#multiplayer secondaries

[reds-burrow]

How do you think various sortings handle the pandemic differently? My spouse is a Snake Bird and living his best life. He can just spend time with us and do research for work at home? Awesome. I'm a double Badger (I think?) and it's been awful. I can't zoom because it makes me more depressed that we can't see each other. I've been doing tons of fun cooking to cope.

Well, it's not quite that simple. There are Snakes out there with large circles who have probably suffered in a similar way to you because of the isolation. There are Badgers (Primary and Secondary) who don't really like people, who probably have done remarkably well during the pandemic.

So, yeah, it's difficult to say which sortings can handle isolation better than others. As human beings, evolution has hardwired us to hate being lonely. That said, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that people who get a lot of joy from using the Multiplayer half of their secondaries have missed being around others more than those who don't get that same joy. My mom gets a great deal of joy from her Courtier Badger, so she's been trying to keep busy like you have. I have no clue if this would help you, but she started writing letters to people and that's helped immensely. There's something about the physicality, the effort, the time taken to write a letter that seems to be more impactful for her than texting or emailing.

[reds-burrow]

Wishing you success with your thesis!

Thanks nonny and everyone else who left a few supportive words!

One of the next things I need to do is to set up a meeting with my grad advisor which is always... interesting. He's an intimidating guy. When I think about it in SHC terms, I think it may be because he's so Solid. He never answers a question until he wants to and is unbothered by making others sit and wait in silence for him to think. His energy is always difficult for me to get a read on. And as an audience-dependent Secondary, it can be stressful to be faced with an energy you can't quite grasp.

[reds-burrow]

if one part of the secondary can burn separately then it's also possible for one part of the secondary to explode separately, right?

Oooh, yes, very good point. Though now that I think about it, the @swearingintengwar's insightful explanation of Exploded Secondaries are all Single-Player explosions.

I suppose for Multiplayer explosions you could have Fluid Secondaries who need people to give them shape and Solid secondaries who are inflexible with others... Okay just spitballing here. If anyone has better thoughts, please share!

Exploded Courtier Badgers define themself by what others want or need them to be. If the group needs them to be something they're not, they'll alter themself to fit the role, even if it's a role they don't want. Their search for common ground begins to work against them: if they spend too much time mirroring someone else, the Badger will loose track of where they end and the other person begins.

Exploded social Birds are know-it-alls. They are unyielding with the facts and knowledge they've collected to the point that they refuse to hear new viewpoints on it. Their collection is superior to all others, so their thoughts on the subject is final.

Exploded social Lions are brash and arrogant to the extreme of being hurtful to others. Their usual, healthy, assertive energy becomes aggressive. They may excuse their behavior as just being honest or true to themself, but they knowingly bulldoze over other thoughts and opinions like a bully.

Exploded masked Snakes have lost their grounding sense of who they are. The internal resting space of their neutral state is unreachable, leaving the Snake with nothing but their masks. But without a neutral state to tether their masks, they become completely dependent on reacting to other people to find a face to put on. Being alone only reminds them how pained or empty they feel underneath the act.

[reds-burrow]

Something came up in my sorting for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings that I thought I should separate out in case people aren't interested in that post or are avoiding spoilers. (If you like the MCU and can watch safely, I highly recommend it!)

One of the characters had a Burnt Secondary, but wasn't fully burnt. In fact, only the Multiplayer part of the secondary was burnt; the Single-Player part was perfectly healthy. Now that we've begun talking about Multiplayer versus Single-Player, I think it's not too much of a stretch to say that only burning one part makes sense as a possibility. I've rambled some about how I'm a Snake secondary who uses Courtier Badger instead of a mask. I didn't feel right calling my Snake burnt because I was still using it in Single-Player situations. I joked that I follow PvP rules but not PvE. But if it's possible for one side to burn while the other stays relatively healthy or for one half to heal from a burning while the other half stays burnt, it makes a lot more sense for me to say my Multiplayer Snake is burnt while my Single-Player Snake isn't and that I built a Courtier Badger model to handle social situations.

Obviously, the Single-Player and Multiplayer parts of the secondary are connected. A vast majority of the time I would expect them to burn together or that one side burning will lead to the other burning too. But I think making the distinction that they can burn and heal separately is an important possibility to explore.