#i sometimes feel that way with how some people treat laios but i feel like that isn't as bad as kabru

[orions-starryeyes]

Ah yes... Kabru is CLEARLY a cop with his band of misfits and friends.

[ourhouseishaunted]

people acting as if laios can Do No Wrong and infantilizing him because he is autistic are annoying as hell. especially because laios belongs to my favorite genre of character: "person who desperately wants friends and deep relationships because they're lonely, and while part of their problems stem from people not wanting to understand them and refusing to meet them where they are, they also genuinely come across in a way where you Completely Understand why others can get turned off from them"

[geeneelee]

Something I like about dungeon Meshi is that it explores a conflict in human nature that is usually either avoided or played for laughs, which is: how much individualism in the pursuit of your own comfort is acceptable, how much is even feasible?

Like Izutsumi is stubbornly independent and self serving to a fault, and yes it’s sometimes played for comedy because this series has a lot of comedy, but it also interrogates how much of that is healthy. After years of slavery and the violation of her bodily autonomy, it’s no wonder she just wants to do Her Own Thing, but people aren’t meant for that sort of solitary lifestyle, and if she wants to reap the benefits of other people she has to make compromises. The desire to live by your own whims is natural, especially when she’s been in a position of having total obedience expected in return for having her basic needs and no freedom but. The balance is something she has to learn to navigate.

And Laios, as lovable as he is, also represents another angle of this—he’s fine with cooperating with other people towards a common goal, and even is happy to put his neck out for his loved ones, but he struggles with navigating boundaries and has to figure out how those work to maintain his relationships and form new ones. It is hard for some people and you can get badly burned if you don’t understand them but overstepping peoples boundaries, no matter how innocently intentioned, is a form of harm you have to learn to avoid, or at least to mitigate. Like no, it’s not okay to try to count a teenage girl’s nipples even if it is your special interest. There is a racial aspect to the way he treats Toshiro. The fact that people don’t always tell him that there is a problem until it’s reached a breaking point is a fault on their side too, but Laios doesn’t always accept peoples boundaries even when they’re set—his attitude towards Izutsumi refusing the mandrake and not trying to understand why his behavior in the sauna was inappropriate is emblematic of this.

People live in societies and they bring their own baggage with them and no matter how understandable or benign their attitudes are ultimately you have to figure out how to balance your needs and comfort against the needs and comfort of others. Some behaviors and attitudes aren’t morally wrong in and of themselves (disliking working with others, not understanding other people’s feelings) but you are responsible for how you react when that hurts someone else.

The friction between individualism and communalism is something we spend our whole lives navigating!

[bloodsbane]

what i love about laios is that he's actually very good at putting puzzle pieces together BUT HERE'S THE THING 1) he needs to HAVE the information, and 2) (this is important) he needs to KNOW it is information he should care about

and i think this could be said of anyone but the thing with laios is that people tend to view his lack of awareness wrt social etiquette and memory problems as pure indifference and/or obliviousness; sometimes they misinterpret his motives based on their inaccurate expectations of him and therefore don't give his thoughts on a subject the credit he deserves

one of the most obvious examples of this happens at least twice in the manga as i remember it, but the most recent incident was when they were trying to resurrect falin. there's a moment where laios mentions reconstructing both of the warg skeletons, as their bones are mixed in with hers. both chilchuck and senshi balk at this, with chilchuck complaining aloud, questioning laios' priorities,

and laios quickly, angrily retorts. his reason for making the suggestion is perfectly logical and practical, but because his friends are used to his interest in monsters influencing his judgement, often in ways they see as frivolous or dangerous, they don't come to the same conclusion. one which i'd argue is kind of obvious considering the situation

we see it again during his fight with toshiro, where toshiro demands to know what laios plans to do to save falin. laios takes a minute to answer, but he DOES answer, following the logic that if falin is a chimera because of (and controlled by) the mad mage, then the logical next step is to confront/defeat/usurp them

then in the following episode, when chilchuck brings it up again, laios explains what he (now) knows about thistle, mentioning that he's the same elf that laios saw in the living paintings, which is why he knows thistle's connection to delgal. the party reacts like this:

i'd say this is an example of them feeling frustration over laios' habit of having 'bad timing', not knowing when or how to speak at appropriate moments. theyre judging him for not saying something earlier, as if he already knew all this but didn't think to mention it when it was relevant, when the reality is that laios only just now had all the pieces he needed to understand the full picture

and i mention this bit specifically because i think it's a great way to explain what i mean by point 2: laios needs to know when information is important and worth considering

which, again, feels fucking obvious. but as someone who ALSO has debilitating issues with remembering important shit, i find this particular element of it pretty relatable and critical to my overall point. it's not laios' fault that he didn't know who thistle was or his significance - why the hell would he assume that a person he met in a living painting, presumably long since dead in reality, should be someone who's face, name, or motives he keeps in mind?

ultimately, i guess what i'm trying to say with all this is that the way others treat laios' intelligence is not congruent to how actually smart he is. one of the things i love most about laios, what is possibly his biggest strength and the reason he is such a great protagonist, is that laios is willing to think things through and find the most logical conclusion to a problem, no matter how outlandish or dangerous or seemingly impossible that conclusion may be. sister got eaten? race back down to go get her. can't afford food? fight, defeat, and eat dangerous monsters. sister's fully digested? use black magic to bring her back. now she's a chimera? defeat the mage controlling her and use that power to fix it.

anyways. what was even my point with this post? i guess it is that laios is smart, at least as smart as anyone else in the cast, arguably smarter than some. he is intelligent and utilizes that intelligence in many ways, not JUST when it comes to monster info (though that is his best and sexiest brand of knowledge)

and also please be nice to your friends with memory problems. it's rough out here for forgetful bitches

[grimm-writings]

Hiiii, I would like some Dungeon Meshi headcanons please! Reader is the oldest human in the main group and they're really motherly towards them. Like they're always fretting over their well beings and acting like a doting parent. And if you want, could you also add that Chilchuck's kinda into that so he falls for them?

That's all thank you!

…ft! chilchuck x gn! reader, platonic touden party & reader

…tags! fluff, some crack, headcanon format, mild manga spoilers, reader is referred to as ‘mom’ once

…wc! 847

…notes! the way i nearly screeched in delight when i got this ask. chilfuckers i’m one of you let me in. you used they/them for the reader so i’m gonna assume this is a maternal gn reader! i hope it is for your liking ty for being my first request 🥺

Having a more wise, of age individual in the party is always a plus when you need some advice.

And when most people in the party are absolute lunatics.

You have your hands full trying to stop Laios acting recklessly in action, or doting on Marcille when her emotions get the best of her.  Goodness, even Senshi has your hair going grey from how he gets sometimes!

Laios just sort of… lets your doting happen.

He can get slightly grumbly if you get too mad at him.  Still, it’s not the worst thing a parental figure could do.  Go easy on him!

Marcille takes psychic damage upon learning your age.  She’s staring at you, at the age in your face, and taking the years into account.

It’s simply not computing.  You… You should be, like, a pre-teen or something!  Human ageing baffles her once again.

Still… she is incredibly receptive to you doting on her.  She’s more of a carer on instinct but she finds herself falling into you whenever her spoons are low.

Senshi just sort of hits you with the “why tho” when you try fretting.  It’s actually slightly frustrating.  Still, you can recognise his wisdom and take a step back.  He can take care of himself… most of the time.

Izutsumi… oh the dear girl.

You must have recognised the signs immediately.  Her lack of table manners, her reclusive nature… she’s so young.

The girlcat was a bit prickly to any doting at first.  You would probably remind her a bit too much of Maizuru for her liking.

With time, perhaps sometime after he run-in with her succubus, Izutsumi would be a bit more welcoming of how you treat her.  It’s… It makes her feel nice, or whatever.

She accidentally calls you Mom once.  She was mortified as Marcille squeals in delight and Laios laughs to himself.  You couldn’t even ask if she thinks of you as a mother figure before she’s already stomping away to hide in a corner somewhere.

Then there’s Chilchuck.  Oh, what to say about him.

You probably thought he was a young human at first too.  He’s taller than other half-foots after all.  Still, as soon as you even try to act maternal around him, he yells at you and tells you he isn’t a kid.

Keep your distance for a bit, and he’ll warm up to you again.

Watching you do your thing with the other party members will have him commenting that he has no idea how you can just keep up with everyone like this, and he’s the one with three kids here.

You just smile gently and reply that it helps you keep stability knowing everyone in the party is doing alright.  At that, Chilchuck will give you a glance, and internalise your words.

Upon Izutsumi’s arrival into the party, Chilchuck’s perspective on you begins to alter slightly.

Initially, he respected you a fair bit.  You were more like the two older co-workers constantly giving each other looks at the younger ones’ antics.

But he sees you with this child he also has to admit he’s grown attached to.  You really were a natural maternal figure to Izutsumi.  He watches you tend to her sometimes, a smile slowly curling on his lips.

Then he catches himself, and his blood runs cold.

…Ohhh, shit. 

Chilchuck is level headed most of the time, but when he’s panicking he can’t keep his cool to save his life.

Around you, he becomes more… frantic, in a way.  Lecturing others to give you a break, even if he can just have a small talk with you.  If asked what’s up he’d raise his voice defensively and say it doesn’t matter.

One time, Izutsumi decided she can’t choose between her two favourite human heaters, and practically forced you and Chilchuck to sleep on either side of her.  Even with the girl slotted in between you two, Chilchuck was internally losing his mind at the closeness.

He even lets you dote on him a bit more again.  Not too much, though.  He’ll accept the occasional checking in and headpat but that’s it!

You can very easily pick up on his feelings for you.  It’s not hard to notice the shift in his attitude.

Well… It’s not like you can complain.  You may offer to help him out with his future shop once you’re out of here, giving him a slight wink.

Cherish how red his face gets.  He won’t let anyone else embarrass him so easily.  Maybe pinch his cheeks if you’re feeling brave, but he may swat you away depending on his mood.

At the end of the day, he’ll give you a small smile, and wonder aloud where the Hell all the party would be if it weren’t for you.

(Bonus!  I think Falin would also super appreciate your presence.  She’s the kind to simply take her own parents’ treatment of her and shrug it off in a ‘it is what it is’ sort of way.  Your doting attitude would leave her slightly discombobulated, but she’s very welcome to it.)

[ladyloveandjustice]

The Black Dress

Another Marcille x Falin fic, but this one is the longest by far. It's post-series and references post-series material that hasn't been officially translated (the Falin and Shuro thing, if you know you know). With this, I've finished all my fic ideas for now! It was fun!

The tears wouldn’t stop coming.

Marcille shoved her books aside so she wouldn’t ruin them with tear stains. She hunched over her desk, head in her hands.

She had to pull it together. Falin was going to leave any minute. She had to be supportive. The last thing she wanted was do was hold Falin back. No matter how much it hurt, she had to let her go.

She wiped her nose noisily and took some deep breaths. It’s okay, she said she’d come back. Collect yourself. You can do this.

There was a loud knock on her bedroom door. “Marcille?” Falin called.

No! I’m not ready! But before Marcille could get the worlds out, Falin had opened the door.

Marcille bent her head, wiping at her eyes desperately, not even caring that she was staining her sleeves. “I-I just need a few minutes, I want to see you off with a smile—”

“It’s fine if you’re crying. I don’t want you to hide,” Falin said gently, closing the door behind her.

Marcille nodded, hiccuping, her eyes burning.

 Falin patted Marcille’s shoulder, then sat on her bed, looking at her quizzically. “You’ve never cared about crying in front of me before. What’s going on?”

“I just don’t want to hold you back…”

Anything I like is influenced by my brother and Marcille…” The words echoed painfully in her head.

“Falin, I’m sorry that I’ve…I’ve suffocated you. I know I’ve been so controlling. I never wanted to chain you down and I really support you going on your journey, so--!”

“What are you…?” Falin’s eyes widened. “Oh, you were eavesdropping on me and Shuro”.

“Everyone else was too!” Marcille said hastily but Falin just shook her head.

“Marcille, you don’t suffocate me. It’s just that when I admire someone, I let myself get wrapped up. I always just wanted to make the people I love happy…but that I never really took any time to figure out who I was and what I want. It’s not about you and Laios, it’s about me.”

Marcille gave her a watery smile. “You deserve it. You sacrifice so much for other people and I’m so glad you’re doing something for yourself for once. You don’t need to make me happy. You do that just by being you.”

Falin’s lips spread into a sweet smile that made Marcille want to melt.

But she couldn’t get sidetracked. She needed to say the next part.

“But I do know I’ve been overbearing, Falin. I always thought I knew best. And I--”

“Treated me like a child?”

Marcille flushed. Suddenly she couldn’t look Falin in the eye. She swiveled around in her chair so she didn’t have to face her. “I…I never thought of you as a child, Falin. Not really. I realize that now. I was just scared. I didn’t want to accept that you were going to die before me, that you were changing so fast, And most of all, I was scared of my feelings, and how they’d changed. I knew if I followed those feelings…it would hurt so much more when I lost you.”

Oh no, she was revealing way too much. She couldn't tell Falin how she felt when she was about to leave! She pressed her lips together to keep more traitorous words from escaping.

“Marcille…”

Marcille squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t tell from Falin’s voice how she felt. Was she disgusted? Horrified? Baffled? She braced herself, balling up her dress in her hands.

Then, out of nowhere, hot breath tickled her cheek.

“I know all that,” Falin whispered in her ear.

Marcille yelped, red as a tomato. She jerked away, exclaiming “Falin!”

Falin giggled. She was laughing a lot these days. She was so much more open and free lately. But what she was saying didn’t make sense.

“What do you mean, you knew?”

“Sometimes people are a mystery, but you’ve always been easy to figure out, Marcille. For me, anyway. But I didn’t want to pressure you about it. I didn’t want to make you to push me away.”

Marcille’s heart pounded in her ears. Was Falin saying what she thought she was saying? No, she couldn’t get her hopes up. Falin probably misunderstood what she meant by “feelings”

"But you seem less afraid of all that now. It was thanks to my brother and the others, right?”

“Yes,” Marcille muttered. “I can’t believe it turns out Laios is more emotionally mature than I am.”

“I could have told you that,” Falin said with a mischievous smile.

“Rub it in, why don’t you!”

“But I’m glad,” Falin said, her smile turning soft. “I’m glad my brother was braver than me. I always wanted to help you somehow, but I didn’t know how.”

“I don’t know if I would have listened to you if you’d tried,” Marcille sighed. “But now I’m trying to…accept what I can’t control. I’m working on being less possessive of you.”

“I noticed.” Falin said, the mischief back in her eyes. “I was shocked that you didn’t try to stop Shuro from confessing to me.”

“I bet 100 gold you’d turn him down,” Marcille said automatically, and then clapped her hand over her mouth.

“Now that’s the Marcille I know,” Falin laughed again. It was such a beautiful sound, like a bell chiming. Warmth bloomed inside Marcille. She looked down at her lap bashfully, letting her hair fall over her eyes.

But then she heard the laughter stop. When she looked up, Falin was studying her, looking gloomy.

  “What’s wrong?”

“Your hair,” Falin muttered.

What about it?” Marcille glanced at her mirror. It was pretty messy. She’d been so out of sorts she hadn’t been able to force herself to brush it much. She shrugged. “Since when you care so much about hair?” In school, Falin had let her hair get unkempt all the time, despite Marcille and the school’s lectures about how important it was for magic.

“You cared about it though. It was something you loved and it was a part of you.” Falin’s mouth tightened. Every part of you is important to me.”

“Falin…”

Falin grabbed the hairbrush from Marcille’s bedside table and patted the bed. “Come sit here.”

Marcille did, and Falin sat behind her and began to brush. She was gentle, going section by section, carefully working through each knot, never yanking. It was a world of difference from the way Falin dragged a brush through her own hair. When her whisper soft fingers brushed Marcille’s neck, Marcille’s whole body tingled.

“This reminds me of when I used to brush and play around with your hair. You always barely tolerated it, but I appreciated that you let…”

  She trailed off as Falin ran her fingers through her hair, checking that there were no knots. She hoped the back of her neck wasn’t red right now, but she knew it probably was.

She glanced back at Falin, and saw she was fishing some hair ties out of her pocket. “Face forward, please. I’m going to braid.”

“Since when do you know how to do that?” The one time Falin had braided her hair in school, it had been an absolute disaster.”

“Chilchuck taught me first. But then Kiki and Namari told me those were little kid braids. So I had Kiki teach me.” She began braiding. Marcille resisted the urge to squirm in happiness.

“That’s a lot of effort…why?”

“Because someone needs to help you. Hair is important to magic, like you said. I also taught Laios, he’ll do it while I’m gone.”

“He’s too busy for that!”

“He’ll do it while I’m gone,” Falin repeated calmly. “And if he has a meeting, one of the castle caretakers has agreed to help.”

“It’s just hair—"

“I don’t care,” Falin cut in. It was rare to hear anger in her voice, and it coming on so suddenly startled Marcille. “I hate that this was taken from you”.

They sat for a moment in silence, Marcille overwhelmed by all Falin had done for her. Falin continued braiding, crossing the strands of hair slowly and meticulously. Then…

“I wish I could have been there,” Falin muttered. “I wish I could have helped you.”

Marcille bit her lip. “There was nothing you could have done. I made my choice, and these are the consequences”.

“If I’d been there, I could have stopped you.”

Falin could be so stubborn when she wanted to be. Marcille sighed.

“Laios, Senshi and Chilchuck did stop me, though. And the reason you weren’t there was my fault. I turned you into a chimera!

“Didn’t you promise you’d stop beating yourself up about that? It was a decision you and my brother made together, right? And you saved my life.”

Marcille wanted to shake her head, but resisted. It still baffled her how easily Falin had forgiven her. Not just forgiven her—it was like what Marcille had done barely bothered her.

Falin tightened the ribbon around her hair. “There, that looks okay, right?” ‘

Marcille glanced at her bedroom. “It’s perfect.” She couldn’t really tell how good the braid was anymore, but if Falin had done it, it was perfect to her.

She didn’t want to get up again. Falin was so close to her, she could feel her body heat. So maybe they could keep arguing a little longer. “I wasn’t beating myself up, I was just stating a fact. And if that’s how it is, you need to stop regretting not being there! Neither of us can change the past.

Falin was silent for a few seconds. Then, she said, “You’re right.”

Ugh. She’d wanted Falin to fight her on that. Now there was no stalling. Falin was probably going to tell Marcille she had to get going any minute.

Instead, Falin did something unexpected. She leaned forward and embraced Marcille from behind. Her body pressed against her back. Marcille was sure she was going to die from ectasy They’d hugged so many times before this, but somehow this seemed different.

“There are some regrets I think I’ll have a hard time getting over, though,” Falin whispered. “Like not getting to see you in that black dress.”

Marcille squawked. “Who told you about that? I bet it was someone making fun of me again!”

“A little, probably,” Falin said, resting her chin on Marcille’s shoulder. “But I’m serious. I know I would have really liked seeing you in that dress. For a lot of reasons.”

“Are you…you’re not…” Marcille sputted. “What reasons?”

Falin couldn’t be saying what Marcille hoped she was saying. It would be too good to be true. But…

“Oh, I wasn’t making it clear? Sorry!” Out of the corner of her eye, Marcille could see that Falin’s entire face turning as rosy as her cheeks. “I’ll be clear. Marcille, I love you.” Falin paused for a beat. “Romantically, I mean. And I want to see you in the dress because I think you’re cute. Is…that clear? Or did I misunderstand your feelings?” A note of panic entered her voice. She loosened her arms around Marcille and pulled away

"You…you didn’t misunderstand,” Marcille said in a high-pitched squeak.

“Good!” Falin exhaled, limp with relief. “I thought I really messed up for a second there.”

Marcille’s hands were shaking, but she scooted around and clasped Falin’s hands. They met each other’s gaze and she felt like the sun was shining through Falin’s eyes, so brilliantly it hurt to look at, but at the same time couldn’t look away.

“It’s like a dream,” Marcille murmured. “This was the last thing I expected you to say today.”

“I know it’s strange timing. I just didn’t feel like I could leave before letting you know.” Falin bit her lip. “Though I guess that’s a little unfair. Maybe I should have waited until I got back.”

“No, no, no, you shouldn’t have waited, I’ve done enough waiting, I—” She couldn’t be still, the mixture of elation and shock and love was bursting out of her. She stood up, accidentally tugging on Falin’s hand and making her lurch forward. But Falin didn’t seem to mind. She leapt up too with a big smile on her face.

“But …are you sure about me?” Marcille babbled. “You might meet someone better than me while traveling. And you know, being on your own, you might realize you don’t need me, that I’ve stifled you, and seeing the world will change you and change your mind…”

Shut up! Shut up! She screamed at herself. But she couldn’t help it, her fears were pouring out her mouth in a torrent.

“Marcille,” Falin said, somehow both sweet and stern. Marcille snapped her mouth shut immediately. “I’m not going to find anyone better. That’s not possible. Yes, I’m changing a lot. I would have been so afraid to do anything like this before. I bet I’ll have all kind of experiences, see all sorts of things… but loving you, wanting to come back to you…that’s a part of me that will never change.”

Marcille threw herself in Falin’s arms. She hugged her fiercely, letting Falin’s warmth, her scent, her everything envelope her. Soft feathers tickled her face as she nuzzled into Falin’s chest.

“Do they bother you?” Falin nodded toward her feathers.

“No, they feel nice. I like them.” It felt weird to say that, when she was the one who’d forced them on her. “Do you still like them?”

“Of course! They’re so cool!” Falin’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “I’m so strong and fast now too! It almost feels like a tiny dragon’s keeping me company. I’ll never be lonely.”

“Only you would look at it that way,” Marcille chuckled. She was so full of love for this ridiculous woman. “But I’m glad you won’t feel lonely.”

She would be lonely, though.. She’d actually considered getting over her disgust for fairies and making one for Falin to bring, that way she could check in with Marcille.

But that would be overbearing. She needed to let Falin have time to herself. She was the calm, laid back Marcille now, after all.

“I asked Shuro to leave his bells with me, would you want to take the other one with you, just in case something happens, not that you have to, but we both thought it might be safer!” She said in a rush.

So much for laid back Marcille.

  “I’m not sure how well that would work,” Falin mused. “It’s not like you could just teleport there to help me, and honestly, I think I might lose it. But I appreciate that you and Shuro care.”

“I…I get it.”

Falin hugged her tighter. “I’ll be fine. I’ve got the dragon with me, remember? And I’ll write to you all the time, I promise.

“You better,” Marcille muttered into her feathers.

They stood there in silence for a minute, Marcille wishing they could just stay like this forever. She was a little jealous of the dragon right now. Maybe she’d even be willing to become a monster, if it meant she and Falin could be a part of each other

Falin’s touch suddenly turned timid. Her eyes flicked nervously to the side.

“There’s…” Falin’s voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. “There’s… one more thing I want to do before I leave.”

Marcille cupped her hands around Falin’s cheeks. “Me too.”

Falin offered a shy smile and Marcille returned it.

And then, finally, they kissed.

It was clumsy, full of all the awkwardness of a first kiss, but it was also perfect. Years of yearning and heartache lifted as she drank Falin in. She was light as air now.

When they pulled apart, they both started laughing euphorically. Falin picked Marcille off the ground and spun her around while Marcille shrieked in joy.

Falin put her down, grinning. “I could kiss you forever.”

“Well, then, you better make sure to come back,” Marcille said, tucking a lock of Falin’s hair behind her ear.

“I will.” Falin raised Marcille’s hand and gently kissed her knuckles. Then she led her out of the bedroom by the hand.

"Laios hasn’t been waiting for us this whole time, has he?” Marcille asked.

“No, I told him I was planning to stay for lunch. I’m hungry, aren’t you?”

“Famished.”

When she saw Falin coming up the path, Marcille ran out the door and hurled herself into her arms. Falin was a little different now, her smile more easy, the muscles in her arm more developed, her fangs a little more pronounced…but she was still Falin. That hadn’t changed.

They kissed deeply. Falin dipped Marcille slightly as she did, and Marcille held her tightly.

“How was your trip?” Marcille asked breathlessly when they broke away.

“It was wonderful. I saw so many incredible things,” Falin said, setting Marcille back on her feet. “Including…” She reached into one of her bags and produced a black dress. It wasn’t exactly like the one Marcille had worn back then, but it was shockingly similar. The corset stitching, the puffy long sleeves, all of it was there

“Now I’ll finally get see you in this,” Falin said cheerfully. “Do you like it?

Marcille went beet red, steam practically coming out her ears. “You little…!” She swatted Falin lightly on the arm, “I cannot believe you …Oh, it is pretty cute though…No, I’m still mad! How did you even know what it looked like?”

Falin took Marcille’s hand. “I got a lot of help.”

“I will kill Laios,” she said as they walked toward the castle. There he was, waving at them from the door, no idea about his impending death. “Will you be staying here a while?”

“Of course I will. I missed you.” Falin said. “But I’m not finished traveling. Maybe you can come with me once in a while.

“I don’t know if I can leave my position for long. Laios needs my—”

“He can handle himself for a couple weeks,” Falin said, waving back at her brother. “He’s very capable.”

“The elves might still be watching…”

“We’ll say it’s a research expedition.”

“You’re not giving up on this, are you?”

“No. Falin pulled her close. “Now let’s go home.”

They walked arm in arm, ready for the future that was waiting.

---

And that's that! The previous Farcille fics I did didn't have the "real" Falin as a character, so it was nice to finally write her. She's a tricky one (her highest stat is mystery after all). She seems a lot more confident and willing to show her true feelings post-resurrection, so I leaned into that. Hopefully I did okay! And I was covering a LOT of ground in this one, so hopefully it all flowed all right.

[sepublic]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed that trend with toh/dungeon meshi, because it had been bothering. And while everything you said runs true, I feel another aspect of it is the want to compare lumity to farcille. Amity-Marcille is not a bad comparison, even if it's not perfect, but Luz and Falin don't really have much in common beyond some traits you can really strech.

And I feel this highlights another aspect of the white favoritism, and is that most people only like Luz as part of Lumity. She fits as Laios far better than Hunter does, not as Falin, but the farcille vibes for lumity are far more important, because Luz character on her own is not what people is interested in, and is really bothersome. Because again, Amity is white, and she doesn't have this problem.

In general fandom will always default to reducing Luz to just the silly queer girl to talk about her white counterparts’ depth. They’ll talk about Hunter’s cult trauma or Amity overcoming her abuse, meanwhile Luz has an entire arc about surviving a suicidal depression and not letting a racist gaslight her into thinking she’s a selfish monster.

And then they’ll just reduce her to OTTER LUZ because it’s funny to juxtapose what a silly idiot Luz is compared to their serious and deep white faves, it’s just Oblivious Luz again. On its own these things (minus Oblivious Luz) were fine, except Luz isn’t held up as a multifaceted character with range the way her white counterparts are, she’s mostly appreciated as their supportive accessory and not someone whose struggle has so much more narrative focus because it IS the narrative.

There will sometimes be this performative culture around praising Luz as a Girlboss, a girl of color, but in the end it’s just that; Performative. People don’t treat Luz with the same consistent depth, they don’t treat her trauma the same as others’ despite her being the actual main character; She’s canonically suicidal! Fandom will give Luz her time in the spotlight when this week’s episode does, but after a while default back to Hunter when canon isn’t constantly reminding them who’s the real star of the show.

It’s simple really; Fandom loves to praise how their media has a diverse cast but then not engage with said diverse cast the way they do their white (boy) faves; They just treat characters of color as a shiny medal to prove they’re Progressive, but canon is not fandom. And fandom never listens to PoC despite saying they will this time, no you’re just an anti who hates fun or I can learn to consume it ‘critically’ except you don’t. Fandom has this gaslighting effect, regardless of intent, that the white guys are the only truly interesting characters and everyone else just isn’t as good no matter how much they do.

[ambrosiagourmet]

I guess both falin and kabru’s mother ended up sheltering people from pain and the opportunity to confront danger

I assume you mean Milsiril? Because I mean, like… I guess so, on the most basic level, but I feel like the comparison requires a pretty unfair reading of Falin’s character.

For one, Falin has neither the personal nor the institutional power that Milsiril had over Kabru as both his adoptive mother & an elf in a country that doesn’t view short-life species as equals.

For two, I think the way Milsiril treats Kabru is particularly harmful because of how she denies his agency. Falin doesn’t really do that, except for, you know, the one specific encounter that starts the whole plot of the story off. That moment is significant because it is the extreme culmination of the way she denies herself agency. Which also can be hurtful. And can, yes, lead to denying other people of their agency. But not really in the same way Milsiril’s actions do. Falin doesn’t deny people the opportunity to confront danger, she denies them the chance to care for her.

She does also shelter them from pain, to some extent, but I’d argue that’s equating things that aren’t actually equal. If Falin really wanted to shelter Laios from any and all pain, to that extreme, she’d be like… emotionally blackmailing him to stay out of dungeons.

If anyone in the party is similar to Milsiril, I’d argue it would be Marcille. Marcille babies Falin in a way that’s not entirely dissimilar to how Milsiril babies Kabru - especially in how they refuse to let go of the idea that these people are still young and in need of protection.

They are also both out of place in traditional elven society, which contributes to their disillusionment with it, and probably is part of the reason they both spend more time with short-life people than most elves. But that doesn’t inherently make then GOOD at connecting with those people, and they do harm sometimes because of it (see: Marcille’s treatment of Falin in ch 28).

Milsiril is Marcille’s anxieties and protectiveness dialed up to 11, given less support from peers with other perspectives, and left to take care of traumatized kids she doesn’t fully understand.

Falin is just like. Avoidant.

[dungeonmeshi-confessions]

I wanna do more kabumisu positivity following that other anon. it really brightened my day so much.

bc really I dont want to bash other ships to lift mine up!!! and I actually also really love and respect labru, and know the majority of labru shippers arent Like That, just like most kabumisu shippers arent Like That. every group has some annoying, loud, opinionated people and they dont represent the average person who likes the ship, you know? I would love to see some labrus follow suit and send in some positivity as well!!! If the positivity keeps going I will come in here and post all my fave things about labru, labru art, and labru shippers as a kabumisu. lets ditch the bitching and hold hands instead!

anyway, some reasons I really love kabumisu

- as a neurodivergent disabled person dating another neurodivergent person, this is like. THE couple to me. and like its not just about mithrun being taken care of. taking care of mithrun actively helps kabru be more mindful of his own needs. In my life, I may struggle to feed myself, but I can make breakfast if my partner is hungry. other times she may do the same for me, it depends on who is doing worse.

-they both struggle with insomnia also

-from everything we've seen, pre-dungeon mithrun wasn't entirely dissimilar to kabru (high masking people pleaser) and thats Fascinating to me.

-kabru's job seems pretty stressful (no matter how much fulfillment it brings him, its a lot of responsibility for one person!) so I feel like coming home to that one guy he can take his mask off around and not even have to try and impress must be such a huge relief. also add mithrun with cooking experience to this, making kabru a nice meal after a long day of work.

-Mithrun is actually very perceptive and sees straight through kabru's bs multiple times and doesn't hesitate to call him out. Laios isnt the only character that forces kabru to be honest. ("unless theres someone else?" "theres someone you want to tell that story to.") mithrun is also the one who gives kabru the information he's been seeking this whole time.

-I am very interested in exploring mithruns whole desire situation. what desires does he gain? I think it is probably a lot of little ones that weave together. oh also I think sometimes things may seem more mithrun centric bc in any story where he is going to end up in a relationship he is going to have a much more dynamic arc than whoever he is paired with. literally dynamic as in like. he requires a lot more growth to achieve the outcome. and there are ways to skip it or gloss through it but. a lot of these stories require that in some way you show the progress has happened.

-to me, kabumisu is more often queeplatonic than romantic. but Im aroace so that could just be my aroace glasses. ALSO kabru is vaguely aro to me. you mean the guy thats super desirable that doesnt really seem interested in anyone particular outside of pursuing friendship? that guy? (also the way he did rin omfg)

-random but I dont think kabrus PTSD is talked about enough and also like the extent of his trauma. its not just utaya/monsters/his mom dying; its being raised by a single mother, its his blue eyes, its being adopted, its being raised by an elf, etc!!!! a lot of things he does bc of ptsd get attributed to autism (I also hc kabru as autistic, and some is symptom overlap. but it is secondary to the ptsd! he is traumatized first and foremost ty) I really love kabru so much. ty for the ptsd rep <3

-also out here to say I know an amount of kabumisu content is mithrun centric. I will tell you from my pov specifically though its bc I deeply relate to mithrun (as someone who once told a therapist many years ago I desired nothing and truly meant it. she said I was like a puppet without strings. of course I saw mithrun and was like. oh.) and Im in love with kabru. kabru reminds me of all the people who gave me a reason to pull through. people who saw good in me and treated me like a person when I didnt feel like one. I also really relate to kabru though as someone with complex trauma, even if my traumas are not the same. thats why I say I think not enough is attributed to his ptsd. anyway, once I just opened a notebook and wrote kabrus name over and over again with hearts. I have never done this to mithrun. so dont tell me kabumisus dont like kabru !!!

-kabru and mithrun are both so gender. Ive seen so many variants on their gender and gender expression in the ship. some people hate this and insist they must be one way or the other. I think theyre neat lots of different ways. I love when theyre both feminine men. I love when mithrun is super masc. I love when theyre butch4butch. I love when theyre both trans. and so much more. its all beautiful. a very good variety of food. the other day on my dash I had a tallman art of mithrun with the biggest tits imaginable and the very next post he was like a little porcelain doll. keep up the good work guys. I love you.

.

[liobi]

I've been seeing a weirdly high level of Dungeon Meshi discourse that just. Completely misses the point lately and I'm honestly kinda frustrated about it. So.

First point of address. Laios isn't canonically autistic. He is written in a way that lends itself to the reading of him being neuro divergent, and I think if he was a real person he would be on the spectrum, but the world of Dunmeshi itself does not have the concept of autism (yet). If it did you can bet the human enthusiast Kabru would have immediately pegged Laios as such. As for Falin, she'd also likely be ND but closer to ADHD judging by the relatively small amount we get to actually see her existing as a character.

NOW THAT THAT'S OUT OF THE WAY. Toshiro isn't being ableist with his expectations of Laios picking up on social queues and being angry that he doesn't get it! Laios is legitimately rude to him! In terms of micro-aggressions, he does it constantly and unintentionally. He straight up calls Toshiro strange looking and fucks up his name! But the thing is, Toshiro's biggest flaw is that he applies his cultural norms to his interactions with everyone, regardless of culture. Chilchuck and Mick have a small talk about how Toshiro, with zero indication of feelings beforehand or any romantic involvement, just asks Falin to marry him and expects it to go well, all because she looked at a bug and he thought she was the most unique and different woman he had ever met (small aside, almost all the women he had met at this point are either family, his dad's mistress that is more of a mom to him than his own mom, his retainers, and his uhhh indentured servants/Literal Slaves)(Itsuzumi is a whole ass other conversation that I'm not even remotely qualified to talk about). He's a man of high social status that's never had to think about that fact before, never had to examine the power and privilege he has at his disposal. As a result, his expectations of people to learn his cultural norms, something he's been used to in his homeland, go unmet and are a source of friction.

Here's a real life example. In the US Midwest, if a person slaps their knees and/or stands up, sometimes saying some combination of "Welp/it's getting late..." They're politely telling their guests "get the fuck out of my house." It's impolite to ask people to leave, even politely. This is absolutely arcane and insane, why would anyone do this? Society!

Toshiro has grown up in a place where he's had to be hyper-aware of these things, where he can't verbally state what he literally wants or means. And he's conformed! He's decided to do what's expected of him. Laios, on the other hand, instead chafed against the expectations put on him as the child of the village elder and against the way people treated Falin for being different. He gave up his privilege (assured house, home, fiancee, position and responsibility within their town) in order to pursue a freedom beyond the society he saw as wrong. Laios is fundamentally uninterested in people (as opposed to monsters and demi-humans which is why he's uniquely suited to dealing with the multicultural aftermath of The Whole Thing), but he values his loved ones and personal code of honor enough to do what he needs to protect those things, even if it means going against society.

Anyways this is a long winded way of saying Toshiro and Laios are complex characters and narrative foils of each other in the early narrative and shouldn't be turned into one dimensional parodies of themselves for the purpose of Hot Takes. Thanks.

[nov4-rocket5]

I completely understand why people hate Jaune from how he acts in canon, how he has too much screentime, to how he's portrayed as Chad Thundercock by fanfic writers, to how he's the writer's pet.

I get that but I still like the CANON character because currently as of right now whenever it's just team RWBY, shit is just boring. Blake lost some braincells somewhere in Menagerie and now is nothing more than a damsel in distress who needs Yang and Ruby to save her, Weiss never does shit besides threaten her little brother and drink tea in her mansion, Yang's too busy babying Ruby while making kissy faces with Blake, and Ruby's crying every two seconds about having some burden placed on her shoulders when NO ONE has done that. They had 5 whole episodes just to themselves in volume 9 and it was BORING SLOP. Ruby and Weiss never got to talk about Penny's death all of it was off-screen. Weiss never got to talk about the guilt she feels from letting Atlas fall. Shit only picked up once Neo and Jaune came into the story. But that's really because KERRY, EDDY, and MILES don't know how to write the female characters.

I like the blonde's blind optimism. I like how he treated Jessica in the movie helping some kid through her anxiety is great I just don't get why no one else volunteered to do the same. I especially like how human he comes off with him basically helping the community with small time shit. He's just consistently a good guy a boring one but a good guy nonetheless.

It also helps that his cut reminds me of Laios from Delicious in Dugeon.

Yeah, a lot of people like to blame RWBY's lackluster main cast development/characterization on Jaune eating up screentime. But the core problem is that CRWBY just seemed to struggle with juggling a huge cast of characters.

Which is odd, because Early RvB had a huge cast that all were handled pretty well.

Let's be honest, plenty of characters besides just Jaune eat up screentime. Pyrrha got loredumped on and is one of the main focuses of Volume 3, all while Team RWBY just kinda dicked around Vytal for most of the season.

Look at the WF subplot. Jaune wasn't stealing spotlight on that at all; CRWBY was just terrible at writing "le racism" and decided to drop it by Vol 6 because they realized how much they sucked at it.

The only reason Weiss is sometimes deemed the best out of the other 3 members of her team is because she's the only one with a tangible character arc and development. Even then CRWBY choked in the end on that too.

Jaune went from pretty bad, to solid, to kinda bad again but not as bad. Team RWBY aren't underdeveloped because of him, they're underdeveloped because the way they've been handled is just incompetent. If you cut him from the show entirely the problem would be blamed on some other character.

[crimsonmoonscrypt]

ok erm im just going to ramble about dungeon meshi and uhhh spoiler warning maybe (nothing more than the anime episodes, im still venturing through the manga which does give some additional context and its super awesome but anyways)

Laios is smart, he's literally the reason why they could KILL the dragon in the first place, if it wasn't for him, the entire party would've died and probably not be found by any corpse retrievers.

I love how he is written because it is genuinely so carefully done which is why I hate that people think he's dumb because he can't understand everything or has an interest in things that are usually frowned upon.

It's like that people saw how the other characters treat him and took their opinion rather than actually reading Laios as a person. He's not this dumbass who gets himself in dumb situations, he makes mistakes and he can't understand social contexts sometimes but he's not this idiot people pretend he is.

He knows so much information and despite people finding it weird, its obvious that the party members find so much use inside of it, maybe it doesn't work all the time because they don't have all of the information and interest in it as such as Laios does which is why he is such an important aspect of the team.

I feel like people find so much flaw in Laios that they don't even see the flaw in other characters as such as Chilchuck and Marcille. BOTH of those characters are deeply flawed, Chilchuck lies because he can't admit how he feels, he's alcoholic, he assumes stupidity against other characters, ETC!

Marcille is a show-off, she thinks shes higher than other people, she whines, she would rather do it her way rather than give in and ask for help.

And Senshi, he would've gotten himself killed multiple times because hes more skilled in cooking rather than the actual monster-hunting, he's more emotion-based, he hates magic when theres not another way to do it sometimes.

Are either of these characters bad? NO!!! i love these characters But it shows that people just push it onto Laios because of how badly the other characters THINK of Laios because that is the norm in their world (and honestly ours) to push down on people who bring up unusual techniques, unusual thinking, not understanding the 'right' way (when there's not a 'right' way)

PLEASE IM BEGGING EVERY FANDOM EVER TO ACTUALLY READ INTO THE CHARACTERS INSTEAD OF THE OUTLOOK ONTO THAT CHARACTER!!!! STOP MISCHARACTERIZING THEM!!!

[crystalelemental]

We have finished the Dungeon Meshi anime. I'll type out thoughts, but I feel like I can easily summarize as "It's really good, you should watch it." I was also asked to talk about favorite characters so like. Get ready for that one.

As a whole, Dungeon Meshi is excellent. My wife has an anecdote she likes to tell about it, where before we even watched it, I told her about the general premise and that people were talking about it and it sounded neat and I wanted to pick it up if she'd like to watch. And as happens sometimes, I get the response of "I'll probably look at my phone and just watch it in the background," which is usually "I'm not too interested but put on what you want to put on." And after the first episode she was completely invested. The show is really charming really fast.

Thing is, for as fun adventure as it starts, it does a lot seriously that lands spectacularly well. The first instance of "oh wow, this show is for real" is the well-documented living armor bit. The biology that goes into these monsters is amazing. My personal favorite is still the treasure bugs and mimics interaction, which is just incredible to me, but every time they talk about monster biology and their function it's a treat.

Exploration stuff is also really cool. There's another great post that went around talking about how this party really is more of an old-school dungeon crawler party, where skills for survival like Chilchuck's are essentially the most valuable, rather than combat ability. It does really have that feel, and it's great. I also just love how some of the magic works. Things like mana sickness are cool, but resurrection is my personal favorite. They make a big deal about the black magic kind being forbidden, but watching it in action, it functions just like the stuff that's on the level; blood pools and congeals back in the body, the black magic just involved reconstructing flesh. Marcille's point about black magic not being inherently bad is fair; it doesn't seem all that different. But perceptions are really different regarding it.

They haven't delved too far into it yet, but there are tensions between the fantasy races, and plenty of biases going around. Some are a bit more obvious, like Marcille really not trusting the orcs, while others are more like Shuro's one party member who just refers to the dwarves as just "dwarf," even as she's praising Senshi's cooking. Kabru's got his own hangups regarding how the elves handle things with the dungeons, and openly admits to the imbalance in power between races and how that negatively impacts everyone. I imagine this starts to be more prominent in the second half now that all the establishing stuff is done.

As for cast...they're really strong. Laios' group is all great, I loved them all. Marcille is my favorite, personally, because of course she is. From silly magic elf girl, to oh she's actually super smart, to oh she's super smart in ancient criminal magic fuck yeah girl. Marcille's a delight. Chilchuck was the easy least favorite of the group starting out, but he's really grown on me. Izutsumi is peak cat. Laios is really interesting as a protagonist, I like him a lot. I think the conflicts he gets into are...very real, in a way. Like, he has amazing strengths that make him great at what he's doing, but the flaws in his character inform what struggles they encounter in a really believable way. I like him a lot. Senshi is cool. Falin needs more time, and you have no idea how bummed I am that the season ended with a little snapshot that Chimera Falin and Thistle are having hijinks off-screen, I need that spinoff.

The other groups are less developed, but I'm sure Aera will be happy to hear this: god damn do I love Kabru. This dude rules. I saw people talk about him on Tumblr so I recognized him the instant he showed up, but his first "proper" introduction is stupendous, showing his general people-reading and ability to gather information, and his adherence to a sense of justice that's just as much about meting out punishment as anything else. Him killing those dudes was great, loved that. And the barely concealed excitement over black magic is hilarious. Then he gets to show off that he's basically an assassin class, knowing where to strike for instant kills, has a whole chat with Shuro about recognizing the racial discrepancy in the world at large, and tries to play an entire room full of elves. I dunno, like the guy a lot. He's shrewd, and he's got moxie. I do admit that, while I get the fandom is really attached to Laios and Kabru as a ship, I...have no strong feelings about it. I do, oddly, like him and Rin. Their dynamic in the show was fairly cute, and admittedly some supplemental material I saw posted really got me invested in her. The rest of his party...I have no particular feelings about. It's just him and Rin to me for now.

Shuro's party is even less interesting. I do like Shuro, I think he's a really neat character. But his group hasn't done anything all that interesting to me yet. They kinda showed up to get bodied by Chimera Falin and drive tension as the group that first knows about black magic.

Similar deal with Namari's group? If anything I think the old gnome dude is in the running for general least favorite character. I don't hate the guy, but he's done nothing to endear himself. I have no strong perspectives yet.

For characters that need more time in the oven, there is the question of the Canaries. I've seen a tidbit about them, but my general assumption of them is the whole "Canary in the coalmine," they're the frontliners for dungeons that are sent in and risk death to assess the threat level. Which is neat, would like to know what that deal is. But #1 most invested in learning more about is Thistle. Love that design, love the general vibe he puts out, but also the reveal that he was hired as the court jester who happened to also become the most powerful mage of the kingdom is really, really good. That's both hilarious and awesome. I don't even know this guy and I think he's the shit.

I am wildly invested in season 2, and if it weren't for me working for a school and going through summer months unpaid, I'd probably be buying the entire manga like right now. As it stands I'll have to wait a bit for that, but it's probably happening. I've seen plenty of commentary about things the anime couldn't fit in that are hilarious or interesting, and it feels like one I'd like to read as well, even if I plan to fully go through the anime. Huge fan, glad we got an immediate announcement of season 2, really looking forward to more.

[chuckeroo777]

Dungeon Meshi Volume 11 Part 1

Welcome back to my liveblog! Today we're covering volume 11! No more monster of the week, things are getting juicy!

He has such a punchable face.

Haha, get it? Cause this situation is a complete nightmare?

Priorities! I dunno, judging from the rest of the house, Thistle doesn't seem like the sort to bother with getting proper silverware. Then again, when using lion power, there's no point to skimping out.

Oooh, I bet the spoon acted as a lightning rod.

It's no fun if you're also having fun.

Too bad they already killed Chichuck. These dragons need to unionize.

Neat! You can actually see Laios hiding in the fur here.

Thistle would be such a shit DM. He clearly didn't bother reading any of their stat blocks. Also, the Leviathan is just happy to be here. Good for her.

I can't take these wyverns seriously. They look right out of how to train your dragon.

An important image.

Because much like the green dragon earlier, you took too long toying with your prey.

Even if it's bad, food still brings people together.

This is what I really hate about the lion. It claims to just want to help people, but it doesn't. It fulfills things in such a way that you are always left wanting more. It twists and corrupts the lords so they can no longer be satisfied with simple rational solutions. Laios did his best... but sometimes you just can't get through to people.

I'd feel abject disgust, but honestly, I mostly just surprised stuffing didn't come up sooner in this. So how much longer until the vore shows up?

Honestly, I'm just kinda concerned why you already knew how to summon that thing.

Have I mentioned how absolutely I detest this lion? This vile demon is a predator, under every definition of the word.

:/ In a story where no one really dies for good... the lion kills Thistle in the only way that matters. Oh wait, those corpse collectors died, but nobody liked them anyway.

So, is this how it happens? The lion interpreting Thistle's last words as a desire to revive Marcille?

The correct decision. Now grab some black magic/zip ties and make sure they stay that way.

Just you wait, it's only gonna get dumber.

On the one hand, this plotline is underdeveloped. On the other hand, it's really funny how irreverently the narrative treats it.

The best ending, clearly.

That's it for this post, next, we have... oh no. I've been dreading these two chapters.

[crownconstellation]

complaining about dungeon meshi as i said i was gonna do in prev post's tags. i rly am incredibly sick of how Shipping has become the centric focus of this series and -- even as someone who generally prioritises f/f when i think about romance in media -- how post-anime farcille is being held up by its fans. like i have been a fan of DM for 6 years i have not seen anyone talk about shipping like this until the anime started coming out

earlier i saw a post talking about how pushback against farcille feels like... suspicious or whatever bc it's the first Big Thing with the biggest pairing being f/f, and i get what it's trying to say, but i also inherently disagree with it. i don't think this is a misogyny issue i think this is an issue more than anything of dungeon meshi being so noticeably and genuinely really, really compelling in itself, so it being swallowed by shipping is more apparent than it would be with like.... idk seasonal anime #48 with yaoi focus. and so people are going to be loud about it when this happens. i think it's rly moreso just the fact that there's Ship Focus in general than it being about a f/f pairing specifically

although honestly, even if it's not about it being f/f specifically, there IS something to be said regarding how fans of it are handling the pairing that makes it particularly grating. this is not a case of "people overextrapolating for it" for this ship as the post said. i have seen people say farcille is the heart and center of dunmeshi and that their love is the focus of it. i have seen people infer that laios and the rest of his party's efforts mean nothing, because it's marcille who had the greatest hand in everything and she did what she did for falin's sake. that is not overextrapolating. that is corroding the story from the inside out because people want to make it about romance when it's not.

i also think that the way farcille fans have been treating the characters around them gets very odd. like for a big one i'm thinking abt the dismissal of laibru as "two guys standing next to each other" or whatevre ppl have been pulling out for farcille bc it is ridiculous and goes back to what i complained abt in prev post's tags re: alnst with how not everything is MID yaoi vs GODLY yuri. sometimes the m/m pairing is good. the two of them are intentional foils and build a close friendship by the end of the series. their relationship is compelling and to dismiss it to hype farcille shows a lack of understanding of the text you're fighting for.

it also tends to approach... at the very least, lacking a sense of intersectionality. this isn't just Yaoi V. Yuri. kabru, who is the centre of both dunmeshi's most popular m/m pairings, is a brown man. put against a white f/f pairing since because people keep insisting on engaging in some stupid yaoi v yuri war, and he gets thrown under the bus a lot here for that. (not to say the pairings he's part of don't have any issues with how fans portray them, but farcille fan hostility towards pairings that both end up involving him can... approach a weird place.) ((on that note the insane hostility they extend towards toshiro is also really nuts. again. think for a sec before you address this moc you feel is like... threatening your white f/f pairing.)

[readymades2002]

i also want to make note of the winged lion saying he can inhabit laios’s body and while laios is busy with being a monster, the winged lion in his body can stay by marcille’s side and says THIS very strange thing

WHAT DID IT MEAN BY THIS! i know that the succubus chapter ignited some discussion of Why Did Laios’s Succubus Become Marcille, and i personally liked the conclusion “marcille represents massive amounts of power, she was able to turn falin into a monster and that moment has stuck with laios (the image of marcille with her hair down always comes back when he envisions her!) and to him it means marcille can give him the form he wants”.

i’m bringing that up here because i feel like it ties up marcille’s and laios’s desires...i’m not sure how to word this neatly but i will try to word it anyway. i think marcille and laios are both experiencing a conflict between What They Believe They Want and What They Aren’t Supposed To Want, in a way. marcille’s desire is to live together with everyone she loves, and to live the same life as them, but in moments of stress and in moments where she ACTS towards a goal, she tends to imagine falin specifically. laios, in the meantime, wants to act to protect his party and to do The Heroic Thing even though monsters are actually what he cares about, but what he really really wants more than anything, the most ungrantable wish he has without a demon’s power, is to become a monster. he’s able to entertain this sometimes and have it dismissed as Classic Laios because it isn’t possible without some intense magic, but when it becomes an actual possibility...

its...hm. how to say it. the lion is offering a sort of dual existence for laios here, where he gets everything he actually wants but also gets to do the noble thing that would bring people peace. i feel like “granting marcille children” here is a part of that? what DOES that mean. i think the winged lion offering to grant marcille children while in laios’s body means something Very Specific that ties both marcille and laios to the desire they feel they ought to have, and to what they cannot say they want. marcille gets to grow old with her friends, but alongside laios is also falin. laios gets to do right by everyone in an unimpeachable way, act as he’s expected, sire children, without actually having to be there to do it because he’s actually a monster. it is the winged lion’s promise to grant the wishes of everyone at once, no matter how contradictory, no matter how impossible.

i don’t know if this is anything i just think there’s like...this is just such a strange line to be here! marcille is a half elf herself and the experience of growing up like that has had, to put it lightly, some effects on her. laios doesn’t like humanity and his own experience with his family (and how they treated his little sister!!!!) has also had An Effect. but when the winged lion offers laios what he wants in his heart of hearts as part of its pitch to make all desires come true, it offers this. i don’t know if it’ll ever become relevant and honestly i personally think i’m reading things into it that aren’t intentional because i am a die hard Someone Tell Laios About Being Transgender person but i do enjoy reading it like this...