#thistlin

[fuu-miku]

What if we were dark mirrors of each other. What if we both lived to protect our loved ones and where I grew self-effacing you grew overcontrolling. What if in our very physically and mentally vulnerable states becayse we default to our natures of leader vs follower, what I needed was a compass and what you needed was an anchor. What if this self-destructive path was what ultimately taught me I should start caring for myself first, and taught you the one you want may be gone but that there's more out there. What if we both became monsters and together we learned to be human again.

They're each other emotional support teddybear... And weirdly it was on its way to becoming healthier too. She grounds him to reality again, slowly but surely. She reminds him to take breaks. She went the extra mile for him again and again because she cared.

But then they both die and forget each other! 🫠

But I like to think that on her travels she comes across patches of thistle flowers and feels a strange longing pull she doesn't understand... Did you know thistles taste sweet, once you remove its thorns to eat it? I like to think that he feels more comfortable surrounded by red, now, safer, that he likes his bedsheets and curtains to be. I want to think that if they met again they would have a feeling neither can place, and seeing her always flushed face he'd say "red suits you".

SHE CAN PIN HIM DOWN TOO!!!! He made her into a dragon chimera, the creature of greed, gave her freedom and selfishness even while he took away her power to truly be. But she wants and craves and desires now and if she just knocked his book out his hands... that's her master tyvm. He must have been the one to heal her after the fight with Toshiro's party too I'm just saying 👀

They're both mega protective of each other!!

In conclusion

Masterpost

[heartshapedcurl]

the best love story of all time is the one I made in mind between two characters I’m really obsessed with at the moment

[fumifooms]

Quick Falin analysis. Congrats on her going along with her loved ones’ wishes becoming explicitly canon and not subtext btw!

Thinking of it, becoming a chimera and literally being puppeteered around by the will of the dungeon and its lord is such an… Explicit visualization of her demeanor in life of letting others’ wants and whims dictate what she does and where she goes. Shows the most extreme & worst version of it, of where that could lead her down the road. Dunmeshi loves often showing that with everyone, with the winged lion warping even the most selfless well-intentioned desire into something intense and destructive.

If Faligon is her retreating into that comfortable role of just on-pilot mode following what others want, that’d be an interesting angle too. Because we see like with the dragons fight at Thistle’s house that the monsters CAN act rebellious, meanwhile Falin was just so on board with the commands she got ever since she got transformed.

Chimera Falin doesn’t have a strong will? Oof

I do also think that Thistle is something that her nursing reflexes latch onto easily, when it comes to comforting and protecting others. It’s unsure how much of her is dormant as Faligon, or how being bound to the dungeon and the dungeon lord’s will affects her, but it’s undeniable that she acts with care when it comes to Thistle. On one hand, she fights ferociously for him, when protecting him or even just sent out to scout, but you can’t really say she’s being assertive either, not when she doesn’t complain or act when he eats all the berries and she’s hungry. She’s still that silent, sidelined guardian, only now very, very literal.

I never bought the angle that chimera Falin mostly represented her repressed anger at the world personally, like yes now she’s loud and big and imperfect, but again, socially she falls into the same pitfalls, it’s just that now she’s top dog, below just one person, and so she’s allowed to be aggressive with everyone else. If anything, it’s the dragon soul pushing her to want more, making her act out, giving her a taste of how it feels to be powerful, carefree and impossible to oversee, but it couldn’t be called catharsis I think. In general, she seems more passive with a "as long as I have what I love, everything else can go burn for all I care" mentality rather than actively(or repressedly) angry to me. Not that she couldn’t have complex feelings over being lonely and cast out either of course, but personally I never got the sense that she resents the world or society at large. I do feel like the dogs treating her like she was at the bottom of the hierarchy also shaped her a lot

Not only cast out by other kids and classmates, but also treated as someone that can be disrespected and roughened up by the dogs at home. She was really pushed into that go with the flow, make yourself scarce and quiet attitude. She’s never really been allowed to hope for better, or to have a dream of her own, her life path being decided for her by others. Besides with Laios, everything she learned everywhere in group dynamics was that she was at the bottom and should be content with whatever others gave her. Maybe that’s why she was so forgiving of her parents too, because at least, to some degree they did care and didn’t want to cut contact, and she takes what she can get.

Thank you @thatsmimi for the fantranslation of the new leaked content, the opening and ending pictures in this post. Their original post about it is here, and as mentioned it is not the official translation.

[fuumiku]

You’re not the dragon, are you.

Faligon getting him to take his first nap in centuries 

[regonereth]

thought about post-canon Falin visiting a recovering Thistle and insisting on bringing them little treats to share together because their dragon's presence is the only thing that drives them to want to eat.

[fumiku]

Slivers

Length: Oneshot, 2k words Relationships: Thistle (Dungeon Meshi) & Falin Touden Summary:

He had maintained control over his dungeon for so long, too long for it all to just come crumbling down. Amidst everything else and the search for Delgal, Thistle didn’t know what to make of of the dragon’s new behavior. They chased ghosts, together and apart.

Ao3 link

[pureanonofficial]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: ダンジョン飯 | Dungeon Meshi | Delicious in Dungeon Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Falin Touden/Thistle (Dungeon Meshi) Characters: Thistle (Dungeon Meshi), Falin Touden Additional Tags: Dissociation, Unreliable Narrator, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Healing, Injury Recovery, Developing Relationship, Missing Scene Summary:

His dragon smiled at him. He hadn’t known a dragon could smile.

 A wounded dragon goes to her mad mage for help.

[anonymocha]

WOAH HEY

by 俺正讀（アジェンド）@ireading62

[officialtrashbin]

Okay anon but I hope you know the damage you’ve done.

Featuring Supergiant and a tranquilized Corvus Glaive.

***

Supergiant heard a slurred voice in the background amongst the metronomic drips of water from a leaking pipe in the wall of her holding cell and electrical buzz of the keypad outside the door; slowly adhering to the commotion on the opposing side of the hall, she stirred from her mediation and went half-way across the room.

“Midnight,” the voice hissed out. The anguished locution was made worse in the small space, where it ricocheted off walls that hadn’t been properly insulated. “Midnight, my love, do you hear me calling?”

Supergiant approached the door and peered through the speech holes. Her powers were weakened in here, but she had just enough influence to seek out the energy source in the opposing cell. “Corvus,” she said, “you must stay quiet. The guards will come again if they hear you.” Not that it mattered if they did, it was just easier to plot an escape with less variables imposing on her plan.

Corvus Glaive grumbled back. There was a sudden thump of a body hitting the floor, and she heard again, “Where is Midnight? Where have they taken her?”

“Midnight is not here, Corvus—it is just us. This was your plan, remember?”

“What did they do to her?” he asked deliriously. Then there was a terrible retching sound. He vomited up blood and stomach acid and the sedative that had been racking him apart for days. Reduced to a trembling shell, Corvus collapsed from his knees, to the floor where he curled up in his cloak and ground his teeth against the nausea of being filled by the tranquilizers.

“Nothing,” Supergiant answered him. “They’ve done nothing to her. She is safe with the Order. Do you remember? It is only you and me.”

The guards had prepared for the Black Order’s arrival on Thistline, it seemed; their sedative was a potent cocktail that Corvus’ rapid regeneration couldn’t stave off so easily, mixed specifically to react to the nucleic compounds of his blood. Supergiant figured they had used Kloven Nightshade to accomplish this, and if that was the case, it would be an easy enough antidote to fix once they made it out of the prison.

Half-lucid, Corvus called out for Midnight again.

“Shush,” Supergiant said. She found the weak, wildly varied mental connection to his mind, and projected an image, a fabricated memory of Proxima caressing his face and gently shushing him. Corvus’ ache eased. After a while he seemed to fall towards the edge of sleep.

“My plan,” he uttered, and the sound of claws scraping together added a layer of ambiance to the emptiness between them. “This was my plan.”

“It was. Do you remember?”

Yes, he told her distantly. Then, “I assume you’ve formulated our escape.”

“Of course. The next shift will descend the steps in about an hour, and when they open your cell to reinject the sedative, I will encourage one of the guards to open my door as well.” Supergiant was thinking about whether he’d be recovered enough to assist or if she would have to learn the responsibility of taking on another person. “From there, we can retreat to a hidden place and continue to plan our next steps.”

As if reading her mind, Corvus replied, “I will weigh you down.”

She pressed her tongue to the inside of her cheek. “You have a flare for dramatics, Corvus Glaive. The Order needs its leader, and your wife would be devastated if I left you here to perish. I suspect my head would no longer be attached to my person.”

Corvus scoffed. For several prolonged moments he contemplated surrendering to his exhaustion. Supergiant felt the coherency returning, bit by gradual bit to his mind, reassembling it, falling through, pulling back in.

“Sleep,” she told him. “I will wake you when it is time.”

If he wanted to protest, it didn’t matter—Supergiant projected that image into his mind, the false memory of Proxima caressing his face and telling him about nonsensical things, like the odds of two stars colliding at terminal velocity, all chance and tenacity; it worked nonetheless. Corvus quietly slipped into a delicate slumber. Maybe he wouldn’t remember this side of her once he awoke, this sympathetic aspect Supergiant had buried deep inside, long ago, for an irreproachable reason.

She took in a deep breath and waited for the guards.

[heartshapedcurl]

[fumifooms]

AAAAAAAAA!!!!!

these sketches from the dungeon meshi art exhibition are so good...!!!

[fumifooms]

What if we were both magic prodigies and it otherized us in different ways and we devoted ourselves to protecting a family member who has general other goals & priorities. What if we both did self-sacrifical devotion in opposite ways.

What if we were dark mirrors of each other and where I've grown overcontrolling you've grown complacent. What if, bought as a servant into a pretty loving home, ownership and control is what love looks like to me, and to you neglected and lonely growing up, love is gratefully taking any scraps of it you’re lent.

By belonging to someone, even if she comes back injured or fails at finding Delgal, she feels like she belongs and is cherished, by owning someone he feels safe in them not leaving him.

She’s what’s tethering him do you see… And he’s the only thing giving her direction and purpose in her state. She needs a compass and he needs a support.

They’re both so out of it 😭 It’s the weirdly intense and unearned mutual trust and reliance on each other?? They’re each other’s weird little comfort codependent teddy bear. Or at least they were headed towards that before SHE DIED THEN HE DIED THEN THEY BOTH FORGOT ABOUT EACH OTHER AND NEVER MET EVER AGAIN. Though she’s also the guard attack hound keeping him safe… And vice versa he heals her and can rewrite her very being with just one wave of his hand. They’re both so so mentally and physically vulnerable both but they cling onto each other. They can’t perceive things accurately but despite it all someway somehow they stumble into something closer to resembling companionship just before they both die. Falin is just that kind and Thistle is just that lonely. Overworked.

We both haven’t lived for ourselves in a very long time, haven’t we.

They both have a similar devotion to the people they love but again the difference is that Thistle starts overtsepping while Falin is self-effacing. The other difference between them is that people care about Falin <3 People have given up on Thistle long ago, and he has given people reasons to, while people refuse to give up on Falin. Yaad has a mini arc about it dw about it it’s ok he’s not all alone in the end 😭😭 He reached out for Marcille’s hand but they already all wanted to help him, they just had to be given the chance to, Yaad just had to be given the chance to, it’s okay I’m okay

Hey what if we learned to get in touch with our own identity and the world around us and living in the present again through being in the worst codependent situationship ever.

Falin and Thistle sitting in a tree, sucking on flowers together because they’re h-u-n-g-r-y 💕💕💕

I bet he’s only ever thought of flowers as useless ornaments. Weak weeds. But she shows him they’re tasty and useful and good and pretty in their own right too and deserve existing without proving their worth and waaa <33 Thistles…... Did you know thistles taste sweet if you remove the thorns and eat them?

"Even as a chimera, her kind nature remains" you can’t suppress her in the way that matters. You can’t soothe him in the way that matters. It’s doomed. You’re doomed. It’s all doomed. Save me.

[fuumiku]

Chil doodles from a Magma board with the dunmeshblr discord. Chil nation gets stronger everyday… I cropped & erased in case others don’t want theirs posted but @chaospikes is my buddy and they’re the one who did the pink lineart doodles!

[regonereth]

Wanna see Falin n Thistle travel around to different countries and they make money by Thistle playing lil instruments and Falin dancing along.

[anonymocha]

It should've been ME, not HIM

[pureanonofficial]

I just wanted to let you know that I adore your thistlin fic SO much 💖 I hope you write more about them if you ever get the urge!

Ahhhh thank you, this is so nice!!! If I ever get more good ideas for them, I will definitely write more.