#it just seemed... incomplete

[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.

#dungeon meshi spoilers #mithrun #dungeon meshi #this has been rotating for a while but i wanted to check my evidence before getting into it thanks user angelspenance for posting that meme #half of this is just the text and the other half i'm sure has been said before but it's making my brain [radio static] so here this is #someone did for sure mention this but i do find it very cute that in his fucked up conjured world meant to portray his ideal reality #his teammates came to visit him. like part of the fantasy was then explicitly that they cared about him and were his friends. even though #he says he tried to see the worst in them. #hm it does feel important to note that i do also believe 100% in mithrun suicidality--his desire to be eaten does seem to focus a lot on #wanting it to be Over. wanting not to be left incomplete and empty anymore. #but that loops back around a bit to the hole in your heart that appears when you feel unloved. it's many things and the same thing at once #snakes #long post #severe problems #meshy

[fadedlovemp3]

#HAD to add the addition from my oomfie calicocritters bc it just seemed incomplete w out it now #daniel m. lavery #nicole krauss #parallels #m

[aromantic-diaries]

Idk if I've said this before but I feel like the bi to aro/ace pipeline wouldn't be half as common as it is if asexuality and aromanticism weren't forgotten all the time when it comes to discussing sexuality. I think it's funny to joke about it and seeing how it's something that so many people experience has definetly been helpful in making me feel less alone but sometimes I think about how I would have known I was aro and ace much sooner if I knew more about these identities like I did about bisexuality

#aro #aromantic #arospec #ace #asexual #acespec #of course i won't put all the blame on other people cause a lot of it was me just refusing to admit it #but then again my own denial was a result of being made to feel like it would make me incomplete #i probably would have known i was aro much sooner if someone told me it was a thing before i got amatonormativity brain poison #i knew it was unusual when everyone else seemed to have had at least one crush and i didn't

[seal-berry]

really love that the new scott pilgrim revises the end of the comic (scott finished his Emotional Arc and is Ready to Face the Future!) with tearing it down. He did grow, he grew enough to get through about 13 years of marriage before hitting divorce and old bad habits. In takes off scott gets to see this version of himself, and he also gets to be forcibly sidelined and take a backseat to the backgrounders he could barely bring himself to give a fuck about the first time around. And by NOT doing the regimented adventure, he grows more than the original. Takes off says that what scott really needed, in addition to the self respect that he gained from doing his big cool Protagonist arc, is to get some distance, see his own worst qualities from the outside while simultaneously seeing others' bests that he wasn't able to before.

#scott pilgrim #scott pilgrim vs the world #scott pilgrim takes off #i think this is why a lot of reddit chuds are mad tbh like they arent articulating this but i think they can smell it #and they dont like the implication that scotts arc in the original was in any way incomplete #a lot of people seem to be taking some things about the new show real personal #then again it might just literally be that they hate the main dude being sidelined in favor of the wahmen #the precise inner machinations of reddit chuds can be somewhat opaque #idk im glad the original didnt get animated tbh because like its good but im not sure how well its pacing would translate

[r0semultiverse]

Ablrecht Entrati is the Y2K bug

Can anyone figure out what the virus text says? I think it's void-related based on the eye imagery, but I'm not 100% certain whats going on with that. 👀

Look at the clock in the background, literally a minute away from the year 2000.

#I've watched this like 3-4 times now & I keep piecing together more stuff #this is just a really cool detail #also doctor?! did albrecht originally invent the infested only for dr. tengus to discover them later on?? #I have so much more now that I want to know about the timeline #seems like the year 2000 was when the infested were being tested out; looked a bit different less fleshy & incomplete looking #did this part take place on earth before it became uninhabitable? is the y2k bug event what made earth unihabitable?? #theres soooo much I wanna knowww!! the looooorrrreeeee! #this is a universe where the y2k apocalypse is actually real #mine #op #warframe 1999 #warframe #warframe spoilers #albrecht entrati #whispers in the wall #warframe theory

[krikeymate]

Wednesday never feels that all encompassing love that her parents have. She loves, she does. She loves enough, in her own way. She even lets it into her heart. She lets Enid persue her, she lets herself be persued. The love she feels for her is incomparable, but she has no desire for gratuitious displays of public affection, no desire to scream it from the rampart and declare Enid as hers for the world to see. When Wednesday concludes that she is simply not built that way, Enid kisses her softly and declares “I love you the way you are built Wednesday Addams, and need you no other way but the way you are.”

Until the day she stands in the hospital, Enid beaming up at her with their daughter in her arms. That tiny Fragile thing, their daughter. Wednesday would kill for her, die for her, live for her. She wants to show her to the world and dare it to try and take her daughter from her.

#/mp #Wednesday Netflix #Wenclair #my writing tag #i love the whole gomezification of wednesday ok BUT #i feel like part of her issue is her parents seem to love each other more than their children. obviously they love them dont @ me. #so wednesday would just. she would never be her parents. #her love for enid is more private and her love for her children is more public. #and i think enid would be ok with that because it means she gets to keep that side of wednesday to herself. she never has to share that. #and it means that for all the world might say about her wife. they will never be able to say that she was a bad parents. #that she did not love her children #this wednesday is the most obnoxious pta mum you have ever seen #this feels incomplete and i feel like i should have more on enids take but the words arent flowing any more so

[panthera-tigris-venenata]

Any fun AK/AK ships? Without Audrey ideally?

#for the soulmate au #the inherent horror of soulmates #can't be Audrey cos she can't have a mark #the horror of not having a soulmate when everyone else has and wondering if there's something wrong with her #i might not be doing soulmate au correctly but that's not a me problem #like. soulmate au is scary?? what do you mean you're incomplete without a soulmate?? what does that make u?? #what about people with multiple soulmates or none? are they more or less human?? #plus the self worth issues #just. tjis is the person that I'm supposed to love forever and ever? #seems like a horror concept to me #to the vks too soooo #anyway #please? #disney descendants

[aria0fgold]

Thinking more about my isat au and I'm gonna need to change a LOT more than I thought. First things first, Siffrin's connection to the wish. Since in Of gems and pages, all the wishes stayed the same. So why is Odile the one looping and not Siff? So basically, what I think I'd do in my au is that the Universe decided to change things up a bit.

The first time the Universe granted Siffrin the means to fulfill their wish, things went horribly bad (just look at Loop). So this time, the Universe decided to give this new Siffrin, something a lil different. They still gave Siffrin the timeloop But made Odile his proxy. So that Siffrin may have helpers in this new timeline, with Loop as the guide and Odile helping as well, it Should go better, right??? And since the wish is connected with Siffrin's emotions, the Universe can't just completely make it Odile's problem now, sooo basically... Siffrin can still remember Parts of a previous loop PRIOR to their deaths.

That means during the beginning of canon when Siff was crushed by a boulder, he remembers that. And found Loop as well, but when he accidentally ended up touching a tear, he now Doesn't remember being crushed by a boulder but by being frozen in time. At the same time, he ALSO doesn't remember Anything else prior to it. So he doesn't remember that there's a boulder that can kill him by the entrance of the House, he doesn't remember Loop. All he remembers is that somehow, one way or another, he was frozen in time within the House and needs to be more careful with the tears. And because of the way that the loops affect Siffrin now is faaar too different than how it affected Loop, he can't go forwards or backwards in time. Siff will always awaken back in the meadow and Loop will always have to do their whole speech all over again (which would most likely annoy them immediately cuz why? Why is it so different now? Why can't this Siffrin REMEMBER?)

Odile on the other hand, remembers ALL the loops and finds a lot of discrepancies with Siffrin. It takes awhile for her to meet Loop and they get to talk to each other. Their meeting would be pretty... rocky at first. Loop still getting regarded as a stranger by Odile, Loop finding out that Odile is the one getting affected by the timeloop from their own selfish wish. Even if that Siffrin isn't them, it doesn't change the fact that they both made the same wish. Loop thinkin bout being such a favourite cosmic joke of the Universe that not only were they turned into This, one of their family members are suffering cuz of them. And she doesn't even recognize them. It'd be pretty hard at first too cuz Loop doesn't know that their appearance changed yet, there's no mirror. For Loop, they might still look like Siffrin, right? But Odile's reaction to seeing them says otherwise.

Anyway in this au, stage wise, Odile is the actor, Siffrin is the director, and the Universe is the audience. Book wise, Odile is the character, Siffrin is the writer, and the Universe is the reader. Why is Siffrin the director or the writer and not the Universe? That's because the timeloops are Still connected to his emotions, if something he didn't want to think about happens like, that argument with Bonbon (just as an example. I'm wondering if that'll still happen here considering that only happened because of Siff had memories of all the loops in canon. He doesn't have that in this au anymore), time would loop back still, so in a way, Siff Is writing how the timeloops go.

#aria rants #isat spoilers #isat au #of gems and pages au #ogap au #also why did the Universe choose odile? i like to think that the Universe finds her as being skilled enough to be able #to easily help fulfill that wish considering that she Was able to deduce the timeloop when given enough clues #at the same time. odile also seems to be both really close to siffrin (the fact that they go on secret quests before) #and far away from the party emotionally. odile doesnt regard anyone as ''friends'' and so convinces herself that theyre just colleagues #but deep down. she also knows how much she cares for everyone to the point of willing to do unspeakable things to anyone that #dares harm any of them. she cares so much but doesnt know the word to describe it. friends doesnt cut it. the idea of them #being like family to her hasnt crossed her mind yet when the only family she knows of and have is broken and incomplete (her mom left them) #so shes seems to be emotionally distant from them. she wanted to ask bout continuing traveling with the others but doesnt know How #the Universe sees that and thought that should there be anyone that can easily help siffrin then itd be odile. unfortunately #for the Universe. they didnt quite expect siff being too closed off and dodgy in regards to his own emotions #so it still end up being difficult. even more so now that odile doesnt have the Full picture at all. she has no idea why #this is happening to her in the first place. she only knows it has something to do with siff and during the sequence #before new loop+ happened. the Universe most likely gave odile that chance both out of pity and hope that everything #will finally turn out better This Time. but because of the fact that odile Was dying and she exhausted her craft powers #she cant be brought back to the previous loops easily anymore cuz even if its still connected siff. her ability to be #brought back to loops hinges on craft power as well. siff is just the switch to it. so in a way. shes Supposed to be dead now #but the Universe heard siff's wish and granted the means to save odile as well as grant the previous wish he made #its just that such a wish cant be without a penalty. and that penalty is the timer on odile's life. they have only 99 tries left

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

I absolutely despise the last book Wilbert wrote, tramway engines. I don't like it, it doesn't feel like it adds much of anything, and I always felt it was a shitty ending to the entire series. I don't hate Mavis or Toby, but the book didn't really do much for me. I really think the book with them all finding Duke would have been a much better ending, it wrapped a lot of things up nicely, and felt more like a good ending. Tramway engines always felt like there was stuff left hanging and more books should h ave come after. I don't know why i feel this way about it but I remember being disappointed and thinking "that's it?" as a kid, and I've continued to think that way even after re-reading everything years later as an adult. Did have some great art though.

Praying that the next message is someone torching Duke the Lost Engine too

#interesting #you seem to have similar feelings to tramway engines as i do for thomas and his friends #just the extra bitterness of 'this ISN'T a finale?????? wtf' #'i will feel incomplete about this forever' #chatter #the railway series #tramway engines (rws)

[kuroshirosb]

pokemashe sinnoh trio relationship chart ft two joke ones

#pokemashe #dawn lyre #trainer dawn #lucas aquila #trainer lucas #barry cygnus #rival barry #scarfshipping #kind of #this is pre forming their polycule and theyre kind of sort of very different people by the time its actually formed #being forced to face your own creation at such a young age traumatizes you (on top of other stuff) #so of course they'll never be the same people they were at the end of the journey and the dynamic would change #they still would do incredibly destructive things for each other by the time they do form it though #theyre each others constant. theyve been through everything together. #without the other two just a single one is incomplete. and its vice versa #their relationship still has silliness to it though i promise #6 years later and boom theyre in kalos trying to research the life and death but also theyre on vacation for their first year anniversary #theyre horrifically in love with each other they talk with Serena about their partners with each other for like a second #and she's horrified at how head over heals a person could possibly be for their partners #(especially for dawn. she didn't seem the type at first to Serena but no she's just as bad as the other two.) #they still both pick on barry though but in a friendly way that friends do (but in this case lovers)

[blujayonthewing]

the litmus for whether a karaoke place is good is whether you can do 500 Miles and count on your fellow karaoke-goers to have your back on the dadadatdas

#the worst karaoke experience I've ever had was a Middle Aged White People Bar where nobody even CLAPPED #everyone just sitting and staring in silent indifference while waiting for their turn for a flaccid attempt at tim mcgraw #like I've DONE karaoke with my mom at other places with similar demographics and music tastes but they seemed to be HAVING FUN??? #if I wanted to be stared at blankly by a bunch of old people and made to feel awkward for trying to have fun I'd sing at the grocery store #anyway other than that one time I've more or less had fun any time I've done karaoke #but The Really Good Place was full of people who had the good sense and joyful spirit to join in on your 500 Mileses and Sweet Carolines #also every single week SOMEBODY would do Be A Man from mulan which was always a loud and enthusiastic whole bar affair #it wasn't always the same person it's just that somebody had to or the night felt incomplete #ditto I Believe In A Thing Called Love which iirc was traditionally the night's closer #FUCK I miss karaoke #about me

[2-late-2-the-party]

okay but am I the only one who doesn't hate the ending of Never and Forever? Like yeah, it could've been better, but I don't think it's the disaster that everyone makes it out to be.

#maybe I just like it cause it leaves room for me to make up stuff for my own fic (HR) #if I have one complaint it's that the story feels incomplete #like there could be more #but contrary to popular opinion I don't think the *arthurian twist* was necesarrily pulled out of nowhere #like had there been more build up it could've been delivered better but like I said before #I don't think it's the crapshoot everyone seems to think it is #I also don't think the arthurian thing was as last minute as everyone seems to think #because the sword-in-the-stone motif is present from book 1 #and there are little nods like the fact that 'Caliburn' is actually an older name for the sword excalibur #so I don't think *the twist* came from nowhere #but anyways if you read all these tags plz tell me what you think I wanna have a discussion I have cclu brainrot rn #the wizards of once #twoo #xar #never and forever #twoo: never and forever

[sirompp]

another drawing for @dreamperson-poll !! this ones a mermaid :)

(also her tail isnt bloody its just red. and finless. those things at the end are supposed to be feathers. i am aware they do not look like feathers)

#IVE HAD THIS DRAWING DONE. SINCE LIKE 2 DAYS AFTER THE PREVIOUS DRAWING #it just felt. so incomplete. something seemed so off. i couldnt figure it out. i coudlnt post something like that #tbh i STILL cant figure it out but cropping like 50% of the empty ass background helped #but i have to post it now. because submissions closed. like. actually yesterday #art tag🍭 #i do really love how this drawing looks tho.. #like how i drew the character #i only dreamt her up a little over a year ago and the improvement in my art skills is almost shocking #dude i keep worrying im gonna post this. wrongly somehow #i just keep writing tags to delay posting it #ok here we go if i fucked something up in my submission or this post or this drawing then i will just have to live with it #urrraaaahhhghhh ok 321 go post now do it now go GOO

[sourkitsch]

The problem is I am saying a lot of things that no one wants to see and it alienates people

#I thought things being beautifully painted would help me along but it seems like maybe I can only show my sketches that are more abstract #that I don’t even consider abstract. but everyone else does to me they’re just an incomplete thought that im still working through #ugh

[hiramstolowitski]

a legal name change isn't something i'll be able to do for quite a while so this doesn't matter yet but. sensible option maxwell vs fun option maximum vs what if i don't want to choose a long form option just max. fight

#i have this internal debate at least once every few months #it would be ridiculous to actually legally name myself maximum i'm not going to do that (no matter how much i want to) #maxwell is good for family name reasons and i don't hate it plus if i change my middle name that's a good combo #at this point i just go by max but it seems unprofessional not to have a long form. max looks kind of incomplete #but no one's ever going to call me maxwell. you know #but i also don't mind being referred to as maxwell i think it's funny #max's brain does the fork in the garbage disposal

[rubensmuse]

after reading everyone's tags i wanna make a new & revamped intro to jk simmons poll for the 90s kids, but i'm not sure if i should wait for the old one to wrap first 🤔

#seem like a shame to delete it but it's WOEFULLY INCOMPLETE #jk simmons poll #just squirrelly things