Alicornutopia

Alicorn wrote:I think "if they had an Alex" is too complicated a counterfactual to evaluate without threading or at least extensively discussing with coauthors about how it would have impacted things.

Reasonable. My onlu guess is that Shell Bell would be worse because it is another person to worry, but can' think of much else.

So, next question.

Amount of happiness the Bell would experience if one or both parents announced there is a new sibling on the way?

That's potentially very circumstance-dependent; a lot of the Bells have completely single parents. Do you want me to restrict it to those whose parents are together, or...?

Could you sort Bells by how forgiving they are? With strangers and with people they trust, if those are appreciably different.

I have too recently been exposed to complicated philosophical exchanges around what exactly "forgiveness" is; can you define the kind you want me to refer to in the list?

Alicorn wrote:I have too recently been exposed to complicated philosophical exchanges around what exactly "forgiveness" is; can you define the kind you want me to refer to in the list?

This is the best kind of problem.

Since I have not recently been part of any such philosophical exchanges, I'm inclined to leave it up to you, but, here goes:
Forgiveness, here meaning prioritizing common goals or conflict resolution over justice for anything from minor slights to major suffering.

Bells don't vary much on that as a general characteristic. Some of them wind up in a "shoot first, ask questions later" mindset if sufficiently threatened, but even Butterfly let a Yeerk turn into a bird.

Earlier you said they would all put you on trial for crimes against humanity if they found out they were fictional characters. What if the causal arrow went the other way: how would their reactions vary upon learning about their adventures being recorded and distributed as fiction in a standard 2010s-Earth without magic? Or if it was an apparent coincidence like all the Sherlock Holmes and Matilda books?

Relatedly, how would they rate on amount of distress upon learning they were being mindread (involuntary on all sides) by a relative stranger who could somehow ignore any mental shielding?

My brain has a really hard time ranking Bells in things-like-this for some reason.

has rating bells by cuteness been done?