Cielo on devouring
Cielo, quite simply, hates devouring. Period. End of statement.
Except that's not an essay, so onwards! At the same time, he doesn't hate it the most out of all his comrades (that's Argilla!), and he'd never consider willingly starving himself as long as there was a war going on and his comrades needed him. If it were peacetime and his comrades weren't there…I don't think he'd starve himself, but I do think he'd, well, find a cause to die for.
But one of the things the cannibals all struggle with in DDS2 is the worth of lives, whether it be theirs or the lives of people who don't literally have to eat other people to survive. Cielo's line along those matters I always thought was very interesting: "Who decided you had to devour to survive, eh bro? Dese people aren't eating people, but it's still life, isn't it? Plants are okay? So if you're eating a different kind of life, that makes it okay?" Meat probably isn't available to the Lokapala just because it's so much more resource-intensive than plants, and the Lokapala are probably barely above starvation level anyway. So I'd guess, at least before he came to camp, Cielo basically divided life into those who eat people and those who eat plants.
But I think it's safe to say that Cielo has a very unusual view of it! I mean, it's really an oddly accusative way of doing things. "You think you're better than me because you don't eat people, but you still have to devour to survive." One thing I always really remember there is that Cielo was the Lokapala's captive when they really hated demon cannibals. I would place significant amounts of money that they really, well, rubbed it in his face that he devoured people and was thus fundamentally morally inferior, most likely while starving him. At the same time, this isn't something Cielo lets affect his relationships with the Lokapala much, and that's fairly complicated to explain why.
One is that their leader is his comrade now, and you don't hold grudges against your comrades, or your comrade's comrade. (Oh hey this affects current events in camp. More things to essay over whenever we get around to shanking Kuhn!) Two is that…as much as he protests it, he doesn't entirely disagree. His life costs the world more than theirs does. Their cost isn't nothing, but his life costs the world a great deal more. Cielo honestly desires to repay the cost of his life back to the world. It's one of the reasons he does his suicide run. It's one of the reasons that, as good as camp is in comparison to DDSverse, he'd go back if he were called, despite the fact that he's dead back there. He'd feel obligated to. Three is that the alliance with the Lokapala is key to the well-being of his comrades and the world, and he wouldn't let his mistreatment affect it. Four is Cielo has issues sometimes with valuing himself. He won't like people when they don't value him, but…he won't necessarily disagree. After the Embryon find out they're AIs, he very seriously questions whether they're people at all. I mean, yeah "gotta follow de love" and all, and he'll ignore it when he can, but…it's still a valid question in his mind. And he values his comrades over himself. He does value himself! But push him the right way and he might forget to for a bit.
At the same time, it would probably take a very long time for him to fully trust the Lokapala and feel at ease in their company. Cielo doesn't hold grudges, exactly, but he doesn't like to let mistakes be repeated either. Like with Heat. He's fully accepted Heat back as a comrade, but…he'd also try very hard not to let Heat be put into a position where he might feel that Sera's well-being was separate from the rest of the Embryon. …Huh come to think of it I wonder how much his suicide run had to do with his willingness to die before letting Sera be harmed, since he failed her once before already. Or like with the current situation with Kuhn, depending on how it falls out.
Okay, so I sidetracked! Cielo very much dislikes having to devour. In an ideal world, none of them wold have to fight or devour - hell in Cielo's ideal world they wouldn't even need to eat plants. In my headcanon for the Junkyard, they didn't eat before the demon virus for a variety of reasons that I'll cover in my Junkyard essay. So he doesn't exactly come from a background where any sort of eating is just the way the world is, and so he's a lot more acutely aware of the cost.
I've mentioned this before, I think, but in my headcanon, in Cielo's past life he was a vegetarian. A LOT OF THIS IS "LOL VEGETARIAN DEMON CANNIBAL." I won't deny that! But…it also strikes me as something Cielo would do. Cielo's acutely aware of the cost of him remaining alive. If the option were possible, he'd like to reduce the cost. As it is, he'll do his best to pay it back.
At the same time, he would never let himself starve around his comrades. The possibility of him attacking his comrades would just… he wouldn't let that happen if he could possibly avoid it. Period. And Cielo honestly doesn't detest devouring as much as Jinana and Lupa, or even Argilla. Their revulsion goes soul-deep, while Cielo's is, well, shallower and something he's capable of getting over, if not particularly happily. Cielo's morals can be very flexible when he wants them to be! When it comes right down to it, there's very few situations he couldn't adapt to as long as he has his comrades. Well, in good enough situations he could survive (though not as happily) without his comrades, but since when has that happened?
So what does this mean in camp! Well, for one, Cielo's probably lost weight. Not NEARLY as much as Jinana or Argilla had before she left, because he does eat quite a bit outside Tuesday. And honestly probably all the cannibals have lost some weight just because this isn't the ideal environment for them. But Cielo probably eats a lot on Tuesday. Honestly if he and the rest of the cannibals just spent the entirety of Tuesday in there eating I wouldn't be surprised. And he'll eat a lot of zombies outside. But the cannibals have basically a limitless appetite, and Cielo…doesn't quite see the point of eating the cave creatures because they don't fill him as much as the zombies and are (probably) still alive, and still finds the zombies disgusting. He'll eat them! But forcing himself to eat enough zombies to fill him would not be fun and he doesn't like eating enough to force himself to eat more. He eats enough that he's in no danger of losing control due to hunger. And that's the most important thing to Cielo, really.
Except that's not an essay, so onwards! At the same time, he doesn't hate it the most out of all his comrades (that's Argilla!), and he'd never consider willingly starving himself as long as there was a war going on and his comrades needed him. If it were peacetime and his comrades weren't there…I don't think he'd starve himself, but I do think he'd, well, find a cause to die for.
But one of the things the cannibals all struggle with in DDS2 is the worth of lives, whether it be theirs or the lives of people who don't literally have to eat other people to survive. Cielo's line along those matters I always thought was very interesting: "Who decided you had to devour to survive, eh bro? Dese people aren't eating people, but it's still life, isn't it? Plants are okay? So if you're eating a different kind of life, that makes it okay?" Meat probably isn't available to the Lokapala just because it's so much more resource-intensive than plants, and the Lokapala are probably barely above starvation level anyway. So I'd guess, at least before he came to camp, Cielo basically divided life into those who eat people and those who eat plants.
But I think it's safe to say that Cielo has a very unusual view of it! I mean, it's really an oddly accusative way of doing things. "You think you're better than me because you don't eat people, but you still have to devour to survive." One thing I always really remember there is that Cielo was the Lokapala's captive when they really hated demon cannibals. I would place significant amounts of money that they really, well, rubbed it in his face that he devoured people and was thus fundamentally morally inferior, most likely while starving him. At the same time, this isn't something Cielo lets affect his relationships with the Lokapala much, and that's fairly complicated to explain why.
One is that their leader is his comrade now, and you don't hold grudges against your comrades, or your comrade's comrade. (Oh hey this affects current events in camp. More things to essay over whenever we get around to shanking Kuhn!) Two is that…as much as he protests it, he doesn't entirely disagree. His life costs the world more than theirs does. Their cost isn't nothing, but his life costs the world a great deal more. Cielo honestly desires to repay the cost of his life back to the world. It's one of the reasons he does his suicide run. It's one of the reasons that, as good as camp is in comparison to DDSverse, he'd go back if he were called, despite the fact that he's dead back there. He'd feel obligated to. Three is that the alliance with the Lokapala is key to the well-being of his comrades and the world, and he wouldn't let his mistreatment affect it. Four is Cielo has issues sometimes with valuing himself. He won't like people when they don't value him, but…he won't necessarily disagree. After the Embryon find out they're AIs, he very seriously questions whether they're people at all. I mean, yeah "gotta follow de love" and all, and he'll ignore it when he can, but…it's still a valid question in his mind. And he values his comrades over himself. He does value himself! But push him the right way and he might forget to for a bit.
At the same time, it would probably take a very long time for him to fully trust the Lokapala and feel at ease in their company. Cielo doesn't hold grudges, exactly, but he doesn't like to let mistakes be repeated either. Like with Heat. He's fully accepted Heat back as a comrade, but…he'd also try very hard not to let Heat be put into a position where he might feel that Sera's well-being was separate from the rest of the Embryon. …Huh come to think of it I wonder how much his suicide run had to do with his willingness to die before letting Sera be harmed, since he failed her once before already. Or like with the current situation with Kuhn, depending on how it falls out.
Okay, so I sidetracked! Cielo very much dislikes having to devour. In an ideal world, none of them wold have to fight or devour - hell in Cielo's ideal world they wouldn't even need to eat plants. In my headcanon for the Junkyard, they didn't eat before the demon virus for a variety of reasons that I'll cover in my Junkyard essay. So he doesn't exactly come from a background where any sort of eating is just the way the world is, and so he's a lot more acutely aware of the cost.
I've mentioned this before, I think, but in my headcanon, in Cielo's past life he was a vegetarian. A LOT OF THIS IS "LOL VEGETARIAN DEMON CANNIBAL." I won't deny that! But…it also strikes me as something Cielo would do. Cielo's acutely aware of the cost of him remaining alive. If the option were possible, he'd like to reduce the cost. As it is, he'll do his best to pay it back.
At the same time, he would never let himself starve around his comrades. The possibility of him attacking his comrades would just… he wouldn't let that happen if he could possibly avoid it. Period. And Cielo honestly doesn't detest devouring as much as Jinana and Lupa, or even Argilla. Their revulsion goes soul-deep, while Cielo's is, well, shallower and something he's capable of getting over, if not particularly happily. Cielo's morals can be very flexible when he wants them to be! When it comes right down to it, there's very few situations he couldn't adapt to as long as he has his comrades. Well, in good enough situations he could survive (though not as happily) without his comrades, but since when has that happened?
So what does this mean in camp! Well, for one, Cielo's probably lost weight. Not NEARLY as much as Jinana or Argilla had before she left, because he does eat quite a bit outside Tuesday. And honestly probably all the cannibals have lost some weight just because this isn't the ideal environment for them. But Cielo probably eats a lot on Tuesday. Honestly if he and the rest of the cannibals just spent the entirety of Tuesday in there eating I wouldn't be surprised. And he'll eat a lot of zombies outside. But the cannibals have basically a limitless appetite, and Cielo…doesn't quite see the point of eating the cave creatures because they don't fill him as much as the zombies and are (probably) still alive, and still finds the zombies disgusting. He'll eat them! But forcing himself to eat enough zombies to fill him would not be fun and he doesn't like eating enough to force himself to eat more. He eats enough that he's in no danger of losing control due to hunger. And that's the most important thing to Cielo, really.