#symptoms of deceit asks

[maleyanderecafe]

Symptoms of Deceit (Visual Novel)

Created by: strawberry squid

Genre: Horror/Mystery

Symptoms of Deciet has some very fun world building considering that people are generally associated with different animals, along with a yandere of which asks you to stab him to prove his loyalty to you (which we don't do. Coward). This is an r18 demo, so while there are a lot of interesting things that set up the world, it has yet to be completed. Still, I think it's a good start for an interesting world. If you are interested, you can find out more at @symptomsofdeceit.

The story starts out pretty simply with Ariel working at their job as a secretary for Willani Epidemiology Lab. After some clicking around, we learn a bit more about their favorite drinks amongst other things. After looking through their phone and seeing some news about a disease that is affecting sea star based humans. We are then startled by Nalis who scares us playfully. After talking about the disease that is spreading to sea star base humans, our boss, Tremo seems to interrupt, pulling Nalis away from Ariel. Ariel is a bit off put by Tremo's sudden change in personality, seeing as she's almost never acted in such an irritated way however, shrugs it off to the stress she likely has thanks to the new disease.

After work, Ariel leaves and returns to their apartment, meeting a new person who has just moved in. Being a new neighbour, he asks to exchange phone numbers with Ariel.

Accepting this will lead to him introducing himself as Thaumo. While going in, Thaumo offers to walk them to their room, being persistant and worrying that there might be insects or other things going on. Ariel relents and the two go back to their respective rooms where Ariel can text both, one or neither of Thaumo and Nalis (sorry that sentence was kind of confusing). Nalis's responses are more playful and teasing while Thaumo is more sweet and cutesy.

After heading to work, Ariel can choose to text Nalis about being late.

If they do, then Nalis will text back with a cute and funny little emote before arriving on time and giving Ariel their favorite drink.

Ariel spots Tremo and greets her, however when asking about yesterday's conversation with Nalis, Tremo seems very visibly confused and tells Ariel that she didn't talk to Nalis after work at all and leaves, leaving Ariel to be kind of confused. Nearing lunchtime, Ariel spots Nalis passing by and also gets a text from Thaumo. They can either choose to talk to Nalis or text Thaumo back.

Texting Thaumo back will lead to him inviting Ariel to a nearby cafe for pastries. The two will talk about the cat cafe nearby and how even though Thaumo likes cats, they don't tend to like him nor do other animals, despite what kind of cute methods he tries to get them to come to him. The two of them also talk about his biology, learning about his blue blush, three hearts and copper based blood. During this time, Ariel gets a call from Tremo asking about specific documents while he sticks Ariel's fork in his mouth. Unfortunately, this means that Ariel has to go back to work suddenly thanks to the call as someone from the Beuro is there. Unforutnately by the time they get back, Tremo tells him that they have already left, and Ariel seems a bit saddened that they didn't really tell them about it. Ariel is then invited into a group chat with Nalis, Tremo, Thaumo and Dr. Willani, who as it turns out is one of the benefactors of the institution that Ariel works at. Ariel talks to Nalis and after a confusing conversation about the fact that Nalis and Ariel didn't talk the day before, the two talk about BERE whom is going to investigate their workplace.

While walking home, Ariel runs into Thaumo who is outside and was late to going to the Ariel's workplace before it suddenly started raining. Ariel ends up walking Thaumo back to their apartment and starts to read an article about the CEO of Orca Finance and his tragic accident, only to see Thaumo in this article as well. After going to work, Nalis invites everyone to go to an arcade, though Thaumo seems to fight against this. Ariel can then choose whether to go to the arcade with them or not.

Denying it will have Thaumo visit later in the day with the two talking about the article that Ariel read last night, with Thaumo reassuring that the Orca Fiance (the one supporting their lab) will not pull out their research fund before the two of them go to the lunch room to eat. There, the two end up seeing Nalis in the breakroom and Ariel can feel the tension between them. Ariel can then ask Nalis about his day. After watching Thaumo provoking Nalis, Ariel can also ask about what Thaumo is trying to pull.

Afterwards, it sees Thaumo got kicked out by Nalis and Nalis warns Ariel about a body down in their path, as they think about how the starfish disease is spreading quite quickly. While walking into the alleyway, Ariel recognizes a voice from one of her coworkers at the lab, as well as Nalis, the two of them fighting. Unable to ignore this, Ariel walks into the alleyway, and sees the so called Nalis turn into Thaumo before killing the coworker. Ariel tries to back out, but Nalis promises that he won't hurt Ariel before realizing that they don't remember him. They recount a memory together back when they were children, with him stating it's the reason for his living, as he had nothing else that seemed to matter. Ariel can try to give him some mini therapy, but he will still refuse to let go, even allowing Ariel to stab one of his three hearts, which we don't (coward). He talks about in the past years he's been able to push his body to the point of being able to do things a mimic octopus shouldn't be able to do, such as mimic other's appearances and voices perfectly, not being able to die if Ariel were to stab him in the heart amongst other things. Thaumo ends up letting Ariel go, warning them that if they do try to call for help or the police, Thaumo would end up just getting rid of them.

Ariel ends up going home, and seems to have a really difficult time trying to recall the memories of Thaumo, leading to a headache. Thaumo ends up crawling up into their apartment where you can throw things at him or be angry at him. Depending on actions you can also end up teasing him by sitting in his lap and kissing his cheek or just telling him that you'll walk with him to work. You do get to text him if Ariel decides not to sit in his lap, with an option to threaten to kick has ass or ignore him.

There are some other endings such as favoring Nalis will end with Thaumo breaking into the apartment at the end, only this time as Nalis, and acting as him (or at least, that's what we believe). Nalis will instead force Ariel to swallow drugs. After passing out Nalis (it is actually Nalis, not Thaumo) confesses that he too feels empty and hates the fact that he has feelings for Ariel. He decides to lean into it, and play around with it, hoping that he will get all good and bad emotions directed at him.

As well as attempting to call Nalis, only to have Thaumo catch Ariel, and pretend to be them, getting Nalis to hang up. We learn that he can also spawn tentacles out of him, much like a cuttlefish would. They have to reluctantly get along with Thaumo regardless.

There is an end credit scene where we get to see an event based on the childhood memory that first made Thaumo attached to Ariel. There is a boy that tries to wake Ariel up, only for Thaumo to stop him. The boy is a sea star type, with him seemingly infected by the disease that was talked about throughout the game, even telling Thaumo that he will for sure die. This brings Thaumo happiness then sadness as he is happy that he will be alone with Ariel but is sad that Ariel might be disheartened at this. When looking at Ariel, the boy states he doesn't want to die alone, with Thaumo finding an excuse to kill him as a result.

First of all, I got to say, I love the idea of having each character have a marine animal associated to them, being able to have certain powers that come with that animal is really neat. Even side characters, like the coworker that Thaumo kills has the ability to harden like a sea cucumber (which is his main animal), which really comes to focus. It's nice that the character designs also correspond to that in some way, like Thaumo and Nalis's eyes or blush color being similar to the mimic octopus and cuttlefish respectively. You can tell that this creator really has a love for marine biology, which you can see in this game. It's always really cool when you can feel the love and knowledge of a topic shine through in the game, since you can really feel that they clearly know a lot about it. I think the touch of being able to change the UI color in the beginning is really neat, along with the hearts that hang on the side to indicate how much affection Thaumo and Nalis have for Ariel is a good touch. The ability to choose the kind of backstory you want with Thaumo is always a good way to add some more customization in the game. I am a little worried about the possible scope of this game considering that it seems like there is also female yanderes planned for this game, but I'm sure that has never stopped other yandere game developers. It has a nice cutesy vibe to it thanks to the UI, backgrounds and character designs. Ariel as a main character I feel is nice as well, and I do like that they have a job relating to the main ideas of the game, namely marine animal research. In this case, they are just the front desk, but it is nice to see them interact with other characters in the lab as well. Hopefully we can see more of their interactions, maybe they get to be a lab member in the future? I think that would be cool. I've also heard we get to choose the type of marine animal that we would be associated with in the future. Personally I'd love to have some sort of shark as the animal of choice, but I guess we'll see. I think it could add some interesting abilities to the characters in terms of flavor text or even change how Ariel looks (like different blush colors like the rest of the cast or changes appearances like frown for shark based characters. Listen, I just think sharks are neat.)

Okay, time to start out talking about the two yanderes in this game, Thaumo and Nalis. We'll talk about Thaumo first because he's more prominent in this game as of now. Thaumo as a yandere is very clingy and is willing to be hurt by Ariel, so basically a pathetic meow meow of a yandere, which of course is one of my favorite types of yanderes. He seems to have been trying to find Ariel for a while now and when he does, he turns into various other characters to watch over them. You actually can see this in game, such as when Tremo is acting strangely in the very beginning, seemingly angry at Nalis while complimenting Ariel, or even when Ariel tries to talk to Nalis, only to find that he's been acting very strange. It's a neat detail that you don't really notice too much on your first play through if you're not paying attention, but is cool to see on consequential ones. I do kind of wish it had more significance to the character's actions, other than, "huh, that was weird", but I think for a setup it's pretty neat. We can also see him licking a fork that Ariel was using while they're on the call with Tremo (which was driving me up the wall) and the fact that he actually did allow us to stab him in one of his hearts (even though we didn't, again, coward). He seems very powerful, being able to not only completely mimic not only the appearance but also their voice and demeanor. I'm not sure if that's an inherent thing he can do, where he can just naturally act like the person he's mimicking or if it's something he has to study and watch over for it to work. There's also the fact that he can regenerate his hearts, though if we were to somehow get rid of three of them, it's hard to say whether he would have lived or died in that case. It is also possible that the appearance of Thaumo we see now might not actually be what Thaumo looked like originally. I'm also curious if he was in any way involved with Ariel's memory loss in the past. What exactly makes Thaumo's memory with Ariel so special and why does he consider everything else in his life not as such? It's an interesting mystery.

Nalis on the other hand, we do get to see a lot of him as a friend towards Ariel, but we don't get to see nearly as many yandere moments. We do know that he is aware of Thaumo's ability to take on other people's shapes and forms (which, how does he know this? Who knows.) From what I can tell, he seems to be a reluctant yandere, having initally hated that he had fallen in love with Ariel in the first place, but has decided to go all in and try to get all of their emotions directed onto them, whether good or bad. It's kind of an interesting way of monopolizing all of a lover, at least in terms of a yandere, since I think most of the time yanderes usually prefer having a positive interaction with their love and avoid any bad ones. I'm not sure what his abilities are though (certainly related to a cuttlefish, but what exactly could it be), so perhaps it would be revealed in the future. Would be cool if it is actually in the current demo, it's just not something I knew or noticed. He is very playful towards Ariel while also being protective, coming off as the best friend kind of character, though it does also make me wonder how exactly Nalis fell in love with Ariel in the first place, as well as how demented his real personality is, considering that it seems he had some sort of plan that Ariel "ruined". It was very cool seeing Thaumos pretend to be Nalis in one of the break room scenes, since the sudden change of personality seems to have caught Nalis and Ariel off guard.

Overall, I think this game is a very solid start and has really interesting world building. I think that being able to see how the starfish disease affects the rest of the plot and how exactly the two yanderes Nalis and Thaumo ended up in this position of falling in love with Ariel. The character designs and artwork are all very great and I love the small customization that you can add to the UI. I think it could go one step further and maybe make the UI more marine themed? I dunno, just a thought. If you are interested in this game, please come and check it out.

[alexandraisyes]

i’ve been thinking about dark sun for a while now so i’m dropping my thoughts into your ask box

when dark sun was first introduced i took ONE look at that mf and went “this man is def schizoid.”

i’m gonna dump the dsm criteria for szpd in here real quick

DSM-5 Criteria

- A pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:

1. Neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family.

2. Almost always chooses solitary activities.

3. Has little, if any, interest in having intimate experiences with another person. (note: i changed the wording from sexual to intimate here because it can be seen as an attempt to pathologize asexuality, and that’s not very cool of the DSM)

4. Takes pleasure in few, if any, activities.

5. Lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives.

6. Appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of others.

7. Shows emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened affectivity.

disclaimer here, considering the recent lore on dark sun, i don’t think he’s Entirely Schizoid anymore, but he def has Some Traits. I’ll mostly just be talking about my earlier thoughts on him before all the shit with Ruin, Nexus, and Eclipse happened

when he was first introduced (and through some of his subsequent interactions) i could SMELL the apathy and anhedonia on this bitch. i mean LOOK at this man

dark sun was obviously Very Detached and seemed unbothered by his solitude/overall Lack of Social Relationships, in fact i think he preferred it

i can’t say anything about him enjoying any activities (even with current lore) (which in it of itself might say something about him) i’m not sure if this guy truly Enjoys anything he does, he seems quite apathetic to it all

him lacking close confidents is. kind of self explanatory, he was very much Alone in his dimension (moon does not count, i’m not sure if that guy was even functional). his indifference is also self explanatory i think

i already mentioned his Detachment, but he definitely experiences flattened activity, i don’t think we’ve ever seen him sound/be remotely emotional

he also does appear to experience some level of grandiosity/superiority complex, which is actually something that can be experienced with SZPD (not to be confused with grandiosity in NPD)

for SZPD, they may experience grandiosity as a defense mechanism. it should be noted that people with SZPD who display these behaviors may not believe they are a “great” person. rather it’s a mask to protect themselves. think of it as a means to maintain their independence (avoid being “controlled”) or cover up their own emotional inavailability.

here’s a tumblr post with some screenshots about SZPD & grandiosity (from a book about SZPD) that you may find useful: https://hauntedselves.tumblr.com/post/715822672943202304/schizoid-defences-omnipotence-and-grandiosity

now, does dark sun genuinely believe he’s great/superior? honestly idk LMAO if anyone has any idea lmk

ANYWAYS, this is probably really jumbled (rip) but i tried my best. i’m just a guy with szpd who thinks it’s Really Neat when characters display symptoms of a disorder i have

i hope you enjoyed my Thoughts 🐐

Hi and thanks for the ask! And it actually makes a lot of sense as to why you would think he has ScPD considering it's commonly mixed up with ASPD by the general public.

Firstly, I think it's important to recognize that ScPD is a Cluster A disorder, and ASPD (his canon diagnosis) is a Cluster B disorder. The two clusters have similar but different criteria and generalized behaviors.

Both disorders involve difficulties in social interactions. ScPD individuals have discomfort in close relationships and may exhibit eccentric behaviors, while those with ASPD may disregard others' rights and engage in manipulative or deceitful behavior. People with ScPD may exhibit paranoid thoughts and suspiciousness, which can superficially resemble the manipulative and distrustful behaviors seen in ASPD.

ScPD is characterized by eccentric behavior, odd beliefs, and social anxiety. In contrast, ASPD involves a lack of empathy, disregard for social norms, and manipulative or anti-social behavior. Individuals with ScPD often behave oddly due to cognitive distortions and discomfort in social situations, not intending harm. Those with ASPD often act with intentional disregard for others' rights and may engage in harmful behavior without remorse.

Mental health professionals use structured diagnostic tools and criteria (like those in the DSM-5) to distinguish between these disorders accurately. This process includes detailed interviews, psychological assessments, and consideration of the individual's history and behavior patterns. This second part is especially important because if you look at the DSM-5 criteria a lot of behaviors are generalized and therefore a lot of different specific behaviors get glossed over. This is how I ended up with an autism diagnosis (I am not autistic in the slightest) and almost got shackled with a BPD diagnosis too because the people diagnosing me weren't taking the time to figure out what I was actually like and listening to the general behaviors.

Misunderstanding can occur in non-clinical settings due to a lack of detailed knowledge about the specific features of each disorder. The term "personality disorder" itself can lead to confusion, as people might assume all personality disorders have similar characteristics. Media often portrays individuals with personality disorders in a sensationalized manner. For example, characters with ASPD are frequently depicted in media as violent criminals or masterminds, while those with SCPD might be shown as eccentric loners or “weirdos.” These portrayals lack the nuance of real-life experiences and can lead to stereotypical views that do not accurately represent the spectrum of symptoms or the daily challenges faced by individuals with these disorders.

Some symptoms can appear similar across different personality disorders, leading to confusion. For instance, both ASPD and SCPD can involve social difficulties, but for very different reasons. Without a thorough understanding of the specific criteria for each disorder, people might conflate the two or misinterpret behaviors.

I think it's important to remember that as far as canon goes, he was labeled with ASPD from the get-go, and they have been extremely consistent with portraying ASPD traits in his character. However, as far as fanon goes, do whatever you want bro. I'm in full support of having headcanons and such.

As far as superiority, survey says yes. However, not in the sense of grandiosity that comes with arrogance or the belief that one is better than others which is commonly associated with disorders like NPD and ScPD, as well as others. I actually talked about what it's like for someone with ASPD/low empathy in this regard and I'll go ahead and grab that.

Fourthly, as someone who believes themself to be both superior and inferior of their peers at most all times, but never an equal, as well as having experience with other's who are similar to myself in nature, I will have to debunk that last statement entirely. You cannot feel superior to something if you do not understand it, because how else are you able to make that judgement. Most often people who genuinely know that they are above their peers understand their peers more than their peers understand themselves, and it is not a snobbish, arrogant superiority, but rather a knowledge, deep and lonesome in nature, that you will be lucky to chance upon another who can match your own understanding. It is not a cruel, vindictive behavior, but rather the turn of pages and the avoidance of others because they exhaust you by being overly concerned with things that you know have no real importance. People around you are tedious at worst, and amusing at best. There is a difference between genuinely being superior and being casted in this knowledge that is fact, and considering yourself better than another person. More often than not those who are genuinely above others in their understanding are the ones who are most aware that they are then rendered as less than, for they can no longer comfortably exist among their peers, and as humans are social creatures, one who cannot do such at ease are cast aside by the crowds as well. It creates both a hermit and a pariah out of a being.

This specific snippet was from a debate about Gemini having low empathy but also applies to characters (and people) with ASPD.

Also thank you for coming in here to share! I think you raise a lot of good points that would have been extremely relevant and informative, and still are extremely informative. Maybe not as relevant however since we already know that Helios is canonically ASPD, haha. However, it was so nice to hear your thoughts and about you're experiences (indirectly), so thank you so much for sharing (again)!

[eradicatetehnormal]

I'm Dying Over Here

The 14 Days With You dev has spoiled me. There's so much content for the game and so much to learn about Rendacted through their posts. Meanwhile, the Symptoms of Deceit demo is SO SHORT and the dev barely has any asks. I just URHGEIHGIHIEHGGIHIHGHGHGHG.

[amberedcorpse]

@malefikant brought wine!

"To live for eternety. All the things you can do! The opportunity! To learn. To understand. To get answers…" Grating behavior. His for him and vice versa. Who appreciated being talked to so aggravatingly and who enjoyed being bothered when having a bad day? The truth was, Alexander did not mean to be the fuel for negative emotions (although well knowing that his presence alone had them growing, regrettably). Intentions were meant-well. Felix' state of existing was a curious conundrum he merely wanted to understand. "Why are dwarves so short but carve their tunnels so tall? Do you think if anything is possible, it is still possible for anything to be impossible?" Grating, surely. That seemingly ever-present hint of a smile that had his mouth subtly crescend, faintly curved. Meant genuinely as it could be meant to mock, to tease. Perhaps. Maybe. "I will help", he hums. "What can one catch that is not thrown?" A pause, then a soft laugh. "A cold! See? A day lived, an answer learned. It is not so bad, is it?" and as if to offer peace and ask forgiveness for his playful deceit (he really was just teasing. or was he?) pulled forth from underneath the thin leathery fabric of his overcoat a corked wine bottle. His smile widened. "To your health."

Learn what knowledge? Answers to which questions? 

A twinge broke through the anger like a knife thrust through both of his temples. He could’ve sworn the blade was real then and not another one of his symptoms, slicing his gray matter into a wet pulp. Both hands quickly clawed the sides of his head to wrench the specter from his skull, but found nothing more than his hair and his flesh still intact. 

And still he listened to their incessant babbling, forced to by the very clarity of his blessing, too conscious even if he were on the verge of bleeding out. No hope for escape, not even the relief of a coma. But if looks could kill this mortal wouldn’t be saved. 

His dearest shadow, the god nestled inside and out of him, let out a boisterous laugh. A low roll, the rush of sound before an earthquake, answered by the yowling of a dozen cats in the distance. They loved a good joke at his expense. He was their fool on strings, set on the stage to perform a mockery of life and be justly ridiculed in turn. Yet as the witch pulled out the dark bottle of wine both of them reared at attention. All of his muscles tensed. 

“Give me that!sweet and pretty creature, sweet kisses for you.” Felix pushed forward and snatched the wine from their trickster’s grasp, savagely wrestling the cork with his teeth. Then after a moment of fruitless struggle, he sneered and let out a rough, feline cry. 

“Ugh! Do you have a corkscrew hidden in there as well?Do you enjoy torturing him?” 

[tamblrtrain]

feel like someone's said this already but jimmy absolutely feels like he's cluster b. i'm saying this from a semi-detached pov bc i've not talked to anyone i knew for sure was cluster b but from listening to. a lot of theramintrees. and also given jimmy's larger than life personality he really bridges on being cluster b.

i get anybody saying he has a sort of superiority/inferiority complex because he absolutely does. but it's so drastic that it really does border on cluster b. specifically i feel like it's aspd but npd and bpd can be argued.

i'm going to reiterate that i do not know anybody with diagnosed aspd nor am i a psychologist or psychiatrist. i also do not want to portray the idea that i hate cluster b people. i just hate jimmy who i think exhibits cluster b symptoms. i'm also a fucking nerd up at midnight. and i'm flipping between tumblr and a wikipedia tab abt aspd so there's that. yapping under the cut.

hoo boy okay. this is really complicated. first off looking at the diagnosis bit of the wikipedia article where they cite the dsm, jimmy fits under more than enough traits (the dsm lists 7 and requires at least three be present)

failure to conform to social norms and laws: this one is the biggest stretch and i can't really cite anything in the game for it, but if you find something that genuinely isn't a stretch, i'd love to see it.

deceitfulness: genuinely look at him and tell me this doesn't fit. he tricked daisuke several times to his gain and daisuke's loss every fucking time. spiked cocktail? yep. the fucking vent? jesus christ.

exhibiting impulsivity or failing to plan ahead: man he fucking crashed the tulpar because he didn't wanna deal with the consequences of his actions. he forced himself onto anya and then nuked the ship because he forgot things happen after you do things.

irritability and aggressiveness: anya. curly. swansea. genuinely there are too many instances for me to name one. he assaults curly while administering the painkillers. he yells at anya for daring to ask him to give curly painkillers. the whole 'shoot swansea so you don't fucking die' sequence. there's so much i'm going to be sick.

reckless behavior that disregards the safety of others: crashing the fucking tulpar!

irresponsibility: one of the major themes in mouthwashing is taking responsibility and the way jimmy goes about doing that is genuinely horrible.

lack of remorse after hurting or mistreating another person: do i even need to explain this? he doesn't spare any thoughts for anya. he thinks of her as a fucking womb and nothing else. do you call that remorse? i fucking don't.

now. i don't know shit about jimmy's childhood but just considering 6 of 7 are already exhibited well enough it's kinda easy to see. it's impossible to know for sure, but jimmy's behavior is well enough argument in my mind. you can absolutely disagree with this ofc, i'm just saying what i think. and you can argue about jimmy being something completely different, i'd love to hear it.

personally, though, this is just my take on him. i think he's likely to have aspd. this will not affect the way i write him, this is just me trying to understand his character a lil more. if you have different thoughts or even just want to explain, please yap to me, it'll help me string together my thoughts better. yapping over

[blubushie]

you have aspd? youve never mentioned it before

I've never mentioned it purely because the internet isn't entitled to every last bit of my medical or psychiatric information, but yes. I was diagnosed with ASPD, suspected nomadic subtype (though I also express some paranoia-related malevolent traits) when I was 18.

My determining symptoms were (better be thankful for this cuz I had to get my fucken paperwork out):

"Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviours" I got in fights a lot in high school, I wagged school, I frequently ran away from home even after being threatened with gaol time if I continued, and I was suspended a lot for being late--being late to things specifically is a middle ground because "being late" is also an ADHD thing but at least now I have a complex about Never Being Late To Anything.

"Deceitfulness, as indicated by use of aliases" 9/10 times if someone asks me my name I'm giving them a fake name in case I was in trouble for something. I still do this. Covers my back. Once I stop being strangers with someone they get Blu or my legal.

"Impulsivity or inability to plan ahead" I'm great at making plans even though it's hard to stick to them. I'm very impulsive though.

"Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults" It's specifically repeated physical fights (and verbal arguments with my parents). I don't typically start fights but I do end them. That said my relationship with my parents is much better now that I don't live with my mum.

"Reckless disregard for safety of self" It's specifically disregard for my own safety. Though it was noted that I was "highly sympathetic" to the safety of others. (I will drive recklessly on a dirt track by myself but I am a highly vigilant driver on common roads.)

"Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt or mistreated another." This one's one that my therapist wasn't sure on because my mood fluctuates so much. There's times I won't feel remorse in the moment but will feel remorse after, there's days I feel remorse for nothing and wake up with a mentality of "everyone is on my shit list" where the smallest fuck-up will set me off and I feel zero remorse after, and there's days where I'm constantly apologising for every little thing. We've approached the possibility of me being bipolar though, so it's possible that the remorse fluctuations are simply bipolar mania and depression working their cycle. However my therapist also mentioned that my perception of remorse might be skewed, because when I'm apologising for something I take on a "passive approach" so it seems less like I'm actually remorseful and more that I just don't want someone to be angry or upset with me. If you ask me, I feel bad for upsetting them so yeah, of course I'm gonna apologise. She was right about my passiveness though--a lot of times if I feel I've fucked up with someone, I'll continue being passive with them because I feel I owe it to them to let them be an arsehole to me. Anyhow, the jury's out on my lack of remorse, but what I'm confirmed to have is a "considerate lack of empathy." So that's neat. Also adding on it was hard for my therapist to figure this one out because I usually feel justified in the actions I take, and there's a difference between lack of remorse knowing you've hurt someone, and lack of remorse because you feel you were justified in your actions against or toward them, especially in cases of defending yourself. (For example, "I don't feel bad for hitting him because he knows I have CPTSD and I react violently to people startling me from behind, therefore it's not my fault and he knew the risk he was taking so I don't feel bad.") Apparently she couldn't get a straight answer out of me and I was "avoiding" the topic, so I'm written down as lack of remorse. Personally I'd argue against that cuz I feel a lot of remorse about a lot of things, it's just that often I feel I'm entirely justified in whatever I've done and therefore shouldn't feel bad about something.

The jury's also out on whether or not I have an addictive personality. Up until my diagnosis I'd been doing shrooms (I still do shrooms) but I used them responsibly as they're non-addictive. However I was expressing behavioural addictions like dermatophagia and dermatillomania for years (a habit I didn't break until two years ago), and trichotillomania when I was around 12, but my psychiatrist thought that all of these may have been a symptom of the OCD I'm suspected to have instead of my ASPD, or maybe a combination of both. While I've used addictive drugs, I practise harm reduction to prevent myself from becoming addicted. Alcoholism is the only legitimate addiction I've ever had, but apparently my sexual proclivities can be filed under reckless behaviour, so I'm really not doing myself any favours here. 😅

[traumatizedjaguar]

how do you tell if someone you love is a narcissist and what to do?

First I’m confused on why you’re asking this question and exactly what you are looking for? Some people have asked me bc they tell me they’re living with an abuser so that’s how I’m going to take your question…

If that’s the case and you have an abuser you’re living with and you can’t get away yet I don’t exactly have any good advice other than the usual we survivors always tell each other:

leave when it’s safest

keep everything low key and secret from your abusers such as passwords, accounts and users, jobs you’re working, etc.

Don’t leave papers with your passwords and usernames written down laying around your bedroom if you’re living with an abuser

!!! Lemme add: I used to write down on paper fake usernames and fake passwords and I’d leave it on my desk or in a drawer easy to find so my abusers wouldn’t know my actual accounts and passwords !!!

grey rock technique is always useful

And you can’t control how people perceive you when you’re being smear campaigned, so it’s best not to care about it and do your best with your life for yourself

Look for local DV shelters

Also do t leave journals or diaries laying around, I keep an online diary password locked

I’m posting a master-post soon about how to do your best living with abusers still in your life based on techniques and other things I’ve used to help myself deal with abusers. I’m almost done with it. It’s kind of based off one persons experience I.e. my own lol and everyone’s experience with abusers is unique. So some of what I say might not work for you, some will.

I can’t use words like narcissism on tumblr when talking about abusers, although about 6 of my abusers actually had NPD, ASPD, other stuff and Conduct Disorder (some were flying monkeys who abused me) and these disorders certainly impacted how they behaved with me (using fire to harm people, abusing animals, bullying, physical cruelty, sexually abusive both coercively and violently, excessive lying issues and manipulation, deceitfulness, justifying harming others, vandalism of property, conning, severe possessiveness and jealousy issues, lacking in remorse and care).

It’s common for psychological abusers to have “gangs” of others just like them/same personality and behaviors. Which is why you often see them together in numbers behind the scenes.

It’s best to use the word abuser or psychological abuser instead at least that’s what I do on my tumblr account as not to cause uproar. But you can still be honest about how their symptoms impacted you, as I still talk about it too.^

Idk if this person you’re referring to is someone abusive, someone you wish to keep in your life, or someone you’re just trying to help?

You can’t help abusers nor should you try, I’ve been there with all of my abusers and it’s a bad cycle to stay in. Don’t try to get them help if they’re abusive, just leave when you can. Grey Rock everyday. Please never try to stay and help an abuser.

——————————————

If they’re a loved one who isn’t an abuser (rarely have people asked me it this way ahhh):

Then it’s best to just bring up the disorder casually instead of accusatory.

Like say you’re interested in psychology and want to share what you’ve learned and you can go over the symptoms like, “such an interesting disorder I have been learning about!” And then go over the symptoms more so in depth with examples of how the symptoms can manifest and see if they start thinking about it as “huh I do that?” That way you don’t make it sound accusatory, but instead you are just casually talking about a subject!

That’s all I can come up with unless you have specific questions or specific needs? I’m not the best with advice but we’ll see hah

[fearofahumanplanet]

I wrote a little essay about Cluster B personality disorders a while ago, it was going to be in Serpents but probably isn't anymore and some people have asked me for it, so here it is in its own post (TW for discussion of ableism, ofc):

There are four Cluster B personality disorders – the supposedly “dramatic cluster”.

Antisocial personality disorder is defined in the DSM by a failure to conform to social norms and laws, indicated by repeatedly engaging in illegal activities; deceitfulness, indicated by continuously lying, using aliases, or conning others for personal gain and pleasure; exhibiting impulsivity or failing to plan ahead; irritability and aggressiveness, indicated by repeatedly getting into fights or physically assaulting others; reckless behaviors that disregard the safety of others; irresponsibility, indicated by repeatedly failing to consistently work or honor financial obligations; and a lack of remorse after hurting or mistreating another person.

What the DSM does not mention is the numb-to-missing emotions and chronic emptiness an antisocial person feels. What it does not mention is that almost all research of antisocial personality disorder has been conducted with convicted criminals – often violent. What the DSM does not disclose is its prejudice.

Borderline personality disorder is defined in the DSM by frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment; unstable and chaotic interpersonal relationships, often characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation, also known as “splitting”; markedly disturbed sense of identity and distorted self-image; impulsive and reckless behaviors (e.g., impulsive or uncontrollable spending, unsafe sex, substance use disorders, reckless driving, binge eating); recurrent suicidal ideation or self harm; rapidly shifting intense emotional dysregulation; chronic feelings of emptiness; inappropriate, intense anger that can be difficult to control; and transient, stress-related paranoid or severe dissociative symptoms.

What the DSM does not mention is that borderline is an outdated term meant to designate an individual as “borderline psychotic”. What the DSM does not mention is that doctors and arbiters with a tenth of the trauma as borderlines are trying to fold it into the C-PTSD diagnosis, shoving the “problem” under the bed. What the DSM does not disclose is its prejudice.

Histrionic personality disorder is defined in the DSM by being uncomfortable in situations in which s/he is not the center of attention; interaction with others often being characterized by inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior; displaying rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions; consistently using physical appearance to draw attention to oneself; having a style of speech that is excessively impressionistic and lacking in detail; showing self-dramatization, theatricality, and exaggerated expression of emotion; suggestibility, i.e., easily influenced by others or circumstances; and considering relationships to be more intimate than they actually are.

What the DSM does not mention is that the term “histrionic” is a reference to its near-exclusive diagnosis in supposedly “hysteric” and “dramatic” women from the Victorian era onward, another tool for oppression. What the DSM does not mention is that, just as the borderline diagnosis is almost exclusively given to women and the antisocial diagnosis is almost exclusively given to men, these diagnoses are used to do little more than persecute and put away “undesirable” extremes of gender norms. What the DSM does not disclose is its prejudice.

Narcissistic personality disorder is defined in the DSM by a grandiose sense of self-importance; preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love; believing that they are “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions); requiring excessive admiration; a sense of entitlement (unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with their expectations); being interpersonally exploitative (taking advantage of others to achieve their own ends); lacking empathy (unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others); often being envious of others or believing that others are envious of them; and showing arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.

What the DSM does not mention is that narcissists are debilitated perfectionists, often developing an elevated persona to make up for an insecurity beaten into them since childhood. What the DSM does not mention is that narcissists are not inherently abusive, instead choosing to emphasize their undesirable traits like every other Cluster B personality disorder’s criteria.

These disorders have much in common, but it is not drama. What the DSM refuses to mention, at every turn, is that these disorders almost always stem from intense, ongoing childhood and/or adulthood trauma. What the DSM never acknowledges is the suffering and anguish of the persons with these “defects”, instead focusing the criteria on the suffering of those who are not the patient in question. What the DSM does is encourage a culture of viewing traumatized individuals in need of care and help as psychopaths, sociopaths, mass murderers, and chronic abusers.

It is an accepted fact in our society that anyone with these disorders are born to be evil, born to be the criminal on your television, and that is an undisputed, immutable fact, and that those who have spent their entire lives suffering righteously deserve to suffer until the day they die.

What they don’t tell you is how rarely these diagnoses are dispensed, “sparing” sufferers from knowing the source of their stigmatization and what they can do to form healthier relationships. What they don’t tell you is that sufferers of these disorders are on an unofficial blacklist, to be treated and acknowledged only when absolutely necessary, as they are considered impossible to “cure”.

What they don’t tell you is how easy it is to suffer like this, to have your brain warped like this. The next psychopath to “safely” torture and abuse could be your sister. It could be your best friend. It could be your child.

It could be you, and when you don’t perform as expected after pain rewrites your code, you will learn what it is like to no longer be accepted as human.

It could be you, and you’ll learn how lonely and loveless a life we lead.

[missnobodymadness]

WARNING: This OC profile contains sensitive themes that aren't adviced for younger audiences, please, skip this post if you are under 18.

Below is Tirannia's profile, my Game of Thrones OC.

───── ⋆⋅ Tirannia⋅⋆ ─────

"For most, the sea is a frightening place, full of monsters and it's mysteries, but not for me; the sea is where I find inspiration and peace, for I aspire to be just as free and fierce as its waves”

General

Name: Tirannia Meaning: The one born to rule Date of Birth: 28, March Age: 28 Zodiac: Aries Gender: Female Pronouns: She/Her Sexuality: Homosexual Species: Human Music theme: Captain of my soul by Rita Redshoes Title(s): The Barren Misandrist Mother of the Sea Serpent Knight of the Fourteen Seas Status: Alive

Appearance

Height: 5’11” / 1,81m Weight:  Before escaping: 163lbs / 74kg; A year after:  194lbs / 88kg; Skin color: White Eye color: Blue Hair color: Auburn Hair length: Long Scars/Birth marks/Tattoos: A few scars on her face and body Body modification: None Other features: None

Relationships

Biological Family

Mother Unknown Tully female (Biological) Rohesia (Adoptive) Father Aerys II Targaryen Siblings Rhaegar Targaryen (Half-brother) Viserys Targaryen (Half-brother) Daenerys Targaryen (Half-sister) Partner None Children None Other family Jon Snow (Nephew) Unknown Tullys

Other relationships

Yara Greyjoy (Crush) Brienne Of Tarth (Temporary coach) Tyrion Lannister (Advisor and confidant) Sansa Stark (Respect but not friends post-ending) Arya Stark (Occasional ally/teamup post-ending) Samwell Tarly (The first man she bowed to) Jorah Mormont (Distrust)

Life & Occupation

Place of Birth Westeros Current place Essos (Before escaping) Nomad (After escaping) Westeros (While guarding Daenerys) Dragonstone and nomad (Current) House Targaryen x Tully bastard Occupation Sex Slave (Former) Pirate (After escaping) Queen’s Guard Sailor (Current) Affiliation Targaryen

Personality

Tirannia is a strong and independent woman, with a passion for the sea and combat. She is very good at hiding her fear and tends to be confrontational, even when she knows she won’t probably come out as the winner.

Positive traits

Courageous Self-sufficient Adventurous Resilient Adaptable

Negative traits

Distrustful Deceitful Resentful Violent May be intolerant around men

Likes Sea, sharks, travelling, swords and combat.

Dislikes Most men, slavery (especially sexual), snow.

Story

After the forced intercourse between Aerys II and an unknown female Tully, a homeless woman approached the Tully, trying to help her.

Feeling miserable, the Tully couldn’t help but feel embarrassed and quickly tried to push the homeless woman away, not wanting the news to spread, however, the homeless woman wasn’t intimidated by her reaction and assured her secrecy, desperate, the Tully finally accepted the help.

Eventually she found out that all the tea she had drunk that day wasn’t efficient when she started feeling the first symptoms of her pregnancy.

Feeling lost and too ashamed to admit she was abused and carrying the mad king children, she decided to look for the woman that once helped her. Their relationship had flourished into a beautiful friendship after the Tully came back to show her gratitude, finding her a place to stay and helping her with groceries.

She had no idea how she’d go through pregnancy without being noticed, however, she asked for her friend’s help once again and both agreed to a plan: once the children was born, the Tully would bring the baby to her and she would run to Essos and raise the baby as hers, that was the only way for her children to survive in case the truth came out.

She still didn’t know how she would get her friend on a ship but she would work on that and find a way, after all, there was nothing that money or favours couldn’t get.

The Tully isolated herself once her belly started to show up, using big coats and doing her best to hide it from curious eyes.

Eventually the day came and Tirannia was finally born, healthy and crying to the winds of the Winter.

Their plan was successful and they reached Essos a few weeks later, it wasn’t a easy life for them but eventually Tirannia started slowly grow up, until a tragedy happened, her adoptive mother got sick.

She was getting old and eventually ended up passing away months later while Tirannia did her best to help her by stealing food.

Tirannia was heartbroken and tried to survive on her own even though she was barely 10, getting quite the reputation as a thief that unfortunately came with a price: the price of vengeance.

She was violently ambushed by market sellers and then sold to a pleasure house where she lived for the next 10 years of her life until she was actually able to escape after deceiving a very important and regular customer.

Her life after escaping wasn’t easy, she was well known because of her bad reputation and eventually had to move.

Barely did she know that the truth had come out in Westeros months ago and with all the tension around Daenerys she was now being hunted down with a prize for her head; luckily for her, no one knew what she looked like and she didn’t share much in common with her father, taking way more after her mother who barely anyone knew.

Eventually she started to hear about it all around Essos as the prize was quite high and people kept coming up with conspiracies of who she may be, it took her some time to understand people were referring to her adoptive mother but all her doubts were gone when she finally heard her name.

She now knew she was the person they were looking for.

Curious about her family, she started adventuring and studying, making friends with sailors and later on used what she was taught at the pleasure house to once again deceive men to her own benefit, this time getting her own ship in return.

Her goal was to visit Dragonstone to connect with her origins and try to find more about herself and she did it.

Tirannia finds a mysterious semi-submerged cave at the island while exploring and an even more curious thing happened: She found something there, something round that looked like an egg.

She believed it to be some sort of a valuable egg from an aquatic creature and took it with her on her adventure for knowledge.

As one of the most desired sex slaves from her pleasure house, she found herself as wanted all around Essos and unfortunately she made the mistake of returning after finding out about her half-sister, she wanted to find her but was caught by surprise instead.

They took her back to the pleasure house, trading their catch for valuable favours but her suffering had barely begun.

Furious about her escape, the owner of the pleasure house severely punished her, not only with genital mutilation but also cold blood sterilization; little did he know that the egg he had just deemed as useless hours ago would celebrate all that carnage by hatching to the sound of her cries and the heat of her growing hatred towards men that burned like fire inside her.

“A life for a life”, that’s what she had heard and read several times about hatching dragon eggs, but what did it meant to her? That was when she stopped to realize she would never be able to generate life, it was an unwilling sacrifice but a sacrifice nonetheless.

When she finally gained her conscience back, she realized that the man who had so much power over her was gone, carbonized, right beside her, she felt a cold shiver on her belly, looked down and saw a small and very disproportionate dragon looking back at her, confuse, she took some time to realize she was finally free. Later on she finally finds her half-sister and pledge her loyalty to her, turning into one of her personal guards.

[msfbgraves]

Anon thinks I didn't explain myself very clearly, and for that I apologize.

What I meant was, I completely agree with you that the Cobra Kai show is a spiteful dig at all the values Karate Kid stood for, values I myself cherish. I share your frustrations both with it and with Johnny Lawrence fans.

But the way we feel watching Cobra Kai is also the way older generations felt watching Karate Kid. We feel, "this piece of media is disrespecting us and everything we stand for, so that someone 'undeserving' can get all the rewards!"

Older generations were pissed that a "loser" like Daniel LaRusso could win. Now we're pissed that a "thug" like Johnny Lawrence can win.

Our values are being torn down by media written by people who have no respect for us or anything we believe in. And that's what we did to older generations, by using the mass media to express our values while criticizing theirs.

The only thing that would potentially put a stop to the endless "cycle of spite" is if people walk away from fandom entirely, and we all just went back to enjoying media privately.

Hopefully I'll make my point clearer this time; Cobra Kai is a "symptom" of the problem, but not the "cause". The cause is fandom culture itself.

That would be a shame though, to completely stop discussing stories and other media? And I have no problem with popular media questioning my values, that's media doing its job, really.

There's loads of media out there that directly questions my values. New media, too. Yellowstone does on it on multiple levels. I've tried a few episodes and decided that everything about its worldview clashed with my own, that doesn't negate its validity to exist. I have the choice not to engage with it and in all fairness, it's not trying to be for me.

What The Karate Kid didn't do was claim to be the successor of Bridge on the River Kwai to retroactively show that somehow, Japanese Army guards have good sides too. That would have been a gross insult, because it wouldn't negate the bad behaviour, and would imply that the perpetrators merit sympathy while the victims, who have suffered enough, deserve to be discredited. And so they didn't. It would have been luring the audience for that film to TKK to slap them in the face. Would it have been impossible to tell that story? No. But whom would it help?

I would think that goes beyond critique and into hijacking. Nobody wants a story about Friedrich von Trapp coming to America and becoming a fascist. No one. That is not what the audience for that film wants or deserves. If you want to tell that story you'd better trust to tell on its merits and not pay Dame Julie Andrews a fortune to appear in "the sequel to The Sound of Music". That's not critique. That is both lazy and deceitful. Cobra Kai reassuring us to be true to the spirit of the original by getting the actors to pontificate about in what great hands the story was, is. That is straight up lying. If their story was good on its own they could have written about Johnny Lawless getting the better of that insufferable Mr. Miyagogo. It would have been pretty racist as a setup and I wouldn't have watched it but it wouldn't have forced me to alter the story in my head. Which is what these people have actively done for money.

If it were fandom I could have shrugged. If it were critique, I could have laughed. This is falsification and distortion and I don't believe that this is an inevitable thing. And when it does happen, by literally rewriting the text of Roald Dahl's books, people are rightly upset about that. And even then the question can be asked: are fewer people hurt by this, on average, or more? Because yes, it does happen in adaptions of Dracula, for one, but then the question remains: are fewer people hurt by this or more?

Celebrating Johnny Lawrence as written by bullies hurts a lot of people. And no, the original film did not come after bullies. No such thing as bad student. But Cobra Kai keeps coming after those who have already suffered. I can't abide it. Because it's not even new. It's vindictive and backwards for the 1980's, let alone now.

And if you're right, Nonnie and this is inevitable, I still won't stop protesting. Because some inevitable things are still wrong and should be called out.

No hate on you for your asks! I simply won't be swayed 🤭

[symptomsofdeceit]

Could we see one of those ‘understand my ship in 5 minutes’ charts for the boys?

This is very late 😅 but yes!! If anyone does end up filling these out I’d love to see them, so please use the # symptoms of deceit tag!

[luonae]

played symptoms of deceit a couple days ago and the concept of every character having an associated sea creature was really cool so ofc i had to make my own oc/mc! a sea bunny! i dont have a name for them bc i suck at names but yknow what i have? Lore. ok yapping (and the ship dynamic thing) under the cut because i really talk a Lot.

first of all like i said theyre a sea bunny because i love bunnies so the choice was very clear. their color scheme is entirely inspired by sea bunnies (black white yellow green orange are all sea bunny colors) and a lot of their design aspects like their freckles, fluffy hair, their eyes being dotted, blue blush just like thaumo etc. oh yeah also theyre nonbinary and use he/she/they pronouns all interchangeably. theyre pretty strongly connected to their associated animal but not that strongly.

since sea bunnies have short lifespans i made them chronically ill (theyd have met thaumo at the hospital). they were actually going to die young but thankfully survived, however they still have a really weak constitution and struggle a lot with anything that requires physical effort even simple things. their parents basically began neglecting them as soon as they had another child, leaving them at the hospital to keep them out of sight since they were "a burden." as a result, hes really insecure about burdening others especially because of his illness and weakness. he knows he needs to depend on others for help and hates it. this makes her really reserved and withdrawn, especially since she never had many friends and was even picked on by other kids her age when she was young. if anything, thaumo and the other kid were really her only actual friends as a child.

if i had to say their type, itd be someone they can trust (looks at thaumo and nalis... yeah good luck with that); someone who makes them feel safe and stable because theyre generally really insecure and have huge abandonment issues. she likes people who take care of her without making her feel like a burden but will simultaneously refuse to be vulnerable and ask for help unless she really trusts someone because shes scared of driving them away otherwise; so itd have to be someone who knows her well enough and is perceptive enough to offer help proactively. shes prone to fainting out of nowhere so i like to think that nalis constantly drops snacks at her desk to make sure she has something to eat out of concern for that. i think he would really really love nalis (whether platonically or not doesnt matter) because nalis feels reliable and has this familiar "big brother" vibe about him that makes him feel safe and comfortable. of course, hes also extremely fond of thaumo (thaumo shenanigans aside) because he was his first ever friend and he really cherishes him. so basically: i cant tell you who his favorite is. (i can tell you mine though. its thaumo.)

theyre kinda dense because they have like, no social skills, and so theyd kinda end up enabling the two manlosers love interests without realizing it. hed definitely be horrified when he catches thaumo killing people but he would try to rein thaumo in like a puppy, except he doesnt realize thaumo relishes the attention and hes probably not doing much to help the situation. she also would trust nalis almost blindly, and almost even make up his excuses for him, which just... makes the whole manipulation shit easier for him lol. shes just so socially inept and fond of the two that she doesnt know how to correctly handle the situations they put her in.

oh, by the way, the bunny plushie theyre holding is their most prized possession. it was a gift from their mom when they first got sent to the hospital to keep them company. they were scared of dying alone, so theyd always hold onto the bunny wherever they went, hoping the bunny would be there in their final moments. ofc even after they managed to survive they still held onto the bunny for years because its a comfort item for them. i think thaumo would be jealous of the damn plushie but he wouldnt dare ruin it because he witnessed firsthand just how important it is to them and he wouldnt wanna break their heart. oh and just like sea bunnies they can release toxins when threatened but they almost never do, especially not around thaumo or nalis because theyre scared to hurt them even more than theyre scared of them. they have a degree of poison resistance since they can absorb it for later use.

and heres the shipping thing

[lavender-teardroplettes]

🥺Hermit crab Si hermit crab Si hermit crab Si hermit crab Si hermit crab Si hermit crab-

Ahem. Anyway yes I’m the same anon that asked about Symptoms of Deceit before how could you tell lol /silly

Oh I’m also 🎀 anon btw

Hehehe I'll have to draw him out sometime soon! And just a lucky guess lol.

[bestworstcase]

ozpin’s positioning of salem as the divider specifically, in ideological opposition to his own stance that unity is the highest virtue and singular spiritual goal of mankind, is really interesting in light of how little salem seems to care about ‘dividing’ people as an end unto itself. for all the fretting the heroes do about the, as they see it, inescapable threat that salem might turn them against each other, salem herself only ever speaks of unity and division in the context of mocking ozma for his abysmal failure to actually cultivate the social conditions that would allow his ideological designs to succeed.

“when banded together, unified by a common enemy, [humans] are a noticeable threat; but divide them, place doubt into their minds, and any semblance of power they once had will wash away.” <- this is not salem gloating about her own MO. we’ve seen plenty of how salem operates by now. she cajoles, she threatens, she sends agents to infiltrate and sabotage her opponents, and when she’s ready, she strikes fast and hard to annihilate her targets. she takes advantage of whatever weaknesses she happens to find, including any in-fighting between her opponents, but she does not devote any special effort towards sowing discord where it doesn’t already exist.

every time someone new has been invited into ozpin’s cult—EVERY time—the first thing they ask is why don’t you tell everyone? if this is true, why doesn’t everybody know? and the answer, every time, is it would cause panic. we cannot cause panic.

AND THAT IS WHAT SALEM’S TALKING ABOUT. if you want people to stand united, give them an enemy. it is ozpin’s unwillingness to do this that makes his cause untenable; his lies, his lack of trust in even his closest allies, his compulsive secrecy, these are his fatal flaws because they are utterly corrosive to the social cohesion of his select few acolytes and starve him of hundreds, thousands of potential allies. salem—who once united entire kingdoms in rebellion against the creators of the cosmos precisely by persuading her allies to see the gods as existential enemies of humankind—sees in her opponents’ dysfunction and suspicion the consequences of ozma’s self-defeating refusal to do what’s necessary to achieve his ends. she is mocking him.

“your faith in mankind was not misplaced. if you had not buried me in conspiracy, if you had not clung so desperately to your lies, i could not have torn your pantomime of safety apart.” <- that’s what she’s saying.

there’s this fascinating little interplay here between ozma (who enshrines unity itself as virtue) blaming all division on salem’s machinations in conjunction with salem (to whom unity is an amoral social tool, if her politics in the lost fable and her mockery of ozma in the present are any indication) describing it as a mere symptom of his deceit and secrecy; and of course the narrative bears out her perspective as per usual by means of the kids’ growing disillusionment and eventual scorn as it becomes more and more clear that he is not going to stop lying to them. but what i’m thinking about tonight is how this contours lionheart’s defection in V5.

one of the first indicators of dysfunction within ozpin’s inner circle is the antagonism between ironwood and qrow, with barbs and thinly-veiled insinuations of betrayal exchanged in both directions. including this:

IRONWOOD: You've been out of contact for weeks! You can't just go dark like that in the field!

QROW: I'm not one of your special operatives, Jimmy!

[…]

Qrow: Oh! Oh, you know! Well, thank goodness I'm out there risking my life to keep you all informed!

Ironwood: (exhales) Qrow—

Qrow: Communication's a two-way street, pal. You see this? [brandishing his scroll] That's the SEND button.

WINTER: They had reason to assume you'd been compromised.

now this has a lot of implications to tease out for qrow and ironwood, their relationship with each other, and their respective positions and standing within the unspoken hierarchies of the inner circle, but the salient point of interest as it pertains to lionheart is that poor communication is a systemic issue within the group, not isolated to the friction between ironwood and qrow (and indeed based on their rapport later and ironwood’s genuine joy at seeing qrow again in V7, their friction here is likely less about personal dislike than it is the underlying group dynamics re: communication and trust). and we know this because it is also a point of contention in V5:

QROW: No, reckless is leaving one of the Relics completely unguarded. It's not checking in with Oz for ages!

LIONHEART: There was nothing to check in about before the fall of Beacon

note the lack of any righteous indignation on qrow’s part about communication being a ‘two way street’ this time. on a personal level this is somewhat hypocritical of him, but i think the different posture here hints at something deeper than simple hypocrisy; recall that in V3, qrow takes the stance that ironwood ‘turned his back’ on ozpin and their mutual sniping is bracketed by mutual accusations of disloyalty. “you fell out of contact” insinuates “you cannot be trusted” and, taking qrow’s retort into context with the fact that qrow has in fact been in communication with ozpin—we know this because we see ozpin receiving messages from him at the end of V1—and with the other things qrow says to and about ironwood in the same conversation, it comes across more as a backhanded way of saying that qrow left ironwood in the dark because he judged ironwood to be inadequately loyal to ozpin, evinced by ozpin’s apparent choice not to loop ironwood in and retroactively justified by his renegade decisions during the vytal festival. which is to say, i think there is a grain of internal consistency in qrow’s apparent hypocrisy here, if qrow thinks of his own communication as a privilege that must be earned through loyalty to ozpin and lionheart’s failure to communicate rendered him unworthy of that privilege just as ironwood’s refusal to toe the line did before.

anyway, the point is, the group dynamic around communication and information-sharing within ozpin’s inner circle is plainly toxic and, equally importantly, nobody involved seems to be self-aware of the dysfunction (least of all ozpin, who does not participate directly in these accusations whatsoever but also treats lionheart’s defection as a foregone conclusion throughout the entirety of V5). and i think this raises an interesting question about how this dynamic might have influenced lionheart’s decision-making after salem approached him.

if merely not reporting in for a few weeks invites this much suspicion and animosity from other members of the group—and if ozpin’s inner circle was as preoccupied with the danger of internal disagreement as rwbyjnor are now—then what sort of reception might lionheart have gotten if he told the others that salem approached him? particularly if he cracked in the heat of the moment and gave her the information she wanted or agreed to do her bidding? like, the baseline here is simmering distrust and deep anxiety over the possibility of betrayal; hardly a social environment that invites confidence for someone who is actually facing serious pressure to betray the group.

there’s also the secondary question of whether ozpin would have intervened to protect him at all, i think; he is, after all, scrupulously dedicated to secrecy and to maintaining the outward appearance of normalcy and consistently prioritizes that goal above everything else. it seems most likely to me that he would land on “stay put, change nothing, feed her crumbs of half-truths and false information” and that is not, um, a great situation for lionheart to get stuck in; but then there’s also ozpin’s paranoia and the dire threat salem poses to him because she could expose the lies he feeds his inner circle and i do wonder if he wouldn’t have. a more extreme reaction to hearing that salem decided to get chatty with one of his agents, like jumping straight to damage control freezing lionheart out of the group because he’s been compromised really doesn’t feel out of the realm of possibility.

anyway. there’s some layers here that really fascinate me. lionheart’s defection is in some ways very straightforward—salem terrorized him and he sold out his allies to save himself—but it also plays out over this, background radiation of distrust and latent hostility and after the dust settles, ozpin’s reaction to his betrayal—the choice to spin his death as a heroic sacrifice and his implicit expectation that the kids, too, will betray him eventually—is ultimately the final straw that destroys their trust in him and leads to ruby using the lamp. the apparent simplicity of salem’s involvement here plays against ozpin’s reductive and cynical assumption that betrayal is inevitable because salem is inevitably corruptive, the plain dysfunction evident in the way his inner circle engage with each other and the critical lack of reflection or self-evaluation once lionheart’s treachery comes to light; and the simple answer of salem’s corruptive influence is perhaps not as simple as ozpin would evidently like it to be, because underpinning lionheart’s treachery is the rapid disintegration of the kids’ willingness to trust ozpin directly because of his behavior. the dysfunction of the old guard likewise originated with him—their distrust in each other is fostered by his ethos of secrecy and conspiracy, and ironwood accurately senses that ozpin is hiding things from them just as yang does—and salem’s coercion of lionheart didn’t happen in a vacuum.

“you never met the man he was before salem found him”—but who was he when salem found him? the implication ozpin makes is that lionheart was courageous and noble before salem sank her claws into him, but this elides the circumstances in which that encounter happened; his isolation, his place in a secretive organization whose social dynamics were corrosive to trust and mutual support, the cracks already there for her to pick away at until he crumbled. lionheart went radio silent and nobody thought to check in until they needed something from him.

[sharpth1ng]

So Billy is obviously autistic, it explains his ‘odd’ behavior. Stu is s walking ADHD stereotype and it’s awesome. Have you ever heard of ASPD? If you have, do you think that Billy or Stu’s behavior could be explained by autism/adhd and ASPD?

You’ve unlocked one of my other special interests, my degree is in psych! This is going to be really long, sorry.

So ASPD (anti social personality disorder for anyone who’s not familiar) is really complicated to diagnose along with autism and ADHD, and the way this is done for differential diagnosis is that you would diagnose Autism or ADHD first and if there are still enough symptoms left over to diagnose ASPD then you would do that.

It’s actually pretty rare to have both diagnosed by a qualified professional (unfortunately there’s a lot of diagnosis of personality disorders given without proper assessment, you’re supposed to observe someone for MONTHS in multiple settings and getting reports from other people before giving that kind of diagnosis but lots of people will be slapped with them after getting a criminal charge or having a night in a psych hospital and being observed for like a maximum of 1 week).

But the reason it’s rare to diagnose both is that they share a lot of features, and personality disorders are rare and develope in the late teens/adulthood, so if the symptoms are present before then it makes more sense to diagnose ADHD / autism and behavioural issues. You can definitely be diagnosed with both, but it’s not common with proper diagnostic procedures.

Partly the answer to your question depends on when you’re asking, because ASPD can’t actually be diagnosed before the age of 18. But let’s consider Billy through the ASPD criteria (this is simplified but it’s basically this:)

1. Failure to conform to social norms can be explained by autism, a lot of autistic people end up with criminal records basically from having meltdowns in the wrong places, it’s fucked. But also prior to Maureen’s murder it doesn’t seem like he has any offences, so at least at 18 this isn’t so likely to be considered a pattern since 15.✖️

*This is one someone might disagree with me on but generally with ASPD you’re looking at a wide variety of significantly less organized criminal behaviour that’s more impulsive and more frequent, and from what we know all of his crimes are part of the same plan. Murder is very bad but he also waits like a year to do it. He also hides it very well for the first murder.

2. Deceitfulness ☑️

3. Billy is not impulsive, he’s a chronic planner.✖️

4. Irritability and physical outbursts can be explained by autism + trauma ✖️

5. Reckless disregard for one’s own safety and the safety of others- this is complicated. Not sure we can say he has a reckless disregard for his own safety. Yes, he lets himself get stabbed but he planned that in advance and did enough research to know where to go for the highest chance of survival. He’s sadistic, but I wouldn’t call his sadism reckless, it’s intentional. I’m going to say ✖️ to this but someone else might disagree.

6. Consistent irresponsibility- he’s pulling off looking like a good boy enough before the killings, I would say he’s probably not dropping the ball all over the place on this stuff, he’s at least keeping it up enough for appearances sake and this is generally pretty obvious for ASPD ✖️

7. Lack of remorse- this is also complicated as it deals with empathy, which is complicated in autism. Some of us have very low cognitive and/or affective empathy, which can look like this. I would say Billy probably has fairly high cognitive empathy because he’s a competent manipulator. The other factor here is that he’s still able to form emotional connections at least with his mom if not with Stu (in debaser he definitely has an emotional connection with Stu). Ill give him this though ☑️

So to sum that all up in the end I guess I wouldn’t diagnose him with both Autism and ASPD because he only fits 2 rather than 3 of the features when you consider what autism + trauma accounts for.

I wasn’t actually sure what I thought before I went through the criteria, but I think his behaviour is better explained as autism and conduct issues. That said someone else might interpret it differently.

Sorry this is so long I didn’t mean to write an essay 😂and I didn’t even talk about Stu oops. But I would say he definitely fits some of the criteria but 1, 3,4,5 and 6 can all be explained by ADHD, so I probably wouldn’t diagnose him with both either. They’re both on the cusp though, they both fit at least 2 of the criteria for ASPD even accounting for ADHD and Autism.

All of that said, if you looked at them later in life I think the ASPD diagnosis is more likely because I think they would start to establish the kind of patterns you’re generally looking for in ASPD with criteria #1.

Also I just want to be cautious here- Autism and ADHD are not similar to ASPD but they have some common features that can present in similar ways depending on the person and situation.

[ghostfacetheballfondler]

We should be cautious with custard b people when they have a famous streak of getting vindictive with people (we often perceive as innocent where they see a guilty party is a hallmark of ASPD; yes getting revenge for strange reasons -without logic- or believing someone is guilty where majority of normal people would perceive that person as innocent is a HALLMARK of ASPD and psychopathy).

And the symptoms: manipulative, deceitful, rash, manipulate for self benefit and entertainment, blameshifting, argumentative/starting arguments, law breaking, perceiving self as better than everyone else, acting above the laws and rules, having a streak of poor and abusive relationships, exploitative behaviors.

Autism has to do with sensory issues and not understanding social ques, ADHD has to do with attention and focus problems, these disorders are NOT the same disorders. Pedophiliac disorder for example had to do with wanting to rape children. Some disorders CAN be dangerous and it’s not stigma to recognize that.

hi! where did i ever say that every single person with a cluster b personality disorder is a perfect little angel who can do no wrong?

and why is it that when asked "don't be ableist to people with personality disorders" you try to justify your false belief of certain disorders being dangerous?

no mental disorder, yes even paraphilic disorders, are inherently dangerous. can certain disorders impact decision making and behavior? yes. does that mean they deserve the stigma of being the "bad person disorder that you shouldn't trust"? fuck no.

and yes it is stigma to call some mental disorders dangerous. use better phrasing next time and maybe people will be willing to listen.