#this is my ideal

[phoenixkaptain]

Strangest part of my life is that I am a-OK being a woman right now this very second, but later??? Who knows??? But also, when I am around fifty or sixty, I would like very much to become an old man who lives in a cave. Specifically an old man, mind you, because I would like 1.) to grow a beard, 2.) to spout riddles, 3.) to be a hero’s mentor, and 4.) I basically just want to become ANH-era Obi-Wan.

How long have I known of my wish, you may be wondering? Good question, I first realized when I was around three and watched Star Wars and I told my mom that the character I wanted to grow up to be like was Ben and she said “??? Why’s that?” and I said “I want a beard.”

So, desired timeline of my life:

Right now, age 20+ : woman

?????

Age 60 : man

[colorful-horses]

monster high

[cursedwithwords]

"Not written exactly how you like it" okay im curious now, can you explain in a few words your ideal version of Jeddy??? Or how you try to write them???

No but I can explain it with a picture (I'm cheating):

((This is a panel from the yaoi manga "Smoky Nectar" by Akira Minazuki, I don't read a lot of NSFW stuff, ya'll know that by now, but this is my favorite yaoi by FAR, it's so fucking cute, I need it to be published physically so I can own it in my grubby little hands.))

[shadowtraveled]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[d1gnan]

scanned from ideals magazine

[a-jasminator]

Edwin Payne is my favorite Disney princess

[tiphares]

rainbow sun shower today but it wont show up on my camera 👀🤷🏻‍♀️ feelin good, energized n optimistic... 🌈🌦️

[ruporas]

kiss of the divine

[lylahammar]

Senshi doesn't often cook for other people 🧐

I was heavily inspired by @fruit00's Senshi drawing for the way I drew him! c:

[patrickztump]

got an ipad so i had to draw my son in his many positions of rest

[uncanny-tranny]

Amatonormativity has destroyed so many people's understanding and acceptance of themselves, and it's heartbreaking.

Yes, it is normal to be in your 20s, 30s, or older and not have lost your virginity, had a first kiss, or a partner. It is normal to say that you aren't ready for those things, too! It is normal if your life doesn't follow the "college graduate -> engagement -> buying a home -> 2.5 kids and a dog" trajectory that so many people have idealized.

So many people associate maturity with losing your virginity, or having a first kiss, or a serious relationship, and I think that's a dangerous association. Maturity isn't gained through those things, and you don't have to have those experiences to be considered "mature" or "grown." It is not a bad thing to go at your pace. Nobody else can live your life but you. If you end up having those experiences, that's great! But it should be done because you want to experience them, not because you feel "broken" and "immature" without them.

[lethologicaee]

had a request for long hair jason sitting in my inbox for forever and somehow i have lost it... but here is the sketch. i gave him several hairstyles

this was NOT a sketch request commission for gaza, but it is an example of what you would receive if you did choose to donate! if you would like to receive your very own sketch, please check my pinned post for methods of donation & info regarding the commission process.

[markscherz]

Behold, the European platonic ideal of a frog.

[winkle-pickers]

Covenant

[rocker-socks]

People talking about how Telemachus is written too young and "his song is more fitted to a 13 year old than a 20 year old" is both really funny and also kinda depressing.

There’s actual reasons - in Ancient Greece 20 year old men, while certainly not considered children, also weren't thought of as adults but instead youths. Admiteddly this a more athens leaning take, but even in Sparta men weren't allowed to hold political positions until they turned 30.

In a more modern take, as a 20 year old this is exactly how my peers act and feel. The vast majority of people in their early twenties have no idea what the hell they're doing.

Obviously not so much a tumblr problem - aged demographic and all - but also both really funny and a little sad to see on tiktok. Yes 14 year old, even at 20 you will be yearning to be Great with no idea how to do so.