#it’s like 3 am and I’m tired

[banaaang]

What do you mean this didn’t happen

[luyo-mi]

Never drawing again

[bowlofworms]

When Danny first arrived in Gotham, a city failed and neglected while Pariah Dark slept in his coffin, he was unsure how he would be received. Spirits are territorial beings and City Spirits, borne of territory, are especially so. He expected the spirit to be ragged and angry after all the time spent fighting the curses and trying to keep up filtering the sheer amount of rank smelling ecto that clung to the city like its smog.

Lady Gotham was unlike his expectations. He stood at the edge of her haunt, not invading or trespassing, but making himself known. He had anticipated a greeting via punch, but was pleasantly surprised by the spirit who materialized in front of him in a hiss of steam, an emergency siren, and a barely there hysterical laughter on the wind.

She was affected by the state of her city, yes, but not to the degree at which Danny expected. Lady Gotham appeared like a pale skinned woman with dark wavy shoulder length hair. She wore a gorgeous black dress with the occasional pearl sewn into skirt, matching her broken and blood splattered pearl necklace. She wore a hat with a half veil, hiding her eyes. She wore red lipstick and greeted Danny with an amused smile.

“The Boy King, welcome. I am Lady Gotham.” She said and offered a bloody gloved hand. Danny shook it.

“Lady Gotham, on behalf of the Dead Crown I formally apologize for the neglect you have suffered under my predecessor and I apologize it has taken so long to get to you.”

“I harbor no ill feelings, my King. You have done my knights a great service by cleaning up what the livings call ‘Lazarus Pits.’”

“Of course, Lady Gotham. I have a gift for you, to assist you in filtering the large amount of ecto here and help you gain strength against the curses that plague you.

I died in a town called Amity Park, of which I am considered the Spirit Of, though I am not a true City Spirit. The people of my haunt have domesticated blob ghosts. We refer to them as boba blobs, due to their small size and aptitude for liquids, especially drinks. They are much more docile in nature and live in hives, which they return to after filtering.

For you I have a tanker truck of them. Along with five liminals whom specialize in their care. The blob ghosts are familiar with these handlers and are likely to return to an unfamiliar hive if they are tending it. They will each set up a few modified hives in each of your boroughs, and stay in the city until the blob ghosts have familiarized themselves with the area. Once the blob ghosts naturally return to their hives, they will return home to Amity Park.”

Danny let the Blob Keepers know they were good to move into the city and begin their work. He and Lady Gotham spoke logistics for some time, then she thanked the Boy King for his help and insisted he must meet her Knights. How could Danny decline? What a gesture it is for a city spirit show someone, especially one much more powerful than oneself, their protectors. The closest human equivalent would be simultaneously showing someone your security system while proudly showing them your kid’s fridge art. It is a vulnerable thing, but to show Danny specifically it is also similar to giving fealty, as if to say “These are my knights; they fight for me, so they will fight for you.”

So, with the diplomacy lessons Dora shoved down his throat in mind, he gratefully accepted. Lady Gotham led him through her streets, to where the houses got larger and farther apart, then farther still to where manors stood over great acreages. She turned at the gates of a gothic manor, then went around the back to a well long-dry. They flew down the well and into a cave, then walked until it opened into a great cavern.

“It is here I must depart from you, my King. I am the spirit of Gotham and I am shaped by its tragedies. I unfortunately bear the visage of a woman whose death echoed around Gotham, I do not wish to pain one of my Knight’s with my appearance.” She said, bowing before dissipating into smoke and smog and a brief glimpse of city lights.

Danny waved off his royal regalia, now just in his normal hazmat suit/armour combo, flicked into visibility, and wandered further into the cave. It was fascinating, really. There was a dinosaur sculpture and an absurdly large penny among other objects and trinkets. He was floating over by the display cases housing various suits when he heard someone on the other side of the cave.

“Agent A to all, unknown individual in the Belfry. Alien or Meta.”

It was clear to Danny that whomever Agent A was, he was speaking at a level that a normal human wouldn’t’ve been able to hear, so he politely decided not show any outward notice that he had heard the man until he was addressed. Jazz says it’s rude to eavesdrop and he wouldn’t want to be rude to Lady Gotham’s Knights. So, he continued looking at the cases, but did put his feet on the ground so he was standing rather than hovering in what Jazz would probably call a “blatant and unnecessary show of power.” Thank the Ancients for Dora’s diplomacy lessons and inner-Jazz. No idea how he’d do all the King stuff without it.

Several vehicles and people entered the cave over the next twenty or so minutes. Danny did not stop looking at the cases even though, to be frank, he had finished looking at them not long after Agent A notified the others. He just stood in front of what must’ve been a memorial case because the uniform was tattered and bloodied. There was a plaque in front of it, bearing the name Jason Todd, that read “A Good Soldier”.

He mouthed the name to himself. Jason Todd. Definitely tasted like a dead name. A little weird though. Maybe a ghost rather than just a dead? He doesn’t really call ghosts their name at death, as most go by a new one, so he hasn’t really tasted a ghost name before, but their new names do have a taste so maybe that is a ghost name after all and this is different thing altogether?

He was startled out of his thoughts by a gruff voice behind him.

“Who are you and how did you get here.”

Danny turned around. There were nine people —wow that was a lot — behind him. A man in all black and a cape stood the closest, presumably who the gruff voice came from, a guy in a black suit with a blue bird on the front, a dude in a red helmet, a guy in a red and black suit with a metal stick, a kid wearing red, green, yellow, and black — weird colour combo but Danny wears a Hazmat suit so who is he to judge — also with a cape, a blonde girl who’s dressed like if Grimace had a vigilantesona, an extremely still figure in all black that, if he wasn’t sure they weren’t here earlier, he would’ve assumed was a weird mannequin, a dude in bright yellow, and an old guy dressed like a butler with a shotgun. They were all wearing domino masks, except for mannequin girl, red helmet, and streetlight, who’s faces were completely covered, and the butler guy, presumably the Agent A from earlier, who was wearing a… masquerade mask?

“Er… hi. I’m Danny. Lady Gotham led me here.”

They did not lower their various weapons. Grumpy Gus spoke again.

“Who is Lady Gotham?”

“You don’t know who Lady Gotham is? You’re her knights!” They looked at each other. This time bird guy spoke.

“We don’t serve under anyone. Who is Lady Gotham?”

“Can you guys, like, put your weapons down? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Not until we know you’re not a threat. You’re an unknown who trespassed into the BatCave. Why were you sent here by ‘Lady Gotham’? How did you get in?” Grumpy Gus said.

“Uh, I’m not trespassing. Lady Gotham led me here so it’s not trespassing. We went down the well. Cool entrance by the way.” Grumpy Gus did seem a little uneasy at that, uneasy in a different way than before.

Metal Stick mumbled, presumably into a comm, “Oracle, presume identities breached.” Again, this was probably not something he was supposed to hear so he ignored it.

“You are trespassing. Lady Gotham does not have the authority to bring you here. You’re not in trouble, just give us more information about Lady Gotham.” Bird Guy said.

“Well, I promise I’m not trespassing. Lady Gotham has dominion over Gotham.” They looked alarmed at that. “Do you guys really know nothing about her? You’re her knights.”

“What does it mean, that we’re her knights?” Metal Stick said.

“It means that you’re her knights? You protect her domain and fight for her.”

“How do we fight for her? What, exactly, is her domain?” Bird Guy asked.

“Well her domain is Gotham and its surrounding areas, she recently gained the area across the bay too. It didn’t have a spirit and since one of her knights patrols it, it became hers. That’s one of the ways you do your duty as her Knights, patrolling her land; also protecting and helping her people, maintaining the city, and inspiring hope.”

“What does it mean, that Blüdhaven didn’t have a spirit?” Bird Guy asked.

“It means it didn’t have a city spirit.” Blank stares. Alright. “A city spirit is a Neverborn, it is literally the city given form. They’re pretty territorial so it’s not surprising a city spirit didn’t fully develop this close to another one. City spirits form slowly, the emotions of the city, especially personification by its people, help it grow. When the people are happy, the city spirit is happy, when the people are in pain, the city spirit is in pain, when the city is hurt, the city spirit is hurt, and vice versa. A city spirit IS the city.”

“So Lady Gotham… is Gotham?” The Grimace Kinner said.

“Yup!”

“And Gotham, the city itself—“

“Herself”

“— the city herself, brought you here?”

“Yes.”

They looked around at each other, lowering their weapons a bit.

“Why should we believe you? What proof do you have?” Wow, definitely calling fucked up colour wheel kid “Grumpy Jr.” now.

“If I may, Master Batman, I suppose that is why they came through the well. Who else would know the true symbolism of that place other than Gotham herself?”

Everyone besides Agent A and Grumpy Gus, apparently he’s called Batman, but Danny likes Grumpy Gus better, seemed confused by that, but Grumpy Gus made a hand signal and everyone stood down.

“There’s a meeting room around the corner here. We can sit and discuss this further now that you are no longer an active threat.” Grumpy Gus said. Grumpy Gus Jr. did not seem pleased by this, but off they went to the meeting room. Agent A did not join them, stating he was to make sandwiches for the meeting.

Unexpectedly, the meeting table was round, leaving no heads of the table. Everyone was on equal footing. Grumpy Gus did choose to sit directly across from him though and no one sat on the chairs directly to either side of Danny.

“First and foremost,” Grumpy Gus started, “tell us more about yourself.”

“Well, I’m Danny and I’m a ghost” Everyone except Grumpy Gus, Grumpy Gus Jr., and Haunted Mannequin groaned. Bird Guy even slammed his head on the table.

“Yowch, you got something against dead people or something?” That got a laugh out of Red Helmet, for some reason.

“Does this mean we have to call Constantine?” Bird Guy said.

“Like the soul whore?” Everyone looked at him, then Bird Guy broke down laughing.

“What do you mean by that?” Grumpy Gus asked, ignoring the giggling from around the table.

“Oh there’s this guy named Constantine who keeps selling his soul to a ton of people. People call him a soul whore. It’s just funny you know a guy with the same name.”

“That sounds like John, actually,” said Metal Stick.

“You know John Constantine! Tell him to stop being such a soul whore! The amount of paperwork I have to do because of that man alone!”

“I’ll… pass on the message,” Grumpy Gus said, “What’s the paperwork for?”

“Oh well soul-whoring pisses off a lot of people, so they write complaints to the Ghost King. Then I have to sort through all the complaints and figure out which ones actually need royal attention.”

“There’s a ghost king?” Metal Stick said.

“Obviously?” Danny said. Dead silence. Ha! Dead, get it? He didn’t say his dead silence joke out loud though so no one laughed.

“So if you typically do paperwork, how did you come to meet Lady Gotham?” The Grimace Kinner asked.

“Oh! I came here to give aid to Lady Gotham!” Danny smiled. He was totally gonna get a good grade in being interrogated (something that’s both normal to want and possible to achieve).

“Aid? Why does Lady Gotham need aid and how did you give it?”

“Dude, no offense but have you seen this place? It’s cursed six ways to Sunday and the ecto here is RANK! I bet the crime here is insane!”

“A+ wording on that last bit .” Mumbled Red Helmet.

“I came here did my spiel ‘on behalf of the Dead Crown I formally apologize’ yadda yadda yadda. Then gave her some boba blob ghosts to help filter the nasty ecto so she can gain strength and better fight the curses that plague her.”

“What are boba blob ghosts?” The Grimace Kinner asked, smiling.

“Oh they’re domesticated blob ghosts!”

“And what are these ‘blob ghosts’ you speak of?” Grumpy Gus Jr. asked.

“Oh! I can show you! These are boba blob ghosts! Totally harmless!” Danny tore a small portal, just large enough for his arm, stuck his arm in and rummaged around a bit, couldn’t find any, then tore the portal open wider so his torso could fit. A muffled “Aha!” Then, he pulled back out of the portal with an armful of boba blob ghosts. “Sorry! They were in my cappuccino maker again!” When he finally looked up everyone had weapons again.

“You domesticated pit demons!” Grumpy Gus jr. hissed.

“What are pit demons?” Danny asked.

“Like those, but larger and more aggressive.” Red helmet said.

The boba blob ghosts, about 20 of them, were just kinda dumbly ambling along, regularly bumping into things. Metal Stick had his metal stick poised at one that was dipping in and out of his coffee mug, splashing a bit. About half of them were buzzing around Red Helmet, bumping into the front of his helmet where his mouth presumably was. Three were in Grumpy Gus Jr’s hair and he was desperately swatting them away.

“Uh, aggressive how?”

“Like trying to shove themselves down your throat aggressive!” Red Helmet said, trying unsuccessfully to shoo the boba blob ghosts away.

“They’re blob ghosts. You’re supposed to eat them.” Danny said, and plucked one out of the air and swallowed it. Everyone froze.

“Why would you eat them!?” Grumpy Gus Jr. shrieked, still batting at the ones around him.

“It’s like… their whole job. Blob ghosts are filter feeders. They filter ecto. They literally evolved to have a symbiotic relationship with restless dead—”

“Hate that term for it,” said Metal Stick. Danny ignored him.

“They wander around absorbing and filtering ambient ecto, but that’s not a strong source of ecto at all, so they get weaker. As they get weaker they develop a sweeter taste which entices a member of the restless dead to eat it, the blob ghost then stays in the being for a period of time, filtering the ectoplasm until it becomes stronger and leaves. We get nice filtered ectoplasm and they get a nice source of ecto. Of course, blob ghosts can survive only on ambient ecto and ghosts can filter their own ecto, but blob ghosts are just way better at it. Besides, a lot of ecto-reliant beings don’t have cores so they need blob ghosts to filter the ecto for them!” Danny paused and thought for a second.

“That’s probably why you thought they were aggressive! If someone had a bunch of unfiltered ecto and a blob ghost was really hungry, they would probably try and throw themselves at your mouth. They’re not the brightest little guys.”

“What exactly is ecto and does unfiltered ecto happen to be neon green and bubbly, per chance?” Red Helmet said. He had given up on shooing the boba blob ghosts away and just let them run into his helmet a couple times before trying a different angle and repeating the process.

“Oh ecto is ectoplasm! It looks like this!” He made some ecto pool in his hands. They eyed it warily. “And yeah unfiltered ecto does look kinda like that! Are you talking about the cesspools? Lady Gotham said you guys had dealt with them before. Called them Lazarus Pits or something.”

“Cesspools?” Grumpy Gus Jr. asked.

“Yeah they’re basically ecto sewage. Super super nasty unfiltered and corrupted ecto. They’re gone now. Apparently some dude was bathing in them! Gross!”

“They’re gone?!” Metal Stick said.

“Yeah. We got rid of them like two weeks ago. That was the last thing we had to do before coming to help Lady Gotham.” The table seemed stunned. “She said you have experience with them, is that why you guys all stink so bad?”

“We don’t stink!” the Grimace Kinner said.

“You stink,” Danny said. Then he took a closer look at Lady Gotham’s Knights, one by one. “In fact, you reek. Are you guys okay? All that unfiltered ecto must suck. Please, eat a boba blob ghost, I insist. I have tons. I can even bring more.”

“We have unfiltered ecto?” Bird Guy asked.

“Yeah, the side effects must be awful.”

“How would side effects of unfiltered ecto appear in a living person?” Grumpy Gus said.

“None in a living person. Livings don’t have or need ecto. Liminals like yourselves however—”

“What are liminals?” Grumpy Gus interrupted. He had a habit of that.

“Liminals are like you. Livings become liminal through long term exposure to ecto or short term exposure to being dead. Liminals typically have a bit of ghostliness.” They looked around at each other again.

“So, we’re all liminal? Does that mean we’re not alive?” The Grimace Kinner asked.

“No, liminals are alive, they’re just not quite livings anymore. Liminals almost always become ghosts when they die. Some people are more liminal than others. As far as if you’re all liminals, I’d need to take a closer look to tell you how exposed you are, but all of you are at the very least liminal, a living cannot be a Knight.”

“We would appreciate that information, and if you could elaborate on what you mean by ‘a bit of ghostliness’,” Grumpy Gus said.

Danny floated up a bit, startling some of them. He flew over to each person, one by one. Reaching Red Helmet last. Danny stiffened, then flashed his eyes at him. He could see a green flash back through the helmet. When the green came through the helmet, everyone burst up and got in ready positions.

“My apologies, Revenant. I did not recognize your status. I thought you simply liminal,” Danny said.

“Uh, what.” The Revenant said.

Danny turned around, looking at all the others still ready for a fight. “You guys good?”

Bird Guy sat down first. “Yeah, sorry, typically the green eyes are a bad thing.”

“Huh, interesting.” Danny floated back to his chair. The rest sat down as well, occasionally casting wary glances at the Revenant. “So you’re all liminal like I said, barring the Revenant of course. Streetlight is the least liminal, then the Grimace Kinner—”

“The WHAT?!” Said the Revenant.

“The Grimace Kinner,” Danny said, gesturing at her, “is the second least liminal.” Danny gestured at each person as he addressed them. “Then Bird Guy, then Grumpy Gus, then Metal Stick, then the Haunted Mannequin, and Grumpy Gus Jr. is the most liminal.”

“What’s with the names?” Bird Guy asked, “and can I get something cooler than Bird Guy.”

“You guys didn’t introduce yourselves.”

Agent A appeared with a tray piled high with sandwiches.

“What’s his nickname?” The Grimace Kinner said, pointing at Agent A.

“That’s Agent A.”

“That I am. Here are your sandwiches, I made extra.” He set down a second plate with fewer sandwiches. “These are vegan with gluten free bread. Do you have any food allergies or restrictions I should be made aware of, Mister Danny?”

“No, but thank you, sir,” Danny said.

“What is all this discussion of nicknames I walked into?” He said.

“Oh, well I don’t know anyone’s names so I’ve just been referring to them by nicknames in my head, but then I had to specify who I was talking about so I called them by the nicknames I gave them.”

Agent A slowly turned to face the rest of the people in the room and gave them a look, then turned back around. “My nickname is Agent A? How apt. I must ask how you came up with such a clever nickname.”

“Oh, I overheard you earlier when you were telling everyone else I was here. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I promise!”

“All is well, young sir. I am Agent A. Surely the rest have deigned to introduce themselves.” He said, turning back to them again. Danny heard and audible gulp from Bird Guy. Note to self: Agent A is clearly in charge.

“I’m Nightwing,” Said Bird Guy. The rest quickly introduced themselves.

Metal Stick was called Red Robin, the Reverent was Red Hood, Streetlight was Signal, the Grimace Kinner was Spoiler, Nightwing introduced the Haunted Mannequin as Black Bat, who signed her name as the letter B on both hands quickly moving into the sign for Bat, Grumpy Gus Jr, who was clearly unhappy with his nickname, was Robin, and Grumpy Gus, who was just as unhappy as his smaller counterpart, was Batman.

“What was Hood’s nickname before you called him the Revenant?” Robin asked.

“Oh he was Red Helmet. Honestly I think I was the closest with that one.”

“So,” Batman cleared his throat. “You were telling us about liminals and ghostliness.”

“Ah, yes. Ghostliness typically manifests in liminals in physical traits such as pointed ears or teeth, and abilities such as being very quiet or stealthy, empathetic senses, strength, durability, and faster healing. Most liminals also feel an urge to fight that may be perceived as aggressiveness.”

“And how would unfiltered and or corrupted ectoplasm impact a liminal?” Batman said.

“Well for one, liminals need clean ecto. You guys are basically starving. I don’t know how you’re functioning. We’re talking drowsiness, fits of unfriendly rage, irritability, that kind of stuff.”

Danny turned towards Red Hood. “If you wouldn’t mind, Revenant, I would like to take a closer look at you. You shouldn’t be starving like the liminals.”

“Why? What is a revenant?” Batman demanded. Danny did not look at him, only at Red Hood.

“What’s a revenant?” Hood asked.

“A revenant is a type of restless dead who revived themselves through pure willpower and determination for vengeance. Their need for vengeance is personal and often directly related to their death. Revenants, like ghosts, have an obsession that must be fulfilled, but it may or may not relate to their quest for vengeance.”

Danny stepped closer to Red Hood, peering at his chest, occasionally sniffing then making a grossed out and regretful face. “Have you been experiencing bouts of uncontrolled rage? Particularly in relation to your obsession?”

“I don’t know what an obsession is, but definitely.”

“Cool, cool. So all of you are starving. Please eat the boba blob ghosts. They taste good. You’re not killing them, they’re ghosts, and it’s healthy for them anyways.”

Danny snatched another boba blob ghost out of the air and ate it.

I want to merge the trope that ghost blobs re basically party snacks with the trope that ghost blobs are special blorbos that other ghosts instinctively protect.

So i propose: symbiotic ghost blobs. When they're strong, they wander around and explore. When they're weak, their ecto changes so they're tasty to other ghosts. The other ghosts then eat them whole, and the blob settles around the ghost's core, semicorporeal, helping to filter ecto in return for taking a small portion of the ghost's strength, as well as benefitting from the stronger ghost's protection. In a few days to weeks, when they are strong enough, they phase right out and reform, off to go exploring again.

The ghost gets a boost in vitality from the blob, as the extra filter makes up for the tiny energy loss. Most ghosts can take on half a dozen blobs at a time, while more powerful ghosts like Danny could easily take dozens, cause thats how many blobs it would take to filter through the large quantities of ecto that they burn through.

Human liminals benefit from one or two blobs. Maybe its borderline required, as humans might not have the faculties to filter their own ecto, and subside entirely on the ambient ecto, which is maintained by the strongest ghost in the area (whoever owns the haunt).

Basically, eating blobs every few days to top off the ones that left is basically equivalent to taking probiotics to help digestion.

So we have Amity Park, maintained by Danny and his small army of blobs that he's constantly rotating though, and Gotham, maintained by Lady Gotham who is overloaded on too many curses to properly filter the city, no matter how many blobs she collects.

Jason is a sick halfa because corrupted ecto, yadda yadda. Only its not "dumped in the lazarus pits and never got filtered," but "gotham is literally so toxic that all of his power goes to filtering and it still doesnt make a dent, so he presents as powerless and possibly hangry." He may or may not know that he's passively absorbing blobs to help filter, or maybe Lady Gotham hoards them all so he has no concept of symbiotic blob relationships.

Or even better, blob ghosts are what the LoA call pit demons. They think the amorphous red-eyed blobs are aggressive because their constantly throwing themselves at the liminal assassins' faces to try to help filter the atrotious ecto. The pits are extremely corrupt because the LoA keeps chasing away and or destroying the blobs.

For extra angst, Jason and batfam are aware of the pit demons and have no reason to believe that the LoA's interpretation is incorrect.

So everyone is suitably horrified when a visiting Phantom brings a legion of blobs (a typical "I come in peace" gift for Lady Gotham), casually snacking on a few of them. Even more so when he offers a few to the batfam, like one would a piece of candy.

[fappellmoan]

[mushramoo]

did it very fast so I know it’s cringe and yucky etc but I want more first interactions between the Emilys and Aftons in game

[zaunbinary]

“jinx is just as bad as caitlyn! the double standards with zaunite characters is crazy!” yeah maybe so??? caitlyn, born to a politician of a privileged city, using said citys resources to unjustly attack an entire nation with unnecessary force and police brutality because she’s upset with some of the people that live there holds so much more weight than what jinx does. if caitlyn specifically started targeting JUST jinx with cruelty it’d maybe be different but she’s attacking a whole city of innocent people. and if your knee jerk reaction to that is “they weren’t all innocent�� i’m going to need you to sit with yourself and contemplate wether you seriously think attacking a bunch of people simply because there’s a CHANCE one of them might be guilty of something is reasonable. where a character in arcane is from is important to every and i mean EVERY action they take. “it isnt that deep” oh but it is!! the sociopolitical conflict between zaun and piltover is literally one of the pillars the show is built off of!

[darie-vox]

Ofc they’re the first thing I draw this year

It’s so silly I love them

[fusionkitty23]

WAIT, FAIRY GODPARENTS ARE GUARDIAN ANGELS??!

[jeena-says-hi]

When “the sillies” are 2 dead gay old French men

[justscrolllling]

Little Dory Part: 4

Poppy gets in the loop! ^^

First: https://www.tumblr.com/justscrolllling/760188464559947776/little-dory-au

Previous: https://www.tumblr.com/justscrolllling/761747505720475648/little-dory-pt-3

Next: later

Branch: leaves the bunker

Also Branch: instantly goes back into bunker bc adhd girlfriend

Now poppy is involved and a little informed on the situation! She seems to have handled it well :D

Is Branch mad? Or just jealous? Maybe he’s sad 🤔

Sorry it’s taken a while, I’ve been super busy 😅

[busiest-bee]

I don’t care about the world of dandy or whatever it is but I think they should’ve made the cake persons head be like This instead

Borzoi

[fumifooms]

Ok maybe kinda of a weird question you don't have to answer if you don't want to but I've seen some people saying that Chilchuck is canonically misogynistic so, as the Chilchuck especialist, do you have an opinion about that?

Anon you are brave and I love you. Listen if you, person reading this, get peeved or upset when people say Chilchuck might have had not insignificant flaws as a father and husband then probably stop reading here, we will be looking at Chilchuck like a petri dish and defile his pristine allure. Tldr: yes but actually no but really both at the same time aka people & social dynamics are complex and please let your blorbos be flawed. With that said I will be pretty casual and playful if that wasn’t clear already, sorry.

"Aren’t you happy to be in a harem party" "No it’s soul-crushing save me". Toshiro has been drinking his fear women juice since he was young, surrounded by an assassin nanny and her fellow assassin girlies, meanwhile Chilchuck having flashbacks of getting wrung out by his 4 women household…

Waiting on people is something we see he hates doing a couple times throughout canon and extras, here and how he says "it’s not a date" -bless his summer child heart- he frames being slow to get ready as a gendered trait to have? But I can forgive him for this one because honestly the framing of the whole page leans into that, it’s kinda questionable if we’re being highly critical of anything misogynistic or regressive. But it itself is the classic subversive "Women are desirable wallflowers— Wrong! They are a monstrous ruthless force that wears on the mind, body and soul" trope. I don’t fault Kui though, I got giggles from it, it makes sense for everyone’s characters, and Kui has never shied from gendered dynamics in her worldbuilding & characters so it’s not like she’ll write as if sex changes nothing and no one has opinions about it.

Alright alright let’s step back from analyzing this page specifically and get back to the question, is Chilchuck canonically misogynistic? It’s a complex question not because we don’t have hints but because it’s a very black and white answer to give and because misogynistic can be very wide or pretty narrow depending on how the term is applied.

What I would say? Yes, he is, in a realistic way that doesn’t automatically make him a piece of shit, though that doesn’t mean it isn’t uncomfortable or harmful. On the spectrum of misogyny he classifies to me as "It’s in the normalized lighthearted way of being a horny uncle who’s a little too loose about it around the dinner table", he’s a solid "He wants to treat women as pieces of meat and jokes about it but in actuality he’s a gentleman and a family careerman who has a job so he don’t really care about that rn".

Going back to Toshiro’s party, Chilchuck being weird about it being full of women doesn’t even happen only once but TWICE. I made a compilation of every time he’s crass, happens less than you might expect but the overall picture it gives throughout reading the manga is pretty straightforward. Repeatedly he’s shown to be dirty-minded and shown to objectify & sexualize women both lightheartedly and unprompted. They’re a punchline and they’re eye candy and it’s "of COURSE my succubus would be young women, of COURSE women would desire a muscled statue’s [redacted], of COURSE women are sexual beings and of course I am attracted to them".

Dungeon Meshi doesn’t bring up sexuality much and gendered dynamics tend to be more subtle than you’d expect from media in general, so there’s that, but I honestly struggle to think of any character that acts less normal about women existing than him. Like yeah he’s joking but Hien, Benichidori, Inutade and Maizuru were just breathing and doing their jobs. Who else’s misogynistic uhh, that guy working for the shadow governor that licks Cithis’ ear when she’s bound in ropes? The sheer jump from ‘makes demeaning jokes about women’ to ‘assaulter’ between these two, god.

Honestly it does feel odd to me that he’d be kinda demeaning like that about women even in a workplace setting —Chilchuck the union man out of everyone?— but Kui has spoken man idk, think what you will don’t shoot the messenger. It’s not like he’s weird about Namari? I guess he respects her too much- Wait that sounded wrong. Maybe it’s literally just because she and the other women party members are his direct coworkers, in line with his rule and all? But yeah, even if he canonically had a thing for blondes and pretty young women he has managed to only tease Marcille ceaselessly for fun & entertainment and make her hair extra shiny as his shapeshifter, you get a good behavior star there Chilchuck. He complains on waiting for Marcille to get ready in the barometz chapter and the first anime ED but he also does with Laios when he’s late to meet up the party in extras. He constantly pulls on Marcille to get her to safety as if she can’t protect herself but she’s referred to as clumsy a lot so he has that justified reasoning. He constantly berates everyone so no point to make there. He undermines Marcille’s opinions often but it’s because he dislikes mages and elves and idealism. Clearly Chilchuck knows women can be capable and clearly he can have women coworkers (and friends! Again, Namari) without belittling or sexualizing them, clearly he can be normal about women and knows that some of his attitude can be inappropriate. It’s just harmless fun to him, that he keeps for occasional playful banter and taverns and the ‘right’ moods.

And as I mentioned earlier! Chilchuck is also pretty gentlemanly and protective. As always desires vs wants and instinct vs rationality show up as themes. Yes his succubus aka his ideal, the deepest allure he can imagine, is beautiful naked women, but a chapter just before that was the bicorn, all about how faithful and virtuous he is, how his heart’s in the right place. His brain is virtuous but his heart is monkey. My point is that when it counts, aka 90% of the time and when things are serious, we don’t see signs of sexist bias and he treats women well. Often takes on a protector role or at the least takes them seriously, even Benichidori. He doesn’t want to hurt women or thinks they’re insignificant or anything. He’ll give a handkerchief to a woman in need with a slimy face.

Okay okay this is really entering speculation territory but in my own tally, the way he dismissed his wife’s ‘bad mood’ as some meaningless tantrum that he shouldn’t think any more deeply about, him starting out not reaching out to her as a resentful silent treatment, and her getting dissatisfied in the first place enough to leave makes me think he took her for granted and was kinda dismissive of her in general. Marcille’s theorical scenario is hypothetical and factually untrue at least in parts, but if we do follow it, him forgetting he’s out with his wife for once (in the precious counted time he’s home spending time with her) and not paying attention to her all outing, resulting in her being left out of conversations and just an ornament beside him the way she might have felt for a long time as his housewife waiting home for him to come back………

Editing this paragraph in: Okay I don’t know how I missed mentioning this but, when he’s asked why his wife left him, Chilchuck literally point blank thinks that being thought to have cheated on his wife is LESS SHAMEFUL than not knowing the reason why (due to poor communication skills or whatnot). It’s so ridiculous that it can be hard to see beyond it as a gag or twist, but make of this what you will but this is not a great look for his priorities and his view of women especially in regards to toxic masculinity, good lord. When I talk about him having a sense of being entitled to his wife and dismissive of her emotions that’s sort of what I mean. He thinks it’s better for people to think he mistreated his wife and did something terrible than just failed at keeping her affection for reasons he doesn’t grasp. His pride, both in giving her the silent treatment and doing damage control when talking about it to others like Marcille and coworkers, takes priority over their relationship and love.

Half-foots seem to be patriarchal. The last section of this essay’s chapter (not by me!) + combing through its half-foot chapter should give you insight on that if you want. It’s in their patronymic, it’s in the way marriage seems very important especially for women, and it’s in the implied gender roles, being a housewife whose life revolves around raising her husband’s kids and taling care of the family home waiting for her husband who’s out working to come back. I think Chilchuck is a bit a result of his environment and upbringing in that way, that most of the misogyny is internalized and subconscious and passive, it’s taking his wife for granted because not only does she trust her, his most precious person he’s known since he was a kid, but because she’s his wife, his woman, conceptually something that’s unwaveringly devoted, something that is very valued and enforced in half-foot communities. Here’s a short post on half-foot family bonds culturally + here’s a post on marriage and half-foots for more. The community aspect of half-foots is very strong, which makes sense especially for how empoverished and discriminated against they are, which does come at the expense of not unlike dwarves (dwarves which half-foots idolize) having more pressure to fit in and have a good reputation to not be cast out and have no support lines. By being scared and needing stability people will often be more conservative, etc etc, though the reverse is also often true, like Chilchuck with his union. But yes Chilchuck seems to have many biases he clings onto, harsh on especially Marcille and Laios, Marcille for her idealism, race and magic meanwhile Laios for his lack of social skills and ‘reckless’ behavior.

He also does the classic "Don’t you dare date my daughter!!", though it’s a bit up in the air because he only gets agitated about coworkers being suitors, not nearly as hostile to the idea when it’s some nameless dwarf. But y’know when a guy assumes every men is as horny and sleazy as they are so they’re like "never trust men"… Chilchuck does embody a lot the tropes of just, the everyday flawed middle aged man. The absentee father and careerman husband who does care despite it all. Disillusioned grumpy old man. Old divorced drunkard joe with a thing for cute young blonde women, as a friend put it.

We know Kui subverses tropes a lot, I definitely think Kui leans into these if nothing else for the bit. He’s tropes of the strict family Father, man doing inappropriate jokes around a beer with his drinking buddies, working man exhausted and frustrated by his job, midlife crisis. Also because of how he acts with Marcille, I always say he’s the boy on the playground pulling on the pigtails of his girl friend bc he thinks it’s funny. Because he thinks she’s pretty.

So point blank, Chilchuck respects women as individuals but he can get a little lost in the sauce when thinking about women in general and jumps to sexualizing them in ways that can be objectifying and dismissive. Casual lowkey misogyny for the bit that may or may not slip into non-jokes as well sometimes when it comes to seeing women as something inherently to defend or take for granted, though he’s well-meaning. He engages in gender roles of "men should be strong and burly" and "daughters should listen to their fathers’ opinion before dating a guy". A guy engaging in patriarchy without thinking much of it y’know, more or less passive and unaware. He’s good in economic and human rights issues but would not win the political correctness medal (though he does care about optics and is very conscious of appearing as upstanding and innocent with the elves or Toshiro’s and Kabru’s parties to avoid getting thrown in jail. Overcompensating for half-foot criminal reputations etc etc. Post on that here).

Do I believe Chilchuck would march for women’s rights? Yes. Do I believe he would make ‘ye old ball and chain’ and ‘my wife’ and ‘ah women’ jokes? Yes. Do I believe he would punch anyone making one such jokes about his wife or daughters? Yes.

I was pretty flippant bc honestly Chilchuck the Sleazy Horny Old Man is hilarious to me but yes hopefully the post was decent. "How could I be sexist? I love bitches"

[luna-the-cretar]

“I roll over and lean over to look at Sarnax”

“Once I know Shepherd is asleep, I roll over and [casts a spell]”

Hold up. Were. Were they sharing a bed? At this moment? After they’ve established before that Shep and Sarnax have been alternating between the bed and the floor? Or was Sarnax on the floor right next to the bed and I just missed that little detail?

[cheriecoke]

truthfully i want to back away from jjk but i don’t know how

[valewritessss]

I’m hoping (I’m praying) that once the insecurities society has created for people—mainly women— becomes too much, the world will kind of reset and we’ll realize this is ridiculous and stop caring so much about appearance.

[malenchka]

“If you’ll pardon the observation, you appear to be in your underthings.” “…Yes.”

I am once again asking you all to read Mortal Follies pls and thank you