This is Flag and Delphine, the two main characters of a story Irsquo;m writing that is based off my friend Heather Scottrsquo;s, yet unpublished novel, ldquo;Sivoardquo;. (The script around the circle and scroll are written in an actual alphabet created by Heather, but its message contains spoilers.)

The one with the silver hair is Flag, the villain of ldquo;Sivoardquo;, and despite how horrible he can be, the more I learned about his past, the sadder I grew for his character. I saw myself in him, as a possible outcome had life gone another way, and it was almost physically painful.

So I made Flag a potential saviour; Delphine (the blue-haired one), an amalgamation of who I want to be, need to be, if I were have any chance of reversing such a personrsquo;s fate without being destroyed myself.

Like most of my fiction, this story serves as training for a real world issue. In fact, the reason I appear socially fluent despite being autistic is because Irsquo;ve been doing these simulations for almost twenty years; pitting a core avatar of myself against a manifestation of a personality, or the personification of an idea I donrsquo;t understand.

That this method has worked so well is a testament to the universal nature of humanity, and strengthens my belief that the cultivation of empathy should be amongst our highest priorities.