#Despite the fact Siffrin comes up a lot in this... they arent fucking here lol

[torchstelechos]

Once, a long time ago, when you were still trying to figure out who you wanted to be, you read a book on the ethics of psychology. It wasn’t a big interest of yours at the time, but you had been told that trying to manipulate social situations to get people to like you was bad and wrong. As a child you had wanted to know more to understand what was considered bad or wrong so that you wouldn’t get in trouble (you had also wanted to know any loop holes so that you could continue to get people to like you without breaking any “rules”).

In that book, you had read about animals and their rights. Specifically, the different types of experiments you could do to an animal before it became cruel and harmful. Surprisingly animals had a lot more rights than humans in this regard. Though you think it was because they couldn’t speak up and tell you you were harming them in the moment, so it made sense. But one of the experiments was called “Learned Helplessness” which was a study about dogs who were taught helplessness via pain and then continued to not help themselves even when the harmful stimuli was gone. It was a psychology experiment conducted to learn about motivation in humans and how that may appear in abuse or harmful situations. 

Looking at Loop, all you can think about are the dogs in those experiments. Taught to fear the pain of trying, taught to be unable to help themselves. It’s a grim reminder of what Sif could have become if he had no one to talk to, it’s a grim reminder that you aren’t enough to keep him stable. It hurts your stomach to think about but. You can’t look away. Because that’s a version of Siffrin you failed, that’s a version of Siffrin that will never be truly happy with this life. This is Siffrin without a Loop. 

This is a Siffrin that learned to roll over and accept defeat. This is a Siffrin that is a helpless dog who could do nothing but cower from the unknown. 

You… Cannot say this. You will not say this. This is something that can NEVER leave your mind. So, lets try this again. 

Looking at Loop, you see a new friend. One you hope will let you be someone to them, someone they can count on. You will not let them cower away anymore. 

“Loop, can I ask you something?” 

“What is it, Fighter?” 

“Howl you doing?” 

“...Was that a pun? What were you even trying to pun that with? There aren’t any dogs here.” 

“Oh! Yeah! You're right, I was just thinking about that reeeeeal cute dog back at the House. You remember them? They were really fluffy and sweet!”

“You confuse me, Fighter.” 

“I know! But hey, that's what getting to know each other is for. We can learn how to not confuse each other, together!” 

“...Sure, let's try that.”

"Awesome!!"