#this is for a new cover coming soon !!!

[fumifooms]

"Marchil? I guess I can see it on Chilchuck’s end, but what about Marcille’s? What makes you think she could develop feelings for him?" I’m glad you asked!

The first thing to note is that she does think highly of him

In the page on the right, literally defending his virtues and literally comparing him to Dalclan. And oh…

She does love a brooding mysterious guy who closes himself to love. But surely, Chilchuck isn’t her type at all, right? He’s not princely or knightly at all. In apperances certainly not, both looks wise and demeanor wise, but then that’s why she seeks to know him on a deeper level, to not only look shallowly.

And hmm. Chilchuck really is quite selfless isn’t he? Always looking out for others, and saving specifically her often, always making sure himself and, staying in or even running towards danger for her sometimes. Modesty is often considered heroic…

And can we talk about that drowning one… You can definitely frame the special attention as him knowing she tends to hesitate or be clumsy, and then his insistance on pulling her out of danger that she’s the healer aka the most important to keep alive, but. From the one who says that he just keeps his ass out of fights and won’t help this is a lot of risk to take, and he does die trying to pull her to safety in the dungeon rabbits chapter. And the drowning bit??? That’s when the dungeon collapses. The only reason they DON’T die of drowning here is that the water then gives way to outside. There was NO hope of pulling her to safety here and resurrections would likely not work either, he truly preferred to die with her than try to survive himself.

Sit your ass back DOWN you are in no state, self-sacrifical hero much damn

And Marcille definitely noticed this imo, after all she loves learning all she can about him, remembering things like how he hates waiting on people too. She pays attention to him and what he does and what he says. This to say that it’s notable, whatever reason for it you may think (though we know by this point at least she was already aware he was an adult though it wasn’t internalized), out of everyone it’s Chilchuck’s bed that she wants to sleep in during the Golden Kingdom stay. He’s safe and comforting to her: dependable, the defining trait in her view of him as is shown by the relationship chart in the Adventurer’s Bible.

^ Lending handkerchiefs is a romance trope btw and handkerchiefs have irl history of being used for courting. Especially in old English literature and plays like Shakespeare’s Othello, and personally I do see a lot of Shakespeare in Dalclan (nobility political drama with some romance). There’s how his cowl is a dearly beloved souvenir from his family too, there’s a lot of aesthetic tropes you can apply to him.

All this to say you can 100% romanticize Chilchuck into a princely noble guy if you try and that’s exactly what Marcille does with the wife roleplay. She doesn’t need much in the first place, she latches onto crumbs and makes aesthetic narratives out of details, give her an inch she’ll take a mile.

But what’s interesting about the shift throughout the arc of her and his relationship is that she starts out idealizing him into a little angel of a kid (shapeshifter), and she ends it idealizing him as a virtuous husband and family man instead.

And what’s doubly interesting is that in the former, she’s actively warping who he is personality and demeanor wise to fit the aesthetic, he doesn’t have that bitter pride of not asking for help and the edges have been smoothened. But what she does during the wife roleplay is something else, she acknowledges the flaws and just… Accepts them, rolls with them. She’s aware of his flaws and implements them into the narrative, but the reason why his wife left doesn’t capitalize on them even, rather Chil is chilblivious and his wife loves him very much still, she’s just testing him after having had a night of feeling out of place at his side.

And this is what separates the idealization vs romanticization, she’s not twisting him into someone else she’s just uplifting what he is and focusing on the good sides.

Marcille: "he has a shitty personality sometimes but if he was my husband I’d still cherish him" "If I were your wife I’d be overjoyed to go out with you and would get myself prettied up while you complain about me taking a long time, your friends would tell me that I’m nice and that’d make me happy, but I’d also be sad because you wouldn’t tell me that you love me enough"

He’s angry and his wife left him, he’s *flawed*, but he’s still worth hyping up, still worth having his own romance story, still has a shot of winning back his beloved. She sees him for what he is, human and real and not a carefully scripted character that fits an aesthetic, and she thinks it’s still worthy of love and admiration and fighting for

And what’s funny too is that you might expect her to cool down on him once she learns more about him but actually she only gets increasingly into his business. You tell her your age and next thing you know you promise to introduce her to your family. Give her an inch she takes a mile. And too the thing is, Senshi is equally mysterious but she doesn’t pester him like at all, asks him ONCE about his succubus and he doesn’t even answer and that’s like… It. With Chilchuck it starts off innocently enough with her wanting to know his age, hometown, the stuff she mentions having asked pre-canon. But it just keeps and keeps going and escalating. Think she’ll be satisfied now knowing you have a wife and kids, maybe she’s disillusioned now? Wrong! She wants to know their names and ages and occupations and hey how did you propose to your wife? Do you think she’ll stop after meeting them? What’s next? What will she want to know next????

She’s… Like it’s not a reach that Marcille is all over him. Like it doesn’t mean it’s romantic but she just is. She is not normal about him idk. Can you not ask him about what tongue technique he used when first kissing his wife, give the man breathing room

Marcille could literally go "if I was Chilchuck’s wife" having deeply pondered and thought out the hypothetical and people would still ask where anyone sees any romantic potential between them. Oh wait

There’s a platonic explanation for everything (almost?) in Dungeon Meshi don’t say I’m saying otherwise, but it’s definitely not like there’s nothing here to read into lol

Going off a bit more under read bc it’s my fave topic

Marcille has a whole theme with the charming prince trope with her idealization and storybook motif and Chil is kinda the "Well someone perfect like that isn’t very realistic and romance is usually more complex and that’s ok and good and flawed people can still be ✨virtuous✨" catalyst

Do you see do you see she starts canon thinking the most romantic thing is a prince charming but her arc in the end has her romanticizing an average, flawed, real and realistic family man, who’s on the poorer side and is on the verge of divorce. And that’s what he needed, too, seeing the positive of himself and the situation instead of focusing on the negative is explicitly what inspires him to hope that he might be able to reconcile with his wife, gives him the courage and self-esteem to shoot his shot.

He IS a prince figure instead that now it’s not about idealizing the grand and overt it’s about romanticizing the small things in real life!! About finding joy and beauty in things that seem normal or mundane and uplifting them to make the world feel kinder!!!!

He’s the devoted virtuous man that she wantsss not the storybook prince that’s unrealistic and could crumble like a script at any time. He’s the perfect example of a flawed realistic but virtuous & devoted & loving man. Far from a prince charming, but not fully detached from it either. Something worth fighting for despite the flawed cracks. Like literally, flawed romance being worth fighting for is literally the finale of Chilchuck and Marcille’s arc on the matter, where their separate arcs and issues intersect at the most crucial moment.

Marcille is important to Chil’s arc not only because of her optimism, but also because of her interest and knowledge in romance & matters of the heart, and that’s what he needs to both open his heart up to hope and to try to reconcile with his wife, like idk sounds gay

Their arc together is literally learning to 1) see each other for how they are and not undermining their qualities capacities etc etc while still not leaving flaws unchecked either and 2) opening up to people. Marcille LITERALLY makes Chil open his heart up to hope like idk man. What do you want from me. He’s literally the guy helping her through deconstructing novels and fantasy and rose tinted glasses and like. Deconstructing the prince charming figure into something more real but still romantically beautiful like KUI KUI STOOOOP STOP I’M ALREADY HOOKED I’M ALREADY-

 Ok fine that’s me reading into the tropes too much forgive me for being storybook brained but like. Speaking his heart out to a lone woman on a balcony, Romeo and Juliette shit, asking if she, too, doesn’t want to meet his family, madly blushing. And like she’s learned with Chilchuck it’s all in the little things, all the implications he cannot speak aloud. She does reciprocate, does blush madly back, and the first thing she does is shower him in flowers and jewelry and what in her heart is coded as romantic gifts

A lady, stashed away in a high tower by her lonesome, waiting for someone to call out to her from below… Romeo courting type shit with an offer, a heartfelt spiel, implicit confession from underneath her balcony. Offering him flowers because he succeeded in calling out to her heart…….. And they have to climb to her too…. Crazy

Doesn’t it sound like a proposal. One that’s both so storybook-like and not, contrastedly real and grounded, all about the implications rather than in your face grand gestures, "Don’t you want to meet my family?". They literally have an arc about the topic of romance and this is the climax/pinnacle of it like god?? This is @ the woman who said "Chilchuck is a shy/bashful man so I know he wouldn’t tell me he loves me, but…" btw

To quote a friend, truly the shiny secret unlockable dating sim capture target : THE DUNGEON LORD BIT WAS SO FUNNY BECAUSE HE KNEW SHE'D TAKE IT HOOK LINE AND SINKER HES THE ONE WHO GOT HER TO TURN AROUND COMPLETELY SHES LIKE. WIDE EYED FLAG RAISED???? FLAG RAISED WITH CHILCHUCK 👀👀👀‼️👀👀‼️👀

And the way that this is the culmination of their arc together… Like people are not ready for the ‘Chil calling out to dunlord Marcille on the balcony has Romeo and Juliette romance novels imagery’ take. Or the ‘their arc is about growing to see beauty even in the non-idealized, in the flawed and in the real’ take which makes it so so perfect if she were to lower her ideal from a charming elven prince to a virtuous halfling man (which she does end up romanticizing)

So there, you got to witness in real time what happens when I think about marchil for longer than 2 minutes, there are so many layers it’s a deranged rabbithole. I saw the necronomicon of subtext and it’s driving me to madness with forbidden knowledge that no one else sees

……. Like what if I told you she implicitly picked Chilchuck over a "unrealistic prince charming who’s actually disingenuous" much earlier in the story already. If she was given the choice to think through going with a guy that seems perfect and chivalrous like her succubus she’d pick Chilchuck over the other actually. If I sound insane rn tune in for my full analysis on them coming this month hopefully thank youu. Interwoven arcs of fantasy vs reality and idealization vs pessimism I love youuu

So now you know the general thesis of my planned analysis about the importance of the prince charming figure in Marcille and Chilchuck’s arc, where she romanticizes things to a sometimes worrying degree or idealize people into something easy and digestible and poetic (like Chil being a kid, and then him being a virtuous ✨✨✨husband), and how she needs to value aesthetics less and actual acts and facts more, be more grounded (like seeing people for what they are flaws and all, and accepting that people need money and not pulling through on principles of honor or unity shouldn’t get Namari shamed) and a part of that is accepting that Chilchuck is BOTH flawed and virtuous, a loving husband that still has shitty moods and fumbled his marriage so bad etc etc. So it’s like, her image of perfect prince charming that will whisk you away on an ethereal romance -> realistic flawed middle aged dad with personality issues and a failing marriage but he still is worthy of love and having his cute grand romance story and his happy ending. Ik I keep repeating the same point through this but I need it to be burned into everyone’s brains it has its grip on me I can’t do this. They are so special……

[limited-hero]

Chapter 6 cover!

previous /// next

[rochellehassan]

The Spell for Unraveling (book 3 of The Buried and the Bound trilogy) has a cover! behold!

i think this is my favorite one yet! i love the stained glass background so much <3 the artist is helen mask, who's done an amazing job on all three covers for this trilogy.

[natelia-aldelliz]

Ghost gifts a single tiny ear loop to Soap one day. Says he noticed Soap had pierced ears. That rings keep from handling a gun or a knife properly. He doesn't make eye contact, tries to hide his face, even as he's already wearing his balaclava.

Soap blinks. Ghost has already given him gifts and only behaved that way for the very first one. He doesn't understand. The earring is very simple, but seems to be made of expensive material and not only covered with a thin leaf of gold.

"Didnae it come with another one?" he says, jokingly.

But Ghost flushes, turns his head, and lifts his mask, only enough for Soap to see the glinting of the other earring on his ear. Suddenly he understands that it's not simply a gift. Ghost favoured practicality, but he wanted to give him a ring.

He grabs his hand as it falls back down.

"Simon, what is this?" he asks softly, not daring to be hopeful just yet.

With his other hand, he reaches out to gently turn Simon's head back towards him. His cheeks and his nose are flushed, it makes the warmth of his dark eyes, generally hidden behind a sneer or a bored expression, undeniable.

He looks nervous. Johnny's heart is beating faster. Could it really be...?

"I know", Simon starts then pauses, uncertain. "I know I'm probably not what you thought you'd have, when you were younger" Soap wants to interrupt, to scoff, to protest that Simon is way better than anyone he could have hoped for, but doesn't. He never wants to cut off his love when he's barely starting to open up.

"I know that I'm not easy to be with some days, that I'm not friendly and easy going like you, like someone you'd deserved to be with." he continues, unconsciously pushing his face more into Soap's hand. "But... I love you, more than I thought I could, and I'd like... I'd like to be with you, for as long as you'd have me..."

Johnny's heart is soaring. He has no idea how to react. He'd have to get all the giddiness out first, and the moment doesn't seem appropriate for jumping around and squealing.

"Officially," Simon continues, voice quieter, out of breath. "If you want to."

A gigantic grin splits Johnny's face. All of his limbs are buzzing, he needs to stand up, to run, to explode something. But he's terrified to spook Simon so instead he just squeezes the hand he's holding rhythmically and moves his feet back and forth.

"Baby, are ye asking me tae marry ye?" Johnny says. He's pretty sure his voice is wobbly, but can't really hear it himself as the blood in his ears is louder than the rest.

Simon's eyes do something, what is visible of his face looks like he has an expression on but Johnny can't analyze it now, doesn't dare to see the hope in his eyes, the pleading in his brows.

"I... Yes, I guess I am," the love of his life says finally. "If you want to. You don't have to."

Soap can't keep himself in check any longer. He's making a high pitched noise, jumping up and down where he's seating on the bed, and throws himself at Simon.

"Of course ah fooking want tae!!!"

Simon lets out an excited giggle, swept in Johnny's mood, and tightens his arms around his lover. No, his fiancé.

This is the best day of his life. He just has to deal with this mission tomorrow, and then they can start to plan everything.

[eightyuh]

mixing with megurine luka vs eightyloid be like

[quicktimeeventfull]

Stay: Chapter Six

Explicit (Slowburn) Lawlight with background Beymane & Meronia Read on AO3 Contains: Depictions of mental illness, including suicide and self-harm; please see fic notes for more detail. Also this is set in Canada. The only thing that makes life bearable for Light Yagami is the Kpop idol Beyond Birthday. His world has shrunk to the little glowing window of his phone, where he spends his days watching Beyond’s videos, re-reading his words, and defending him online from the legions of people who don’t understand that he’s the most important person on Earth. Perhaps his closest remaining relationship is with his anonymous Tumblr nemesis, L, who loves Beyond too, but loves him all wrong. In this chapter: Light goes to the parking lot outside of his therapist's office and Beyond gets caught up in some PR troubles. As always, thank you so so much to Monica/@lightyaoigami <3 <3 <3

He doesn’t want to look. He doesn’t want to see. He wants to sit here with the cold against his skin and nothing inside his head. There’s no way to empty it out, but he can almost imagine otherwise if he repeats all the titles of RE:4PER’s songs like shodai, a beautiful thing to clear the ugliness inside of him.

[theclassycandy]

just going on and on about how tyril's arc if ur romancing him now that mc has been gone for a year. more under the cut and in the tags!

When i tell you there NEEDS to be so much ANGST AND PINING. I love Tyril so much and I miss him so much but when I tell you want this story to go INTO DETAIL ABOUT HOW MUCH HE HAS YEARNED FOR MC. I want there to be PAIN and SUFFERING!!!!!!

He has been learning all about the realms from the best tutors in Undermount ever since he could remember so is he scouring libraries all over the land to find something???? Anything????? To find his beloved mc????

I believe that this bow was used by mc (if you had the diamonds for it) and WHAT IF HE KEPT IT AS A WAY TO REMIND HIM OF MC AND HOW HE SHOULD NEVER STOP FIGHTING FOR THEM AND FOR WHAT HE BELIEVES IN.

Does he think about mc and how they made him feel? Does the pain of losing them keep him up at night? Does he think about how unfair it is that first he lost his best friend, Kaya, was banished from Undermount, saw an evil elf take her place and body and the person that helped him seek justice for her, the love of his life, was taken as well? Does he think about how their kindness and heroism was only repaid by constant peril??? Does he think about they were supposed to return to Undermount together but he returned only to search for answers on how to get them back????? Does Adrina and his father have to check on him and how he's doing because they know he's neglecting himself to find answers for finding mc???? Does he cry to the Gods about how he hopes they look down on him with pity and mercy for them to be safe and alive to come back to him????????????? ESPECIALLY IF YOUR MC IS AN ELF - DOES HE MOURN HOW MC WAS SO EXCITED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THEIR OWN PEOPLE AFTER NEVER BEING SURROUNDED BY THEM THEIR ENTIRE LIFE AND NOW HE THINKS THEY WILL NEVER GET THE CHANCE???????!!!!!!?????? DOES HE DOES HE-

[fishbloc]

feel sooooo excited the dd storybook is almost here like theres actually a set deadline (in 2 weeks) and a week after that deadline ill get it shipped off for test prints and if the prototypes are good i can look into selling them. but the point is the storybook will be real!! my first self-published book!!! this is huge!!!

[aqpippin]

six sentence sunday —

and now I’m covered in you 🌼

She doesn’t care if there’s a kid that needs help trying her shoelaces and that there’s laundry to be done and beds to be made and a kitchen light they could stand under and love each other just as well from there. She wouldn’t even care if the world was ending outside her bedroom window, if volcanoes were exploding and chasms were ripping themselves into the ground and the sky was falling around them. It could be the last moment of their lives or just the first in a long list of mornings where they’ll wake up wrapped in each other like this; Gigi doesn’t care. She wants to hold this scene in her hand like a snow globe and shake and shake and shake. She doesn’t ever want the snow to stop falling.

She wants to love Jackie like this - lazily and dream-drunk and as if the entire world is held here, in the space on top of the mattress - for the rest of her life.

Another five minutes would also suffice.

[freshthoughts2020]

[somiyiia]

I just finished recording of a new song.

Maybe it's still a chance that you'll hear it 💜

[vandalizedheart]

I SAID "IT'S ENOUGH" I BEGGED AND I RAN IN CIRCLES I CLIMBED TO THE SUN AND FELL IN A CONCRETE JUNGLE I SAID "IT'S DONE" YOU NEVER KNOW IF YOU'LL GET WHAT YOU WISH FOR I CLIMBED TO THE SUN AND I FELL, I FELL— IN A CONCRETE JUNGLE

[guinevereslancelot]

just wrapped the first christmas present of the year ❤️

[mortellanarts]

2023 go bye bye

[book-lover791]

ᗪᗩᑎᑕIᑎG ᗯITᕼ ᗪEᗩTᕼ

Shadow of Death Book Two

COMING 2024

Pre-order it here: https://books2read.com/shadowofdeath2

☠️ℝℍ ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕝 𝔸𝕔𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕞𝕪

☠️ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤

☠️𝕄𝕚𝕩𝕖𝕕 ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕞

☠️𝔼𝕩𝕡𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕞

☠️𝔻𝕖𝕞𝕠𝕟𝕤

☠️𝔸𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕝𝕤

☠️𝕄𝕄

I knew my final would change my life but not like this.

I’m devastated as I lead my first collected soul to Scythe Academy. My heart is shattered, left in pieces on the floor next to the cold, dead body.

It’s finally time for me to reveal my plan of vengeance to my mates. I know they won’t like it, but I’m hoping they love me enough to help me. Because it’s clear I can’t do this on my own.

Plus, there’s what The Fates told us. I could have more mates out there, and we still have no idea what destiny The Fates were referring to. There’s so much uncertainty in my life right now.

With my mates by my side, will I be able to find my path forward? Or am I doomed before I’ve even begun?

Dancing with Death is the second book in a why-choose paranormal academy romance trilogy and will end on a cliffhanger. Our main female character will not have to choose between her love interests, and there is MM within the harem. This book is intended for readers 18+ due to language and content.

#mirandamay #dancingwithdeath #reapers #mixedharem #demons #angels #mmwithinharem #booktwo #preorder

[jils-things]

meow