own little story thats unrelated 👍)

[im-poe-dameron]

THE ROCKROSE AND THE THISTLE

➛ THE BEGINNING

a/n: originally this fic was a one shot. except it became too long to keep it as one part so it's split into two. this is honestly me obsessing over the idea of anakin remaining anakin while being a sith. no armor, no mask, just him with yellow eyes. so i ran with it and turned it as angsty as possible.

summary: after the galatic republic fell to its knees, whispers of anakin skywalker begin to surface. claims that he was no longer the hero they once knew, but a darkness they came to fear. darth vader. yet when he begins to call to you in dreams, you make a choice that might kill you in the end. you choose…to save him.

OR old friends meet now as enemies.

word count: 4.5k+

pairing: anakin skywalker x f!reader; darth vader x f!reader

warnings: not explicit, angst, so much of it that it's insane, the hunger for what once was, anakin being evil, dark dreams, talk of death, trauma, fluff, padwan!anakin, soft romance, hopes being tarnished.

THE END | FIC MASTERLIST

His laughter stuck to your skin like a cold sweated fever that refused to pass. It edged its way towards your heart, breaking open your ribs and settling right underneath them. You gasped for air, the heat of the planet seeping into your already bare body with every passing second, and if you weren’t careful it might kill you. Choke you while you slept and continued to dream of the one person you couldn’t save—even if it wasn’t your job to do so.

“C’mon Bandit, that's the best you can do?”

You could see him, a smile on face as he danced around you—the assuredness in his stance and ease in his nature did nothing but make your heart twist violently. The both of you were so young. So innocent and naive; holding beliefs that the galaxy wasn’t as cruel as the Jedi Masters made it out to be. It was a hope that you held more than he did. A reminder in the back of your head that you hadn’t chosen to become this without knowing the consequences. After all, what was light without the darkness that crept around in the shadows, waiting for a chance to strike.

How oblivious were you to what was truly going on with him? How could you not see it? The turmoil behind those blue eyes of his, the pain that laced his voice with every word he spoke to you.

“Anakin,” you breathed, your hand clutching at the sheets that were tossed over your body.

“Well don’t just stand there padawan,” he called out as you were pulled once more into a dream you did your best to fight against.

Twisting your body away from the close swipe of his lightsaber, you felt the heat of the blade brush past your cheek. Master Obi-Wan had said you weren’t yet allowed to fight like this, but Anakin always did like to break the rules. Even if it meant getting hurt. Yanking your own lightsaber off the belt it hung loosely from, you pressed the switch—feeling and hearing the familiar thrum of it as it came to life.

“Last time I checked we’re both padawans Skywalker!” You dodged his move, nearly landing into the bushes that lined the edges of the training courtyard.

He shrugged. “Yeah, but in terms of training, I’m definitely ahead of you.”

Scoffing, you leapt forward, swinging the lightsaber towards his leg. He stepped out of the way, attempting to avoid being sliced open but your other leg got beneath his sturdy one, swiping it out from underneath him and causing him to topple to the ground. He fell with a groan of pain—his lightsaber landing a few feet away, now turned off. Anakin’s eyes went wide as you brought your green blade down until it was directly in front of his nose—nearly singing the hair off his face.

“You were saying?”

“What are you two doing?” Obi-Wan’s voice echoed off the walls, startling you from where you stood above Anakin. “I thought I told the both of you that training alone was off limits until you were ready.”

“Master—” Anakin began, his hand reaching out for something—eyes flashing up to see the panicked expression on your face.

“We were just—”

Obi-Wan raising his hand stopped you in your tracks, the all too familiar sigh leaving his lips as he walked towards you. Shifting your footing, you moved to give Anakin space to get up, but didn’t expect his lightsaber to fly through the air, nearly hitting you in the shoulder. He jumped up—a joyous cry of victory echoing around you as he swung his lightsaber towards you, the blue glow of his blade heading towards you.

Switching yours on with a swiftness neither of you knew you possessed, you managed to block his attack—the clashing of the two colors flashing before your eyes. Obi-Wan’s pleas for the both of you to cease whatever this was were suddenly drowned out as you glanced up—a smile on your face.

Expecting to see the friendly blue eyes you’d grown attached to, you felt a shock go through your system as you were met with a glowing yellow. The green of your blade was striking against the red of the lightsaber he held—his teeth bared in a snarl. Dropping your weapon, you stumbled back as he advanced, a cry of his name leaving your mouth. No longer were you friendly sparring with a boy you’d known as long as you’d been alive, but instead you now faced the man who had been twisted up inside—the man you couldn’t save.

“Anakin!” you shouted, hitting the cold ground beneath you.

Gasping sharply, you shot up in the makeshift bed you had on the rocky floor of what looked to be a cave. A ragged sob left you as you scrambled to gather the sheets around your body, tears streaming down your face while the memories of your dream played on repeat in your mind. Anakin’s face—the jagged scar running down his face, the sinister yellow eyes, the absolute fury in his expression—left you shaking. That was not the boy you had known, but a mere fragmented piece of him that still lived in your mind.

It took you a few minutes to remember where exactly you were and how you got there. But eventually you were able to recall landing on Tatooine, the call from Obi-Wan through the Force coming in loud and clear as you meditated on your ship. For years you’d been traveling from planet to planet. Hiding wherever you could and searching for any Jedi that might still be alive. You knew it was a small possibility, but you couldn’t ignore the tug in your gut at the idea.

So far you counted three. Obi-Wan, a boy from Bracca that recognized you when you hid on the planet, and Ahsoka Tano. The hunt for more put you in a state of constant weariness. With every Jedi you found dead, you continued to feel the break in your connection to the Force. The pain you suffered now brought you to the very edge of giving up entirely.

What use was being a Jedi if you had no one to protect but yourself?

You couldn’t even recall the image of your master’s face anymore, let alone remember what it felt like when peace lived within the galaxy. Now you were constantly looking over your shoulder. The fear of being found, always leaving you teetering on the edge of panic.

Exhaling out a stuttered breath, you heard your name called from the other side of the cave as Obi-Wan was roused from his own sleep. The twin suns were starting to rise in the distance—light breaking through the darkness within the rocks and you felt some sense of peace fill your lungs. For now you would push the nightmare aside and focus on the present. There was no use remaining in the past—in things you couldn’t change.

No matter how much you wished you could.

“Is everything alright?” Obi-Wan asked, his bare feet coming into your line of sight as he shuffled closer.

You nodded, the sweat sticking to the back of your neck. “Yeah I just…I had a nightmare.”

He sat beside you on the floor, offering you a small canteen filled with water, which you took gratefully. “About Anakin?”

Simply hearing his name brought the fire back into your chest, the pain that ran through your body returning with enough force to have you shrinking in on yourself. You only knew Anakin as a friend; had seen him one last time when he entered the Jedi Temple before you managed to escape and drag a few younglings with you. But Obi-Wan knew him like a brother. They were closer than you could have even imagined and while you sat there fighting back the pain—he’d already gone numb because of it.

There was speculation that he died on Mustafar. That Obi-Wan had delivered the final blow—put what once was his apprentice out of the agonizing misery he left him in. But you now knew otherwise. After all the whispers of sightings grew—claims that they’d seen the once heroic Anakin Skywalker destroying planets, killing innocent people—reached your ears. Until you had no choice but to let him in—find him through the one final connection you still had yet to cut off.

“I know where he is,” you muttered, staring at the light dusting of sunlight that covered the floor.

Obi-Wan turned quickly towards you. “What?” You nodded, tracing the cave’s entrance with your eyes. “Where?”

“Right where you left him,” you breathed. “I suppose Palpatine thought he was being funny by remaining on Mustafar.”

“He’s—” Obi-Wan let out a breath, looking down at his hands. You felt grief flicker through the Force—dark and muted. A stark contrast to his usual cerulean blue. “Did you see him?”

“That’s the awful part Obi-Wan,” you said, the tears streaming freely down your face. Or perhaps you hadn’t stopped crying in the first place. You could no longer tell. “He called to me…like you did, placing memories in my head of our past together. And—then I saw his face and his—his eyes are…” Trailing off you wiped roughly at your cheeks. “He’s no longer Anakin.”

“He called to you,” Obi-Wan murmured.

At first when the dreams started, you couldn’t tell if you were finally losing it or if your mind truly held a twisted sense of humor. Playing back every happy memory you shared with Anakin. Every daring adventure you both took together and more often than you would have liked, the kiss you shared in the middle of Tatooine—the night his mother died. It was a past you wished to forget and yet it was seemingly forced upon you night after night.

“Why?” You shut your eyes, once again seeing his yellow eyes flash in your mind. “What does he want with me?”

Obi-Wan stood, turning his back to give you a chance to dress yourself. “He may not even realize he’s calling out to you.”

Shoving your tunic back on, you tied it around your waist, your boots going on next. With the heat that spread around Tatooine you regretted showing up in the black clothing you wore, but they were all you owned. The black cloak you’d been wrapped in reminded you of the man you tried so hard to forget about. After all, it was his to begin with.

One freezing night on Ilum—a mission to get him a new kyber crystal after he destroyed his lightsaber—led to him handing over his cloak. In a foolish turn of events, you forgot yours on the ship and Anakin didn’t want to return back to Obi-Wan with you half frozen to death. You could recall the way he’d wrapped it around the both of you, his arms tight on your waist as you hid in the caverns of the planet. What you thought would be simply another mission, wound up being far more than you expected. 

You realized the depth of your love for him in the perils of a planet that would end you without mercy. The irony wasn’t lost to you. Trapped in a place that felt like your fury of emotions—the danger of what you harbored like a fugitive.

Sure, you’d shared your fair share of emotions with him, kissing here and there, but nothing progressed further than that. His heart had always belonged to another. And you accepted it without question.

“He’s dreaming,” you whispered, picking up your lightsaber and clipping it to your belt.

“His mind may not yet be settled completely in the dark side of the Force. It would betray him in dreams.”

“But why me? Why not you?” They held a closer bond and Anakin would surely call for his former master before he called for the girl he once entertained the idea of feelings with.

“You represent a time in his life when he was happy.”

“So do you. So why does he—”

“I left him half alive on Mustafar. Padme is dead,” Obi-Wan stated monotonically as if he were reading it from a book. “His mind wouldn’t turn to memories of a woman he could no longer reach. If anything that would only push him further into the dark side.”

You sighed, the pain in your head now spreading down to your neck. “Unless he’s trying to figure out where his children are.”

“No, he doesn’t know they’re alive.”

Letting out a breath, you tried to focus on the small inkling of light that came through the Force. Your last attachment to it suddenly become your life line every night you fell asleep; the pain of reliving your past was so grueling it became torture in its own way. You felt the familiar press of Obi-Wan’s energy against the back of your mind as he gently asked for permission to see what you saw. To relive the memories with you.

“You won’t like what you find in there,” you muttered, slipping on the cloak that somehow still carried fragments of Anakin in the fabric.

“Perhaps not, but nonetheless Bandit.” Flinching at the nickname bestowed upon you by Anakin himself, you relented and allowed your walls to collapse to the ground beneath you.

None of it mattered anymore. Not the love you felt for him or the anguish you endured when he fell for someone else, because he wasn’t Anakin anymore. He merely wore the face of a man you thought you knew once upon a time—a memory that refused to die.

“Just remain still,” Obi-Wan said, watching as you returned back to where you were sitting, your legs crossed and eyes falling shut. “This won’t hurt.”

You both knew it was a lie, but you didn’t care much at that point. He’d already delved past your walls and was now digging through your memories, yanking up each one that Anakin had placed there. Inhaling sharply you dug your nails into your clothed thighs as he pulled up one that proved you and Anakin both went against the Jedi Code at least once in your life.

Once again his laughter filled your mind, splintering your heart in two.

“Tell me Bandit,” Anakin leapt over a rock in the middle of a river, his boots splashing water everywhere. “Why didn’t you want to come here?”

You sighed, picking up a stone and tossing it—watching with satisfaction as it floated in the air for a second. Courtesy of Anakin attempting to show off his powers.

You were sent to Kashyyyk as a part of the Jedi's diplomatic training for padawan, but halfway through Master Yoda told the both of you to stand guard near the camps. Which led to Anakin and you residing in the middle of a river, watching as birds flew overhead. The sounds of the forest around you breathed life into your lungs.

“I can’t help it if my master thinks I need diplomatic training,” you replied, emphasizing the word diplomatic with a roll of your eyes.

“Every Jedi needs it.” He tossed a pebble your way, watching you focus to float it in mid-air, copying him. “Or at least that’s what Obi-Wan tells me.”

“And what do you think?”

He shrugged. “I think that diplomatic training helps us make a difference in the galaxy. We’re meant to be peacemakers right?”

“I guess…” Shifting, you turned to see another bird fly overhead, making a shrill sound you’d never heard before. “But what’s the point of being a peacemaker when so many think of the Jedi as soldiers?”

“That’s where the training comes in handy,” he said, a grin spreading across his lips.

“Then tell me Skywalker, what makes you such an expert in the diplomatic areas of life?”

He tossed another pebble, laughing when it hit your shoulder. “Sometimes you have to make negotiations as a Jedi.” He jumped to shore, dropping another stone to the collection he’d been steadily building since you found the river.

“Ah yes but not all of them are peaceful,” you called out, following him and landing on another closer rock.”

“Obi-Wan likes to call them…aggressive negotiations.”

“Let me guess… That means negotiations—”

“With a lightsaber,” he finished for you—smiling.

You fell into laughter at that, throwing your head back as a lovely ache spread through your stomach. Only for it to quickly divert into a yelp at the feeling of your foot slipping on the rock. Losing your balance, you quickly tried to right yourself, but knew there wouldn’t be a way to fix it in time. So you gave into the fall. The pain would last for a moment, but Anakin’s hand grasping onto your wrist steadied your movements. He brought you back to a standing position. Where you promptly fell against his chest.

“Are you okay?” he asked, hands cupping your cheeks to tilt your head back.

Nodding, you felt your throat dry up once you realized exactly how close he stood to you. It wasn’t right to feel the sharp tug in your heart at the sight of his blue eyes which bored into yours—the color nearly putting the river itself to shame. You shouldn’t hold these feelings for a fellow padawan—you knew the rules inside and out, and yet…he still hadn’t let go of your face. His thumbs rubbed gently at your cheeks, a faint smile playing on his lips as he saw your own part slightly.

“What would you call this?” you inquired breathlessly, hands pressing against his chest and feeling his heartbeat beneath them.

Anakin breathed out a puff of laughter—the warmth of it washing across your cheek as he moved even closer. “A polite conclusion.”

Before you could smile, he dipped down, pressing his lips against yours and effectively ceasing your words. You’d always wondered if he would ever kiss you a second time after what happened on Tatooine. Neither of you spoke of it again after he pulled away and left you standing there, but you knew something had shifted between the both of you. Just like it did now. Sliding your hands up until your arms wrapped around his neck, you tried to keep yourself balanced as he once again tore the ground up from underneath you.

It was him pulling you closer that did you in. His lips were soft—you always knew they would be—and it took everything in you not to ask for more than just this. The warmth of his tongue pressing against your bottom lip jerked you out of your reverie, causing you to practically tear yourself away from him. His arms only tightened around your waist, lips more insistent as he coaxed you once more into a kiss that shouldn’t have happened.

You opened your mouth, melting into his hold as his tongue pressed against yours and felt the steady thrum of your heart speed up exponentially. Until you were sure it would burst out of your chest.

“Beautiful,” he murmured—pressing a kiss to your jaw.

“They could find us,” you said, fighting against the haze he put you in. “They could—”

“I don’t care.”

Three words shouldn’t have made you submit so easily, but there you were giving into his kiss yet again. Whimpering into his mouth and kissing him back with enough fervor to throw him off slightly, causing him to stumble back a bit. This shouldn’t happen. It wasn’t right. Jedi weren’t meant to form attachments. Especially not with other Jedi. The heat of his tongue against yours shoved the words right out of your mind, but still something continued to feel off.

It wasn’t…right.

This…didn’t—it didn’t feel…right.

“Enough!” you exclaimed, shoving Obi-Wan out of your mind as you clutched your head, the tears now falling down your face in waves. Heaving in a ragged breath, you tried to piece the walls that enclosed your mind back together, but found you couldn’t.

“I didn’t mean—”

“Just don’t,” you snapped. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

You knew it wasn’t right to turn your anger on Obi-Wan, but there was so much of it that you couldn’t stop it even if you tried. At this point you weren’t sure if the anger truly belonged to you or if it was Anakin’s pouring into you from the Force. Still you struggled to maintain it, breathing deeply as you fought to get back to the light side of the Force.

“Yes,” Obi-Wan said, watching as the inside of your mind waged war on itself. “I know why he’s calling out to you.”

“Why?” you asked, helpless against the mental anguish that you were going through.

“He loves you.”

Scoffing, you struggled to get to your feet. “Don’t be ridiculous Obi-Wan. He never loved me.”

“If you believe that then there’s no hope in saving him.”

Turning, you felt the anger flood your veins, shoving its way to the surface. “Saving him?” you shouted. “There’s no saving him! He murdered the people we cared about. Younglings! He turned himself into what they wanted him to be—what they molded him to be.”

“We’re Jedi. We must keep the peace no matter the cost—”

“And how far will you go to keep this peace? My death? Your death? The death of Luke, of his sister?” Obi-Wan’s eyes narrowed. “Anakin Skywalker is dead. In his place Darth Vader walks the path of the Sith.” You shut your eyes, doing what you could to right your mind. “Saving him was never an option.”

“We have to try.”

“I don’t,” you replied, effectively shutting yourself off from the Force as Obi-Wan attempted to push his way through to you.

“Then what will you do? Keep hiding?”

“Yes!” you cried. “I will keep hiding, because the Jedi Order is gone and everything we stood for, everything that kept the balance…he destroyed. I would rather think him dead than be constantly reminded of his betrayal.”

Obi-Wan stood, his expression exactly the same as when he told you of what transpired that fateful night. “You’re being selfish and that’s not the Jedi way.”

“Fuck you.” The words were spat out harshly in his direction. “I choose to forget all that pain and if that makes me selfish…then so be it. Perhaps you should try it.”

You were being cruel to him—unfair—because the anger inside of you could no longer be contained behind the walls of your mind. Whether it was yours or Anakin’s you could no longer tell, but it hurt either way. It felt as if you were being stabbed repeatedly in the heart with every new memory, dream, and hope that was shoved your way. Obi-Wan’s ideas of saving Anakin were merely fantasy. Yet that didn’t stop you from believing they could be true—that you might be able to save him and stop this madness.

“Do you think I haven’t tried?” His words startled you. “I wish I could forget what I did to leave him there, how I nearly killed him. It haunts me with every dream and every memory—just as it does you Bandit, but I…do not have the luxury of forgetting.”

He was right. You knew it down to the very marrow of your bones that being able to forget was simply a transparent hope you held onto. Eventually it would shatter in your hands, leaving you bleeding in the end, just as he did. Only how could you try and save the man who did so much damage? Who broke your heart over and over again simply to gain the power to save the ones he loved from death.

“He’ll kill me,” you whispered, eyes staring at the now orange sky that peeked through the entrance of the cave.

“How do you know?”

Scoffing, you glanced at Obi-Wan. “I just do. Even if he did love me, love is a weakness to Sith.”

“Yes. You’re right.” He stepped closer, his palm falling to your shoulder and grasping it softly. “But a weakness in Anakin’s case could be just what’s needed to save him.”

You wanted to deny his words, to pretend you could simply remain as you were. A fugitive in a galaxy that was under siege—a galaxy that could no longer be saved. But the familiar feeling that pulled at the back of your mind rose up—making space in the hollow space of your chest that once housed your heart. The need to help. To bring peace once more and show that the Jedi of old weren’t gone entirely.

“I don’t know if I can face him,” you whispered, staring at the lines of your palm in the hopes that they would make his eyes vanish from your mind. That you wouldn’t have to live with this suffering.

“We all have to face him eventually,” Obi-Wan admitted.

You knew what he meant; how the feelings waged a war in his own mind too. He was just as terrified to finally see the man he once knew, to witness what Anakin had become, what the dark side turned him into. The fear still lingered in his mind, overtaking everything he knew like a plague. There was never any other alternative than this. The second Anakin turned, the both of you were left with nothing else to do except scatter amidst the galaxy.

It was a grief that weighed heavy on your shoulders.

A loss you’d never come back from.

“There’s nothing we can do to help him.” As much as Obi-Wan wanted to see otherwise, you knew that to be the truth. Anakin was beyond helping, but even still you found yourself unable to let go of the hope. That constant echo of what once was now resurfacing the longer you tried to fight against this.

You were a keeper of the peace. A protector of those who couldn’t protect themselves.

You were everything Anakin turned his back on and somehow in a twisted way…it might just be what could bring him back.

Obi-Wan watched as you fought with yourself. Your mind was dark and filled with turmoil, but then he saw it. The small glimmer of something bright reflecting back at him. That once evergreen hue flickering to life again—matching the light of the weapon you once wielded with pride. He watched as the Jedi you once were—the master you came to be—bloom before his very eyes. Obi-Wan try as he might would not be the one to bring Anakin back from the dark side. Even you might not succeed in this task, but he could see the determination in your eyes, the power that filled your stance.

In the depths of your memories he saw the truth. The reason why he urged you to go.

You would die for Anakin.

Just as he would have died for you.

It was a bond stronger than any he’d witnessed before and he could see that you knew it as well.

“I’ll need a ship,” you said, finality echoing in your tone—eyes sharp and clear.

He grinned, reached for his cloak and the small pack of credits. “I’m sure there’s something to be found.”

[dunmeshistash]

Question: do we have any info on how Thistle addresses himself in Japanese? I've heard that can be a way to see how 'masculine' someone may see themselves. Not a 1:1 since it's cultural, but I kno the self-pronouns can be a character insight.

(Coming in from the 'Thistle trans????' ask)

I've heard he uses 私 Watashi? I don't have a screenshot of him saying it in original japanese tho... So if anyone else has one?

Edit: Apparently it's not watashi, but boku

double edit: Apparently is watashi when speaking to Laios and boku when speaking to Delgal/Golden kingdom citizens

[skunkes]

okey yey con highlights

- vendor who called my friend (chimera Falin cosplay) over and said omg falin look I have you, opened his print catalog to show us the thinnest no organs enormous booby falin print we had to just smile and nod to like this

- qas given free thistle print with purchase of rarity mlp sticker....and originally was called over to see it by the vendor saying omg thistle i have u here ^_^

- lots of vendors told me i was the first/only thistle they saw (tho i did see 2 other thistles, one cloaked and one in the fit I have)

- I was given a red grundo (neopet) plushed by somebody who took a foto of me and my falin (she was given a red kyrii)

- approached vendor with their only dungeon meshi print being of thistle being bitten by the winged lion and as Im grabbing Thistle and The Lion they're greeting me like oh my gosh Thistle! And the Lion!

[chuckeroo777]

Laios got Eaten AU Chapter 86-Finale

Chapters 1-52, Chapters 53-85

Welcome back! It's time to bring this to a close! Expect the chapter format to break down once we get into it!

As always, a spoiler warning for pretty much all of Dungeon Meshi. Let's go!

Chapter 86:

The first bit is mostly the same, except since the pearlipede isn't a weapon, there is no seppuku scare.

Flamela, as usual, has no chill. While she knows Falin isn't to blame, everything is still majorly f***ed. She starts blabbing about what needs to be done now, filling in the hole, evacuating everyone, preparing a substitute lord...

A substitute lord. Falin grows very quiet, a vacant look in her eyes. Marcille knows it all too well. Falin is thinking hard about something.

After a long pause, Falin looks to Marcille. There is an almost frightening intensity in her gaze. An intensity Marcille has only seen once before.

Falin declares that she knows how to stop the Demon for good. She must become lord of the dungeon.

Everyone immediately freaks out. This is clearly an awful idea, and Falin is failing to elaborate.

Before they can get Falin to explain herself, the Demon makes itself known in it's giant form. The raw intensity of Falin's desire has it intrigued.

Falin doesn't say another word as the lion grabs the tower and swallows it whole, the rest of the party completely freaking out.

Chapter 87:

Identical

Chapter 88:

Once they arrive in the bone zone, Falin goes to approach the lion, but Marcille stops her. What exactly is she planning?

Falin takes a deep breath, before wavering, and then grabs Marcille in a tight embrace. Falin begs Marcille and the other's forgiveness for what she is about to do.

Falin kisses Marcille on the lips. Marcille is left stunned for a few seconds too long, and Falin runs off before she can stop her.

Realizing that Falin is about to sacrifice herself, everyone runs after her, but it is too late. Falin stands before the Demon, and states her desire.

"Make me the Lord of the Dungeon. However it has to happen, I desire the power to keep everyone safe from you. Forever."

They watch in horror as the Demon wraps its wings around her, and they both vanish from sight.

Chapter 89:

The demon's pocket dimension starts to shake. The bones begin to swirl and collapse. As the party is dragged under, they catch a brief glimpse of a massive figure rising from the bones. A familiar face, now sporting five hourglass eyes.

Marcille and the others fall into the water. They panic as they are helped up by Namari and the others. Falin did... something. And isn't coming back.

The original chapter structure breaks down completely here.

Nobody is given a chance to process this news, as the dungeon suddenly starts shifting again. Whole swaths are pulled back underground, and the hole in the ceiling begins to seal back up. The dungeon is reverting into it's previous form.

Many of the groups get separated in the panic, and people are dispersed across the dungeon.

Once things settle down a little, Marcille, Senshi, Chilchuck, and Izutsumi find themselves in the fifth level, back in the castle town, on the street were the red dragon fell.

Marcille breaks down into tears, the totality of what has happened finally sinking in. Senshi and Chilchuck have no idea what to say, but do their best to comfort her. Even Izutsumi reluctantly offers a hug.

After a little while, Chilchuck suggests that they should probably start heading for the surface. It shouldn't be too hard, since by sheer luck (or perhaps the dungeon's will), their bags and equipment ended up with them here.

As they awkwardly prepare to leave, they are interrupted by the sound of wings. The Laigon swoops down, and lands in front of them.

There is a moment of panic, but then they realize that the chimera isn't attacking. Laios is so happy to see his friends again, though, he is a little confused. His memories under Thistle's control are hazy, and his vocal cords are malformed, making it tricky for him to talk much.

Marcille and the others are overjoyed that Laios is alright, though the reunion is definitely bittersweet. Laios is devastated to learn that Falin sacrificed herself. But ultimately, they all need to keep going, to honor her memory.

They begin to make their way up the dungeon. Laios is excited to finally be able to assess his new body in his right mind. The dragon's soul is still there in full force, but it's controllable, just like when Laios was first revived. He only wishes his sister was here to see him finally fulfill his dream.

The dungeon is oddly calm, with the monsters keeping to themselves, and there being more fountains and food (Such as patches of Barometz and mandrakes) to be found.

As they progress, they run across more people. They meet up with Toshiro, Namari, Kabru, and Thistle on the third floor, and Laios is quick to apologize for his actions. Kabru immediately throws Thistle under the bus, pointing out that it's him who should be apologizing.

Thistle does not apologize.

After a few days travel, they make their way to the first floor. It is much bigger and more spacious than before. Everyone has met up here to discuss what happens next. Laios sits by the well to conserve his strength. He probably won't be able to leave the dungeon in his current form.

They meet up with Pattadol and get the scoop. It seems that not only has this dungeon calmed down, but dungeons across the world are calming down too. Where normally dungeons try to fan the desires of their inhabitants, the dungeons have all become oddly passive.

Marcille is about to willingly let herself be arrested by the canaries, when there is sudden another rumble. The big well at the center of the plaza begins to bubble, and a shocking figure emerges from the water.

It is Falin, in her full blown demon form.

She has eschewed the lion imagery, instead taking on the form of a terrifying yet elegant centipede woman. Her face is mostly the same, but with three additional eyes peeking out from her messy bangs, all five wide with infinity pupils. Her body is long and serpentine, with dozens of arms lining the sides. Layered golden robes complete the look. She is nearly 20 feet long, and that's only the portion sticking out of the fountain.

Before even figuring out what the hell is going on, Marcille and Laios rush forward and tearfully embrace Falin. Everyone else is understandably shocked and confused, but Falin begins to explain what happened.

When she became lord, she fused with the demon. As an nonliving creature, its will became subsumed by hers. She feared that its one true instinct, the desire to feed on desires, would overwhelm her, and she initially planned to sequester herself away from the world. However, she soon discovered a solution.

Auto-cannibalism.

Yeah, turns out she could just consume her own desire to eat desires, allowing her to assume full control of her new infinite form without the demon's corrupting influence.

(Author's note: Initially, I was struggling to figure out the ending, since a Golbetty solution was the only one I could think of. But then I realized, why does that have to be a downer ending. If I want a happy ending, I can just... do it. Plus, if auto-cannibalism isn't a peak Dungeon Meshi solution, I don't know what is.)

Falin wants to keep her use of her infinite power at a minimum, but there are a few things she definitely wants to do. First, she makes sure everyone who was affected by Marcille's reign is healed up.

Next, with Laios' help to guide her hand, she modifies his chimera form so he can live comfortably on the surface. The wings have to go, and he is made considerably smaller, more resembling a draconic centaur.

She then begins the process of ejecting the golden country from the dungeon. Once Yaad is returned to his body, he ends up being made the leader of the restored nation. The orcs are of course allowed in, and it eventually becomes a prosperous nation.

After determining that he is only capable of very rudimentary magic without his book, The elves release Thistle into the kingdom's custody a few years later. Thistle never reunites with Delgal, but at least his people are happy. He proceeds to be the grumpy court mage.

Chilchuck moves to Kahka Brud and opens a shop. He eventually reunites with his wife with Marcille's help, and the two reconcile.

Senshi returns to living in the dungeon. It is now mostly just level 6 and 7, though Falin creates plenty of caves and spaces for biodiversity to proliferate. Senshi primarily lives in the new first floor, tending the golems. He is able to massively expand his operation, becoming Melini and Kahka Brud's primary provider of cabbage and root vegetables.

Falin proposes that with her new powers, she could seperate Izutsumi's components safely. But after giving it a good hard think over a few weeks, Izutsumi realizes... she doesn't actually want that. The only reason she ever wanted that was because people treated her as an unnatural freak. And after hanging out with people who respect her for what she is, she no longer wants to give up what makes her 'her'. She ends up living around Melini, mostly squatting with her friends and hunting monsters with Laios. She does end up finding the dark mage who created her, and gets him put away for life.

While Demon Falin is a kindhearted soul, there is one instance the canaries noticed where she was extremely uncooperative. When attempting to arrest Marcille for her dungeon lord shenanigans, Falin kept changing the subject, and getting progressively more annoyed. They ultimately decide to let her have Marcille, not wanting to piss off the young goddess.

Kabru ends up becoming the governor of the dungeon, keeping track of coming and goings, making sure everyone explores safely, and generally making sure things run smoothly. Mithrun ends up retiring from the canaries and decides to work with Kabru.

Toshiro returns to the east, but he periodically still comes back to visit Falin and his friends. After a few more years of dungeoneering, Namari ends up opening an armor and weapons store.

While his home is in the dungeon, Laios ends up working for Yaad and the kingdom, using his knowledge and chimera strength to hunt down dangerous monsters spotted around the kingdom.

Falin is restricted to the dungeon, but she doesn't mind as long as all her friends are able to visit. She ends up being revered as the new deity of Melini. While she mostly doesn't want to use her powers willy nilly, she is always happy to heal those who ask. Plus, she is present in all the remaining ancient dungeons, ensuring they all remain stable and safe for those wishing to explore them.

Marcille of course lives in the dungeon with Falin, and continues to study magic, particularly of the ancient variety. She makes all sorts of useful discoveries over the years, and comes to be rather famous, despite her criminal past. Eventually, Falin ends up making Marcille a chimera so that Falin, Marcille, and Laios can be together for a very long time. Plus, Marcille and Falin have all sorts of real freaky sex.

And they all lived happily ever after. The end.

Thanks to everyone who has enjoyed my silly little AU. I hope you enjoyed this crazy finale, even if it's 90% wish fulfillment on my part.

Till next time!

[monitorkernelaccess]

is me being a devoted thistle hater hypocritical for me, tumblr user monitorkernelaccess with the monika profile pic, a known devoted fan of monika ddlc? probably. will I stop? no <3

[sproouts-jpeg]

one piece strawhats post-ts redesigns part?? idk technically like 1.5? we’re going backwards hell yeah!!

part 1.5: roronoa zoro (finally!)

i was originally really inspired by @deadbutnostink ‘s zoro fanarts! i love their style and trans goth zoro is the best thing ever!

this was the first planning sheet i ever made so it’s really plain without much elaboration sorry, so i’ll do that here:

gothic, traditional japanese clothes, samurai armor, and pirate attire is kinda all built with lots of layers, but zoro will literally throw off his coat all the time just to fight shirtless, so i think he’s the kind of person that prefers light clothing. so i tried to use as little layers of clothes as possible. but now that i’m looking at the finished drawing, i think oda also intended that to show off his chest scar as much as possible, which is much more difficult to see in my design.

i feel like i’m getting off topic lol. so the mihawk influences and darker moody color palette is supposed to evoke the gothic gloominess of kuraigana and its inhabitants! zoro’s waistcoat has a brocade and standing collar like mihawk’s coat does, but with a thistle and wisteria pattern. In an sbs interview with robin’s japanese va, she was asked her what flowers she associates with each strawhat, and she assigned thistles for zoro. in a later sbs, oda was asked the same question for the supernovas, and assigned wisteria for him. i thought it was a cute detail lol. there’s also swirls in the brocade like on perona’s pre-ts shirt and an arrow-ish design on the sash like her post-ts dress

i wanted to add more overt perona references, but she’s very hyperfeminine in contrast to zoro, so i’d just imagine she painted his nails (but only on the condition that he at least learn how to do so himself)! his waistcoat is supposed to basically hit 3 birds with one stone (hehe threes): gothic, piratey, and traditional japanese style. cause gothic clothes in many subcultures are based off the more lavish clothes worn by nobility in time periods like the victorian era and other european eras before/around that, but stereotypical pirates tend to wear many of the same pieces, like frilly shirts, waistcoats, and coats with pauldrons, but of varying quality due to lower class and criminal status. the general silhouette of the sleeveless waistcoat, much like how the original green coat is like a kimono, is supposed to be reminiscent of a full length sleeveless haori.

zoro was originally supposed to wear haidate, japanese armor pieces worn over the thighs, so that with his haori and hakama pants his look would be reminiscent of samurai, but i ended not liking the extra bulk it added to his look. i considered giving him tabi boots instead of combat boots, but i think the combat boots add to the alternative vibe i’m going for. the gray garment worn under the waistcoat isn’t really a kimono, cause it’s cropped at the hips and with rectangularly constructed sleeves so that they can be rolled up, so i think it’s closer to a jinbei/samue. samue are also commonly worn by zen buddhist monks, like the mala beads that zoro also wears (inspired by @/jojodreamie on twt’s future strawhats au zoro design). apparently the people in shimotsuki village, his hometown, are shown to be buddhists. so even tho zoro is pretty much atheist, or at least agnostic, i think he just keeps beads and stuff as more of a cultural practice than a spiritual one.

i tried really hard to give him a more different realistic body type that suits his training/fighting styles, instead of just that really dehydrated jacked look. idk anything abt anatomy or muscle building or sword fighting, so this is all speculative (and i’ll still say stuff with complete confidence :D). zoro’s strength as a swordsman mainly seems to be focused in his upper body: shoulders/upper back and arms (maybe chest idk???). but with the way he fights with big sweeping swings he needs good strength in his thighs and core for stability. this reminds me more of discus athletes. the way he trains though, is weightlifting, which focuses much on those same muscle groups, but in a different manner focusing more on the back, core, and thighs to build bulk and endurance. so i kinda combined the two?? idk if i did it too well even with my references (i’m afraid of looking at pictures of shirtless dudes lol /hj)

i also gave him an unnecessary amount of scars, but knowing how reckless he is in battle i’d imagine he has a lot of scars around his hands and arms. and it looks cool. his skin tone is closer to his pre-sabaody color palette in the anime, but with the bright green hair of the post-sabaody anime, and the darker olive green roots like opla mackenyu zoro. idk why i gave him those arrow shaped eyebrows, ik i saw some fanart on twitter that inspired it, but i don’t remember it. his nose is also wider and supposed to be a kind of round bulbous shape that’s flat at the front, so a bigger nose shape like koushirou’s “roman” shaped nose.

and now some closeups!! i really like how he looks without the haori too!! but without the big green coat it’s not really reminiscent of the original look so i can’t keep it that way :/

i hope y’all like it! as the poll results show, i’ll be doing usopp next! or maybe i wont and go entirely based on my whims lol

[edoro]

dunmeshi spoilers below the cut, just thinking some thoughts about Thistle post-canon

i've seen more than one post about the idea of him getting back into the role of jester/musician for Laios's court, and while it's cute, the more i think about it the more i feel like... i don't think that he'd want to and i honestly don't think that he should

Thistle was, in many ways, objectified and used by the Melinis, and i think understanding that is important to understanding his character

from the very beginning, Freinag wanted an elven servant to make himself look more impressive. his advisors didn't want him falling under the sway of an adult, so they found a child who could be made safe and harmless and raised to be loyal to the court rather than having pre-existing loyalties, and they said, "here, having him as your jester will be impressive on its own."

Thistle was brought - most likely literally bought, and if not still given to the king as a gift - to the court to be a living status symbol. first and foremost, he was something exotic and cool that the king could show off. he was a conversation piece, a belonging, a pet. he was Freinag's son the same way my cat is my son; i don't doubt there was genuine affection there, but Thistle wasn't a person in that relationship.

being a jester is part of that objectification. it's another thing that made him safe and harmless. he's not a scheming elf or a potential threat, he's just a silly little guy wearing curly shoes and playing the lute. there's nothing to worry about, because he has no status or influence, he's just here to entertain.

and i don't know how much Thistle... liked that. he was deeply loyal to Freinag and Delgal and wanted badly to be useful and earn their regard, especially Delgal's. he definitely did seem to see Delgal as a little brother who he needed to protect and take care of, even when Delgal was a grown man. but did he actually enjoy being an object of entertainment?

it's hard to tell because he's spent 1000 years having holes eaten in his brain until his personality is incredibly warped from what it originally was, but one thing about Thistle is that i don't get the impression he likes to be laughed at or not taken seriously. that one bit during the dragon fight in his house, where he says he'll let Laios choose which dragon kills him and then gets mad when Laios says, "really?" - to me, that reads as if he thinks Laios is being sarcastic, and it pisses him off.

during that battle in the dungeon, when he has Delgal gather the residents of the castle and surrounding area and then sics monsters on their enemies, then heals that kid's dead dad and realizes everyone is staring at him, he seems nervous, suddenly aware of what he's just done and that the people seem fearful of him - it doesn't come across like someone who's comfortable being the center of attention, and it implies some very fascinating things about just how aware Thistle is of how suspicious the people around him are of elves in general, which in turn could imply some fascinating things about how he sees his role as jester and his own relationship with being Safe And Harmless -

but i digress a bit. the point is, we get a couple of indications that he's touchy about his own dignity, doesn't like being laughed at, and isn't necessarily comfortable in front of a crowd. we also know from extras (and just kind of his overall demeanor throughout the story) that he has no sense of humor and is terrible at jokes. all of this combines to, frankly, paint a picture of someone who isn't well-suited to being a jester at all

it's one thing to be fun and entertaining as a kid. he wanted to fit in, he wanted love, he wanted to be cared for, and he doesn't stop wanting those things as he gets older, but his sense of dignity and understanding of his position change and develop. being a pet curiosity as a child might not be so bad, but as a teenager? as an adolescent growing towards adulthood?

the Melinis used Thistle. Freinag used him as a status symbol and entertainment. Delgal used him as a confidante and magician and tried to make Thistle solve his fears and problems for him. Thistle destroyed himself trying to do what Delgal begged him to do.

so given all of that, i don't think that Thistle becoming a jester or entertainer for Laios would suit him well. it would just be trading one position of objectification for another. i think the best post-canon outcome for him would be to find a way to exist where he's not being used by anyone and he can explore and develop his own identity outside of the comfort and utility he brings to others.