#because the thing about desire is that it’s stronger when it’s not totally satisfied....

[maxiepkmn-moved]

the virgin "all the characters are attracted to the player no matter their gender" mechanic vs the chad "you can recruit arcade by flirting with him as a man but this is not ever really addressed later before he disappears, never to be seen again" dynamic

#also veronica and christine but i have an obvious bias (arcourier guy) #LIKE MY THING IS. there is something alot more poignant about the arcade thing than the few vaguely romantic lines of dialogue in 4. #it allows you the liberty to create a much more compelling plotline of your own about your relationship with arcade #even if it will never be resolved. #because the thing about desire is that it’s stronger when it’s not totally satisfied.... #💭

[zkyeline]

“Because the thing about desire is that it’s stronger when it’s not totally satisfied.”

#disco elysium #harrykim #harry du bois #kim kitsuragi #dolores dei #de fanart #fan art #art #illustration #don’t mind me #i just think about this justin keenan quote so hard it manifested into this art #wahoo #edit: kim’s half now available <3 #they pictures can also be stitched on both ends

[thefabledpheasant]

The two fandoms that consume my brain the most are Disco Elysium and Merlin BBC. The creator of DE is quoted saying this when asked why you can’t have Harry and Kim kiss:

“Because the thing about desire is that it's stronger when it's not totally satisfied”

And every time I see it, I think about the fact that Merlin BBC has one of the longest lasting active fandoms (after a show has ended) largely because so many of us can’t stand that Merthur wasn’t canon despite how obvious and strong their love and bond was.

#so they were obviously right #makes sense why I can’t stop thinking about both #I wonder how many Merlin fans also love disco elysium #merlin x arthur #bbc merlin #merthur #disco elysium #merlin bbc #arthur x merlin #harry du bois #kim kitsuragi #harry x kim #arthur pendragon #desire #mine

[inf1nyxw0rlds]

this might just be me talking nonsense but i was chatting with my bestie about this and. you really can get a good chunk of insight from the illusion that the phantom ruby cast when infinite touched it. we know that it essentially shows what a person desires, and what infinite desires... is just a wasteland.

infinite does not want to rule the world, at least from what i take from it – he wants to destroy it, to return it to barren earth and rebuilding it in his image was never even a consideration; while he wants his name to be known, leadership was never his intention. he wants to bring society down, to level everything and plunge things into a state of anarchy where there are no rules, no dictators, nothing. it's not so much that he wants to be the only one in control as he wants control to cease altogether, from my perspective.

i have a lot thoughts on as to why; his relationship with power is a complicated one and i love talking about it. for starters, i doubt he had a good life prior to becoming a mercenary – that isn't something people just do for fun, and while i won't go into too much of my own backstory for him, i think that would play a big role in his view of the world. he's seen more of the bad than the good, experienced it firsthand, fought tooth and nail and bled in the sand and built his name in theft and bruised knuckles. the world he sees is injust, unkind, survival of the fittest, and that has to be him.

to me, i think power itself isn't what drives him, which i know is a controversial take; it's not that i don't think he enjoys it, but that it's... complicated. infinite chases strength because he feels he has to – at least, to me, that's what i take from it. the world has said you're not enough, you have to be stronger, time and time over and infinite has burned that into his mind. he resents his weakness, he resents the status quo, but he abides it because he has to by way of pursuing strength.

he likes control in the sense that it makes him feel secure, i think, and comes to enjoy it because it's him spitting in the face of the world that tried to smother his fire. that satisfies him, being the one people fear, having the ability he once envied. but it wasn't power he wanted, at least originally, i think. it was freedom.

infinite shows not so much of a desire to rule as he does a desire to eradicate the system of rulership completely. society, money, law, leaders, and on a more personal level, responsibilities and expectations of him; he even states as much in that he is tired of the world as it is. he wants to prove himself worthy, and this is a win win, simultaneously showing he was always capable while tearing down all the things that bound him.

i've seen discussions on his freedom before and this is no shade to them whatsoever, but i don't think he's free; he's a wanted a man, and sure, he and his team can roam the regions but there's a target on his back at all times, he's responsible for not just himself but his squad, and... for him i don't think that's free. he's also trapped in his mind, by his mindset, but that mindset was formed by experiences, by his reality, so it's not like it's based in nothing, he can't argue or discard it.

if he wanted to quit being a mercenary, could he? has he ever had much choice? will he ever be able to rest without fear of ambush? to let his guard down knowing that with just one wrong move, he could die, or his teammates? when he fights, is he thinking about how he could easily be rendered completely blind, the first scar indicative of a weakness so blatant that his other eye is always where they aim? what is freedom? a feeling of safety, contentment, the absence of fear? what freedom means to him, i think, is a desire for total autonomy.

the thing is, to achieve autonomy, you need power, and in pursuit of power, you lose autonomy. to be powerful enough to be free, or to create a blank canvas wherein power doesn't matter. that's what i see in him. because maybe, if he strips all of this stuff away, he'll finally be able to breathe. to exist without fighting, or fulfilling expectations, not needing to be anyone or anything because he's tired. it's sort of like an escapism power fantasy. i don't know.

his name is infinite but he's always bound. by his allegiances, by wanted posters, by what he's supposed to be and especially by himself.

#transmission #infinite tag #idk whether i want to main tag this. ik that this is a topic ppl may be split on #infinite the jackal

[refuge-301]

5 REASONS WHY YOU MUST NOT KISS YOUR CHILDREN ON THEIR LIPS

I know you probably have only good intentions and for you this is a cute way to express affection, but since you don't know how your child will react and it is very risky it is better not to do it in our culture. Here is why:

1. Your child DOESN'T NEED OR DESIRE your kisses on their lips, at least not until you create this desire as a primary way to make them experience love from you. You are the one that want it or need. You can express love in many different ways, I can assure you your child won't miss not being kissed on their lips.

2. It CONFUSES ROLES AND AFFECT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM. Lips kisses are primarily associated with romantic relationships, and since not all parents do this, children can make question and feel confused about the meaning of it. This habit can also negatively affects family roles, in fact the impact is also stronger when there is not a strong romantic relationships between the parents and when there are single parents. Therefore the child could perceive him/herself as a parents's romantic partner, so this habit can make the definition of family roles worse and in your relationships with them.

3. It can NEGATIVELY AFFECTS CHILDREN'S SELF PERCEPTION WITHOUT THEM OR YOU REALISING. Children always think that what happen to them is their fault and so they usually don't express what they think, so you don't know now if in years later this habit can result in feeling of self-disgust and shame, to feeling violeted. These negative sensations, maybe unconscious can stay also in teen years creating an unease feeling with the relationship you have with them until they realise or remeber and process what happened.

4. Kisses on the lips CREATE ADDICTION. Kisses on lips wake up the need of lips to kiss, I don't think it is ok for a child to experience this in such a young age. This can have consequences as starting very young to have a little boyfriend/girlfriend just for satisfy this need.

5. There are many STORIES OF PEOPLE WHO REMIND THIS PARENT'S HABIT WITH UNEASY FEELINGS. Children accept this habit because they love you and trust you and they are too young to know its impact. But there are many experiences of grown-up that, even if their parents were good parents, still remind this habit with uneasy feelings. Some forgot this experience since it created shame, felt violeted without knowing why during teen years and when adults they remember it and talked about it with their parents, got healed and the relationships with them got repaired.

Maybe kissing your child on the lips won't have consequences, but why to risk?

Are there also good reason why to do it?

No, since your child doesn't need your kisses on their lips.

There is no reasons to do it and many and many reasons not to do it or to stop.

What to do if you already started to kiss your child on their lips?

This post is not to make you feel bad about yourself but to be aware because even with all the good intentions we can still hurt without realising, and this can be totally avoidable with more knowledge.

So just stop kissing, it is better if you do it, gradually and by substituting it with other expression of love (so they won't experience a reject), without them asking later to stop maybe with shame.

What to do insted:

The impact of your acts on children surely depend also on the type of family you are and how much parents express affection on each other, so finding balance will look different in every families. For any cases, use all love languages, and for the physical contact, hugging and kissing them on their cheeks and head will satisfy their needs. Avoid also kissing their neck and using other typical romantic expression of love (romantic candlelight dinners only with your child, etc.), children are not completely unaware and one day they will process it and may feel bad for these things.

Normal cheeks and head kisses are absolutely perfect and children will feel loved receiving normal parent-children expression of love.

#By a psychology master student. #kisses #kissing children #kissing on lips #trauma #unease #shame #kiss #children #child #psychology #habit #bad habit #parents #parent child relationship #bad experiences #psychologist here #children's kisses #mine #my post

[mourningmaybells]

things people shouldn't recommend to friends as a gay romance and unfortunately i see a lot of people venting about their disappointment in the tags because it instead had 2 crazy canon lgbt people on a mission who can’t act on it and the thing about desire is that it's stronger when it's not totally satisfied:

Disco Elysium

The Left Hand of Darkness

I couldn't think of a third option help me out here

#disco elysium

[insertpoetryhere]

Dadbastian Week: Identity

Wow look at that, posting the prompt on the day I'm supposed to. A thing I totally always do.

Anyways this is for @dadbastianweek2023 and let it be known I had a blast writing this and sneaking in things from an AU I will probably never write.

The Mighty Fall

Sebastian had been alive for more than a millenia. 

And no matter how long that seemed in the eyes of a human, it was even longer to the demon who had been forced to endure it.

There was no good way to spend a thousand years. When he had been mortal, the idea of living so long had been a fantasy. But the only reason why it was desirable was because it was supposed to be impossible. A 30 year old merchant could dream of living forever as much as he wanted, that didn’t mean he would ever get the opportunity.

How stupid he would feel now if only he knew.

The marvel of immortality faded the first time Sebastian got hungry. It was a different type of hunger, one that wouldn’t ever grant him the release of death if he couldn’t satisfy it.

And satisfy it he did. It only takes a few decades for whatever imitation of guilt he had once had to make way to pleasure. The hunt was fun, but the shaping of a soul was even more entertaining. Sebastian had convinced kings to behead their queens, mothers to drown their own children, pious men to burn entire cities to the ground in the name of a god that they would never meet.

A soul was sweeter when you were what caused it to fall so far.

As said before, there is no good way to spend a thousand years. But he had possibly found and delighted in every single bad way to do it.

Which is what made his current state so ironic.

Sebastian held up the crystal glass he was polishing up to the light, humming a little tune he had been adding little bits and pieces to while he looked for any spots he missed. The rest of the household was fast asleep, his favorite time of the day since it meant there was no one in his way for the next few hours.

In that time he had managed to reorganize the pantry, beat out the rug in the foyer, and now he had even finished polishing the nice crystal (which mostly just collected dust in a cupboard since the young master felt the set was “too flashy”). He placed the glass back in its proper place, feeling very self satisfied as the dinnerware glittered even in the darkest corners of the cupboard.

That's when he felt the faintest pull in his chest.

He sighed, a glove hand placing itself over where a human heart would be without him telling it to do so. “It’s just a dream.” He said seemingly to no one.

There was another, stronger tug.

“Go back to sleep.” He nearly begged, thinking of the list of chores he still needed to do.

The next one was like a dagger, sharp and impossible to ignore when it passed through him.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Damn it all to hell-” 

He grabbed his candle off of the kitchen counter and made his way upstairs, secretly hoping that the sensation in his chest would ease away as the subject faded back to sleep. That hope faded when he heard the screaming from the hallway, traveling through the thick mahogany door despite the fact that Ciel didn’t need to be loud to get the job done.

“-BASTIAN!” The frenzied screaming hit his ears like a freight train as he opened the door without knocking (there was no point in doing so, since there was no way Ciel would hear him over his own cries). “SEBASTIAN!”

“Yes my lord?” Sebastian nearly had to yell just to be heard. “I’m here!”

He rushed to his young master’s bedside, but didn’t dare move any closer than that as Ciel’s screams died and turned into desperate pants and heaving breaths. The boy’s wild eyes flicked to him, like he wasn’t sure who was talking to him.

“You’re alright, my lord. It was just a dream, you’re s-” Sebastian choked on his words. He brought a hand up to his neck as he realized that what he was about to say technically wasn’t true. Ciel wasn’t “safe” by any means.

Especially not with him.

“... You are unharmed.” He amended, his voice softer now that he didn’t need to fight to be heard.

Ciel’s eyes focused a little more, though he was still clearly dazed from whatever horror he had been forced to relive. Sebastian waited patiently for an order, whether it be to stay there until he fell back asleep or to go away and never speak of this again.

But Ciel did neither. Rather, in one quick motion that would have been almost too fast for a normal human to process, Ciel launched himself at Sebastian. His arms wrapped around Sebastian’s neck, pulling him down to his level and forcing him to drop to one knee to avoid losing his balance. The candle that was in his hand fell to the ground, the force of impact smothering the flame and leaving them in total darkness.

Sebastian tensed, at first presuming the action to be an attack. He made an attempt to gently remove Ciel, but paused when the movement only made Ciel cling to his shoulders harder.

“NO!” He screamed too close to Sebastian’s ear, his voice weak with sobs as he pressed his face into Sebastian’s jacket.

… Ah. Sebastian thought to himself, a strange uncertainty creeping up his spine. Not an attack..

Sebastian cleared his throat, moving his arms and hesitantly allowing them to wrap around the boy’s torso. Ciel took the shift in position as an open invitation to bury himself even deeper into Sebastian’s embrace, hiding his face fully in the safety of Sebastian’s shoulder.

Sebastian allowed him to stay like that for a few minutes before attempting to pull back once more. The movement was met with much less resistance this time, with Ciel only whining pitifully as he felt Sebastian start to pull away. Still, it was enough to convince Sebastian to stay put.

It was hardly appropriate for a butler to cradle his master like a toddler. Of course Sebastian knew that. But Ciel seemed to need it and no one else was around to witness their lapse in manners, so really what was the harm?

Carefully, he lifted both himself and his young master up onto the bed in hopes that a more comfortable position might help the child soothe himself back to sleep. Ciel sniffled as he settled himself against Sebastain’s chest, a blanket now thrown over his shoulders. His grip around Sebastain’s neck relaxed, making it easier for Sebastian to turn them in a way that would make it easier to settle Ciel back against his pillow once sweeter dreams finally took him.

“There, there.” He whispered, Ciel’s dark hair soft against his chin as he rested it on the top of the boy’s head. A feeling almost like nausea washed over him as he rocked the crying boy back and forth as if he were a baby. “You mustn't work yourself up like this.”

The two stayed like that for another fifteen minutes, with Sebastain shushing Ciel until he could feel his breaths even out and his heart rate slow down. Sebastian stopped rocking, but still didn’t move until he could hear Ciel’s soft snores, barely audible as they were muffled against the thick material of his jacket. Carefully, he peeled the sleeping boy off of him and laid him back down against his favorite pillow. He took the thick comforter and pulled it all the way up to Ciel’s chin, tucking him in firm enough to stave off the cold autumn air that sometimes snuck its way through to cracks in the window frame. 

Sebastian once leveled cities and erased entire bloodlines from the face of the earth. 

Now he comforts little boys when they’ve had nightmares and rocks them back to sleep once he’s done.

He leaned down, picking up the candle he had dropped when Ciel hugged him. He stared at it, still making out every detail despite the darkness surrounding him. He grimaced in disgust.

Oh, how the mighty fall.

#dadbastianweek2023 #dadbastainweek #dadbastianidentity #If it's out of character then I don't want to be in character #I have darker things planned this week so I wanted something sweet to help me cope

[todayisafridaynight]

Y'know, I've noticed the trend that the best romances in Yakuza fit this quote about Disco Elysium's unfulfillment of the romance between the main characters:

"Because the thing about desire is that it's stronger when it's not totally satisfied."

this just the truth about most pairings if im so tbh

#snap chats #to me anyway. its always more evil when they dont get to be together in the long run #keeps people on their toes ..

[mercy-misrule]

Uh so I don't go here but that last disco elysium fan art is indeed making me sweat. Are those dudes canonically gay or is it just a fandom thing?

Kim, the character in the orange jacket is gay and Harry, on his knees is, well, Harry's got issues beyond sexuality, though he does spend 8 in game hours pondering his sexuality until coming to the conclusion that obsessing over it isnt helpful now.

And he becomes semi-romantically entranced by a beautiful man who is sleeping with a centrist politician.

Also there's a super hard piece of dialogue to get that calls Harry bi.

They aren't together though!

But this response from an interview with one of the creators kicks my ass.

EP: I think some players would be upset if I didn’t ask this particular question, so I must ask: Why can’t we kiss Kim?

JK: Because the thing about desire is that it’s stronger when it’s not totally satisfied.

#disco elysium

[niccoughlan]

In reference to your slutty period drama man post:

In a 2021 interview, Disco Elysium writer and narrative designer Justin Keenan answered the question, "Why can't we kiss Kim?" He said, "Because the thing about desire is that it's stronger when it's not totally satisfied."

YESSS. It's about the WANTING. And we all know that 'will they won't they' plots in tv lose steam after they do.

it's about the not having!!!! (yet)

[screambirdscreaming]

Ok big total spoilers for dungeon meishi here, up through the end of the manga, but i have some thoughts

I don't dislike where it went with the concept of the demon, but i feel like it would have been more satisfying (to me) if they'd kept the scope dialed back a few notches?

There's a lot of interesting groundwork being laid for the dungeon itself as a thing that consumes: the dungeon-as-mouth imagery; the way it fulfills and feeds on people's desires - sometimes providing adventurers with exactly what they seek, growing more powerful with more treasure and stronger monsters as the number of adventurers reaches a tipping point; adventurers being eaten by monsters, etc. As an ecosystem cut off from sunlight, the dungeon has two energy sources feeding its foodweb: mana leaking in from the other dimension, and the energy brought down by adventures. There's a lot of interesting dynamic push and pull between those sources, where hypothetically the mana is an infinite source of energy and provides a surplus of production which adventurers harvest and bring up to the surface world - but the flow of mana into the world requires a pull from people's desires and wishes, which in turn are consumed by the dungeon. So who is feeding on who?

And then there's a concept tossed around of whether it would be possible to tame a dungeon - Marcille at some point states this as her goal, maintaining a dungeon in which monsters with beneficial attributes are kept without risk to humans. Her vision is very tidied-up and controlled, a farmed system, but a somewhat parallel desire is expressed by others who want the dungeon to continue indefinitely in a stable state: Senshi, the orcs, Laios.

But as we learn more about the dungeon's need to consume, this possibility slips out of reach. As long as there's more treasure to be found, the number of adventurers increases and the dungeon bloats on their desires - and when the treasure runs out, the adventurers leave and the dungeon starves. There's no stable equilibrium point to be found. Is this because the flows of energy into and out of the dungeon don't form a closed loop? There's no return of energy from the dungeon's wish-granting to the dungeon ecosystem, only the wishes consumed by the demon.

For that matter, what happens to the mana that flows into the world? Is the level of mana increasing indefinitely? Is there anything in the world that consumes it for good? It's at least implied, if not stated directly, that modern magic relies on gathering up and directing mana - whereas ancient magic involves pulling power directly from the other dimension. But it doesn't seem like mana is actually destroyed by its use in magic - at most, it's converted into other forms of energy, like heat. Which is still an energy sink problem on a global scale. (See: fossil fuels)

I think it could've been really cool to explore dungeons as both a source and sink of mana. Maybe if the demon's consumption of desires removed some form of energy from the world back to the other dimension? Maybe if some other aspect of the dungeon served to digest mana in a way that doesn't happen on the surface? Maybe if dungeons naturally accumulated mana and were involved in its global cycles of circulation, and the problem of bloating and crashing could be solved by cutting off the flow of mana from the other dimension?

Any of these could have involved grappling with the desire-eating demon in various ways, whether its an evil you have to live with to maintain the flow or mana and have to learn to manage, or whether it's a parasite feeding on the flow, or whether it's the cause of an energy leak that needs to be closed.

And there could be something there also with the unbearable burden of trying to manually control the entire dungeon system through one person, and the need to decentralize that control into one of ecosystem processes and collective management for the dungeon to become sustainable.

In contrast to that, the narrative turns away from the implication that the dungeon is feeding on the desires of all adventurers, and focuses on the flow of mana and desires through the dungeon master. And all the demons turn out to be aspects of one enormous consciousness - not just strange monsters cultivating burrows in which to feed, but something on the scale of a god. And so, while it's still very much dealing with themes of desires and consumption and balance and decay, it's doing so on a very abstracted, fantasy-epic scale.

Which is fine if that's your thing! But I think it'd have been neat if we got messy, farm-collective dungeon management challenges, rather than an eat-god-and-become-king type of resolution.

#dungeon meshi #dungeon meishi spoilers #big long fandom meta post time #Anyway *shakes fist* if you wanna talk about magic ecosystem trophic levels you should follow through! in my opinion! #I mean you don't have to but I want to read that shit! #Also now that I think about it the comparison of ancient magic to fossil fuels is. Hm. HMMMM. #Could lean into that one also. #(And yes I know that energy dissipation isn't directly actually the problem with fossil fuels but also - #thermodynamics never lets you get away with that type of shit. even if it wasn't for the greenhouse effect it'd be Something.) #(the first rule of thermodynamics is you can't win against thermodynamics.)

[kimmkitsuragi]

Don't know if it was a serious post but the narrative designer said the players can't kiss Kim Katsuragi-"Because the thing about desire is that it's stronger when it's not totally satisfied."

honestly i was just joking but still thank you for answering!! i love learning things like this. and this point of view is so interesting imo! i love how they addressed this in the first place, and with such a good answer too

#i love this game and the minds of people behind it more and more #disco elysium #asks #anon

[kimbureh]

In the light of the recent developments at ZA/UM, I can’t help but see the almost infamous Jamais Vu update in a different Light.

It was published at the end of December 2021, exactly when the three lead writers/artists were let go. Of course it was already in the making when they were still employed, but given the controversy with which the fan-servicey parts of the update were recieved by the players, I wonder if the update itself was already an expression of growing internal creative tension (or perhaps, tension between the money men and the talents?).

You know who just *loves* fan-service? Adores it because it sells? Corporations.

Perhaps little surprise then the content side of the update turned out as it did, giving the fans what they asked for-- not quite compatible with one of Disco Elysium’s famous core themes: “Because the thing about desire is that it’s stronger when it’s not totally satisfied “ *

However, all this is of course just speculation, and there’s no point in mulling it over, just needed to dump this idea outside my brain so it leaves me alone.

* which, interestingly enoug, is a quote by Justin Keenan, the new lead writer at za/um

#disco elysium #za/um #zaum #i really dont know what to make of this #i wanted to clear my mind typing this and got myself just more confused and invested #instinctively i pick the side of the creators but in reality we have no idea what went down; but then again capitalism devours us all #capitalism

[cyclonopedia]

to be honest. when games and media acknowledge that two characters have chemistry and let the main character/player act on it i think about that one interview with disco elysium's narrative designer where a bunch of people were mad you couldn't kiss kim and he replied "because the thing about desire is that it's stronger when it's not totally satisfied" and he was so so right.....all these shitty movies and shows coming out where they point at th hold on. my steam desktop client just notified me that one of my old high school friends just launched fear and hunger. i need to spam message him to jump down the bloody toilet hole

[mihotose]

"because the thing about desire is that its stronger when its not totally satisfied" specifically in the context of not being able to kiss kim makes me want to rip my lungs out but more generally it is just why queerbait can be so much spicier than canon ships

#do you think nov 5 would have been as insane if they had kissed. dont be silly #gemitus #disco elysium #supernatural

[gaypeoplemusic]

Because the thing about desire is that it’s stronger when it’s not totally satisfied 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

#x #they were so real for that