#better yet …. Kabru Touden

[wasabi-gumdrop]

Kabru has a secret admirer in the castle!

[toxycodone]

Laios Touden who is so in love he follows you around like a lovesick puppy, trying to pick up on your habits and learn all your opinions on things so he can come to understand you better than anyone else. He's genuinely interested in you, not just appearances or other physical reasons.

Chilchuck Tims who is never open with his own emotions, but he's trying. Telling you that you look nice today with a gentle blush and a downcast gaze. Picking up flowers for you and leaving them somewhere you'll eventually find them since he hasn't worked up the courage to hand them directly to you yet.

Senshi of Izganda who is direct with how he feels. He's calm and reassuring--his love for you is so blatantly obvious but doesn't have to be constantly expressed. He takes care of small things like dishes and housework without being asked because taking care of your shared space is an act of love in itself.

Kabru of Utaya who seems so perfect on the outside, yet you're aware of what lies beneath the surface--and he's okay with that. Usually he'd be working his ass off to rid someone of a bad opinion, but he feels secure with you despite everything. You notice when he looks at you, there's a softness to his gaze that reminds you of the way one would look at something ultimately precious.

[laikabu]

You've mentioned before that you prefer Karbu to Laios, is l/bru the your favorite ship of his? And if so what do you like about it more than the other ships?

i've reblogged and posted a lot of stuff i like about it but to give the simplest explanation; they complete each other in a narrative sense; kabru survived being stranded in the dungeon by following laios's way of thinking, and laios will forever keep taking kabru's advice until they die LOL. laios learns to embrace his humanity from kabru, and kabru learns about being authentic and vulnerable from laios.

everything about them is the opposite down to their eye shapes, the tips of their noses, their star signs(gemini and sagittarius are opposite signs) their stats are almost identical except for the top stat) etc. they are constantly shown learning things from each other, they have a lot of things they don't agree on but they like and respect each other still, so that's why they bounce off each other very easily. even if you don't ship them you'd have to be ignorant to not acknowledge they are very good friends by the end of the story.

kabru helped the touden party achieve their goals by actively became an obstacle for the elves (they would all die if not for his laios nightmare!!!), laios ultimately subdued the demon and kabru will forever be safe around him because of his monster repellent curse. they are objectively important to each other's story.

you could pull the "why can't people let two characters just be friends!" or the "they work better as just friends" card but then again you can say that for literally any friends to lovers ship.

i guess this is also why i greatly prefer their post-canon dynamic as a ship over their dynamic in the story. i don't really care that much about armored labru, i like it more when they're wearing tunics or modern clothes. i really do prefer it as something happening ~2 years post-story, and not right away. same goes for f/rcile, i want the feelings to marinate.

which is ironic because, as much as i love pre-relationship stuff, i havent made content of it yet. i shall rectify...

also they. just look aesthetically nice together. that's a nice bonus.

[dungeon-meshi-tournament]

Following an anon suggestion from some time ago, it's the

Best Transformation by the Changelings Tournament

This is the masterpost for the tournament. I'll pin it and update it with every new round, so you'll be able to find all polls easily.

The rules are very simple: You just vote for whichever transformation you like better, for whichever reason. The transformation with the most votes advances to the next round.

Propaganda is encouraged! Please put it in the body of the post so I can reblog it. I don't reblog propaganda from tags or replies.

Spoiler warning: This tournament contains material up to the end of the manga. If you haven't caught up yet, you may be spoiled.

Finale:

Kobold Laios vs Half-foot Fleki (Kobold Laios won)

Battle for the bronze:

Manneken Pis Gargoyle vs Tallman Namari (Tallman Namari won)

Previous rounds under the cut

Semi-finals:

Kobold Laios vs Manneken Pis Gargoyle (Kobold Laios won)

Half-foot Fleki vs Tallman Namari (Half-foot Fleki won)

Quarter finals:

Kobold Laios vs Half-foot Senshi (Kobold Laios won)

Dwarf Rin vs Manneken Pis Gargoyle (Manneken Pis Gargoyle won)

Dwarf Cithis vs Half-foot Fleki (Half-foot Fleki won)

Tallman Namari vs Half-foot Thistle (Tallman Namari won)

Round 2:

Troll child vs Kobold Laios (Kobold Laios won)

Half-foot Senshi vs Half-foot Izutsumi (Half-foot Senshi won)

Dwarf Rin vs Elf Dia (Dwarf Rin won)

Orc Kuro vs Manneken Pis Gargoyle (Manneken Pis Gargoyle won)

Dumplings vs Dwarf Cithis (Dwarf Cithis won)

Half-foot Fleki vs Dwarf Otta (Half-foot Fleki won)

Tallman Namari vs Half-foot Milsiril (Tallman Namari won)

Half-foot Thistle vs Kensuke (Half-foot Thistle won)

Round 1, part 2:

Dumplings vs Hippogriff meat (Dumplings won)

Tallman Mithrun vs Dwarf Cithis (Dwarf Cithis won)

Gnome Pattadol vs Half-foot Fleki (Half-foot Fleki won)

Tallman Lycion vs Dwarf Otta (Dwarf Otta won)

Dwarf Mr. Floke vs Tallman Namari (Tallman Namari won)

Elf Toshiro vs Half-foot Milsiril (Half-foot Milsiril won)

Half-foot Thistle vs Wurm Faligon (Half-foot Thistle won)

Griffin vs Kensuke (Kensuke won)

Round 1, part 1:

Troll child vs Gazelle deer (Troll child won)

Kobold Laios vs Dwarf Falin (Kobold Laios won)

Ogre Marcille vs Half-foot Senshi (Half-foot Senshi won)

Tallman Chilchuck vs Half-foot Izutsumi (Half-foot Izutsumi won)

Half-foot Kabru vs Dwarf Rin (Dwarf Rin won)

Tallman Holm vs Elf Dia (Elf Dia won)

Dwarf Mickbell vs Orc Kuro (Orc Kuro won)

Mouth of Truth Gargoyle vs Manneken Pis Gargoyle (Manneken Pis Gargoyle won)

Preliminaries, part 4:

Mr. Tansu Floke (Dwarf Mr. Floke won)

Namari of Kahka Brud (Tallman Namari won)

Toshiro Nakamoto (Elf Toshiro won)

Milsiril of the House of Tol (Half-foot Milsiril won)

Thistle the Lunatic Magician (Half-foot Thistle won)

Chimera Falin (Wurm Faligon won)

Preliminaries, part 3:

Mithrun of the House of Kerensil (Tallman Mithrun won)

Cithis Ofri (Dwarf Cithis won)

Pattadol of the House of Vari (Gnome Pattadol won)

Fleki (Half-foot Fleki won)

Lycion (Tallman Lycion won)

Otta (Dwarf Otta won)

Preliminaries, part 2:

Kabru (Half-foot Kabru won)

Rinsha Fana (Dwarf Rin won)

Holm Kranom (Tallman Holm won)

Diamond of Sadena (Elf Dia won)

Mickbell Tomas (Dwarf Mickbell won)

Preliminaries, part 1:

Laios Touden (Kobold Laios won)

Falin Touden (Dwarf Falin won)

Marcille Donato (Ogre Marcille won)

Senshi of Izganda (Half-foot Senshi won)

Chilchuck Tims (Tallman Chilchuck won)

Izutsumi (Half-foot Izutsumi won)

[cafulur]

Modern Personal Assistant Labru AU ✨📋🐉

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Laios is a renown animal/monster expert (not sure yet if this is modern as in no monsters or just a modern version of their realm w/ monsters included)

- he does most of his research independently, occasionally working alongside small groups of other scientists

- a new animal species / monster mutation emerges that completely captures the world’s and Laios’s interest. As one of the top zoologists / monsterologists in the nation, he gets requested to head the first ever research on this unknown creature.

- something about this species is so bizarre that in addition to studying it, Laios is suddenly also having to do press conferences to explain to the masses wtf is going on.

- … except he kind of can’t. the first time he gets on the mic in front of a bunch of people, one reporter asks if there is concern for reproduction as we’ve only found two females of the species. Laios goes on a 20 minute rant about the egg laying process they recently discovered and how according to x-rays of the eggs they do not require a mate to reproduce but appear to still seek and thrive off of community. A conference that should’ve had enough time to answer dozens of questions ends with him only have answered two and a half, as he greatly struggled to be succinct and not derail into mile long explanations. But to Laios, every detail counts!! They’re all important pieces to the puzzle!

- his boss pulls him aside— “listen, you’re the only person on the planet at the moment who has the most knowledge about this thing. if you’re going to also be it’s’ spokesperson, you need to handle your PR better and read the room. we’ve assigned you an assistant to help with any future public appearances.

- enter Kabru, works in public relations, usually political, and is all too comfortable with addressing the masses. local elections just ended and so as a PR specialist he’s being assigned unconventional work by his management company during this downtime, which includes a rambly scientist with zero social cues or ability to read the room.

- Kabru sits down with Laios at a café a few days before the next conference and they run through a little practice session. Kabru clears his throat and acts as a reporter.

- “So, Mr. Touden, how long do you expect the research to go on for before we know if we can integrate this species into our local environments? Is it even safe for us to be near them?”

- “it’s not a question on whether or not it’s safe for us but whether or not it’s safe for them. they seem to be flighty little guys, and don’t even agitate or fight when provoked. but something about the oils from human skin damages their feathers, they have almost the same texture and composition as paper. it’s really fascinating actually, they somehow appear to be resistant to water but our oils break them down very quickly, and so we’re thinking they might thrive better on reserves people can’t access. but that’s also not exactly ideal due their apparent difficultly living in captivity and small spaces, as well as the potential need to migrate. closing off their environment may actually—“

- Kabru knows deep, deep down in his heart of hearts that he needs to cut the man off right then and there, show him how he could be more concise and clear with his words, and maybe not ramble so much. but Laios is positively glowing with both wonder and genuine concern for this creature, and Kabru cannot help but be completely captivated.

[dungeonmeshi-confessions]

I often take issue with a lot of the way this fandom mischaracterizes Falin. I know a lot is having fun and for the bit but it feels so wrong to not see this discussed as much! Obv there are pressing matters when discussing mischaracterization of characters like Kabru or Toshiro but I feel like there could be more room for people talking about Falin’s as well. I feel like Falin is often reduced to being part of farcille (I don’t even dislike farcille, far from it, it’s just I feel it’s sort of a labru effect, where a character is sort of mushed to be a specific thing for a ship, and a lot of content contains those specific mischaracterizations, making it harder to enjoy without a lot of curation) or being the one who became falingon, or being an ideal existence who exists to contrast and reflect the ugliness in others in the party and not in a way that humanizes her. I know people are having fun and that’s fine but also I think falin warriors need to rise, this is my promise as a falin warrior to make people do her better. Self proclaimed falin lovers who don’t love her as character but merely a concept will come to my house and see my beliefs for once.

I think Falin is a person who masks herself as normal so well, that people mistake her for someone who is generally kind instead of a strange go with the flow type person who doesn’t really care at all about social norms but also has reduced herself to having few desires to be more acceptable, she doesn’t care about most people except for those she’s close too, it’s a more selfish thing on her end in that sense but it’s not at all wrong. True she’s very empathetic but she doesn’t care for others as much as some would think, she dislikes violence but would hurt others for the people she cares for (those being laios and marcille, others like her but I don’t think that fondness is as required as others think of her with, and she’s ok with that she enjoys them as she finds them interesting and fun to spend time with, they just aren’t in that mental box). Falin literally left magic school and didn’t contact marcille for 4 years bc she didn’t want to do magic school and in her mind it’s fine and normal to just get up and leave, yet if she did this to anyone who isn’t marcille and maybe laios (see laios abandonment out of fear incident that deeply effected both peoples worldview) many may consider that action strange and terrible. Falin is someone strange, she keeps it on the down low and to a degree as she understands the social contract and thus works to make things easier for herself and those she cares for, being easygoing to avoid conflict and stepping in to keep peace is a genuine form of autonomy that allows her to keep people around but not have to decide always. Honestly she often gets a pass because she can easily fill that preconceived social conceptual role of a passive strange girl dragged around by her “weird” brother, with ppl failing to realize she’s taking an active part in the touden shenanigan of being 2 weird siblings.

The story largely tells of laios’s disconnection from others (due to his autism experience, I’m not taking criticism on this) so it makes sense people want to discuss it, much like how other party members have a disconnect from people that’s literally how the entire party was formed (and how many non party members are defined). But as a contrast Falin is a character who’s disconnect is so great she doesn’t even care about it, she plays into concepts of the inhuman long before she is a dragon, laios may want to be a monster to escape that rejection but Falin wouldn’t see a point in becoming one, as by who she is and how she is treated she already is one. Falin is the concept of the “changeling” (a myth created because people couldn’t accept their autistic children), the possessed, the pixie dream, the witch. But that doesn’t matter to her because Laios cares for her even when the village hated her, that marcille became her first friend who connected with her after that. Because of that it’s fine that others don’t like or understand her. Even if Falin is physically human there’s a deep disconnect from her autism. Though those closest to her can’t see the real Falin that doesn’t matter to her, she’s unaffected by loneliness of that type. Her experience is so different from others that even when re-angles by the Falingon people don’t realize their similarity.

Honestly the falingon isn’t even totally different from falin in a sense just more dragon like, with less inhibition, and has had all of the people she likes and dislikes swapped around. There’s multitudes to her, there is hate in her, there is love in her, there is falin in the dragon. Stripped from human context is falin, a person who already has always felt a fundamental disconnect from humanity. A girl who’s now getting on her feet and choosing to make her own choices for the first time. One who declined to marry toshiro because while living on that foreign land would be enriching and fun for her and she could play as a lover she feels it would be dishonest to his feelings. You can’t tie down a dragon.

Falin is her own person.

——————

If you think describing these traits is a form of villainizing her, WRONG!!!!

These are cool fun interesting traits.

.

[dungeon-meshi-tournament]

You guys voted for it, so here's the

Prettiest Full-Page Illustration in the Manga Tournament

This is the masterpost for the tournament. I'll pin it and update it with every new round, so you'll be able to find all polls easily.

The rules are very simple: You just vote for whichever illustration you like better, for really any reason. The illustration with the most votes advances to the next round.

Propaganda is encouraged! Please put it in the body of the post so I can reblog it. I don't reblog propaganda from tags or replies.

Spoiler warning: This tournament contains material up to the end of the manga. If you haven't caught up yet, you may be spoiled.

Finale:

Laios eating Winged Lion vs Falin eating Chimera (Laios eating Winged Lion won)

Battle for the bronze:

Demon breaking free vs Kabru, Mithrun, Thistle, and Falin falling (Demon breaking free won)

Previous rounds under the cut:

Semi-finals:

Demon breaking free vs Laios eating Winged Lion (Laios eating Winged Lion won)

Kabru, Mithrun, Thistle, and Falin falling vs Falin eating Chimera (Falin eating Chimera won)

Quarter finals:

Chimera Falin reveal vs Demon breaking free (Demon breaking free won)

Dragon kitchen vs Laios eating Winged Lion (Laios eating Winged Lion won)

Kabru, Mithrun, Thistle, and Falin falling vs Laios and Dullahan (Kabru, Mithrun, Thistle, and Falin falling won)

Winged Lion protecting Marcille vs Falin eating Chimera (Falin eating Chimera won)

Round 3:

Chimera Falin reveal vs Golden Kingdom (Chimera Falin reveal won)

Laios' dream vs Demon breaking free (Demon breaking free won)

Laios strangling Chimera Falin vs Dragon kitchen (Dragon kitchen won)

Giant Winged Lion vs Laios eating Winged Lion (Laios eating Winged Lion won)

Kraken breaching vs Kabru, Mithrun, Thistle, and Falin falling (Kabru, Mithrun, Thistle, and Falin falling won)

Laios and Dullahan vs Thistle without desire (Laios and Dullahan won)

Winged Lion protecting Marcille vs Demon Laios and Chimera Laios (Winged Lion protecting Marcille won)

King Laios vs Falin eating Chimera (Falin eating Chimera won)

Round 2, part 2:

Living armour full course meal vs Kraken breaching (Kraken breaching won)

Laios killing Red dragon vs Kabru, Mithrun, Thistle, and Falin falling (Kabru, Mithrun, Thistle, and Falin falling won)

Laios and Dullahan vs Chimera Falin with clean plate (Laios and Dullahan won)

Explosion in dragon kitchen vs Thistle without desire (Thistle without desire won)

Winged Lion protecting Marcille vs Coatl breaking free (Winged Lion protecting Marcille won)

Chimera Laios hatching vs Demon Laios and Chimera Laios (Demon Laios and Chimera Laios won)

Reactions to Chimera Laios vs King Laios (King Laios won)

Golden Kingdom rising above the waves vs Falin eating Chimera (Falin eating Chimera won)

Round 2, part 1:

Dragon kitchen vs Marcille's refitted dungeon (Dragon kitchen won)

Coatl breaking free vs Giant Winged Lion (Giant Winged Lion won)

Chimera Laios reveal vs Laios eating Winged Lion (Laios eating Winged Lion won)

Round 1:

Winged Lion protecting Marcille vs Coatl eating giant Familiar bird (Winged Lion protecting Marcille won)

Coatl breaking free vs Demon's memory (Coatl breaking free won)

Winged Lion and Touden party vs Chimera Laios hatching (Chimera Laios hatching won)

Chimera Laios lurking vs Demon Laios and Chimera Laios (Demon Laios and Chimera Laios won)

Reactions to Chimera Laios vs Chimera Laios flying (Reactions to Chimera Laios won)

Demon Laios breaking free vs King Laios (King Laios won)

Yaad hugging Thistle vs Golden Kingdom rising above the waves (Golden Kingdom rising above the waves won)

Falin eating Chimera vs Laios hugging Falin (Falin eating Chimera won)