#soft namari

[tiniest-hands-in-all-the-land]

Finally finished it!! Thank you for all of your suggestions (taken from both here and twitter) ! Aside from Himari and arguably Danny Phantom, I know basically next to nothing about any of these dudes f;oaeinfa

[goatvaxing]

soft hearted

[mobblespsycho100]

t4t laios toshiro exactly the same relationship but toshiro realised young that she was a girl n has never met another trans person so seeing laios transition after meeting her just continues to perplex and frustrate her (she wants to Fix laios so bad but by god she's annoying. kabru can do it instead ig)

HELPMe yeah yeah truly a t4t love story for the ages

[1tsjusty0u]

people really exaggerate marcille and falins relationship. sometimes theyre just wrong. unless im wrong right now?

[shadowkira]

The Touden siblings are bi / pan bait and I mean this in the most positive way possible.

[mikusgreenestleek]

erm sorry for more peace but he is the first guy in think of drawing when i'm bored. anyway ms paint???

[ambrosiagourmet]

I want to talk about why I think this is the one of the most important Falin panels:

So, Falin is really nice, right? It's one of the first things we really learn about her. She's kind even to the monsters of the dungeon - choosing to ward the party rather than fight spirits and cause them needless harm.

In the above early flashback in chapter 11, we see Marcille fawning over Falin's kindness, calling her an angel. Namari calls her soft-hearted. We see Falin choose not to fight even when a zombie attacks - instead she resolves the confrontation with a hug. After the flashback, the first thing Senshi says is that Falin "sounds like quite the person," which Marcille strongly affirms.

At this point in the story, all we have seen of Falin are these impressions; she is a healer, an angel, a caretaker with an infinite well of kindness towards everyone she meets - both friend and foe.

And honestly, that remains most of what we have to go by to understand her. The only times we get to see Falin on the page, alive and just herself, are in the opening and closing pages of the story and in the brief period of time after she is resurrected.

Nonetheless, we do have some more details to work with. For one, there is the scene that The Panel is from - a short memory in chapter 75, when Marcille flashes back to while she's dying. In that scene, Falin prepares to teleport them all out, and says that she's sorry "if there is a person at [their] destination." And that's when we get The Panel.

If you teleport someone or something into another person, the person teleported into is likely to be, at minimum, severely injured. They could die.

We can see a lovely little horrifying example of exactly why in one of the Daydream Hour doodles:

So, hmm. That's not... that's not SUPER nice. Certainly not displaying the same "kindness to all, friend and foe included" we saw represented earlier. On a basic level, this adds some nuance to Falin's kindness. We see it break a little, when pushed to the limit. We see her chose to protect the people she loves above all else.

Which makes sense! As Laios says when the Winged Lion accuses him of similarly being motivated more by his friends' safety than everyone else in the dungeon, "...most people, aside from virtuous do-gooders, would feel the same way."

So, we can take The Panel as simply showing a moment of weakness for Falin. A time when she was pushed to her limits, and that "most people" selfish side of her shone through.

However... I think there's a little more going on with Falin than just her being an angel 99% of the time, except just that once. I love The Panel because I think it helps us understand that Falin isn't just motivated by kindness - she also has a desire to avoid seeing people in pain.

Isn't that the same thing?

No, no it very much is not.

Let's look at a short comic from the Falin section of the Adventurer's Bible, because I think it illustrates this point perfectly. The group is complaining about how much Marcille's healing hurts, and comparing it to Falin's, which "doesn't hurt a bit." Marcille retorts with the following:

Now, the punchline of this comic is that, despite Marcille's sentimental assertion that she's "thinking of [them]" by letting her healing magic hurt, they all still prefer to be healed by Falin.

But hey, this wouldn't be the first time that Dungeon Meshi hides a very real character beat or insight in a gag, so let's think about this somewhat seriously.

If Marcille is right (and she knows a fair bit about magic, so we can assume that she has at least somewhat of a point), then what Falin is doing isn't kind. I suppose if someone specifically requested to not feel the pain, it could be kind, but that's not really what happened here. She is the one who felt badly about the others being in pain, and she is the one who decided, without telling them or giving them a choice in the matter, to take away that pain.

Both Marcille and Falin are healing the party, but Marcille is doing it in a way that accomplishes the task in the most straight forward way, without any additional interference. Falin is going out of her way to perform the healing in a way she is more comfortable with. A way that avoids pain.

Going back the The Panel, I don't think its a coincidence that the only time we see Falin (well, non-chimera Falin) willing to do something that could hurt someone is when any potential pain will be far away from her. If she got someone hurt or killed by teleporting the party to the surface? Not only would it be far out of her sight, but she'd be dead before she had to deal with any consequences of that action.

Falin is not a confrontational person. She doesn't push when Marcille won't tell her the truth about the resurrection, and she comforts Laios about her own death - both of those things happening in the only full chapter she is alive and conscious in the whole story.

We also know that she considered accepting Shuro's proposal, despite not having any special feelings towards him, and that Falin never explained to Marcille that she wanted them to share a meal together. When she brought Marcille various foods at the academy, she just accepted Marcille's confused rejection and gave up.

And lastly, we know that she is still in contact with her parents, despite the neglect and abuse she suffered at their hands. Although the way someone chooses to handle contact with abusive or bad family is a complicated topic, which I don't want to overly simplify, I do I think this fact gets at the heart of how she handles conflict.

So many people that Falin loves have hurt her. There are understandable hurts, like Laios leaving the village, or Marcille not understanding the food. And there are bigger, far less justifiable hurts - like her parents neglecting her throughout her childhood, and sending her away to be alone at the magic academy.

It doesn't seem like Falin has ever confronted any of it directly.

And the unhealthy aspects of this kind of avoidance of pain and confrontation is one of the things that the story of Dungeon Meshi is all about. We see Laios grapple with it before he goes to kill Falin, and we see Marcille acknowledge it at the end of the story, when she tells Laios that she has come to terms with Falin's death:

Eating is a part of life. Consuming other living things is a part of life. It isn't really possible to avoid that pain - you can only hide from the truth of it. You have to be selfish everyday. You have to eat - to choose to live. To choose to take up space.

And this is something Falin embraces, too. She comes back to life, after all.

We see her choose to come back to life.

And how does she make that choice? She eats. She consumes, and then she is asked a question by the manifestation of hunger itself:

Do you want to eat more?

There is a double meaning in the Winged Lion's final words on the next page.

When I first read this, I took it as him saying: life is cruel. You will suffer. You will feel more pain.

But perhaps, especially for Falin, this also means: you are choosing a path where you must cause pain. Where you must consume. Where you must take, and must be selfish. Because eating is the special privilege of the living, and it is their burden, too. In order to stay alive, she will need to keep eating.

And she chooses that. Chooses to be selfish. It's why her resurrection scene is so important, and it's why The Panel is so important. Because Falin coming back isn't the ultimate reward for all of the party's hard work.

It's her choice. Just like it was her choice that started everything in the first place. But this time, she doesn't choose to accept causing pain for the sake of Marcille and Laios. She does it for her own sake.

[dadsbongos]

So I recently had a thought about Chilchuck x reader. While drinking, Chilchuck discovers that the reader is a complete lightweight who got drunk after 2 drinks. Not only that, but reader who is usually reserved and quiet becomes rather giggly, vocal, and the smallest bit flirty. Maybe he sees what happens when the reader becomes even more drunk and backs himself into a corner when they become very flirty and forward about their feelings for him? :3

642 words / warnings - you imply you want to bang chilchuck maybe? idk its a vague comment take it how you will ~~~

Saying he was excited to see beneath the veil of brooding silence would go against his entire modus operandi, so Chilchuck would never say it aloud.

Yet he cannot fight the quiet snicker leaving him as you drunkenly giggle over some terribly unfunny joke spat by a tipsy Marcille. Party morale nights were his favorite: free ale and free entertainment.

“You should join us more often!” Marcille cheers.

“Oh, no,” you drawl, staring into your emptied mug -- your first mug, might he add, “I’m not a big drinker.”

“Obviously,” Chilchuck cannot bite the remark before it slithers out.

“Hey!” you whine, swirling on your stool you glare at him. Cheek smushed against your fist, “I’m just not a fan…”

“Because it reveals your actually tolerable side?”

“Rude!”

Chilchuck might’ve been worried about hurting your feelings if you weren’t laughing quietly, eyes fluttering shut as you hum displeased at his jab. That infamous furrow in your brows coming to life as you mull over a response, soft scowl dragging soon after.

“I think you said something you didn’t mean to, Chilchuck…”

“Huh?”

Refocusing your stare on him, you lean forward, “You pretty much just said I’m cuter when I drink.”

“Is that how you took it?” 

“It’s what you meant.”

Rolling his eyes, albeit with a chest full of mirth and warm cheeks, “Right.”

“I hope it was, anyway,” you confess, smile widening regardless of his following shock.

“What do you mean by that?!” he has to grab the table, knuckles whitening, to prevent from slipping backwards.

Shrugging coyly, you dip further into his personal space. Smelling of beer and perfume, “What do you want it to mean, Chilchuck?”

“You’re not making any sense,” he mutters, bringing up his maizer for a distracting gulp. Clenching his eyes shut when he can still make out the pretty way your lashes crown your cheeks each blink.

That itself is a mistake because now the sugary tones of your voice are further heightened in his reddening ears,

“There’s no shame, Chilchuck, I think you’re plenty cute.”

“Excuse you?” he’s thankful none of your party members catch his exclamation, or the slam of his cup against the table.

“Sorry,” you blurt, a muted gasp preceding your slurring afterthought, “Not cute in a demeaning way. Cute like I think you’d look nice in my bed.”

His jaw clatters to the floor: no way this is the same combat mage he’s been working with for months. The one that could barely return Marcille’s small talk without clamming up. The one that dodges Laios’ every attempt at monster-education. The one that quietly slips out of Falin’s sight whenever a protection spell violating personal space is required. The one that outranks Toshiro in most unapproachable. The one with a most notorious resting frown on their face.

Chilchuck was convinced you didn’t even like him as a coworker until you eagerly sat beside him at the table instead of joining Namari.

“W- what…?”

“You’re really attractive, seriously,” you bumble through the syllables, nose wrinkling in a disarmingly adorable chuckle at yourself, “I sound silly, huh?”

Rather than assure you he hardly cares, or that he’ll silently forget this entire admission, Chilchuck nods curtly and buries his nose into his cup again, “Yep.”

“Sorry, Chilchuck,” voice a coo, you relax back until you’re now invading Laios’ space. Head against the blonde’s shoulder.

Chilchuck’s most horrifying realization is that he’s awfully jealous of Laios in that moment.

But instead of saying that, he snarks bitterly,

“Tell me again when you’re sober.”

“Okay!”

Such sincerity makes him roll his eyes again, and once again he’s full of fondness and affection despite it all. Part of him even mourns how wasted you are, knowing you’ll wake up tomorrow with a headache and no memory of this: returning to the sulky attack mage he barely talks to.

[cloverandcrossbones]

I knew Namari felt kind of different when she appeared in the anime but I didn't really notice the changes until I saw the two depictions side by side

The anime adaption of Namari is...idk if I'd say "sexualized" or "feminized" but they made her more in line with mainstream beauty standards?

Look at how her waist tucks in and how the undercurve of her breast are defined! It doesn't look like she's wearing sturdy and protective gear anymore it looks like a fabric shirt and a corset belt.

I don't mind her arms looking more muscular, but it seems pretty obvious why they chose that over the soft chub she has to her arms in the manga. Those muscles were already there they just had padding that felt a bit more natural. But we can't have a female character with chubby arms of a thick waist :/

I think they made her legs smaller too, it could just be the clothing was baggier in the manga, but either way it makes her character less heavy. It doesn't feel like she will have the same weight behind her moves, her center of gravity doesn't feel as low. She feels less dwarvish. (I just noticed they made her feet and stance narrower too so if she did still have the rest of her weight she'd look kinda top heavy instead of grounded)

They're not HUGE changes by any means, they haven't ruined Namari for me, but it is a bit disappointing and certainly shows our society's aversion to chubby women.

One of the things I really enjoy about Dungeon Meshi/Ryoko Kui's character designs is the variety of body types/character designs, and the result of that is that the female characters don't all have the same curvy, busty, figure.

[dunmeshistash]

If someone looses it's head on the dungeon can it still come back with a resurrection spell?

I don't see why not, as long as most of the body is still there nearby

I don't think brain damage or a lack of head would prevent resurrection as long as you have enough of the body left to resurrect them. Since Namari got a headshot and Falin had 0 soft tissue when she was resurrected.

All they talk about is not having enough body/enough energy for resurrection but nothing about any body part being more important.

Here's a post where I compile stuff about resurrection spells

[littlelightfish]

A couple of thoughts over episode 17

Mick: *visibly struggling to get through*

Kuro: hold un lemme just- *picks him+pack up as if he weights nothing and puts him on the other side of the portal*

Looking at the harpy so unimpressed, both have seen way worse.

Mick disgusted as Kabru eat monster eggs, meanwhile, Kuro seems to want to have a bite. No thoughts, only food.

Daya's eyes reveal <3<3<3<3

Chilchuck laying there like a ragged doll. Just. Yes.

Holm's face in the corner. His soft aah hair. He is like: "it's ok now, you can revive"

Daya feeling nauseous after going through portal just like Namari and Holm looking (probably worried) at her.

"Was she hurt? No good if she was, I can't revive her here... Oh, no, wait, right, she gets like this after a portal, its normal."

[fumifooms]

Namalin

Namari x Falin

Easy short rarepair spotlight post for prosperity~ This one I didn’t think of on my own for once, I don’t know if it’s just I forgot the decided-on ship name or what but I remember seeing really nice art and a couple posts about it that I can’t find again 💔 Namalin warrior you are out there and not forgotten ty for making me see the light

I like that Namari’s critical of Falin! I have a whole character analysis on Falin if you’re interested, but it’s generally well noticed that people around Falin idealize her a lot. Laios, Marcille and Toshiro all put her on a pedestral of ultimate goodness in the world, a saintess if nothing short of perfection. Sounds like Chilchuck felt sort of creeped out by her vibes, uncomfortable because he couldn’t read her, so unlike Namari it seems he preferred steering clear of her rather than debate opposed ideologies like he usually does. Makes sense if unlike Namari his issue is with her cryptic aura rather than the stances she does show. "… The dungeon is no place for soft hearts" my ultimate namalin scene <333 It’s fun because while this scene is there to show us a lot of things, mostly to establish Falin’s characters better as it’s the first flashback of her we get, the conflict in it is more than anything else Falin vs Namari in how they contrast and clash and approach situations differently. Namari wants security in swift effective violence and thinks Falin too soft for her own good when she prefers a pacifist approach and promotes compassion even for the "undeserving" in Namari’s eyes. Falin steps between the battle ready Namari and the ghost, fearless. Falin effortlessly gently exorcises the ghost without one step back, quickly. Falin proves someone wrong. Falin proves someone wrong.

I love thinking of Namari being surprised when she learns new aspects of Falin. I like Falin having the power to shape people’s views on her. With Falin ships the most fun part for me is usually that point where Falin/the relationship becomes a clean slate: the person realizes they haven’t been seeing all of her, realizes there’s more of her they hadn’t noticed or that she hadn’t shown, that there’s change, a shift in the views on each other and the dynamic a bit.

Namari often feels like an external view looking in to me… I need to make a proper analysis on her but like. I made a lamari post once (analytic more than personally invested rip sorry) and I go with the same Namari take here, I think she’s someone who tends to have an outsider view on people and relationships if that makes sense, she’s a coworker before anything else and she’s content staying at a distance, she’s not objective per se but she tries to keep feelings out of her choices and how she sees people (her lil arc on not staying to save Falin despite the existing camaderie but in the end asking to work for the Flokes more because she wants to stay with them). She’s serious no nonsense on the job but friendly off the job and likes having casual friends, but she’s not… She doesn’t really feel connected to the group. She’s so focused on doing her job, even if she does get impulsive and passionate and too assertive for her bosses’ tastes, so focused on working her reputation and life from the ground up that that professionalism and attitude limits her social life. It doesn’t help that her reputation makes her widely judged, so she probably enters social spaces on the derensive. The closest person she was to pre-canon as far as we knew was Chilchuck and even they have a very "coworker I get along with" dynamic more than friends, with a similar sense of boundaries, humor and world view. Also like canon says a few time, the party didn’t really try to get to know each other well pre-canon, didn’t hang out after work often no one knew where Marcille was from and no one thought that was weird (also how no one had the instinct to ask about Senshi’s past) etc, the notable exception is we’re shown Namari and Chilchuck hitting taverns together and having a grand time. Everyone’s fine with things as they are, they get along decent even if not everyone considers each other friends exactly. Where I’m getting at is that to me, it feels like she tries keeping emotional distance. Emotional distance from people in general being something which in my interpretation of Falin is also present, which would make it a theme and common thread interesting to explore imo. But yes like, Namari looking at Falin, and how everyone treats her, and being more skeptical, seeing her for what she is a little more, maybe even uncharitable. "Why is everyone treating her like she’s all that? She’s gentle sure but seems like a doormat to me" and then one day she comes running up with her mace ready to cave in someone’s face to protect Laios. So yeah… Keeping her distance but one day Falin offering her some gentleness that feels very too personal for someone who’s not used to being genuine and simply showing that they care… Them talking a bit which leaves her stumped and mindblown in a quiet way when Falin defies her expectations. Namari growing on Falin when she stays and decides to open herself up more, or when Falin ends up reading her really well like she’s shown to do with her parents and Marcille’s worries. She’s very attuned to worrying and why and when different people do it especially when it comes to when they worry for others, perhaps because she does a lot of that too, so I think she’d nail down how Namari does care for the rest of the party and it’d make Namari feel seen both in a warm validating way and in a scared naked way.

We see in the tentacles chapter that she’s someone’s who’s very protective and looks out for her peers in a tough love way. She’s overbearing but it’s because she wants everyone to have the best chances. I like that she’s very confrontational and somewhat pushy and rude, but it’s tough love, it’s protective care: asserting herself to better protect and defend. The opposite of Falin’s type of care, quiet and self-sacrificial devotion. They’re barbarian x healer but they’re also bodyguard x bodyguard in their attitude and role. … What I want for them is slow burn slice of life of being coworkers and slowly getting to know each other better, pretty fluffy, but god, put this way they’d have the potential to be such a hot layered mess of insanely mutually devoted codependence… Falin taking a hit for Namari and Namari being scarred by it forever, lots of arguments about it, my god.

I like that she’s the fighter to Falin’s healer. I looove thinking of scenes of Falin healing Namari, necessitating touch and like, a moment of slowing down and sitting together in silence, too intimate, the perfect opportunity to connect that neither truly want to take until one day they do. I love how onesided I imagine the relationship would be at first. Again, as per my interpretation of Falin, I think Namari would have all these little observations and opinions on Falin meanwhile Falin really doesn’t think of Namari much at first. So Namari thinks a lot about Falin and thinks she’s got her pinned down but hasn’t (not that she’s fully wrong, she’d have credit and confront Falin on some of her flaws like the doormat thing), while Falin is very passive about Namari and doesn’t think deeply about her or anything but she read Namari’s insecurities and logic well. Not unlike how Laios was the one who seemed to understand Namari’s way of care the best in the party in the tentacles episode, and how he was very understanding of her choice and reasons. In Falin’s case it’s more like, the objectivity of passivity… She cares about Namari less than Laios who generally seeks to form bonds, so her lack of investment allows her a neutral perspective. In that way another parallel with Namari that I’m drawing, except Namari lets feelings from her opinions seeps in more… Onesided beef my beloved. I’m going insane save me this post was a mistake. I think Falin takes the crumbs of friendship and love where she can without expecting or asking for anything more than what’s offered, and I think her relationship with Namari (or anyone really) would start out the way it did with Marcille: the other takes the initiative and they end up spending time together, Falin is friendly but unattached until the bond gets gradually and wordlessly strenghtened through regularly spending moments together. So! I think Namari would need to take a lot of the first steps, which since again she’s confrontational & argumentative and doesn’t hold herself back on that front that could spark a lot of conversations I think. Ooor since Falin cares about Namari less than Laios and Marcille she allows herself to be bolder herself lol. Or also circumstances force them to spend time together like dungeon party getting separated shenanigans.

I think their personalities match cutely, I think falin would try to protect namari like she does others but also Namari simply doesn’t need protection, just support. And I think they’re complementary in that way that Namari’s friendly but also won’t sugarcoat things, and I think if she takes an interest in Falin it could go from there and she could develop some understanding of her and idk like an intrigued crush….

Namari wants stability & security & to, like, not be judged and rejected and exiled lol, to find her nest her pack the place where she feels good and wanted in. I think having a fitting partner would help in that (similarly to how the found family with the Flokes seemed to. Oh another parallel, Falin’s top priority is protecting Laios her brother and what Namari are a family figure) and I think Falin would fulfill that cozy protection and that warm ‘being seen and not judged’ feeling. But also Namari would run up to her and yell about her trying to sacrifice herself ever.

Another fun thread to explore: post-canon guilt for not having gone to save her. Sure, they weren’t close, but they had some nice memories, didn’t they? Namari cares, and it stings despite herself when it feels like people think she doesn’t. Oh it wasn’t a lost cause after all, oh it’d have worked out, oh I could have stayed loyal and it wouldn’t have compromised myself in the end. Wanting to apologize to Falin, or just ahnging out with her and sharing a moment after she wakes up. And tangent but that’s interesting to think about… Narratively, I think the purpose of Namari and Toshiro in the story, beyond strenghtening the theme of "seek to understand what is different from you and promote unity despite them" and fleshing the cast and worldbuilding, is Toshiro’s purpose was being a foil & tool in Laios’ arc (trouble connecting with people) while Namari’s was being and a foil & tool in Marcille’s arc (standing up for ideals without being out of touch with harsh realities and needs). They are the conflict that push our protagonists to grow— and they explore different ways of dealing with a situation or topic, different ways of growing into themselves on that end: Laios needing to listen to others more and Toshiro needing to focus on voicing himself more to be able to connect, Marcille needing to learn ideals sometimes cost too much and Namari needing to internalize that ideals are sometimes worth risks (not only to be able to find a reasonable but fulfilling life balance, but also to get in touch with their compassion: Namari restricts her own too much and Marcille is too harsh on people she deems to be breaking values, like Namari not risking her life and career for a friend with no promise of success, or even like how Namari is harsh on Falin’s way of doing things : too gentle, too soft, too idealistic) (similarly to Chilchuck’s arc with Marcille too, and he also plays a hand in advancing that arc in the Namari chapters). We are getting far from namalin sorry ummm preview for future analyses like Toshiro’s contrasting approach to grief and accepting loss.

More post-canon namalin! Thinking about a timeline where… Namari is fond of Falin finding herself and going off to do her thing. "Finally!" she thinks. If she’s still for hire, maybe Falin would want her to come along, either as guide or bodyguard <3, she knows Namari has a lot of good avice on a lot of things to give, plus they’ve worked together before. She hires Namari and they travel for a bit. Travel would do Namari good too I think, even if her end goal is to settle and I think Falin’s would be too eventually. Seeing sights that light her wonder for the world and going places where people don’t know her story, don’t recognize her face or her name. Them, feeling free. Finding a companionship that feels uplifting instead of stifling or charged. Namari having been too in her head about reputation and social games and money that they hit the roads and spend time in nature and it’s like, woah. I’ve been living in a small world with made up rules.

Ahh yes romance, Namari and Falin kissing after 3 years of not really knowing each other despite seeing each other every day then 2 months of wanting to spend more and more time together until they’re an inseparable duo! Workwives. I want them to stand next to each other during campire time and Namari cracks little jokes and Namari laughs. I want Namari to gift Falin a bug caught in amber and for it to be their wedding/promised to each other thing.

TLDR

Rowdy but levelheaded barbarian x gentle healer that will also cave your face in with a mace I like it…… They’re an interesting duo of mixed stuff. Protection being your purpose and what you’re worth for, literally being a meat shield (Laios, Tansu), finding your individuality recognized and validated through a growing bond with the other. Sticking around as a love language. Also bug immortalized in amber and it being beautiful.

Nevermind this wasn’t short. Um! Anyways.

[haysprite]

How do you feel about Kiki x Namari??? I really love them as a ship, but I may be bias because I love flustered butches x flirty fems lol XD I'd love to hear from other Dungeon Meshi fans tho given that it's kind of an underrated ship :3c

ITS SO FUCKING GOOD ACTUALLY!

I didn't care much for Kiki and Kaka on my first watch and reading, but they grew on me BIG TIME with my most recent rewatch and after finally getting to the Dungeon Guide & Daydream Hours :3

I adore how soft Kiki is with Namari, and Namari being so easily flustered is GOLDEN ! Like those are two silly lesbians and I would die for em :3 Mayhaps I'll try and draw them some day? They are literally Flustered Butch × Flirty Fem and I will die on that hill with you, anon ♡

Like Kiki KNOWS what she's doing here idc what anyone else says !!!

[mangochii]

The Crow and The Butterfly 🦋

(Holm Kranom x Half-foot!reader)

Fine then, I'll make one myself 🥹 Sorry for any grammar mistakes and misspellings in advance, I'm writing this during a flood and blackout. Might as well write while our 1st floor is flooded LOL.

Also some art too in the end.

I stared intently at his hands, the way it moved and swayed as he spoke. Marillier floated blissfully, seeming to enjoy her time being fed with mana, the sweet undine dripped little droplets on the ground as she ate.

"Spirit care is quite simple, really..."

His voice tickled my ear, he had always been a bit soft-spoken. Every syllable that fell out of his mouth I consume with much fervor, I nod every now and then. The small tug at the corners of his lips did not go unnoticed by me, his face always lights up ever so slightly as he talks about spirits.

"Though, gnomes like me usually have an easier time to gain a spirit's trust. Being more attuned to nature, of course."

"I see..." I mumbled, as if I could even befriend a spirit like Marillier, I'm not attuned to anything but probably myself. My eyes met with his, and I can't help but get lost in it. It's like he carved his initials onto every gemstone in existence, and made it his eyes. It glints as he opened his mouth, a beautiful melody filled my ears with every word he spoke.

I am a crow, and intrigued I was with a sparkling treasure, his eyes, a pretty shiny.

"Pretty..."

"Hm? What was that?"

I closed my eyes, hopefully not noticing my expressions. "Pretty interesting, I said. Can you tell me more?" I want to hear more of you, more of your voice.

I am a crow.

"Of course."

And I am smart enough to know that you're out of my reach. The shimmering gem fell into a hole, too deep for my beak to reach.

Why he keeps on indulging me is beyond me, but I fell into the same trap every time. Hoping he'd feel the same.

"Teach me more, Prof." My lips tugged upwards, my eyes closed. "I'd like to know more of the things you love."

I saw him smile softly, a smile softer than the moonlight in the winter. "You never fail to amuse me." With a chuckle he turned to fully face me, Marillier by his side.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything." I breathed, voice barely heard. I saw his eyes widened slightly, I hear his heartbeat racing, his breathing hitched, and muscles tensed.

"Okay." He whispered back, pink lightly dusted the apples of his cheeks and to the tips of his ears.

For once, I felt like that shiny gemstone is within reach. It's so wrong, so selfish of me. But I can't help it.

Holm stared at the fire, he felt the eyes of his party members bore through him. "So Holm, you never really opened up about your love life to us." Daya hummed, her finger pointed at him.

"Well, I don't think Holm's the type to have a partner, y'know?" Mouth filled with meat, Mickbell shrugged, with Kuro nodding in agreement. "I've crashed by his place few times already, it's maidenless."

"No..." Kabru, the ever so perceptive man, spoke. His hand covered his mouth as he began to mutter. "I've seen him talk with a half-foot lady everytime we go back up from the dungeon, she looks like an adventurer too... Maybe a newbie? No, she looks a bit experienced... Hmm..."

Holm's breath hitched, he dare not to look away from the fire. A futile attempt to delay the inevitable, in the back of his weary mind, he thinks that it's already a bit too late.

"A half-foot lady with Holm? Oh!" Mickbell eyes lightened in recognition, "I know her, she bought me and Kuro free food when she accidentally spilled grape punch on me."

"Meat yummy."

"You're so right, Kuro! Gods, I wish I can eat there again... Anyway, I heard that she's with that dwarf, Namari, for a bit... I didn't think she'd be into gnomes though, most half-foot ladies nowadays prefer to be with dwarves, because they look muscular than us half-foot men."

"They're right, you look like a noodle." Rin added, eyeing Mickbell's form up and down, with Daya giggling in tow.

"Oi!"

"A good noodle in our eyes, Mick." Kabru sneaked in.

"That doesn't make it any better!"

Holm flinched as Mickbell stood and pointed at him, "This is about Holm's love life! Not my physique!" He huffed and sat back down, arms crossed. His brows were furrowed together so hard that it might leave a crease in-between.

"There wasn't anything really... She was just curious about Marillier and gnomish magic." Lies. The way she tries to listen intently to his explaination was adorable, her smile every time she met his eyes filled his heart with such a comforting warmth, the way she asks questions to clarify some of his points, the way she bites her lip when he talks a bit too fast, everything.

She was Holm's everything, but they're just... Nothing. There's nothing between them at all, despite the two of them knowing they both want to be something, anything but what they both currently have. There was nothing.

A series of groans came from the rest of the party, disappointed. But Holm couldn't help but sweat at the way Kabru looked at him, sapphire eyes stare at him knowingly. He swallowed hard and looked away.

To love her was selfish, and cruel for himself. She could've fallen for any other half-foot, but chose him. What happens to him once you pass? Look for another? Or spend every waking moment of his life grieving til' he too, passes away? Surely she had thought the same, settling for ghostly touches and lingering smiles.

He knows and feels her hesitance, how her fingers twitched when she tried reaching out. But they both feel too far from each other.

No, she knows this is unfair to him. Unfair to the both of them.

But gods, why does she look at him so fondly like that? Why? Her eyes shine brighter than any jewel in the world every time he spoke. Why?

"I love you, Holm." With a sad smile, my voice hushed and sung a broken melody, I finally spoke my heart out. I've mulled it over day and night, and I've concluded that my happiness is worth less than his.

"But I can't. I can't have you. It's too cruel for you."

His eyes widened, mouth opening and closing. Words failed to get past his throat, so he stood there, frozen. As he'd always do.

"I'll spare you the decades worth of pain. The years worth of you grieving my inevitable death." I said as softly as I could, reaching for his cheek. "Thank you... For indulging me." I rubbed tender circles on his skin, before pressing my lips on his own, his lips were dry and a bit chapped, he tasted like sweet fruit. For mere seconds, that's how long the kiss lasted, but I was for sure thought it lasted for minutes.

I am a greedy, greedy crow. And you are a butterfly.

As I pulled away, his hands crept up to the back of my neck. Slowly, delicately pulling me back closer to him. "No." He breathed, shakily. I hear his heart hammer on his chest, his eyes glimmer amidst the tears that began to pool.

"I want to love you, I want to hold you more like this. I want... I want to love you in every library, by the fountain when we first met, on the sidewalk, at that one restaurant that you said you liked, at the storage room that I found you stuck in,

Under the, the tree by the hill,

In the dungeon,

Everywhere.

Let me love you."

Little butterfly placed delicate kisses on my beak, your wings were more beautiful than any shiny that a crow like me could ever find.

His kisses was chaste, delicate, and thorough. Tenderly engraving his name in my soul. "I don't care if I have a decade or two or whatever years left to be with you."

His fingers guided themselves to my waist, he held me so desperately, as if I'd disappear had he let go of his tight hold. "I'll cherish those years like a family heirloom."

In his eyes, I'm neither crow nor butterfly. But a little flower, your crystalline jewels stare at my petals, as I guard the spinning nectar that you can't help but consume.

I guess you're no better than me. You drink and drink, an endless parchment of my love.

My body relaxed as he kissed me once more, the sweet honey of my soul pours fresh unto his heart and tongue. His heartbeat is my beautiful orchestra, and his eyes is the forest that I don't mind getting lost in.

"I love you." He whispered to my ear like a silent prayer.

I couldn't help but smile, red flooding my face. "I love you too." Your voice is the sweetest symphony.

___

YAY ART 🥰

[britcision]

Also by the way Daya having a super soft girly voice in the English dub makes Namari’s 1000% funnier every time she speaks because she’s really out there being more macho than the men for no fucking reason

Ain’t a dwarf thing, Daya sounds like a fairy princess

Our queen Namari is just Like That and it’s what she fucking deserves

Edit: went to the original Japanese and she’s a little less High Femme but Daya’s still distinctly more traditionally girly and I love it

Oh and also most importantly of all Namari’s still butcher than Kabru

[psiroller]

a kiss with a fist and such

i'm working on a lil somethin something where chilchuck and laios get into a fistfight at a bar and then make out. here's a really cringe aperitif to set up the conflict. it's pre-canon, i guess?? falin, namari and shuro are there. unfortunately for them.

nothing much happens in this excerpt but the final will involve romantic interests being violent to each other. i'd recommend not reading it if you're sensitive to that, but it's nothing too far outside the realm of what is portrayed in the manga lol

Laios had read volumes upon volumes of advice for the aspiring dungeon crawler and the content of this research could be summed up as thus: the party leader’s main objective is to keep everyone from killing each other before a monster can. The old king’s dungeon contained labyrinths that slithered like restless serpents, spike traps, false walls, beasts and enchanted baubles, but no trick more treacherous than pitting adventurers against one another. Why bother with conjuring monsters if you could simply torment your intruders until someone snapped? Sometimes a squabble over good loot was all it took for a party to dissolve.

Falin did most of the work in smoothing over the occasional interpersonal conflict, her calm smile and soft voice able to soothe even banshees, but there was only so much goodwill Laios’ kind little sister could afford him. Not everyone cared to learn the ins and outs of minotaur husbandry, or the complicated respiratory system of a seven-headed hydra, halfway down the magic murder hole. Laios didn’t really know what else there would be to talk about in a dungeon, though, so he often ran his mouth to fill the silence.

“Laios, if I hear one more fact about manticore scat I’ll make sure you’ll be living the dream.”

Chilchuck glowered up at Laios, hands on his hips, brows furrowed into a cute little crease.

“C’mon, it was relevant,” Laios said, cleaning his hands off with an already filthy handkerchief. “It’s fresh, so the monster’s nearby.”

“Fantastic news! I didn’t need a report on the texture. Let’s go.”

Chilchuck, the new hire, was an ornery sort. Good at his job—one would hope, with the astonishing upfront fee—but not with people. Laios could relate. A glance at the scrunched-up faces of Namari, Marcille and Shuro confirmed that Chilchuck wasn’t just bitching for the sake of it this time. He searched Falin’s strained grin for some backup, but she was at a loss.

Luckily, there were workarounds for the warrior in want of charisma.

“Cheer up, little guy.” A vein bulged out on Chilchuck’s forehead; Falin grimaced and mouthed an apology behind Laios’ back. “I’ll buy everyone a round at the tavern once the job’s done.”

Chilchuck debated holding the grudge, then sighed with a slumping of the shoulders.

“All the more reason to get a move on, then,” Namari said cheerily, glad to forget the scene they’d just witnessed. She clapped Chilchuck on the shoulder as she passed, staggering him out of his confrontational stance. He grunted and let it go, folding his hands behind his head and continuing down the tunnel.

“Nailed it,” Laios whispered to Falin, who met him with a congratulatory pat on the back. Wasting his cut of the profits on beer wasn’t wise with rent coming up, but the party’s cohesion was important, too. They’d managed to kill a green dragon last week, and it would be nice to keep that ball rolling.

“Good job, big brother! Um, next time, maybe don’t… call Chilchuck that.” “Why? I’m just trying to be friendly.” “Um… well, with half-foots, it’s sort of a-“

“C’mon, you two. Unless you want to get the bill after happy hour ends,” Chilchuck called, his small voice booming off the stone tiled walls.  Laios jogged after the rest of the party, armor clanking as he went, with Falin not far behind.