#mostly i wanted to make fun of marcille

[bonni]

[prismatoxic]

okay, shipping brainrot from my last post aside, i'm still thinking about the shapeshifter arc. the other sites i use don't have inline posting or do but it's clunky, so i guess i'm theorizing here. some of this may seem obvious; bear with me, i'm not trying to be patronizing, just working through things. this will probably be long.

(edit: i've since learned there's canon explanations for all of this. regrettably i don't like them. enjoy my ideas of what would be better maybe? but keep in mind i wrote this before i knew it had been explained anywhere else.)

laios reveals what he knows of shapeshifters, and that they function on memory:

no one ever really suggests in chapters 39 or 40 who thought of which fake except in the case of which ones laios must have thought of, but i want to posit who i think each one came from, and what it means narratively if i'm right. so, mostly a thought experiment/character study that i could be wrong about or that was never meant to be clearly defined in the first place. but maybe fun to think about? (i'm sure other people have done this before too, but i think it'll be fun to write up.)

from the outset, i think it's worth mentioning that chilchuck knows all three laios fakes are, in fact, fakes. two chilchucks say this, but the one on the right is the real one. senshi and marcille immediately corroborate this, though we can't tell which of them it is except that it's not any of the really obvious fakes.

what i think this suggests is that, brought to the surface, the warped perceptions of the rest of the party that chilchuck, senshi, and marcille have can be easily discerned when compared with the real thing. each of these laioses is from one of them, but they immediately figure out none of them are right with the real laios right there in the room. this is important.

as for who's who...

i think it's fair to assume that giant laios is from chilchuck. laios is the tallest member of their party, at six feet; while chilchuck sees marcille and senshi as their correct heights, laios is a giant to him, and his bulky armor doesn't help. that's why, even if this is his perception, it's glaringly obvious that it's wrong as soon as it's made physical. it's the only big one, and easily falls into the camp of "doesn't seem to know much about monsters" that the others also do.

stupid laios is, i think, from marcille. because the giant one is so likely chilchuck's and i don't think senshi sees laios as someone who stupidly wants to eat everything (even if senshi's opinion of him isn't stellar right now, "i have to eat it" wouldn't be paired with being an idiot to senshi), it tracks that marcille would be the one to remember him this way. to someone who doesn't appreciate their monster eating and otherwise thinks he's an idiot just as much as the others do, dumbly muttering about eating things seems like a reasonable portrayal of laios.

feminine laios, then, is from senshi. i think his physical perception of the other party members is the most off-base; this is likely because he's known them for the least amount of time, and his idea of what they look like is based more on their races than anything else. i think the resemblance to falin might not be intentional--someone suggested to me the other day that the dwarf perception of tall-men is probably more feminine in contrast to how Macho dwarfs are. i think that makes sense (if it ever comes up canonically, i haven't seen it yet). laios and falin do just... look like gender-swapped versions of each other, also. so if senshi sees laios as a feminine person, well... that just winds up looking like falin.

so this leaves us with only the real laios. confronted with their perceptions of him, his friends can immediately tell all three are incorrect.

moving on, we eliminate the three most obvious fakes from the rest of the party, starting with marcille:

if we take into account what i just said about senshi, i think this is his. racial stereotypes about elves being what they are, him not knowing the party as well as the other members do... she stands out, and that's why.

now this is where things start to get interesting.

the next two fakes to be eliminated aren't so blatantly incorrect that they can be struck right out at a glance, but it's not hard to notice the flaws when you look closer, and chilchucks A and B are the ones to point it out. chilchuck is naturally observant; most of his fakes seem to emulate this. (the one who addresses the fakes is A, the real one, but B is proving himself able to pick up on the things A notices. this is important.)

notably, chilchuck and senshi assume these must be laios's versions of them.

we can assume this is correct, if we want to. we can take the framing of this as being an intentional reflection of the truth.

or... or... we can look a little deeper. we can wonder if, perhaps, this isn't a reflection of laios, but a reflection of his friends and what they think of him. laios may not immediately notice the problems, but i don't think it's because he doesn't remember these details. i don't think laios sees much of anything in vague terms; he's observant in his own right, but in ways he doesn't really recognize, nor does anyone else. i think he was so focused on their faces and mannerisms that he didn't notice the bigger picture, glossing over something because so many other factors are at play.

senshi and chilchuck think laios doesn't take notice of things, but the vast majority of the shapeshifter arc is about them and marcille not trusting laios's judgement as it is, given how things went recently. is it possible there's more to their assumptions here than what the text explicitly says? i think so!

so then who do these two belong to? marcille, i think.

if we assume dumb laios is hers, then we can also assume her perceptions of the others are kind of broad and vague. she doesn't think poorly of them, necessarily (at least not in as obvious a way as she does with laios, who, i'll remind you, she's currently upset with), but she doesn't commit unimportant details to memory, like chilchuck's neck band or the damage to senshi's helmet.

we've got three more "obvious" fakes to get through, and laios offers another lore tidbit on how the shapeshifters work:

anyway, the first of the next round is marcille again, setting the stage for how these three next fakes are eliminated.

marcille changes her hairstyle all the time, so this isn't a surprise. the last one pictured here winds up being our next fake, as indicated by her grimoire:

so the fake marcille in this section is the one with the most visibly different hair texture (who even draws attention to this), and the spellbook that's woefully incompetent. i think she's from chilchuck.

he's observant, as i said before; even if he didn't commit her hair to memory, he did remember the stuff she's said about how important hair is to magic. maybe that's why the texture is so striking. more importantly, chilchuck isn't wary of magic quite the way senshi is, but he also doesn't understand it. the general tone of the low-quality grimoire also just... sounds like the way he'd frame something like that. (plus, the "how to turn back time" bit is a thing he specifically called her on when she suggested it a few chapters ago.)

so the next fake chilchuck and senshi are revealed via their tools:

i think the chubby-cheeked chilchuck with the simple lockpicks is from senshi, and i think the ordinary-looking senshi with the simple cookware is from chilchuck. the former speaks for itself--senshi sees chilchuck as a child, and knows absolutely nothing about picking locks. as for the fake senshi, chilchuck has a decent mental image of him but knows nothing about cookware.

so now we're down to the final three fakes, and there's only one person left who they could be from: laios. nobody thinks this, not even laios himself, but i want to explore the concept because i think it has extreme merit. the three remaining fakes have some key similarities between them, namely in that they're all close enough interpretations that making a distinction is difficult. they look a tiny bit different, but both the real people and their fakes make plausible cases for why they're the actual person. i want to talk about why i think laios is the one who made that so, and what that means about him.

chapter 39 ends with all his companions--real and fake--doubting his skills. seeing a pattern?

chapter 40 opens with laios determined to regain his friends' trust in him...

...while his friends (and their fakes) talk about how he's liable to like the fakes more, because they're monsters.

this is a needlessly cruel interpretation of laios, but after how things went post-falin-rescue, it's not a surprise. they see him as reckless and single-minded, more interested in the things he's weird about than in the people around him.

laios is really bad at talking about what he's thinking--not because he's hiding it, but because it doesn't occur to him that it's important. meeting the lunatic magician in the paintings is a prime example of this, but he does it a lot. they likely have no idea why he told toshiro about falin and the black magic; to them, laios was being flippant with sensitive information, not worrying about their safety. to laios? he was trying to get help. he trusted toshiro, and his perception of their friendship made him think the information would help them gain an ally who cared about falin as much as they do. he wasn't trying to put falin or marcille in danger--far from it, in fact. but he didn't tell his friends about his thought process. he didn't think it was important to share.

(he's autistic but we all know this. moving on)

so, we have laios's plan: the pairs cook together, while he watches for behavioral differences to discern who's who. it doesn't occur to him, or anyone else, that the people he's watching for mistakes are his own perceptions of his friends. and now we get into the meat of why i wanted to write this post.

assuming i'm correct... let's talk about laios's view of his friends, and how he challenges those perceptions.

starting with my favorite, chilchuck:

chilchuck A, of course, is in fact the real one. this is a pretty significant character moment for him too, in my opinion; we know he has difficulty expressing his emotions, and that a lot of his conflicts so far have stemmed from that. the fact that "chilchuck B asked for help with a menial task" is a gotcha moment to him is... telling. not only because it's so obvious to him, but because it's not obvious to any of his companions. he thinks they know this about him, but he's never openly expressed anything to make them think this is an issue he'd have, in addition to having sought help in the past.

his "convictions and pride and all that" seems to them like someone trying to convince them of something, not someone reminding them of facts he assumes they know.

anyway, back to laios. if we accept that chilchuck B is made from his memories, this suggests several things. first of all, chilchuck B is, despite his softer eyes and willingness to ask for help, still a fairly accurate portrayal of chilchuck. he's easily annoyed and he's observant, two traits chilchuck is known for. i think the reason chilchuck B has the kinder eyes and the more gentle disposition is because to laios, those things are indicative of someone being a good person, and he very much thinks chilchuck is a good person.

we know laios isn't especially good at reading people in general. thus, his idea of who his friends are is skewed in broad strokes, but not in the ways they think. he knows who chilchuck is, but he also associates chilchuck with his own ideas of what makes someone "good", which results in a chilchuck who's less rough around the edges. confronted with this--the real chilchuck asking him if he can tell--laios compares the two and thinks, reasonably speaking, the nicer one who trusts him has to be the friend he respects so much.

senshi and marcille also want to accept this chilchuck, likely for similar reasons. they also respect and care for him; they've seen him go through a lot. laios's ideal of him is just that, ideal. in a roundabout way, it's only their deep fondness for who chilchuck really is that makes them want to see him this way.

next up, we have marcille.

the fake, marcille A, is a radical departure from what makes chilchuck B a fake. laios notes that the real marcille is exactly the same as she always is. the reason, then, that marcille A confuses him--and the others--is that after everything they've been through, their perception of her has changed radically.

if we look back to senshi and chilchuck's marcilles, it's readily apparent when they're eliminated that both interpretations hinge on the knowledge that she performs black magic. senshi's tries to use it to prove herself; chilchuck's has a grimoire loudly proclaiming it's what she does. contrast this to marcille A: she doesn't mention black magic at all, and her grimoire looks strikingly similar to the real one.

that's because laios doesn't think her performing black magic changes anything about who she is. her doing so proved her to be just as dedicated to falin as he himself is, and the knowledge that her goals involve it doesn't faze him. (additionally, marcille has been teaching him magic, and falin had tried in the past. though his image of a grimoire is flawed to someone experienced, to anyone else it looks fine.) thus, marcille A isn't a flagrant black magic wielder; she's someone who's been fundamentally changed by what they--and falin--went through.

let's go back to chapter 27:

chilchuck and senshi are appalled, and will continue to be. while they ultimately don't prevent marcille from doing this, and care enough about both her and laios (and in chilchuck's case, falin as well) to be in tentative support, this changes their view of her in a negative way. she's dangerous now, in a way she wasn't before, but she's still marcille--goofy and a little reckless. thus, their views of her, and the illusions that result.

laios's opinion of her changes for the better.

she is, all at once, both competent and loyally dedicated. she will stop at nothing to help falin. whatever goofiness she exhibited before now is gone, replaced by the cold demeanor of someone who is doing something extremely dangerous for reasons that are inherently selfish, but ultimately too important to reject.

thus, we return to marcille A: cold, sharp, dedicated. not reckless or goofy, but methodical and haunted. she may have returned to "normal" since they left the castle town, but laios's opinion of her, and understanding of her love for falin, has been forever changed.

so faced with the real marcille--still silly, still whining, still frequently annoyed with him--he's confused, because that's deeply familiar, but it doesn't line up with what he knows about her now.

the truth, of course, is nuanced--these things are true about marcille, but only under duress; it's similar to how laios becomes a competent leader when the going gets tough. she has this within her, but it's not her default state of being. still, the shapeshifter picks up on the strongest memories laios has of her, this new interpretation of someone he thought he knew.

now then--onto senshi, the punchline of this particular joke about the differences between the copies. i still think it says a lot.

i think this one speaks for itself, though i find chilchuck's agreement interesting. senshi is the newest member of the team; little is known about him. laios happily notes that senshi "always looks cool" while chilchuck says he looks normal (and chilchuck B insults the real one). laios sees senshi this way because he thinks senshi is cool as hell, and this manifests in an idealized version of a face he's not as familiar with as he is with chilchuck and marcille.

this is clearly comedy, but it also speaks to the same desire to see the best in the rest of the party. marcille is the only one who notices likely because her opinion of senshi isn't so romanticized. chilchuck's senshi, of note, wasn't a perfect replica: we don't see much of him after the obvious fakes are hauled off, but he's a little squashed (he's the top one):

which indicates that chilchuck's visual memory of senshi is already flawed. if we compare this to giant laios and the marcille with the unique hair texture, it tells us chilchuck's attention to detail is more specific than the others'; he can remember the hole in the helmet, the importance of hair, but he doesn't quite see the bigger picture. giant laios is also surprisingly... rugged? which i imagine has to do with chilchuck's perception of him as a tall-man. (or maybe how he clearly has trouble seeing laios's face half the time, lmao...)

anyway. laios thinks senshi is super cool and chilchuck has an imperfect idea of what senshi look like as it is. (i wonder if chilchuck is some degree of faceblind? not enough to not recognize someone at all, but can't pinpoint specifics.)

and so, we arrive at the moment of truth.

so let's go over what i'm theorizing here... all the remaining fakes are illusions based on how laios sees his friends. the illusions manage to make mistakes that reveal the truth to him, but i think the reason for that harkens back to what laios said earlier... the illusions are being updated over time.

laios isn't considering any of the things that give the fakes away until this moment. if it had taken a little longer to resolve things, maybe they'd have started course-correcting, but they aren't given the chance. laios makes sure they aren't--he acts very quickly. even as he presents the three pairs with his findings, he's aware that everything will fall apart as soon as he does... and he's banking on that. while the shapeshifter illusions defend themselves from being killed, he gets right to the heart of the matter in the only way he knows how: confronting the actual monster involved.

when all's said and done, laios reveals how he figured it out:

potentially of note, all of these details happened before the red dragon fight. chilchuck fighting a mimic and revealing his history with them, senshi gushing about the dungeon's ecosystem, and marcille being attacked by the undine weren't super recent memories. when laios brought them forth in his mind, he had a delay before the shapeshifter updated its illusions.

well... except with marcille. marcille A actually didn't show her hand so easily; it was the real marcille's carelessness that proved her identity.

but what this suggests is that, when confronted with the realities of marcille versus his idealized version of her, laios had to make a choice: did it make more sense for her to have been radically changed by the revival and subsequent loss of falin, or was the presence of a marcille he knew so well proof of an illusion? she was the one who was the most different, and as such, the contrast was the same one that eliminated all three laioses at the start: with the real thing in the room, the fake became apparent.

so, to reach a conclusion: one again, laios has proven he's not as scatterbrained as his companions think, but this time he did so on a more personal level than usual. to them, he reveals that he knows their quirks enough to define them by such when they're otherwise faced with convincing copies. to us, the readers, if we accept what i've suggested here... he's revealed a lot more. he respects, admires, and idolizes his friends, all out of fondness: he wants to see them in an ideal way, whatever that means for each of them as individuals.

anyway thanks for coming to my TED talk

[chilschuck]

Hello! I don't know if requests are open, if not just ignore this. am not sure if this makes sense, but I had this idea where the reader's succubus takes straight up the form of Chilchuck. They are very self-concious of this, and since i see them as a calm and reserved person they will try to avoid them like the plague. They don't want Chilchuck to know at all costs, mostly because they fear to be turned down. But at some point, they both get separated from the party running eventually into a succubus. If it's too much information just take what it feels right for you!!

✦ AAAA i loved this idea so much that i had a bit too much fun with it, LOL! it ended up being more than a drabble somehow, so i really hope you enjoy it!! i hope it flows okay and doesn’t seem too rushed, as it’s been a while since i’ve written this much!! lots of love to you!! <3

— HYPOCRITE: chilchuck x gn!reader

꒰ warnings: ꒱ hurt/comfort ?? fluff + sfw! use of they/them for reader!

꒰ wc: ꒱ 1.8k (holy hell…..)

✦ if this is rough i am so sorry, i kinda let my brain take over and this was the result! nervous to post something this long since i’ve only ever posted lil tidbits, but i really hope you like it!!! <33

The walk back was deafeningly quiet. You couldn’t bear to even look in his direction, cheeks still hot in mortification at just what you had seen earlier. Usually you were stronger than this, but the idea of him knowing just what exactly you saw had your stomach in knots.

It wasn’t like you had never come in contact with a succubus before, but for it to take this particular form had your mind reeling. The heavy pit of guilt and shame kept twisting in you, and the more you thought about him, the more you felt sick. Even so, you could feel eyes burning into the back of your head just waiting for you to spill.

“What’s gotten you so quiet?” Chilchuck questioned, his brows raised at your current show of behavior. It was unlike you to shut yourself up like this, especially since you were known for being cool and collected in any situation. He would never admit it, but the lack of your voice amongst the others made him nervous.

You waited a moment to reply, the shakiness in your voice not getting past him. “It’s nothing, Chilchuck.”

And like hell it wasn’t, especially if it had you clamming up and avoiding his gaze. Knowing it would be better not to pry, he stayed silent. You were thankful for this.

“Everyone’s together now, right?” Laios called as you caught up to the rest of the party, your eyes still downtrodden. Not able to bring yourself to look in his direction, you kept your head down when motioning in the direction of the half-foot behind you. “Yeah, Chilchuck and I managed to find each other.”

Marcille was the second to notice your lack of enthusiasm, the calm air you usually exuded gone. Worried, she called out your name, pulling you out of the state you were in momentarily.

“Everything alright?” She whispered as the rest of the party walked ahead of you. Knowing how much it was killing you to hold everything in, you gave a frustrated sigh.

When you were sure everyone was out of hearing range, you spilled everything on your mind. How your succubus took the form of Chilchuck, how you’d been fighting off the feelings you held for him, how scared you were that he’d find out. Her head nodded with every concern you aired, but there was a certain sparkle in her eyes when you admitted to having feelings for him… Great.

“You’re certain he didn’t see?” She asked softly as you caught up to everyone else, and you gave her a nod of your own.

Her advice had been simple: maybe this was a sign to tell him how you truly felt. You wanted to scoff in that moment, knowing just how repulsed by inner party relationships the half-foot truly was. Telling him what happened seemed like the least intelligent thing to do, but you admired Marcille for her ability to see this in a hopeful light.

Envy coursed through you, wishing you could look at it hopefully, too. It just didn’t seem realistic, so you’d keep to yourself and try not to talk to him until these feelings died down inside. Certainly they would, right?

Days continued on, your relationship with Chilchuck turning into remorseful smiles and awkward silence. The tension was building, and he was convinced he couldn’t take much more of it.

The fact you hadn’t been seeking him out like you usually did struck him hard. You two would often spend nights chatting, voices soft and warm as you talked about everything that you could think of. He’d just started coming to terms that maybe he didn’t have to keep so much away from you, away from everyone else. This hit him harder than he’d like to acknowledge, and his attempts at reconciling whatever he did wrong fell flat.

Chilchuck only ever saw you talking to Marcille lately. He knew you two shared a friendship somewhat akin to his with you, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary at first. But that, paired with the fact you wouldn’t even lay your bedroll down near his, nearly drove him to insanity.

Gritting his teeth, he rested his cheek in the palm of his hand. This was getting nowhere, and if it continued he was sure he’d never let himself hear the end of it.

Laios, as softly as he could muster, called his name. “They’ve been ignoring you, haven’t they?” He spoke, brows furrowed as he studied Chilchuck’s expression. “Do you know why?”

He huffed, glare turning to focus on the blonde across from him. “If I knew, I’d tell you. But I don’t have a damn clue.”

Laios hummed, tapping his chin as Senshi listened in on their conversation. “Maybe you should try asking them. It never hurts to be honest with how you’re feeling, too.”

This was going to drive him up the wall. Every time he did try and corner you, you came up with some excuse as to why you were needed elsewhere. Chilchuck was left watching you leave him behind every single time. It only proved to make him feel even more scattered.

Before he could open his mouth to retort, he heard you stand up, wishing Marcille goodnight. Chilchuck begrudgingly noted that you seemed even farther away from him than usual. He sunk into his neckwarmer.

Looking down at his hands, he debated on just what he could have possibly done. This all happened after that damn succubus incident, and he wondered just what exactly you saw. You seemed not only distant from him, but from the whole party. Being an integral force in the group, having you seem so far away from everyone only served to build up rifts.

You were headed to the water fountain to wash your face, and Chilchuck assumed this would be the one chance he had. Following behind you, he called your name once enough distance from everyone had been built up. You took note of the aggravation that was laced in his tone.

Immediately you tried to think of a way to get out of talking to him. There had to be some excuse you hadn’t used, and as he approached you, you found yourself more and more cornered.

“Are you just planning to ignore me the rest of the damn time?” Chilchuck asked plainly, but you could hear the hint of concern. He continued to walk towards you, not giving you much of an opening to scatter. Panic settled in.

“You… Wouldn’t get it.” You whispered, finding yourself looking everywhere but at him. Chilchuck found this increasingly frustrating.

“What do you mean, ‘You wouldn’t get it?’ How am I supposed to get anything if you don’t tell me? I can see how you’re acting. Is whatever you really saw worth separating yourself from the entire party?”

His words cut you like a knife. You could hear the aggravation in his voice, chest seizing knowing it was because of you, because of your stupid fear. You swallowed harshly, trying your best to build up the courage you just couldn’t seem to find.

His body, caging you in and causing your back to hit the wall, continued to grow nearer. It felt like all the air left your lungs, struggling to gather just what you wanted, needed to say.

“You always say how you don’t want inner party relationships to ruin things,” you muttered, finding his closeness increasingly difficult to handle. “The last thing I want to do is put everyone in jeopardy like that.”

Chilchuck scoffed, confusion etched into his expression. “What? You saw a party member as the succubus or something? Don’t tell me—“

That tension that had been suffocating you before built itself back up to the point where you struggled for air. Before he could say just what had made you so ashamed the past week, you felt it bubble up in your throat.

“Yes, Chilchuck, it looked like you! Are you happy?! I didn’t want to tell you, couldn’t tell you. I…” Your hands shook, as if in shock of all that you were laying out in front of him. “I’ve been holding everything down inside for everyone’s sake! I’m not as strong as you, as strong as everyone else, okay?! I had no choice but to distance myself! I’m in love with you, and I know you don’t feel the same, so I just wanted that part of myself to stay hidden!”

You had hoped when, if, this had all finally come out, a weight would be lifted. Instead, you felt ten times heavier at seeing the realization in his eyes. Biting your tongue, tears welling up in the way they never could before, you pushed past him.

“I’m going.”

Yet he did just what you didn’t want him to do; grab your wrist and pull you back to that moment you tried so hard to forget in those few seconds. So he was going to reprimand you now? Tell you how irresponsible you are? Before you could spit out what was on your mind, his hands had wound around your collar and pulled you down to smash your lips against his own.

Everything was still in that moment. It was rough, deprived, filled with emotions that made your mind stutter. You tilted your head further into the kiss, still letting him take control. Despite the suddenness of it, you couldn’t help but pull him closer into you. After a beat, he pulled away, panting and cheeks rosy in what you could only guess was sheer relief.

“You’re so frustrating.” He whispered, still clutching onto the collar of your sleep shirt. “Hardheaded to no end. Drives me insane.”

You couldn’t form a sentence, still trying to catch up to what exactly just happened between you two. Was that… his way of telling you he felt the same? Even if it was sudden, it was very like Chilchuck. Blood rushed to your cheeks.

“So…?” Your voice began, matching the softness of his own. He clicked his tongue, and you could tell by the exasperation on his face that he was about to just up and groan at your cluelessness.

“I… have feelings for you, too. I know what I said before, about prioritizing work over everything else.” Chilchuck spoke, his voice having a slight wave to it. “I’m a damn hypocrite…”

“Apparently.” You replied, hearing him grumble under his breath, and for the first time in days, what felt like weeks, you laughed.

The sound made his head buzz. His heart beat in his ears, and for the first time in a while, he let himself smile too. Maybe he could get used to this being honest thing, if it meant staying close to you like this.

“I’m glad things worked out the way they did,” you hummed, the two of you walking back to where your party had decided to settle for the night. “Strange to think it’s all thanks to a succubus. Maybe I should give them more credit.”

Chilchuck rolled his eyes, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Sure. Tell me more about that next time, though. I want to know how handsome you really think I am.”

You couldn’t get back to camp fast enough.

— dividers by @/cafekitsune! <3

[ambrosiagourmet]

I notice no one has asked yet so for the character thing: laios! Or if you want to go for a less common one: the winged lion

Laios!!!!!!

First impression

Honestly its hard to even limit this within the confines of starting the actual manga. I genuinely think I'd have to say my real first impression of Laios was the "autism be damned, my boy can work a grill" joke that gets passed around a lot 😭

Impression now

Older brother.

Loves his friends and family so much. Let him infodump!!!!! A guy that can character arc so hard he becomes a king because its the only way to deal with the things he can no longer let himself look away from. A guy who wants to eat a good meal. A guy who wants everyone to eat a good meal.

A guy who can be all that and still kind of pettily complain that he doesn't get to hang out with monsters anymore & can mope about it soooo annoyingly. A guy who decided to eat the concept of all-consuming hunger because it was the only way to deal with the problem so he might as well try. A guy who can completely change his life by deciding to share his special interest. A guy who can imitate a dog really well.

Favorite moment

Don't make me choooose... okay I'm gonna do three:

1. Assembling Falin's bones with Marcille

The humor. The patience. The slow realization that, despite how absurd of a task it is, it is actually all possible. The moments of admiration for the way skeletons work, the love of the details, the care of assembling all three skeletons just to make sure they get Falin right. Iconic scene.

2. Killing Falin

"Unable to make myself accept. Unable to make myself resist" lives in my soul now idk what else to say. Life is so vibrant and horrifying and raw and beautiful and to let yourself fully be a part of it you must take up space. You must consume. You must fight. You must take and be taken from. Ourgh

3. Talking Marcille down

I love that he looks so goofy on his way up to her. I love the context of how much he refuses to give up on her leading up to this, and how he refuses to give up on her now. I love how everyone is part of this scene, but he's the first one to cross the threshold. I love how she almost blows him up but can't do it (fun fact: this exact situation/post was how she killed Mithrun a couple of chapters ago. It was close).

I love the way he appeals to her mostly just with messy honesty, and I love the silly three rules callback. It's such a sweet chapter.

Also honorary mention for the final page of the story, which gets me every time.

Idea for a story

I'm actually currently fiddling with a longer story concept dealing with the question of Laios needing an heir. Dungeon Meshi is grounded enough in politics that it genuinely feels like a question that the characters will have to grapple with at some point. At the same time, there's no way that like arranged marriage and even having kids in general are not messy topics for Laios and I don't think anyone involved would want to force him to be miserable.

(I also don't personally like the idea of Falin as his heir ftr, bc I think forcing Falin into that role sucks and I don't think anyone would go for it)

So how DO they deal with the issue? Idk! I might write a long meandering story about it! Maybe! I want to, at least.

Unpopular opinion

Ughhhh I don't realllly want to poke this with a stick but yeah I definitely think my most generic (apparently????) Unpopular Opinion with Laios is just that his relationship with Marcille is meaningful and loving. I personally don't view it as romantic and they mean a lot to me as a platonic-life-partners kind of thing, but I also think that dividing relationships in general into Ships TM and Definitely Not Ships isn't really appealing to me personally. I just care them.

(at the same time I really do worry about trying to write about them and it being taken as romantic despite me very intentionally not framing it as such. idk, navigating this stuff is complicated.)

Favorite relationship

UGHHHH LIKE. It is probably him and Marcille. But it's so hard to rank that against him and Falin. Both relationships mean a lot to me and I love them and I love to think about them.

Because him and Marcille have more on the page interactions to dig into and because I don't see them discussed as much, I do tend to gravitate to Marcille & Laios stuff above all else. But like.... don't make me actually commit to picking.

Favorite headcanon

I can't think of a strong answer for this so I'm going to make one up on the spot: I think he giggled to himself soooo much when he included the winged lion in his king outfit but made it so that it looks like the wolf head is eating it. I think he continues to giggle about it years later. I think he gets dressed in the morning and puts on his cloak and goes "get ate, idiot" as he fastens it around his shoulders.

Oh actually for a more genuine headcanon related to the story thing I mentioned above: I think Laios is really good with kids but would be scared of having any of his own. I think he'd have trouble with the classic "I don't want to mess them up the way my dad messed me up" abused kid struggle.

[fallloverfic]

Me: I read/watch Delicious in Dungeon for The Plot The Plot (spoilers for S01E16: Cleaners/Dried with Sweet Sake and the manga, Chapter 31: Sea Serpent, Part 1):

Never escaping from the crotch indeed lakjdladj

I also really love this fond look Marcille has for Laios and his excitement/him appreciating her genius/making use of the dungeon/whatever. It's really sweet. Chilchuck is tired and doesn't like being nearly drowned in a wall by a handsy elf.

Laios is so adorable when he's happy like this. Poor Senshi lol

Finally we get the first true Labru episode, my beloved.

Just shocked to see this mess of an adventurer. Kabru thoughts: Oh no he's hot. (yes I know he's not the one talking here, it just looks funny)

Kabru is so good-looking this episode, I took so many screencaps of him. He just looks so amazing in the anime. I love it.

Putting on smooth talker mode. Love him. Gotta flirt with the blonde tall-man for intel. I blame this whole arc for making me think Kabru is short; he's not short, Laios is just taller lol (Laios is 6'1"/185 cm tall, Kabru is 5'7"/170 cm tall). Or at least Kabru is still fitting the tall-man name and a lot taller than most other races, like the elves, just not as much as Laios is. (And for the curious: Toshiro is 5'11"/180 cm tall, so even he's shorter than Laios). I think between Toshiro, Laios, and Inutade (a 6'5"/195 cm ogre), I just had a weird impression of Kabru's height. (All heights from Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible)

Kabru being dangerous and also cute still. I just... I have too many screencaps of him alkdjalj Beautiful man.

Toshiro is a saint for tolerating this man. But they are cute together.

Kabru and Laios kill me T-T I wanted to fic for them ever since Kabru first showed up in the manga cause he was really cute and I wanted more of him and he seemed fucky enough that he would be fun to fic for, especially with the sort of enemies to lovers vibes of his party chasing Laios' party for revenge.

And then there's this chapter cover lol (this is actually two episodes ago story-wise, but it feels more relevant here):

And I was screaming in joy XD Particularly after we got to Kabru's obsession/curiosity about Laios in particular. I was putting off ficcing for them in case they actually met and yup, they did lol I still have a lot of ideas for fics for them. Maybe someday.

This man is having the time of his life with this nonsense and I love it roflmao He was like "they're either evil masterminds or stupid" and it's kind of the latter and mostly just "they're weird and it's funny" lol

I know he's faking so hard but it's still cute lol (Especially cause Laios offered to treat him to a meal, like hello, Labru date????) One thing I love about them as a pairing is their weirdness interacts in fun ways and it is hilarious.

This man is here for this absolute train wreck and I could not be happier for him. And them. Look at that little blush. Bless him.

Truly a phenomenal episode. It's also interesting seeing how... disrespectful, shall we say, to be polite, just about every character is to each other. You've got Chilchuck insulting Marcille for getting incapacitated, Marcille shoving Chilchuck into a wall to nearly drown without explanation, Toshiro's retainers - particularly Maizuru - being patronizing to all the non-tall-men (and any outsiders, really, considering at least what Maizuru thinks of Falin), Laios being... disrespectful to Toshiro with his name, and Kabru lying his ass off to get the deets on what the heck is going on and essentially being the human embodiment of -grabs popcorn-. It's a lot of really interesting character, social, and political dynamics. Everyone's a mess and I love it. I'm late cause of various nonsense with me misreading something and thinking they skipped a week and being busy but ahhhh such delicious food to catch up on. So good.

Other delicious Plot:

The Plot in Episode 3

The Plot in Episode 7

The Plot in Episode 9

The Plot in Episode 11

The Plot in Episode 13

The Plot in Episode 14

The Plot in Episode 15

The Plot in Episode 16 (you are here)

The Plot in Episode 17

[fumiku]

Hear ye hear ye!

I come bringing two Dungeon Meshi marchil fanfics to share

Enough

He got crumbs of it in moments, here and there, and it would be more than enough to last the winter. Chil knew how to live on little, with only what he could afford. But love? Love he had had enough of for a lifetime.

I'll start with the shorter one that I wrote first, a quick Chilchuck POV 1.3k words oneshot that's bittersweet if not just plainly sad. It’s about repressing a crush essentially, but the marchil is mostly a front for a character study about Chilchuck’s complex feelings on his marital situation and love in general. I’ve been told many times in comments that even without shipping marchil it was enjoyable, so give it a shot if that sounds interesting!

He soaked her in, like hard bread softening in broth.

Grind Me Down Sweetly

Even years after their journey into the dungeon, Marcille wasn’t quite over her existential dread over short lifespans… And it showed. Every other day, she came by to Chilchuck’s locksmith shop with a shocking lack of locks to smith.

Coffeeshop au except it’s not an au and there’s no coffeeshop. This one is a long oneshot of 17k words, and contains flashbacks that are meant to loosely span over a year. This fic can pretty much be entirely read as platonic. They’re just close friends but they give married energy is all. Slice of life and cozy with a side of banter & tsundere behavior, and existential dread hurt/comfort as the cherry on the sundae. It contains some classic Dungeon Meshi things like storytelling through cooking and sharing meals~ If you like the Marcille and Chilchuck dynamic in canon, this is pretty much just a bunch of that, shenanigans abound!

She clung to her friends like time was always running out.

Blonde hair is the epitome of beauty to him meanwhile his greying hair brings her existential despair. I am composed and collected about this

"I am going to chase you out with a broom"

Some related-ish memes I made!

Extra author notes and marchil rambling under cut

With how chil is so irritable and private about romance and his feelings it makes sense that their romance would have passive-agressive energy. Are they just friends or pining? Oh wouldn’t you like to know. Are they just lightheartedly bantering or is he legitimately pissed or are they blinking in morse code their true feelings at each other? Yes

My post-canon timeline is Chilchuck lives a nice life living alone in his house-shop except his friends all visit him and care, and even though he likes living alone it’s also bittersweet and every corner of his life is haunted by the ones he loves and loved and the moments he had with them. That’s it that’s all I want… (mostly the nice life part lol)

My marchil manifesto is that she grows on him stubbornly like fungal yeast and it brings out his flavor like beer <3 Because she stubbornly puts her nose everywhere and refuses to give up on getting closer to her friends and it makes him open up and repress his feelings less and aaaa <33 Obligatory shout out to the dunmeshi discord serv for engaging with my rambles

For someone who dislikes alcohol I’m having so much fun working beer metaphors and stuff into the writing, Chilchuck has all the fun motifs to play with fr... Traps, lockpicking, married life, work, destitution, starvation, rejection, repression, opening urself up to the world. Give me the most domestic fluff and give it a subtle foundation of angst and hurt comfort 👌

And I do think that Marcille takes a particular interest in Chilchuck especially because he’s so set on being a closed book as well. Yeah she def is like 👀 at him. Aaah the way she wants to meet his family so bad 😭💕 I think she romanticizes him & his family life/idealizes him as a virtuous husband a lot too. Like how she tends to think of things in a more flowery story-like way.

I do compare him to bread and her to soup in that he soaks up in her warm vibes and softens up. Which has become a personal favorite. He was bread, she was soup, can I make it any more obvious /lyr Soggy bread Chilchuck is so funny to me. Like, you know that rock solid bread but then you soak it in soup and then it just becomes the softest crumbliest thing. I think Chilchuck is a really hard bread that will break your teeth if you don’t put him in some soup beforehand. Or wine. I wracked my brain a lot about what food Chil would like (because his Adventurer’s Bible profile just says he love alcohol and hates sweet dishes rip) and I end up giving him a bread motif a lot, since it pairs well with alcohol and whatnot.

With marchil I either do unrequited angst because Chilchuck will NOT allow himself to feel, or the most domestic fluffy shit ever but in a mostly platonic dimension because once again -gestures at Chilchuck- But in a true Marcille "If I was Chilchuck’s wife" Donato fashion she manages to get her nose into the most stubborn’s people stuff like a barnacle and it’s. So married people coded anyways. They’re a lil messed up but it’s ok they’ll iron out those bumps. Ironing because they are gonna do the most domestic chores together 🔥🔥 MARRIEDCORE I TELL YOU I should get around to making more fics and more different vibes though, I already have a bunch of prompts written down~

Even more rambling and headcanons!!

I hc that when he gets his shop all his living quarters are half-foot sized so whenever the party comes to visit they suffer sitting down at the dinner table and whatnot

There’s a very specific horror in not being able to grow old with your loved one… It’s gotta be rough being in a relationship where you don’t mature at the same speed/rate. It must be so heartbreaking to turn around and your lover suddenly looks 70 while you’re still like 26 Chilchuck living until he lives with either Meijack or Flertom or at the castle and spends his days grumbling about people being even more incompetent than they used to be real. He can live longer than 50 🙏 come on peepaw you can make it to 70. He’s got so many friends ready to nurse him, prob while he complains about it. This is why I find elderly half-foots a funny mental picture. For a while I wondered if half-foots aged visually much at all in the traditional sense, and then I remembered these.

In my post-canon headcanons I’ve adopted the idea that Marcille doesn’t do her hair, it’s always someone else making her hairdos like an attendant or Kabru and like maybe Falin learns. In the "it takes a village to raise someone" community mutual aid energy… And the rare times where the task befalls Chilchuck he learns how to put it in a single braid (even if it’s so much hair for him to hold in his small hands all at once rip) because the one time he braided it in two in canon it reminded him of Meijack and gave him psychic damage. WHICH. Ohhh my god you have no idea how much I care about Chilchuck’s daughters now. After writing the first half of Grind Me Down Sweetly I am forever changed I know them all by name and know everything there is to know about them, I am making so many headcanons every day… Meijack wears thigh-high boots because she hates when sand, dirt or snow gets in her shoes- I have fanart coming up of them over at @fuumiku and I’d love making fics centered around them as well eventually yippee The angst of old senile Chilchuck still tying marcille's hair... Old senile chilchuck confusing marcille for one of his daughters… "Have you gotten taller? Oh how much you’ve grown" -breaking his neck looking up at her- I want Chilchuck to get the top notch elder treatment.

Ok this is the alcoholism tangent. I really want to believe Chilchuck can be super old, but… Realistically he’s gonna drink himself to an early grave, he’s a work hard play hard kinda guy.

Marcille would be horrified if she knew the extent of it fr fr, but I do think it’d drive a wedge between them if she tried getting him to lay off of it… If he’s open to it though that’d be so nice and sweet. Hey hey btw did you know, Chilchuck is canonically underweight due to extremely strict dieting and alcohol can act as a good hunger suppressant! Lots of issues to dig into here It’d be cute if his daughters visit him often and collectively keep tabs on him in a caring way. It’s less cute actually beinh the daughter and having to deal with it but- CHILCHUCK IS WORTH IT okay!!! Where’s that meme of "You can fix him? So is 5 other people y’all look like a construction crew" bc this increasingly looks like ‘Marcille Senshi Laios Izutsumi and his family make sure he doesn’t poison himself like a dog with chocolate’ mission.

Truly for some people reason just flies out the window when it comes to alcohol, coherence gives way to excuses. He reminds of someone I know who got a grave disease that’s worsened by alcohol and just. Continues to take it regularly. You know that thing that’s said where "an alcoholic parent will have 2 kids, one will grow to be alcoholic too while the other will never touch a drop of alcohol" and Chilchuck is def the first I think. He gives the vibe that he’d say "An alcoholic parent puts a strain on familial relationships?? Pshh, my father was and look at me! I turned out great!". I don’t think Chil could really get shaken out of it at this point tbh, seems very ingrained in him, would prob fight it back. I relate with my own familial situation ughh. Maybe if he realized how it hurt the people around him and not only himself though…. I’d def like to see him ease up on it. Drinking is often a social activity though. That gives me hope, especially with the whole dunmeshi lesson of sharing meals, that he might be able to/have recontextualized how or when he likes to take alcohol, that alcohol is better when you have others with you and you’re still able to talk and whatnot. Chilchuck says that he’s pretty picky with alcohol tho, like he has specific tastes or a high bar. Laios can ban good beer in the kingdom and then Chilchuck just stops because it all tastes awful and he’s not rich enough to import. The brewery he likes mysteriously burns down in a fireball incident one night. Marcille risks prison for her loved ones part 2, now with diplomatic immunity! ✨

I have hcs about Chil’s family dynamic, about his daughters and how alcoholism or workaholism may have affected everyone (not me inferring that Puckpatti being the most idealistic and optimistic from Chil’s daughters is probably a result from her being the youngest and perhaps Chil being the most often at work during that time and so she was mostly raised by her mother without much involvement from him). That’s a topic for another day though, for now I leave you all with thoughts of Flertom painting flowers on a shitty ceramic mug when she was 3 and Chil begrudgingly asking Marcille advice on picking a birthday gift for Puckpatti :) Oh yeah, because if we look at the timeline in The Adventurer’s Bible and combine it with when Chilchuck said that "Due to certain circumstances he hasn’t seen his wife or daughters in years" in the Senshi backstory chapter, besides letters with Flertom he has seemingly not seen them in 4 years. 4 YEARS. Thank god dungeons disappeared, it took that much for him to retire

[fisshontoast]

ID: a redraw of a screenshot from the dungeon meshi anime, drawn as marcia and cerys instead of marcille and falin. They are in a bath house, shown from the chest up and neither of them are wearing anything (but anything nsfw is covered by camera angles). Cerys has her back turned to the viewer, leaning over Marcia, who looks at her, startled and blushing. They are holding hands. Marcia has several scars on her fingers and one on her face, and her hair is in braids. They are both dripping water. /end ID

GAY PEOPLE!!!!

Yes I did trace this what of it. Its for fun I'm not making money off this or anything abdudbdj. And I didn't want to draw All That from scratch <3. The hair is mostly mine for cerys and entirely mine for marcia (I used some of @lesbianmarciaoverstrand's apprentice marcia art as refs <3)

ID: the same image but marcias hair is a very dark purple. /end ID

[lex-n-weegie]

Dorbrak of Izganda backstory and character details

Basically me dumping all the info related to Dorbrak into a singular Tumblr post. This includes spoilers for the main series, mainly spoilers for the backstory of Senshi. If you're chill with that, read on ahead!

☆♡☆♡S/i uses any pronouns!♡☆♡☆

Writing Taglist(this counts lol) [pm or send an ask off anon if you’d like to be added or removed from my taglist]: @amessageonthewind, @nerdstreak, @eggsywifey, @swapthewoz, @queenieboo22

Dorbrak was a dwarf born out of their mother's infidelity, and was thus given a mocking name which meant “a loving fool” in dwarfish. Her time growing up in her town wasn't that great, but she had gotten along great with one other dwarf: Senshi. The two became quite close friends, until one day when he left. She somehow was able to stay behind for a couple more years, facing ridicule and mockery every day until they came up with a bogus reason to send her out. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, she decided to finally go after Senshi and find out what he was up to. It took another few years, she had even died at one point, but she eventually found the dungeon he had been trapped in with his comrades. She continued to venture deep inside, somehow managing to survive the monsters until she met up with the orcs. They took her prisoner and that was when she finally met up with Senshi again. He was touched that she spent years looking for him, and eventually fought for her freedom alongside his own. After that, she decided to always stick by his side, leaving the dungeon with him and happily deciding to go back in with him when he had changed his mind. She knew something happened to his party members, but all she had gotten out of him was that a monster picked them off one by one, and he was the only one who lived. She never pushed for more than that, even if she got the sense he hadn't told her the full story.

She taught Senshi everything he knows about baking, and he in turn taught her everything he knew about cooking. Together they became passionate about food, and they continued to bond over hunting and eating monsters. One night, while making some bread, she expressed thoughts of leaving the group and letting Senshi do his thing “alone and happy,” pointing out her name meant something. He replied he always thought it meant she was “fool” of love, and from that she finally confessed the romantic feelings he had developed for him since they were kids. He returned the feelings, and the two began dating from then on. They're affectionate with each other, but they don't overdo it on the PDA. It's mostly hand holding with a cheek kiss here and there, sometimes a kiss on the lips if they feel like it. In fact, no one had known they were a couple until Marcille asked if they were crushing on each other. Despite how many years they've been together however (a little over 40 years now), neither have thought about the idea of marriage. Dorbrak and Senshi think a wedding would be fun to cook for, but that's about it. Parenthood is similar, they both think they'd enjoy it but it would involve having to give up their lifestyle for a few years until the child could go on adventures with them as well. Marcille does push for it slightly, but never in an overbearing way, moreso in an excited “I think you guys are an adorable couple and I want to be a godmother” sense.

Dorbrak is a very kind individual, they treat everyone they meet with the same level of sweetness one could expect from a mother. When she cares deeply about someone, she's always checking in on their well-being. Have they eaten, do they need to eat, are they bored and need company, do they need anything in general, etc etc. Sometimes she’ll even be careless about her own wellbeing, putting herself in harm's way for silly reasons. That alongside the meaning of her name has led to people assuming she's not that bright, and while that might be true socially, she knows just as much about monsters and cooking as Senshi does. She just doesn't fight as well as he can, and she usually prefers to stay out of the fighting anyways. She does have insecurities about her attachments to Senshi, as she honestly hasn't had any friends besides him until Laios and his party came along. It's a sore subject in general, but overtime as their attachments to the other party members grow the insecurity lessens and lessens until it's eventually gone. Other than that, he's not ashamed of who he is and will happily express his true self daily.

True name: Dorbrak of Izganda

Age: 110

Race/Gender: Dwarf / ???

Birthplace: Eastern Continent / Izganda

Family: Estranged Mother

Physique: Height, roughly 135cm / BMI 34

Likes: Monster cuisine, Senshi

Dislikes: Undereating, being alone

Intelligence: 2

Magic: 1

Strength: 5

Constitution: 4

Baking: 5

Favorite thing to cook: Bread

Opinions on the party

Laios Touden: “A sweet guy who loves monsters, just like myself! I hope to teach him a bit of baking.”

Marcille Donato: “A bit picky, but able to push past it, good for her! Very interested in me and Senshi's love life, but nothing too far. She's got a good head on her shoulders.”

Chilchuck Tims: “I am absolutely enamored by his knowledge of traps and dungeons! I want him to teach me a little, but I seem to bother him with too many questions. He's a very talented lockpick.”

Senshi of Izganda: “My darling! He's always been by my side when I had no one else, he fought for me when no one else would, he's the most perfect partner a dwarf could ask for. I love cooking alongside him!”

Itutsumi: “A very picky eater, which I understand to a degree. It doesn't seem to be an issue of texture or taste or anything however, which is admittedly silly. Despite that, she's been surprisingly kinder to me than others. I really appreciate her company and how she helps us all out.”

The Orcs: “I'd say we have a good relationship. We'll trade resources from time to time and they've always been amicable. They didn't really treat me badly when I was younger, they just did what they thought they had to. They're nice overall.”

[yarrayora]

i find it very funny that my friend who isnt in the fandom doesnt know there are female characters other than falin and marcille in dunmeshi, which is fair since it's not like the other girls get as much interaction and screentime the way falin and marcille do so of course the fanbase mostly only care about them

but anyway it's exactly because we don't see much of canaries that i can have a fun time making up dynamics for them

Cithis the envious, with the power to charm others into doing her bidding. She always fail to charm Milsiril, though. Milsiril's distaste for her own kin is a good deterrence against Cithis' power, and it makes Cithis smile in annoyance as she plans to get back at her for it. The easiest way to do it of course, is through her pets— oops, she means children. Using magic on them is a surefire way for the wardens to get involved and prevent her from actually doing anything. So, instead, Cithis puts on a mask and become a cool aunt for this litter.

It's easy to win them over when Milsiril is neurotic and anxious about their wellbeing all the time, making her an overbearing owner the children want to escape from. Cithis bides her time to quietly tease Milsiril about how her pets doesn't like her much since they love clinging to Cithis more and Milsiril snaps. The children who didnt hear the conversation was shocked that their cool aunt got slapped.

Cithis puts on an apologetic smile for the children "I'm sorry, kids. It seems I won't be able to visit anymore." forever searing her in their brains as a victim of their unreasonable mother, even without manipulating their minds with magic.

also fleki would be like "i'll cover my ears so you can pretend i'm a halfling lol" and otta would be like "eat shit i dont want your pussy"

[isekai-crow]

Delicious in Dungeon / Dungeon Meshi Episode 1

WOW the pacing on this is great. That was my first major impression of this entire episode.

Overall Score so far: 8/10

Dungeon Meshi hits several sweet spots for things I like in a manga/anime - cooking and well drawn food, and fantasy and dungeons. But I never took the time to try out the manga. Maybe the art didn't stick out for me? I tried reading it before the anime came out, just to get a feel for it, but it couldn't keep my attention.

The anime however.

Episode 1 handled all of what I could get through in the manga, and ITS. SO. CUTE.

The food is gorgeously drawn, the characters are adorable, the D&D vibes are immaculate, and the monsters and the food they become are fascinating!

I've only given it an 8/10 because it remains to be seen just how many hooks this might snag in my heart if what I've overheard about the manga being 'soul healing' is true.

The first think I can tell is that this is from a slightly older manga, with Marcille being a very classic/traditional tsundere (and/or possibly tsukomi character?). She is the tsundere type that future tsunderes were based off, and so TO ME she's both somewhat annoying and also more bearable than today's tsunderes.

Sorry Marcille.

I actually didn't like her all that much in the parts I read of the manga, and while her reactions are realistic and serve a purpose to counter balance Laios' nonchalant ability to eat the monsters that try to kill them, her reactions also annoyed me. The 1st anime episode made them much more bearable, and I grew to like her! I hope future episodes do her justice and that she's not delegated solely to being the one to dig in her heels when they eat something new.

Laios is adorable and just really really really wants to share his special interest with his friends, and I love him. He is a cinnamon roll that most be protected but can probably protect himself. I love that he has a cookbook and has just been WAITING to try out some of these recipes.

Chilchuk is Liam O'Brien from Critical Role and you can't tell me otherwise. Specifically his halfling character, Orym of the Air Ashari, with a bit of Vax'ildan thrown in for good measure. I'm excited to explore his story.

Senshi is goals. I wanna but a tough old dwarf roaming a dungeon for food.

I know it will likely get compared with what Capybara and I jokingly call "The Amazon Anime" -- Campfire Cooking in Another World -- and that will always hold a special place in my heart because I stumbled across the light novel when the manga only had about 2 or 3 chapters scanlated online, and never in a million years thought it would get an anime. Where as this is a big name manga that's been running since 2014 and finished last year in September 2023.

They're both cooking animes that deal with fantasy food, but Campfire Cooking is an isekai and all the animation budget went into making the food look D E L I C I O U S, and Dungeon Meshi is going to be far more well rounded story even while being a gag anime.

It's also got some fun Voice Actors!!

Laios, our hungry knight is voiced by Kumagai, Kentarou, who mostly plays supporting roles in a few popular anime and lots of smaller animes, but has spent most of his career voicing BL Drama CDs >o>

Marcille, our elven mage and tsundere, is voiced by Senbongi, Sayaka - Shuna from TenSura, Mumei from Kabaneri, and Haru from Beastars!

Chilcuk, our cute little halfling rogue, is voiced by Tomari, Asuna who, I IMMEDIATELY HEARD GOBUTA FROM TENSURA. She also play Kyou Souma from Fruits Basket. She has a very cute voice.

Senshi, our fearless dwarf, is voiced by Naka, Hiroshi who is best know as Garp from One Piece, Luffy's Grandpa, as well as Gamabunta, Naruto's giant frog.

Anyways, I'm excited for the next episode! Episode 1 was a good introductory episode, with cooking, hunting, and laying out their goals for the coming journey.

ep2 ep3 ep4 ep5 ep6 <- these will eventually become links, I hope.

[houkagokappa]

Dungeon Meshi. Ah, Dungeon Meshi.

If Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern was my surprise favourite from the season, coming out of nowhere with a bombastic start, Dungeon Meshi was the anticipated adaptation I didn't expect to love myself, before it slowly grew on me and became the highlight of my week.

I've mentioned before how much I love the biology/ecology aspect of it. I'm not big on anime food usually, but Dungeon Meshi makes the cooking interesting, they way they dissect both fantasy food and fantasy creatures. It's so delightfully nerdy! I love the cast too, they're all charmingly quirky, but still grounded when they need to be, and they work amazingly as a group. It's cool how you have Laois and Marcille driving the search for Falin, with Chilchuck and Senshi following along, and then you have Laois and Senshi dream up some crazy dish while Chilchuck and Marcille are making faces in the background. They have all these different dynamics and roles and it's fun to see how they mix with each other, when they're in agreement, and when someone's crossed a line no one else can or will follow. It can't be overstated how much thought, love and care has been put into each character and the world they live in.

For me the series turned into something special around the time they reached the lake, while the past few episodes with the red dragon fight and aftermath have been blowing me away. I knew there was something off with most of the group, I sort of new what the plan was all along, but actually seeing them search for, dig out and put together Falin's remains was chilling to watch. It mimicked their earlier behaviour, but with a much more sinister context and I wasn't sure how to feel watching the characters get to it so matter of fact.

The animation and production has been amazing too. It's been such a joy to watch, and I've been side-eyeing all the comments I read from people who didn't want Studio Trigger to adapt Dungeon Meshi because ...they've done series with fanservice in the past????? Those comments annoyed me so much for being mostly unfounded and hypocritical I had to bring them up lmao.

I have no idea what to expect from the rest of the series. For the most part I've suspected some sort of political intrigue, but the new trailer showed me more adventuring and more monsters, which I'm honestly much more interested in, the way Dungeon Meshi does it.

[awellboiledicicle]

I like thinking about a dungeon meshi/bg3 crossover for many reasons, but one of them is the mental image of post-canon Laios and Raphael in the same room.

Because Laios would, in all honesty, reek of demon. Just be fucking soaked in that vibe. Both for eating part of one, and the potent death curse.

Raphael being a devil would have some deeply 'ah, i see. hm' moments watching the group up to that point i think, because approaching anything to do with demons in dnd is basically an exercise in 'how fast do you wish to die'. Because in the abyss connected to the hells there, all demons want is chaos and destruction and generally horrific things that only get worse when they get past the whole 'getting out of the abyss' thing. One cursing you would imply a few things, though, and mostly the fact Laios is not a smear on the ground someplace means he was too strong to immediately kill.

Add in that in dungeon meshi, the mana used for magic is very much a 'from the demon or spirits' thing-- Falin and Marcille are gonna be also giving off Vibes.

AND THEN Add in the curse that monsters would never again willingly be around Laios, and you get a delightful moment of "ok so what does that do in faerun"

I'm running with the assumption that the curse source is far enough removed on the prime material plane that it simply gives non-thinking beings [aside animals] the willies, even if they can't tell where it's coming from.

All of which to say please imagine Raphael gritting his teeth through the worst anxiety attack a devil has ever felt while having He Who Devours All Things Horrible in his house.

Also Astarion having the weirdest case of the jitters around Laios. Not enough to throw him off, and he'd really only ID it as directly being a Laios thing AFTER Cazador is dead, but just enough to make him a little jumpy.

Tangentally related, Falin is basically a cleric. She has no god that we know of. She is just monster enough to be weird if someone sees her feathers. Shadowheart is gonna be sitting there mentally wracking her wiped brain trying to come up with whomst the fuck she belongs to.

Gale and Marcille talk about magic. This would actually go well because they're both nerds, but it WOULD end in her testing out fireball by ordering the weave to do something and Gale would be gobsmacked when it works.

Iztsumi, everyone just assumes she's a catfolk. The timeskip just meant she matured a little hanging around the castle, but she absolutely spends hours talking shit at the party. Shadowheart and her get along on snark, same with Lae'zel, but iztsumi is just like "can you guys stop bitching at one another, we were having a fun talk gdi"

Chilchuck is an old man at this point [35]. Well, more specifically he's gone grey and gained weight now that his whole deal is "run shop and visit Laios on occasion". Routinely roasts Astarion for not being handy enough with traps/locks. AKA Astarion missed 1 trap and Chilchuck has not let him live it down. It doesn't help that Astarion will just point them out, not do much about them on his own. He and Iztsumi put the poor guy through rogue bootcamp and he does not enjoy it at all. Chilchuck, though, mostly stays at camp to keep an eye on their stuff.

Also please imagine Gale being dragged through the forest to help collect forage with Senshi and ending up terribly bedraggled because the dwarf got very excited about similarities of some plants over the differences in others.

[hannahilation]

9 people you want to get to know better tag game-- tagged by @nearo

Three ships: hmmmmmmmm, ships is a tough one to think about like i dont really think of characters in terms of shipping often,

i guess marcille and falin from dungeon meshi

yuugo hachiken and aki mikage from silver spoon

and i guess from recency bias miorine and sulleta from gundam

First ship: i want to say dave and jade from homestuck

Last Song: into you by dead by sunrise recommended by a close friend

Last Movie: probably one piece film red but like i cant be 100% sure, but if it's last movie in theaters i just honestly cant remember at all

Currently Reading: manga, just lots of different manga, mostly yuri manga but i also actively keep up with like one piece and chainsaw man, everyday maintenence of shinozaki-kun, recently read insomniacs after school which left a very good impression on me

Currently Watching: haven't really kept up with ongoing anime in a long time, but i'm watching arknights season 1 slowly but surely

Currently Consuming: nothing currently, though i had some fries a bit earlier i guess, and gonna make some carbonara later

Currently Craving: nothing really, pretty full from the fries still

fun doing something like this once in a while, a good exercise in killing the part of me that cringes at how corny like early forums and sites like deviantart were with these, and more enjoyment in the learning about other people

yeah don't really know which mutuals to tag, i guess i know these people well enough for this @yuriathames @walkinfromnowhere @beckkeep

[foldybikes]

been reading dungeon meshi for the first time and it's so charming!

the characters are distinct which is nice. real big fan of laios' golden retriever energy, seeing the best in people and situations and just wanting to get those cool monsters in his mouth, running headlong into situations. senshi's expression is so deadpan it makes every panel better. marcille took some getting used to, she's kinda tense and control-y like me (which, oof, dubious trait) but the first flashback to school with falin did a lot to improve that. she's so earnest about the dungeon system and I am equally fascinated by the way the writer has set them up. professional dungeons, full of restrooms and mostly mapped out. adventuring as a common job, with a close knit community and agreed on practices like resurrecting dead parties you find along the way. it's fun that it plays into the gameification of it, instead of going full realism.

and the art, mannn. the food, marcille's hands, the expressions, the outfits. it's all so good! so deceptively simple! real fun

[starlight-time-machine]

Week in Review

04/07/2024 – 04/13/2024

Sunday

Week 9 of missing Cipher Academy

Monday

It’s a Manga Monday sort of week (instead of the usual Manga Sunday).

Woah, new character in Girl Meets Rock…I do like that the social web continues to expand, it feels true to life of the band and choir circles I used to run in in high school.

FENG!!!!!!!!!! YEAHHHHHHHHH (Undead Unluck) I’ve really grown to like this tsundere single father – the way Fuuko has filed down his fangs is so funny and endearing (as opposed to the horrible monster he was last loop when he killed my other favourite character, Shen). Plopping a guy literally all about physical combat into this intellectual word game is just the sort of unexpected twist that keeps things interesting, and I’m really excited to see how he fares (despite martial arts being his main focus in life, I do think he’s intelligent and crafty enough to maybe make some clever moves).

Oshi no Ko was fine. Didn’t really need a sympathetic backstory for the mysterious child god but okay.

Dandadan was fine. I liked the one honor student looking guy leading the charge of the delinquents, but Otarun entering the scene was definitely the highlight. This stretch of the manga just feels a little like meaningless spectacle (which, now that I think about it, worries me a little with regards to the anime. Dandadan’s fights are always high octane city destroying spectacles, so I hope Science Saru will be able to keep up…).

Magilumiere fine.

Chainsaw Man fun, mostly because people made funny Quanxi and Asa memes.

Tuesday

Busy today

Wednesday

Finally got around to watching the new Game Changer episode, and it was a definite improvement on the last one. Watching the layers of fuckery unfold was great, though I feel like the PA prompts were a little unbalanced in terms of the “gameplay” since they’re all nice people who would probably never say no to a PA outright.

Thursday

Today’s menu is chicken and mushroom broth with a side of mini pizza pockets (don’t judge me) for the DunMesh episode, which paired nicely once they got past the snot stuff and went to the potage stuff. After a few heavier episodes, I appreciate Kui balancing the tone out with some more slapstick comedy chapters, and Trigger has done a great job adapting the comedic beats (as they always do). We got the infamous Chilchuck birds and the bees scene, as well as the human face gourd sight gag and stone tsukkomi Marcille, and it was just a fun time overall.

Friday

The Drag Race lip sync tournament was alright. (I refuse to type out “lalaparuza” in earnest) I’m glad to see Mirage get some redemption, though I would’ve liked to see her go all the way, but Megami’s redemption was an even greater sight to behold. She just imbues her lip syncs with so much character and personality, and seeing that win over Mhi’ya was honestly pretty cathartic. (Lowkey I think Plasma should’ve won against Mhi’ya too, but whatever…) But in general, I wasn’t particularly wow’d by any of the lip syncs. I don’t know, last season just had so many heavy hitters (Sasha, Anetra, Jaxx, Marcia Marcia Marcia) that made the tournament genuinely exciting, but of this season’s batch I think only Mirage is on that same level to me (sorry Mhi’ya and Morphine…you can definitely dance but I wanted something more…). I’m cautiously excited for the finale next week – it’s looking like it’s Sapphira’s to lose, but I really hope Nymphia can pull through…

Saturday

Wanted something easy to watch in the background while I did other stuff so I booted up season 5 of Glow Up, which I hadn’t watched yet. Glow Up is one of those reality competition shows that I casually keep up with because I like seeing people be creative, but after Ophelia’s amazing run in season 2 I haven’t cared much about the other contestants/winners so far. Also I know next to nothing about make-up, so it’s kind of funny when I see something and I’m like oh that’s nice and then the judges are like that’s horrible and disgusting I can’t believe they’ve done this lol. I only managed to watch one episode today, but I do like how much Glow Up emphasizes the industry/working side of things and how almost all of their main challenges let us see the contestants not just utilize their make-up skills but also their ability to communicate with clients and supervisors. The classic first episode “do a look that tells me about yourself” challenge is always fun too, because you get to see which MUAs actually have a unique perspective and which just draw some hearts and call it a day. I think the person who did the bald cap anxiety look was my favourite – I appreciated how they didn’t go super literal with it, instead evoking the raw feeling of anxiety itself. Good stuff.

[lostacelonnie]

Hi welcome back! God i feel that life has been wild lately so i totally understand. Oh hey no worries ive been in a boat too of like. Man i really want to do this thing but my energy just isnt there. Yikes i hope you enter a stage of having more rest time soon. 8 exams? What the hell thats too many. Baking is a fun hobby i love to partake in that one myself. I like to make sweet breads & such. & its good to have a hobby to like. Pull yourself out of your head when stuff like school gets to be too much. Having to exist in public unfortunately means people will sometimes try to talk to you when you just. Want to go about your day. That is surprising but i also went to school with mostly a bunch of pricks who were awful people so. Had to look up what gran canaria is but it sounds like a nice place id love to visit sometime. Clearly schools work on fae rules. I will save for ruan mei i swear. After i pull archeron. I got black swan with the free pulls i had saved so im hoping to nab archeron. I instantly fell in love with her. Very nice clara supremacy she is so good. One day ill have her on main. I think i stopped at tb 60 so i can work on a few characters but the artifact grind hates me. Oh that sounds real interesting i cant wait to see it play out i just finished the bit where cocolia turned bronya & took the one herrscher at uh. Ch 3 end? Oh i know that one! Catarina my beloved she's so stupid i love her. Easily one of the best protags in recent memory. Dunmeshi is real good so far ive been enjoying it & seeing my girl marcille animated is everything i hoped for. Love my favorite fail girl elf. Im caught up on penacony & still dont understand the racist sparkle thing. Might be i wasnt fully paying attention at the time though. Seele confirmed for best girl by all herscherrs. Oh she must have a good amount of lore im excited to read that. Oh so thats what that means okay. Kinda love that it sounds fun. & more good natured than when people here say that about america. Good luck on surviving i believe in you!

HI THANK YOU!!!! god it really has. and the weather here has been so gloomy recently that i have no energy to do anything even if i have the time. the horrors are endless but we stay silly. and thankies once again!!! i MIRACULOUSLY managed to not fail anything so were all good. unfortunately this month is also already packed but luckily its stuff i more or less either know [polish] or like [geography]. and two of the teachers i disliked got fired AJDKFJG. history guy for offering to raise students' grades if they go around spreading konfederacja [a polish extremely far-right party] flyers and that math teacher who couldnt count for saying hitler was a good person. just another day in a polish school, i guess. but both of our replacement teachers are very cool so we're so back. god yeah totally!!! not only do i have something to do for a while but i ALSO get to eat at the end. literally a win/win situation. yeah that Is annoying but as i mentioned its luckily not as common over here.... and ouhggh pain. gran canaria is VERY beautiful but id also like to visit the other canary islands someday...... the carnival on tenerife is one of the, if not the biggest, ones in spain so thatd be fun to see as well. i only missed the celebrations on gran canaria by one day which was quite annoying but oh well. GOD YEAH. im still convinced School Air is a thing bc i simply cannot explain so many things without that assumption. GOOD LUCK WITH BOTH RUAN MEI AND ACHERON!!! im also saving for acheron hehehehe. strange woman and a mei expy so shes a must pull. and also congrats on the black swan!!!! i agree clara is just. cracked. she has carried me through this game and she continues to do so. tho sim uni gold and gears is kinda beating my ass ngl. since i only have the nodes that require full cognition range left to do. oh absolutely fair, i did that for a while and rn am doing the same but with tl 65. but i DID manage to finallyyyyyy max out wolfie's skills the other day so thats done. i do want to get one better artifact for her but i have chars im prioritizing a bit more. and same the artifact grind hates everyone i think. planar ornaments are much easier to grind imo or at least I Personally have much better luck with them than with cavern of corrosion stuff. but that may also be because i genuinely enjoy doing sim uni so it doesnt feel like as much as a chore as coc. AND OH HAVE FUN THEN!!!! the wendy arc, ironically, is the event that kinda butterfly effect causes Literally The Whole game. CATARINA IS VERY FUN YEAH i look forward to finally continuing that.... and dunmesh as well......... oh and with the sparkle thing afaik its much more prominent in the chinese version because. now dont quote me on this because I Do Not Speak Chinese but i have heard that when talking to aventurine, she uses an Actual Chinese Slur Against Romani People. which. not cool. but yeah its somewhat of a strange issue and ive seen a lot of different opinions from both sides so tbh idk where i stand on the whole thing. SEELE 🔛🔝!!! and dw im Working on the summary but ive also realized how much time its gonna take me to write down All Of That so please give me some time i promise ill get it done asap but ah. and yeah its very fun!! i generally feel like a lot of polish humor [ESPECIALLY online but irl as well] isnt quite as. Patriotic as that of the us. but to each their own adjfkjs. AND THANK YOU o7!!!!