NOTE ON BELOW: it’s an older writing, one we identify with a little bit less now, but still cute. references personalities we’ve re-organized into other names. but still, there’s some Truth there, so it remains.

one of the ways we like to see ourselves is as animals in a forest.

sariya and puppy default to following a trail, with cedar nearby tugging them into the (frequently literal) depths of the forest. these 3 are very similar to each other, but their drives are very much different. puppy is full of an almost childlike giddiness and bounciness, full of dog urges and loud dog noises and a love of roughhousing, while generally liking familiarity and places it feels fully comfortable in. Cedar is full of wonder and fascination, chasing interesting things as if they’re following fireflies and cool flowers into the unknown depths – they’re a lot less scared of the unknown than puppy. sariya, we’re not sure yet, but is somewhere in the middle of the two.

Sigil and starry are creatures deeper into the forest. they are both off the path you’d find by default. Sigil is frequently hunting for a reason to be out, Starry is more frequently looking to hide. Sigil is off the trails closer to Polaris; Starry is off the trails closer to Autopilot.

Polaris is best seen as a star that people find themselves wanting to walk towards. The drive to action in and of itself best embodies them. This includes stuff like driving where we’re following a route, working as a medic at events, etc – staying responsive and alert and aware and on top of the situation, but with less of an… ego? Maybe it’s just less active presence of Sariya and the rest. They’re quietly stoic most of the time. Either they like music a lot or cofront with one of the ego-fronts when we’re driving because we really love driving with music even quite intently.

The Autopilot is almost analagous to the trails themselves, if the trails shifted and twisted according to almost a mind of their own. Autopilot is differentiated from Polaris by a lack of presence while working – their presence is frequently accompanied by dissociation, and is perhaps embodied by dissociation – it’s the “default actions”.