Thoughts Are A Brewin'...

Yet another band AU from me!!! But its DUNGEON MESHI💥 I think I did well with assigning them each instruments. Falin is on vocals bc I'd feel like she would have a really good range in singing. Then Izutsumi in the bg rattling the tambourine off beat.

There’s just something extremely touching about watching Izutsumi work through a wide range of emotions when she sees Marcille cry for the first time.

She’s sleeping on Marcille’s lap when it happens—something she hadn’t willingly done since her human consciousness was subdued in the Golden Country.

Izutsumi was initially very embarrassed when she remembered showing Marcille such unbridled affection when her monster (cat) side had full control in Melini. But now, shortly after, she did it again without any fuss, seemingly over this embarrassment.

But when she notices Marcille crying—not crying expressive tears over a situation with low stakes, but tears of real sorrow and loss—Izutsumi physically recoils.

She reacts with the childlike fear and panic that one feels when someone they heavily rely on and trust (like a parent or teacher) shows vulnerability, doubt, or weakness. She lashes out, trying to use words of reproach to get Marcille to stop crying. Or, in childlike terms, to try to force Marcille’s pain go away.

When that doesn’t work, we see her physically struggle as she tries to sit by and wait it out. But Izutsumi can’t do it.

Marcille’s pain causes her so much intense distress that Izutsumi immediately offers physical affection as a response—something she has not done for anyone up to this point.

When Senshi told the party about his traumatic backstory, Izutsumi did not touch him. She did support him, tried to offer words of comfort, but she did not embrace him like the others did. Maybe she didn’t know how; maybe she didn’t have a proper example on what comforting someone looked like. But she saw all three of them reach for Senshi, she saw them hold him in their arms, and anchor him as he cried.

This is the first time another party member has cried out of sadness since that moment. It’s possible that she saw how the others helped Senshi, and maybe, subconsciously, she saw that it worked. That it made him feel better.

She is clearly unused to it, and has her own rollercoaster of emotions as Marcille gratefully accepts the comfort Izutsumi is offering her. But it helps. It helps Marcille immediately, and Izutsumi knows this.

These acts of vulnerability are foreign to her, and thus make her feel uncomfortable, but she lets Marcille lean on her afterwards anyway. She wanted Marcille to be okay, wanted it so badly, that she accidentally overcame an emotional obstacle she never even knew she had.

Creating prints for an upcoming convention and had a literal lightbulb moment

thinking about izutsumi bringing the party small dead monsters as gifts. marcille is horrified (mostly because izu is keeping the dead thing in her mouth and that has to be unhigenic), chilchuck is really not giving two shits, laios is really excited and bombarding izu with questions and senshi is just ^c^ dinner is here!

So beyond her just being picky- or seemingly so- What if Izutsumi isn't actually simply just ' a picky eater' and just appears so on the outside.

Consider what if the reason she doesn't like/won't eat Mushrooms for example is because she CAN'T. After all she is a CAT Chimera, and cat's don't eat, and outside of like extremely controlled small amounts of like commercially grown Mushrooms, can't and shouldn't eat them anyway.

So sure maybe taste/texture wise they're off putting but on a deeper level, perhaps that not even Izutsumi understands it's the feline side of her body basically telling her "No, DO NOT EAT"

Like don't get me wrong I love me a picky eater character. Picky eater rep goo, But also given the series it is I think it' would have made for an interesting challenge for Senshi himself to be faced with a situation where sure ordinarily beggars can't be choosers about their food, but instead of just him simply making a lecture on not wasting foods- which you could still have- but then him also having to come to understand Izutsumi's side of things of sometimes there are people who literally CAN NOT eat certain things having to adapt and accommodate for it.

Maybe even learning the hard way of feeding her something but she ends up sick while everyone else feels fine.izu

Easily being in Laios' vast knowledge of monsters/animals he could bring up the suggestion that since she is a Chimera and has the partial body of a Cat what if that means it reflects in her diet as well (Meaning she likely needs a high protein/animal based diet)

thank you izutsumi for showing exactly how it feels to deal with someone audibly crying/very emotional people, as someone who doesnt get it

still trying to comfort of course, these feelings are not invalid

my favorite running bit in the dunmeshi manga is when there's a panel showing everyone's reactions to something and izutsumi is just

Favorite people

"I'd never use it/its for someone else even if they wanted me to, it sounds like I'm saying they're not Human"

average it/its pronoun user: