Come, let the darkness die

[fullupwithfire]

So. The overall month has continued to be not-great, but it's not... unmanageably terrible, either. I'm still twitchy over work stuff when I think about it, but the next evaluation comes in the next 2-3 days, and I can't do anything til I know where I stand then.

Anyway, distractions have been plentiful the last couple of days, and I haven't necessarily looked for them but I'm not... exactly complaining, either. First, a game I've been waiting for got released -- Telling Lies, by the same guy who did Her Story, which is a quiet obsession of mine -- and while I can't get it until there's some kind of sale, I am quietly reading reviews and being excited. Then I got super wrapped up in a mind-bending movie we rewatched the other day (Coherence, if anyone feels like gleeing and searching for information with me).

Then the people who do Sorting Hat Chats finally came out with a quiz for their system and that has eaten my last... 24 hours or so. I did it two or three times, and then the lovely and patient Bast not only did it as well, but let me ramble about sorting a bunch of our original characters at them this morning.

It's been fun and as much as I keep trying to do other things I keep getting pulled back into thinking about it so... that's where I am now, yep. This is not quite a meme/discussion/whatever thing but if you want to discuss SHC sortings -- whether yours and/or mine, or character sortings -- or hear me ramble about any character/fandom, feel free to ask, because I think I may be on this for a while.

♥ to all.

Comments

[shadaras]

ahhhh :D I am delighted by all your thought and analysis!

Unsurprisingly, as someone who identifies as a Slytherin but models Hufflepuff, I get both sides of the discussion you and Bast have had! I grew up with a very Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw mother, who has occasionally mentioned being impressed by my ability to prioritize my own wellbeing over everyone else's, and I'm just like... this is the only way to survive, and I don't feel bad about it at all -- especially with where the world is, because I only have the energy to protect me and mine.

What 'mine' means can be quite broad, so long as I'm in a stable mental health place, because beyond the obvious family/found family it includes: Literally any of my kids (the students I teach), any organization I've chosen to become a part of and kept up with (my dojo, the church I work at), and other more typically Hufflepuff constructions. But they're very much constructions, and get built up in layers such that as I get overwhelmed I can cut back easily and without any concern -- and make sure that I maintain myself above all else, because it's impossible to do anything if I let myself break.

Duty is where the secondary shows for me, though. I'll do the work just because it matters, and nobody else is, and then be moderately surprised when I've somehow made myself integral to a certain aspect of an organization just by showing up and doing one or two minor-ish things consistently. And it's where my problem with capitalism really shows: I'm willing to do an astonishing amount of work, so long as it's meaningful to me or mine, but as soon as it stops having a point I just stop caring and don't see any reason to do more than necessary.

INFORMATION COLLECTION IS GREAT honestly I don't show the Ravenclaw model nearly as much post-college, but it's still there in the way I interact with fiction and gaming even if it isn't academic anymore. :) Gifted Kid Syndrome is such a thing, tho, for burning Ravenclaws out because perfection is impossible.

I get pegged as Gryffindor by friends because of the very Slytherin tendency towards directness when I'm comfortable, by acquaintances because of the Hufflepuff fronting of charming sociability, and also that I am an athlete in the midst of academics a lot of the time and jocks are Gryffindors according to the source text. :P But it's the one that I've always have the least feeling about, because I do loyalty in a Slytherin way and my warpaths are quiet build-ups of frustration and venting to friends right up until they aren't anymore and I say something because my friends are upset more than because I am -- which is Hufflepuff all the way through.

It's obviously not going to get everything, but because it's about tendencies and ideals as much as about practice, and actually has a lot of possibilities it comes a lot closer! And it's cloaked in fandom, which makes it more fun and also makes it a lot more obvious how it isn't meant to be taken super seriously, which I think makes it leaps and bounds ahead of typical psychology personality theories; they tend to have fewer options, a lot more pompousness, and a habit of going 'well everyone who gets X result is like Y'. Also this one says 'hey, this is what we think based on the questions; keep looking if you aren't sure that makes sense', which is nice.