#character related c: alter

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Codependent Characters

Codependency

The state of being mutually reliant (e.g., a relationship between two individuals who are emotionally dependent on one another).

A dysfunctional relationship pattern in which an individual is psychologically dependent on (or controlled by) a person who has a substance use or non-substance-related disorder (e.g., alcohol use disorder, gambling disorder).

Signs of Codependency

Some things found to correlate with codependency include (Marks et al., 2012):

Low self-esteem

Low levels of narcissism

Familial dysfunction

Depression

Anxiety

Stress

Low emotional expressivity

Other signs of codependency (Lancer, 2016; Mental Health America, n.d.):

Having a hard time saying no

Having poor boundaries

Showing emotional reactivity

Feeling compelled to take care of people

Having a need for control, especially over others

Having trouble communicating honestly

Fixating on mistakes

Feeling a need to be liked by everyone

Feeling a need to always be in a relationship

Denying one’s own needs, thoughts, and feelings

Having intimacy issues

Confusing love and pity

Displaying fear of abandonment

Differentiate between a Healthy & a Codependent Relationship

In a healthy relationship, both individuals have a sense of autonomy and independence. Both are able to maintain their own identities while still being connected to their partner.

While in a codependent relationship, one person may sacrifice their own needs and wants in order to please their partner, or they may become overly enmeshed and lose a sense of self.

Additionally, in a codependent relationship, there is often an imbalance of power, with one person being overly controlling or dominant.

Overcoming Codependency

Research has been conducted into group, individual, and family therapy modalities for overcoming codependency, with one systematic review showing a significant reduction in symptoms when long-term post-intervention follow-ups were conducted (Abadi et al., 2015).

The main emphasis of these various treatment modalities is on altering how the codependent person views themselves and their relationships.

This can involve interventions with various (or numerous) goals:

Building Self-Esteem. Low self-esteem is a well-established symptom of codependency (Cermak, 1986; Whitfield, 1991). Building the codependent person’s self-esteem is a main focus of many counseling interventions, with evidence supporting their efficacy (Abadi et al., 2015).

Improving Boundary Setting. Weak or unclear boundaries are another reason codependent people are often willing to compromise their personal needs and happiness to satisfy a partner. Interventions aimed at building self-awareness, self-expression, and communication skills can help an individual’s ability to set and enforce healthy boundaries (Abadi et al., 2015).

Encouraging Self Care. Boundary-setting is just one form of self-care. People with codependent tendencies can also benefit from learning to prioritize their self-care, needs, and happiness before taking care of others (Beattie, 2008).

Originally, “the term ‘codependent’ described persons living with, or in a relationship with an addicted person” (Lampis et al., 2017).

A psychological construct involving an unhealthy relationship that people might share with those closest to them.

It was originally thought to involve families of substance abuse but has since grown to include other types of dysfunctional relationships.

Modern understandings of codependency: “a specific relationship addiction characterized by preoccupation and extreme dependence—emotional, social and sometimes physical—on another person” (Lampis et al., 2017).

The concept of codependency does still apply to families with substance abuse issues but is also used to refer to other situations too.

The main consequence of codependency is that “[c]odependents, busy taking care of others, forget to take care of themselves, resulting in a disturbance of identity development” (Knudson & Terrell, 2012).

To sum up, codependency is a psychological concept that refers to people who feel extreme amounts of dependence on certain loved ones in their lives, and feel responsible for the feelings and actions of those loved ones.

Codependency is not recognized as a distinct personality disorder by the DSM-5.

That said, research shows that while codependency does overlap with other personality disorders, it appears to constitute a distinct psychological construct. The best way to learn about codependency is to review some signs of codependency (examples above).

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[sysmedsaresexist]

Something about that last post just really fucking irked me.

Normalize asking questions about your experiences and things you're not clear on

Yesterday, I had to ask some friends a question.

Any uterus having people that have had the electro therapy on their back-- very specific but Google isn't helping

Can the electricity on the lower back cause a period???

Wow, fucking cringe, what a faker, doesn't even know how her own uterus works, how do you make it this far in life and not know this stuff, FAKE UTERUS

I was so embarrassed to ask. I was scared, too.

And yet, I got an answer that I hadn't been able to find on my own.

Yes, it can happen.

Nice!

Well, first off, A, thank God I'm not hurt or dying, that's a relief. B, no one laughed. C, this shit isn't common knowledge.

Even if you think it's obvious, it's not.

Things can be related in the weirdest ways, and sound totally strange at first, and they turn out to be totally normal experiences.

What is dissociation?

Doctors say it's super complicated to understand, don't worry, you're not alone.

What's the difference between normal and pathological dissociation?

Oh, boy, let's sit down for this one.

What's the difference between trauma and abuse?

Fantastic question, first, are you doing okay? Second, it's complicated.

Could these two symptoms be related?

FUCKING PROBABLY, let's talk about it.

All these overgeneralized, sweeping statements, made under the guise of "correcting misinformation," and really only trying to prove people wrong instead of educate, hurt other people with that thing.

"Your doctor is ALWAYS right," fuck you, no they're not. "They know you better than you know yourself." Ohhh, fuck no, that's dangerous. "You MUST fit the criteria 😤."

The criteria:

WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE TRYING TO HELP?

Because you're failing spectacularly at doing any kind of good for the community you want to "help".

You lost the point so hard that your posts are now actively dangerous to people with CDDs that don't think clinically enough for you. You lost the point when you use papers that directly contradict each other over basic facts, and don't even realize it in your rush to be "right".

"Trust your doctor 100%," about any other disorder, would get you instantly canceled. Are you overweight? A POC? A woman? Trans? A combination? Well, you're fucked.

You, yourself, have probably never thought that.

So why did you say it?

Who cares what they're calling themselves, who cares whether the term is clinical, are they getting the help and support they need? Can we help clarify anything for them?

Using a people focused approach in therapy is totally fine, THIS HAS NEVER BEEN AN ISSUE. It may be a doctor-focused issue, but it's not a treatment issue. In other words, for every doctor that prefers a parts focused approach, there's one that'll use a people focused approach just fine, if that's what you want to do. Good job getting into therapy, congrats! That's what's important.

"Fictives," are so well documented that complaining about them is laughable.

Alters can take years to come forward after events, and may latch onto a character years after their actual formation. Who cares if the person can pinpoint the cause, or if they don't even care enough to try, are they getting the help and support they need???

Instead of saying, "that's impossible," let's start asking, "how can I help?"

Instead of saying, "your opinion is wrong," let's address actual misinformation. Talk to pro/endos about the trauma basis of DID. That matters a fuck ton more than whatever you're arguing about.

Instead of laughing at people who don't know things, learn to socialize and present corrections in a pleasant conversation. God forbid you're seen "being nice," to the other side.

As a very good friend said, better than I ever could, this whole "prioritizing research always over listening to others' lived experiences" is just the plural version of "academic theory on queer experiences is most important." You need both.

Many things can be true, all at the same time. Opinions are onions, they all make me cry or whatever the saying is. Single research papers should never be used generally. If you put all the papers together, anything is possible. This paper doesn't specifically talk about that thing so it's not possible.

Another paper, just a click away:

Are people happy, healthy, and feeling supported in their life?

Fantastic, that's what matters.

This blog is open to basic questions that people are scared to ask. I would also highly recommend sending @cdd-safe-haven those kinds of questions. It's completely unrelated to syscourse, hopefully the information will help more people.

[coriphallus]

DA: The Veilguard Spoiler Review pt3 - Politiks

oh my little void in this world wide web, we are really in it now.

a little PSA before you read this word vomit, i am from westernmost middle east, and that will inform much of what i know about the topics i discuss. i wont know about race politics of america or the intricacies of it beyond what i can see online but as an immigrant i do have some perspective on western experience. so when i talk about heavy topics it will come from a foreign place. i do understand and admit that i cannot ignore that BW is a north american studio and that colours every theme they touch.

so there are two angles to approach this, 1st is to assess DAV on its own and 2nd is to assess it as a part of a whole and continuation of a franchise.

lets get 1st out of the way, its safely uncontroversial beyond taash's story. and eff-plays voiced my feeling verbatim on that subject more succinctly than anything i can possibly write.

2nd is very, very grim.

every DA game that came before had been interlaced with politics of its world so severely that its absence is disorienting. every game you were given the choice to change the political landscape of the countries youre playing in, for better or for worse. even the 2nd game with its vastly smaller scale sees hawke trying to navigate through their life as an immigrant, even at the games climax you are given a choice to drastically alter how this uprising will be remembered and it tells hawke that there are no half measures, they need to pick a side.

"Slavery or no, flesh is always for sale."

in my very first DAV playthrough i picked a shadow dragon elf, i didnt give her any backstory as i though being an elf in minrathous would shape her world view regardless.

first scene i got when organising my room rook pulls out the SHACKLES of a slave shes freed as she reminisces about how much good shes done, and puts them on her bedside. then proceeds to talk to a book and say "everybody looks down on elves but we were here first >:c"

(at this point i rerolled my character so i dont yet know how shadow dragon background plays out.)

at the very beginning of the game we see similar shackles and varric informs us that solas hates slavery, hes been freeing them.

when we make it to minrathous we learn that these people in neves circle have been freeing slaves.

alright so, the heavy handed deliveries aside, what purpose do all these scenes/expositions serve?

well, it makes these people look good. we know theres slavery in this part of thedas and these people are fighting against it not by any elaborate means but dont worry kitten <3.

[i had to look up the english for some of these terms so feel free to correct me if im wrong] patterson describes slavery as "one of the most extreme forms of the relation of domination, approaching the limits of total power from the viewpoint of the master, and of total powerlessness from the viewpoint of the slave". death of the soul, death of what makes one human -and for the purposes of this section- death in the eyes of state. slavery has such a long history that predates early modern colonization of africa by thousands of years. it is a staple of human history and where we have come from shapes what we are now. we can shun it, call it abhorrent but we cant pretend it never happened. theres always been people dead in the eyes of state.

heres the uncomfortable truth, there aint never been enough steel in the world to hold every hittite or mittani slave. to assume slavery is people getting abducted and put to irons is as naïve as human trafficking being a rando ruffying you and hauling you across the sea in a crate. yea, it could happen but 99% of the time its just a waste of time to physically hold someone against their will by force. and this idea makes us think its this far off thing that happened thousands of years ago by bad individuals doing very comically bad things, which is a very deliberate choice, because to depict period accurate slavery would be to portray social and economical classes, and that would be confronting how little we've changed in certain aspects.

people were born into that caste, shaped by it, worn down by it, and abused by it systematically.

in DAI Dorian says something -apparently- very controversial that i dont think this fandom has fully unpacked, and i aint gonna do that here either because im not remotely qualified. he likens the working class of south to slavery of north, theres no way to engage with this argument in any meaningful way, even as an elf, and in general people brush it off as dorians pro-slavery rhetorics.

try as DAV might to disregard, we actually did meet an ex-slave and trafficking victims on three separate occasions, and the games have set a premise already. we got to talk about their unique circumstances, and they were handled with some measure of dept. maybe you liked them, maybe you didnt, but you knew them and that makes a difference. they had agency in their own stories. a far cry from DAVs nameless faceless props for righteous gentiles to circle jerk about.

but, sure, lets tell ourselves showing them would be too gratuitous.

can you imagine how batshit insane it would look if zevran kept the belt her husband used to beat isabela with as a trinket, to display in his tent? that scene with rook disturbed me more than most anything in this entire franchise and coming from an anders supporter, thats saying something.

this is how little the writers were willing to engage with their source material. this is how little they are willing to engage with the world around them.

which makes the next blunder inevitable.

alot has been said about the absurdity of elves feeling responsible for the events of DAV, but maybe this hasnt been said enough; this is a blatant fascist rhetoric.

i will spell it out though, even though i never thought it needed to be said, the social performance of accountability indicates that the party who has done harm has benefited and continues to benefit from that harm, this is why reparations are paid, and thats what "check your priviledge" means. elves in DA have never benefited in any way from the warmongering of evanuris, they were enslaved by them.

to say that these people should feel some sort of responsibility towards what befell dwarves is a fascist rhetoric used irl to offload responsibility and divide and alienate the opposition further from eachother.

i cant tell you if this mouth piece is same everywhere but i know a few people who have clocked it immediately so im gonna assume it was obvious. and truthfully, i wouldnt even be annoyed if i thought it was intentional. genuinely, one of my favourite games is an unapologetic military propaganda whos protagonist would make ayn rand write sonnets about, and the game knows what it is. but no, i fully believe the studio tried to address the criticism they got about their lackluster handling of elves and either completely misunderstood or willfully disregarded the experiences of marginalised peoples that the games drew inspiration from.

the writing is so hollow beyond horrible dialogue that when writing an enby character whos also multicultural they didnt even notice the parallel theyve created. i know this because after an entire plotline about their struggle with binaries their story concludes with a binary decision on their culture. this just confirms to me that any dept this game has is completely accidental.

imma level with yall i dont subscribe to the belief that you need to have some type of experiences to write some type of characters and i find that "ofc a white person wrote it so..." response very tired because yea we should be allowed to expect more from white people. i too had OCs of different cultures that i wasnt very familiar with and handled poorly, but unlike me, a company can afford a consultant.

i played greedfall recently, and sure the maori tattoos were a shit decision, and im disappointed that after all the criticism they still stuck with it, and yes maybe its story was not sensitive enough but you know what? as the person whos recommended it to me said, i rather have a story who boldly engages with its own themes than one whos terrified of them. say what you will about its shortcomings but at least at the end of that game you can have an ending where the colonizers leave for good, and yes their plague is not healed but the narrative doesnt punish the natives for their isolationism. i am glad that the game allows that catharsis to its players.

DAV could have had 300 well thought-out endings and still not please everyone, but the endings they chose to include directly implicates the group theyre trying to appease and its literally just people who either want to punch or kiss solas, thats how fucking deep they think their fanbase it. not the people who wanted to end slavery, or achieve equilibrium with beings no matter how alien they are. or people who wanted to see a culture connect with its roots etc etc.

and maybe they were right, many people have been enjoying this game immensely and i am just, so fucking jealous. i wish i liked this game and enjoyed it and didnt want to tear out my hair every second i spent in treviso. i wish i wasnt seething white knuckling my sink like an insane person when a little kid wrote to crow rook that hes recruiting orphans now. i wish i had any belief in this game to read that as satire.

at least i wish i felt any form of vindication when i immediately realised this game was going to be a soulless cashgrab that unashamedly uses the name of a popular IP to push a sub-par product earlier this year, i just spend 80+ hours watching a company parade the carcass of a franchise i loved and beat it like a pinata as it continuously slapped me on the face with a botched wax figure of it.

i just feel this profound sense of sadness. i wish this game didnt exist. and no i dont feel any kind of brand loyalty, even when i actively enjoyed their work i didnt but i definitely dont now, not after 3 consecutive games that theyve delivered with more or less the same problems. as the company is today, i dont care whether bw survives or not, its been made clear time and again that the bw i liked is long gone and bw today is clearly not interested in making games for me.

even as i write this i dont feel fuelled by my anger for DAV but by the love a have for what came before. i still think the story deserved better, the fans deserved better, the people who contributed into making DA universe what it was before DAV deserved better. and, as rook told harding, our anger is justified.

but, hey. hair looks really good.

[nevermint-yoongi]

Hi, I am pissed about how the show handled Blood and Cheese. So pissed, in fact, that I made a fucking rubric for you all....

You may have noticed a trend here: The act of making Heleana choose for the pure purpose of making her choose, for so to ignore her choice, is vital to Blood and Cheese and its role in the narrative.

Because Dance of the Dragons, in the books, mirrors a perfect Greek Tragedy.

What is a Greek Tragedy, you ask? It requires two opposing parts, in a disagreement, to be equally right and wrong. One is not better than the other and can never be (to the narrative, not the audience). They can never be anything but what they are, can never change who they are, either because of personal conviction or societal role. Due to this, a Greek Tragedy always ends in death, destruction or deus ex machine (I think you see where this is going).

f.ex: In Antigone by Sophocles, Antigone faces the problem of wanting to bury her brother, forbidden by her Uncle who has deemed said brother a traitor. Antigone is required, as the niece of the King, to follow his word and his law. Antigone is required, as the sister of the traitor, to bury him.

The Greens and the Blacks are these two parts. There is no use in arguing over who is best, who deserves the throne more or who is the most morally depraved. The fact that they are equal in their claims is the point. That is what makes it a Greek Tragedy, because they were both right and there is no correct answer. The problem the show has is that it alters slight details that sets this balance askew.

How does this affect Blood and Cheese, you ask?

Blood and Cheese, fantastically, is its own little Greek Tragedy within the Greek Tragedy that is Dance of the Dragons.

In the show it comes down to if she should sacrifice an heir or her daughter. It is a very practical case. They are asking which one is the boy. She needs to point out the boy to them.

In the book, it comes down to which son should die. There is no pragmatism, no need for Helaena to clarify to her child’s murderers which one is their intended target. It does not have a purpose. It is not meaningful. B&C make her choose because they want to, because they enjoy it, not because they’re bumbling idiots who wanna make sure they’re killing the boy. It needs to be a deliberate choice, untainted by any other thing, of which son needs to die. THIS SHOULD BE THE ONLY CONFLICT FOR HELAENA IN THIS MOMENT – by introducing the confusion over the boy, you have erased the pure cruelty of how senseless them making her choose is.

There is no right or wrong. Helaena choosing Maelor is Antigone tossing dirt upon her brother’s casket. But Blood and Cheese do not care for the tragedy, nor its form. Against his nature as a character, Creon wipes the dirt away and orders Antigone to obey his word. There was never a choice.

How, dear showrunners, do you think this may relate to the overarching themes of Dance of the Dragons, hm??

Do you think, perhaps, that ‘Impossible Choices’ is a running thing in this narrative that needs to be respected and paid attention to???

In the show, the Tragedy plays out as typical. Helaena makes a choice, whether it is the right one or not we cannot tell, but she chooses the boy. Blood and Cheese are not the authors of this Tragedy. They are not playing God. They are merely background actors.

[interstellar-cluster]

Firstly, trigger warning for fake claiming and other potentially triggering things!

We did this on our therian page but I wanted to do a similar thing to, mostly just for shits n giggles and let go of some bad thoughts 🫶

So here’s a list of things we’ve been fakeclaimed for and/or things that we think that we could be fake claimed for!

Feel free to reblog with your own things that have been fakeclaimed for, try to keep it light hearted and silly! This is to kind of hate on sysmeds because honestly they’re silly too and I think we should reclaim some of these things!

Here we go:

- 100+ headmates

- Almost half of us are fictives

- We have "problematic" fictives

- We have fictives who split very soon after the source was created (days to weeks)

- We track our headmates extremely well

- We have pretty good communication

- We have a lot of fragments who aren't developed much, if at all, and generally just exist as a name in our Simply Plural

- Our structure suggests that we're polyfragmented despite not being a disordered system

- We have extreme trauma resulting in C-PTSD and DPDR, but not a CDD

- We are trauma-endo

- We purposefully formed a lot of our headmates

- Our headmates form to cope with trauma, but we still aren't a disordered system

- We prefer the term "headmates" over "alters"

- We support tulpamancy, the related terms, and practice it (the Westernized concept)

- We have "problematic" fictives who identify as the character entirely except the "problematic" parts (or partially so), such as our Jimmy fictive

- We have headmates who are in insys relationships, especially polyamorous insys relationships

- A lot of these relationships are fanon ships or "problematic" ships (like Simon Riley and John MacTavish, or Jimmy, Curly and Anya)

- Some of us talk to ai bots of characters that we have fictives of on platforms like Chai and Character AI

- Almost every time we find a new comfort character and begin talking to them on AI bots, they end up forming

- We have social media accounts dedicated to our plurality

- We don't switch and headmates communicate through the host

- We don't care how other people identify (rq-apathetic etc) because we believe identity labels themselves can't hurt people

- We believe sysmeds and anti-endos are not valid in any way until they change their opinions about the matter

- We have non-human headmates

- Some of us are age and/or pet regressors

- Some of us are alterhuman or otherkin

- We roleplay a lot and use it as a way to help fragmented fictives develop their personality by letting them roleplay as themselves

- We have aphantasia so we find it difficult to visualise a headspace, but we still design it by drawing it

- We can dissociate on command

- We can create dissociative barriers between headmates on purpose to protect others or keep secrets (this also occurs with the AI bots of fictives thing), although this is almost always consensual unless it's something extreme

- We have quite a few headmates that fall under the stereotype of the "evil alter" and fully embrace that (or are actively recovering)

- We often sign off messages and use Plural Kit on a daily basis

- We have trauma from syscource and sysmeds/anti-endos

Yeah thats pretty much all I can think of right now. We'll probably update this as time goes on because we honestly think it's funny seeing what people can come up with to fakeclaim us. Also we'd love to see if we'll end up on fakeclaiming pages like systemscringe or fdc because that would only prove our point that sysmeds and medicalists in general care entirely too much about the lives and experiences of people they don't know.

[homestuckreplay]

chumhandle etymology pt.3

Today on Rose and Dave's computer we saw the presumably final seven of the twelve trolls - Jade has counted twelve (p.1000), and between the twelve trolls and four kids all two-letter combinations of A, T, C and G are represented. These are the letters representing DNA bases in both real-world DNA sequencing and in ectobiology, as practiced imperfectly by Rose and her mom (p.934)

I wrote about the beta kids' chumhandles here, and the first five trolls (CG, AG, TA, TC, CA) here - now here's a quick overview of the rest of the set.

gallowsCalibrator [GC] – execution by hanging, or the structure made for it, and an instrument used as a reference to check that similar instruments perform accurately, or the person operating that instrument. So this is the person who ensures the gallows are used correctly, a real middle manager who doesn’t order or carry out executions themself, but enables them still. Possibly like a Jack Noir or a level below him.

arsenicCatnip [AC] – a toxic heavy metal used in car batteries, bullets, semiconductors and pesticides/herbicides, and a plant related to mint that is loved by many cats, or colloquially anything that is irresistible to someone. This evokes environmental destruction, Famine in the horsemen of the apocalypse, or more generally someone who is trying to kill or make toxic things that are enjoyed.

cuttlefishCuller [CC] – a shallow water squidlike mollusc among the most intelligent invertebrates that was once valued for its brown pigment, and a person who kills animals for population control or to eliminate rejects. This is a ruthless person who believes in survival of the fittest and their own intellectual superiority, and only cares about other creatures in terms of what they can personally gain.

centaursTesticle [CT] – a mythical creature with the upper body of a man and the lower body of a horse, also a small solar system body between Jupiter and Neptune, and a reproductive organ in male mammals. Someone who is obsessed with physical strength and prowess, has likely internalized toxic masculinity, perhaps the sort of gym bro who takes questionable supplements to increase muscle mass. Does not seem like a super online person, so this one is surprising. Also my initials are CT and I can’t believe this is the character I got.

grimAuxiliatrix [GA] – serious, foreboding or gloomy, and Latin for a female assistant or helper. This is someone in a service role who either takes their job very seriously, or their job itself involves working with dark and forbidding forces, like the person who translates the melodious chirps and tongue-clicks of NRUB'YIGLITH, SHAMEBEAST KING OF GROTESQUERY, WRITHE-LORD OF THE MOIST BEYONDHOOD (p.303) to the general public.

apocalypseArisen [AA] – the final destruction of the world or a world-altering event capable of causing this, and something that has begun to occur, become apparent, or gotten out of bed. This one is the most passive of all the handles (alongside twinArmageddons) and basically says ‘the end of the world is about to happen, or is happening now’ which it’s hard to argue with based on the story so far. Could be a highly religious person who sees themself as an agent, prophet or herald of a higher power.

adiosToreador [AT] – Spanish for goodbye, and a participant or performer in a bullfight. This person knows five words of Spanish and thinks they’re really cool because of it. They also see themselves as the bull in the bullfight, a more raw and animal strength instead of the fighter’s honed technique, and are probably a counterpart or rival to centaursTesticle.

Much like the first five, all of these names have negative connotations, although these vary between physical pain, disease and toxicity, dark bureaucracy, and cosmic-scale catastrophe. These are definitely names chosen to be hostile or intimidating, it just doesn’t work well on Rose and Dave who are plenty capable of appearing hostile and intimidating by themselves. But for people more susceptible to being trolled, these chumhandles definitely feed into the abrasive personas these kids(?) are crafting.

[moonpool-system]

Alterhuman Coining: Phoenitrauma & Phoenitraumagenic

[PT: Alterhuman Coining: Phoenitrauma & Phoenitraumagenic]

🌀 Phoenitrauma 🌀

alternatively: fenitrauma, phenitrauma

Phoenitrauma refers to any trauma someone has experienced/is affected by that originates from a past life, reincarnation, etc. The term is meant to validate the traumatic experience and the post-traumatic effects one might experience from their past lives, but still distinguish itself from trauma experienced within both this world and life. The word is derivative of "phoenixal" and meant to describe a certain type of exotrauma specific to people whose exomemories are from past lives/reincarnation/etc. The symbol is a combination of the phoenixal symbol and the aqua PTSD ribbon, over the phoenixal flag.

This term is meant for all people/beings/etc that experience any sort of reincarnation or past lives, including otherkin/therians, introjected system members, and more. This term does not discriminate between spiritual-based and string-theory-based reincarnation/dimensional concepts.

🌀 Phoenitraumagenic 🌀

alternatively: fenitraumagenic, phenitraumagenic

A system or system member that is phoenitraumagenic originates from phoenitrauma, a specific type of exotrauma stemming from past lives and other reincarnations. This means that the system/member(s) themselves stemmed from pre-existing phoenitrauma, rather than it simply coming with their exomemories.

Example 1: Member A has a traumatic past life, and Member B forms to cope with a specific aspect of that trauma. Member B is phoenitraumagenic.

Example 2: The system has no existing past life connection to Character C, but when Fictive C showed up, they found themself to be deeply affected by the exotrauma they experienced. Fictive C has phoenitrauma, but is not phoenitraumagenic.

Example 3: Member E has phoenitrauma from a bad experience in a previous reincarnation. Eventually, Member E splits a subsystem specifically centered around the phoenitrauma experienced. Member E's subsystem is phoenitraumagenic.

Example 4: Member G unlocks memories of a past life, and due to the trauma related to that past life, their identity is drastically altered to present completely as that past life. Member G is phoenitraumagenic.

Some alternative flags & symbols!

🌀 For use by all alterhumans; these terms are not gatekept, but phoenitraumagenic is a term intended for systems/plurals/etc. Hate will be removed. 🌀

[funishment-time]

now that i'm halfway-ish thru V3: revisiting my OG predictions

YET TO BE SEEN:

Shuichi survives

Miu survives

Kokichi survives

Rantaro is a) some kind of robot or clone, b) related to Junko somehow, or c) an antagonist or villain

Gonta is a murderer

Gonta kills Kaito

Kaito is a victim

Keebo is a victim

Tsumugi is a mastermind/related to mastermind

Himiko is a mastermind/related to mastermind

Himiko is a murderer

Himiko manipulated into doing something awful

Junko is in the game

Alter Ego is in the game

Miu has breakdown over Keebo in some way

Ryoma related to other characters in DR universe somehow

DISPROVEN:

Kork survives

Maki kills Angie and/or Tenko

Kirumi kills Keebo

Himiko kills Ryoma

I WAS RIGHT BITCHES:

Angie is a victim, case 3

Tenko is a victim, case 3

Kirumi is a murderer

Ryoma is a victim

Tenko has yuri subtext

KINDA BUT NOT IN THE WAY I EXPECTED:

Maki is a murderer

Game is an AU retelling of DR1 (symbolically, imo)

not bad so far

[blindbeta]

hi! i'm currently writing a blind character in a futuristic sci-fi setting (think fifth element). some backstory just so there's additional context: she's orphaned as a baby, and while very young, contracts a virus that leaves her with minimal light and shadow perception. she later gets adopted, and her father acts as her guide until she's 12. when she turns 12, she's gifted a droid who acts as her mobility aid (visually, her droid is similar in design/size of r2-d2 from star wars). i thought this fit the futuristic setting. here's my question. originally, i had her (let's call her C) commission a special pair of glasses that connect to her droid so it can see what she sees and better help it guide her in public spaces, especially if it's too loud for her to hear it or if they get separated somehow, because the glasses have an auditory link for them to communicate with each other. after doing more research, i've learned that the "blind character covering their eyes" trope is super common and kind of looked down upon in the blind community. i'm really worried now, as someone sighted, that i've fallen for it by designing C's mobility aid this way. have i? and if i have, what is some advice or tips for ways i could alter this to where it doesn't come across as trope-y? should i get rid of the glasses, scrap the droid idea completely, etc?

Guide Droid And Character Covering Her Eyes With Glasses

The glasses remind me a bit of the OrCam My Eye, which is a pair glasses and an ear piece. You have an already-existing precedent for this. Additionally, my main concern with covering eyes, which I discuss here, [link], is that there is often no thought or explanation behind why a character’s eyes must be covered. Narratives often twist themselves into knots simply to cover a blind person’s eyes with something like sunglasses or a blindfold, which the character never removes.

Regular glasses are, however, a different story. Regular glasses are transparent. They are usually for protection of the eyes. They may also make objects slightly clearer, which can reduce eye strain. Not that your character will need to worry about that.

The glasses are not able to correct vision. They serve a purpose, and one that isn’t covering the person’s eyes.

My suggestion is to provide an explanation for the glasses and make sure they are see-through. They shouldn’t be sunglasses unless she has transition lenses, which can protect her from damaging UV rays.

The key is not to cover up your character’s eyes. Especially for no particular reason.

However, if you are worried about the glasses, you can also simply have bone-conducting ear piece that sits on top of her ear. Avoid implants or anything that might disrupt her hearing or other senses.

The Guide Droid

Speaking of senses, having a droid as her guide means she will miss out on a lot of tactile information provided by a cane and, to a lesser extent, a guide dog. For example, a handler can feel elevation.

Walking behind a droid is not going to provide that same information.

Yes, there is a step down, but where? Is it an even step or does it curve? Are the steps the same width?

I suggest giving her a cane, as they can be used with sighted guide and to a lesser degree, service animals. Her using a cane won’t interfere with a droid the same way it might with a guide dog or horse.

Alternatively, you can also find a way to connect them so she can get tactile information. Another, cuter option might be a droid service animal with a more futuristic harness.

About Using Sighted Guide Until She is 12

Something about this bothers me.

Sighted guide is a legitimate form of O&M and can increase independence in a way only blind folks can relate to. I also know that sighted guide may be more encouraged in some cultures that value interdependence. Sighted guide is a great and should be used more in fiction. I personally prefer it in unfamiliar areas and at night time.

However, it also feels off to me that she so happens to use a human guide all her life and not a cane. It may be because I am imagining times where her father may not be able to accompany her. Or perhaps I am sensitive to the lack of mobility aids in fiction that feature blind characters.

Lastly, cane skills are a part of O&M, which is needed before being able to work properly with a guide animal. I think she should have at least some cane skills and some navigation techniques even if she prefers to have her father guide her. This also gives her more agency to experiment and choose what is comfortable for her.

Here is a post I made about mobility aids that might help.

I hope this helps.

[artivessel]

a few questions to help alters figure out who they are and introduce themselves to others!

B A S I C

Name and nicknames?:

Do you feel older or younger? Age (range)?:

Sexuality? Types of attractions?:

How would you describe your gender and pronouns?:

Role:

Fragment or Alter?:

How would you describe your appearance? Drop faceclaims and picrews:

Human or non-human? Elaborate if you can:

What caused you to split?:

Music taste?:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Kins, relatable characters and sources:

Any media you enjoy?:

Favorite/Disliked food?:

Describe your personality:

Favorite colors and themes?:

Typology:

Do you relate to any mental illnesses?:

How do symptoms affect you?:

Are you safe?:

Other:

A L T E R

Any memories you’d like to mention?:

How much amnesia do you experience?:

What is the last thing you remember?:

Significant events you were part of:

Who did/do you interact with?:

Do you prefer to mask or would you like to meet others?:

Who would you like to meet?:

If you don’t want to, why?:

What are your thoughts on other parts?:

Do you have any connections with other parts?:

What do you think of other people in our life? Family, friends:

Do you have any specific triggers? Positive/negative:

What does dissociation feel like for you?:

How do you act in real life (when masking less)?:

How do you act online (when masking less)?:

P R E S E N T

What are you doing right now?:

What caused you to front?:

Do you have a memory of what happened?:

Are you speaking to anyone?:

How was the switch?:

[fictionkinfessions]

Being otherkin and a system means that I am constantly questioning "ah yes doni feel a certain way towards this character because a) I am them, b) I had some relations to them in my past life c) they're a new alter"

#🤍🌌

3

[aroacesafeplaceforall]

Right this is discourse so keep scrolling for the ones who want a peaceful life

Addressing this:

Racist: I’m really not, I’ve spoken multiple times on this and it’s easy to find those posts. ALL I SAID WAS I DONT LIKE SOME RAP MUSIC and in general I prefer music I can relate back to me. (Aka aroace vibe songs, some general angry music etc lots of ones about mental health, sad and slow songs or dance music) or my characters (rebellion music this contains more rap to my knowledge) I would also like to state that I suck at ID-ing music genres so I may be listening to more then i know

Ableist: I don’t even know what that is so I can’t exactly address it?? I will say I’m welcoming to all plural (??) people, I just ask that the host? The main guy? Don’t claim things on behalf of an alter (??) such as: if they’re (main person) not aroace but the alter is, the main person shouldn’t speak about aroace things, only the alter and viceversa

Aggressive antiship: which is hilarious as I wrote gay fics in my free time. I’m not anti ship, I’m anti some ships… like every other person

Exclusionist: no. Never. I’m 100% welcoming to all sex favourbility and I challenge you to find different. Just because I haven’t spoken about it doesn’t mean I’m against it?? I personally am not sex favourable so I can’t speak on it from a personal perspective… idk this one’s weird NEXT

M spec lesbian and gay exclusionist: bestie this one made me laugh as one of the main reasons I got hate on my old (first) blog was I said I supported lesbians who may one day be attracted to men (I don’t remember if the term mspec was a thing then-) secondly; what’s a gay exclusionist?? Like a homophobe?? Huh???

I won’t even address the darvo tactics one. As a) this is the internet and b) lmao. And c) I could say anything and this person would still say it was DARVO. I literally apologised to one of the people involved privately and in full (an ask send from my main, like 200 words ish) and they just never replied to it and their next post was a reblog still calling for me to apologise 6 hours later…

So get fucked with that one. You’re clutching at straws there. I don’t want you on my blog and you’re already blocked but this post is for those I missed in the blocking game. Leave. We can exist away from each other.

[budgetbuildsystem]

This may be a bit long of a read, as a notice:

Introjection and "source memories" (a common term used in the community, though other common terms are pseudomemories [a more ) are a complex thing and whether or not any introjects (fictives, factives, other kinds that cannot be organized in such a way) even develop them varies greatly between systems.

Some introjects' memories "update" with whatever their source is, while others do not.

Coming from a more psychological view of why introjects' can form pseudomemories:

Psueodomemories are often there to "explain" or sort of to be a "backstory" for the alter in question. Maybe to be a better way to explain why their personality is the way it is, or why they have the fears they have. Pseudomemories though often can be there as "coverups", or ways to show what you all collectively or the body may have gone through, while still providing a kind of "safe distance" from the body trauma. A good example would be A (a system) goes through trauma as a child. C splits off at some point with pseudomemories related to things that while aren't a 1:1 to the body's trauma, still hold feelings and maybe similar experiences to what the body went through. This time though, since in the mind these memories aren't exactly the same as the body's, it may be processed a bit seperately so you may have time to process those invidually and may come to realise that processing that opened up for being able to better process and understand the body's trauma later on when you have tools. In a way, C having these memories may also serve as a way to not trigger other alters who DO have memories of the bodily trauma, but since they're a bit more "distanced" from it in a way, the chances of triggering others out or causing a chain reaction may be a bit lower thus processing this overall may be a bit easier. Though easier doesn't necessarily mean it won't be difficult, at the very least it may mean that there are less chances of triggering multiple alters or a chain reaction if you have "coverup" memories.

Though this isn't the case for every single memory, and still trying to dig could end up in triggering something so regardless if they are source memories or body memories, I suggest you treat all of this with care and take it slow.

Pseudomemories aren't always a cover up as I said before, and sometimes they can just be there to provide a backstory or even just some sort of comfort.

I think tying this into why introjects form could be beneficial, but I'll leave it at that. And again, not every introject has their memories "updated" either. "Non-canon" introjects or introjects who don't follow their source 1:1 is also very common, and I'd argue simply is what happens to anyone given the fact that people can grow. Characters can not (in a way, they only grow as far as narrated). Introjects are not their source, and naturally introjects are the system's mix of interpretation, what the system needs at the time (say A splits off C who is based off of someone, but only splits off more resilient or positive traits of them because that's what's needed at the time), and probably a few other things I'm missing.

Keep in mind that it really also depends on your all's outlook of source memories too. I'm speaking from a very medical side of things, and also more strictly about DID/OSDD, so this may not apply if it's something you all experience moreso from spirituality, etc.

So essentially, yes it could be that Astarion doesn't feel comfortable enough or wants to keep things private. It could also be that Astarion doesn't have many memories or even memories of what happened as you all continued playing. It really just depends, but at the very least I will reiterate to just take this slow. Pseudomemories can be just as personal and often very intimate part of alters' lives.

I really appreciate this break down and honestly it makes a lot of sense. Sometimes the things astarion went through in source do slightly mirror my own feelings and thoughts. But yes I do try to give him his privacy as I know he is more than just a character in my head, he's a part of me and his own person at the same time.

[schizochroal]

Nirou-ki writing and Orthography

The history of the script

The Matonare-ki, the writing system with which Nirou-ki is written has 21 letters or characters, which are typically placed into four groups or classes. These groups are largely an artifact of how the script came into existence as it was adapted and modified from the Kaitian script introduced to Nirou in the late Classic period (circa 1800 BCE) .

The first eleven characters; the Kaitinyra, are relatively direct adaptions from the Kaitian script, retaining at least the ancient Nirouan approximation of their original Kaitian reading. These letters tend to be used in the scripts of many languages in Nirou, even those outside of the Rouan language family that Nirou-ki belongs to.

The next group, the so-called "scribal letters" are derived from pre-existing Kaitian characters, but used very unusual readings of those characters to approximate sounds native to languages in Central Nirou that weren't easy to express in the original Kaitian script. It is now generally accepted that these novel readings were inspired by similar looking characters used in the Nicre-xi script, as Nicrean traders had some contact with parts of peninsular Nirou during the early post-classic (circa 1500 BCE). Additionally, at least in modern Rouan languages (including Nirou-ki) the last three characters of the Kaitinyra, "Ke", "Ta", and "On", are generally accepted to have their modern readings at least partially derived from Nicrean influenced scribal readings. These scribal readings proved essential to actually write in Nirouan languages, instead of writing in Kaitian, and allowed Matonare-ki to develop beyond just being a version of the Kaitian script used to write other languages and into its own as something more suited to writing the native languages of Nirou. This is thought to have occurred no later than 1300 BCE, and after that point the next group of characters gradually appear in the written record of Nirou.

The "altered letters" were created by taking existing Kaitian characters and modifying them in some way, to represent sounds used in Nirouan languages. In the case of "Be" this resulted from a pre-existing scribal digraph being treated as a single letter, while the others are mostly modified characters representing a new sound that were considered similar to the sound made by the original character. Some of these altered letters have in turn developed altered pronunciations from the original use, and the way they are pronounced in Central Nirouan languages, including Nirou-ki, is quite different from the pronunciation in other languages of Nirou such as Saji-ki.

The last group of characters, the "new" letters, have varied origins and only all appear in their modern forms around 600 BCE, during the middle of the Martial Period. "Zii" is directly borrowed from the West-Shardian/Shadjar script, "Je" was created by Saji-ki scribes as an entirely new character and "Che" was originally a variant of "Ke" that began to be treated as its own letter only gradually. What all of these characters have in common is their relatively late introduction into Matonare-ki, by which time it had already split into various forms for each language it was used for in Nirou. Notably, while used in almost all Rouan languages, these characters are not used in the related Touan languages, such as Semur-ki, and historically their usage was avoided even in more formal Rouan texts, as being less proper, although this tendency disappeared after the advent of the Niuri empire and the reforms of Seltik and Taimas.

Orthography

Historically Nirou-ki and other languages written with Matonare-ki, when written linearly could be written either left to right or right to left, and the ability to easily switch between the two was considered essential as both a reader and a writer. Historically much writing in Nirou was done on circular plates cut from the trunks of trees, and the distinction was more counterclockwise vs clockwise directions, with the choice depending on certain characteristics of the treated wood as well as aesthetic preference. But as this medium for writing declined in favor of rectangular paper books, the variance in writing direction also gradually diminished. However, it was not until the advent and widespread use of woodblock printed books beginning in the 800s that Nirou-ki came to be written almost exclusively left to right, which it still is to this day.

Nirou-ki distinguishes word breaks by spaces and dashes, with affixed words typically having much smaller spaces or dashes. Handwritten Nirou-ki uses slashes to denote the beginning and end of sentences, while printed Nirou-ki encloses each sentence in a box.

Each letter in Nirou-ki can represent a variety of different sound values, although most letters typically are only used to either represent a single phoneme or their syllabic letter name (i.e. "ta" is either /t/ or /ta/). Theoretically all of the Kaitinyra have more than one possible phonemic value, but in modern writing only "Nry" and "Mat" have their alternate values used, in addition to the scribal letter "Shi".

With each character having two or three readings, it is necessary to determine which of these is correct both when writing and reading Nirou-ki text. In some cases this can be obviated by the phonological rules of Nirou-ki, but there are also a series of orthographic conventions that eliminate much of the ambiguity. In words written with both syllabic a mark resembling an apostrophe is used to signify a change from syllabic to phonemic pronunciation, or vice-versa. For words that begin with syllabic readings, except at the beginning of sentence they are preceded by a horizontal dash, while those beginning with phonemic readings are only preceded by a space.

For those characters with alternate phonemic readings, the rules somewhat vary. "Mat" can only express its alternate phonemic pronunciation at the end of syllables, whereas it can only express its default pronunciation at the beginning of syllables, and as such there is no need to otherwise distinguish them.

"Nry" is more complex, as both its default and alternate reading can appear the beginning of syllables, instead the alternate reading is typically denoted as if it was a syllabic reading but then followed by a vowel as there are no words in Nirou-ki that include the sequence "/nry/" followed by a vowel, so the "/y/" is ignored.

"Shi" is the most complex letter in its usage, as its alternate and "standard" reading appear both with high frequency. If word initial, its phonemic reading is always "sh", but otherwise it is somewhat difficult to determine except by context. In cases where the reading is ambiguous, a small circular mark might be placed below the character to indicate that it is a being read as the consonant /sh/.

Together these rules and conventions eliminate most of the ambiguity in Nirou-ki writing, and have allowed for a very robust writing system that naturally follows the contours of the Nirou-ki language.

[thebrainboys-co]

Hello Internet B) Welcome to our ask blog. We're a group of Introjects from/related to The Boys YT channel (Not the show pls don't ask abt the show idk anything about the TV show 😭)

Just as extra info, an Introject is an alter from a system who is based off a fictional character (Fictive) OR a real existing/previously existing person (Factive).

Anyway, lol, here's us:

(Names with stars next to them are from our friend's system :} Also, more of us may be added whenever they show up ig)

Some extra stuff for context:

Important thing! You may see doubles of people like Dub and Josh, or Kevin and Dez. This is completely normal! Sometimes with systems, you get two of the same people. It doesn't make one any less of a person than the other. 🫶

Those with Brushes next to them have two forms they can appear as, but will usually look like the Brush, as that's their default.

Please censor the words c@ndy and n3€dle, they're triggering to Mully and Dub respectively. Try not to mention c@nd!es in general too, unfortunate as that is. (ik it sounds silly as shit but we're so serious.)

Most posts will probably be more light hearted, cause this is just for fun.

Guess I should also add that we DO actually have commissions, so there's the info. :p

Rules:

NOO FAKECLAIMING!!! Please for the love of whatever fruity ass fucking god is in the sky, be respectful. :( Again, this is for fun, and is also a safe space, so we really don't want any kind of discourse or invalidation here. Though, it's not wrong to ask genuine questions! This IS an ask blog, so if you're curious about something, ask away!

No racism, homophobia, transphobia, bigotry, etc. Kinda obvious :/ don't come in here being a big fat fucking jerk.

Do not use any slurs! Some are heavily uncomfortable with them, so just keep 'em out of the asks.

NO NSFW. Please keep these asks SFW, idk how many of you grimey Tumblrs are minors.. >_>

Posts will be tagged appropriately :p Asks for certain people will have their symbol and/or name. Normal posts will have #BoysPosting or #BrainTalks.

Anyway, welcome lol (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧ Enjoy

[17-noodlebird]

presenting...

The Amazing Digital Circus Road Trip AU!!!! 🎪🛣️🎉

I finally have the courage to post something of genuine purpose here!!!

So this is the summary:

• The events prior to the road trip were… eventful, for lack of a better term. To make a long story short, a group of dimensional travelers opened the eyes of the Amazing Digital Circus, both for better and for worse. What started out so rocky ended up becoming a closer bond for them, as they learned more about the other dimensions, and maybe, just maybe, the enigmatic inner machinations of C&A and their perpetually dark history.

• About 6 months went by since then, with Bubble, and four of the interdimensional diplomats, Beth, Pam, Val, and Garcia, creating brand new maps for the game that the others could explore, while completing tasks, gaining artifacts, and meeting brand new people, all while keeping the details secret until it was ready. The other diplomats each had their own contributions to their own game maps, as did Bubble, but only one knew the ending of the road trip: the main diplomat Lulu.

• The road trip would be akin to the world level-based collect-a-thon video games, a la the Super Mario Odyssey, and the role-playing games a la the Steven Universe: Light series. Twenty-six designated levels were made, each with a different theme, animation style, culture, customs, interactable NPCs, characters in need of help, and antagonists/bosses that they can defeat.

• There is a door made out of mountain rock that needs to be unlocked, using all twenty-six (or twenty-eight, depending on your point of view on the matter) jewels, to unlock the “ending” of the road trip; no one else, not even Bubble, knows what's behind the rock door — no one, that is, except Lulu. She says that it's a surprise for afterwards. Each gem is hidden somewhere in their respective worlds, and the players need to obtain and collect all of the jewels in order to open that door by completing tasks, fulfilling objectives, and defeating antagonists. While the circus players pack their things into the Magical Digital Van (a combo of the Magic School Bus for the cutesy face that only communicates in beeps or radio music, and Vanzilla from The Loud House, in terms of retro appearance and spaciousness in cargo and passengers), Garcia gives Caine a silver-colored crystalline gem, causing a “YOU DID IT” pop-up to appear, startling him. Apparently, the pop-up appears when a jewel is obtained after completing the location’s objective. After the first jewel is placed in the middle of the rock door, The Amazing Digital Circus sets off for fun and adventure, thrills and peril, comedy and tragedy, action and excitement, an obscure all-star cast of side characters, heroes, villains, pop culture references, ties to nostalgia, relatability, and… possibly romance…...? Who knows? The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma.

• Each of the Digital Circus members have magical Velcro bracelet communicators that they can use to contact the diplomats for help on tasks, finding out further information, or to just talk to them the same way we'd talk to our loved ones on the phone for hours on end. The communicators also send the circus members notifications for an objective they must complete (do keep in mind they can come much later than usual when they least expect it), as well as random achievements, the same way you would when actually playing a video game. Once a jewel has been obtained by any means, the pop-up will congratulate the circus members for grabbing the jewel, as well as to notify how many left you need to obtain to unlock the rock door. For example:

~ JEWEL OBTAINED! ~

15 out of 26

Only 11 remain

~~~~

Characters:

The original eight characters have been slightly altered to fit the AU, but still have most of their canon traits intact.

• Caine:

Caine is still the charismatic goofball we all know and love, but with a dash of nervousness, inability to understand human humor, especially Gen Z humor, and hints of newfound irritability. He's practically a fish out of water in most of these game locations, not really capable of self-defense outside of his signature cane, and being a lot more cautious and protective with his fellow members, especially his best friend and guide, Pomni. Caine sometimes acts as the dad friend of the group, not tolerating anyone's BS and trying to maintain order in situations he's absolutely not familiar with at all. When around Pomni, he feels kinda at ease, with their dynamic being akin to SpongeBob and Patrick when working together. Hell, Jax even refers to Caine and Pomni as The Dynamic Duo.

• Bubble:

Still the chaotic, anarchy-loving glutton we all know and love, but with a caring side to him. You see, for as long as Bubble could remember, he had been Caine's sole confidant, being there for him during his toughest battles, from witnessing yet another abstraction, to calming the ringleader down after a nasty panic attack. They're even roommates! (my god, they were roommates) Bubble would totally just go with the flow and not worry too much about having to adapt to an environment completely different than his own. In fact, his masochistic tendencies make the perils more thrilling for him! He'd also act as the mom friend of the bunch, acting as some sort of mediator for when things get too chaotic for his liking. He'll also lend a helping hand if so desired.

•Pomni:

She's still jittery and anxious, but thankfully not as bad as when she first arrived at The Amazing Digital Circus. After several months of dealing with this game's BS, she developed an indifference to her situation as a defense mechanism, and has become something of a voice of reason to the others. Jesters in real life are known for not just providing entertainment and comedic nitpicks to the royal court, but were also considered their royal advisors. Pomni would become Caine's advisor after some constructive criticisms towards him and his methods of keeping the others sane and healthy, and later on his best friend, acting as Bubble's stand in from time to time, providing witty banter and friendly roast sessions with the other circus members. Jax often calls Pomni and Caine “The Dynamic Duo” because of the fact that they share some things in common: both can turn into nervous wrecks during stressful situations, both are hilarious to be around, both want to keep the circus happy and healthy, and both care immensely for the well-being of everyone around them. Rumor has it they're also drinking buddies; but nothing has been confirmed…

• Ragatha:

Still our cheerful and good-natured ragdoll, with big sister/ant tendencies. Her hugs are as soft as they are warm and reassuring. She'd be the one to always look on the bright side, even when surrounded by unfamiliar surroundings, kinda like Ruby Gloom. She still has to keep an eye on Jax and make sure he doesn't get up to no good, but during moments where Ragatha and Jax must work together, there are things they can learn from one another. Ragatha would teach Jax the importance of being kind to others as well as taking time to listen and understand them, while Jax could teach Ragatha how to be more assertive and set proper boundaries, making her less of a passive pushover and more confident in taking care of herself first. Ragatha could also attract animals and have them help around with chores, a la Snow White.

• Jax:

Jax is less of a condescending asshole and more of a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold, becoming Pomni's big brother figure when necessary. Sometimes, he and Pomni would get into comedic hijinks of their own, as regular siblings naturally would, even pulling off harmless pranks. Jax is still snarky as always, but this time, being more genre savvy than the others, taking notes of his surroundings, and apparently has a lot of knowledge about agriculture, which proves useful for one particular road trip location. He'll also go out of his way to give someone a hug if he sense someone is in dire need of one, and will offer helpful advice during his more rare moments of kindness.

• Gangle:

Still the cute and bubbly but also emotional and prone to crying talking theater mask, but with hidden depths. Her love for anime and all things Japan is generally what keeps her going, as well as her love for drawing. Gangle doesn't really contribute much other than trying to be as helpful as possible, especially after finding out she can use her ribbons as a rope! Golly! She is, however, incredibly intelligent, with a knack for math, science, and history, as we come to find out in a road trip location, and can even speak and translate Japanese. When Gangle decides to grow a spine in protecting her friends from harm or bullying (even Jax, surprisingly), her voice has a tendency to change to a more mature and assertive business-like tone (remember that her VA, Marissa Lenti, was once the voice of a high school guidance counselor until… y'know.) to show you that you really shouldn't fuck with her. This causes Jax to rethink picking on Gangle ever again at one point.

• Zooble:

Honestly, not much can be said about Zooble, other than they're mostly apathetic, slightly rude, and snarky, being there cuz they can. They, along with Bubble, kinda just go with the flow, but now has the ability to become awestruck or starstruck by the other circus members’ newfound abilities, including Gangle's rope ribbons. Zooble also takes time to appreciate the little things in life, enjoying the much-needed change of pace the road trip brings. They're basically the emo goth kid in terms of personality, but with layers like an onion. Zooble also acts as the bodyguard of the circus members, somehow discovering her prowess in defensive combat, fueled by the innate desire to protect their loved ones at all costs.

• Kinger:

The oldest surviving member of the circus, Kinger still retains his ability to get startled easily from constantly dissociating, his love for insects and insect collecting, and his knack for building pillow forts. Due to being the oldest, he now acts as the group’s grandpa, with his “back in my day” kind of storytelling, and apparent knowledge of how the digital world works. He also offers some life advice on how to get through even the toughest days, him having lived through it long ago with Queenie’s abstraction, and is noticeably a lot more chipper and compassionate during the road trip. He also becomes braver and more empathetic in one particular road trip location, with him becoming less startled easily over time. He apparently is also a tech genius (in reference to MatPat and finnthepony’s theory on Kinger’s past life as The Amazing Digital Circus’s game dev), having knowledge on how to fix machines and software, as well as acting as the gang's mechanic for the Magical Digital Van.

~~~~

• The Magical Digital Van:

Built by Bubble, Kinger, Val, and Beth, the Magical Digital Van is the main vehicle the circus members use for the road trip, traveling to different destinations and stops along the way. The Van has a cutesy face that pays homage to The Magic School Bus, with her own emotions and reactions, but can only communicate in van noises, horn beeps, and radio music. Yes, the Van is a girl; a lot of vehicles in real life (including ships) are referred to by female pronouns. Kinger especially loves the Van like he would his girlfriend, much to the chagrin of everyone else.

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• Potential ships(?):

I might be the only one in a sea of Showtime, Bluetooth, and Kingleader, among others on this platform, but I actually do ship Caine x Bubble. When I first saw the pilot, I thought to myself, “yep. These two definitely have chemistry.” I see them as one of those old bickering couples that like to tease each other. They've basically been through thick and thin, gray skies and sunny days, tears of laughter, and everything in between. Also, I'm in love with the idea of Caine just being a tsundere; I find it pretty hilarious to me. And Pomni being the Shipper On Deck in the background. I have a particular fondness for the unusual.

Another ship mentioned here is Jax x Ragatha. Remember The Princess & The Frog where Naveen taught Tiana to relax a little, while Tiana taught Naveen to take life more seriously and work harder to achieve his goals? Well, it's essentially that, like rivals to lovers or something. I love when “opposites attract” is done properly, especially here!

Bluetooth (Moon x Caine) would have been canon in this AU at one point in the past, but now The Moon and Caine are exes (y'all can have exes in fiction btw!). In the past, Caine and Moon dated (and at one point did the deed, *wink wink*), but after the Moon became too clingy and possessive, with a yandere attitude, Caine broke up with her, and Pomni would have helped both the Moon and Caine move on from the breakup, realizing what they had was not healthy. This “adventure”/off-screen episode would be mentioned here and there during the road trip (I want to assume the road trip is like a Season 3 thing, but the show's success might contradict this; oh, well) while Bubble and Caine try to take things slowly.

Hints of Gangle x Zooble (aptly named Google by the masses) can be found, but only in subtext. Zooble makes an in-passing comment on how they find Gangle's assertive voice to be hot at one point.

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This AU pays homage to… well… A LOT of things that I enjoy watching over the years. It takes a look back on the things I found nostalgic as a kid growing up in the late 2000s and early 2010’s, including things that might also be familiar to other older generations of Gen Z. My most recent fixations (such as Unikitty) can also be found there, including random YouTubers I used to watch all the time, horror movies I grew fond of, some cartoons I still watch, such as Steven Universe, The Loud House, Teen Titans Go of all shows, the DreamWorks and Disney movies I watched as a kid, the older Gen Z memes we're familiar with by now, other video games we used to play all the time, among many others. I also wanted to spice up the variety of the fandom with my own interpretations of the characters, as well as some neat ideas I wanted to share when I conceived them.

With that being said, I hope you enjoyed this summary of my brand new AU idea!

Welcome one and all to

The Amazing Digital Road Trip!