#mynameisemma

[sneakydraws]

Your latest art made me realize that Anatole's flirting strategy is probably saying something ridiculous and cringey but with confidence and sexiness enough for it to pass which made me realize one more thing

Gina from "Porco Rosso" would 100% bang Anatole

(I'm probably going to have fever tonight)

I can’t believe you sent me this ask before i posted this drawing ive had in my drafts since forever ago

[sneakystorms]

Can you tell us more about Marya being a horny mess please? It's such an interesting interpretation of her character and has extra bonus points for the potential to make Tolstoy livid 🤭

Sure! Honestly i don't even feel like I'm going against tolstoy on this one because it's an interpretation i somewhat extrapolated from her canon characterisation.

One of my favourite marya moments (and there are many) is when she gets annoyed at mmelle bourienne for something or else, and her internal response to this is horror at herself for harbouring anything but the most amicable of emotions. So she forces herself to be friendly with amelie, but the repressed animosity is left to fester until it grows into disproportional hatred. A similar thread appears in her relationship to her father - because she believes she has no right to be anything less than loving and appreciative, she represses her negative emotions for him, but they continue to work their way in her subconscious. Speaking of her father, he has a very direct role in reinforcing this pattern of behaviour - when he mocks marya for dressing up for anatole, for enjoying the thought of romance or being courted, this causes such intense shame in her that she tries even harder to rid herself of any romantic inclinations, which is reflected in her social isolation once in moscow. I also love the moment where marya sees anatole making out with amelie and, rather than react in justifiable anger, appears more sympathetic to Amelie than ever, swearing to help her and anatole realise their love for each other. I read this as marya internalising shame so fully that she's relieved at an "excuse" not to indulge in that which she desires, because years of self denial have resulted in pursuit of her own wishes appearing frightening. Although i certainly am not opposed to reading this scene as her lesbianism peeking through and making her all too happy to have a reason to give up on her relationship with anatole lmao

All this to say that marya is an incredible portrayal of freudian repression a hundred years before freud, and particularly of the way one can repress shameful or impossible to realise desires and sublimate them - redirect their libidinal energy - into other, more acceptable pursuits. For freud this is most often art, but in Marya's case i think you can read her as sublimating all her shameful desires or emotions into religion, which is of course a highly moral thing for her to obsess over, providing an even stronger barrier against sinful thoughts than something like an artistic hobby might have. But as always in freud, urges that have been rejected by and banished from the conscious seep into the unconscious, where they threaten to fester and develop. Iirc the metaphor freud uses is that of a blocked water passage which causes the stream to leak through whatever other paths or cracks it can find - this is how you get repressed urges manifesting in weird, roundabout ways like dreams or odd fetishes.

This is kind of what i see happening to marya - both with her anger, which escapes in her teaching nikolushka, and with her desire for sex and romance. But I'm also throwing in a half-serious observational tidbit about how christians who have an unhealthy relationship with their own faith and repress their "sinful" urges sometimes go on to attach so much importance to rituals of self-protection, self-cleansing or self-punishment in hopes of saving themselves from sin that those very rituals end up as subconscious escape routes for the repressed horniness and other undesirable things. This is how you get jokes about medieval catholics being little too into lashing, or about people for whom the religious bliss that comes from prayer borders on the erotic, or about those who are a little too obsessed with staying virgins until marriage...

That's kind of what i was alluding to with the "kinky in that way some xtians are" comment (or however i phrased it). But that's only an aside, the main point is my girl is pushing down all her horniness and one day, hopefully, that bottle is gonna burst and as far as I'm concerned it might as well burst in Helene's nimble fingers. I also think she'd find it fun and gratifying to mess with Marya's head by convincing her that the wild gay sex they're having doesn't count or isn't really sin or something like that, which is obviously a narrative marya would cling to if she did ever slip up and give in to the throes of sodomy

[meirimerens]

Do you like any p2 characters designs more than p2 ones? [The question is inspired by your Capella, she's wonderful 💖]

[thank uuu 🫂🫶] & i assume you mean if there are any p2 charadesigns i like more than the p1 ones, since i've mostly talked about preferring p1 designs [for clara, capella, yulia, da twins or maria] and there are a few:

burakh, who well we deal with a whole lot. i did like his centered set of buckles of p1 & i WISH they had kept his blown-out pupils because it is my firm belief he ought to smoke a twyre joint i do prefer his whole ordeal in p2. i also thinks it makes more sense for him to be gloveless [like he is in p2] in ways, and less in others... but its a good contrast to dankovsky who has his gloves

i'm partial to both dankovskies... i really like his p1 red undercoat but i really like his p2 shirt/vest + snakehead pin & snake buckle... as i have written “Once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, thrice is a motif”, Burakh thought. Then, more aptly: "Okay, weirdo.""...

most of the kids actually! i do prefer p2 khan, notkin, grace, murky (even though her design didn't really change, why change what's already perfect...), sticky didn't change too much but i like him more as p2 design too. one kid i prefer in p1 is TAYA.... the little curls of her hair were SO CUTE... but i p2 i do love her deel/digil it's bringing her closer to the actual cultures the Kin is inspired by.

mark? it's less that i prefer how he looks in p2 per say, but more that he looks like more of a freak / Theatre Director + his weird brows make me chuckle.

vlad jr. can't really explain why. i think his huge dark circles make me chuckle.

katerina saburova. because i um i ummm twirls hair

THE HERB BRIDES. GOD I'M SO HAPPY FOR THEM even though we all know how i feel about them but. having a little bit of variet + NO BOOTS.... i'm happy :3

alexander block i guess? i like his red coat 👍

i'm partial to both Laras, but i really like p2 Lara's face.

i also really like the charadesigns for the townsfolk.. they make me smile :3

[alleyskywalker]

idk it's weird but Sonyakhov + " "She doesn't love herself', realizes Dolokhov once watching his new wife barely touching her body while undressing".

"She doesn't love herself', realizes Dolokhov once watching his new wife barely touching her body while undressing." He’s not certain why this is what gives him the thought. Perhaps because he had spent so long before their wedding fantasizing about every new milestone of physical closeness between them, and the ultimate one after they would become man and wife. Perhaps because she is the most beautiful thing in the world to him and he cannot imagine not wanting to touch her and to feel her warmth under your hands. And besides, people are generally not afraid of their own selves like this, not repulsed by their own image in the mirror.

“Sophie,” he calls gently, and she turns around, flushes when she realizes he’s been watching her. “Come here.”

She does, and kisses her, hoping almost against hope that one day he can give her enough love that she will give herself permission to love herself as well.

[sneakydraws]

Just stopped by to tell you I absolutely adore the way you draw Dolokhov and also,,,, your Thoughts on the poor man/rich man dynamic,,,,you Understand It as always

OH TO HEAR IT FROM THE WAP CLASS DYNAMICS UNDERSTANDER... thank you thank you i love violently envious dolokhov i think he makes anatole blow him on the living room couch of the kuragin residence for that power high

[sneakystorms]

I don't have an andretole fanart but I dropped by to say happy birthday!!

EYYY THANK YOU!! No worries whatsoever, we have andretole art at home <3

[sneakydraws]

I'd love to hear your thoughts about gender, privileges and social mobility in wap 👀👀👀 because I have been thinking a lot about it lately (mainly in relation to Sonya)

SWEATS..... YEAH I KNOW I'VE SEEN YOUR SONYA INSIGHTS THEY'RE REALLY GOOD I'M ALL INTIMIDATED NOW... ok lemme paste what I frantically wrote in my notes app while taking a shit and hopefully it'll make some sort of sense because I really should not be letting myself get distracted by fine tuning the wording rn

So like. Helene is an extremely sophisticated woman with a secret vulgar side. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that although she makes no secret of her vulgarity, through sheer power of confidence and daring (and money and status and name) her vulgarity is transformed into sophistication in the eyes of society.

This is why I find something genuinely compelling in her relationship with dolokhov - he also has a vulgar (read: poor) side covered up by a thin veneer of class which he keeps up through sheer confidence. But then their situations are as similar as they are different - woman and man, rich and poor. Helene needs to spare no effort to maintain her wealth and status besides complying with her parents' plans for her, while dolokhov has to actively claw his way out of poverty. Helene, though her social intelligence keeps her out of trouble in this regard, is always at risk of being ruined if scandal should break out, while dolokhov can gamble and fuck and drink and get in duels with no repercussions... Until he goes a step too far and his lack of social capital means he actually gets punished, unlike ultimate nepobaby failson Anatole. It's actually interesting how gender and class intersect here. As a man, dolokhov has much more freedom to make his own fortune than a woman of his social background would - he can take up a career, he can swindle rich young idiots out of their money - but in order to achieve the status he evidently desires he is reliant on his friendship (👀) with a rich young idiot of his own who'll provide for him. In this way, he ends up just as dependent as Helene is on her husband.

Also it's interesting that the two men Helene supposedly has affairs with, dolokhov and Boris, both have this heavy theme of upwards social mobility going on. Idk

[sneakydraws]

Sorry for coming into your askbox with random wap ships but have you ever thought about Helene and Vera,,,, their respective deprivation of motherly love,,, their role of impeccable daughters,,, there's so much potential for toxic yuri 👁️👄👁️

Never considered it before but i admit there's something there!! With regard to being perfect daughters, they've both got this malicious compliance thing going on, like... Both their mothers are unhappy with them for seemingly no real reason, they both act their societal roles perfectly but seem aware that it's not enough... I feel like their personalities don't immediately strike me as jiving together but who knows...