#oh this reminds me of chilchuck i'll get it for him

[hotpotghosts]

[thetickleeraven]

What's That Under My Armor?

Delicious in Dungeon

Summary: Laios gets a mysteriously ticklish feeling on his abdomen after putting on his armor. [THIS IS A TICKLE FIC]

REMINDER THAT THIS BLOG WILL BE DELETED WITHIN THIS YEAR (probably) AND ALL MY FICS WILL BE ON AO3 FOREVER.

>>>BOOKMARK MY AO3 HERE<<<

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Laios took another slurp of his soup, happily soothing his rumbling tummy. Yesterday had been another long day in the dungeon and a long time to meal prep, but, as always, the meal at the end was worth it, and lucky them, they had plenty of leftovers for today's breakfast.

They had set up camp near a stone building that was falling apart at the seams. There were no beds inside nor roof overhead, so camping just outside the building, closer to the fountain nearby, was an overall better decision.

Senshi was telling a story near the campfire while everyone ate and listened. Good company, good food, good banter; mealtime was easily Laios' favorite time of the day.

In the middle of Senshi's story, the group was startled by a loud thud from the building they were camped next to. One of the tapestries had fallen. At the noise, Laios jolted and turned towards the sound, sending some of his soup spilling over his shirt and the chestplate of his armor he had sitting next to him.

"Oh, crap." Laios groaned at the mess and, worst of all, waste of food.

"Clumsy as ever." Chilchuck huffed and rolled his eyes.

Laios looked around for any type of napkin to clean himself off, but found none. He picked himself off the floor and jogged over to the torn up tapestry. He ripped some of the cloth and hurried back to his armor.

"You're using a tapestry to clean up your soup?"

"Hey, we don't have anything else and it's already torn up! What's the harm, right?" Laios explained as he began wiping down the inside of breastplate where the soup had fallen. He then took off his shirt, now with a giant stain, and wiped the leftover mess on his chest.

"Agh, this cloth is terrible. It's shedding all over me."

"Shedding?" Marcille asked.

"It's coming apart, I'm covered in little bits of cloth." Laios wiped some of the bits off of him, but most of them stuck to him like glue.

"So you've got some lint on ya, big deal."

"Chilchuck's right. Just put your shirt back on and have another bowl of soup. A little string and and a stain on your shirt isn't gonna ruin your day." Senshi said, pouring him a new bowl of soup.

Laios sighed and nodded before taking a seat closer to the campfire and reaching for the new bowl. The leftover cloth bits were a little itchy, but he's dealt with far worse in the dungeon than a little itch on his abdomen.

The group continued their conversation like nothing happened, aside from Laios' occasional scratching at his midriff. God that fabric was awful.

"Alright, I think it's about time we get going." Senshi said as he began putting away the dishes.

"Sounds good. I'll start putting on my armor." Laios always took the longest to get ready, mostly because heavy armor took like ten minutes to put on. By the time he'd get his armor on, camp would have already been cleaned up. Better start soon.

He turned and began absent-mindedly putting things on. It was a daily routine at this point. As soon as he had his armor in hand, he turned back to keep his eyes on his friends, tuning into their conversation while he went through the motions.

Last of his armor was his chest plate. He had slid it on and was adjusting it to be where it needed to be when he felt something off. He furrowed his brow at the squirming feeling but remembered the stupid tapestry. He rolled his eyes. That was going to be an annoying feeling all day. Maybe he needed to jump in a body of water.

Laios began twitching. Okay, that feeling was definitely different from before, like something was crawling over his shirt.

"You alright, Laios?" Marcille asked, noticing her friends' jerking and twitching. The group now had all eyes on the resident knight who looked very concerned and confused.

Laios' face twisted into alarm as he felt the crawling creep up the shirt, off the fabric, and into his underarms.

"W-Wait!" Laios stuttered out.

"What?!" His three party members asked in unison.

The blonde's face reluctantly contorted into a big goofy grin. "C-Crahap!" He let out a choked giggle. Laios began frantically trying to remove his armor but could barely muster the strength to lift his arms with the sensation marching across his skin.

"Uh, are you gonna tell us what's going on or do we have to guess?" Chilchuck asked, raising an eyebrow.

Laios was starting to panic. Whatever was causing this was HORRENDOUSLY ticklish and, worse, was crawling towards the most ticklish part of his body.

He was biting his cheeks and tensing every muscle in his body, trying desperately not to collapse laughing. Every time he reached up to try and take his armor off that terrible sensation kept his arms glued to his sides. It was a matter of time now before he broke.

Think. What the Hell was going on?

At first he thought it was the tapestry. Something about the cloth? What cloth would do this? Maybe there was a monster involved?

"Are you sick? Did you get food poisoning?" Marcille hurried to Laios' side, at a complete loss for how much concern or alarm she should be showing as she had no idea what was going on.

"Why would he be smiling, though?" Chilchuck pointed out.

It would make sense if it was linked to the cloth, considering bits of it are stuck to the armor and his body.

The cloth can't be alive. Maybe something that eats the cloth?

Wait.

That's it!

"Spit it out, boy!" Senshi shouted right as the crawling started across Laios' belly.

"DUHUHUNGEON CLEHEHEHEANERS!" Laios exploded in laughter and fell to his side, clutching his middle and helplessly lost to the torturous sensations.

The three other members exchanged confused glances.

"I think you'll have to be more specific." Senshi said with a furrowed brow.

"Yeah what do dungeon cleaners have to do with you laughing your ass off? What, dungeon biology is suddenly a comedy gold mine?" Chilchuck stared at him, completely bewildered.

"Ihihihin my ahahaharmor!" Laios laughed, kicking his legs on the ground in hysterics.

"Oh!" Marcille clapped her hands as everything clicked for her. "The tapestry is seen as damaged dungeon. Some of it was still in your armor. If you put it on without looking, that means you could've missed a bunch of dungeon cleaners doing their job, and now they're all over you."

"And now they're... tickling him?" Chilchuck questioned.

"I don't think they're doing it intentionally. I think their crawling just happens to be ticklish to him." Marcille calmly explained as if there wasn't 200 pounds of armored tall-man cackling like a damn hyena on the floor.

It wasn't just the crawling, Laios realized. They were cleaning the leftover tapestry on his person too, eating the cloth scrap off his bare belly and chest and in the name of all that is holy was it ticklish-

"How long do we have to deal with him like this? Chilchuck sighed.

Marcille winced. "Dungeon cleaners can take a long time to clean. Plus, I don't even know if they can get out of his armor on their own."

"Well, we'll have to pull the armor off Laios and help get the little buggers off him." Senshi huffed, putting down the dishes he was packing away.

"Ugh, fine. Let's rescue Laios from the dungeon cleaners." Chilchuck picked himself up off the floor and the three approached the tall-man who was quite literally rolling on the floor with laughter.

"Ihihihit tihihickles sohohoho BAHAHAD!" Laios squealed the last bit as a few travelled over a particularly sensitive spot.

"Yeah, yeah, big guy. We're here to help."

"I'll grab him and try to hold him steady while you two get the chest plate off of him." Senshi directed. He cracked his knuckles and reached down, grabbing Laios by the waist and holding him up in a steady sitting position.

The other two grabbed his chest plate and tried to lift it up but we're stopped by Laios' arms.

"Laios you have to lift your arms up."

"Ihihihi cahahahan't." Laios was nearly in tears from the tickling. "Ihihihi'm tryihihihing Ihihihi swehehehehear!" He lifted his arms a few inches above his waist but couldn't muster much more than that.

Senshi wordlessly let go of his waist and grabbed his wrists, hoisting them far above his head so the other two could begin working off his armor.

Laios' laughter grew more frantic as he could swear the dungeon cleaners were travelling back up to his now pulled-taut underarms.

"Pull it together, man." Chilchuck sighed as they were just starting to get the damn plate above his elbows.

"Ihihihihit's sohohoho hahahahard!" Laios wheezed in between bouts of cackling, a tear now falling from his right eye. "Ihihihit tihihickles sohoho bahahahad!"

"There!" Marcille shouted as the two got the armor to Laios' wrists. Senshi released Laios' arms so the pair could quickly pull off the plate and throw it aside. There were a few dungeon cleaners still on the plate, but it seemed most of them had ventured down Laios' shirt.

"Now let's see how bad this infestation really is." Senshi let go of Laios' wrist so he could yank up the tall-man's shirt. Sure enough, there were dozens of tiny little dungeon cleaners going to town on his belly and chest.

Marcille shivered. "Ew, that's so creepy."

Laios was finally starting to feel hope this would end soon. He was just starting to let relief flow through him when he felt something that made him stiffen. One started crawling-

"NOHOHO!"

-right into his bellybutton.

Instantly Laios began thrashing like his life depended on it, practically screaming in desperate laughter as the little cleaner had apparently found something to clean in his navel of all places.

His party members stepped back as he became a whirlwind of flailing limbs. Just as he was getting help, he had become a danger to everyone around him.

"STAHAHAHAHAP! PLEHEHEHEHEASE GEHEHET THEHEHEM OHOHOHOFF!" Laios cried, tears streaming down his burning face.

"Well stop thrashing and maybe we will!" Chilchuck shouted.

"He can't help being ticklish, boy. He's acting how his body's telling him to act." Senshi lectured Chilchuck as he stretched his arms. "Unfortunately we still gotta help him even with him whipping his arms every which way. I'll grab him and keep him steady, you two get all those little buggers off of him."

The pair nodded and waited for their cue. After a few moments of waiting for an opening, Senshi grabbed both of Laios' arms and pinned them to the ground.

"Just approach from the side so he doesn't kick you." The dwarf advised.

The two did as told and each took a seat next to the tall-man who was still cackling and and wheezing.

Marcille eyed the crawling critters on Laios' belly and cringed. "Do we really have to?"

"We got to get going through the dungeon again and, I don't know about you, I don't want to tug a laughing Laios the whole way through." Senshi said.

Chilchuck got to work plucking each cleaner off the thrashing man while Marcille watched with an uncomfortable expression. He'd scratch at a spot with his fingernail to loosen the thing's grip off Laios' skin, then pluck it off with his finger and thumb to toss it to the side. The process, admittedly, was still ticklish to poor Laios.

"PLEHEHEHEASE! THEHE- THEHEHEHE NAHAHAVEL! GEHEHEHET IHIHIT OHOHOUT PLEHEHEHEHAHAHAHA!" Laios pleaded, begged, cried for relief from that one specific cleaner. The rest he could maybe bear but that one in his bellybutton was driving him to insanity.

Chilchuck groaned reluctantly but acquiesced and stuck his finger in Laios' navel to claw out the cleaner there. As Chilchuck's finger made contact Laios' whole body jolted enough to have Senshi struggling to keep hold. Laios' laughter was growing, causing his core to absolutely ache from strain.

"Sit still, idiot. I'm trying here."

Laios' only response was some hysterical babbling and more tears streaming down his face.

"Got it!" Chilchuck pulled back with the problematic little cleaner sitting on the tip of his finger.

Immediately Laios calmed down. He was still giggling uncontrollably from the rest of the cleaners, mind you, but he was worlds away from where he had been mere seconds earlier.

"Th-Thahahahahank yohohou." Laios laid his head back as his fighting and thrashing finally calmed down. The rest of the cleaner removal went smoother, though still full of laughter.

Finally, the last one was pulled off and thrown aside. Senshi released Laios' arms and the tall-man instantly curled into a tight ball, giggling exhaustedly.

"Well that took forever." Chilchuck said.

"Let's learn to pay more attention to things, huh, Laios?" Senshi patted his back and stood up, heading back to the pile of dishes.

"You okay?" Marcille asked softly, crouched next to his head.

Laios was an absolute wreck. He was panting like he hadn't taken a breath in days. His face was burning red. He had messy tear track stains across his face. His hair was a wild mess. His core ached as if he had planked for a thousand hours. And his abdomen was buzzing, just barely on this side of ticklish.

"I'm," Laios hiccuped. "okay." He sighed with a wobbly tired smile.

"I had no idea you were that ticklish." Marcille sat beside him.

"Oh yeah, really bad."

"You don't say."

They both chuckled. Laios sat up beside Marcille.

"Falin and I used to get in constant tickle fights when we lived together. I had strength on my side, but it doesn't take much to bring me down so Falin usually won." Laios rubbed his neck.

"It's good information to know." Marcille gave him a mischievous smile.

"Please no more tickling." Laios put up hands to guard himself. "I was just tortured."

Marcille put her hands up in a placating gesture. "Oh, I'm not going to."

Laios let out a sigh of relief.

Marcille stood. "Today at least."

[mmmthornton]

Oh my God my dashboard is actually full of Dunmesh stuff so I better make this post before it gets too popular.

There's a part later in the manga (bicorn chapter, so I'm gonna keep it vague for anime watchers but it might still be more than someone wants to read). In it, Chilchuck decided things are getting a little too chummy around here so he tells a lie about his own life to keep the rest of the party from asking about him or wanting to know more. Obviously, this is Dungeon Meshi so there are like, consequences that bring the party together, but I'm obsessed with a thing that happens BEFORE that. Kui is really good at making small character moments that inform a lot of their internal thinking (honestly reminds me of Spielberg at his best).

Chilchuck and Marcille spent most of the adventure being Haters together (love it), so he makes one of his Chil Jabs at her. You can tell he's expecting her to brush it off, or them to trade barbs as she calls him a stupid little asshole, whatever. But! She doesn't.

With the things he said earlier, he changed their dynamic and how she looks at him and she gets legitimately angry and hurt that he would talk to her like that, and accuses him (accurately), of ignoring his own biases and flaws by ripping into others.... And it totally shakes him! I'll find the panel later but you can see he's thinking "Oh....I really fucked up and I might've lost my hater friend in the process 😦😦😦". It's a sharp moment where the consequence that makes him reassess isn't what happens after, but it's losing Marcille's faith in him as a friend.

It's good writing! It's a really solid moment! ...................I can really relate because good Lord have I been there! Just wanted to say how interesting I find that part of Chilchucks character before any conversation about the show is beset by rancid discourse.

[fumifooms]

oh, sorry for so many asks, i also wanted to say too though i really agree so much with your chilchuck thoughts so far, even down to your personal headcanons about how things might go post-series. and you're absolutely right, i'll defend that little guy any day myself. you understand him so well and it's kind of relaxing to have someone else dish out this kind of analysis and already agree with all of it cus it's just so real, so thank you again for the Meal <- perhaps the perfect thing to say about dungeon meshi analysis when i think about it

i know you have playlists and stuff so i wanted to share a song i've been listening to that that reminds me of him: divine loser by clem turner

No worries, they’ve been a lot of fun! I do plan on getting back to each one btw, just gotta get through some other things first hopefully. Aaaah that’s really nice to hear 🥺 I do know the feeling haha, it’s always fun to have posts that Get It that you just nod along with 🤝 I’ve thought sooo much about Chilchuck I rotate him in my brain like rotisserie chicken more often than not, glad it all ended up being productive haha. Y’know recently my friends have been calling me a Chilchuck superfan/scholar jokingly and it actually made me have a realization moment of…

Bc I’ve always said Laios was my fave and like, he does mean everything to me idk if I’ve ever felt so seen as with Laios, I relate to him sooo much, but then. Okay alright that can be a different thing than a character being your favorite fine FINE I admit it Chilchuck’s my top blorbo. He’s so.🧍‍♂️I can’t even describe. He’s so….. He’s a clown but he’s also perfection in its best imperfect form I will not be taking further questions today. My friend called him my silly rabbit like that one meme and it makes me laugh sm

Thank you for the music rec!! I listened to it and yes agreed, sent straight to my Chil playlist. Songs are my bread and butter when I have character brainrot bc like with web weavings I feel like there are so many emotions and thoughts you can communicate about something so simply through one… (Which for anyone interested here’s my web weaving tag, got 2 about Chil). Gonna link all my dunmeshi playlists while I’m here: Dungeon Meshi, Chilchuck & his wife, marchil, Mithrun.

Ok everyone saw this coming but this ask ran away from me and I ramble about some song lyrics I associate with Chil & different facets of his life below the cut. Some people find my, ehem, heated rambles about Chil entertaining, this is your cue to get out the popcorn.

When thinking about songs for Chil I have 3 angles I take: About Chilchuck, about him and his wife, or about him & Marcille. Marchil is so engraved into me with their arcs together, that they’re like the concept of closure and letting go and letting yourself live again to me, sorry for all the non-enjoyers…

I think currently my top song for him is Jackrabbit by San Fermin, because it combines all three it makes me go wild. It’s about trepidation… Throwing yourself into it even despite the fear (working with traps, survival in poverty where you have to rush & hustle), or just staying there paralyzed(not reaching out to his wife). Flight or freeze!! Saying goodbyes and saying hellos!! Not dying alone!! The life cycle of a wild rabbit living and dying, the baton pass race of life from generation to generation!! Chil and his daughters even!!! Going through life at a frenzied pace!! It is so Chilchuck and so marchil, and the music does give that hurried and scared energy to me too, and sigh the Marcille side to it with fear of death too…

Extra fun context but the other day on the discord server we were talking about what animal each character’s fursona would be as we do and I thought of a rabbit for Chilchuck: Quick footed, ‘cowardly’, small and frail and seen as weak 🙃, athletic and slender, pulls stunts, stressed out, has very fine hearing and has good instincts, etc. And ofc that fits really well with Marcille since she’s kinda associated with dungeon rabbits hehe~ But I think while Marcille’s 100% the cute round rabbit Chil’s more like a brown hare, more wild and like, more like a jackalope if we’re still doing monsters... I do lowkey find it more fun than his associated monster being mimics because he’s crabby, because they’re clever (with where they place themselves) and because of how he has a soft shell but soft insides, lol.

OKAY so that’s my song pick with the main 3 facets sure, now I’ll share some lyrics for each 3 sides separatedly 😈 Kinda summarizing my web weavings for him thus far. If we start with Chilchuck by himself we have… Enter One by Shelby Merry and Drunk by The Living Tombstone

With his wife, we have the bad end, and the good end for if they get back together with Lost Kitten by Metric and North by Sleeping At Last… Okay okay plus Love Like Ghosts and My Heart is Buried in Venice… Little Soldier by The Crane Wives for them also RUIN me

And Marchil… Marchil oh my beloved. Another buddy also made a full analysis on discord about Soap by The Oh Hellos for them lol, but these are Not I by I Fight Dragons and My Heart is Buried in Venice again~

Okay okay two more. Boats & Birds by Gregory and The Hawk, and Tummy by Tamino.

Finishing it up with quotes from, in order, A Softer World by Joey Comeau, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Acknowledgements by Danez Smith, The Letter by Richard Paul Evans, and last but not least posts from dead tumblr account flintcoded. I keep looking around and finding MORE fitting quotes. Someone stop me- In loving me you hold a knife at my throat, in loving you I tell you exactly where to cut. Forgive me, memory is a rope around my neck. I need you to be happy, I need one of us to be happy.

Hand in unlovable hand…

In conclusion;