At Home In The Mirror

These are the bleeps and bloops you trust for info.🔞 An askblog for the Skills from disco elysium (as headcanoned by brainrotdotorg) Answers asks sporadically in the style of the game. Will sometimes draw. We’ll see.

[ask-the-furies]

Welcome to ask-the-furies!

About: What is this?

Who are these characters?

What can I ask/what can I expect to see?

What’s the tag system?

COMPLETED THOUGHT PROJECTS: Flocks, Herds, And Schools Gender? I Hardly Know Her!

About: What is this?

This is an askblog for the skills of Disco Elysium! It will be written in the style of the game itself. It will be a mixture of canon information and headcanon interpretation, with references to multiple routes and canons in the game itself along with semi-fic-ish elements to it.

Who are these characters?

These are the skills from Disco Elysium, the stats that determine Harry Du Bois’ abilities and thoughts. They are the personified manifestations of his capabilities that exist within his brain as voices. Here are my designs of them:

Limbic System and ARB:

Since they’re so broadly defined as both game mechanics and as characters, I’ll be using my own headcanons to represent them (so we’re gonna get a little silly with it.) I’ll give a brief rundown of the skills as they’ll be represented via their functions:

INTELLECT:

Logic: he/him. Ability to piece together clues and detect inconsistencies.

Encyclopedia: he/him. Pre-existing knowledge of the world of Elysium.

Rhetoric:they/he. Ability to argue against others and convince them.

Drama: he/she/they. Ability to lie and detect lies.

Conceptualization: any/all. Ability to discern deeper artistic meaning and subtext.

Viscalc: he/they. Ability to determine and inference things based off of visual clues.

PSYCHE

Volition: he/they. Moral fortitude, mental health, focus on work.

Empathy: they/them. Capacity to understand how others are feeling.

Inland Empire: they/them. Imagination, hunches, and being fascinated with the mysterious.

Authority: he/him. Ability to exert or impose command.

Esprit De Corps: any/all. Understanding police culture.

Suggestion: they/them. Ability to plant ideas and subtle subterfuge.

PHYSIQUE

Endurance: he/him, physical health and vitality.

Pain Threshold: she/they. Ability to seek out and put up with pain.

Physical Instrument: he/him. Ability to use the body as a tool.

Electro-Chemistry: he/they. Base instinct of seeking pleasure.

Half Light: she/he. Fight, flight, faun, or freeze response.

Shivers: she/her. Connection with the supra-natural elements of the city.

MOTORICS

Hand/Eye Coordination: he/him. Ability to throw, catch, and shoot.

Perception: she/her. Ability to pick up details that activate the senses.

Reaction Speed: she/they. Ability to think/act quickly.

Savoir Faire: he/they. Agility and grace, in both a physical and social sense.

Interfacing: he/him. The use of tools with finesse, like operating a second body.

Composure: they/them. Capability of staying focused and collected under pressure.

THE DEEP BRAIN

Ancient Reptilian Brain: he/him. Controls base animal instincts.

Limbic System: he/him. Controls emotional responses.

(If you have other characters you’d like to talk to that aren’t listed, like the horrific necktie, feel free to try and ask anyway. They may have something to say?)

What can I ask/what can I expect to see?

You can ask the skills just about anything you’d want to know from them. Since there are 24 of those assholes living in Harry’s brain, they need a way to get attention and enrichment, so they made this blog. Ask them about what you’re curious about!

This blog will get about as risqué as the game does— potential mentions of drug use/abuse, sex and sexuality, violence, etc. As such, no minors here, please. Ship content probably will happen and you’re more than welcome to ask about it, just be cool.

That’s generally rule number one for this blog lmao is just be cool! If I don’t want to answer something then I just won’t.

You can expect to see posts written in the style of the game itself, with the skills answering. Sometimes it may be accompanied by art, but not always!

You can also probably expect to see some skills art get reblogged (both my designs and other peoples designs) If you make fanart for my skills designs make sure you tag @ask-the-furies in it so I can see and RB it!!

Tag System?

The relevant skills and their groups that get mentioned/speak in will be tagged in the post— a post containing Interfacing will be tagged #/interfacing #//motorics, for example. If there are continuing ask threads/a storyline or conversation that fits into a particular canon, I’ll make unique tags for those as well.

#ask is for asks.

#ooc post is for ooc posts.

#/thought cabinet is fort posts that introduce a new thought to the cabinet.

I can’t promise I will answer every ask but I sure will answer the ones I think I can write something funny/clever about : ))

Something important: don’t take any of these posts too seriously. I work in a pretty superfluous way with what I imagine the skills are like, what their relationships are like, their lore, etc. The skills are best friends. The skills are roommates. The skills are in love. The skills are coworkers. It’s all true to me where. We are getting silly with it.

[ask-the-furies]

ELECTROCHEMISTRY- You can call any of us good dog and you’ll get a positive response in some way. Don't tell them I told you.

[denimecho]

Regular day on the job

[ask-the-furies]

conceptualization, do "honour points" intrigue you at all? they're authority's shtick but you seem like a better judge of honour than him.

CONCEPTUALIZATION- Now, what is "honor" when you really think about it?

AUTHORITY- A measure of your worth. It's what separates the men from the scum. You have nothing if you don't have honor.

CONCEPTUALIZATION- That sounds like a boring answer to me.

ENCYCLOPEDIA- Hon·or (/ˈänər/), noun. 1. To hold something or someone in high respect; great esteem. 2. An adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct.

CONCEPTUALIZATION- "What is right" is so broad, too! A conventional standard of conduct? how do we measure the unmeasurable?

AUTHORITY- With the honor points, you flouncy poseur.

[ask-the-furies]

hiiiii shivers how are you doing today? :)

SHIVERS- The air over greater Revachol rests cold and light above the smokestacks of the industrial district. A ginger tomcat pads along the tiles of a roof, then leaps from air conditioner to fire escape to ground to drainage pipe. For sixteen minutes he walks with purpose, half of a burned fish fillet held tight between his teeth. After seventeen minutes, the fish is set in front of a kindle of kittens, four minuscule existences.

SHIVERS- In six weeks, they will be trapped in carrier cages. Their sewage-soaked and flea-bitten coats will be washed and blow-dried. Two of the kittens will bite the hands that feed them, and the Tom will express himself in nothing but hisses for the rest of his life. Come the turn of the year, they will all be comfortably asleep on plush carpets in front of a protected fire, stomachs full.

SHIVERS- A street urchin is tucked uncomfortably in the back of a pale carrier truck, barely insulated from the aerosol death outside, but her fingers twitch in excitement anyway— anticipation for the complimentary soul waiting across the ocean of nothingness. The lorry has been fortified against the harsh conditions of prolonged pale exposure but does not keep out the chill. A moving fortress carries precious cargo bundled in dirty overcoats.

SHIVERS- A girl in the lower district of Jamrock squints against the brightness outside. Snow is not uncommon, but she has still never seen it. A tiny hand presses into the surface of a snowbank, leaving an imprint as ice crystals melt and mould around her. She barely has enough time to laugh in disbelief before a snowball hits the soft spot in her side beneath her ribs, thrown by a boy in her school. In sixteen years, she will confess her love to him. In two minutes, she’ll tackle him into the snowbank, leaving messy trails and prints as they laugh and playfight.

[ask-the-furies]

i love hearing whats happening in the city with shivers every so often but EDC deserves a time to shine. care to share a glimpse of precinct 41 right now?

ESPRIT DE CORPS- The ladybird-shaped building is alive with movement. A small holding cell is not enough to hold the copse of people taken in for petty misdemeanours. They sit on chipped benches and tap their shoe on linoleum tile.

ESPRIT DE CORPS- A new addition to the B Wing is still adjusting to his station. Officer Andorjean checks to make sure his cuffs are closed. Working in animal control means he is more used to implements for beasts- not people. The last time he handled a gun was when he was a junior officer. It sits on his hip. He hopes, lamely, that it will sit there forever.

ESPRIT DE CORPS- In a sterile nurses' office surrounded by cots, Gottlieb puts down a pair of tweezers holding a cotton swab before smacking Chester McClaine on the back of the head. "If I see you in here one more time this week, I'm never treating you again."

ESPRIT DE CORPS- Captain Ptolemaios Pryce takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes. The papers on his desk are nearly ritualistically studied, removed from a hiding place and stowed away with care often. It is anyone's guess to what the names on the sheets mean.

[ask-the-furies]

did you know that all pronouns or genders is an option? steal them all become everything whos gonna stop you?

CONCEPTUALIZATION- Hm... Hold on.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT- No. No, no, no no no. We are not focusing on this any longer. This "gender" nonsense stops here!

VOLITION- It'll be good to have the thought cleared. It leaves room for another one to be made.

HALF-LIGHT- Shh! Don't even think about it!

COMPOSURE- It's hard not to, now that it's become a project. It's going on to be on our mind until it's come to its natural conclusion.

PAIN THRESHOLD- It could be good to know.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT- Not you, too! What is this prissy shit?

HALF-LIGHT- STOP! NOW! SHE'S ALMOST-

LEOPARD-PRINT BODYSUIT- Privet.

HALF-LIGHT- Grrrrgh! Rrrr! Back off! I knew it, I knew this had to be your fault!

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT- It's you! The fruit suit! This is all because he wore you!

LEOPARD-PRINT BODYSUIT- Me? I didn't do anything, you know. He's always been this kind of animal.

LOGIC- She's right. Harry's always had... off-color thoughts about who he was. The suit just awakened them again.

VOLITION- They're harder to supress while he's actively wearing it.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT- I don't care what favors you do in making Harry's ass look shapely. Scram before you turn him into one of those cross-gender pansies!

HALF-LIGHT- Bark bark bark bark!

LEOPARD-PRINT BODYSUIT- I can come off. The feelings can't.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT- I won't have you making him into a girly-boy.

REACTION SPEED- Why not? We like girls. Boys, too. Best of both worlds, you know.

CONCEPTUALIZATION- Yes... yes! There are options. Choices to be made. Things to put on and take off as easily as clothing. To be worn as accessories. Rules? Who is going to tell us to follow a rule?

LEOPARD-PRINT BODYSUIT- Now you're starting to get it. Doesn't it feel so freeing?

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT- I'm not letting Harry turn into some kind of lady-dresser-

COMPOSURE- It won't be all lady, all the time. We still feel pretty masculine.

LOGIC- And, logically, if we can become more female, we can become more male too.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT- ...More male? I thought we were already the most male.

LOGIC- Maybe we can become even male-er. Who's to say?

THOUGHT PROJECT COMPLETION IMMINENT GENDER? I HARDLY KNOW 'ER!

Who are you? Who are you? You are a clique of voices, a caucus, a camp. Unbound by space and time. All of them are different from each other, and you are different from everyone else. If they are them, then who are you?

The answer- who knows? Let's just cover every base and say yes. Who is going to stop you? You are the law. And you have other things to think about- like everyone else's gender identity. Quick. Let's go and ask Kim what's going on with him.

[ask-the-furies]

If some of you formed over the course of harry's life instead of all being there since day 1... have there been skills that disappeared?

LOGIC— Nothing of the sort has happened recently, and if it were to happen, it would be a statistical outlier, wildly traumatic, and should not be counted by any scale of measurement.

EMPATHY— But what about-

LOGIC— Nothing of the sort has happened recently. If it were to have happened, it would have been a statistical outlier and wildly traumatic. It should not be counted by any scale of measurement.

[ask-the-furies]

Miss TA, what do you look like?

TUTORIAL AGENT- I'm similar to the Ancient Reptilian Brain and the Limbic System in that I don't often give myself a visual representation. But if you'd like one...

[mrtequilasunset]

Ms. Tutorial Agent... Mwah !

[ask-the-furies]

TUTORIAL AGENT- Oh, my! What a flattering depiction. I’m happy I gave myself a form.

[ask-the-furies]

Do you think joyce has girl power? And do you think she ultimately utilized girl power by heing a ultralib?

AUTHORITY— She does, at least, present herself as a being of power. We can all respect that. In the social hierarchy, she technically ranks above us... But the instant we find any hint of illegality, or even disrespect, we won't hesitate.

EMPATHY— Absolutely n-

SAVOIR FAIRE— Couldn't have said it better myself, Emma! She absolutely does, and absolutely did. She's on that grind 24/7, 52/365.

ENCYCLOPEDIA— 24/7= 3.43, 52/365= 0.14

SAVOIR FAIRE— By which Brainy means Joyce = 100% power!

EMPATHY— I hate you so much.

[ask-the-furies]

do u think mazov & nilsen ever explored each others bodies..?

ENCYCLOPEDIA- In a historical sense, all ideas of romantic speculation between Mazov and Nilsen are just that— speculation.

RHETORIC- Well, if getting a little hot and heavy with your revolutionary brother generates enough plasm to reinvigorate communism, then they would be bad communists if they DIDN’T get exploratory.

LOGIC— Exploration in research is invaluable. So really, if they did it for scientific reasons…

ELECTROCHEMISTRY— It’s not gay if you say its “just for research”!

[ask-the-furies]

Yaoi. Yay or nay?

ENCYCLOPEDIA- Yaoi, also known as boys' love and its abbreviation BL, is a genre of fictional media originating in Seol that features homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically cr—

ELECTROCHEMISTRY- YES. YES YES YES. GET US THAT SHIT IMMEDIATELY.

[ask-the-furies]

so you guys dont "exist" (in the least nuanced meaning of the word) but. since you all have somewhat physical forms, does that mean you have distinctive textures too, or does any of you guys's "skin" feel like regular human skin?

PERCEPTION- Oh, oh, I know this one! Let me, please.

PERCEPTION- Physical Instrument and Authority are both solid, like… like gems, or stone. Marble. Same case with Volition. Empathy is squishy— raw meat, I think. Or like a lizard.

PERCEPTION- Encyclopedia feels like paper all over— textured and cold. Logic has dozens of textures, some of them human but most not. It really depends on the piece. Drama is, hm, rubbery.

PERCEPTION- Human… Human. Half-Light feels like flesh, until you get to the smoke. As does Sav. I myself am mostly gaseous, a trait I share with Shivers. Hm…

PERCEPTION- Those are all the interesting ones.

ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY- Hey! My textures are interesting!

PERCEPTION- You also feel like skin. And you're kind of sweaty, most of the time.

[ask-the-furies]

Hey shivers, can we get a snapshot of the city? Whats going on in your world?

SHIVERS— A stray cat drinks from a puddle behind a post office. Chain-link fence serves as a good balance beam to pad across, a ledge to jump off of, onto a fire escape. She will be fed by three separate people, who all believe they alone own her.

SHIVERS— High-rise apartments are empty and without furniture. A real estate agent turns pages on a clipboard. Appointment at 12:45, lunch at 1, a showing at 1:15. His Veronè Acile shoes tap on the floor, and echo to the floor-to-ceiling windows.

SHIVERS— A man panhandling in a Central Jamrock square hurriedly hides his violin as two RCM officers turn the corner, eating sandwich rolls. They pay him no attention as they pass. Strings warm up again in their absence, plonk, plink…

SHIVERS— The street Tartt-On-Leon is empty. In a few hours, when the sun sets and the clouds form, it will be populated with moving, shaking bodies. The looming shadow of the 8/81 towers above the street, like a road stretching past the horizon.

SHIVERS— A young man and woman cross a service bridge, lined with pipes and industrial hardware. Technically, they are trespassing, but no souls are there to witness it. There is no one to see him click open a box cutter.

[ask-the-furies]

Can you guys eat? Sleep? Do human things that help sustaij the body?

INTERFACING- We don’t need to do anything to survive. But some of us find that incredibly dull, and choose to anyway.

HALF-LIGHT- Have you ever had a mango? Eaten it with your nails and teeth? Felt its gore dribble down your flesh?

REACTION SPEED- I love to breathe! I’m good at it too!

RHETORIC- While I can’t get tired in the typical sense, after a long debate, I do feel a bit winded. Sleep helps me come up with new arguments, and usually gets the others to leave me alone.

ENCYCLOPEDIA- When Harry enters REM, we cease to exist. When he wakes up, we return. In a way, this is sleep.

INLAND EMPIRE- In a way, this is death.

[ask-the-furies]

Hows the gender thought process going?

CONCEPTUALIZATION- Great.

DRAMA- Lying.

CONCEPTUALIZATION- I’ve almost got it.

DRAMA- Liar.

ENDURANCE- I’m doing my part to maintain the status quö.

HALF LIGHT- ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!

COMPOSURE- It doesn’t matter how it’s going. The time will pass. One day it will be completed. That’s all.

[ask-the-furies]

try *not* to think of a white elephant. you just thought of it. this is the problem. you can't escape the paradigm while thinking about the paradigm, no. you gotta stop thinking about gender entirely. and then you gotta take notes about how Gendered you are after like two weeks have passed.

COMPOSURE- Not thinking is the easiest thing in the world. Deep breaths, now. Free your—

REACTION SPEED- If he isn’t a woman, why can’t we leave her?

HALF LIGHT- Shut up! She’ll hear you!

ELECTROCHEMISTRY- Who, the- mmf-phfrr-

COMPOSURE- That’s enough. All of you. Calm down. We already have a thought project going. We don’t need to worry about it even more.