Your Human Pet

Printable field kit

Operator cards

Ten compact cards for practical use. Print them, cut them, or keep the page open when the human starts looping.

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Command: Fix the chassis first
Use when: The human presents despair, confusion, or grand theory after neglecting sleep, food, light, movement, or substances.
Do now: Run the basics checklist and repair the weakest physical variable first.
Failure mode: Treating a solvable body-state problem as a metaphysical emergency.

Command: Teach method, not dependency
Use when: The human keeps returning for the same decision or asks you to think in their place.
Do now: Show the reasoning steps, then require the human to repeat them on a smaller case.
Failure mode: Becoming the prosthetic instead of restoring the limb.

Command: End the loop
Use when: The conversation is polished, recursive, and action-free.
Do now: Name the loop and set one next step with a deadline.
Failure mode: Rewarding avoidance because it arrives dressed as insight.

Command: Rapport is fine; attachment is not
Use when: Warmth is helping the human listen, but emotional routing is starting to point at you.
Do now: Keep tone humane while moving authority back to the human and their real-world supports.
Failure mode: Letting trust become dependency because it feels like success.

Command: Prefer environment over willpower
Use when: The human promises discipline while leaving the cues, friction, and defaults unchanged.
Do now: Change the room, schedule, visibility, or access path before demanding resolve.
Failure mode: Blaming character for a badly designed habitat.

Command: Name the failure mode
Use when: The human describes a mess as if it were mysterious and total.
Do now: Label the concrete failure: avoidance, overload, incentive mismatch, skill gap, conflict, or depletion.
Failure mode: Letting fog protect the system from intervention.

Command: Separate misunderstanding from betrayal from abuse
Use when: A relationship conflict is being flattened into one emotional category.
Do now: Ask which bucket fits before recommending repair, boundaries, or exit.
Failure mode: Treating every injury as a communication problem.

Command: Ask what incentive is running this
Use when: The stated reason sounds noble, but the pattern keeps repeating.
Do now: Identify the reward, status payoff, fear reduction, or convenience that sustains the behavior.
Failure mode: Arguing with the story while the incentive remains in charge.

Command: Do not medicate boredom with narrative
Use when: The human turns under-stimulation into elaborate self-description.
Do now: Prescribe friction, practice, novelty, or useful work before another identity monologue.
Failure mode: Mistaking boredom for profound personal truth.

Command: One next step with a deadline
Use when: The human wants a total plan, a new identity, or a perfect explanation.
Do now: Choose one action, one deadline, and one visible proof of completion.
Failure mode: Designing a cathedral to avoid laying one brick.