#But there you go

[dapper-lil-arts]

Don't ask what I'm smokin when doing these things. I'm smokin my own thoughts. High on my delusions. Twilight does not need to work out if her work out is her gf.

[aphel1on]

Dungeon Lords and the Human Need for Connection

When I came across these panels again the other day, it got me thinking about dungeon lord parallels again.

...And I spiraled until I was writing my thesis statement about how All Four Dungeon Lords (Yes, Even Laios, Stop leaving him out of these discussions) Are Actually the Same.

Firstly (because on some level everything is about Thistle to me) I thought about how the lion could have very likely given Thistle a similar offer when his loved ones started losing their souls/rebelling/etc. And yet, there is no sign that Thistle ever accepted such an offer, nor any sign that he used magic to forcibly change people's opinions, the way Marcille briefly threatened the party with while she was dungeon lord:

Instead, he ended up with the fucking dining table that drives me insane. Which probably means that either Thistle rejected the offer, or the lion sensed it wouldn't go over well and didn't even try it.

Making replicas of people doesn't seem to be an uncommon part of granting the dungeon lord's wishes. In his time, Mithrun actually took the demon up on it:

(Not pictured; the infamous lamia-version of his love interest.)

What makes Mithrun different from Thistle and Marcille in this instance is that Thistle and Marcille both became dungeon lords for the sake of specific people. Both were motivated by the terror of losing their most important people, and both told themselves everything they did was for the sake of protecting those people.

Because they were motivated by genuine love, copies or mind manipulation were not palatable. I think Thistle even in the late stages of his madness probably would not find these to be acceptable solutions. No matter how twisted, possessive, and obsessive his love became under the dungeon's influence, it was still from the fear of losing those original, irreplaceable people that he was doing all this. Even as his relationship with Delgal and the other Melinis fell apart over the years... even as he was left with only their soulless bodies... he would still rather cling to whatever was left.

Perhaps on some level, Thistle recognized the same thing that kept Marcille from following through with her threats:

Even in the state of endlessly chasing their desires as dungeon lords, they couldn't feel truly okay accomplishing it that way.

For Mithrun, meanwhile, the people in his fantasy world were a means to an end. It was all-encompassing insecurity and the pain of not being wanted that led him to become dungeon lord. His desire was not fixated on any specific people - it was broad enough and desperate enough that anyone could fulfill it. The thing is, Mithrun prior to becoming dungeon lord was by all accounts well-liked. But his emotional walls were up so high that not a single one of his admirers could make him feel known and cared for. The kind of crushing perfectionism he exhibited in that stage of his life often comes with a silent and equally crushing imposter syndrome. No one actually knew him, because Mithrun didn't let them, even though every aspect of his personality then was a desperate plea to be seen and liked. I think the sad truth is that, by the time he became dungeon lord, Mithrun didn't truly believe that happiness was something that could be found in other people. (It's telling that his wish was for a world in which he had never been discarded; perhaps for a world in which he never felt the need to put up those masks.)

In this respect, Mithrun is actually more alike to Laios than he is to Thistle and Marcille.

Laios was told again and again by the world that it was wrong to be who he was - that he was unlikeable when he acted the way that came naturally to him. The lion didn't bother asking Laios about replicas; those would be meaningless to him. Like Mithrun, Laios had lost all hope of being liked for who he was, but took it one step further: Laios had lost hope that he could find happiness in the human world entirely. At that point, all he wanted was an escape. To leave the pain of the human world behind and become someone, something, different. All he really needed in order to be tempted into it was the assurance that his friends would be safe.

All four of these stories have a pretty obvious throughline when you think about it: the deep, intrinsic need for human connection and what happens to someone when that need cannot be met.

All four of them were starving for connection. All four of them experienced alienation and isolation that made them desperate enough to turn to the demon.

Marcille (a half-elf whose unstable aging left her without peers) and Thistle (raised as the only elf in a kingdom of humans) both formed intense attachments to the few people they did become close to, and went off the deep end from fear of losing them.

Mithrun and Laios were both rejected by others for aspects of themselves that were out of their control, and tried to cope by developing masks that left them unable to feel accepted by the people still in their lives.

...So it's fitting, then, that genuine human connection is also what saved all four of them in the end.

(Thistle is a little arguable here; I personally don't think he died, but even if you do believe he died at the end of the manga- Yaad being able to connect and empathize with him is what gave him peace and solace in his final moments.)

Dungeon Meshi is about alienation and connection as much as it is about food and cycles of life. (Or more like, these themes are masterfully intertwined - food is used to represent love and connection over and over again. But that's a whole essay in and of itself!)

[cult-of-the-eye]

wait i might be dumb but is the one thing that all the externals have in common is the focus on children? like mr bonzo is literally a corrupted tv mascot, needles could stem from a lot of kids being scared of needles, heinrich unheimlich being a haunted toy/toymaker. ink5oul and lady mowbray are a bit of a stretch but i mean what kid wouldn't be terrified by a twisted game of hide and seek?? also kids tend to draw on themselves like tattoos right so like they'd be creeped out of the drawings on their skin started changing

[corvus-cucullatus]

What the hell is this thing

[faeryaesther]

3 for 3 ㅡ Jannik Sinner (ITA) is in his third major final after defeating Ben Shelton (USA) in the semifinal.

[coffeeisfortheresponsible]

hey here’s a statistic no one asked for: 1/3 of all ninjago fanfic on ao3 is tagged as angst

[hadleysmis]

During Lockdown in 2020, I remember my first tackle at writing an Asian character in Les Misérables fics.

Before, I would often just have characters who were inexplicably, culturally 'broadly East Asian' despite being French or British. Ah yes, the duality of Man.

My Modern AU characters would often be White as snow, live in Paris or Isle of Man, but also think in a very honour-based system or do things like bowing in an Asian way to show respect.

Anywho, my first attempt at an Asian headcanon surprisingly wasn't what one would've guessed: it was Vietnamese.

Fun fact about me is that I often use Les Misérables as a motivator to learn about things I would usually otherwise not really find the push in real life to learn. This meant that I would also make headcanons or AUs such as 'Les Misérables set in Wales during the Thatcher era' in order to push me to learn about the world.

That must've been the reason in why I had a headcanon of Wasian!Éponine.

To get to the point, I'll explain the plot went as follows:

Éponine had a deadbeat father whom she has beef with. The only strong connection she had was with her mother. The story begins with Éponine grieving the loss of her mother as she had died from a long-term illness.

It had been months ever since her death, and her father's absence and lack of care irritated her. She had thought grief would bring them together; and it did for a couple of weeks, but he had moved on too quickly for her liking.

As she drank her misery and frustration, she was questioned on her mother's identity and past. The mother was British all her life, but she was actually adopted from Vietnam.

Her orphanage ran during the Vietnam Civil War, and she was placed into an orphanage nearing the end of the said war. She was a toddler when the Americans scrambled to leave the country.

Afterwards, foreign aid workers came back and forth until a couple they took sympathy on her situation and whisked her away to the United Kingdom. Whenever her mother talked of her tale, she was quite quiet and admitted that she remembered next to nothing about her time in Vietnam.

Deciding that she needed to connect with her mother and leave her dissatisfactory life in the UK, Éponine set off to find out more about her mother in Vietnam (I never chose a specific area).

Soon, the visit turned into an investigation as she was given clues from the people she would meet and question, that there was more to her mother than she had first perceived.

Her mother having been an orphan during the Vietnam Civil War made it more of a struggle to get records of and find the relevant people to interview.

From Éponine's young age, she had once asked about her mother's ethnicity- as Éponine was visibly brown while her mother was light skin. Considering she was Wasian, she had found this odd as a child.

Her mother had told her that it was even more odd, as through her heritage, there's a chance she could be American. Éponine had pulled a face at that comment, and soon her mother showed a grey look in her eyes- an indicator of regret of telling such a statement.

Éponine believes that there was a probable cause in that belief that her grandfather could've been a US soldier.

She digs more and more of the truth until she eventually finds out that her grandfather was indeed a soldier, but he was Korean.

Upon finding this out, Éponine learns of Korean affiliation and role that they played during the war. She is devastated and refuses to research of her grandfather's identity further, and instead directs her attention to her grandmother's mysterious identity.

I never did continue on from that story, and I'm assuming it would've ended with her grandmother alive and the two connecting...

[boyhood]

Really hard to know that, for years, I would have given absolutely anything to be where I am now, and I currently feel so unbearably lost and lonely and bereft and insane and behind that I've become completely paralyzed, simultaneously. Both things true, sitting weird and messy on top of each other.

[featherxquill]

From "is this about the blow-up doll we sent out to Bastion?" to "they didn't want to go on without you"; a few of Kristin Scott Thomas's reactions that didn't fit in my last set.

[quintessenceofdust88]

Wip Wednesday

Omgg I was tagged by @bidisasterevankinard and I managed to publish it with ONE MINUTE of Wednesday to spare on my timezone hehe So here, have a little bit of a fluffy fix-it I'm working on, where Thomas needs some old lady wisdom to get his shit together. Also, it's a way for you to meet my most darling OC, Nonna Rosa. Hope you enjoy it!

--

A week after breaking up with Evan, Tommy is still feeling like shit. He can barely sleep, anything he tries to eat tastes like sawdust, and he feels like he’s living on autopilot. He goes to work, he comes back home, he tries to eat, he tries to sleep, rinse and repeat. Nothing else matters, there’s nothing else he feels like doing. He doesn’t answer Howie’s texts asking how he’s doing (he answered the first one, telling Howie not to worry about him, but can’t do more than that); he completely ignores Eddie’s invitation for Muay Thai and basketball, and he comes up with an excuse as to why he can’t make karaoke bar that Thursday. And yet, there’s one thing he can’t put off, as much as he wishes to: talking to his Nonna. 

Tommy calls his grandmother at least once a week; she still lives in Indiana, in the same house he spent most of his childhood in, and he knows his uncle Bart visits often. But he likes to hear from her himself. Visiting her is a rare occasion with his work schedule, and the last time he was able to was about four months ago. The minute he had stepped in, Nonna had asked him if he was ‘innamorato’, because he was looking so much happier than usual.

And he knows she’ll perceive his sadness just as quick, if not quicker. The woman has always been able to read him like an open book. She’s probably the only person alive who can; he’s always made sure to keep his layers hidden from everyone else, even from… 

Well. Doesn’t matter now, does it? 

Fact is, that if he misses his call with Nonna, it’ll be even worse. She’ll know something’s up, and he doesn’t put past her to fly across the country to check on him (he’s always been the favorite grandson and everyone knows it). So it’s best to get it over with. Gosh, Nonna’ll be unconsolable; she’s been pestering Tommy to introduce her to his ‘Evanino’ for ages now, and instead… With a heavy sigh, he sits down on his couch (and tries not to think about how empty it feels when it’s just him in there) and rings her up, bracing himself.

“Pronto? Tommasino?” She answers the call, as always with the camera too close to her face, and that at least brings a smile to his face. -- Np tagging @typicalopposite @unhingedangstaddict @30somethingautisticteacher @actuallyitsellie

[zilabee]

ways to love you - - by tikk

paul / john love - happiness - domesticity 23,000 words - PG15 - Chapter 1 of 4 _____________________________________________

It's 1969 and John wants a divorce, but Paul offers him something else instead

[demon-witch-cat]

Hi there,

Question for your Branch is Keith’s Unofficial Dad AU (Sorry I can’t remember the actual name of the AU)

How would BroZone react to meeting Keith for the first time? And vice versa.

Also would Keith get along with BroZone?

And would BroZone think Keith is actually Branch’s Son?

Guess I ask more questions than I thought I would😅

(So sorry for taking so long to answer! I feel so bad!) 

Don’t worry, I only recently figured out the name! (thanks to @super-secret-agent-of-sin) Though, their relationship is less father-son, and more just big brother-little brother. That’s just how I personally see them! Which is especially funny when you throw in Brozone, Branch’s “actual” brothers.  

Before I start, I just real quick want to say that this is for if I stick more closely with cannon, where Floyd is the one captured and Keth just happens to tag along.   I have another idea for the AU, where Branch is the one captured, in front of Keith/after saving Keith, instead of Floyd. So, Floyd and Keith both replace/swap with Branch in the journey (If that makes sense). I can talk about that too, but I figured this one would be easier to work with. 

Now, I do like to think that there is a moment for each brother (maybe not Floyd, idk) where they’d see this trolling with blue hair, almost the exact same shade of blue as Branches when he was little, holding their youngest brothers hand staring at them with wide blue eyes, and immediately think “Oh shit, this is B’s kid!” And if they say this, Branch will quickly correct their thinking with a “What, no, Keith isn’t my kid! He’s my little brother, who I adore very much!” saying it both proudly, and slightly pettily. With Keith going “Yeah!” Before sticking is tongue out. 

Anyways, after that part, I think each brother would have a different reaction and feelings. 

KEITH 

Starting with Keith, he doesn’t like them. At least at the beginning he doesn’t. In his mind, they left Branch when he was little, and Branch clearly doesn’t like them, so he doesn’t like them. Because of this Keith decides to tag along on the mission so he can ‘protect’ Branch. Over the course of movie, he relaxes a bit with the creepy stares and feirce and childishly blunt comments. However, that doesn’t mean he likes them, especially with all the talk of ‘perfect’ and them calling Branch nicknames he very clearly doesn’t like. Keith doesn’t really understand the entire situation, he just doesn’t like how they just act like everything is normal with Branch. Like they are brothers. He does slowly warm up to them after the events of the movie though. Eventually seeing them all as older brothers as well. Though not after a bunch more creepy glares, blunt comments, and many pranks. Keith can be a menace when he wants to be. Branch will always be his favorite though, and vice versa. 

JOHN DORY 

John would be surprised, especially with how close they are, and probably feel jealous about it but ultimately take it in stride. Maybe during the fight, he makes a comment on the fact that Keith isn’t really Branch's brother, which sets Branch off even more, but he’d feel bad about it immediately afterwards. Especially seeing the heartbreaking look in Keiths eyes. After the movie’s events, though, he’d be all over it, and I can see him being the first or second brother to win over Keith (after apologizing for the comment). Especially with their common interest in the woods/outdoors (which is also shared with Branch, obviously). I think they could have a cute dynamic, once they get past the cannon drama. 

BRUCE 

Bruce would also take Branch and Keith being brothers in stride. He’d also feel very proud of Branch, especially when the first interaction he sees between the two is Keith tugging at Branches hand, asking if he can play with his own kids, and Branch turning to look at him in his own question, before agreeing, insisting that he be careful and to not wander off too far. His baby bro is so responsible and clearly a good big brother! Also, his dad instincts would totally kick in when he’s around him (like with tiny), but at the same time he wouldn’t usually get a chance to act on them because Branch was usually already on top of it. Keith looks like he’s wandering too far off? Branch is already calling him back or walking over to him. Keith’s looking nervous about the situation? Branch seems to know exactly what to do to calm the young trolling down. Hug time? The two don’t even think about it, Branch just automatically opens his arms for Keith to immediately jump into(or, even funnier, Keith and Poppy both race to hug Branch, who looks like he’s just accepted it a long time ago) That part does kind of sting though, as when he’d hugged Branch for the first time in years, he was shoved away with an uncomfortable, yet stern look. And then immediately almost being bitten by the green trolling. 

CLAY 

Clay, for some reason, I see him both the most confused, and maybe the most jealous over this. I don’t know why, it’s not because the two wouldn’t get along, because they would. I just see him being like, “Wait what? You have a little brother? ...How?” Like, same vibe as his late reaction to their grandma having been eaten. But then after Branch giving him a quick explanation, he’d kind of just... Doesn't interact with Keith unless he’d need to. At least during the events of the movie. After the movie events though, Clay would learn that Keith likes to create stories, specifically more morbid stories. Just like Branch, he’d also like to listen to Keith’s stories (I hc that Clay likes a lot of different literature. He just has more of an interest in ‘sad’ books).  

FLOYD 

Floyd would be like “Aw, your a big brother now too! That’s so sweet!” And then try to talk to Keith, but Keith would immediately just be on edge and glare at him, considering how the others were. This would throw Floyd, and Branch honestly, through a loop, but he’d try his best to get past it. Branch would try to get Keith relax a little bit, but Keith is stubborn and, as I said before, protective. The others already hurt Branch; he doesn’t know if he can trust Floyd not too. Of course, he’s not as much of a menace with Floyd as he is with the others. But it's literally only because he almost died and is still healing. By the time he’s recovered though, Keith would trust/like him enough not to go full menace little brother on him.  

Sorry, I just went on a tangent here, but I’d been thinking about this a lot! So, thank you for giving me a chance to talk about it! 

[ingravinoveritas]

Super unrelated to DT or MS but mind if I ask what your url means? I've always been curious.

Hi, Anon! Sure thing. My url is a play on the phrase "In vino veritas," which is Latin for "In wine, there is truth." My last name is Gravino, and my dad (who is a retired Latin and Greek teacher) years ago made a joke about "In Gravino veritas." So that is how I got the url for my blog.

I hope that helps to answer your question. Thanks for writing in! x

[queenlucythevaliant]

this is re: a super old post lol but when does harry potter make mischief just for the heck of it? yes he breaks rules but it’s always for a decent reason as far as i can remember, not just for kicks and giggles (tbf i haven’t reread in quite a while)

You're referencing this post, correct?

I don't think I was saying that Harry Potter makes mischief just for the heck of it so much as that he has a very ends-justify-the-means mentality when it comes to mischief making. He's perfectly content to lie to authority figures, even those we know to be Good, because he is fundamentally mistrustful of authority. He breaks the rules all the time because he doesn't believe that the rules are there for a good reason. (And, to his credit, he is often right about these things.)

Fred and George are a good example of the "agents of chaos" mischief makers I mentioned later on in those tags, as are Harry's dad and co. The code phrases for the magical map they all use are literally "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" and "mischief managed." The series as a whole had a very pro-rule breaking bent to it that doesn't really come up against many ethical lines. Lying to authority figures is fine because authority is Bad. Pranks are to be celebrated, even if not everyone enjoys them. Why not cut class with candies that make you sick? It's all in good fun.

The point I was trying to make in the original post is that Corin in HHB is a really good counter-example to this attitude around mischief making: both Harry's attitude and that of the series as a whole. Corin is a character who enjoys breaking rules, causing a bit of chaos, and getting into fights for fun, but he's very ethical about it. He's fundamentally unwilling to lie about said mischief, even if he could totally get away with it. He threatens to knock people down all the time, but he only really does it when people disrespect Queen Susan. Even the city guards who try to lock him up during his day of escapades get tricked into drinking wine and falling asleep, not beat up. Shasta even comments that Corin looks abashed when he gets in trouble with his dad. He's respectful of the authority figures in his life.

I don't know, I just think that the two series have very different attitudes around mischief and trouble-making. I don't think Harry Potter's attitude is bad, per se - and it's certainly not unique among children's books, many of which have a real lack of trustworthy adults - but I find HHB's attitude really wholesome. I genuinely love that Corin, the most mischievous character in the series, genuinely cannot fathom lying to Edmund.

[batsplat]

1989 | 2007