#I love Dungeon Meshi but other than a little crush on Laios no one's really calling out to me atm

[kakusu-shipping]

Another self insert based entirely one someone else's self insert. @lunayumes has such a habit of making the prettiest and loneliest self inserts, but unlike Your Turn to Die I've SEEN Dungeon Meshi and thus can make her at least a little less lonely.

Emile's a Gnome/Half-Foot hybrid who was raised by his parents far from most civilization. When his mother (half-foot) died of old age his father (gnome) took his own life, unable to live without his wife, leaving their son of indeterminate age completely abandoned on a farm in the middle of No Where.

Emile saved up the funds to leave his home and go traveling in hopes of learning more about his heritage and culture he was deprived of and eventually found himself on The Island. Naturally he gravitated to the local library to read everything they had on Gnome and Half-Foot culture and History. This is also where he meets Emi, who goes to the library mostly just to get out of her empty house when he husband, Chilchuck, is away.

Neither of them are very sociable people, but eventually Emile works up the courage to talk to this very pretty Half-Foot he sees regularly. Surprisingly, they have a lot in common and end up hitting it off.

Emile eventually convinces Emi to leave Chilchuck, partly because he's formed a crush on the woman, but mostly because she's his friend and he wants what's best for her, and this clearly wasn't it. He knows what it's like to be alone all the time. When Chilchuck eventually comes back to talk to Emi and the two make up, Emile remains pretty Anti-Chilchuck for a while afterwards, mostly just giving him dirty looks. Emi doesn't seem to notice.

That's about all I have. Again thanks to @lunayumes for letting me use her S/I as a base for mine!! Anything is subject to change at you're request!!

[sporesgalaxy]

The way Dungeon Meshi does gender makes me insane. It’s stated over and over that Falin and Laios really are more similar than anyone is looking for- Laios directly states as much at one point, Marcille mentions it when Falin wakes up the first time and starts bemoaning not eating any monsters, the magic mirror story even has fem!Toshiro crushing on Laios- but Laios is so protective of his little sister. Laios leaves home to start making a life he can one day share with her. And she leaves magic school because he has failed, and failed so hard that she’s worried that she might never see him again if she lets him leave without her. He wants to protect her from the way the world treats him, but he does not or does not want to understand the terrible truth- the world will never treat her as harshly as it does him, because she is a pretty ‘quirky’ girl and he is a big autistic man. Falin is happy, doing well in her own sphere, making a single friend (because she is still autistic, and has struggles of her own, even if they’re a different kind), but Laios still feels a need to protect her because his experience of this world has been nothing but cold shoulders and distrust all the way down. This story makes me want to sprint into the river. Laios and Falin are the best characters of all time.

Ouhhhhh I dont have time to reread dungeon meshi to give you good sources but based on my doodoo memory and vibes therein: I have to disagree that Falin was necessarily doing "well," and I especially disagree that the tragedy here is that Laios was doing something unnecessary by trying to make a place in the world for him and Falin.

Falin gets along seemingly ok in the world but it's because she's agreeable to a fault .

What's so interesting to me about the Touden siblings is the different ways they've learned to deal with being The Odd Man Out. Laios set out to try and forcefully carve out a PLACE for him and Falin in the world, where they could both openly and unabashedly be themselves.....Falin stayed behind, and learned how to hide the things that made her stick out too much, and how to appease people on the verge of rejecting her and Laios.

That can be functional, but it isn't good. It isn't happiness. It hurts in a million tiny ways every single day, to hide yourself out of fear of rejection like that.

At school, Falin must have spent a lot of time alone before she befriended Marcille, since Falin was familiar enough with the surrounding wilderness that she knew where that small Dungeon opening was. She sought out what happiness she could by following her unusual passions in more private ways, where no one would judge her for it. Falin didn't expect anyone NOT to judge her for her "weirdness" before she met Marcille, so Falin didn't even try to connect with anyone before Marcille at a level more personal than "classmate." That's not doing well. That's not living.

This kind of self-isolation is a coping mechanism for neurodivergence that functions for a while, but it eats away at you. Falin considered marrying Toshiro despite not loving him, essentially because it seemed like the normal thing to do and she didn't think she'd get another chance to be married at all. What if she had gone through with that, or something similar by the same reasoning? Laios lived in a state of being rejected over and over, which obviously hurts like hell. In contrast, Falin was willing to live a life she never wanted just to avoid total rejection. That can be incredibly painful too, in its own way.

Falin and Laios were BOTH tragically fighting doomed battles to find a place for themselves in the world during the time they were separated. Working together, supporting each other, they're able to do a lot more. Cries.

[chuckeroo777]

Dungeon Meshi Volume 12 Part 3

Things are getting intense! Can we finish the rest in under 30 pictures? The stakes have never been lower!

Luckily, chibi red dragons are much easier to kill.

You know things are bad when Mithrun starts emoting.

Golems, Dragons, and Giant Mushrooms are all top-tier choices. Unicorns and Mermaids are also pretty good . Dryads seem questionable. Other than their pollen death-attack, they're pretty fragile, and the males can't even do that. I'd throw in some shapeshifters to sow maximum confusion.

How much you wanna bet this dress originated from The Daltian Clan, or one of her other romance novels? Also, give her some shoes you weirdo.

God I hate this lion. He's straight up grooming her, using the kiss to eat her desire to stop. He apparently isn't even careful about it, having also unintentionally eaten her desire to groom her hair.

Here's what I would do. Dungeon rabbits. A horde of hundreds of dungeon rabbits supported by golems. And a kraken or two below the water to snatch people and drag them under. And some Phoenixes, but only for parts of the battle not above water. And maybe I'd summon He Who Ends All, just for the intimidation factor.

Kabru knows how to use magic? Neat.

I feel like you almost got through to her, but then you gave her a selfish motive to latch onto to ignore all the correct stuff you said.

See, this is why teleportation is so difficult in my setting. It's crazy powerful when used right.

I appreciate the deus ex machina, but can I please get one that's less silly next time?

The dryads do not approve of this nonsense. (And the fact that they can be judgemental makes me even more questioning of the decision to eat them). Also, Izutsumi doing Izutsumi things.

Kabru tries so hard guys, but look at what he's working with.

Just you wait, Laios will beat the demon with monster knowledge regardless of your phylogenetic pedantry. Also, I saw a post pointing out that Laios' healing is painless like Falin's, and I think that's really cute.

Nothing a little percussive maintenance can't fix.

Actually, it was probably a wis save, not an int save.

Somehow, this is the creepiest version of the lion. It isn't the tentacles, it's the eyes. And those teeth. Why do you have human teeth?

This is such a good joke. Also, you're in no position to judge Kabru. Your favorite food is raw tomatoes. Also, no wonder Izutsumi loved the barometz.

You absolute fool. Just a few minutes ago, Laios was crushed, unable to fathom how to defeat an unknowable foe. You've just given him all the clues he needs to defeat the unbeatable foe.

God, what would these idiots do without him.

God, what would WE do without these idiots.

Gonna cut it here. Not sure I can do the Marcille battle and misc monster tales in under nine images. See you in a moment!

[roomba-mangga]

for that ask game: 8, 17, 31 & 43 for thistle dungeon meshi ?

8. Unpopular opinion about them

Not sure I can gauge (un)popularity unless it's an extreme example so I guess *skull emoji* the age discourse? Less an opinion and more a personal interpretation of the immortal child archetype, tbh. It's a really interesting concept, super fun to try and strike that balance between ancient and tragically young, and presenting that situation through a high fantasy framework really works to emphasize and demonstrate the nuances of a split child/adult mentality, especially wrt trauma (not to mention fraught family dynamics and neurodivergence).

The tricky bit is that balancing act where you want to avoid adultifying or infantilizing the character within a narrative, which... I think with that whole age debate, people tend to lean into one or the other pitfall, and justifiably so since it's such a tightrope act. Thistle's sense of purpose and security hinges on being a guardian to people who are simultaneously much older and younger than him—essentially being expected to mature at the same rate as everyone else when that isn't physically possible, which was bad enough when Marcille was just observing aging disparity between herself and others, let alone what happened with Thistle. Neurodivergent trauma metaphor I love you.

So he's effectively been playing the role of adult guardian for so long that trying to remove that from his dynamics with others would imbalance him, while at the same time that very imposition of responsibilities is the root of trauma in the first place. It's all very complicated! Whoever cares for him post-canon needs to find a middle ground between those two states, which means any dynamic where he's involved would have a fair amount of role-fuckery going on where he's neither their kid nor their peer, but somehow both at once. And also an ageless entity of indeterminate gender. I shill for Young Old Guy Thistle.

17. Quotes, songs, poems etc. that I associate with them

Brick By Boring Brick (Paramore)

Icarus (The Crane Wives)

Age of Kings (The Mountain Goats)

Bring Her Back (Dirt Poor Robins)

Do You Want to Die Together? (Stars)

Little Soldiers (The Crane Wives)

Honorable mention that I wouldn't actually include in a playlist because he's too aggro, but it's about the principle of the thing: Strawberry Blond (Mitski)

If I had to pick songs for other dynamics besides Thistle & Delgal then...

Thistle & Falin: Community Gardens (The Scary Jokes)

Thistle & Laios: Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair (Arctic Monkeys)

Thistle & Yaad: Paper Dolls (Dirt Poor Robins)

31. If they had a tumblr what would it look like?

So there are two separate blogs with severely contrasting vibes and the first one is just a polished site dedicated to the Kingdom's state of affairs and unabashed monarchy propaganda, the crest of Melini is the banner, it has local news and dungeon updates like whatever batch of adventurers have been crushed to paste that day. The other one is his secret vent blog that's mostly pages and pages of poetry (a lot his own) and the occasional meltdown in unreadable cursive font that romanticizes his inner turmoil. Banner would be an exquisite oil painting depicting a king and his page. Reading back I think I'm implying that Thistle randomly has a Tumblr in the high fantasy universe, which is devastatingly funny to me.

43. 3 favorite foods and 3 they despise

He doesn't eat </3

Substitute answer my knowledge of medieval European/Mediterranean food starts and ends at cheese bread and fruit but, placing my bets that his preferences mirror Delgal's—adjusted to be appropriate to his station—because of course they do. He canonically is apathetic towards elven food (who isn't?) given his resentment towards his own race for abandoning him. I like to think that post-canon there's at least one kind of elven food from some loosely SEA-inspired subcontinent that grows on him so he finally has a positive connection to his homeland (... it'll be Filipino or Indian food. Not sure what specifically yet but mark my words)