#rapid fire ravenclaw secondary

[painted-crow]

What does a rapid fire Bird Secondary look like ?

Me!

I've talked about this a bit before, but I don’t like detailed plans, like step by step "here's what I'm gonna do." There are circumstances when I'll plan, but rather limited ones:

For fun. Maybe I'm interested in something but can't do the actual activity, so I plan it out instead. This plan might serve as a reference later, but I'm just as likely to discard it because I don't feel like using it or I have a better idea.

As a crutch. If I'm really inertia-struck with anxiety or executive dysfunction, making a plan or even just a list can be a hack to get out of it, but again, I'm likely to abandon it halfway through if I start feeling better.

"Formal" experimentation. I don't do this a whole lot, and usually I do this kind of thing in my head... but sometimes you gotta actually think the details through and write them down in advance.

But it's not how I like to work. To me, plans feel brittle and restrictive and usually boring. I lean towards other tactics:

Clever repurposing of something I learned/collected, or of resources that happen to be around me

Use of a tool I picked up thinking "this'll be handy at some point"

Bringing up weird knowledge I acquired At Some Point, possibly by accident, for fun, or while working on something else

Bringing up general skills I learned on purpose

Learning skills on the fly because the situation needs them; I prefer to know what I'm doing better than this, but reasonably speedy autodidacticism is one of my most prized skills and it's not a bad fallback.

(El Goonish Shive)

"Moooom! Paint is identifying with a mad scientist character again!"

Basically, I pull from my collection of existing skills, tools, knowledge, and current available resources to craft a solution on the fly, after getting close enough to the situation to get a good look at the problem.

This makes me feel very clever, it works really well, and I love doing it. Favorite way to do stuff, hands down.

Trouble can be, if people don't recognize how much prep work goes into these "instant" solutions, they're inclined not to believe they're real and will actually work. And I don't like pulling the "actually I studied this for six months" card because it feels like bragging :/ plus, for all the different things I can say that about, it stops sounding believable.

Truth is, I have almost no attention span for television (I'm aware this is weird but don't have an explanation for it), I hyperfocus easily, and I choose hobbies with lots of moving parts.

Like aquascaping. Do you know how many different bottles of chemicals you need to get the water chemistry right so the aquatic plants will grow? For me it was five, but a lot of people I knew online had waaay more (and fancy CO2 systems) because they kept demanding plants. If you kept the right balance of fish and plants, you ended up with this little ecosystem in a box. Like a tiny slice of a river! I was pretty good at it.

I still don't know how I got from "let's try making California rolls" to "afraid to run out of good mirin," but somehow I ended up really into cooking Japanese food and it's a permanent influence on my pantry and basically anything I cook now.

I do know how I ended up with so many oil painting mediums and solvents and so many paint colors that I have to have a list on my phone now to keep track of which ones I have in stock, though. Also did you know that acrylic paints also have mediums you can add and they make using acrylics SO MUCH EASIER? because I do and it seems like nobody else does and that's sad.

I also binge read nonfiction, especially when I'm depressed. It gives me something to focus on and feels vaguely productive even when I don't have the energy to do more.

Does this all sound like a lot of work? It's really just some of the stuff I do for kicks. We haven't touched on the novels I've written, the coding languages I know, the gardens I've kept, the professional design software on my computer (which I built myself from parts), the knitting and the baking and the graphic design and the candle making and the martial arts and the French language stuff from back in high school that I still kinda remember.

OH and then you have the weird stuff I carry around. *empties purse* here we have a multitool, lockpicks, a can of WD-40, some yarn or string, bandaids, a styptic pen, hand sanitizer, hairbands, screws I don't want to lose bc they belong to my couch, glasses cleaning wipes, a metal pen with a point that can break a car window, a bunch of fast food napkins, mini bottles of ibuprofen and acetaminophen, earbuds, comb, random lanyard, and four mini rubber ducks; all of these make sense to me don't ask why my purse is heavy

Plus all the ebooks loaded onto my phone, which I carry everywhere! And I have even more in my Humble Bundle library.

I list all these off to make a point: Birds' resource libraries can be HUGE. I don't know where mine exists on the hugeness spectrum, but I'm only 23, and older Birds' libraries are probably even bigger.

So yeah, as odd and niche as my interests can be, I have a LOT of them, and I can just go into situations without a plan because between all the skills I've learned and the books I've read and reread and the resources I carry everywhere and the hoard of supplies at home and the Bird masks and the Badger mirroring and THEN the ability to learn what I need on the fly if all else fails--

I don't need a plan.

I don't want a plan.

I'm more powerful without it.

I can react and pull from anything I've ever done or used or read. I can build things on the fly. Doesn't matter if I need to help cater an event or build a website or just prop open a heavy door--I'll have something relevant, or I'll figure it out.

There are situations where I won't be as capable, of course. For example, I know very little about cars, or writing music, or roller skating, or amino acid protein chains. But that's okay, because there are other people who specialize in those things, and I'll almost certainly come out of the situation having learned something and added to my library.

(Except the roller skating thing. I'm kind of phobic about skating of any kind. Cool when other people do it, but I get *eurgh* sliding in socks on linoleum.)

How do I end this... oh!

The fancy word for the act of making up a solution to a problem on the spot, using whatever materials and resources you have on hand, is bricolage, and one who practices it is a bricoleur. I learned that from a LiveJournal blog about writing that I used to read when I was 12, and I still remember it for some reason, which is very on brand of me.

[ethereal-skye]

Bird Secondary (Rapid Fire) // Ravenclaw Secondary

“If a Bird is deeply embedded in their zone of expertise or area of comfort, they can problem-solve so fast that it looks like they’re improvising… but they’re not. The Rapid-Fire Bird just has a lot of knowledge and resources to call on. Move them to a different arena, where their knowledge and resources aren’t applicable, and they flounder.” - wisteria-lodge’s post

[reds-burrow]

Maybe a stupid question: where can I read about all the subtypes like rapid-fire bird or actor bird?

Maybe a more fun question: who’s the weirdest character/weirdest sorting that a character has?

Not a stupid question! A lot of these posts are scattered around and hard to track down at times, and in many ways our understanding of this system is still growing, meaning we're still developing terminology for some of the puzzle pieces. I suggest starting here with @wisteria-lodge's great explanation post. Most of our sub-types have to do with the multiplayer side of the secondaries, so I also recoommend this post by @paint-the-ravenclaw.

As for your second question, depends on what you mean by weird. If you mean quirky characters, writers like to use Idealist primaries (Bird and Lion) with Circumventing secondaries (Bird and Snake). Idealists because a Lion's feelings can drive them to unconventional beliefs and Birds can develop off-beat systems. (Loyalists are usually more grounded in what's real instead of concepts.) And then Circumventing secondaries are more likely to experiment in their solutions to problems which can lead to unusual ways of interacting with the world. That said, we all have our quirks, no matter our sorting. Watch a good comedy show, and you'll see writing that emphasizes how weird we all can be, Loyalists and Straightforward secondaries included.

[the-phoenix-heart]

Sorting Hat Chats - Miraculous Ladybug (REDUX)

So probably not a lot of you remember that a while ago I did a sorting hat chat’s for Miraculous Ladybug right here. Since then I have changed my thoughts on some of the characters and gotten a LOT (a surprising amount) of asks on the subject, so I’m going to do a redux of my old sorting, especially since I’ve been away from the sorting hat chats community for a while. Make sure to refer back to original Miraculous sorting, as it has some information that I will not go over in depth here that I went over there, such as Marinette and Adrien’s Badger models. 

A little context: Badger = Hufflepuff, Lion = Gryffindor, Snake = Slytherin, and Bird = Ravenclaw

You can also find some good explanations about what I’m talking about here ( @wisteria-lodge ) and here ( @sortinghatchats​ ).

(There are SO MANY GODDAMN SNAKES IN THIS SHOW AND I HATE IT!! PEOPLE CAN HAVE OTHER MOTIVATIONS THAN THE PEOPLE THEY LOVE!!)

So I did not get MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG completely wrong okay! Addmitedly I did acknowledge she could have different secondaries and primaries, plus I got her primary models correct (an unhealthy exploded Badger primary and an unhealthy Snake primary built for Adrien that she’s failing to let go of). However, I posited the idea that she was a burnt Bird primary. I thought that she was a Burnt Bird, because she always seemed so willing to find other’s opinions on things, but I have since drawn back and decided that-no, she is a Burnt Lion. She doesn’t trust herself at all which is a common trait of Burnt Lions, and she does have her moments of having snap decisions and lashing out. She’s also the one more likely to try and do something when she believes something isn’t right, not hang back and find out more. 

And as for her secondary, I said she was a Snake with a Badger and Bird model. However, I was cherry picking. She is a Bird secondary with a Snake and Badger model. She IS a planner, she plots out schedules and comes up with intricate plans and she is simply more Bird than she is Snake. Her best examples of her plans are in Backwarder and Kwami Buster

And just to address why I was wrong, I think it was two things. 1. I myself am a Lion Bird and subconsciously did not want to be biased and say that Marinette was a Lion Bird just because I relate to her. 2. There are not many Bird Snakes and I wanted to add another to the list, Marinette fit the bill enough that I falsely accused her of that and that was a mistake. Please remember I am human and make these mistakes all the time, especially with characters I relate to. I had similar issues with Bakugou Katsuki from My Hero Academia. 

Okay so you (the anon) sent a response to these, but I’m going to look at these first, because ADRIEN AGRESTE is one of the characters who I think I got right, that being a Snake Lion with a Double Badger model. I know you backpedaled on Badger primary Adrien, but I gotta say all of this can be a Badger model conflicting with a Snake primary. His literal dream is to be alone on an island with Ladybug and a hamster, nothing about community, even Marinette’s dream included having children. 

(And a little explanation on his Badger model, it’s mostly because of his writing because the show uses him as a mouthpiece a lot of the time

As for him being Burnt Snake secondary...Idk I just don’t see it. He almost never goes for the sneaky way out, he’s more likely to do something dramatic like sacrificing himself or just wrecking shit, like a Lion (with a Badger model). We did see him lie about dating Ladybug because he was jealous (also not a Badger thing) but that’s about it. And while I do like how you pointed out that when they were kids Felix and him used to pull pranks all the time, please consider that Felix is a Snake secondary. Also weird bit to get hung up on, but I don’t think he’s EVER played jazz. Although interesting that you pointed out that jazz is all about the Snake secondary!

Oh, btw, in case anyone wants to argue about him actually being a Badger secondary, it is in fact a model seeing as Adrien has no qualms about putting piano music on to think he’s practicing and lying about where he’s going to his father. A Badger secondary doesn’t like taking shortcuts or picking the lazy option. I know I literally just said he doesn’t lie that much, but just because he can lie doesn’t mean he’s a Snake secondary. Anyway, I think he built his Badger model for his dad when he suddenly started lumping all these responsibilities on him.

Okay so, I get mistaking Adrien for being a Badger because of his model and performance...but where the heck did you get Lion from?! We don’t actually see him fighting for his community a lot and there is a big difference between Marinette and Adrien. What kind of Lion gets mad that he’s not being told something and decides to stop being a hero while Paris is underwater and probably millions of people are drowned. I’m sorry I cannot get on board Lion primary Adrien. 

Also, vying for people to get people akumatized so he can spend time with Ladybug?? Yeah sure that totally sounds like a Lion who values community. 

Lmao, I can agree with you there, I know I said ALYA CESAIRE was a Bird secondary, but I think I gave her too much credit. Alya is the type to rush in once she believes something, and I think she has a Bird secondary that she uses for journalism that she doesn’t use a lot of the time. 

Okay so, I didn’t sort NINO LAHIFFE last time so let’s do him now. I honestly think you’re taking the cause thing a little to literally, and also witling down Nino’s, admittedly limited, character. I sort him as a Snake primary, mostly motivated by Adrien and Alya, but also by his own hopes and dreams, like being a dj and director. He could be a Glory-Hound Lion, but I think he’s just a regular Snake. His secondary is way harder to pin down as I don’t believe he’s a Lion secondary, but I also don’t think he’s a Bird secondary like you said. I think he might also be a Snake secondary, impulsive, but more avoidant than a Lion secondary. When he’s Bubbler he stays away from directly attacking and keeps to long range, and as Carapace he hangs back and uses Shellter. I think he stays in neutral a lot. (This show is so Snake heavy I swear, especially for a show with Badger ideals).

And let’s just do some more rapid fire characters. 

LUKA COUFFAINE is a Snake primary no surprise there, he just cares about his family and Marinette and will do anything for them. As for his secondary, I’m gonna say Bird as he had to have the smarts to use second chance (which Adrien could not), and as an akuma he usually comes up with some nifty plans. 

KAGAMI TSURUGI is so confusing because the writers jerk her character around all the time. I would like to think she’s a Lion primary, since at the start she wants to prove her worth and fight the best at the fencing academy, but the rest of the evidence points to her being a Snake. So, I think she’s a Snake primary with a Lion model from her mother. As for her secondary, she’s a very straightforward Lion, rushing into battle and slashing her sword, plus she gave away her identity because she didn’t see a reason to lie.

LILA ROSSI is the last one I’m gonna do. I think she’s a Glory hound Lion primary, since all of her lies are about the awesome things she’s totally done and how she saved a kitten from being run over by a plane. I don’t think she’s motivated by the people she loves, mostly because she doesn’t actually love anyone and one humiliation in front of one person was enough for her to hideaway in her house for a year pretending to be on a charity globe trot. As for her secondary, she is the embodiment of a Snake to the point where I say she’s exploded. She lies about everything and tricks so hard, and she almost always comes up with the lies on the fly. 

So...

Marinette Dupain-Cheng - Lion primary, exploded Badger model and unhealthy Snake model/Bird secondary, exploded Badger model and Snake model 

Adrien Agreste - Snake primary, possibly starting to explode, Badger model or performance/Lion secondary, Badger model he built for his father

Alya Cesaire - Lion primary/Lion secondary, Bird model for journalism

Nino Lahiffe - Snake primary/Snake secondary

Luka Couffaine - Snake primary/Bird secondary

Kagami Tsurugi - Snake primary, Lion model/Lion secondary

Lila Rossi - Lion primary/Snake secondary

And to reiterate the sortings I did last time...

Chloe Bourgeois - Snake primary/Lion secondary

Gabriel Agreste/Hawkmoth - Snake primary/Bird secondary

Natalie Sancoeur/Mayura - Snake Primary/Bird secondary

[magpie-of-a-birb]

On Burning Bird Secondary

@paint-the-ravenclaw did a post not too long ago on how she felt when her bird secondary was burned, and I wanted to do my own take. Yes, my feathers are a lil scorched right now, though I'm not completely burned. Without further ado, let's go.

The cause

To start, I'll give a little perspective. I burned from burning out (in the non-shc sense), so some of my experiences will be filtered through that lense. With that being said, I'll do my best to distinguish between burned-bird-because-burnout and just plain burnout.

The effects

Lack of confidence

I don't feel as capable of collecting, planning, and using what I've collected as I used to. This makes my confidence in the use of my secondary very results-dependant. If I do something right, then it shows that maybe I'm okay at using bird (or that I am actually smart, because my mind likes to conflate the knowledge that I've collected with my intelligence). If I do something wrong, then it shows that I'm not as good at using bird as I thought.

I'm taking a step back to say that isn't healthy. If you're feeling this way (with your secondary, skills, or how smart you are), I want to say right now that you are good at using your secondary and you are capable and you are smart. Just because whatever you're facing is challenging doesn't mean you're not any of those things.

Difficulty with concrete planning...

Due to having less energy, I can't plan as concretely as I would like. I feel like can't take the time to sit down and plan out what I'm going to do for a project, outline what I'm going to do that day, or set out what I need to do in a month and plan out my approach.

... And leaning heavily on rapid-fire bird because of it

To me, rapid-fire bird feels like controlling a holographic, motion-controlled computer. I'll able to tap and swipe at things to call them up and move them and slot them into place to build something in the heat of the moment. When this is done healthily, it feels powerful. It feels like I can manage any issue that comes my way immediately because I've already done the prep-work and I don't need to even think about it.

When it's unhealthy, it starts to explode.

Rapid-fire bird works best when you have the prep-work done (what that prep-work is depends on the situation). When you don't have that prep-work done, you're flying blind. Here are two instances of what this looks like for me:

When using rapid-fire with planning, I have all of the things I have to do in my head, and I slot them together into a makeshift plan of when I'll do what task. This if very dynamic and allows me to change my schedule on the fly. However, that's a cursed blessing. It allows room for me to move time-sensitive things around for stuff that is unimportant, and there is a high risk that other tasks will blindside me due to me forgetting them.

I've had to use this for assignments and tests that I hadn't studied enough for. It leads to me panicking and using adjacent information (such as what you know about Spanish and applying it to Italian because they're both romance languages and have many similar linguistic rules) even if it doesn't correctly apply. It also leads to using the context of previous parts to make educated guesses as to how the next part works (such as finding an established rule asserted in a previous question and use a similar thought process/rule on questions that look similar enough. It usually has the same as using find-and-replace for "and" and replacing it with "but." All the instances of "and" will be replaced, but that means replacing the word "and" as well as "and" in the middle of other words, so "grand" would become "grbut" and not be a word).

Being unable to collect...

With being burned and all it entails, I don't feel like I have the time/energy to collect things as I'd like to. I don't have the time to make new tools, the energy to put into it, or the energy to tank demoralizing feelings like the tool not being good enough yet, so I kinda... stop collecting for a little while.

... And constantly absorbing because of it

That being said, collecting is fun for me. It's entertaining and it gets me excited. Even when I don't collect, I still need to get enjoyment somehow, so I turn to absorbing.

Absorbing is different from collecting. Collecting is having specific tools/information in mind that I'm actively trying to get. Absorbing is passive. While collecting is going down a research rabbit hole, absorbing is scrolling on social media and passively taking whatever information is being thrown at me with little consideration for what it is. It doesn't mean that I take everything I absorb as true, rather, everything I get from absorption gets tossed into a catch-all "questionable validity" box.

In conclusion

I can't really say that this is longer than expected, but I can say that it took longer to write than expected. Since I don't want to leave this on a downer, I'm gonna throw in some suggestions for unburning/preventing worse burning when in this sort of state. These things don't work for everyone, but they worked for me.

Firstly, take a break if you can. Do your best to disconnect and recharge, cuz if you're burning due to burnout, then you absolutely need the rest. But that may not be an option for you, so here are some others.

Optimize prioritization. Take stock of your responsibilities and free time. Try to see what you can put on the back burner. This does NOT mean completely prioritizing work. You need rest and as a human being you deserve to take the time you need to recharge. Do your best to not take any more responsibilities, see what responsibilities you can afford to do poorly (or even say you can't do) and allow yourself to do them poorly in order to divert more energy to the big responsibilities and recovery.

Get weight off that rapid-fire bird. Relying too much on one tool for too many things (and making a wrench work like a hammer) only puts stress on the tool before it gets damaged. Do your best to shift things onto prep-focused bird or even secondary models, if you have any. With easy prep-bird tools, I'd recommend stuff to help with planing and organization, like writing everything you have to do on post-it notes and sticking them on the wall of your work space. Multiple colors makes it fun and easier to see what classes/types of tasks you have to do because they're color-coded.

Finally, ask for help. There is no shame in asking for help. You are not alone. There is nothing but wisdom in knowing who to ask for help on certain things (or in asking people who to ask). All that asking for help does is take weight off your shoulders and give you another resource for when you need it later (call on that "I know a guy" bird!)

Above all, be kind to yourself. You are struggling and that is okay. You've survived this long, and you will get through this, too. You do not need to keep suffering for the sake of your survival. You can do this, and you will be stronger for it, you'll have more tools for the next big challenge. I believe in you.

[sandersgrey]

Deku is a Slytherin Primary with a Ravenclaw Secondary!

I'm borrowing the very interesting system from @sortinghatchats! I suggest you take a look at their blog, as it's very interesting if you like character studies, but here's a quick summary of their system: a Primary is the reason why you do something, and a Secondary is how you're most comfortable doing it.

A Gryffindor Primary's moral compass is their gut feeling, the belief felt and not built. A Gryffindor Secondary charges, or uses themselves as a battering ram.

A Hufflepuff Primary thrives on communities or groups. A Hufflepuff Secondary works better by building.

A Ravenclaw Primary builds an inner system through which they see the world. A Ravenclaw Secondary collects.

A Slytherin Primary is loyal first and foremost to their people. A Slytherin Secondary changes and adapts.

First I thought Izuku might be a Gryffindor Primary- he does look like one if you don't pay enough attention, but fortunately @jynxlovesluck convinced me that he's actually a Slytherin Primary with a very, very large inner circle.

I believe it shows itself more clearly in his relationship with Bakugou. Bakugou was part of his inner circle, once, and despite their falling out and the bullying, I don't think Deku ever managed to stop seeing as one of the people in his inner circle, which explains also why he's even then so stubbornly clinging to the idea that they're childhood friends and still calling him Kacchan.

Deku is also very quick to adopt people into his inner circle, as we see again and again with Iida and Eri. Iida had barely been his friends for a few weeks before Deku risked his life to save him from Stain, and I don't think I need to say anything about Eri.

His Ravenclaw Secondary was just as hard to pinpoint! Deku hides very well under a Gryffindor Secondary model he borrowed from All Might, and that only weights him down (I made a post about it, although in different terms: you can find it here).

To be honest, even after identifying his Gryffindor model, I still thought he was a Slytherin Secondary due to how quick he is adapting and reacting to situations. However, I have recently realized he's actually a rapid-fire Ravenclaw who just goes through estrategies very quickly in his mind!

Deku collects information. That's shown very clearly in his hero notebooks, his analysis, and even in his mumbling. Mic even comments on it during the sports event: he says Deku seems to absorb everything around him and then use it, which is very, very Ravenclaw!

The preferred outcome, and what I hope will be one of his character arcs, would be for him to leave behind the Gryffindor Secondary model and learn how to use his Ravenclaw Secondary.

He makes a pretty poor Gryffindor Secondary, after all.

[telehxhtrash]

I agree on Killua's sorting!! His Secondary was really hard for me to sort bc a lot of the time he's just kinda relying on the tools his family gave him, if that makes sense? But he finds joy in learning new skills and even collecting people in a way (see how he approaches Palm and Alluka when he realizes he cant fix this alone). Gon's also very clearly a Gryffindor. He's DEFINITELY not a Slytherin Primary, even though he cares a lot about his friends. I do agree that his arc is gonna be him kinda adopting a Slytherin model in that he's gonna stick to Killua and Alluka.

I do however think Gon's a rapid fire Ravenclaw Secondary (https://wisteria-lodge.tumblr.com/post/629711537772363776/how-can-i-tell-if-im-a-bird-or-a-snake-secondary) whos very good at using stuff he learned and the environment, and who hides behind a trauma induced Gryffindor model because thats what he thinks he needs to be to find Ging

you’re right !! this was so interesting to do and i’m glad u agree on the sortings !! it was so interesting to see their different dynamics and compare how they react to diff situations !! 

[painted-crow]

Storage Bunker Snake vs Rapid Fire Bird

This post is an exploration, not an explanation (yet!). I'm still feeling this distinction out and trying to form theories.

A recent recurring topic on the SHC fan Discord has been our Snake secondaries with Bird models and our rapid-fire Birds trying to figure out where the line lives between us.

My current theory is "it's a spectrum, and you have a range you can work in which probably leans one way or the other." I often describe very Snakey looking techniques as part of RF Bird, but I'd have a really hard time trying to use full Snake. I'd really rather know what I'm doing ahead of time and have stuff to work with, especially if the project is risky or has a time limit.

Turns out there is more overlap than we thought, though.

There's a Snake Thing that @mooglesorts and @nounsnlies have dubbed "storage bunker Snake," which is what you get when a Snake takes to designing contingency plans and gathering resources ahead of time for specific situations. They build an "emergency toolkit" to "beef up their improv" (words courtesy of our Snakes themselves).

Their stockpiles aren't as extensive as Birds', and they're very focused on utility and applicability to a specific future situation. Birds like utility too, but we'll also pick things up just because they're shiny/interesting.

Honestly, to me it's more fun if you're using your resources and skills in a way you didn't anticipate when you picked them up: it feels like a very clever and creative hack! But for that kind of improv, Snakes more often use themselves, rather than tools or skills, to influence a situation. They have this sense that they're an integral part of the situation, that they're a factor they can easily change to suit their needs, rather than an outside observer trying to work on the problem and only incidentally being there.

Meanwhile, I have a tendency to vanish when I shift into RF Bird problem solving mode. I drop my masks and mirroring to focus, I get very quiet, and if I'm not actively engaging with people, I'm invisible. People don't notice that I've wandered off for supplies until I show up again with a handful of weird stuff and start tinkering. Then they might ask questions, and I'll absentmindedly explain that hand sanitizer is full of isopropyl alcohol, which is a solvent, and yes I just have butcher's twine in my bag, hang on a sec...

This Step 1: disengage from the problem to Think seems to be a Bird thing. We kinda have to, and it seems like Snakes don't. Once a Bird has a first attempt at a solution in place, we might iterate on it and try to hack it around and make it work better, but that's building on something we've already got, so we can do that faster. We need something to work from, in the same way that a Snake needs continuous input to react to.

(This might actually be a single-player vs multi-player secondary difference, though. Curious what our single-player Snakes have to say about this. @reds-burrow @burnt-oranges feel free to add on!)

The RF Bird way is "hoard Useful Things and hopefully you can use some combination of them to craft the solution you need when you need it." In contrast, Nouns (Snake secondary) actually described prep work as "exploiting a loophole" for something that's "supposed to be done in the moment."

Snake: this feels like cheating

Bird: what? that's just how you get things done, dw it's not cheating

Snake: no it feels like cheating (affectionate)

...Of course, there's also the possibility that I model Snake secondary in specific ways, which I keep coming back to and then dismissing. I need more data from other RF Birds. @magpie-of-a-birb thoughts? Which parts of this do you do?

[painted-crow]

ugh i am so confused on my secondary :/ the one that i know im not is lion because i do the face switching thing with every person i talk to- even via text. its not a conscious thing either, it just happens & has always been this way & i enjoy doing it! but im unsure if its snake face-switching, badger mirroring, or actor bird. i just take someones energy and reflect it back at them- but the snek neutral state does resonate with me. there's a "me" under all the layers but its still... (1/2)

(2/2)..but its still very actor-y/mirror-y. the only time im not putting on any layers/pretty blunt is when im super apathetic or sick. im kind of a shitty improviser in certain areas but good in others, if that means anything. kinda makes me sound rapid-fire birdy or just a built sec in general lol. i do the bird *unconsciously hoarding info* thing haha which is nice, but im also usually suprised at my good rep/how much people seem to like me. any tips on telling between these 3? thanks paint!

Last ask before I crash for the night -w-

I have a couple asks about similar stuff, how to tell these kinda similar-looking secondary tools apart... let's talk about it for a bit here. Hopefully I'm not too asleep to make sense. I was just gonna write a quick post about it, but being concise is hard >.<

Courtier vs Actor vs Rapid Fire vs Snake (bonus: vs Lion)

Courtier Badger mirroring

Showing someone the parts of yourself you think they'd find most relatable. They end up feeling liked and accepted by you because they feel you're similar to them.

All of this is genuine on your part, at least in the moment--you're kinda bad at faking it. It's difficult or impossible to mirror someone you really dislike.

Actor Bird masks

You can play a role ("professional," for instance) or turn the volume up on some of your traits (e.g. "friendly/extroverted/music lover/charismatic") to make a mask. This is a way you can act, and it doesn't have to be as genuine as a Badger's mirroring, though it probably takes less energy if it is.

Once you've gotten into character for a mask, it can take a bit to change out of it. It's kind of a mindset shift, and it's hard to fluidly change into a different behavior set without seeming to contradict yourself. Masks don't easily adjust on the fly.

Rapid Fire Bird bricolage

You have background knowledge, skills, experience, and/or resources related to a whole lot of different topics. You're creative, resourceful, and good at recombining past tools into current solutions.

You might also use Actor Bird masks as part of your toolset. Actor + RF Bird doesn't = Snake, but can seem similar at first glance.

Snake improv

You're making this up as you go along, and you're totally cool with that. You're not really afraid that things will go wrong, because you know you can recover and just pivot into something that will work better. You're willing to experiment with different tactics, watch them work or fail in real time, and adjust on the fly.

You don't mind acting differently toward different people. Your act doesn't have to be genuine, the way a Badger's would. It doesn't have to be prepared, either, and you don't get stuck in it like an Actor Bird might. You're great at using whatever resources are around you, but you didn't necessarily prepare any in anticipation of needing them. You may or may not start out with a plan, but you have no problems with dropping it if you see an opportunity come up that you want to take.

If you're dropped into a situation where you have no clue what's going on and no prior experience and no tools and you don't know anyone, you're probably still fine. A Bird in those circumstances would either panic, or withdraw and become an observer until they feel they've gathered enough information to know what to do.

Lions being Lions

All this talk about code-switching and changing how you act is uncomfortable. Why would anyone want to do this? How can you get good results like this??? Nope. Nope.

You kinda just do stuff. You're resilient, even stubborn. You don't go in for half measures. You don't give up easily. Snakes pivot all the time, but you don't--you bulldoze a straight line through your projects and problems, without necessarily thinking ahead. It usually works out, which confuses the heck out of other people sometimes, but hey, it's just how you roll!

Final note

You might model or perform any of these in addition to your actual secondary. (Info about models and performances can be found near the bottom of this page on the SHC WordPress.)

You could be a Badger who's specifically learned to use Bird masks, for instance. It's up to you which words you think best describe you and the tools you use ^^

[painted-crow]

Possible snake vs bird 2ndary indicator - when giving a speech, do you prefer speaking off an outline (but choosing the exact words in the moment) or having all the words prepared in advance? For me even though I'll practice the speech several times in advance, and maybe have a key phrase or two I want a specific way verbatim, for the actual speech it's always an outline, I need the room to go extemporaneous.

Oh, I have the most rapid-fire Bird answer here xD

I don't like giving speeches that are memorized start to finish. Instead, I'll write the speech out as if I were giving it--multiple times, all slightly different--and rehearse the snot out of it from an outline. The writing stage lets me come up with jokes or clever turns of phrase that are likely to be entertaining, but there's a lot of connective tissue in a speech, and holding myself to one version of *all* of that would come out sounding stiff I think.

Later, when I'm actually giving the speech, I'll remember the versions of each bit that I liked best, and I can read the listeners, and because I am actually choosing which version to give in the moment, it doesn't come off as too memorized.

There are people--better actors--who can give a memorized speech in a way that sounds completely off the cuff, and there are people--better improv artists--who can take in a vague outline (or nothing at all!) and just wing it. On the whole, though, I'd rather have to deal with memorizing a speech than making it up on the spot. I am not great at the latter.

I've done it at least once, though. It definitely wasn't the smoothest, and I had the advantages that my "audience" were mostly a bunch of kids (whom I'd already distracted with a shiny Birdsec creation they were playing with at the same time) and a couple of their parents, and it was in one of my more thorough areas of expertise. (I coded a little text based adventure game that taught bash commands for Linux, and then I talked about Linux for like ten, fifteen minutes. It was part of a STEM event my community college was holding for kids.)

"I can only improvise if I've prepared really well first!": the song of rapid-fire Birdsec 😂

[painted-crow]

One of my friends got something stuck in a tree the other day. She stood back and was just kind of processing to figure out what to do (she's Snake or Bird), another friend immediately started climbing the tree (Lion?), and I, the Badger secondary, called over our very tall friend and he got it down.

Once I was at a picnic and someone accidentally threw their Frisbee onto the roof of the picnic shelter. Everyone stood around for a few minutes, some people trying to find something to climb on or jumping to try to reach it.

I thought about it for a second, pulled my multitool out of my purse, found a tree that had long suckers growing at the base of its trunk (these need to be trimmed anyway for the health of the tree), and took one. I handed it to a tall dude and he used it to get the Frisbee down.

Rapid fire Bird, Badger model :p

[painted-crow]

What does being an rapid-fire + actor Bird Secondary look and feel like ? I’m trying to determine if it’s me.

This post includes descriptions of both Rapid Fire and Actor Bird

This post is about my Rapid Fire Bird

This post is a story about Actor Bird

As for the combination, well, you could mix those skillsets in a handful of different ways! It'll feel different from Snake, though. That first linked post goes into that a bit.

[painted-crow]

I'm trying to settle my secondary. I love to learn and collect random facts and skills, so Ravenclaw seems right. I've got too many hobbies, I don't like to totally improvise. But I can also catch onto new skills quickly in hands on situations. I can rarely be bothered to plan out a whole project. I hate sticking to plans. If I have a day free from work, I'll just go from project to project to book to game as I feel like it.

I've always been a little lax with the study hard part of things. I've been trying to learn Spanish for the years and as fascinating as I can find it, I hate reviewing anything.

I probably feel least bird-like at work. It's a fairly mundane job and I'm happy just putting the with in and getting it done. I keep at it and I'm reliable like a badger. I'm thinking I might have a badger model.

I'm good at getting things done but only some of the time. I never know how to get help from people, but people see me as being dedicated and willing. I'm usually happy to help, but only to a point.

I wish I was good with people and communities, but social interactions often feel awkward, like I'm not sure who I'm supposed to be. I do okay, but it feels like everyone else instinctively knows what to do and I just wish there was a script. Makes me nearly wish for the formal manners of the past where there was rules for all that. I'm much better at continuing a conversation than starting or even finishing one.

After having written this, I'm feeling fairy certain that Bird secondary with a Badger model makes the most sense. Which is kind of funny because I'm probably an idealist primary with a Badger primary model.

Yeah, you're a Bird who likes using Badger. You're probably also neurodivergent, but I bet you knew that ^^

Primaries don't have to match/share similarities with secondaries, but it's not uncommon :)

The "I focus great if I'm interested" seems to be both a Bird thing and an ADHD thing. You might lean more on the rapid fire side of Bird? We tend to be more "jacks of all trades," less "detailed plan architects."

Also, the community building thing--mood. Was discussing with another Bird secondary friend about how rather than community building exactly, Birds just kinda collect people and think it's the same thing :p

[wisteria-lodge]

Hi hi! I've been doing some research into the sorting hat chats recently and I'm definitely a gryffindor primary but I'm stuck between ravenclaw and gryffindor secondary and I was wondering if you would be willing to help me out a little? If not that's totally ok.

I was reading the thing about quick thinking ravenclaw secondaries being mistaken for gryffindor secondaries because they have a plan or a skill set for almost everything so they look like they can improvise constantly, and that's definitely something I'd do ( I'm the only one who carries a first aid kit in my friend group, I have a lot of obscure knowledge and I do best in settings where I can use it. I'm also well known for being able to do quick fixes for almost any object in a pinch.) However, when I don't have a normal solution the solution becomes fighting my way out of whatever's causing the problem ( usually by breaking things further or being loud enough someone who has the correct skill set sees the problem and fixes it. It's like breaking the window of the house you're trapped in after your lock picks broke.) However, I can't tell if it's become the secondary plan to fight or build my way out of a situation as it arises, or if I'm a lion secondary. Im extremely individualistic, I refuse to be anything other than myself and I've been classified as two different dude's manic pixie dream girl before ( which I didn't even know was a thing untill recently but then everything made so much more sense. Highschool was hellish.) I'm myself before I'm anything else. In essence, I just don't know if fighting my way out counts as a secondary plan or not.

If it's not too much trouble id appreciate your input, your blog has been very helpful already so thank you very much. Have a great day!

You strike me as a Ravenclaw/Bird secondary - a lot of skillsets, most comfortable in situation where you can whip out your knowledge, hyper prepared. And then when that doesn’t work, the battering ram Lion model comes out. Clearly breaking things more, or yelling to make the problem more obvious isn’t your *ideal* solution. 

I’m starting to think that “refusing to be anything other than myself,” is a Solid secondary thing. Lion secondaries are always themselves... but they can turn the intensity up or down. Bird secondaries are themselves... but *facets* of themselves. 

(And for what it’s worth, I do know a few people with the “Manic Pixie Dreamgirl” problem you describe. And they’re Rapid-Fire Birds. I would have guessed that *Snake* secondaries would be assigned that role the most... but apparently not.) 

[wisteria-lodge]

the “planning” Bird secondary

The Ravenclaw secondary is definitely the most misunderstood one out there. (Part of the reason I changed my terminology over to Bird.) They’re not about loving to learn, being good at school, or being smart. And ‘planning,’ the other word that gets given to them, implies something long-term and designed, and that’s misleading.

It’s more helpful to think of bird secondaries as collectors. They collect tools, they collect knowledge, they collect people with interesting skillsets. They don’t collect these things because they think they will be useful down the line, they collect them because that’s what birds do. I suspect if you’re only picking up things because they’re useful to you, you’re probably modeling Bird secondary.  

(It’s like how Badger secondaries want to connect with people. That’s just how they exist in the world. Some people interact in a very game-like “ah, that would be a useful friend to have” sort of way. That kind of thinking feels so strange to me, and when I try to on-purpose a relationship, it never works.) 

So the Built secondaries (Bird and Badger) are kind of weird, because they’re both about laying down a lot of groundwork, but not really doing it on purpose. (On purpose = model). Then when they’re in trouble, they’ve got these pieces of scaffolding they didn’t even realize were there. The things they’ve collected help them out (Bird), or the people they know help them out (Badger). 

Bird primaries are tricky, because it is so easy for them look like other primaries. And Bird secondaries are exactly the same. A Bird whose tools are mostly other people, who is very “I know a guy,” they’re going to look like a Badger. A Bird who goes into a situation with a lot of back-up plans, then processes, make decisions and changes direction very quickly - they’re going to look a Snake.

@sortinghatchats talks about this sort of “rapid-fire” Bird/Ravenclaw secondary in their She-Ra podcast: 

“Slytherin secondary is often almost instinctual. They go with the flow and they’re reacting to things, without necessarily explicitly, consciously deciding. Whereas a really rapid-fire Ravenclaw secondary can get that same smoothness, but they’re rapidly processing and making decisions.” 

Bird primaries and secondaries are united in the way add to themselves, and decide things. That is fundamentally who they are.