#i am sorry i wrote an essay

[janearts]

okay but what is the state of astarion's kidneys? what has roisia observed in regards to astarion's kidneys? i must now know!

[Anon is referencing this post.]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Who knows? Roisia's observations below the read-more.

[Just a wee reminder that I'm not a medical professional. Take everything I say below with a grain of salt as I am just as likely to be flat out wrong. I also want to acknowledge that I'm mixing in some stereotypical vampire traits with what we can figure out about vampires in BG3.]

Roisia believes that Astarion has a partially functioning cardiovascular system. That is to say, he certainly contains blood. He bruises and he bleeds. He can even perish from exsanguination himself. He can experience erections (presumably, anyway). Why he doesn't have a heartbeat is beyond her. Does his blood just sit stagnant in his arteries and veins? What the hell is going on in there?

In the living, kidneys form a pivotal function: they filter the waste (urea) in your blood and create urine to be expelled from the body via the bladder. They also perform a critical function by regulating the blood in your body (volume, pressure, acidity, etc.).

So Roisia knows, for example, that the average medium-sized humanoid has roughly 5 litres of blood in them. The kidneys make sure you stay at whatever level is natural for you, because excessive fluid will increase the pressure on your arterial walls. So the question for Roisia becomes: if Astarion drinks blood to excess, would he experience hypertension or bloating? Or perhaps both? Or maybe neither?

In some form or fashion, the waste that Astarion intakes (e.g., if you're into the vampire version of menstruation sexy times, if he drinks from Roisia's external jugular, etc.) or generates through his own bodily functions needs to be expelled. Does he piss it out? Does he sweat it out? Does he vomit it out? Does it misty escape out of his body while he rests?

The answer could simply be: the waste is magicked out of his body and that's that. If Roisia knew that Astarion urinates, then she would assume his kidney is probably functioning to some degree. If his urinary system is non-functioning, then she would be curious as to how the critical functions mentioned above are managed or if they're even necessary at all for the undead.

TL;DR: Roisia would likely have some sort of idea, but I (IRL) don't have the information I feel I need to even hazard a guess. And I must say questions like this would make Roisia want so very, very badly to take a peek at his insides or at the insides of any vampire or vampire spawn. She is not a Dark Urge character, but that is her dark urge born from an insatiable curiosity to figure out how people—living, dead, or undead—work.

Bonus Points:

Roisia would answer her own questions above with the following theories:

Digestive system could be partially functional if the blood that is consumed is sent to the stomach and then absorbed in whole or in part through the digestive process.

Respiratory system is also likely partially functional. I.e., Astarion can use his lungs (to speak or sigh, for example), but neither a vampire nor a vampire spawn requires air.

Endocrine system is likely no longer functional. (This is my own headcanon so Roisia doesn't have to worry about an unwanted pregnancy.) She knows that the endocrine systems of a Vampire lord are likely somewhat functional due to the existence of Dhampyr. His colder body temperature could be the result of the lack of function of the hypothalamus.

Integumentary system is likely functional to a certain degree. E.g., vampires and vampire spawn are naturally regenerative, but if you were to shave Astarion bald, would his hair grow back to the way it was prior to his death? Skin also helps with temperature regulation and provides a barrier from UV radiation, so it may not be fully functional if his body is a colder temperature and is extremely sensitive to sunlight. (Are his melanocytes dysfunctional or dead?)

Lymphatic system is likely functional to some degree. This would assist the blood consumption + waste removal processes, presumably. It's a bit of a stretch, but since Astarion can experience a diseased condition type (e.g., Flesh Rot, Contagion), perhaps surviving that (after 25 turns) could be spun as an indication of a non-magical immune response?

[rpgchoices]

tw for abuse

So I tried to break up with Wyll and refuse his romantic dance and ask him about the tadpole, but why is the game SO CRUEL WITH ASTARION?

Like, if you want him to use the astral tadpole he straight up says no, So you can have a wisdom or intimidation check (if you fail them he is going to break up with you and be so mad).

But basically the wisdom check is trying to use one of his old memories (the worst possible memory) against him to remind him he is too weak, and he needs power if he wants to stay safe.

The intimidation is literally using his self hatred against him. If you play with the vampire lord ending you can break up with him and tell him you preferred him as he was, and he is shocked because he was "pathetic"

The thing is, to soften him/get the good ending (chosen by him without persuation checks) I think you need him to accept that he is who he is, and he is okay as he is. Coincidentially, trying to talk him out of the Cazador ritual is so insightful, both here in the video (this is before you get attacked by the other spawns) and later (after you get attacked) you have some options/dialogues about how he is so different now, he is not like "them"/his old pathetic self anymore.

This is the other post-attack dialogue:

When I played friendship Astarion, the most interesting part post ritual was the dev literally spells it out:

In the crypt you also find a book about Cazador's master and the rules he made for Cazador, and the abuse Cazador suffered before killing his master in revenge.

And of course:

[horsemeatluvr23]

etho doodle!!!!! this one is late because i was having an identity crisis and thinking about moving to lebanon. anyways the necklace is bdubs missing tooth from secret life <3

[commsroom]

Hi, I like the way you write and I like reading it, makes my brain worms go on overdrive. If you're feeling up to it, I'd like to know your thoughts on Kepler and Eiffel as a dynamic. I've always thought they were incredibly similar in a way none of the other characters in W359 are (save Eiffel + Hera with regards to their circumstances), imo they have some of the same core traits that just then...diverge and express themselves so differently. So yeah. Would love to see your perspective on them.

first, i'm not sure if i see the degree of similarity that you do, but i do think that one of the strengths of wolf 359's character writing is that basically any two characters can serve as narrative parallels and/or foils in some aspect or another.

for eiffel and kepler, i think the main thing they share is a desire to narrativize and distance themselves from their identities. in kepler's case, he perceives it as a career necessity; he's compartmentalized and redefined himself so much that his job is all that's left. for eiffel, it's a manifestation of guilt and self loathing: he can't reconcile the things he's done, the versions of doug eiffel that he's been, with his own moral compass, and it tears him apart. kepler is a man with so so many ulterior motives, and eiffel is a man who really doesn't have any, but i think you could probably say they're both "honest liars" - that how they spin their respective narratives betrays some simple, fundamental truths about who they are as people.

as a dynamic... well, i have a post here about need to know. eiffel and kepler are both pretty good at sizing people up, though obviously what information they value (and what they intend to do with that information) is very different. what kepler is always trying to assess, what he values most, is the utility of others. not necessarily what they can do for him, but what can they do, period? what do they have to offer? eiffel is the exact opposite: he only cares about someone's character, who they are. minkowski is the commander, even when she's not, because the person she is to him remains the same.

this might be a little contentious (and i'll elaborate if i ever write more about gender dynamics), but i think kepler is specifically good at knowing how to appeal to different forms of masculinity. he's good at being someone's drinking buddy, which is a very loaded concept in this context. jacobi is a gay man with military father issues, and kepler knows he will respond to masculine authority. eiffel - however you read him - does not feel out of place in straight society, and has no respect for authority. kepler initially tries to be his buddy, to be the "cool boss" who laughs at his jokes and respects his work and gives him perceived leniency (and stands up for his autonomy against hilbert, which is a whole other thing with a whole set of other ulterior motives), in an attempt to make minkowski out to be high strung and unreasonable, and to reinforce eiffel's biases about her. he's trying to pit them against each other, but that strategy doesn't work, in part because if you give eiffel an inch, he'll take a mile, and in part because kepler misunderstands and underestimates eiffel's loyalty to minkowski. (incidentally, i think kepler is actually less attached to his own masculinity than either eiffel or jacobi are; like every aspect of his identity, it's more of a tool he's learned how to use.)

as an extension of that, kepler knows how to get at a very particular sore spot of eiffel's: his role as a father. when kepler threatens anne and eiffel instigates a fist fight with him over it, it's the only time in the entire show where eiffel resorts to violence. it's the only thing that makes him react like that; he can't physically attack cutter in pagliacci, but it sure sounds like he wants to. he knows, once he's calmed down, that it was stupid, and that he was manipulated, and that it didn't do anything to help his daughter, light years away, but there's a gut anger in him that overrides that in the moment. maybe you can argue eiffel using kepler's ideals about "the big picture" to convince him to stand down in desperate measures is the other side of that. eiffel never resorts to violence, but that time he did. kepler pushes, he doesn't stop, he doesn't surrender, but that time he did.

... and it is compelling that kepler, specifically, is able to provoke eiffel like that, when i would argue the central disagreement of their characters is "force vs. diplomacy." kepler's response to conflict is an assumption of violence and preemptive intimidation: "someone always has power, which means that someone else is always getting shafted. first order of business when a new element pops into your comfortable power structure: reconnaissance. these folks gonna help or hinder? do they have anything i want? anything worth taking? or have they got a stick big enough that it's worth leaving them alone?" while eiffel's approach can basically be summed up by, "can't we talk about this?" and so he fundamentally does not agree with that framework; eiffel believes in teamwork and cooperation. eiffel wants there to be a way for everyone to win. the dear listeners, narratively (and sometimes in some very literal ways), serve as a mirror to humanity, and i think you can extend that on some level to individuals. kepler's approach gets him "disarmed"; eiffel's approach... facilitates "communication."

sometimes i see people joke about eiffel's phrasing in succulent rat-killing tar - "i just like being able to have them in my mouth. i like the taste." - in comparison to the whiskey speech, but i think maybe there is something in the different ways they present those vices. kepler is putting it on display to say, "i'm better than my vices, and i expect you to be, too" - it's a threat, yes, but also a purposeful display of (projected) discipline and temperance. that's how he wants to be seen. eiffel, on the other hand, is completely hedonistic and indulgent, and he's proud of that. it's an act of resistance for him. he's saying, "this is the only vice i have left up here, i am going to enjoy these goddamn cigarettes, and you're not going to take that from me too." douglas f. "maintaining my humanity in the face of bogus military protocol" eiffel.

"long story short" (and it is also funny to me how mad kepler gets at eiffel in all things considered: "your story was not only the most incomprehensible, it wasted the largest amount of my life." ... oh, really now?) i think you could probably put the scene where kepler tells lovelace: "you're an unknown variable, and i hate those." next to: "it's a fire. on a spaceship. you shouldn't need any further explanation!" / "hah! spoken like a man that doesn't know the first thing about commanding douglas f. eiffel!" ... and that would pretty much sum it up. doug eiffel is like perfectly designed to piss off anyone with any attachment to order and authority.

[angelsdean]

I Saw the TV Glow -- and it showed me Destiel parallels

It's been days and I still cannot stop thinking about I Saw the TV Glow. I keep rotating thoughts of it in comparison to SPN in my mind, but not in the obvious way of their lives essentially being a TV show / god's favorite show, because in SPN there isn't a split sense of reality. The TV show IS their lives, but they are not separate from themselves, looking in on their true selves. And unlike in the film, the TV show aspect of their lives is the falsehood, what we see of SPN as audience members is heavily filtered and censored, ghostfacers effect, etc, and their true reality exists beneath the show itself. While in the film the "real world" is the falsehood and the TV show is their true reality and true selves.

But anyway, what I keep rotating around, the parallels that keep gripping me, revolve around Cas and Heaven's manipulations and use of brainwashing, simulation, and illusions. Cas and Owen parallel in the sense that they are continuously both kept from knowing their True Feelings, and then their best friend helps them unlock those feelings / the Truth.

Owen, as a child, is kept from watching The Pink Opaque because it has the power to unlock the truth about his identity. He is then introduced to The Pink Opaque by his later-friend, Maddy. This begins to unlock feelings in him that he doesn't quite understand yet or have a name for. When the truth about the show is revealed to him and he unlocks those memories of his past and his true self he is then taken by a parent to have the memories purged as he screams (hello Naomi lobotomies).

Similarly, Cas has been kept from remembering his feelings toward humanity. He has always been the broken angel, the one with a crack in his chassis (and hello the imagery at the end of the film of Owen cracking himself open and letting the light spill out!) When Cas declares, "For the first time, I feel" this isn't necessarily a true statement. This is not the first time he has felt emotions for humanity, it is not the first time he has contemplated rebellion or had doubts, or had feelings period. We learn later that Cas has always had this rebellious streak and has been the subject of routine lobotomies his whole life. He was made to forget. Made to forget his past, his true rebellious self, the fact that he is capable of free will. But Dean becomes his link and anchor to humanity, and through Dean Cas rediscovers his feelings and his identity. Dean also introduces him to the world of humanity in a real way, rather than how Cas has been experiencing it for billions of years, detached as a mere spectator. Dean therefore presents both Maddy and the show The Pink Opaque itself. It's also significant to me that much of Dean and Cas's relationship revolves around Dean teaching him pop culture things. Cas doesn't get the reference. Dean holds the keys to pop culture knowledge and educates Cas, much like how Maddy introduces Owen to The Pink Opaque. Dean and Cas also spend a lot of time off camera watching TV together. Dean shows him Tombstone. They have weekly family movie nights where they are all subjected to The Lost Boys up to 36 times (and counting!).

While what Maddy helps Owen unlock is his own feelings about his gender and identity, Dean helps unlock Cas's very human feelings, his sexuality, and remind him of his own free will and rebellious nature. Through Dean, Cas comes to love and care about humanity deeper than he has before, but he always had the capacity for this love, he was simply made to forget and kept from connecting to humanity on this deeper level.

Then there are the parallels within The Pink Opaque. Tara (Maddy, Dean) and Isabel (Owen, Cas) share a profound kind of bond. They are linked, psychically and must fight "the man in the moon", Mr. Melancholy, who sends supernatural threats to their world to wreak havoc and suffering. His ultimate goal is to trap them in the "Midnight Realm" where they are asleep and suffocating, unaware of their true selves (the world Maddy and Owen live in). I see both parallels to Chuck and the Empty in Mr. Melancholy. As Mr. Melancholy despises Tara and Isabel for the power of their connection, Chuck too despises Dean and Cas's connection and love, which proves to be the one thing he can't control, the two of them thwarting his plans from the start. The Empty also has it out for them, specifically Cas, who she wishes to put to sleep forever in punishment for disrupting her world. The Empty is a place of eternal sleep and darkness, where you are left to dream forever, which is reminiscent of the Midnight Realm. (I am also thinking about the finale and Fake Heaven and Chuck Won Theories and Heaven being a part of Destiel's Midnight Realm. Dean locked away in Heaven, Cas locked away in the Empty--until I SEE Cas I will always be skeptical about him being "out" of the Empty--both separated from each other, unable to reconnect because together they are a threat to Chuck, just how Tara and Isabel are separated and put in graves to suffocate to prevent them from defeating Mr. Melancholy.

Finally, thinking about a few other symbols and imagery from the film. Such as how in order to be "lulled" to sleep in the Midnight Realm one of the first steps is to cut out the victim's heart. The person is still alive, but this integral part of them is missing and they are weaker without it. It reminds me of Cas having his grace forcefully cut out by Metatron and being cast down to Earth, forced to live without a piece of himself, a part of him that is so tied to his identity. I am also thinking about Dean's heart repeatedly being threatened throughout the series. Billie targeting his heart. Dean symbolically losing his heart when Cas is taken by the Empty. Dean left to go on without Cas, losing hope without his heart, suffocating and ending up dead and in a fake world (Heaven).

Another image that stuck with me and immediately reminded me of Cas is at the end of the film when Owen cracks himself open and finally acknowledges the truths about himself he's been repressing and ignoring his whole life; he looks into the mirror and smiles. He experiences a moment of joy and peace. The expression reminds me of Cas standing beatific after his declaration of love. The light shining on his face, his moment of truth, this moment where he gives himself permission to be happy and acknowledge these feelings. However, for Owen this is a hopeful first step, for Cas it is seemingly the end of his story. But! There Is Still Time. For Cas and Dean. For Owen. For all of us.

[Disclaimer: I am very aware of the trans metaphor of the film and the fact that Owen is Isabel, and I do view Owen as trans. For the purposes of this post I am using the pronouns (he/him) that are used for Owen throughout the film and by the actors and director when speaking about Owen's scenes. I debated over this a lot, but since the director themself has used he/him pronouns for Owen when discussing the film and no other preferred pronouns are used or stated by Owen in the film I feel this makes the most sense for the sake of this post. I mean absolutely no disrespect.]

[petit-papillion]

I can't help but play devil's advocate in my head whenever I see those Charles stats because yes, he's absolutely incredible, alongside the greats, but I imagine all the anti-Charles comments coming in going, "well front row starts aren't wins, so it's a useless stat".

And I started thinking, when has Carlos ever had a seemingly 'useless' stat that was positive about his results? Did he have a streak of consistency? Because I can't think of any.

Charles might have a lot of front row, pole positions, top 5 stats that people undermine, but it's a hell of a lot more than what the other drivers on the grid have. He's undeniably one of the most talented drivers.

Sure, I see where people are coming from when they say useless stats, points are earned in the race, etc. But if they're calling him out for being inconsistent: qualifying front row 7x in a row is a stat showing them the opposite. Unfortunately, I think he's made it look easy, and people just can't accept that he is working miracles in cars that don't necessarily have that pace over 50-60 laps.

And if Charles doesn't put it on pole/front row, he gets team orders to sit back during the race and not overtake (even if he has better race pace), and then he is called out for not being aggressive enough, and Ferrari firing the wrong driver, etc., etc. Mind you, when he did try to pass Carlos in Monza, people were also up in arms calling him too agggressive and risking both cars getting taken out, so he can't please people no matter what he does.

Here are just some of the things I've seen people spout recently:

I agree with you, Anon, Charles is incredibly talented, and despite some abysmal years at Ferrari under Binotto, he has achieved more than most of his peers on the grid. However, I think the expectations of Charles are extremely high, especially being a Ferrari driver. And unless we were able to compare each F1 driver's abilities to one another with all of them driving the same car, there will always be "but's". "But Alex cannot possibly win in a Williams." "But the McLaren is not as fast as the Ferrari." "But George could win as much as Max if he was in a Red Bull." Etc.

And despite him easily outperforming so many of the drivers he competed with before coming to F1, I think Charles is always going to be compared to Max. Who is also undeniably talented, but who also had a very driven dad who pushed him to train incredibly hard, who had connections & funds, plus F1 insider knowledge, all allowing Max to jump ahead and gain way more experience at a lot faster rate than his peers. And when Max is considered the standard Charles has to live up to, even getting P2 in WDC still gets you called "overrated" and "a mid-level driver".

[kindlythevoid]

I did the roughest rough draft of my four-to-five page paper in one long tumblr ramble. Properly formatted, it reaches around five-and-a-half pages without citations. I have never felt so powerful in my life.

[shawolsos]

I feel like the best way to like explain what I think is the key difference between Charlie and Way is that if they were songs from musicals, Charlie would be Never Ever Getting Rid of Me from 'Waitress' whereas Way would be Meant to Be Yours From 'Heathers', because even though both showcase a kind of unhealthy obsession with the girls that the guys singing them are into, the number from 'Waitress' clearly has only wholesome and well-meant intentions even if the message is still a bit intense because we see that it does evolve into something reciprocated and healthy, whereas the number from 'Heathers' depicts an obviously malicious and dangerous one-sided obsession, even if the relationship initially began with some semblance of health and communication.

[whereismyhat5678]

HEEEEY, PSSST!

(do you have more headcanons???)

Oh yeah *cracks knuckles*

Get ready for some PEPPINO

(OKAY IN ADVANCE- I wrote A SHIT TON below the cut, and I think because of this I have more headcannons for Peppino than Gustavo- SO PREPARE YOURSELVES- Oh! And I also added Pep and Gus mixed headcannons at the bottom so if you just wanna see those you’ll see this emoji: 💕 Alright thanks! And enjoy :00)

- I said this in a reblog-, at this point I think I hc him a lefty, I KEEP DRAWING HIM AS ONE SO FUCK IT-

- Oh sports are his life support, it’s his saving grace HE LOVES SPORTS- mainly football and soccer (he used to play soccer in middle-high school) THIS MAN SCREAMS AT THE TV “GOOOAAAAAAAAAL” WHEN SOCCER’S ON (he’s just like my dad for real- :0)

- He definitely listens to old fashioned Italian music, his mother raised him in it HE WILL DIE WITH IT IN HIS BLOOD. But he also likes other types of music (he mains Depeche Mode-)

- He has the most dankest most messed up shat up car you can ever imagine that’s STILL GOING, he treats his car like his child though, he cleans it and is EXTREMELY careful with his baby (He listens to his songs in there and bobs his head when he has a song he likes, but he looks really serious, like he’s gonna kill someone- but he’s still enjoying himself)

- I should also mention that he SUCKS at driving, man has a drivers license yet he’s dog at it?! This is also why his car is so jacked up because he kept crashing it when he was younger- I think he’s cooled down now but he still can’t park right- This is also why he rather would take his pizza delivery motorcycle or Stick just drives him (since he’s funnily enough the only good driver-)

- His house is pretty small, and a bit tight but it’s okay once you get used to it, he tries to stay organized but at times he does tend to leave clothes on the floor. Of course his garage is the cleanest thing known to man, a bunch of flags (a big ass Italian flag-) and signs that say “Man’s garage” or “Man cave”. He also has another fridge full of beers and sodas.

- Have I mentioned he likes beer?🍻

(- And when Peppino’s drunk he’s either two things, a silly drunk: he’s doing stupid shit-

….Or a flirty drunk 👀🔥)

- He still has his war gear in a closet, he keeps it for memories (the GOOD ones) and just cuz he thinks it might be important still.

- He keeps a shotgun underneath his bed (for protection of course-)

- He also has a punching bag in his basement, a big ol’ red one, and he has it there to take his anger out 🥊🔔

- I think he has a bit of anger issues, not too severe! Just that he can get mad easily if stuff just isn’t going right, which is also why he HATES The Noise and Pizza Head, they’re too chaotic for him-

- When Brick was gonna stay with them Peppino initially just wanted Brick away from him but he ended up like one of those Dads that have their pet on the couch watching TV. He also play fights with him too like: he’ll pretend to punch him or he wrestles with him for fun-

- He’s an asshole when he wants to be, one time he was eating with his friends at a McDonalds and they were getting breakfast, motherfucker ate half his friend’s hash-brown and put the half he didn’t eat outside the wrapper to make it look normal. (He did this when he was a teen but he can still be an ass like this-)

- He uses a lot of Italian hand gestures, he uses his hands A LOT he practically talks with them-

- He speaks very aggressively in Italian, the amount of times people thought he was angry and yelling at them even though he was just telling them to hand him a napkin. It’s hilarious, Gustavo is the only one to understand he’s not angry, he’s just talking- 😂

- This even applies to when he’s talking in English, HE STILL YELLS- Like his voice is a big BOOM, yeah he can calm it down but it’s still relatively loud, he’s only ever quiet when he NEEDS to be quiet-

Okay now for some Peppino and Gustavo together x] 💕💕💕

- Gustavo’s species has their own language but they can pick up on other languages pretty quickly, so when Peppino wanted to teach him Italian he started slowly and BAM 💥 not even a month passed and he’s speaking fluently! Peppino’s jaw dropped literally-

- Gus can speak his species language at times but only ever to himself.. He usually talks in English and Italian around Peppino (Gus when he’s angry talks really fast in his language, it’s best to just leave him be until he calms down…)

- They speak Italian to each other sometimes, they switch between English and Italian regularly, but they speak English mainly. They WILL however yell at each other in Italian, mostly so no one can understand their conversation if there is people around

- AND FINALLY- like I said with the Italian hand gestures, Peppino uses them A LOT, and he mainly uses them with the other Italians and Gustavo, BUT MAINLY Gustavo. He taught him every gesture in the book so Gus knows what he’s feeling just by hand gestures.

Even some…. Special ones 👀…..

OKAY THAT’S IT-

[cowboyskeletons]

and sparrow's son loves the world so much and loves everyone around him and how can sparrow tell him that the world is cruel? how can he tell him that love will be punished and that cruelty is the only way to survive? normal's love scares him, he loves his son so much but that love scares him. he would do and has done anything for his son but he knows that it has led to his own ruin. and he loves his son but too much love has only ever harmed him and maybe he can take a model from his own dad and multitask.

maybe he can love his son but he hates him too, hates that normal can love and hates that normal can be loved and hates that normal can be so oblivious to the cruelty around him in a way that he himself lost when the world ended. he wants his son to have everything but loathes that fact that normal'll never try. that he just accepts life as it is. the way his dad did, when sparrow saluted henry and went along with the world's end and turned a blind eye to his wife's infidelity.

he sees himself in normal, maybe. maybe he hates that. because he lost himself, that day he lost his father's care and his mother's respect, and he can't bear to see himself lost again. normal needs to be cruel because otherwise he will be crushed and sparrow can't do that again. can't let himself be crushed again.

[literallys-illiteracy]

oh hey, thanks! tbh given that i'd already gone down two separate rabbit holes for both the odyssey and der freischütz shortly before magic bullet outis came out, it is genuinely fun just to talk about her. not sure what i'd request for an in-depth writeup, but given that you're really into faust, might i trouble you for your thoughts on the council of fausts, carmen-coded female characters, and the eternal feminine? i have the sliiightest inklings of a possible link along those lines, but it's been a while since i've read faust and i'm currently too deep into fighting fish (reading moby dick) to pick it up again just yet, so your opinion would be invaluable. pls don't feel pressured to do so though! i understand if there'd be too much conjecture in it to do (especially since we're still only getting crumbs abt the council of fausts as is)

also, if you're still looking for english versions of weber's der freischütz, i mostly get by via the 1961 rudolf kempe english production (libretto by edward j. dent) and a subbed version of the 1968 film, both of which can be found on youtube. the one thing i havent found yet is a translation of the original tale though, so you'd definitely know better than i would on that haha

Okay wow ive been procrastinating on this one for a while huh.

At first it was on purpose because of the implications that we would get some more information relating to the Council of Faust in the WARP event, which we did, but after that it was just because I was lazy.

As an additional note, I am currently in the process of reading “Man and His Symbols”, a book about Jungian psychology, which is the lens I personally primarily prefer to view the following concepts on. Following that on my reading list is another of Jung’s books, titled “The Psychology of the Transference”, which I have been told mentions the eternal feminine much more directly, not to mention the bakers dozen journal articles i have saved on the topic — I mention this to state that this is almost certainly not going to be my last essay regarding these topics. I already had the vague idea of connecting Carmen to the archetypes of the collective unconscious, and now I have more material to work with regarding this. Thank you Freischutz anon. - Literally's note

This is going to be the first of at the very least 3 essays on this request, just for you <3, also for my wife Carmen.

Moving on, here we go.

To begin, I want to establish what we already know, or what some reading might not already know, regarding the titular topics of this essay:

The Gesellschaft is the newly canonised name of the “Council of Faust’s” revealed in the WARP event — Gesellchaft is a German word meaning society, or a relationship/community built on non-interpersonal ties and relations.

I do not remember exactly when the theory of the council began, however at the same time I do remember more people mentioning it surrounding N corp Faust, however for reasons I will not discuss, there is reason to believe that she is not part of this society.

Carmen-Coded Characters, alongside the Eternal Feminine, are linked together with the concept of the Jungian archetypes — The Eternal Feminine is the divine, culturally transcendent, ideality of femininity. A Jungian Archetype is a similar concept, first posed by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, of the universal concepts and images which exist in humanities collective unconscious. A notable and omnipresent archetype is known as the “Anima”, which acts as the internalised, primarily unconscious, feminine traits within a man, the counterpart is known as “Animus”.

Relating back to this concept of psychology (I am so sorry, half of all the essay topics I write about circle back to this topic), the Gesellschaft may act as a literal representation of this eternal feminine, a collective trait shared across mirror worlds, a communal sisterhood of the best traits of each and every Faust.

The council acting as a mass collective, similar to a discord server, of individuals who are independent from one another, may relate back to the Anima and Animus, with the final stage often being described in the image of Sophia, a representation of divine wisdom, which is a major trait present in Geothe’s depiction of the eternal feminine through Helen.

This final manifestation of the Animus is often considered a guide of sorts, acting as a messenger, as the highest level of harmony between the conscious and unconscious mind.

The primary flaw that one may direct to this explanation is in respect to the character of Faust herself, as, as is mentioned above, the Anima and Animus are manifestations of the Feminine in man and the masculine in woman — The argument may be made that the Gesellschaft may act as the Animus, the masculine, rather than the eternal feminine as is the supposed link.

To this I pose that, though you would not be incorrect, the council itself is “Faust” as a whole, acting, in a way, as the conscious mind of the sinner, having, up until recently, been the primary decision maker. Though Faust, the sinner (God this is going to be confusing after a while if I keep writing like this), is a member of the greater “Faust”, she does not act as the primary agent of decisions — Faust, the sinner, and the greater Faust, are both representative of the Feminine in their nature.

I have also seen it posed that our sinner is in fact Gretchen, and hence is why they refer to the knowledge as “Faust’s” knowledge, however I am extremely far from convinced for this.

It is important to note that, while I do attempt to read papers and literature on these kinds of topics, I am still extremely far from an expert in this field — Though I attempt to make sure that I thoroughly understand a topic before writing about it, it is important to note that there is inevitably nuance on this topic which may be overlooked, for that I apologise.

Moving on, there is additionally a link that one may make between the ego (Freudian, not PM), the conscious mind, your “Self” focused on the current moment alongside considerations of the future, and the Gesselschaft, once again placing the greater Faust as the primary ego within Faust’s body.

This can explain the fact that Faust’s base EGO line does not change during the most recent WARP event, the statement “Faust knows all outcomes” is not referring to our Faust but rather the council, the sinner’s primary ego.

It is additionally possible that, through one means or another, it was the council of Faust’s at large which manifested the Representation Emitter EGO, however this is simple conjecture.

This is the first topic that will be discussed in this series of essays, the next will likely be the relation of the ID and the Shadow to Carmen,

also if you dont mind Freischutz anon, it would be helpful if you could elaborate on what you mean by “Carmen Coded” characters, as if you dont, I will assuredly start rambling about half related notes because I am the biggest Carmen simp. - also Literally's note

[brown-little-robin]

hi robin :] very random but im watching craft videos while i eat dinner and it got me thinking about ur ceramics. giving u permission to ramble about the ceramics process (or literally anything abt ceramics), if you want to <3 idk anything abt ceramics like not a clue but im very curious and every time u talk abt them i stare at u w sparkly eyes (also i've recently developed a HUGE respect for all 3d arts bc holy shit making it look right at all angles ?????literally how)

👀✨‼️

Hi thank you so much!! staring at you with the same sparkly eyes,,, watching craft videos while you eat that's so cool,,, Also, weirdly enough, I have the same "how???" thoughts about doing 2d art. I have trouble conceptualizing making something look right from only 1 angle; that seems like a lot of pressure. with a sculpture, if something doesn't look right from one angle, I know there's probably some structural problem, and I turn the sculpture around a little bit and usually figure out that the problem is deeper than what I thought. I'm thinking of ears, specifically—how, often, my problem with the outlines of my ears (seen from the front) is that the back of the ear isn't full enough, I need to add clay, and just nudging the clay to fix the outline wouldn't Work. and I wouldn't have known if I couldn't turn the sculpture around. the respect and awe goes both ways

longgg ramble about the ceramics process below the cut :]

okay SO. the ceramics process, huh? Well, I mean, I'm really in love with the sculpting part, where you take wet clay and make it into an Animal with Bones And Muscles. I just love the animal form—I think in a similar way to how you love the human form and the way clothing folds. I do wheel-throwing too (I make cups, bowls, that sort of thing), but I've been sculpting since I was like 8 years old and I'm way better at sculpture. it's one of a few things in my life that I take genuine pride in. I love teaching people about sculpting, too!! nothing better than seeing someone instantly grasp the insight I spent years developing <333 ANYWAY

one thing that often surprises people about clay is that it's very... flexible, water-content-wise. clay is basically made of a bunch of small "plates" of dry material with water in between. the water makes the entire structure flexible, which is why clay shrinks and goes brittle when it dries. and clay is always drying out. small sculptures like the ones I make, especially ones with thin limbs (more surface area for the air to leech moisture out of) dry out within half an hour. I have to add water to the thin parts every so often the whole time I'm sculpting. but of course the clay has to be firm enough to hold the creature's overall shape, so it's a balance. it's always a race against time. it's super exciting. To Me, anyway

it takes a day or two for a sculpture to dry. After the sculpture dries out, that's when I paint it with my special pigments. (pigments that survive 2,000+ degrees of heat!!) Like this:

these are the same sculpture. the first picture was from right after I sculpted the wet clay; the second picture is after it got painted.

Then once a sculpture is made, it sits and dries, right? the water leaves the clay. but not ALL the water. that's why you "fire" the sculpture: you put it in a kiln and heat it up to ~1800°F. EIGHTEEN HUNDRED DEGREES. at that point, all the water boils out and the clay CHEMICALLY CHANGES. the "plates" begin to bond to each other. But they don't bond all the way in the first firing, because you want the clay to still be porous / hydrophilic. you want it to SUCK IN WATER. this is because you want GLAZE to attach to the clay.

Glaze—at least the kind of glaze that I use—is basically DIY glass. It's a lot of very fine silica (sand) with other stuff (like powdered metals) in it to give color. The sand-metal-powder is suspended in water to make it usable, and I stir up the glaze in its liquid form and dip my sculpture in it, and the super dry clay goes YAY WATERRR I'M SO THIRSTY and GRABS the glaze, and the powdery part is left on the surface of the sculpture while the water goes into the clay. it feels funny on your skin when you hold a sculpture in the glaze; you can actually feel the dry clay accepting the water. it feels like... have you ever dropped water on a bone-dry wooden board and seen the water spread out in the direction of the wood's grain? it feels like that.

the sculpture is left looking white and powdery and generally not very attractive. unfired glaze is just... thick white chalk.

THEN I fire the clay a SECOND time. The heat varies, but I always fire to at least 2,244° F. >:D >:D >:D and the sandy glaze actually MELTS INTO GLASS. and I open the kiln, which has the products of about a year or two of work in it, and I WEEP IN JOY because everything has COMPLETELY TRANSFORMED. firing is always risky. some of the sculptures always fail somehow—they break in firing for various reasons, or the glaze runs onto the shelf, or the glaze color turns out different than I thought. but some of them always come out BETTER than I imagined. and it's always a process of discovery, slowly unloading the kiln, layer by layer... the objects still warm from the heat of their firey transformation... hot enough to burn, if you're unloading before they've cooled enough, which I usually do because it's just so exciting...

and my glaze shrinks slightly more than the clay does. imagine that: a thin layer of glass shrinking more than it can take. you can actually hear it breaking. little quiet "plink! plink! plink!" as the glass shatters just a little under the stress. we call it "crazing" and it leaves little cracks in the glaze, like so:

you can also see tiny bubbles in the glaze on the rabbit's inner ear!

I just. (physically shaking) I just love ceramics so much. The sculpting part feels almost like meditation. it's almost a form of worship, for me, it's religious, it's a little version of creation, a way to look at bodies and try to express how they work. For the simple sculpture, I just make them from memory, but I work from references for my difficult sculptures—for instance, here's the little pile of images I collected to make my recent tiger:

the painting part is just plain fun, putting cool designs and stuff on a 3-d object in a low-pressure way. and then the two firings are pure magic. pure delayed gratification. it's incredible. you're telling me this thing I shaped with my mortal human fingers survives TWO THOUSAND DEGREES OF HEAT? you're telling me I get to MAKE COLORED GLASS? out of SAND and METAL? you're telling me after all that, I get to open up the kiln which has put these things through immense heat and see these beautiful objects and go I made those?????

YEAH. SCREAMS.

thanks for reading, I hope you had fun <333

[unexpectedbrickattack]

hi again 👋👋👋 anyway i would LOVE to hear any thoughts you might have about fake pep and his interactions with other characters if you're amenable to that! i love him and there is So Much going on there and you always have stellar hcs so id love to hear them!!

Ive been shying away from drawing/writing anything with fake peppino bc frankly ur right; there IS so much going on with him 😭 so much so that it almost feels impossible to settle on something concrete 😭 This is also bc I link Fake Peppi and Pizzahead together, which means I also have to work on characterizing that punk 😭😭😭 But I will still try to get my thoughts out

(OKAY THIS IS REM FROM THE FUTURE OR PAST OR SOMETHING AND IM HERE TO SAY THAT I RAMBLED SO FUCKING LONG THAT I DIDNT EVEN GET TO THE ACTUAL ASK OF THIS FUCKING ASK!!! I JUST TALKED ABOUT FAKE PEPPI AND DIDNT WRITE A SINGLE INTERACTION. SO UM. THIS ASK IS NOW ABOUT FAKE PEPPI AND ONLY FAKE PEPPI IM SO SORRY 😭😭😭😭😭 ILL GO MORE IN DEPTH W DYNAMICS N SUCH SOME DAY BUT NOT TODAY)

Fake Peppino is Not the first clone; hes one of the Last ones Pizzahead worked on. The ones you see in the war level are the closest, appearance wise, to Peppino, but they arent the brightest and will often behave like [insert test subject] but with Peppinos face on it. The emphasis on appearance first resulted in some physically identical, but otherwise, dull witted clones.

Fake Peppi was the first attempt at replicating Peppinos actual personality over appearance and it works moderately well, its just that. Hes a little funky lookin. Which is okay! Its the first attempt !! He’ll get more time to try again! They give Fake Peppi a little run down shop to manage (that he almost immediately converts into a pizzeria) while they work on perfecting the clones. But then Peppino actually storms the tower after being threatened w the Pizzeria Begone Beam, and hes tearing through portals so quickly that Pizzahead literally has No Time to try and work on these new clones. Fake Peppi is the First of this new experimental line of clones, and hes one of the Last. (Said bc i do intend on making my own little peppi clone someday heehee)

Fake Peppi passes as a pretty Normal creature. Hes a bit Tall but not absurdly above average. I drew him pretty goopy and lanky on my first (and only ) attempt at drawing him, but the more i think about it, the more I want him to just be a taller, slightly offputting Peppino. I like the idea someone had of Fake Peppi mimicking the stylized, cartoonish logo design of the pizzeria, so hes got a bit of a doofy lookin face. Its very round, with soft looking eyes and permanent blush on his cheeks. When hes trying to look Less Scary (bc he is a bit aware now that hes a little Off), you can see his mouth on his face like a Normal person. When hes relaxed and/or unfocused, it kind of just. Disappears. It makes his face look kind of like a little butt or a peach heehee

Fake Peppi acts pretty similarly to Real Peppino. Hes quick to anger, and quick to frighten. Hes a bit of a goof and he likes to entertain (which completely threw pizzahead off; hes like thats. Not right? Is it??). He has more or less the same mental capacity as Peppino, shares similar skills and hobbies, and enjoys the same kinds of food that Peppino does (with mild variation). Hes very relaxed and easygoing with a tendency to act a fool and be a little playful, which leads Pizzahead to believe that despite what hes personally seen (from stalking this poor man), Peppino is Also inherently a bit of a fool and a little playful and also capable of being relaxed and easygoing.

Fake Peppi is prone to the same kind of anxiety and panic attacks that Peppino has, only he does not have decades of experience with them to know how to manage it. So the time he spends with Pizzahead is Not the smoothest. The combination of Just Being Created and having Crippling Panic Attacks leaves him with an almost Blank Slate, memory wise, by the time hes left with the pizzeria. When Pizzahead visits Fake Peppi again to give him the lift key; hes basically a stranger to him :0

(Peppino tries to help with some grounding techniques for panic attacks, but since they Both default to self soothing stims, hes not that much help 😭)

Conversations are as smooth as they can be with his garbled speech; he can understand what hes being told, and he will write down what he Wants to say with pen and paper. Eventually, he ‘upgrades’ to a phone with proper text to speech, so he uses that quite often. I know the backwards speech is canon (or at the very least extremely popular) but its very hard for me to read and parse in my head, so i am deciding against that 😭

Hes hard to understand bc despite having a similar vocal pitch to Peppino (a bit high), it rubberbands in a way that makes it sound incredibly croakey and scratchy. The more excitable he is, the more incoherent he becomes. With (immense) effort, he can speak clearly, but its almost as difficult as someone trying to suppress their stutter; hes much more comfortable using his phone to talk. I can see him learning sign language at some point; Peppino does Not know sign language but he IS capable of learning, which means Fake Peppi is Also capable of learning.

Overall Fake Peppi is Peppino with enough variance to give him his own personality. Some of the things he does shines a bit of a light on Peppinos personality; its like, if Peppino DIDNT have to struggle with a failing business and crippling debt and being drafted into a fucking war, what kind of Peppino would you get? And as a surprise to Pizzahead, its a relatively sweet and goofy guy!! And if he took the time to interact with the Real Peppino instead of an idealized version of him (like pepperman and vigilante have started doing) then he would see that. Oh well.

[officalgeorgestaniel]

Started writing an essay due tomorrow night and I stg if my teacher (the scariest teacher ever) gives me another terrible grade, I will actually go into her office and scream at her give her a piece of my mind.

[plusultraetc]

lowkey highkey stalking ur blog and saw a tag abt how u have thoughts abt s6 shigaraki. share🥹

HI thank you for asking!!

So I think you might be referring to this post about Shigaraki's s6 Fit Of All Time. The spiritual TL;DR of those tags is: I know this version of Shigaraki is a character who has reached Peak Manipulated, Tragic Story Potential, but his look is lowkey fire anyway.

(A note on the outfit: I stand by the fact that it is the Fit Of All Time. Simple. Classic. Very very cool. I overthought about it when I first saw it because I <3 overthinking about MHA and had a small Moment about Shigaraki reaching this final-ish villainous form and immediately donning a hero's cape, and the possible implications of this. Plus, and this is more of a USAmerican view I think, but a red cape is like The Superhero Accessory, because Superman (and Thor. And Doctor Strange. But mostly Superman.))

So. For context, I'm halfway-ish through Season 6 atm. It's me and my pockets full of spoilers against the world, but there have been Several Things that no amount of spoilers could have prepared me for, Shigaraki being one of them. I mean. TALK ABOUT A CORRUPTION ARC.

The thing about Shiggy is that, by the time we meet him, he has already had his traditional 'corruption arc' when AFO found him as a child and manipulated him into becoming a villain. When we talk about corruption arcs in literature, we're usually talking about this kind of moral decay (pun intended). It's the movement from 'hero' to 'villain' (or, in Shigaraki's case, 'innocent child' to 'supervillain successor.' And, yes, I know he decayed his family before he met AFO, but I'm really not going to assign any moral blame there for obvious reasons).

But Shigaraki has also had numerous other negative character arcs before we met him. He starts his life perhaps not with a happy, normal family, but with a family and a house and a dog. By the time we are introduced to him in s1, he's been living in the shadows, is isolated emotionally and physically from the people around him, and has garbage interpersonal skills and relationships. Even his name has been 'corrupted,' from the name of a hero (Shimura) to that of a villain (Shigaraki). So, it seems like Shigaraki has undergone every possible negative/corruption arc long before s6.

AND YET.

The s1 -> s6 Shigaraki journey isn't a corruption of morals or circumstances. It's a corruption of wills. When we meet Shigaraki, he's a whiny, impulsive 'manchild' (I don't remember who called him that after USJ, but it was iconic and they were correct. It might have been All Might. You go All Might). But in spite of, or maybe because of, his manchild-ness, you can definitely see that Shigaraki has willpower. He's bossy. He's actually kind of bratty. He pretty much stomps his foot and expects people to comply with his demands. If he doesn't like something, he's like, "Ew, Kurogiri, get rid of it/them this instant." AFO definitely has an unhealthy amount of influence over him at this point, but Shigaraki still plays a very active (though often unsuccessful) role in his own schemes (the Nomu attack in Hosu City, for example).

And, after AFO's arrest at Kamino, we actually see Shigaraki's will get stronger. He might flounder a little at first, lost without AFO's direct supervision, but eventually he's forced to start making real decisions for and about the League. This character growth reaches its apex when he takes over the Paranormal Liberation Front. (Note: red cape again. Grabs him by the shoulders and shakes him, etc.)

But THEN. Season 6. The literal battle of wills. If AFO prevails, he will have destroyed pretty much the only thing Shigaraki has left. It's like. The ultimate corruption arc. Corruption of the self. BTW in case it wasn't clear I want to roundhouse kick AFO into another dimension. I genuinely like most of the villains in MHA but he is the Emperor Palpatine of this story and it shows. [MANGA SPOILERS FOR THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH] I really, really wanted Shigaraki to throw him down the proverbial reactor shaft Darth Vader-style, but from what I understand that ship has sailed. Boooooo.

So now s6 Shigaraki is walking a very thin line between the success of this final corruption arc, that of his autonomy, and finally breaking some aspect of AFO's control over his entire life. It is a very, very thin line, because even if AFO can't control him anymore, he's the reason Shigaraki is WHO he is and WHERE he is (and WHAT he is, if we get into the whole Nomu-ification storyline).

So, yeah. Walking a very thin line. But at least he looks good doing it!! Wearing a disembodied hand on your face is OUT, wearing a tattered red cape is IN. What does it symbolize? Shigaraki personifying what he blames heroes for--destroying society--while dressing up as one of them? Shigaraki becoming his own hero by finally 'achieving his dream' of being powerful enough to destroy the world that hurt him? Foreshadowing that Shigaraki, wearing a hero's literal costume, and AFO are in some way opposed now? The author wanting to draw a really cool cape??? Who knows!! But I love it sm.

[eggtqrt]

fahrenheit 451 i never finished but it was a GOOD BOOK

OMG FAHRENHEIT 451 WAS LIKE MY FAVORITE HIGH SCHOOL BOOK will never forget that ray bradbury predicted airpods