"Did you know people are getting scared when they read your horror stories?? Did you know that people are laughing when they read your comedy stories?? Isn't that gross? Aren't you scandalised??"
Sexting is just inherently cringe like there’s no way for it to sound serious and NOT cringe and if you’re going to do it you just have to let horny delirium take over and momentarily kill the part of your brain that cares about not being embarrassing
I love this painting so much... Just look at this young gentleman - he is nervous, but composed, he's about to confess. And the lady - was she sewing? She looks relaxed - maybe a little tired from tedious work - but curious.
The young man came to declare his feelings, interrupting her in the middle of a simple yet warm act... Such a tender painting.
I love Carl Zewy's (1855-1929 Austrian genre portrait and landscape painter) works - they're so intimate and full of life. Biedermeier plus early Romanticism - idealized, yet believable.
Blot and the physical form of negative emotions
An observation.
We know that blot is a toxic substance that accumulates in a mage's body as they use magic. While it doesn't appear only from negative emotions, unstable emotional states - such as stress, anger, sadness - can greatly accelerate the accumulation of blot.
Then there are phantoms - which are formed from overblotting and feed specifically on negative emotions (until they kill the host - mage).
This made me think about how in many cultures negative emotions such as anger, envy, or sadness were described as real, physical substances.
In ancient Greek medicine
emotions were linked to the four humors - blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile.
Melancholy, for example, was caused by an excess of black bile.
Anger was associated with an excess of yellow bile.
This physical theory of emotion placed emotional well-being directly in the body, not just the mind.
In Tibetan Buddhism
emotions like anger, desire, and ignorance are known as kleshas - often translated as mental poisons.
But they aren't just mental afflictions. They are seen as pollutants that affect the mindstream, affect karma, influence future rebirths, etc. The fact that the term can be translated as "poisons" is especially interesting - it's a literal mental toxicity.
In Japanese folklore
emotions like hatred, jealousy, or resentment can remain even after death and become onryō (怨霊) - vengeful spirits (often portrayed as women)
Negative emotions in general are viewed as polluting energies kegare (穢れ) not good for mental and physical space (so many stories about haunted places in Japanese folklore).
In medieval Christianity
sinful emotions were frequently personified in art and sermons as demons.
Wrath or lust could literally be shown as creatures attacking the soul.
Envy, in particular, was sometimes described as a green fluid that eats away at the heart.
*Green has been asociated with jeaolusy or envy for a long time
From Merchant of Venice, Portia:
How all the other passions fleet to air,
As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair,
And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy!
I also learned that there an italian expression - "green of envy" -"verde dall'invidia". Also "verde come la bile" (green like bile).
I think it's similar in many languages (in Europe at least).
But in Ukraine and Russia, for example, there are "black envy" and "white envy" - a bad and good envy.
Anyway, in medieval Europe It was more about the sins, but logically, sins are born from emotions and desires.
Not a substance, but a physical representation I like are on a painting from Hieronymus Bosch - The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things
In Sufism
negative traits and emotions were thought to be rooted in the nafs (ego/self) which creates veils or clouds between the soul and God.
In Kabbalah
negative emotions and actions give rise to klipot ("husks" or "shells") - impure spiritual barriers that cling to the soul and block divine light.
These are just some examples I remembered and looked up to check, but it seems to be a universal human idea that strong emotions, especially negative ones, should have form.
Often imagined as fluids, miasma, smoke, demons, spirits, poisons, etc.
And it makes sense, because emotions do have physical effects on our body. We all know what it's like to be anxious or sad that we feel physically ill. Or how falling in love can literally cause a rush of dopamine and oxytocin that feels like getting high.
That's why I love how twst uses this motif for blot and overblot. One of the game's core themes is trauma and psychological distress, and blot visualizes this in a very literal and creative way.
(It's especially powerful in the manga, where the buildup and consequences of blot are shown visually, in my opinion).
So I really love this detail of worldbuilding - it's not just a cool plot mechanic, but a metaphor for emotional overload, repression, and the sad consequences of never processing your inner pain.
Plus what they mention about how to avoid overblotting - if a mage sees too much blot accumulating, one should rest, eat well, and get into stable and calm mental state.
Just like in real life.
*too many links, idk if it's ok to just add them all, sorry
