#his face is stoic but you know he wants her so bad augh

[citroncynique]

"Marie Cardona was a colleague from my former place of employment, whom I'd had a thing for at the time. She did too. I think."

-

(a self indulgent redraw of this panel from wotakoi hhhh marie/meursault i love you so much)

[llycaons]

final ch lb reposted bc it's not showing up in the tags???

AUGH THE CHAPTER IS CALLED DUNGEON MESHI. it's simple but I love it when they do that. perfect for dm, which is pared-down in themes but applies itself perfectly to what it wants to say

wow, damn, guess that makes sense, it's so amazing that laios brought so many people together with the simple promise of something that unites all living things - nourishment - and they in turn brought their own food to add to the communal pot. I would have liked to see more exploration of this community-building through food, but this is literally one of the only things I would change about dm it's so impeccable crafted

damn marcille

JESUS LAIOS

aw man, that's genuinely an awful thing to live with. this might be a happy ending, but laios lives with the consequences of his defeat of the demon

this is an actual medical condition too...people can get really sick

celebratory panel!!! ofc senshi is stoic (though without ever being unkind! he's unruffled without being cold) and izu doesn't rly care

sorry but 👀

THIS IS SO FUNNY. senshi being like 'I'm politely staying out of this' and everyone else being like 'yeah there's no way he's that selfless'

damn, what a step for marcille, who was so terrified of losing the people close to her

she's so hot here ugh

OHHH this visual is so cool

mmm tasty! her face says hehe she's so cute I missed her so bad. real babygirl material

yayy!!! and standing up suddenly able to walk, and TAKING the dragon with her??? that's so cute like a little plush

it would have been an interesting ending for her to maybe not recover the use of her legs? ending the story with a disability wouldn't have been a tragedy, and it's been done really well in other stories. like, I'm still me, this is a change that happened because of something I've been through, and it's something to adjust to and keep moving forward with. sorry to bring up tgcf here but sqx's storyline is truly so compelling like she DID that

SHES SO CUTE I CAN'T STAND IT. farlyn are you free friday I can take you to a movie and buy you dinner

really incredible how she's hot in one panel then charming in another then ravenous in the third. her range...

this is such lover behavior <3

AHHH SIBLING LOVE!!

marcille love!!! her legs lmao

😭😭😭 not many stories end this straightforwardly satisfyingly and honestly it's really really nice. a more bittersweet ending or a more 'mature' one might have had farlyn not come back at all a lesson abt death or w/e but fuck that!!

ohhhh sexy

STOP THIS IS SO FUCKING CUTE!!! LOOK HOW HE'S SMILING. CRYING OVER THIS!!! character who barely know each other and have met like once before but will absolutely be friends for life. this might be my favorite panel in the chapter and maybe even series

PEACE AND LOVE ON THE PLANET EARTH

aww she's trying to reach out to izu. she's not someone who warms up to people easily but farlyn is just so lovable and sincere and weird that I can def see a friendship potentially for them

STOP STOP THIS IS SO CUTE. im so glad farlyn didn't get paired off or even god forbid MARRIED to that guy who likes her can you fucking imagine. maybe farcille isn't confirmed but they're real in our hearts and nothing disproves them

damn, pizza? I don't remember that

of course she does!!! she's outgoing and adventurous and loves to eat!

you know this story wouldn't have worked half as well if farlyn wasn't legitimately a charming and lovable character who was easy to get attached to and root for. if they tried going the jerk with a heart of gold route, it would have taken a lot longer and been harder to create sympathy for her. like how cql's appeal rests disproportionately on you liking and rooting for wwx, dungeon meshi's driving plot relied on you WANTING this woman to come back to life, to eat and see her friends and do her magic and get into her weird hobbies. and she's perfect! the writing doesn't rely on one cliched line or scene to get you to realize 'oh they're a good person despite their harsh exterior' to get you to root for her (even tho that's an underutilized technique for writing women), it just presents this oddball and lets you love her. rk is so good at writing women who feel like real people, it's a reason adore marcille - for her awkwardness, her judgement, her readiness to blow things up without thought. she's just a deeply uncool person who's very endearing

not to be a monarchist or anything but this is probably the best they could have gotten given the situation so I'm not going to complain too much. it's not like I read dm for in-depth and realistic political engagement

and this is like the easiest way to be a good leader. just care about your people getting the food they need. that's enough, really. I don't think laios is capable of much more anyway. it's not like he's a politican

also what does the succession line look like? I know he's not having a kid. omg kabru!! his face is so ajshdksad. and yayy marcille and farlyn staying to advise him together!!

oHHH SHIT. thesis statement of the series! also these babies are so fucking cute I can't deal. ik that one of them is a dog person but the other one??? is that an orc??? well take back what I said about just food being important. integration is happening here too - it's clear that laios's kingdom is welcoming of people like orcs who have historically been expelled from other places and violently targeted by other races. idk how he managed that but like, well done, laios!

you know I adore cql but it's such a relief to step into other stories that aren't quite so much about Good (TM ) in a vague and all-encompassing sense and also have characters who aren't laserfocused on one person and who you can envision making connections to and becoming close with other characters 😭 loving lwj is so hard sometimes loving farlyn is so easy always

[dork-empress]

Soren Gets Into A Fight

Part of my ‘100 Dragon Prince Au’ Oneshot Collection

Read on Ao3

Rayla has brought the Humans to a Xadian town on their way to return Zym, but Soren instantly gets into a fight with a local elf.

I'm baaaaaaack! Happy New Year, and hope you all had a good holiday

“You got a problem, buddy?” Soren said challenging the elf in front of him.

“Maybe I do,” the elf responded, “Maybe I have a problem with elf murderers and dark witches walking freely about Xadia!” the man’s lip curled back into a snarl.

“You can talk about my sister all you want,” Soren said, “But if you’ve got a problem with me, then you’re going to have to bring it up with….me.”

Behind him, Claudia rubbed her face in her palms as Soren messed up the phrase. Callum was just wincing, wondering if he should speak up, but also not knowing what to say. They were guests in this Xadian village, he didn’t want any fights to start….but he also REALLY did not want to get in the middle of this.

The elf man passed over the confusing statement, “Are you challenging me, human?”

“Maybe I am!” Soren said back, and his compatriots did not like the way the elf sneered at that.

“Very well then.” the elf backed away, “Then I shall meet you on the challenge grounds, and we’ll see how thick that skull really is!” He left, chuckling with his friends.

“YOU CHALLENGED HIM???” Rayla yelled once they made it back to their sanctuary, the home of Rayla’s mentor’s partner, Takan.

“Easy, Ray-Ray,” Soren said, using his nickname for her, “I’ve fought tons of duels before, I can take him down without doing any real harm, I promise.”

“That’s not the POINT!” Rayla said, devolving into pacing along the wooden floor.

“She’s right,” Takan said from his work table, “This isn’t a proper duel, not with weapons or magic. Elves have too many variations for a fair fight between any two of them using such things. No, the way elves duel, is a horn-clash.”

Claudia, Callum, and Ezran all understood instantly, scrunching up their faces, “Please tell me that’s something involving instruments,” Claudia said, although she already knew it was wrong.

“Nope,” Takan confirmed, not looking up from whatever he was working on. It seemed like an oddly shaped bucket, “The two challengers start at opposite ends with their wrists tied behind their back. They then charge forward, and butt horns in an effort to knock the other over. 3 knockdowns earns you a win.” Takan’s mask went down, giving the rest of them only a split second to turn away before he used a brilliant light to weld something. The humans had only been staying there a few days, but they had already learned Takan was a bit of a loner creature, not used to having other people around when he worked. The light faded and they all blinked spots out of their eyes. “A bit of an old tradition, really, and more than a little barbaric for my taste. Runaan was good at them.”

“Runaan got into horn-clashes?!” Rayla said, unable to think of her mentor as anything other than stoic and composed. The idea of him doing something like getting into fights was practically alien.

“But I don’t have horns,” Soren said, “So, what do I do.”

“Forfeit,” Rayla said, “You can’t do it.”

“I can’t do that!” Soren said, “If I do, all these elves in town will just think we’re weak.”

“Better that, than thinking you’re STUPID when you get your own head impaled,” Claudia said, “We’re supposed to be making PEACE with these people, Soren, not getting into senseless fights.”

Soren was tensing his muscles, like he was ready to hit someone right now, “HE started this!”

“He was goading you,” Callum said, “He WANTED you to challenge him, so he could make you forfeit. He’s going to have his laugh either way, just...just let it go.”

Soren didn’t know how to explain it. None of them, not Claudia or Callum or Ezran were knights. They didn’t understand his sense of honor, of duty, of how pride in his people was a part of his JOB, and he didn’t have the words to tell them.

“There MIGHT be another way.” Takan said, lifting what he was making for everyone to see.

They all considered it. “That...that MIGHT work,” Rayla said.

“I STILL think this is a bad idea,” Claudia said, hours later as she bound Soren’s hands behind his back at the challenging grounds.

“Relax,” Soren said, “I got this!” Takan came up and put the helmet over his head, and tightened the straps until it cut into his skin, “Aaugh! A little tight!”

“You want it coming loose in the middle of the challenge?” Takan asked with an unimpressed eyebrow raised.

“Augh, no, but I still need to breath.”

Takan looked away. “Alright, it’s 3 knockdowns,” Rayla repeated to him, “Just knock him over 3 times, don’t let him lock horns with you or he’ll take you down with him.”

“I got it,” Soren said, cracking his neck. In record time, Takan had gotten him a horned helmet he could use for the competition.

A magical light went up and the elf came down charging. Soren charged him right back…

...and was instantly knocked to the ground.

He heard the laughter from all the elf residents and stood up. Just before he made it to full standing, the elf headbutted him again, knocking him into the dirt. The competition had barely begun and already he had two strikes against him.

He turned and watched as the elf was drinking in the praise of the crowd. Actually it...it reminded him of...himself. This was him, back in Katolis. But he wasn’t IN Katolis anymore. He had to learn to do things differently.

He didn’t get up this time, instead her jerked over and kicked the elf’s legs out from under him, earning him his first takedown. That gave him time to roll over and get up. When the elf was up, Soren charged HIM this time, and when they clashed, Soren held his ground, holding his feet in the mud.

“Prepare to eat MUD human!” The elf snarled.

Soren smirked, “No thanks.” He thrashed his head from side to side. His horns were notably weaker than real ones, but that wasn’t a weakness for Soren. Finally, he heard the tell-tale crack, and the elf fell as his resistance went away.

That was two, but he’d sacrificed one of his horns to do it. Now for the final event, he charged once again, and purposefully locked horns just as Rayla had told him not to do. Once he was sure they were secure, he threw himself to the ground, bringing the elf with him.

“You didn’t win!” the elf snarled once they were separated, “You LOST! We BOTH LOST!”

“Yeah,” Soren said, taking the binds of his hands, “That’s kind of the point.” The elf frowned at him, confused, “If our people keep fighting each other, we both lose. So why not make friends?” He held out his hand to the elf.

Reluctantly, the elf took it, and they used each other as leverage to stand tall.

[llycaons]

and with a lb ofc whee

AUGH THE CHAPTER IS CALLED DUNGEON MESHI. it's simple but I love it when they do that. perfect for dm, which is pared-down in themes but applies itself perfectly to what it wants to say

wow, damn, guess that makes sense, it's so amazing that laios brought so many people together with the simple promise of something that unites all living things - nourishment - and they in turn brought their own food to add to the communal pot. I would have liked to see more exploration of this community-building through food, but this is literally one of the only things I would change about dm it's so impeccable crafted

damn marcille

JESUS LAIOS

aw man, that's genuinely an awful thing to live with. this might be a happy ending, but laios lives with the consequences of his defeat of the demon

this is an actual medical condition too...people can get really sick

celebratory panel!!! ofc senshi is stoic (though without ever being unkind! he's unruffled without being cold) and izu doesn't rly care

sorry but 👀

THIS IS SO FUNNY. senshi being like 'I'm politely staying out of this' and everyone else being like 'yeah there's no way he's that selfless'

damn, what a step for marcille, who was so terrified of losing the people close to her

she's so hot here ugh

OHHH this visual is so cool

mmm tasty! her face says hehe she's so cute I missed her so bad. real babygirl material

yayy!!! and standing up suddenly able to walk, and TAKING the dragon with her??? that's so cute like a little plush

it would have been an interesting ending for her to maybe not recover the use of her legs? ending the story with a disability wouldn't have been a tragedy, and it's been done really well in other stories. like, I'm still me, this is a change that happened because of something I've been through, and it's something to adjust to and keep moving forward with. sorry to bring up tgcf here but sqx's storyline is truly so compelling like she DID that

SHES SO CUTE I CAN'T STAND IT. farlyn are you free friday I can take you to a movie and buy you dinner

really incredible how she's hot in one panel then charming in another then ravenous in the third. her range...

this is such lover behavior <3

AHHH SIBLING LOVE!!

marcille love!!! her legs lmao

😭😭😭 not many stories wend this straightforwardly satisfyingly and honestly it's really really nice. a more bittersweet ending or a more 'mature' one might have had farlyn not come back at all a lesson abt death or w/e but fuck that!!

ohhhh sexy

STOP THIS IS SO FUCKING CUTE!!! LOOK HOW HE'S SMILING. CRYING OVER THIS!!! character who barely know each other and have met like once before but will absolutely be friends for life. this might be my favorite panel in the chapter and maybe even series

PEACE AND LOVE ON THE PLANET EARTH

aww she's trying to reach out to izu. she's not someone who warms up to people easily but farlyn is just so lovable and sincere and weird that I can def see a friendship potentially for them

STOP STOP THIS IS SO CUTE. im so glad farlyn didn't get paired off or even god forbid MARRIED to that guy who likes her can you fucking imagine. maybe farcille isn't confirmed but they're real in our hearts and nothing disproves them

damn, pizza? I don't remember that

of course she does!!! she's outgoing and adventurous and loves to eat!

you know this story wouldn't have worked half as well if farlyn wasn't legitimately a charming and lovable character who was easy to get attached to and root for. if they tried going the jerk with a heart of gold route, it would have taken a lot longer and been harder to create sympathy for her. like how cql's appeal rests disproportionately on you liking and rooting for wwx, dungeon meshi's driving plot relied on you WANTING this woman to come back to life, to eat and see her friends and do her magic and get into her weird hobbies. and she's perfect! the writing doesn't rely on one cliched line or scene to get you to realize 'oh they're a good person despite their harsh exterior' to get you to root for her (even tho that's an underutilized technique for writing women), it just presents this oddball and lets you love her. rk is so good at writing women who feel like real people, it's a reason adore marcille - for her awkwardness, her judgement, her readiness to blow things up without thought. she's just a deeply uncool person who's very endearing

not to be a monarchist or anything but this is probably the best they could have gotten given the situation so I'm not going to complain too much. it's not like I read dm for in-depth and realistic political engagement

and this is like the easiest way to be a good leader. just care about your people getting the food they need. that's enough, really. I don't think laios is capable of much more anyway. it's not like he's a politican

also what does the succession line look like? I know he's not having a kid. omg kabru!! his face is so ajshdksad. and yayy marcille and farlyn staying to advise him together!!

oHHH SHIT. thesis statement of the series! also these babies are so fucking cute I can't deal. ik that one of them is a dog person but the other one??? is that an ogre??? well take back what I said about just food being important. integration is happening here too - it's clear that laios's kingdom is welcoming of people like ogres who have historically been expelled from other places and violently targeted by other races. idk how he managed that but like, well done, laios!

you know I adore cql but it's such a relief to step into other stories that aren't quite so much about Good (TM ) in a vague and all-encompassing sense and also have characters who aren't laserfocused on one person and who you can envision making connections to and becoming close with other characters 😭 loving lwj is so hard sometimes loving farlyn is so easy always

I mean I'm going to be thinking about cloud recesses etiquette lessons for submissives for like the rest of the week obviously but now that I'm more awake it's dungeon meshi time babey