#loops does things

[pretentiouswreckingball]

lil snippet of slow dancing in the dark

Regulus swallows the rising fear that threatens to choke him. He takes a deep breath and clenches and unclenches his hands, they haven’t stopped trembling since he knocked on the door.

“Remus, please, has he talked to you? Do you know where he is? You don’t need to tell me, that’s fine, just—” Regulus pleads, voice barely a soft whisper when he says, “I just want to make sure he’s safe.”

His words seem to have an effect on Remus because suddenly, he looks much older and much more tired than he was before.

Regulus drops his gaze to his hands, playing with his golden band like he does when he’s nervous. He just looks at it, knowing is a reminder, a promise he’s doing his best to hold on to.

[shadowtraveled]

"mithrun is the only real monsterfucker in dungeon meshi" is objectively the funniest bit you can get out of his everything, but in all seriousness i think his attraction to his love interest is deliberately overstated—and that makes sense, because romantic jealousy is a classic and digestible motive, which is explicitly what kabru was aiming for in condensing mithrun's backstory, and also because until chapter 94, mithrun wasn't willing to admit to the true nature of his desires.

but because romantic envy is both classic and digestible, it probably isn’t a unique enough or complicated enough desire to tempt a demon’s appetite. mithrun’s wish, as far as we can figure from kabru’s reduced retelling, was to have a life in which he had never become one of the canaries, and that carries like 3857 implications and desires within it. that’s delicious. his love interest acts as sort of a red herring to his motivation for making it, though. (side note: i'm saying "love interest" here because, keeping in mind that i barely speak japanese on a good day anymore, "想い人" is something i'd usually take as just kind of an old-fashioned and romantic way to refer to a lover, but in context i wonder if both the connotation of yearning and the vagueness are intentional, and i think this phrasing gets those aspects of it more effectively. anyway.)

mithrun considered his love interest to be untrustworthy. there was a minute where i thought that comment might be about a similar-looking elf (yugin, one of his squad members), but comparing the two…

the "sketchy" arrow is definitely referring to the elf we know as his love interest—the bangs go toward her right, she only has the one forehead ornament, and, most notably, her ears aren't notched.

every time she’s given a full-body depiction in his dungeon, she’s drawn as a chimera, with the body of a snake from the waist down. (side note: the “what if a dungeon has chimeras before reaching level 4?”/“then the dungeon lord is unstable” exchange just being mithrun grilling his past self alive is so funny. he’s so. but anyway) there are a couple things about this.

first, the snake part of the chimera appears to be modeled after some species of coral snake mimic

which, in the biology-for-fun manga, i… doubt is a coincidence, especially with the added context of the “untrustworthy” comment. the dungeon’s conjured illusion of mithrun’s love interest was a harmless copycat of a venomous original. for whatever reason, he felt this person was a threat and made up a "safe" version of her to be in a relationship with, and while it’s definitely possible to be attracted to or even love someone you find to be toxic and/or intimidating, when you take that into consideration alongside the configuration of her body, you get some interesting implications.

which brings us to our second point: if we assume that mithrun was not in fact fucking a snake, then sexual attraction, at least, was so far removed from his idea of a relationship with this person that he did not even bother to keep her dungeon copy human enough to maintain the illusion of the option of a sexual relationship. this is somewhat echoed in the depictions of their interactions, which also imply a frankly unexpected romantic distance. she kisses his cheek and he doesn't seem to react; she's at the edge of a narrow bed with only one set of pillows, on top of his blankets while he's underneath them.

the kiss is particularly interesting because it seems to contrast the text. kabru's narration tells us this was everything mithrun could have asked for, but mithrun is there looking unreadable to pensive, likely because this is right before the panel that makes it clear things in the dungeon are beginning to go wrong.

walking through this backwards for a minute, we have the physical barrier of his bedding and the spatial separation inherent in a bed made for one person, the emotional barrier of his mounting anxiety getting in the way of his ability to enjoy the affection he sought, and... the snake, which historically carries the connotation of temptation, yes, but also mistrust, barring physical intimacy. okay. ok. if a dungeon reflects the mentality of its lord, all of this might suggest that mithrun was not able to have any real desire for a relationship with this person. his unwillingness to be vulnerable or let another person in was insurmountable. but in that case, why was she such a focal point that she remained to the end, after his dungeon had stopped creating iterations of his friends to come and visit him? why would he get so upset over her meeting with his brother that he became lord of a dungeon about it?

well. mithrun's brother was also interested in her, probably genuinely. and mithrun had to win.

you have an older brother who your parents completely ignore, probably in part because he is chronically ill/disabled and almost definitely in part because he received a ton of recessive traits that resulted in rumors that he was an illegitimate child. you are aware, most likely because those same parents fucking told you, that you actually are an illegitimate child. but they keep you around because you had the good fortune of looking just like your mother. what can that possibly teach you but that you, like your brother, are disposable?

it's utterly unsurprising that mithrun, under these circumstances, developed a pathological need to be better than everyone around him. people don't keep you otherwise. i'd argue this is also why he says he looked down on everyone he knew while milsiril claims his dungeon reeked of feelings of inferiority—he sought out people's worst traits and prioritized them in his mind to protect his already extremely fragile sense of self-worth, and all the while he tried to be as likable and high-performing as he possibly could be. his parents disposed of him anyway, but even then he tried to keep up the performance. he was kind to everyone. he never once lost to a dungeon.

when he saw his "love interest" meeting up with his brother, what he saw was himself being replaced by a person his parents had always treated as worthless, and if that was what they thought of the child they'd kept, what value could anyone possibly see in the bastard they'd given away to die? mithrun and kabru tell the story like he wanted to win this unnamed elf's heart, but it was never about being with her. it was about cementing his worth, proving that he didn't deserve to be thrown away.

and so it's particularly cruel that his demon discarded him, too. but maybe it's also particularly gentle that, in the end, there was someone who refused to even consider giving up on him.

kui laid it out in three panels better than i could hope to.

yeah. it's love. you wanted to be loved, even when the only way you were able to understand it was through the desire to be wanted, and you wanted that so badly that the idea of being consumed felt like the promise of finally mattering to someone.

[lucabyte]

On autonomy, and what it means to be Obliged to Help.

Bonus:

[buppkizz]

a very small engiespy moment...

[giftplane]

this is what these two are like to me

[sreppub]

tall damian and misc jasons

[daily-odile]

everything is the same except Odile is the one looping

oh. heheheheh. muahahahaha. hold on *digs through my pile of disorganized sketches*

Odile loops au; a sketch compilation!!

Some old fic drabbles + associated sketches under cut (a6 secret spoilers):

hc: Since equipment carries over, as long as Odile uses her book in a fight, she can write down notes and have it carry over loops

toxic doomed yuri (for a more fleshed out fic I highly recommend The Sweetest Thing by soreimoon, it's amazing)

[manderleyfire]

Cooper Howard vs The Ghoul + flirting game (they're the same picture)

[dailyloopdeloop]

loop and mirabelle. That's it that's the ask

DAY 84: enrolled in the gossip wars

[erin-gilberts]

I have a firm belief that the only way Yellowjackets can end is with the death of each of the remaining survivors and [redacted] was just the first (second, really) of what will be all of them in time. "The wilderness" will reclaim them one by one because they weren't supposed to leave. But also they will be swallowed up by their own darkness in their refusal to acknowledge it and that will be the great tragedy of it. All of their deaths will be preventable, but inevitable in light of the cycles they keep on repeating.

[sysig]

You're still standing off to the side. Somehow, center stage has shifted from under your feet without you realizing, and you're standing in the wings, performing to no one.

Starring Role (Patreon)

[pretentiouswreckingball]

loops' pin thingy :D

| loops | AO3 | she / her | english / spanish | 24 | minors dni |

fics

completed

As warm as the Calabrian sun [jegulus] (2/2, 8.4k)

Sometimes, when the planets are misaligned and the odds are not in his favor, James Potter gets sick. But even when all seems lost, James hasn’t run out of luck because, when he least expects it, said luck knocks on his door, taking the shape of someone very dear to him. James only has to let him in. *** Featuring a sick James, a cheeky little Harry, an orange cat named mandarina and an unexpected —but not unrequited— feverish confession under the stars. And love, so much love wrapped between white linen sheets and soft summer breeze.

light as a feather, soft as a kiss [drarry] (1/1, 1.7k)

Draco never thought Harry’s face could ever look this soft, every time he has laid eyes upon Harry over the years, his jaw has always been too tight, his entire face set like stone, defiant. And no matter what he did to avoid it, Draco has always been mesmerized by it, even when he was not supposed to be. So now, as he’s tracing the golden skin that seems to glow under the light of the sun pouring from outside, Draco realizes looks can be deceiving and he’s never been more glad to be in the wrong.

slow dancing in the dark [jegulus, wolfstar] (1/1, 2.5k)

James is gone. But that’s not quite right now, is it? Because to Regulus, James is always only one dance away.

some sunny day [jegulus, wolfstar, pandalily] (1/1, 3.7k)

A beach AU with an insane amount of seawater, sand castles, threesome jokes, number two's and grandparents absolutely besotted with the grandkids.

When it rains [jegulus, wolfstar, pandalily] (1/1, 17.1k)

In the last week of November, a storm takes place. Certainly, three days of intense rain would make everyone stay at home. It seems that six people don't get the memo, instead, they decide to take shelter at a random bus stop. Not at the same time and not the same pair each time, though. What are the odds this particular group of people know each other? And in what way are they all connected?

Don't threaten me with a good time [jegulus] (3/3, 7.6k)

No, that doesn't make sense. James' boyfriend can't be an animagus, can he? Besides, a black cat animagus can't actually bring bad luck... right? --- Or: when Regulus messed up with his boyfriend just for the fun of it and they almost die. A few times.

archenemies (or so he thought) [jegulus, wolfstar] (1/1, 3.2k)

Sirius doesn't like cats. He's an animagus dog for Godric's sake, it's in his very magical nature to despise such sneaky little shits. He particularly doesn't like cats who tend to steal his best friend's attention, leaving him alone in pursuing mischief. So when he confronted his best friend about it, the last thing he's expecting is for the black cat next to him, to turn into his brother.

*in rewrite*

About time, scars and the brightest stars [wolfstar, background jegulus/pandalily] (4/24, long)

About Time AU where Remus discovers he can travel through time and while he tries to navigate through his life with this newfound discovery, he learns about life, loss, love and what it means to be alive.

[four-pointed-leaf]

love ur human loop, most normal and deranged guy ever, other people drawing human loop in elaborate outfits, meanwhile loop in a big t- shirt and boxers (not to say im not a fan of elaborate outfits on them but like The Contrast (tm))

no literally like dgmw i love loop in Outfits and will probably draw that at some point soon but like. to me post-canon loop is like. a guy who is convinced they are living in the epilogue of their successful clone’s life. Eventually they will slay but it’s gonna take like three years of therapy and probably a considerable amount of lexapro. for now it’s depression fit

[lucabyte]

i feel like people are sleeping on the occam's razor situation of how buckwild it is to outright accuse a guy of being a clone of your friend even if you DO have a lot of circumstantial evidence. there's other options is what im saying. they could just be like. a guy. that's a sensible deduction. you should explore that deduction. ignore my shirt that reads I <3 RED HERRINGS.

i still think odile has the correct theory on lock but she's smart enough to know it needs like... a real smoking gun to be able to bring it up without sounding insane.

anyway. (mirabelle voice) i know its rude to speculate but has anyone else noticed the grieving? they seem to be grieving. does anyone have any thoughts on the grieving? i have some thoughts on the grieving.

[yesokayiknow]

do you ever think about how one of doctor who's most famous time loop episodes (heaven sent) isn't a time loop. like the fact that time is passing normally is a huge plot point

[ollierachnid]

friendship derived from peering at shit and hovering judgementally