#chilchuck backstory stuff

[ciderjacks]

contracts written in blood

+

[piratespencil]

Can’t believe I haven’t seen a single gif of Marcille flopping like her sky fish yet…

[fuumiku]

Selkie AU

Ok so on discord we went off. A lot of this is just paraphrasing or copy pasted from buddies hii guys. It’s honestly a fun concept to play with no matter how you turn it around~ I’ll start off with the version I drew these doodles for but it’s all under the cut because it got so long... There’s also always place for different flavors like if they realize the other’s a selkie immediately or over time, etc etc so this is all just food for thought. Marcille is always the instigator though lol, obsessed with him no matter the universe. As a selkie wants to learn more about this human and as a researcher is chasing after this secretive mysterious sea-guy while he very much tries to escape everyone’s attention.

Fisherman Chil & selkie Marcille

Old sad fisherman Chilchuck… He drinks out at sea even. Divorcee dad who’s got nothing waiting for him on land anymore. He’s on the sea every day to get fish to sell at the wet market or to the butcher, the sky and sea’s grey and everything’s dull and tedious. Seals are nothing special either. The only stuff he knows about selkies really could have some selkie storybooks he reads to his daughters. Meanwhile selkie Marcille… You could go a lot of different routes I feel. You know I feel like being a selkie fits with Marcille and her mom, with that interaction of "you’ll have to let others go and deal with that", like in this AU she’ll always be different and will have to leave people behind for the sea eventually here and there and whatnot…

Chilchuck and worksongs... Fisherman Chilchuck singing sea shanties while selkie Marcille sings her songs of the sea and then she hears him and gets curious and follows him back on land or something…… Tries to blend in with humans just so she’s like. What’s his deal. But them only meeting out at sea is very cute as well. Eventually she gets on his boat and they hang out. Melancholic psychological horror sea tragedy-romance would be fun idk. Maybe he starts hearing a woman sing out at sea randomly and thinks it’s the alcohol. But he’d be a goner already lmao. Like don’t get me wrong it’d take a while of actual interactions for him to actually fall in love, but also ~~he’s lonely~~ pretty blonde woman waaaa. Siren imagery hehe. "Hmmm I didn't know selkies had hypnotic voices as well" (they don't. he's down outrageous and he knows it.) Mr "in denial so bad maybe magic is the answer yep for sure". I want her to hear him singing something he used to for his daughters/wife etc and shes like 👁️👁️ who hurt this man........... (Could also work for selkie Chil) What’s his tragic backstory…..

I think marcille also deserves to go silly and catch a carp between her teeth, giving it to chilchuck batting her eyelashes like teehee... I'm such a good assistant right... He needs them undamaged if he wants to sell them but he still makes use of her gift anyway... Puts it in a stew and shares it with her... Something we made together..… Marcille being able to taste human food with actual spices and actual heat and actual cooked meat... His home is the warmest place on the surface. His hugs are more comforting than even the water’s. AGH and how long hasn’t he eaten a real homecooked meal you’d bet 😭 Marcille notices he’s underweight and is like "he’s always fishing though??? Does he just need like, a lot??" and takes it upon herself to bring him more fish to feed him. "He NEEDS to blubber up. I know it." Do you think when his wife was still there he'd come home to the smell of cooking.... but now there's nothing......... He’s on his own, he sleeps in the boat… It just smell like fish all day. The stench gets to him and even the burn of alcohol in his nostrils is a kinder hell. NOW he comes back to the stench of roting flesh and he's like :))) ahh.... my gi rl firned 💖 /j

Selkie Marcille getting onto his boat out of nowhere and slapping the beer bottle out of his hand. It’d go hard if he’s so drunk once that he’s leaning over the railing with his bottle hanging down from his grip and the beer goes into the sea and she tastes it and is like. Now what the fuck is this. Ew. He doesn’t look so good maybe I should splash him with water. She could save him from drowning... Girl who puts him on a rock somewhere until he wakes up and hides in the water as soon as he comes to… Peekinh at him from the surface of the water because, oh dear we're shy now because it's face to face… Drawing parallels between swaying (drunk) and swaying (motion of boat on the sea). She sways his world…… Makes him feel dizzy in a nice, light airy way…… He crashes into his bed in his home and still feels the rocking of the waves under him, and he falls asleep thinking of her…

Go out to the sea in a storm because you can’t stand feeling useless. The sea is your livelihood, it's where you're good and useful. On land you never know what to do with your hands. Maybe he should just let the sea pull him under. let it sweep him away.  Marcille does exactly that, but it's not something that erases him. It's not something that swallows him whole. It's something that shows him a whole other world- The coral reefs, the schools of fish that exist below, the lush seaweed forests that Marcille treasures so much. It's all been there for him to see, theres so much beneath his feet. And all he had to do was let her take his hand. This world full of fish and creatures he's caught and gutted... that he gets to see in a different light…… The idea of him trusting her enough to let her lead him underwater... I think the time that Marcille leads him into the water should be on one beautiful evening, with the water shimmering, and the sun casting rays onto the waters surface- enough that it's still scary at first, enough that Chilchuck still struggles against the salty grasp of the waves, but when marcille takes him under he can see just how the light of the sun casts its spotlight on the seafloor- and how even in the shallows therein lies a thousand wonders, ones he's stepped right over before. I'm just obsessed with chilchuck experiencing a whole nother world in there. Give me childlike wonder. Give me a Marcille who wants to show her grump fucking fisherman boyfriend the cute fishies and the minnows, the pretty hermit crabs. Something about the sea looking different from beneath the waves... The parallels of him on the beach stepping over shells and urchins in the shallows with his boots and just crush them right over, not even noticing he did from force of habit and routine having dulled everything… Him working on the sea all the time but never really seeing it because he’s so absorbed in his own shit and he always just uses the harbor so there’s never real contact with it anyways. When the sea water laps at his forearms when he reels the net in but they feel like lashes of frost against his skin. She'd look really pretty with her hair flowy in the waves............ Marcille’s hair should get used for creepy compositions more… In the water she takes him under and her hair tangles and latch onto him against his skin. Her hair is long, underwater it could engulf him probably, he likes blonde hair he'd be happy with that… Not the lowkey suicidal ideation of letting the sea take him and how he’d be happy suffocating in her hair when doing a dive wow ok

I keep thinking about the Dredge AU… The video game yes yes. It’d be a mess but ohhh ohh the sea and its wonderful world but also its dark secrets, Marcille researching the depths and finding dark powers and idk the tragedy of a man at sea who can’t forget what he’s lost and the mythical gf he made that was never meant to be and it’ll destroy them both idk idk. Bc of Marcille helping him fish from below as a selkie, Senshi like YOU ARE OVERFISHING YOU ARE DESTROYING THE ECOSYSTEMMM @ them lmao You are feeding the whole town and making big bucks but you’re fishing so much that some fish are starting to get stale without being bought, the sea is bleeding and the leviathan is hungry

Maybe one time, one of them gets upset at the other and holds the seal fur hostage, its sooo mean but it also feels very them. When I think selkie I think of the movie Song of the Sea and in that movie the father of the protags loved a selkie, the mother, but she had to leave at one point for the sea because that’s her nature etc etc, but he didn’t want her to leave so he hid her skin which like. Ruined everything and hurt her. And ohhh the parallels… Leaving him… Just food for thought.

Selkie Chil & marine researcher Marcille

The reverse of that where Chil’s the selkie, Marcille’s fascination for him has the reverse angle, almost like admiration too. Crying she’d be like "who’s this mysterious guy, why’s he look kinda ethereal(selkie fairy blablabla)?" and investigates meanwhile he doesn’t want anyone to see him transforming and such so he’s like "leave me aloneeeeeee!!" Selkie chil? secretive man who just wants to chill gets grabbed by the most enthusiastic fairytale-obsessed girl out there. She WILL almost drown trying to say hi. C’mon mister mythical let’s have a storybook romance <3 Jumping in da water and he has to rescue her and immediately gains 100 grey hairs. She gets her storybook ‘saved by the merman’ moment but at what cost. "WHAT ARE YOU DOINGGG" screaming, she gets scolded very much but it all goes in one ear out the other tbh. Selkie Chilchuck is even better with his secretiveness... How do you get around the fact you’re a seal? Iunno I’ve never been a seal Obsessed with the implications of his family in this. Except if his wife and daughters were humans and so his work travels are instead selkie shenanigans going out at sea for months on ends, I imagine they’d be selkies too… Did they get separated? Die? Is Chilchuck’s cowl in this one Flertom’s fur? :(   Once more mentioning sea shanties Chilchuck btw, Roll the Old Chariot comes to mind… Ooough Song of the Sea from the movie that he sung to his daughters <33 I’m fine

With the researcher angle actually being pushed there are interesting plots and scenes you could think of obvi, but uh we kind of went off on the fisherman Chil Marcille selkie AU instead haha. It’d be cute if she ends up teaching him how to live on land in the end. Dresses him up like a funky lil guy. I went with tallman Chil when drawing it and selkie Marcille’s more elf-like, and for selkie Chil I’d imagine it’s the reverse where she’s tallman-like and he still looks like a halfling… Sea-related AUs are my weak spot <33

No matter how you turn it, Marcille is the instigator lol. Selkie Marcille: this little man… I want to know more about this human! Selkie Chilchuck = tries to avoid everything but this Marcille keeps chasing him! It’s her job to, Chilchuck minds his business!! He sees a sliver of something weird out at night? Not his job nope keep your nose out of that it’ll only bring you trouble. It’d have to really itch him at him for him to crack I think… Honestly he’d make a great lovecraftian horror protagonist lol. We love a girl with no chill and her nose in everyone’s business

Shout to to @dayundying, @cabinette, @soappox and @lucky-fydraws!! These people were there for the brainstorming and the writing of the scripture…

[prismatoxic]

was collecting stuff for a post and ran into this again. i really love chilchuck's backstory for why he started the union... how his response to being treated as subhuman was to start fighting for his people on the whole.

[britcision]

Anyway I dunno how helpful this is gonna be to anyone but me, but uh… I… may have made a lil summary list of all the chapters of Dungeon Meshi by who’s in them and the vaguest description of what happens

(This began when I was trying to see if Chilchuck and Mithrun had been in a single panel together pre finale for Fanfic Reasons - they had been

One. Single. Panel.

Before Mithrun fucked off upstairs at Thistle’s house)

There are OBVIOUSLY spoilers it’s chapter by chapter but I like being able to pinpoint where the fuck to search for random obscure details so: Spoilers Below The Cut

DunMeshi chapters

1 - Falin goes down, leaving the dungeon, meeting Senshi. Giant scorpion hot pot

2 - man eating plants vs plant eating man

3 - basilisk hunting, meeting Doni and Fonil

4 - how not to pick mandrakes

5 - Chilchuck the trap expert, cooking with traps

6 - living armour, Laios first death

7 - analyzing and eating the living armour, Kensuke acquired

8 - Senshi and the golems

9 - veggie knight Laios, meeting the orcs

10 - meeting Kabru, treasure bugs

11 - spirit sorbet

12 - living paintings, first sighting of Thistle

13 - Chilchuck vs Mimics

14 - hair is important for magic, Anne actually does not like you sir, kelpie soap

15 - corpse collectors find Kabru, Kabru Swears Revenge, instant mermaid tpk, mermaids hate Laios’ singing

16 - kraken attack, parasites in parasites

17 - Marcille and Falin flashback, making fake dungeons, the natural dungeon, rip Laios

18 - planning rests, Marcille vs the Undine, Marcille low on mana - need lots of iron, Namari approaches

19 - Namari and the Tances meet Laios and co, the Undine is Super Duper Mad Actually, how resurrection works in the dungeon, fun with tentacles

20 - the undine fight part 2, trying to send Marcille to the surface for mana reasons with Namari and the Tances, Namari discovers the adamantine wok, Tances to the surface

21 - Laios and co down the shortcut full of tentacles, frog suits

22 - Tances to the governor, Namari and the twins visit a resurrection centre and bond

23 - Laios and co down to the castle town, how to fight the dragon awake and without Shuro? Mapping the town, planning

24 - leading the dragon around, Kensuke defects, stabbing feet is mid actually

25 - backup plan, let’s stand on a pot full of fireworks, the sacrifice play, Laios may learn some healing spells pls

26 - flashbacks with Laios, Falin, and the puppers, healing everyone up, excavating the dragon’s stomach and also guts

27 - putting the bones together, not enough left to reach the surface, it’s Fucked Up Necromancy Time, we gots a FALIN

28 - rest and recovery, dragon cooking season, Falin’s a lil OP now, Thistle Has Opinions

29 - hey guess what there’s still dragon in there, Thistle and Falin vs Laios and co, ghost rescue

30 - orcs on the fifth floor, Chilchuck would like his friends to live please, retreating to the surface?

31 - well shit going back is less easy than it looks, the moving maze, dryad snacks

32 - Tance resurrects Kabru and co, Kabru Swears To Go Home And Chill, attack of the corpse collectors, Kabru Has Morals

33 - Kabru and co working out who keeps “stealing” their stuff, a look at Laios and co from the outside and they all look shifty, sea serpent, Shuro and co meet Kabru and co

34 - teaching Laios healing magic, infinite energy in the dungeon, Laios mana sickness, the castle town is moving again, cockatrice, Marcille is petrified and pickling

35 - Chilchuck maps the dungeon city’s changes, dungeon cleaners, Shuro and Kabru and co arrive

36 - Kabru is kinda creepy okay, Chilchuck has something almost like a map, So Did You Fucking Save Falin (it’s complicated), Splitting The Party But For Safety Reasons, Laios tells Shuro and Kabru what has been happening including his Questionable Decisions, Shuro Backstory Via Maizuru

37 - Shuro is stabby and Kabru is a dick, HARPIES, Laios Maybe Should Not Have Told Shuro, Falin on the rampage

38 - Kabru Fucking Murders Falin (or DID he), reviving everyone, Laios vs Shuro, Marcille can MAYBE heal people I GUESS, Kabru has anatomy question, monster dinner for Kabru, Kabru and Shuro’s combined co go back to the surface and leave their supplies behind

39 - Suspiciously Convenient Downwards Stairs, why are we being attacked anyway, shapeshifters are just like us actually, Laios and all his impressions are super obvious so you can’t be mad

40 - Laios and crew with the shapeshifters cooking challenge

41 - Izutsumi joins the party, use your tools properly, decursing Izutsumi

42 - nightmares, Laios and Marcille

43 - reaching where the dragon fight took place, ice golem, Izutsumi and Chilchuck bond

44 - Izutsumi gets Namari’s coat, flashbacks with Izutsumi, barometz

45 - Kabru and Shuro’s crews reach the surface, Canaries reach the governor and Kabru reports, Laios Sees Dead People

46 - spirit kidnapping, the Golden Country and domesticated monsters, the mad sorcerer’s curse, Prophecies And You

47 - dungeon pancakes in the golden company, Yaad experiences Consequences, frozen over floor, That Is A Griffin Not A Falin

48 - griffin done kidnapped Senshi, making familiars, it turns out crafting skills are important, Senshi rescue

49 - Senshi’s Tragic Backstory™️, griffin vs hippogriff soup

50 - first changeling day! Elf Senshi, through the golden door

51 - changeling’d Laios and co vs gargoyles, We Are The Mushroom Circle, wash up

52 - dwarf elevator, Falin and Laios backstory, Canaries reach the dungeon

53 - Kabru, Namari, Canaries, the shadow governor and Mithrun being intensely fuckable

54 - Kabru, Namari and Shuro, mushrooms attack, Thistle Sighted

55 - Mithrun vs Thistle Round 1, Laios’ party have been changelinged take 2 (ogre Marcille) and eating ointment

56 - bicorn Laios’ party, the Chilchuck wife reveal

57 - flashback Falin and Laios take Marcille to the dungeon for the first time, headless horseman comes for some bicorn

58 - Laios’ party, succubi attack and the party goes down, Izutsumi focused

59 - Izutsumi’s succubi and party replenishment

60 - Laios’ succubus dreams and winged lion conversation, Laios the Dungeon Lord

61 - Kabru backstory reveal, Mithrun’s broke ass self reveal, Be sure not to want too much, The Ship Begins

62 - Mithrun the Dungeon Lord, footrubs work fuck you, their week alone and teleport scroll to meet up with the Canaries

63 - Laios and crew find Thistle’s house, phoenix fight and cooking, found book 1

64 - Marcille opens the book, need to make a meal for Falin

65 - dungeon rabbits and Marcille’s corpse tour

66 - top floor of the dungeon, Bickering Next To Holes Is Bad Actually, Kabru and the Canaries have a snack and Mithrun will not fucking stop staring, Laios and crew prepare a meal, Thistle is Suffering

67 - flashbacks with Laios and Falin, Laios kills Falin, Ready to take and have something taken

68 - Thistle’s backstory, someone has CLEANED, fuck you winged dragon

69 - Thistle and the Dragons nearly rock up a tpk

70 - Thistle shoulda researched dragons more

71 - Laios bondages Thistle to solve problems, Thistle instead creates a new problem

71.1 - Daydream Hour 4, character sketches, Canaries

72 - Thistle’s Brand New Feeder Fantasies, winged dragon eats Thistle and frees Laios and co to recover, Izutsumi finds Yaad

73 - Marcille is hung over, the Canaries and Kabru reach Thistle’s house, Cithis decides it’s hypno-time and Mithrun hunts down Thistle for round 2 (unneeded)

74 - Mithrun constantly accidentally menaces Marcille, Marcille unseals the winged dragon

75 - Mithrun vs Demon round 1, Marcille becomes Dungeon Lord and spiders it up

76 - Kabru, Canaries, Laios and co aftermath of Marcille’s leaving, dealing with the injured, Kabru sucks at explanations and Lycion is impatient, Canaries lose Laios and co

77 - orcs have captured Shuro and Namari, the dungeon shifts

78 - monsters running rampant, Namari and Shuro and Flamelle trying to work out what to do to save the world, sides picked for/against Laios as Dungeon Lord (he isn’t but okay)

79 - Marcille sees Falin and her dad, Laios and crew don’t drown yet, the Canary familiar army gets weird and eats them and promptly regrets it

80 - pooped out by coatl, Laios and co reunite with Marcille to discuss wtf, demon is a stripper, Laios says maybe stop Marcille says stay in the kitchen and make me a sammich

81 - Laios and co getting into Marcille’s past with FakeDad, do in fact make her a sammich, it does not work and subterfuge is still needed to escape

82 - phone calls on the surface, dungeon is leaking

83 - Kabru and the Canaries see the crack, monsters line up for combat, Marcille gets a new outfit that 1000% does not stop Mithrun from coming for her ass, Mithrun vs Marcille round 2 but he’s been listening and totally tries talking her down one whole time, Canaries tpk’d except Lycion

84 - Laios rescues Lycion, reconnects with Kabru Shuro and Namari, demon shares its goals and sides square up to contain the dungeon, monsters stop to let Laios and co through to see Marcille

85 - Laios and co find Falin in the tower, Marcille drowning in desires but the strongest one is for DRAMA (Chilchuck’s family)

86 - monsters will not listen to Marcille’s stop, sealing the bookhand demon, How do I stop being a dungeon lord?, Laios offers to defeat the demon and resurrects Mithrun on that alone so he signs off on eating Falin

86.1 - Daydream Hour 5, alternate outfits and more Canary stories

87 - demon backstory, needs other site

88 - Laios and co inside the demon (still a thot), Laios makes a deal

89 - dropping of Marcille and the gang with Namari and the Canaries, “Laios” makes a break for the surface but IT IS MITHRUN WITH A STEAL CHAIR Mithrun vs Demon round 3, still no noticeable success

90 - what if y’all go hang out with monster Laios instead, The World Is Ending And It’s All My Fault (Marcille and Kabru), Mithrun Is Having None Of It, Marcille and co chase down “Laios”, demon arms go claw machine

91 - vore and reverse vore, Laios vs “Laios”, get cursed bitch

92 - back down the tower then oops gotta escape the dungeon anyway, Marcille and gang find Namari, looking for Laios

93 - Now We Have A Dinner Party, different groups coming to help, found Laios

94 - elves in the aftermath, Mithrun serving up Falin, leftovers and veggie scraps

95 - meal, About That Golden Country, resurrection take 2

96 - epilogue

[livingthedragonlife]

who wants to listen to my really good playlist

explanations for why i chose the songs under the cut because i miss 8tracks. spoiler warning if you haven't read/finished the manga, some of these song choices involve stuff that happens in the ending

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? — The premise of the story

I Just Can't Wait to Be King — The premise of the dungeon, also I couldn't stop laughing when I thought about how funny it would be to put a song from The Lion King on this playlist

Eat It — Eating monsters!!! Whether you like it or not!!!!!

White & Nerdy — Laios. Who else would it be.

Black Magic Woman — Marcille, because I'm really funny

Bitch Better Have My Money — Chilchuck, because I'm even funnier

Cooking By The Book — Senshi, and this would have been the Lil Jon remix but I don't think it's on Spotify

The Mean Kitty Song (Hey Little Sparta) — Izutsumi (Izutsumi)

short kings anthem — In honor of Senshi's upskirts, but honestly it could be any of the short kings in here. I'm including Namari in that

Stayin' Alive — Falin (mostly)

Ghost — Thistle 😔

Read Between the Lines — Shuro and the fight he has with Laios

I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General — Kabru. I'm right.

The Meow Mix Commerical — This is what I imagine was happening in Izutsumi's head when they went to The Golden City

The Monster Mash — .......the dungeon rabbit scene

Poor Unfortunate Souls — The Winged Lion convincing every dungeon lord tbh

Toxic Love — The Winged Lion again, mostly just the first verse:

I see the world and all the creatures in it I suck 'em dry and spit 'em out like spinach I feel the power, it's growing by the minute And pretty soon you're gonna see me wallow in it

but if you're Nasty 👀, you can also imagine Laios' body is the "beeEEaUtiful machine"

It's Tough To Be A God — It's Tough To Be A Dungeon Lord and also the Winged Lion's tragic backstory

[botanybulbasaur]

love through fiction

stuff below cut because its just stuff im writing while i cry

a quote i keep remembering over adnd over and over again is tahta stupid "the love was there and it changed everything. if you even care" quote because. i dont like change. i like having positive impacts on people but i dont like when i change or when they change. it feels like im losing something, an aspect i cant gain back, a feature that people mightve counted on me for. even worse sometimes, it can feel like im losing people.

so its easier to just ignore change. act like the love and the hate is the only thing that changes, not time. act like we, humans, control how long we have and how the world changes what we love.

but we don't, and we never will. the world will keep spinning and the people will keep changing against their will, against the beat of their hearts. but the fiction i keep reading

it keeps sayingt hat the love doesn't need to change anything. the love being there in the first place is a miracle, a gift, proof that we mean something and that our actions give us something. thte change was there and it made love if you even care.

'slay the princess' does a good job at taking just what i fear and placing it before me. how terrifying it is to be the one who changes, and how terrifying it is to see people change before you. but despite that everybody tried to work together. the love was there. the love was there and it told you to try and change something

then there's the love that transcends change. dragon maid be damned because kobayashi (human character) tells. uak. tells this teenage dragon character "i am. im lying to you. im trying to charm a chaos dragon with sweet lies" after the teenager tells her that she's just a human and she'll die and she's inferior and she's lying to her dragon girlfriend. i think its been a while my memory is shitty. and the girl didnt leave her side later on when she was in bed for a while. she knew that kobayashi was ignoring their differences, keeping it stacked away that theyd die at different times and i cant stop crying. the love was there and it told you that you dont have to change anything. the love was there and it told you that to be happy you have to ignore the change sometimes

amd TOHRU (kobayashi's gf) dont get me fucking started. her short monologue in the train ride back home about how kobayashi will die soon but shes just trying to enjoy what she has now. her conversation with her dad knowing she'd get hurt when kobayashi dies, following her near breakdown just thinking of kobayashi dying. the love was there and it told you to hold on and slow down, that the change is later, you don't have to be scared yet. it's okay, the love says, because it was there.

last but certainly not least dunmeshi. i know i usually bring up marcille here because i resonate with her but i want to bring up senshi and his backstory. like youre telling me he too feels guilty about his family (i know theyre not related to him shut the fuck up theyre family thats what family is) sacrificing for him but it gave him the inspiration and the courage to be who it was. the love was there and it changed me from the inside if you even care. the love was there and it changed me for the better. the love was there and it saved me

yeah im just crying now. the love was there. the love was there and it meant cooking and exploring and selling your desires to the nearest demon and it meant befriending people you'd outlive by a couple hundred years if you even care. the love was there and it made more love despite the change if you even care. the love was there the love was there im jfn,. :( THE LOVE WAS TEHRE. THE LOVE WAS THERE

the love was there and it made kobayashi risk her life for tohru. the love was there and it made laios, marcille and chilchuck risk their lives to kill the red dragon and get fain back. the love was there and it made toshiro wander deep without food to try and find someone who exhibited warmth. the love was there and it made laios and toshiro really become friends because the love was in us all all along wasn't it. the love wasn't because of change the change was love. what made us what changed us was love. what we all have that leads us forward, even in fiction. god i need a minute.

[anarchautistic]

My D&D/fantasy-TTRPG nerds: how do y'all feel about races/species aging differently? It's commonly a glossed-over part of the settings, IME. People will keep "Elves/Dwarves/whoever live longer than humans" but might homebrew out "Orcs/Kobolds live shorter lives," and ignore mentioning stuff like "Orcs become adults at a younger age" or "Elves are minors until they're like 100 years old."

I can understand why most people prefer not to focus on it, since it can lead to some moral quandaries that get in the way of playing a casual game. (It's not a great time at the table to have to get out a spreadsheet to figure out if your 50yo human bard is technically grooming the 100yo elf princess, or if fully-grown-adult goblin warriors are child soldiers or not since they're all 15 years old.) The longer-lived races tend to get a pass on their long lives because, being humans ourselves, it's easier and happier to imagine not dying and staying young forever than to imagine dying younger than usual. Ironically, this kind of makes us IRL humans guilty of the same things as how we stereotype fantasy elves: We look down on and pity the shorter-lived races as if a shorter life can't be as worth living.

My curiosity is mostly inspired by watching and reading Dungeon Meshi, and being impressed by how Kui does such an impressive job not ignoring the age differences. Ogres, orcs, and kobolds do mature faster and age quicker than humans (tall-men); as do halflings in a reversal of usual expectations. She even maintains how elves/dwarves/gnomes mature at a much slower rate than humans, when even 5e Dungeons & Dragons pulls a bit of a cop-out and says that they all reach physical maturity at the same rate as humans, but are considered young by cultural standards until a significantly higher age. Not only does she not cop out, it's not some swept-under-the-rug bit of lore either, the differences in maturation are front-and-center with stuff like Chilchuck's children and Marcille's backstory! Plus, it's never used as an excuse to be creepy and pull some "sure she looks like a sexualized child but she's actually a 1000 year old dragon" shit, the moral dilemmas are noted and addressed appropriately. It's such nice worldbuilding that it got me wondering whether my homebrew D&D setting should keep following 5e norms, ignore it for the sake of simple gameplay, or emphasize it even more for that immersive DunMeshi detailing.

What do y'all think? Do you prefer to downplay racial/species aging differences except for the positive ones like living longer? The middle-ground 5e standard? The complex Kui system? Something else? Let me know I'm very curious!

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

Dungeon Meshi Dashboard Osmosis

They get together because they all care about Falin for various reasons and she goes missing and they explore dungeons to try and find her. Eventually they find her corpse resurrect her and keep on doing stuff.

D&D-eque world. Not sure if this is just aesthetic or if it’s litRPG style with levels and grinding being an actual thing.

One of those stories where everyone is like “you have to keep reading until [x] chapter/episode” if anyone says they aren’t enjoying it but I think there’s agreement on what that point is which is something.

They eat the monsters from the dungeons. This is socially unacceptable but I'm not sure if it's the equivalent of eating pets or cannibalism.

Laois: The main character. Generic male protagonist crossed with the weirdest guy ever. So many fetishes mostly centered around the food they eat from the dungeons. Falin’s brother.

Falin: Dead, Laois’s sister. I think she’s resurrected by Marcille using dark magic. Everyone loves her. There's definitely some twist about her backstory or how she died but I don't think she's secretly evil.

Marcille: Elf. Burned out ex-medical student (or maybe doctor?). Knows so many horrifying spells! Super gay for Falin. Not like textually but the rituals are intricate.

Senshi: I thought he was a small Viking but actually just a dwarf. Fandom's collective tulpa who reminds them to eat. Raised by ogres.

Chilchuck: A gnome? Halfling? I think one of his ancestors knew Marcille. A divorced father. Lies that he cheated on his wife for some reason. Some sort of union organizer.

Catgirl Name Unknown: I don’t what’s up with her. Late addition? Member of the party killed early on to show things are serious? Traitor? Who knows.

[chzdavmpr]

Delicious in Dungeon Reading Diary Vol 5

Spoilers below, obviously

Oh so we are getting right into Falin weirdness off rip.

I called it that this person was the mad mage.

Hmm. So they recognize Laios, but know it's from within a painting that they recognize him. I'm surprised but I think that actually fully explains how the painting work. I guess it's time for a big rant on my guess as to how living painting work. If you don't care skip this paragraph. Ok so the mad mage made the paintings to trap people and it seems like whenever someone enters them a scene starts playing like a tape, except that people trapped inside can interact with things. These recordings are of things that actually happened, and the people within them act roughly how they actually did. However the mad mage is the exception to this. It seems that they can either perceive through the scenes of their painting counterpart or just know everything that happens in the painting. It also seems that they can choose to override their painting counterpart's recorded actions and take control of them, allowing them to know that laios was in all the paintings. This I'm a bit iffy on because if I recall they seem to think Laios is some kind of kingdom infiltrator in the painting which wouldn't quite line up but it's the best I got. Additionally you can draw/paint extra stuff onto the painting and it will be sentient but won't be in the painting proper, just kinda in a plane on top of the painting, or maybe that's just because Laios drew bad. Either way that is a lot, but hopefully this is the last time I should spend way too long talking about living paintings.

Very funny how the label follows them. I also love Senshi's face of "what the hell man those are my hams"

Oh so since Falin was made with the dragon's flesh and blood she is the dragon. Wait does this mean Falin is dead forever? I sure hope not.

I'm skipping over most of the next 3 chapters, I'll get to them in my final thoughts.

Wow this samurai guy is having just an awful time.

So senshi probably got the cheese from the orcs. But I should mention I've also been watching the anime with some friends as it comes out. And one of them has a huge pet peeve about every time they have oil in the dish, since he says they should've run out forever ago. I'm not bothered by it at all, and find it very funny how he reacts every time oil is on screen. The reason I bring this up now is if this cheese is seen more then just this once he is gonna blow his gourd and it will be very funny.

Senshi giving Chilchuck "the talk" is so funny that I literally got light head from laughing.

It's very cool that Laios is learning magic. I feel a lot of stories wouldn't do that just because he's "the fighter" and Marcille is "the wizard" and they would have to stay as those archetypes.

The art in this whole series is great. I love the way the cockatrice is drawn here.

It may have been fine if it didn't come right after another whole chapter where Chilchuck recaps the story so far like there's been a hiatus and they wanna make sure you remember everything.

Man this chapter is on a roll with these A+ panels

I somehow only just now, while taking the above picture, that the chapter called cleaners has the characters dressed up as cleaners. That's cute and I may be a little stupid.

Ok so I was gonna say this this guy may be Delgal hiding, since we saw that the mad mage is looking for him.

But then I remembered; isn't the whole backstory for the golden city that it's king told of the mad mage and then died? Cause that would make it kinda hard to find him.

But then now when I'm composing this I'm remembering that the dungeon doesn't allow people to die, so either he died right outside or that story was wrong. Hmmm.

Seriously every panel with Shuro has him look like the worlds most depressed man.

He's practically sinking into the earth.

You know in retrospect, if the Dungeon Gormet Guide was a bunch of lies and guesses it's awfully lucky that it's happened to be right about what is and is not poisonous. (Or which tentacles' swelling can be reduced with vinegar)

To conclude my thoughts on this volume, that first chapter is great. I was a little worried about what the next plot hook would be but it delivered. They just show straight up that the elf is the lord of the dungeon. And they introduce the mystery of "what is going on with falin." But then it spends 2 whole chapters just telling us stuff we already know. Like it was kinda cool seeing the B Team piece together who A Team is with limited knowledge, but other then the stuff about Shuro there wasn't much new or interesting.

And then the party is just trapped on the 5th floor the entire volume, I imagine because next volume their plans will change and they won't want to go back to the surface and the author wanted to avoid too much backtracking. Which I get, but it ends up feeling like a bunch of these chapters are just kinda killing time until the B team shows up.

That being said, still a great volume of manga. Probably the weakest so far, but only because it's a like a 4.5 instead of a 4.75 or 5.

[drlancaster]

hi dunmeshi 4 the ask game :]]]]]]]]]]]]]

YAYYYTTYY I LOVE DUNGEON MESHI ARGAHJAISJFNSOFJSISJF

Fav female character: I think namari probably. She is so incredibly cool and ik I mostly just know stuff from the point that the anime's at, but already she's my favorite. Actually she's tied with Izutsumi, both of them have captivated me in different ways. With izutsumi it's like the fight to be seen as human and the struggle with her identity and her total independence growing into something that allows her to rely on people when she needs to while still letting her be independent has captivated me. With Namari it's moreso how skilled she is and how she knows what she wants and also that she DOES care about Falin, but she also understands her situation and what the consequences will be if she up and leaves. WE DONT GET A LOT OF HER SO THIS IS JUST BASED OFF OF WHAT IVE SEEN AND REMEMBER, but I think she's really cool

Fav male character: Chilchuck. I like a union man, what can I say. Dude for the guy with one of the most normal lives and backstories, he's also the most cagey with every single detail about his life. I like that in a guy (joke) I think he's neat and I like the whole thing with his family. Saying that I LIKE the whole thing with his family is weird actually because it's kind of miserable, but I think they're really interesting. Also his daughters are really cool. Also also chilchuck is tied with thistle, but I'm only thinking of this at the end of typing and Im getting a migraine so UNFORTUNATELY I will not be telling you why I like him atm

My fav season + episode: there's only one season so far so I have to say season 1, but my favorite episode is the changeling one just bc I thought it was a really neat insight into how the different builds and body types of the different kinds of human would affect different common tasks, even just ones like sitting down. Also it was cool seeing them as different races. Elf senshi

My fav cast member: yk this prompt never works with anything unless it's live action. Uh I love chilchuck's va for a lot of reasons. Homestuck

A character I'd die defending: THISTLE. IDC IDC IM ON THE FRONT LINES ONCE AGAIN. DEFENDING HIM TO MY LAST BREATH HE MEANS THE WORLD TO ME

A character i just can't sympathize with: that bitchass lion

A character I grew to love: believe it or not but I HATED Yad when he first showed up. I thought he was going to do something, I thought everything was going to go horribly wrong and he would betray them somehow. But no he's just a kidadult trying to run a kingdom full of immortal people that can't ever leave and can't even taste anything because being immortal has taken away all of the little joys they have. He's ok

My anti otp: I don't think I have one other than the obvious. I saw someone say that the winged lion and laios should've fucked and I don't really have anything to say about that. Maybe they should've, idk. Idk why I brought it up it just stuck out to me

[ciderjacks]

dwarven brew

+

[fandomchatfabi]

Coming Soon: Gaylia

I know a lot of you follow me for my Jorgeverse stuff, but I have something I wanna say. I got into Delicious in Dungeon on Netflix and I wanna write my DnD character into it. Introducing Gaylia Amastacia, the rogue wood elf.

Her backstory is that she was kidnapped from her family when she was young and taken as a slave for a wealthy man where she was abused and mistreated. There she met a friend, and together they trained and planned an escape. During the escape, Gaylia tried to steal a necklace she always had her eye on, which led to her friend getting killed. In a rage, she killed the man who killed her friend, destroying the house she was kept in, allowing the other captive to escape. She's since lived her life on the run from the law, a thief to survive, hoping to buy her freedom one day.

Gaylia is gonna be in a relationship with Chilchuck. I don't have a crush on him, I just think the height difference between them would be funny. I know this is different than what I write, but I hope you'll give it a chance 😁😁

[nonbinary-octopus]

I had a dream last night about Dungeon Mechi

I've never actually seen or read dungeon mechi before, so this was very constructed out of the various things I've seen on tumblr. I know it was meant to be Dungeon Mechi because 1, that's what my brain labeled the setting as, and 2, Senshi and Chilchuck were there.

Backing up to the beginning of the dream. We all went into the dungeon in the evening, and most of the party immediately started off down the path, leaving me and the leader, who then yelled after them to come back, because we're not exploring yet, we need to set up camp. So they came back, and we did various camp setting up stuff.

At some point during this, Chilchuck compared hand sizes with me. His were just barely smaller than mine, and he jokingly teased me about my tiny hands, because he's a half-foot and I was a very small tallman

a bit later, someone set up the sleeping spot, and it's this like. Weird frame of oddly shaped scoop things. Senshi explained them to me. They're called "sleep saddles", and they help conserve space. Inside dungeons, rather than sleep in normal beds or even bedrolls, everyone climbs into the sleep saddles and sleeps in a compact stack. The various saddles were in various sizes, and Senshi explained to me how each accommodated different body types. Honestly I'm not sure how it would work, since it mostly just supports your hips and lower back, especially if you're a tallman. It worked a little better for the smaller folks, but still not great. It's a very compact pile to sleep in.

A bit later, we were hashing out sleeping arrangements, which was done by each person picking which sleep saddle they wanted to sleep in. Chilchuck got to pick first, and then me. I couldn't decide, and mentioned that I had never slept in one before. Someone (I forget who) expressed some concern that I might not actually be ready for this kind of dungeoning, if I had no experience in it.

I retorted that I had used a sword before, just never slept in a sleep saddle. Someone (Chilchuck I think) asked why I use a sword when I'm a healer, and I responded with that "I'm a doctor, but-" meme. I also said that my old school had done day trips to a dungeon, we’d just slept in bunks outside rather than sleep saddles inside

this was when I realized some backstory to my character. I had attended a Rich Girls School, having grown up as a Rich Girl. I was using a different name and gender now, however, and was more or less keeping my backstory secret.

(I'm not quite sure what name I was going by. I know it started with S, reminded me of Silver, and had 'liz' in it somewhere, from my birth name of Elizabeth. Maybe Seliziver or something)

and then various other dungeon exploring stuff happened that I don't fully remember. My secret got out, I discovered I had interesting and unusual magical abilities, I uncovered a pair of murdery twins masquerading as innocent portal-openers... etc. I think the dream may have borrowed from the game Moonlighter for some of the dungeon mechanics.

[prismatoxic]

so, for the curious: a list of my dunmeshi ships and also the ones i don't like/will generally avoid. not everything is here bc i only have noteworthy opinions on some.

also, and this is important, this is in no way a judgement on a single one of these, good or bad. it's just my own tastes. i absolutely am not judging fans of any of these and in fact respect the hell out of several of the fandoms for the ones i don't enjoy.

this is mostly just for fun but also might help when engaging directly with me on dunmeshi ship stuff, if you're so inclined

OTP (utterly obsessed)

Laios/Chilchuck Kabru/Mithrun

Enjoy It (will happily engage with it and think about it)

Falin/Marcille Laios/Kabru Chilchuck/Mickbell Kuro/Mickbell pretty much any of the f/f ships people have come up with for meijack (i like izutsumi and namari especially)

Neutral (don't really care one way or the other)

Senshi/Chilchuck

Don't Like It (will actively avoid)

pretty much every m/f ship i can think of for this fandom

NOTP (visceral negative feelings)

Chilchuck/his wife (backstory stuff is fine, i only feel Distressed™ when it's done in a genuinely shippy context)

[minisquachi3]

idk if this counts as a ‘hot take’, but more something that has arguments on both sides: dungeon meshi doesn’t depict cannibalism. The only time the humans eat another (part) human is at the very end of the comic, and they are in fact so careful not to eat any human part of Falin that when she’s revived, she still has feathers.

————-⚠️ *SPOILERS* ⚠️————-

WAIT PEOPLE THINK IT DEPICTS CANNIBALISM?!? It’s like so obvious they don’t???? I agree with you full hardly here if that’s the case. They literally the other party members GO out of their way to make sure they NEVER and they never eat Human. Like it’s done and said MORE then once. But yeah even when they do they don’t even eat the human part….

Not to be that person, but as someone who has watched, read, and has a story with themes of cannibalism cause of horror stuff and metaphors. Dungeon Meshi is very VERY far from this.

Now are there cool symbolism and metaphors behind the idea of them eating? Yes obsoletely- is it cannibal related? No I’m sorry. I get the vibe people missed the many times chilchuck himself is the one to remind/mention not to eat humans. Only time I can think of this happening is senshi backstory but- imo when reading it how it was done did confused me a lot, it’s confirmed I’m pretty sure he doesn’t. This is the only time cannibalism is close to actually happening