#its just dehumanizing for those considered low functioning

[alpha-male-podcast]

I hate the terms high and low functioning.

we can’t function better, we can just hide our dysfunction more

[tales-from-nocturnaliss]

I saw a post on @birdofmay's blog that got me thinking. I actually started a reblog, to (thankfully!) realize in time my brain had skipped over several points of theirs in its utter joy at seeing autism explained in a visual way that made perfect sense to us.

So, because I do feel the need to talk about this from my own perspective, I'm sharing only the relevant part of the original blog - but linking to it so you can read on what autism, specifically 'severe' autism as it's labeled, feels like for OP.

Taken from @birdofmay's blog:

""I just saw one of those "autism isn't linear, it's a spectrum" posts again and one picture was that how much the traits are pronounced could look like this:

And yeah, exactly, to use the outdated terms "high functioning" and "low functioning" - this individual here would be considered high functioning. Some traits are very pronounced and in fact very disabling. That's why "high functioning" dismisses the struggles of those autistics.

But they are considered high functioning because there are many traits that aren't that pronounced.""

This is the part my brain lasered on. Here's the thing: as I've stated before, I got my diagnosis back in January, at age 42. Since then, I did a hyperfast catch-up, and one part of it was, somehow, to get a bit involved on Tumblr. To put it simply: I discovered just how wide and often disabling a spectrum autism is.

And I started feeling like a fraud. Like I didn't deserve to call myself 'autistic' because I wasn't suffering 'enough' compared to people labeled, say, low-functioning. From that black-and-white comparison model, I was more of a high-functioning autistic. It's true I can shower with ease (except for the physical fatigue), cook, dress, etc etc do 'normal' things from being raised in a 'normal' way because hell if anyone knew something was actually inherently different with me. Different times. I had depression back in the '90s, when it wasn't even perceived as a disease - or as real! So autism? All we saw of that was kids (male kids!) hitting themselves and rocking and making shrill sounds and, forgive the terminology, not seeming human. At least, from a 'normal' vantage point. Which is certainly what made me believe, at first, that I could not possibly be autistic. Chatting with a friend and reading up on autism in women drastically changed this decrepit, dehumanizing perspective I am ashamed was still my brain's comprehension of autism a mere year ago.

Talking with people who function differently/'worse' than me did as well. To a point where I started to dismiss my own struggles since they're not 'bad/disabling enough'.

Gods. Fuck that mentality of mine.

And this circles me back to OP's words: That's why "high functioning" dismisses the struggles of those autistics. Gods. EXACTLY. And I'm not gonna compare myself to someone who can't articulate vocally, or who struggles to walk a straight line, and whose good days are certainly worse than my bad days. That's not what this post is about.

It's about not dismissing yourself, wherever on that spectrum you are. And, perhaps more importantly, not comparing yourself (and your pain!) to someone else's. Because all that achieves is hurt. And we already suffer enough from our own brains being fickle, stubborn, self-sabotaging assholes.

As an interesting exercise, I placed myself on every point on this wheel (copying this image purely to have the colour descriptions, check the original blog for the black line's explanation)

Motor skills: few to no issues

Perception: way too acute

Sensory: sharp lights and noises are pain; worse/sensitive to more on bad days

Language: few to no issues except during meltdowns

Executive Function: complicated most of the time

Social, because I feel this is missing: limited anxiety, able to talk to strangers, but exhausting

I consider myself well-functional overall. I have few needs, but they are deep needs - like avoiding getting too much light in, avoiding people (especially chatty ones), avoiding noisy environments... because this is pain to me. Pain that can lead to meltdown that can and will lead to outward aggression. I thus don't know what functioning category I'm in.

And that is where the wheel feels like the best explanation possible for me - a spectrum that is so wide and broad and perceived so differently from person to person. And why my brain quickly obsessed with sharing it and here we are now. Hopefully with me not doing a rude thing again XD but the information feels more important than the risk, if only because:

I feel it needs known, by all, on the spectrum or not, that autism is in fact a very wide spectrum, and that all on it, whether officially diagnosed or not, are not only welcome with their struggles and successes, but that their perceptions of their own lives are VALID.

And I'm telling myself that too. Stop comparing! Stop thinking that, because you're 'lucky' enough to be able to talk and write and do stuff, that your voice isn't valid. In fact, it's rude towards those who can't because, unwittingly, and unwillingly I'll give myself that but now that I've come across the thought I feel horrible about it, it's somehow placing yourself above them. Or them beneath you. And that's not what a spectrum is about. Even though I grasp, and I'm sure others grasp this as well towards themselves, we are conditioned to believe we aren't worth as much once we deviate from the norm.

Well, fuck the norm. Even 'autistic' 'norms'.

There really is no norm. Only experiences, perceptions, values. Surely other things I can't come up with now. But the bottom line is: everyone, ND or not, suffers in their own way. Some more, some less. And we shouldn't invalidate our struggles because someone, in our perception, 'suffers more'. Just like we can't invalidate their suffering because, in our perception... well, our perception doesn't understand their suffering.

I feel breathless. Too many thoughts. Realizations. Desire for tolerance and understanding. Lil' bit of anxiety too, posting this. Maybe I shouldn't. But ah well. Openness and all that shit. Screw tags. Too personal.

[gunshou]

headpiece filled with straw

prompt: bound, you have to let go fandom: MCU, Captain America (movies) warnings: electrocution, restraints, dehumanizing language .  .  .  .  . read it on AO3 .  .  .  .  .

The Asset stares uncomprehendingly as its handler assures him that it’s done well and its performance over time has justified the enormous cost of his upkeep. Its cheek still stings from the slap and it tries to process the conversation with circuits that seem to be shorting out; the words keep looping away from him without sense or form, lost in a blizzard of white stained with red. He — it narrows pale eyes as if that will help it focus, but in his mind he hears again that noise: Bucky?  Who is Bucky? 

He recognizes the syllables as a name, though he’s never met anyone called that before. He doesn’t think handlers have ever attached that alias to it, although it knows much is lost to the fog of its useless backup processes. It usually bears no name at all, simply ‘the Asset’ or ‘the Soldier.’ Maybe long ago, in a much colder place before they reset its language parameters to English, when he could be trusted to complete infiltration missions alone without suffering systemic logic glitches. Before 1991. Before what should have been a simple extermination and extraction shook something loose inside his malfunctioning brain.

More importantly, who is the man on the bridge? 

Those eyes, a blue shade he sees only in dreams, lips he somehow knows are soft and warm, the puzzled and heartbroken expression that even now makes his chest ache with the desire to comfort —

No. The Asset has no desires save being good for its handlers. And this is not what being good looks like. Focus.

“I need you to do it one last time,” Pierce says, and the Asset’s gaze sharpens. One last time. The realization hits him with a force the minimal strength of the Secretary’s arm could not hope to match. He has not been good enough.  His handler has seen through the Asset’s attempts to regulate his behavior, the Secretary knows that the Soldier’s programming developed a fatal error glitch that cannot be bypassed. His usefulness is almost at an end. Panic sets in and his lips compress into a thin line to hold back a whine of protest.

“But I knew him,” it murmurs plaintively, trying one last time in its confusion to explain where the blame lies with the limited amount of noise it’s allowed to make. It did the best it could, it completed its mission, this malfunction is not its fault and there are no other Winter Soldiers to replace it so please don’t decommission the Fist of Hydra, the greatest weapon ever created, please don’t —

He doesn’t want to be rendered obsolete, put back into cryo and then stored in a warehouse somewhere for endless decades like the other treasures horded by Hydra over the years. He wants to be used. Otherwise all the pain and terror that curl around the corners of his mind like ghostly tentacles reaching into every part of his consciousness…they matter for nothing.

The man on the bridge. This is happening because of him. 

It turns its gaze to Pierce, a wordless plea in its rounded blue eyes and the upwards pull of its brows. Its mouth curves into a tiny moue before it can stop itself. Pierce is one of the smartest of its handlers, Pierce knows well that the instability glitch cannot be blamed on the Asset. Pierce fixes it with a cold stare that stings more than the slap: Pierce knows and does not care.

“Wipe him,” the Secretary orders.

Helplessly, the Asset’s gaze flicks to the Commander, who appears stunned. He too understands the implications of one last time. The technicians push the Asset back into the Chair, and he cannot halt the fear that steals over him and becomes visible on his face. He considers fighting as he sometimes still does, even though he knows the guards will shoot him into incapacitation and then wipe him anyway. If Hydra will only grant him one last mission, he might as well make them pay for all the blood and agony. His muscles tense. 

The man on the bridge flashes into his head again.

The wipe will take the man on the bridge away.

The Asset will be clean again, rebooted, systems running properly. It might still have a chance to escape decommissioning if it performs this mission flawlessly. It glances again at the Commander, searching for a hint of direction, but Rumlow just looks uncomfortable. The Asset has to make a decision.

Fortunately, it’s empowered to make mission-related choices. It licks its lips and opens its mouth obediently, although out of reflex it glares at the technician, a silent warning to place only the mouthguard between its teeth lest the technician lose a finger or worse. If the Asset faces long-term storage, it has no reason to accept the games the techs sometimes play with it in the confused and vulnerable moments after a wipe. It has no incentive to remain compliant beyond its programming, and no one has spoken the words to enforce obedience.

The other technician flicks a switch and the Chair hums to life, powerful electromagnetic clamps slamming shut over the Asset’s arms. The left hand clamp delivers a low-level electronic pulse to its stronger arm, rerouting the impulses that control gross motor function servos so that it cannot lift the heavy limb, although the fingers can still clench into a tight fist. The cuff on the right side, lined with needles, inject chemical opiates into its blood to render it euphoric for the procedure, although they don’t abate its fear. It jerks, hyperventilating as the drugs take hold and the magnetic pulses thrum into its metal, reverberating through its meat.

The man on the bridge. His eyes had been so kind. So confused and hopeful. Longing, even, although the Asset couldn’t begin to guess for what.

The Asset tips its head back as the halo descends and locks into place over its left eye and cheek. Its muscles bunch and flex as its wrists rattle against the clamps that bind it still. It tries to relax and submit, but its body remembers pain and its breath wheezes through clamped teeth.

A field of white. Blood staining the ground. Pain and loss that cripples him, the overwhelming need to get up to climb up to reach up to 

Steve

The halo crackles to life. Electricity bursts into his brain with the speed and force of a freight train, and the Asset instinctively tries his best to hold on, to retain something, anything of the moments that begin to scatter like windblown snow.

His grip slips, he has to let go, and the Asset falls screaming again into static white and agony.

[holden-norgorov]

Why Katniss Everdeen is definitely an INTJ.

Due to the lack of general consensus regarding The Hunger Games main character��s personality type, I’ve decided to provide an analysis aimed at demonstrating that Katniss Everdeen is indeed an INTJ, and at narrowing down why she often gets mistyped by a huge bunch of the Internet – which is, mostly, because people who are not so familiar with the theory tend to type characters formulating their thesis on dichotomies rather than cognitive functions, and without knowledge regarding how cognitive functions work and interact with each other.

Disclaimer: I’ll preface this entire post by clarifying that I’m talking about the literary character, not the cinematic one. Katniss, as portrayed in the movies, seems to be inevitably too expressive than how she is described in the books. Overall, Jennifer Lawrence’s performance it’s still a great adaptation of the character, that’s unquestioned; but acting itself is a discipline entirely focused on conveying emotional resonance through body language, and, as opposed to what happens with literature, emotions have to be seen on screen rather than just read on paper. This means that the actress herself, in order to give the audience a glimpse about what’s happening inside the character she is portraying, sometimes has to show it through expressive reactions and behaviors – a scheme that, repeated periodically, ends up making it look like Katniss might rely on Fe as a response mechanism to the external world (which is not the case). So, keep in mind that I’m talking about the character as described in the original, literary work.

In this post, I’m going to thoroughly focus on the main response that the MBTI community provided to the character, and confute the almost-taken-for-granted idea that she is a Sensor, which always gets thrown in without any argumentative and explanatory back-up to support it. Just because Katniss is skilled at archery, it doesn’t mean that she uses sensory lens to interpret the whole world. Aside from INTJ, Katniss gets often typed as an ISTP or an ISTJ, and despite understanding where both these typing choices come from, they are both flawed perception on her for different reasons.

Why Katniss is not an ISTP:

ISTPs lead with Ti (Introverted Thinking) and consequently have Fe (Extraverted Feeling) as their bottom function. This means that their first extraverted function is a Perceiving one (Se) and that they extravert their feeling side rather than their thinking side in social circumstances. IxTPs, despite being extremely logical, tend to keep their rational side hidden to others and, in relating to them, are more able to grasp the collective harmony of the group and exude a certain ability to conform to it. Ti/Fe users are less comfortable with displaying Ti’s internal, complex logical framework when dealing with people, but mingle with them exploiting their own – usually untrained, but still accessible – Fe persona. ISTPs in particular, having Se and Fe as their extraverted functions, can be quite good in going with the flow and at the same time understanding the collective needs and adjusting to them. In the inside, ISTPs may feel lonely in the middle of a crowd – mainly because of their internal “library” of logical, organized facts rarely shared externally – but on the outside, they appear to be quite well-adjusted, in tune with the environment and striving to be accepted by or to please others, other than, to a lesser extent, being expressive of how they feel with their attitudes (faces, gestures, etc). Dominant Ti users, leading with an internalized judging function, are also prone to indulge in overthinking and self-questioning dynamics every time new external data seem to contradict one of their internally-processed conclusions. They always look for logical inconsistencies between what they grasp from the outside and what they have previously deemed as logically accurate in the inside. Ti is naturally prone to engage in constant re-evaluations of logical facts, often generating self-doubt, and to increasingly complicate the reasoning upon them: it’s a theoretical way of thinking.

ISTPs have Se (Extraverted Sensing) as their Auxiliary function. This makes them externally chaotic despite their inner organized system. Extraverted Sensing, as the first extraverted function in a person, makes Se users thrive in the unpredictable. Se users gain energy in highly-stimulated scenarios where they can react freely and spontaneously to their environment: they shine when they get to be (physically) responsive and reactive to the world, and avoid being pro-active and trying to actively shape their path with previous decision-making procedures, because to them that feels debilitating. A perfect example of an ISTP female character is Fa Mulan, from the Disney Classic “Mulan” (1997): she is constantly overthinking and questioning herself because she experiences her world trying to grasp out of it what makes sense according to her internal logical system (Ti); she is at her best whenever improvisation and reactive skills are required in the physical realm (Se) and consistent with her Ti’s conclusions; she has deep problems within herself because she is unable to please her family (low Fe), and because of this she spends her entire life up to the movie events without knowing who she actually is (Fi as the demon function). ISTPs’ Ti/Se combination can provide them with a natural and exceptional expertise in practical matters without requiring the average amount of effort, as seen when Mulan is able to succeed when other soldiers can’t despite her lack of previous training. They are theoretical thinkers and spontaneous doers at the same time, which makes them ultimately practical.

Katniss, on the other hand, is neither theoretical in her way of thinking nor particularly spontaneous in her way of doing things. It’s stated countless times in the books that she is completely oblivious and/or careless of the collective social harmony that encompasses her. She always stands out as being cold, standoffish, uncompromising and individualistic in her way of socializing. She has a tendency to keep her emotional side hidden, to engage in unexpressive attitudes – the so-called “resting bitch face” – and relate to others through blunt rationality as a protective wall, which is the exact opposite of how a Ti/Fe user behaves (especially with strangers). Katniss extraverts her thinking side with others, which makes her a Te/Fi user. She fails again and again to realize how social codes actually work and is particularly inept when it comes to decrypt social behaviors, to the point that she spends years of her life without realizing Madge Undersee considered her as a friend all along. It’s extremely clear that she filters her interactions via a Te-based way of interpreting reality. The main difference between Ti and Te stands in the location of the logical framework: Ti users develop it internally, Te users externally. Te users, having this “library” of logical facts outside themselves, project its organization on the external environment and are able to modify it without incurring in overthinking and self-questioning dynamics. Whereas Ti is prone to over-complicate reasoning to look for internalized inconsistencies, Te is prone to over-simplify it to look for a quick external conclusion – hence why, outwardly, Te users appear more confident and decisive than Ti users. Te makes up for a pragmatical way of thinking, and Katniss is as pragmatical as they come.

“Besides, if he wants kids, Gale won’t have any trouble finding a wife. He’s good-looking, he’s strong enough to handle the work in the mines, and he can hunt. You can tell by the way the girls whisper about him when he walks by in school that they want him. It makes me jealous but not for the reason people would think. Good hunting partners are hard to find.”

In fact, she is so pragmatical that in Catching Fire she coldly rationalizes a way to kill everyone in order to ensure Peeta’s survival and she shows no difficulty in conceptualizing human murders as anything more than common animal killings. She shows a natural ability to detach herself from the physical world and conceptualize people, things and actions in symbolic structures, dehumanizing them (Ni). Katniss is also not an extraverted perceiver. She is controlled, collected and measured in how she acts. Everything she does is deliberate, is purposeful. Her resourcefulness comes from her open-minded mental disposition and her quick intuitive ability to select possibilities, other than from her rebellious tendencies; it doesn’t come from being spontaneous or gaining energy in the here and now. In fact, Katniss is a meticulous and constant mental planner on a daily basis, as I will explain later on. She uses Se as a fairly developed inferior function, which she had to learn how to properly hone for survival purposes. But on a cognitive perspective, it’s quite clear it’s not something she naturally uses to perceive reality.

It’s so obvious that people tend to type Katniss as an ISTP purely using dichotomies – she’s Introverted, she is a Thinker, and she is skilled at archery so she has to be a perceiving Sensor, right? Labeling her as an ISTP steams from an extremely superficial reading and interpretation of the character. Katniss is not a Perceiver, nor is she a Ti/Fe user in any way.

Why Katniss is not an ISTJ:

Unlike ISTPs, ISTJs express judgments in the external world through a Te/Fi approach, which suits Katniss more accurately – so, it’s actually much easier to understand why Katniss might be mistyped for an ISTJ. The difference between ISTJs and INTJs lies in how they perceive information. ISTJs are Si users, and Si as a dominant function acts as a collector of sensory data in their concrete, practical essence. Si users have excellent memory regarding details of the physical world. Those details are internalized in the ISTJs’ world-building process according to their factual qualities, not their symbolic ones. This is why they develop an attachment to the past: because for them, experience is not something to analyze and conceptualize, but to preserve and estimate in the concrete, physical effects it had on them. Si users place the value of something in its empirical form; Ni users place it in its idealistic one. Ni users, instead, conceptualize any experience they absorb. They tend to quickly forget the concrete aspect of it and save the conceptual pattern behind it. Ni as a dominant function acts as a collector of intuitive patterns in their abstract form. Those patterns, once fully accessible and narrowed down, are gathered inside the INTJ who, from that moment on, has immediate access to it every time it is recognized in new sensory elements, even ones that superficially can seem completely unrelated (this is why Ni users are said to experience sudden “aha!” moments out of nowhere: because they witnessed the recurrence of a symbolic pattern they previously stored and are now able to access it without being conscious of the process). Si users are uncomfortable with abstract thinking and devalue the intuitive ramifications steaming from the source material (low Ne); Ni users are uncomfortable with practical details and devalue the raw source material that provided intuitive patterns (low Se).

For an ISTJ, every experience is an irreplaceable cornerstone that should be preserved and valued (eyes to the past); for an INTJ, every experience is a possible source of new patterns to be exploited from that moment on (eyes to the future). As a consequence, ISTJs develop a strong trust in established methods, rules and hierarchies, because they perceive them in their concrete efficiency and recognize their merits in letting them live their experiences; INTJs, instead, develop a complementary strong distrust in them, because they perceive them in what they conceptually represent and place value in the patterns underneath, i.e. what let them analyze their experiences.

That said, Katniss Everdeen is an INTJ mostly mistyped as an ISTx because she had to grow up in an environment and live through childhood circumstances that forced her to temporarily suffocate her Ni in order to develop her Se earlier than usual. But she is not a Sensor, and her Ni lens are still predominant in the narrative.

One of the biggest differences between ISTJs and INTJs is the relationship they have with authority and power. Si users see their own value as people in the role they play in the community they belong to; they tend to be the keepers of the established order because it’s what gives them their sense of identity and belonging. And it’s not only about the “overarching” order of things, but also the one that is ever-present even in the smallest of things. They value conformism and respect to those rules, because they made their experiences possible – and those experiences are what their worldview is based upon. Ni users, instead, don’t place their value in a community system, and see themselves as above or independent to its rules. How many times did you happen to read “INTJs are considered the most independent of all the types”? This is why. It’s about mental independence, which is also the source of subversive behaviors and rebellious attitudes, that are very common in Ni users and extremely atypical in Si ones. And Katniss is an extremely independent person under every aspect. Due to this sense of identity projected in their social role, Si user are also exceptionally prone to master social codes and conventions, while Katniss proves to be extremely deficient in this regard, showing a deep inability to grasp the basic norms of human collective interactions despite having been forced to engage in them every day at school and at work for presumably years. Her intuitive nature is particularly obvious in this case, because it shows how she is naturally able to detach herself from the sensory realm and its details, engaging in it exclusively through Te’s pragmatical lens – every interaction becomes a practical exchange, almost an economic proposition with cause-and-effect regulations. But at the same time, she constantly associates people’s actions with symbols (Ni).

“To this day, I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark, and the bread that gave me hope, and the dandelion that reminded me that I was not doomed. And more than once, I have turned in the school hallway and caught his eyes trained on me, only to quickly flit away. I feel like I owe him something, and I hate owing people.”

In order to properly grasp the difference, let’s draw a comparison with another famous ISTJ female character, who also happens to be an archer as well: Susan Pevensie, from The Chronicles of Narnia. Susan shares with Katniss her exterior stubborn, resolute attitude through which she conveys her rationalism, and her pragmatical approach in dealing with unfamiliar situations (Te); she is also emotionally introverted and very much in tone with her own personal values (Fi). Other than that, Susan is also extremely well-mannered and receptive of conventional rules, almost narrow-minded in her persistence in following “by-the-book” etiquette and always incredibly skeptical in evaluating idealistic possibilities when facing the variation of her reality. Her core worldview revolves around the sensory experiences she internalizes, and her own identity gets defined by the rules and the codes she strives to follow by herself, and that she constantly reminds others to follow as well. After the Pevensies are brought away from their mother because of the war, Susan decides to self-impose on herself the social role of “new mother” of her siblings in order to find her new purpose and maintain a pro-active control on her life. Katniss has to do a similar thing after her father’s death, but out of survival purposes because of her mother’s fall into depression. Katniss commits to the process in an INTJ fashion, using her Ni to visualize the conceptual goal (her family’s survival) and rationalizing the most efficient and optimized way to reach it through Te; Susan, on the other hand, commits to it out of no life-or-death obligation, but simply because she feels the need to in order to perceive her identity as validated (Si). She is repetitively dismissive of unconventional situations and finds comfort in a constant tendency to refuge in tried-and-true methods. Both as a Queen in Narnia (before aging back to be a teenager again) and as a growing adult in our world, Susan ends up revolving her life around the sensory experiences she collects; in Narnia she learns to grow accustomed to local rituals and becomes widely known for engaging in traditional lifestyles, whereas in our world she gains new concrete experiences that lead her to “forget” (or more likely, deem as less important) her childhood ones in Narnia. The more her social importance increases here, the more Narnia becomes an idealized fantasy in her mind, i.e. something to be devaluated (low Ne).

Another example of a female Te/Si user is Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, who is an ESTJ. Hermione’s entire knowledge system is completely dependent on a methodical text-book approach of assimilation of notions, which she rarely question or devaluate in any way; outside of what is learnt by the tried-and-true methods, she is discovered to be quite skeptical of the unfamiliar and less comfortable with (but not incapable of) exploring unknown imaginative possibilities (tertiary Ne). She is also extremely reluctant to break the rules, especially in early evolutionary stages, when her third function has yet to develop.

On the contrary, the first thing we learn about Katniss is that she inherited by her father the unconventional way of thinking and the reluctance to be subordinated by the system. She recalls how since she was a child, she had a tendency to engage in subversive language which could have been taken as rebellious if she had been heard by Peacekeepers. Her mother soon took corrective methods and Katniss learnt to keep her observations to herself. But despite that, her subversive nature still remains the core of who she is and will become during the saga. One of Katniss’s most recurrent traits is, indeed, subverting either governmental rules or societal expectations. She does that all the time, and in every way possible. She starts by hunting illegally in prohibited territory and selling the wild game to marketers, showing an independent nature which gains the admiration of her peers; then she volunteers as a tribute to replace her sister (something unprecedented in her district); she rebels against the lack of attention from the Gamemakers in her training evaluation session, intimidating them by showing her skills through insubordination, and gaining the highest score; she rebels against Seneca Crane’s last-minute-rearrangement of the Game’s rules by suggesting she and Peeta ingest the berries at the same time and commit suicide, already foreseeing the successful outcome of her strategy (Ni/Te); she shows insubordinate behavior in front of President Snow himself; she hangs Seneca Crane in front of the Gamemakers; she appears completely unable to obey basic orders that she deems as pointless and dismisses any kind of authority to the point that President Coin targets her rebellious temperament as her most-defining trait and the one she should conquer to be accepted in the Mockingjay mission; in District 13, she never follows social protocol nor she attends half of the events she should partake in. So, not only doesn’t she place her identity value in her community, but she also despises the idea of becoming part of a community at all, because there’s nothing she craves the most than independence, and relying on others is perceived by her as a weakness. This is quite the norm for INTJs.  

Katniss’s archery talent per se is also completely unrelated to how she perceives the world and to her cognitive preferences, because it was something she was forced to develop; but the way she engages in it is very telling. Many INTJs have interests in pursuing solitary physical activities, and their dominant Ni pushes them to apply their perfectionistic tendencies in everything they try to accomplish. This is why Katniss grows to master that practice, becoming an excellent archer (Gale describes her as “the best one he knows”). INTJs can be so obsessed with achieving excellence that they could be reluctant to show their interests, hobbies or activities at all before being sure to hone them completely. Katniss was basically forced to engage in hunting sessions to provide for her family, and this helped her in developing her inferior Se and learning to adjust to the environment around her. Nevertheless, her hunting style is still methodical, calculating and based on strategy tactics and mind games she plays to foresee her prey’s reactions and behaviors and win over them. She is never shown to gain energy and engage in it with the chaotic flexibility that high Se-users would show (as, for instance, Mulan constantly does in the Chinese Army): she is still precise, deliberate and focused in reaching an established goal, i.e. anticipating her opponents. It’s almost like she is playing chess with her preys. She conceptualizes her sensory activities and her body becomes a tool for her mind to use. Being a solitary activity in a solitary environment, Katniss is soon able to thrive because it gives her the opportunity to detach from the real world outside the woods and retreat safely in her mind, where she can perceive herself in control.

Another main trait associable with Ni/Te users is their strategic thinking. Ni’s ability to extract conceptual patterns from sensory elements and Te’s pragmatical approach in decompressing them give INTJs natural access to a pro-active way of interpreting reality and a strong desire to control it in a structured, foreseeable manner. INTJs naturally develop an automatic mental disposition to strategize every action they make in order to them to fit their vision and help them in reaching their desired goals. And it’s not just about the Big Strategies, or the Mastermind Plans: it’s a mental framework and it applies on a day to day basis, sometimes in the most insignificant things, often subconsciously and in extremely basic forms. We get to experience Katniss’s interaction with the outside world during the books, and she constantly strategizes. The first thing she thinks about after volunteering to save her sister (a very Fi-driven act for “the only person she is sure she loves”) is that crying as a response mechanism must be avoided because it would be caught by the Square’s cameras, and that she must not indulge in it even after the Reaping ceremony ends, because there will also be cameras in the train station after the tributes get to give their farewells. This by itself, as spontaneous as she makes it look like, is still a calculating way of thinking. She is used to foresee and evaluate strategically the long-term effects of her actions and choices. When she gets to see her family before leaving, she is distant and controlling: she doesn’t waste time in emotional matters, but straight-forwardly communicates a planning schedule of things to do in order for them to be able to survive without her.

She promises to her sister Prim that she will try to win – which now becomes her Goal – and strictly after that she already shows to be comfortable with the idea of dehumanizing other people to reach that goal. She is so calculating and detached from the sensory rules that she actually believes Peeta Mellark’s spontaneous emotional reaction to be a strategy for the Games, which indirectly underlines that it’s something she would do just for strategy purposes – just like we discover former victor Johanna Mason (ENTJ) did. When the night before the Games Peeta (ENFP) shares with her his open, individualistic unwillingness to be a slave to the Capitol (Ne/Fi), Katniss’s skeptical attitude and strategic focus on what she needs to do to accomplish her Goal makes her keep her inner perspective (Ni/Fi) hidden from him and use Te to provide pragmatical feed-back.

“Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to… to show the Capitol they don’t own me. That I’m more than just a piece in their Games,” says Peeta. “But you’re not,” I say. “None of us are. That’s how the Games work.” “Okay, but within that framework, there’s still you, there’s still me,” he insists. “Don’t you see?” “A little. Only... no offense, but who cares, Peeta?” I say. “I do. I mean, what else am I allowed to care about at this point?” he asks angrily. He’s locked those blue eyes on mine now, demanding an answer. I take a step back. “Care about what Haymitch said. About staying alive.” Peeta smiles at me, sad and mocking. “Okay. Thanks for the tip, sweetheart.” It’s like a slap in the face. His use of Haymitch’s patronizing endearment. “Look, if you want to spend the last hours of your life planning some noble death in the arena, that’s your choice. I want to spend mine in District Twelve.” “Wouldn’t surprise me if you do,” says Peeta. “Give my mother my best when you make it back, will you?” “Count on it,” I say. Then I turn and leave the roof.

Inside the Arena, she avoids human interactions as far as possible, trying to maintain an independence of mind that allows her to function properly. This solitude allows her to focus on her primary Goal so much that she actually forgets she is supposed to be playing a love story with Peeta – something she thinks makes her appear weak. Once she is tracked down by the Favorites, she quickly comes up with a plan able to keep her safe and endanger them at the same time: she climbs a tree, knowing she has much more expertise of any of them in doing so and already picturing them trying to throw their weapons at her once she is out of their reach, hoping to be able to collect one – showing a futuristic and utilitarian approach to the situation.

When dealing with people, she is very selective, trusts her guts and is almost never wrong (Ni). She makes an alliance with Rue here, and shows sympathy for Mags, Beetee and Wiress in the next book, highly distrusting every other tribute. She comes up with another plan involving setting up several fires to distract the Favorites and destroying their supplies by exploiting the underground mines near the Cornucopia. When Seneca Crane announces that there can be two victors from the same district, Katniss decides to incorporate Peeta’s survival in her ultimate Goal, and from that moment she is determined to find him, protect him and carry out their romance as efficiently as she can.

The most emblematic moment where Katniss’s INTJness truly stands out in the first book is at the end, when the rules are changed back and just one victor is allowed. Peeta gets acceptive of the inevitable consequences that it entails, but Katniss can’t find satisfaction in it because she feels like she has been played. She managed to adapt to the Games’ logic and reach both her Goals – keeping her promise to Prim and allowing Peeta to survive with her. And suddenly she has to sacrifice one of them, even though she conquered both? This tyrannical twist aimed at controlling her is what definitely triggers her into attacking the whole system, finding a way to make the Capitol conform to what she wants and not the other way around. If there’s something INTJs hate, that it’s being manipulated and stripped of control. With the trick of the berries, she knows she is subverting the rules and that consequences will arise, but she first and foremost is confident that she will get what she wants out of it. And she does.

Katniss’s dominant Ni (Introverted Intuition) is also evident, through the whole saga, in the constant symbolical associations she makes between objects/people and images/concepts. In her mind, Prim is her “little duck”, Peeta is “the boy with the bread”, the soup in the Arena becomes a linguistic code to decrypt from Haymitch, Rue herself becomes a shadow of her sister, the Mockingjay pin becomes a self-projecting symbol, Snow’s white rose becomes a hidden form of communication between them. She sees items as conceptual containers.

In the second book, she gets visited by President Snow and she studies him, analyzing his behavior and persona and carefully weighting his words.

Perhaps it is the newness of the house or the shock of seeing him or the mutual understanding that he could have me killed in a second that makes me feel like the intruder. As if this is his home and I’m the uninvited party. So I don’t welcome him or offer him a chair. I don’t say anything. In fact, I treat him as if he’s a real snake, the venomous kind. I stand motionless, my eyes locked on him, considering plans of retreat. “I think we’ll make this whole situation a lot simpler by agreeing not to lie to each other,” he says. “What do you think?” I think my tongue has frozen and speech will be impossible, so I surprise myself by answering back in a steady voice, “Yes, I think that would save time.”

During the Victory Tour, despite Snow’s warning against her rebellious tendencies, Katniss shows once again her inability to stick to established procedures and etiquettes by coming up with an individualistic speech about Rue (Fi) that leads to an uprising and public execution. Back in her district, she keeps breaking the rules and attending the woods despite knowing that the President keeps his eyes on her movements.

As soon as the Quarter Quell is announced and the tributes are selected, Katniss decides that this time her long-term Goal will solely be Peeta’s survival, and from now on she takes her ultimate sacrifice for granted in her mental schemes, as a necessary step. Because of her Ni, Katniss develops a curiosity for Beetee (INTP) and Wiress’s intellectual approach to their training session and learns about force fields. Katniss’s archery training here is extremely probative of the mindset she enters into when hunting. She refuges inside her own head and lets her intuition overtake her body and dictate her movements in a harmonious and efficient continuum. She doesn’t lose herself in the environment (high Se), but in her own mind (high Ni), alienating herself from her physical surroundings to the point that she fails to realize she is being observed by everyone and doesn’t catch them applauding her until she sees them after her session is completed.

This time, in the Arena, she ends up being much more assertive – mainly because she has already made peace with the fact that she is not going to get out alive. This certainty is what ultimately suffocates her humanity and lets her approach the competition in a much more cold-blooded way – if she has come to have no problem dying to save Peeta, she surely has no problem killing everyone else as well to do it. She openly discusses with him about betrayal strategies and spends the majority of the time conjecturing ways to kill her temporary allies. She is so intensely focused (in a Ni tunnel-vision fashion) on her own scheme that she fails to notice than a much greater plan, arranged by the rebels, is being implemented by some of the other tributes which involves keeping her alive. Once she realizes that something is wrong with the way they are behaving, she comes up with another plan: she exploits the operative system of the Arena combined with her newly-acquired ability to recognize holes in force fields to throw an electrified arrow into the weak spot of the Arena’s one and provoke the explosion of the entire structure. Katniss shows to be attracted not only to the pragmatical efficiency of the gesture (Te), but to its symbolical connotations as well (Ni), which seem to convey an open declaration of war to Snow himself.

In the third book, she goes back to crave her independence from others, estranging herself from the social activities held in District 13 and developing an intuitive and instinctual distrust in President Coin as an authority figure. She decides to accept her propaganda role as the Mockingjay, symbol of the Revolution, just because it’s the only way to ensure the progression of the rebellious strikes and therefore to aim at Snow’s ultimate defeat – in a not-so-different way from INTJs’ tendency to engage in leadership roles once they conclude it to be the only possible solution to ensure the highest efficiency of a system. In exchange of embracing the role, Katniss provides a list of demands to be accepted – including the claim of President Snow’s execution. This becomes her new Goal.

Having witnessed at first-hand Katniss’s insubordinate nature and fearing for it to become a serious problem, President Coin decides to include a brainwashed Peeta in the Mockingjay mission. Katniss realizes quite instantly that Coin could profit from her death and that she wants to use Peeta as a weapon to control her and potentially get rid of her. Her distrust of Coin increases rapidly, but she keeps being focused on her primary Goal – to the point that, after Boggs’s death and her taking charge of the team, she pretends to know about the existence of a secondary, back-up plan established by Coin and only shared with Boggs and herself aimed at infiltrating the Capitol and killing the President.

Nevertheless, one of the most impactful moments in all the saga happens when the reader gets to experience Katniss’s Ultimate Plan. After District 13 gives order to detonate two groups of bombs from hovercrafts bearing the Capitol seal resulting in a massive genocide of children and rebel medics – including Prim –, Katniss is able to foresee (Ni) Coin’s real intentions of generating an internal conflict in the enemy lines and therefore manages to rationalize the danger she represents for Panem’s future liberty. She realizes that, in order for the people to be ultimately free and for Prim’s death not to be in vain, she needs to find a way to get rid of both Snow and Coin at the same time, because Coin’s thirst for power steams from similar roots of Snow’s, and must be sedated as quickly as possible. So, she meticulously and carefully crafts a strategy to gain Coin’s ultimate trust and then betray it publicly.

Was it like this then? Seventy-five years or so ago? Did a group of people sit around and cast their votes on initiating the Hunger Games? Was there dissent? Did someone make a case for mercy that was beaten down by the calls for the deaths of the districts’ children? The scent of Snow’s rose curls up into my nose, down into my throat, squeezing it tight with despair. All those people I loved, dead, and we are discussing the next Hunger Games in an attempt to avoid wasting life. Nothing has changed. Nothing will ever change now. I weigh my options carefully, think everything through. Keeping my eyes on the rose, I say, “I vote yes . . . for Prim.” “Haymitch, it’s up to you,” says Coin. A furious Peeta hammers Haymitch with the atrocity he could become party to, but I can feel Haymitch watching me. This is the moment, then. When we find out exactly just how alike we are, and how much he truly understands me. “I’m with the Mockingjay,” he says. “Excellent. That carries the vote,” says Coin. “Now we really must take our places for the execution.” As she passes me, I hold up the glass with the rose. “Can you see that Snow’s wearing this? Just over his heart?” Coin smiles. “Of course. And I’ll make sure he knows about the Games.” “Thank you,” I say.

She manipulates her by pretending to agree at the establishment of new Hunger Games in Prim’s memoir while keeping her eyes fixed on Snow’s rose and mentally recalling their conversation in the previous book. Haymitch – who is probably an INTJ as well (with Se-grip problems), since Katniss spends the entire saga stating how alike they are – instantly understands Katniss’s plan and votes in her favor. By doing this, Katniss ultimately gains Coin’s trust, who has no reason now not to arm her and let her execute Snow in a public ceremony. Katniss manipulates Coin even more by making her think that giving him the white rose is an attempt to symbolize revenge, while it actually is a way for Katniss to re-awake in Snow the memory of their previous exchange. Katniss’s attachment to symbology here is extremely evident. When she finally gets to be in front of Snow, she states that he has nowhere to go, no allies left. There is no way for Snow to still be a threat ever again, regardless of her actually executing him in this instance. But on the other hand, now she is given the unique, unrepeatable possibility of erasing Coin’s threat as well. And she grabs it.

I feel the bow purring in my hand. Reach back and grasp the arrow. Position it, aim at the rose, but watch his face. He coughs and a bloody dribble runs down his chin. His tongue flicks over his puffy lips. I search his eyes for the slightest sign of anything, fear, remorse, anger. But there’s only the same look of amusement that ended our last conversation. It’s as if he’s speaking the words again. “Oh, my dear Miss Everdeen. I thought we had agreed not to lie to each other.” He’s right. We did. The point of my arrow shifts upward. I release the string. And President Coin collapses over the side of the balcony and plunges to the ground. Dead.

This execution is almost a by-the-book case of INTJ’s combination of strategic planning and the ability to foresee dangerous future outcomes and prevent them from happening. Katniss’s plan was supposed to end with her suicide, but soon after Coin’s death, Peeta is able to grasp her intentions and stop her in time. Katniss, having already calculated that she was going to be executed as well for Coin’s murder, loses her cool because the final step of her strategy has been prevented, and searches for Gale in the crowd hoping to be mercifully killed by him. But she isn’t. Eventually, she gets quarantined and the newly-established Paylor’s government decides to spare her.

Overall, I think it’s safe to say that the tendency to mistype Katniss as a Sensor steams from an approximative, superficial lecture of her character and the way she operates. People tend to place the “S” label upon her purely because she is an expert in a physical activity and think that is enough for her to be a Sensor – as if there are no Intuitives more than capable of mastering “sensory categories”, which is basically the same as implying that Sensors can not be able to develop a comfortable relationship with conceptual subjects. Typing characters basing personal assumptions on dichotomies and therefore discrediting cognitive functions is an extremely biased and inefficient procedure which leads to great misunderstandings. All it takes is to dive a little bit into the core nature of the character to get a proper picture of how said character perceives the world and engages with it. And with that in mind, Katniss Everdeen can be nothing else but an INTJ.

“To hear Delly describe it, I had next to no friends because I intimidated people by being so exceptional. Not true. I had next to no friends because I wasn’t friendly.”

[sburbian-sage]

Strifing Without Specibus: How To Weaponize Your Sylladex & Other Harming Implements

One’s Strife Specibus is one of the more important tools in the game. Defending from Underlings and PK’ers, facing down the final bosses and Unreal Heirs, fruitless sparring with your Guardians and Coplayers, and the time honored tradition of getting into dick-measuring contests with your friends, seeing who can make the coolest or most absurd method. Some people allocate their Specibus accidentally, but as their improvised weaponry grows on them, they “main” it, trying as hard as they can to keep using it in future sessions. Your average Player will use a variety of Strife Specubi, from typical weapons like bladekind, pistolkind, and hammerkind, to weird choices like bookkind, peprmillkind, or rulerkind (measuring sticks, not governing bodies). Some people choose theirs because they like it, some choose for versatility, and some choose for metagaming purposes.

Sometimes though, the Strife Specibus isn’t enough. You’ve got some wimpy kiddy scissors that just won’t cut it while an Ogre prepares to swing. You’ve got a lance, but a winged Imp flies out of reach. You’ve got enough mangrit to toss a dryer, which you conveniently have on-hand, but no dryerkind, and the strange abstracted game-y nature of reality thus prevents you from attacking with it. In such cases, instead of un-abstracting your Strife Deck for the purposes of tossing it on the floor and stepping on it, perhaps you should get good and learn how to weaponize your Sylladex.

We’ve all been there. We’re having trouble fighting things, so your smarmy know-it-all friend tells you “a hyuk hyuk why dont u fite with your sllyadex yuo fucking scrub” and then doesn’t tell you how to actually do it. So you flail around, then learn how to do it kind of, and then stop doing it and rely on your Strife Specibus. Then years later, someone with less experience than you is having trouble fighting things, so you tell them “a hyuk hyuk why dont u fite with your sllyadex yuo fucking scrub". With typos, because you’ve turned into a silly mspaint strawman comic man. And then you cry. It’s a vicious, dehumanizing cycle, and you probably want to punch that guy or yourself, but you can’t because you don’t have fistkind you fucking scrub. You also can’t throw stuff at him, because you learned the bare basics of Sylladex fighting so you’re very shitty at it. So I’m going to help you break that cycle, and teach you actual lessons of fighting with your Sylladex. That way, you can walk right up to that dude, then toss a bunch of cream pies at him, then watch him scream and cry like a silly mspaint strawman comic man. Then you can do it to your past self. Then go mad with the power of throwing things.

The Fundaments: How Do I Shot Web?

I wrote this section after all the others because I realized too late that some of you might not even know the basics of weaponizing your Sylladex. That’s sad and pathetic, but it’s not unlikely, and best to put it here now rather than get accused of putting the cart before the horse later. Basically, you know how if your Sylladex is full, if you captchalogue something else, it goes flying out at high speeds? This is the mechanic you are exploiting. Catchaloguing an item such that it ejects something you’re holding on. The following section will be divided into Taos (even more fundamentals) and Zens (more advanced tricks), because I read a book that did this once and I thought that was cool.

Also, you should know that Hope players will be better than you at this. [Eject] is a Hope-exclusive ability that automatically ejects something from their Sylladex, and it’s very easy to learn, and it completely removes half the challenge from weaponizing your Sylladex (that is, finding something to put into the thing). While you’re scrambling for rocks so you can launch your fridge, they’ll be launching fridges at a whim. If you’re not a Hope player, then do what everyone else does. Bitch about it and move on.

Tao of Sylladex Strife: Know Your Fetch Modus

If you’re going to be using your Sylladex to fight, know how it works. Even babies know how to pick stuff up, but sometimes babies get confused by how their particular Fetch Modus actually works. And maybe you’ll get confused even if you’re not a baby (read: teenager), particularly if you get dropped into a new Session and the guy whose place you’re taking is a hipster and decided to grab one of the most esoteric Fetch Modi known to man. So make sure, before you even THINK of mis-using your Sylladex for violent purposes, that you understand how it works. And check the back, because there might be settings.

Once you’ve done that, you need to re-learn it again. This time, understand how it works in combat. Particularly, how does it eject, and how can you use it? FIFO and FILO Sylladice will eject the earliest item. Hashmap ejects the item occupying the slot you’re attempting to fill. Tree doesn’t eject so much as stuff falls. Array is wonderful for inventory management (even though I prefer Index), but it ejects stuff randomly. Enabling the “detect collisions” setting also makes inventory management easier, but considerably slows down the speed at which you can weaponize your Sylladex. How long does it take to actually captchalogue items? Is it complicated, or unwieldy? When something gets ejected, how does it fly? It’s somewhat complex, re-assessing your understanding of your Sylladex, but some general tips are as follows.

Knowing what will eject is better than random ejection.

More space means more stockpiling, but it becomes harder to keep track of your stuff.

Less space means you know your inventory better, but you have less room to maneuver and can’t stockpile as well.

Turn off “detect collisions” if you want to use your Sylladex in battle.

Short and uncomplicated captchalogue mechanics are better.

Tao of Sylladex Strife: Know Your Inventory

Now that you understand how your Fetch Modus functions, you need to understand its contents. Your Sylladex will serve two functions. An inventory, and an arsenal. “Inventory” basically means “stuff for use in puzzles and alchemy”, “arsenal” means “stuff I will use to commit murder with”. Just as it’s good to have a Fetch Modus that can serve those two functions, it’s good to have a balanced inventory. Key items, and tossable junk items. It’s also important that you know what’s going to be used. Safely take out keys, and toss your dishwasher, not the Glass Orb of Not Softlocking The Game.

As for your arsenal, understand what does and doesn’t make an effective weapon. Straight razors and sharp and fly fast and long, but they’re small and might break. Fridges are big and heavy, so they’ll do a lot of damage, but also destroy the environment and have bad range. Make sure as shit you’re out of range of your impact bombs when you let them loose, and don’t toss garden gnomes if you’re trying to knock back a Giclops. While they fill the role of bullets (with the Sylladex as the gun), they’re more like specialized tools that are all used by hurling them at people you don’t like.

Tao of Sylladex Strife: Know Your Surroundings.

Understanding your battlefield is not only important in general warfare, it’s also important when considering your throwables. While most Players who stick to their guns (so to speak) will mainly traverse their Land only looking for that which is essential to winning the game, you need to traverse it while understanding it on two levels.

The first level is the Strategic Level. Understanding your Land as a whole, and how to utilize the TOYS (Tools Of Your Surroundings) within. If you find yourself low on Sylladex weapons, where you can stock up, and what will you be stocking up on? What’s the fastest route to those locations from where you are? Does a certain location have better weaponry for the specific foes you’ll face later on? Stuff like that.

The second level is the Tactical Level. This is understanding your immediate surroundings while in a fight. What items can you quickly get to? Which ones should be used for ejection, which are best for softening the enemy up, and which are best for dealing lethal blows? Is it at all possible to make new items, like smashing the tile floors or breaking a window and captchaloguing the ensuing debris?

It’s a bit difficult to give blanket lessons on this Tao, but it’s always keep an analytical eye. You should know where your TOYS are before you need them, lest you get caught with your pants down.

Zen of Sylladex Strife: Art of the Adventure Gamer

You could tag SBURB as a lot of games. AR MMO survival psychological action adventure with house sim elements. Early-access too, considering how shitty it is. But don’t forget the adventure part. Have you ever played those point-and-click adventure games like Monkey Island or Sam & Max, and been amused with how the protagonists will take completely random and sometimes absurd objects because they could be useful? Well stop smiling, because they’re always right and you need to start doing that too.

First of all, you should already have been doing that. SBURB is also a puzzle game, and not only can potentially any item help you with puzzles, but every item could be useful for Alchemy purposes. Well now you need to add “killing stuff” to the list of potential uses for every item. Diagnose yourself with severe kleptomania and start acting like it. Grab everything you can! Use everything on everything! Stack up on Captchalogue Cards! Seriously, they’re dirt cheap for the Alchemiter. And speaking of Alchemy...

Zen of Sylladex Strife: Alchemy Isn’t Just For Weapons

Everybody loves going down to their Alchemy Pad and making new weapons, new armor, new tools, and a whole lot of useless bullshit. It reminds them of the satisfaction of upgrading their equipment or buying a new level of gear in the other video games they’ve played. Those video games, however, also tend to teach you that upgrading your ammunition or spending money on special ammo is a waste of time. It is, but not necessarily in SBURB. While improvised weaponry for Sylladex fighting is comparable to ammo, the ease of Alchemy means that not only is is usually cheap to make “upgraded ammo”, but they can be pretty effective. For example, throwing a couch at someone will hurt. Steel nails are very easy to acquire. A bit of Grist and the || function later, and you’re throwing a steel couch at someone. Not to mention, like that couch, some ammo is easy to retrieve. So next time you settle down to celebrate Gristmas, consider loading your Sylladex with some harmful objects.

Zen of Sylladex Strife: Mod Your Modus

Now that you know you should know your Sylladex, you should begin experimenting with it. If you can, grab a Modus Control Deck and a couple of extra Fetch Modii. If not, then you could try Alchemy or perhaps programming. Mix-and-match modii until you have something stronger, then once you’re settled, get to understanding that. Try to find a way to circumvent the weaknesses of the one you’re currently using. It’s kind of like sitting down at a gun bench, except your gun should also be able to carry stuff effectively, and is infinitely more confusing to comprehend.

Speaking of the Modus Control Deck, remember that you can use it to change the Fetch Modus you’re currently using. It’s possible to change Fetch Modii manually, but I find the MCD is more elegant and simple. So it might be a good idea to have several Modii for several occasions, and use the one you think you’ll be needing. For example, use something Inventory-suited like Index when exploring, and when you’re expecting a fighter, switch to something Arsenal-suited like Fingerbands. Just remember to not displace the MCD, or you’ll be running around with the one you’re using forever.

Zen of Sylladex Strife: Fighting At Full Power

This is the Zen that makes you feel like a warrior. If you intend to fight with your Sylladex, you need to remember that it is one of at least two weapons at your disposal. You also have a Strife Specibus. You must use both if you want to truly succeed. Throw something heavy at a Giclops, then pepper him with bullets. When locking blades with a Lich, stun him with a surprise vase, then riposte. I once saw a guy with Hammerkind augment the swing of his sledge with a safe going at breakneck speed, so his strike went at terminal velocity and tore a Basilisk in half. You’re going to have to learn how your Strife Specibus factors into all of this, and probably practice, but by mixing conventional warfare with captchalogue warfare, you become significantly harder to predict, and much more deadly.

[lux-i-fer]

In your hell are there any animals besides that Something? Anything that could be considered a pet, of a sort? What about the general culture/society of the demons? Their bodies, are they all... exposed like Maze’s demon face? Kiddie demons?

Well we know that hell hounds are probably canon so those things are definitely down there. Although I’m not sure they classify as a pet. I see them as really only being loyal to Lucifer and just another citizen of hell. 

I think there’s definitely classes of demons and the upper classes of demons may take on the lower classes as their “pets.” I doubt it’s consensual but what’s a little dehumanization between demons right? I picture the class system working similarly to certain versions of the fae class system, where the lower classes are low content humanoids and the high classes are high content humanoids. Low content humanoid pretty much means they have very few human features. High content simply means the opposite, they look the most like humans. (For reference Maze would be an extremely high content humanoid since the only nonhuman thing about her is her face). But if the lower classes do not appear as human what shape do they take? Well that’s up for debate. I think the best way to describe them is chimera--a hybrid creature that has aspects of multiple different animals/organisms. Think the Grievers from the Maze Runner book series or those nuclear explosion mutation horror stories where the rat grows six legs and a human ear on its back. All of these different characteristics smashed together regardless of functionality or order. True nightmare fuel. 

However what of the upper classes? I can see them as having a 60/40 split, feature-wise. The 60 being chimera and the 40 being human. Of course, this percentage would eventually flip flop the higher up the class system you go. Perhaps you’d see a demon with a scorpion's tail, the head of a lion, and the body of a man wandering around. Or if you’d like to go really upper class, a demon with human features and a single pair of horns jutting from their head.

I think their class system would be incredibly rigid and the pecking order would be something fierce. High content demons convince themselves--and others-- that Lord Lucifer prefers those that look most like his brethren or those pesky souls they love to torture. Some of the true ass kissers claim that high content demons are superior because they look the most like their Lord and is he not the most handsome, most powerful creature on this side of the River Styx? Like I said prior, low content demons would be viewed as pets or slaves to those socially higher than them. Their culture is very simple: eat or be eaten; fight or be fought. It is a brutal culture of push and pull in the most Old Testament way possible. You must always be on guard, lest you lose an eye for lingering too long on someone or something. I’m not sure if children as we know them exist among the demons. I see them as sort of having an Athena-esque conception. They come out fully formed/grown, just maybe a bit ignorant to the word around them still.

[xerobane-blog]

One Simple Word:  Why?

“Why?” 

It seems like such an innocuous and easy question to comprehend.  “Why did something happen?”  “Why did someone do that?“  But as easy as it is for anyone to ask this question, it can be extremely difficult or even impossible to answer.

My “why?” is about the Republican Party’s push for repealing and replacing the ACA.  Is it because Donald Trump is the President and claims that he is also a Republican?  Don’t believe him.  He’s not a Republican.  In the vast information that exists on the internet, in archives, books, articles, profiles, court records, business documents and more, there are countless examples of him saying or doing things that reveal him to think more like a Libertarian or even a Democrat.

I think party loyalty is by far the biggest reason that Republicans want to do this.  But they also have shown a single determination to undo or replace any legislation that was created or approved by the Obama administration, and the only reason that I have been able to come up with is that they simply do not like the man.  And that is their absolute right to disagree with and dislike a man, but their reasons why have never been stated.  I don’t want to issue a blanket label of racism on the entire GOP because I don’t believe that to be anywhere close to the truth.  But one wonders if that moniker does fit at least some of them.

Then there are the stated reasons for the urgency to strike any Obama era legislation down.  More specifically, their wish to repeal and replace the ACA, otherwise known as “Obamacare.”  They say that it is for the good of the market, meaning its about money.  But many people, including the CBO disagree.  The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) has now completed its study regarding the impact of the bill recently passed by the House.  Among other things, the report states that approximately 23 million Americans who can currently afford medical insurance would no longer be able to under that bill.  The bill (which is extremely unlikely to pass the Senate in it’s submitted form) proposes to cut back on the subsidy payments to insurers that allows premiums to remain within reach of poor or low-income people, if not completely end those subsidies in certain states who wish to pull-out of the ACA market.  This is bad policy and politically dangerous to anyone who backed the bill.  But, when the bill is combined with Trump’s proposed budget (which also seeks to reduce funding for subsidies and Medicaid) and his tax proposal (which aims to lower taxes, but disproportionally cut them for the well-off and wealthy) it begins to look a lot less about saving money.  After all, how does reducing tax revenue to the government make sense in terms of helping the budget or lowering the deficit?  It doesn’t.  Our government is designed to function and fund its many programs through many means, taxes being one of the most crucial.  Its designed so that, for citizens to enjoy in government programs meant to help people, or to benefit from things like infrastructure, police and military protection, and myriad other programs that make life uniquely possible in this country, everyone has to pay their fair share to be a part of it.  If the rich and ultra-wealthy aren’t paying a fair tax rate, then they really aren’t paying their fair share, are they?  This would be similar to a large company announcing that they have decided to cut back on the amount of revenue it generates as a way to save money.  It just doesn’t work that way.

So, once one understands that these policies aren’t truly about saving money or increasing efficiency in government spending, one must wonder why these policies are the party’s main goals.  I have one theory, but it is a very ugly and one of the most divisive I have yet to come across.  These policies appear to be the GOP and Trumps vision of eradicating poverty in the United States.  Not by lifting it’s citizens out of poverty.  No.  It seems as if there is a long-term plan in motion to eradicate poverty by making it impossible for the poor to simply survive.

Like I said, its a very ugly and sinister theory, and there’s no way of knowing if it is true.  And as much as I do not want to even contemplate that there are elected American politicians out there who would even be capable of considering such a plan, the facts do seem to support it.  I’m not so sure, however, that (if true) it is any sort of conspiracy.  I seriously doubt that anyone has assembled in groups to secretly discuss something this horrible.  But I do think it is possible that their beliefs about what America should look like and who they think should be in it have slowly come together in a strange and unplanned way of thinking.  I doubt that any or most of them even realize what long-term effects that their beliefs and policies will have or what they could mean.  It seems as if that, inside their heads a lot of them have already each dehumanized the poor.  Now those instincts are taking hold and are forming together more clearly at a time when they control all branches of government.

Do I think its evil?  Yes.  Do I think its a conspiracy?  No.  And I don’t think that many of them are even conscious of the impact of their policies could be.  I don’t think that any single politician who hopes to implement these policies actually wants to simply eradicate poverty by eradicating the poor.  What I think is that in their haste to undo all things Obama in addition to their desire to curb what they see as government waste has blinded them to the long-term repercussions.  But I also think that there are those out there -- ironically many of them in poverty themselves -- who believe that slowly getting rid of the poor would be to their advantage:  More money going around with fewer people attaining it.  Luckily these people, for the most part, have no real power to make that happen.

And finally, I am convinced that there is at least one politician in a position of power who does see things this way.  He’s never been anything but wealthy so he knows nothing of the other side.  On at least one occasion, he has shown contempt for people who can’t afford to pay him what he wants (and don’t forget that these people were black) that he literally did everything in his power and successfully had them removed as tenants from a property that he owned.  He ended up getting sued over it and it has been widely discussed by the news media for years.  I’ve always seen this as a small glimpse into his small mind of his racism and disdain for people who don’t have his kind of wealth.  Unfortunately for the public at large, 95% of Americans aren’t “his kind” of people.

I, for one, am thankful that he and some of his top staff are under such close scrutiny and investigation.  It stands to reason that a man who has broken the rules his entire life would not stop doing so simply because he was elected into the most powerful office in the world.  If anything, winning the election has emboldened him to blow-off rules and customs of the office of the president.  And in doing so, he will possibly end up taking employees, friends and family down with him this time.  Granted, those people chose to work for Trump and chose to follow his wishes and orders.  Maybe they truly thought he could bring about positive change in our country, even if he had to break a few rules.  Then again, his lifelong track-record or lying, cheating and doing whatever is necessary for him to achieve a perceived victory should have been all they need to know in order to treat him as toxic material to be avoided.  Now, they are all likely to become toxic for the rest of their lives as well.

05.28.2017 - 01:44

[datingadviceonreddit]

Meeting people is hard. So is figuring out what to say to them once you encounter them. I was just looking at an askreddit post regarding the worst "compliments" women have received from men, and noticed a heck of a lot of patterns/consistent pet peeves, and (seemingly) not a whole lot of understanding in regards to how and why not to say certain things while attempting to get a positive response and/or sex from a lady. The vast majority of ineffective and "insulting" compliments that women receive from men are, in fact, well-intentioned, though somewhat naive. Some people seem to feel really uncertain about what to say to women/what women generally regard as acceptable, thus, I'm going to give you my two cents' worth on this topic!Here are some instructions on how NOT to compliment a woman (this actually applies to men as well, but I'll focus on women for now, since I am one and can speak for them slightly more accurately) and some more effective alternatives.1) Condescending/presumptuous "compliments" such as "Wow, you did that all by yourself!" suck. Most people hate this. Although there is an increasingly tiny sliver of the population who might enjoy this kind of interaction, generally, it's considered alienating, rude, ignorant and tedious.DON'Ts-Don't complisult people and expect them to respond positively. Though this might work for some, most of the time, all this does is make you look like a jerk and destroy any ability they might have had to respect you. If you want to compliment a stranger, say something that is wholly positive or nothing at all. Giving strangers constructive criticism on their appearance or behavior is rude and arrogant, especially since you have no way of knowing how they look/act on a typical day.-Expressing surprise when a woman is able to change a tire, fix a computer, etc isn't actually a compliment, even though it can sometimes function as an ice breaker. Although some women might take pride in their abilities, there's always a high probability that she will find it presumptuous and/or condescending. If you're impressed anyway (like, say, if she is very skilled at what she does- especially when it's not some easy thing that most people can do) there are better ways to express it than "Wow! A woman doing a thing!" Saying something like "nice job fixing X broken appliance" or "it's neat that you know tech. I'm into tech, too!" will generally be received very well, as it's friendly and it isn't presumptuous.-Try not to make other types of presumptuous statements such as "I'll bet you're a really great kisser" or "I'll bet you could/couldn't beat me at a game of chess" right off the bat. It can seem cool to a small percentage of people, but it generally comes across as phony and sometimes a little condescending. It's better to break the ice first and get to know them a little before saying things of that nature.-Don't insert yourself into a teacher and/or leader role with a stranger and then proceed to give them unsolicited "tips" and "feedback." It's usually pretty embarrassing and uncomfortable.DOs-Compliment someone based on something that is true about them, such as an actual skill that they possess, but only when you are legitimately impressed.-Giving someone constructive criticism is definitely okay, but there is a time and a place to do it. For instance, if you are playing a game at the arcade and you notice that someone is using an inefficient strategy, saying something like "you can actually shoot the zombies twice as fast with this character if you switch to this weapon" would usually be well received, whereas telling a stranger something like "you'd look so cute with short hair" is usually perceived as rude and insensitive.2) Compliments based on her beauty/sex appeal. This is a tricky one, as most girls do enjoy compliments of this nature.DON'Ts-Most women do not appreciate overtly sexual comments from strangers. Even when they find the comment to be flattering (some women secretly enjoy knowing that men are looking at them even when they seem not to like it) often times they are also uncomfortable. Feeling flattered that someone is attracted to you is not actually mutually exclusive from feeling uncomfortable about the way in which the attraction was expressed. Even when the woman doesn't have a personal issue with comments such as "Wow, you have a nice round ass!" she might still take offense to the fact that it was said in front of her colleagues, family members, other strangers, etc, or that attention was drawn to her in a public place.-Don't try to hook up with someone on the premise that they are attractive/hot unless you are forthright about the fact that you simply would love to hook up with a hot person (you'll actually have a lot more luck if you defer to the latter than if you put up a pretense and do a whole song and dance.) It's less flattering when the former underlying message of "you're physically attractive, and that is actually the only reason I'm trying to get to know you" than it is to receive the latter message "I'd really like to have sex with someone, and I hope it's you!"-Don't compliment someone on something that clearly isn't true about them in order to sweeten them up. It can be extremely hurtful when someone is transparently pretending to be more pleased by one's appearance or skills than they actually are, and it can make them question any legitimate compliments they receive from you down the line. Of course, in the case of people with very low self esteem (for instance) who don't believe they're attractive/competent and can't be convinced otherwise, it's a different story altogether!DO's-Be sensitive. Assume that there is a chance that an overtly sexual compliment might put someone off, and remember that if they are the type to be offended by such comments, nothing productive (ie: her flirting back, or receiving your sexually charged message with open arms) would have come of it anyway, so your inability to express yourself in that way isn't actually being curtailed; it's better to communicate these things to someone who has shown signs of receptivity.-Do compliment her on her appearance if you have something meaningful to say. For instance, an aesthetic based compliment, such as "there is a grace about the way you move" or "I really like the way your hair frames your face" or "your smile is so joyful- it's contagious!" is usually going to be well received, whereas a generic "you're hot" or "nice legs" or "wow, a blonde!" would feel very impersonal, as it's not really about her at all, but a public statement of your interest in certain body specs that she happens to have.-Many women love being told they're beautiful, but almost universally, it is received well when this occurs via genuine human interaction. Making eye contact, smiling, looking at her face, and just stating directly that she's beautiful is better than an abrupt drive by, or a comment about her hotness followed by a proposition.3) Dehumanizing and/or generalizing "compliments."-Don't ever tell someone they are very pretty/intelligent/X for a "Y type of person" or anything along those lines. "You're too pretty to be a this or that career" or "you're smart for a this or that woman" etc will insult and alienate most kinds of people.-Don't make comments about their race or genetics such as "I've always found X race girls very intriguing" or "I've heard girls with freckles are blah blah, is it true?" Very few people enjoy this kind of attention and some find it offensive.-Don't "compliment" someone by saying "I don't usually find X type of person attractive, but you're the exception." Even though a lot of the time it's unintentional, this almost always comes across as extremely disrespectful. Worst case scenario, it can even sound like you're insinuating that they should feel lucky/privileged to be getting your attention- which will put most people off you.-Don't compliment someone by comparing them to others, ie: "you're not like the other girls" or "you seem so sweet compared to other X type females." It's especially counterproductive if you are insulting toward "the other girls" in your statement; tearing others down is a turn off for most emotionally healthy people and, at its worst, this can also make you seem judgemental.DOs-If you think someone is very special or they stand out among many, it's okay to tell them, but focus on what's appealing about them rather than what's unappealing about everyone else. For instance "Wow! You're so fun to be around! I don't usually feel like I have this much in common with others!" or "I really admire how you helped that old man when he fell! Your kindness is very beautiful." or "It's so awesome that you're into so many kinds of video games!" or "You're lovely in such unique ways!" are very polite and positive statements you can make.-Do compliment her physical attributes after you've sufficiently broken the ice, but until you get to know her a lot better just try to keep it classy. For instance "I have to admit, I do have a thing for brunettes" or "that dress just looks insanely good on you" come across as sweet whereas "I hear gingers are crazy in bed" or "I've always wanted to do it with a black lady" would feel obnoxious and objectifying to many.4) Unwanted attention. If the person has specified that they're uninterested, cease, desist, and move on. However, if it is unclear whether they are interested (which is often the case) here are some helpful tips!DON'Ts-If the person seems really angry, upset or is exhibiting antisocial body language, it's better to not compliment them at all and just let them be until further notice.-Don't bother someone who is clearly in an exclusive relationship; though some people may still enjoy receiving compliments in spite of being "taken", try not to indulge in overtly sexual/intimate commentary, as the risk of making someone uncomfortable is especially high.-Don't lash out at them or take it too personally if they don't respond to you or ask/tell you to go away. That won't help anything. If they're responding in a way that seems rude, then disengage; it likely either means that they're having a very s*** day or, worst case scenario, that they're an immature and/or unreasonable person whom, frankly, you needn't waste further energy on.DOs-Make an effort to gauge whether the person is friendly toward you. That doesn't mean tread on eggshells in case she bites your head off! It just means, become more socially aware! This is a skill that everyone really ought to develop in general- for instance, if you're ranting for hours at a party to a stranger about a topic he doesn't care about, without noticing that he's trying to get away, that's considered socially inept. The same thing is true in flirt situations, regardless of how nice you're being!-If the person seems antisocial or uncomfortable in any way, before even attempting to compliment them (or any other more personal kinds of interactions, for that matter), ask them whether or not they'd mind company or if they'd prefer to be alone; try not to take it personally if they decline.-If the person is clearly in a relationship with someone else, be respectful of that, but if you absolutely MUST compliment them- like, they're so amazing that you'll explode if you hold it in, keep it simple and extremely general/impersonal; tell them you're impressed with their talent, that you like their outfit or that they're simply "very pretty", etc without any further elaboration or engagement. This is considered polite by most people, and only very touchy people (that's on them, not you) will usually find it offensive or obnoxious.-It's okay to go up to someone who looks sad or is drinking alone, etc, and to try to cheer them up with a compliment (although it's often MUCH better to leave compliments out of the equation and simply ask them if they're okay or would like some company) as long as, there again, you keep it simple; overt lewdness toward someone who looks like they might be grieving, vulnerable, etc is usually perceived as selfish and insensitive, but a dry, heart-felt pick-me-up such as "Hi! I noticed you from across the room, but when I got here, I realized that you looked kind of down. Would you like to maybe have some company for a while? Is it alright if I sit here?" would sometimes be welcome- as long as you're completely genuine about it and you're not noodling them, getting in their space, etc.So, to summarize, the types of compliments most people like to receive are genuine, socially aware and respectful. People don't like to be talked down to, otherized or made a spectacle of. They usually prefer compliments that are humanizing over ones that focus solely on body parts and they generally don't like being compared to other people or included in a generalization. via /r/dating_advice