For the Hostage Rowan au, how do the resets affect humans? Cause there’s a lot more stuff that can make you forget things then just Soul Rot, and magic probably makes that list longer. Cause I’m imagining the longer he stays, the more his mind tries to adjust by also trying to reset(unhealthy coping mechanism or maybe in this scenario it would be the most healthy option). Like have you ever not been able to fully trust your own memory? That’s what I’m thinking happens except a little more extreme, and he doesn’t notice that until he realizes that he almost forgot his own name and had begun calling himself the name that the others had called him(I’d like to say Red but he’s no longer wearing anything prominently red, maybe David forgot his name was Rowan like that one HC just kept calling him that or they call him that because of his hair and “We can’t just call you Colorful Guy, that’s that crayon guy”(Creative Brendon)). 

Knowing something is happening and knowing how to stop it are two different things. He can’t write anything down permanently and even if he could, what if he already forgot something, his sisters, his age, his parents, how could he trust himself to remember that when he almost forgot his own name. I imagine it like that one Spider David scene where he’s like “oh ok” and the next “wait a second!/Stop that!” except instead of just yelling at David he’s also yelling at himself for forgetting, and it just keeps happening, no matter what he does. Cause he can keep reminding himself of facts but he can never get rid of the doubt that he’s forgetting something (example: “My name is Rowan; I have two sisters, Samantha and Sophie- wait do I have two sisters? What if it’s three?! Do I have another sibling!? Do I have a brother!? Did I forget someone! What if that’s not their names! What if that’s not my name-wait no it is, my name is Rowan! Or is it? Dammit David!”), your mind can be your best ally or your worst enemy, and unfortunately for Rowan, it doesn’t seem to want to work with him. And when Red and the puppets do escape like in the au post-canon, he might be very disoriented and never really fully trust himself with that without someone(probably Sammy) constantly reminding and affirming him of things and therapy, lots and lots of therapy.

(Sorry I saw the question + AU and couldn’t stop thinking about it, sorry for the rambling) -J

One of the main differences between director Red and hostage Red is how they're integrated into the house. Director Red is kept an outside observer for the most part, while hostage Red is directly living with the puppets. At first, it would be a lot of crying and breakdowns, but after a while, I think he straight up forgets he didn't always live there. He still wants to see his family again, but it becomes a lot less urgent, and he talking about them like he's just forgotten to reach out in a while, though he will occasionally make omnious mentions wishing he could see them.

When they do eventually get him home, he's still convinced the whole thing is a lesson, which he plays along with for a while, until he finally just breaks down and begs for them to stop pretending to be his family. He's so convinced that it's fake and going to be ripped away from him at any second that he just wants to get it over with.