#but this is my understanding of how it currently tends to work in our sy.stem

[orange-orchard-system]

To elaborate on this since I've found a lot of systems don't really understand fragments... Fragments are headmates who don't have the same "depth" or complexity to them that you would expect of an individual (although, just like any other thing about a headmate, what this presents as will change from fragment to fragment). As a result, I often find fragments are a bit odd in comparison to what are typically called "fuller" headmates (though, we prefer to just refer to them as non-fragments).

What I was thinking of when making this post was how one of my headmates (who I didn't know was a fragment at first) was confusing to me when it came to emotions, with their default emotion – so to speak – being absolutely nothing. The absence of any emotion. Just feeling nothing at all. Which was, as I said, confusing to me, as I don't ever feel nothing* unless I'm too exhausted or dissociated to feel emotions – which in itself means what I'm feeling is tired/dissociated. Not nothingness. But our fragments don't often feel much at all, or at least not very strongly, unless under one of two conditions: 1, it's about something specific that holds significant meaning to them (often something that played a part in their formation, e.g. Kirlia has an interest in programming because she formed at a time we were working on a fan game), or 2, someone else prompts them into thinking about it (usually by directly asking for their thoughts on something – though, this doesn't guarantee any emotions, just opinions). Other than that? They tend to just be head empty, no thoughts.

* I mean, I can feel nothing towards certain objects, ideas, and people, and often do before I get to know them, but that's more so an absence of attachment than an absence of emotion. Once an attachment is formed with something/someone, we [more often] feel emotions towards it. We can struggle with forming this attachment, which results in having less things to feel emotions over/about, but that's separate from our fragmentation and has to do with other neurodivergencies.

As I said in the original post, they have full access to all the complex thinking of our brain but none of the complexity themselves. This makes it so while they can absolutely keep up with things like hypotheticals, nuanced discussions, etc., they tend to struggle to organically create + consider such things on their own, because they literally don't have that in themselves. They lead a simple existence (and I absolutely do not mean that as an insult, just a descriptor) that often doesn't involve a whole lot of identity or cognition; they're not really designed for complicated stuff, the same way certain species aren't designed for certain habitats, even if they can survive there in the short-term. Complex thinking (or even just anything beyond surface-level thinking) and the like just isn't something that often occurs to them as something to do, I suppose I could say. I wouldn't say they uncritically absorb everything, but more like they're an "out of sight, out of mind" type of folk with subject depth.

They're not children (unless they're littles or whatever). They can understand adult subject matter and tend to converse like adults, even if they do it in unconventional ways. And it's not like they're silent on all fronts all the time about everything – they have their own conversations, make their own jokes, have their own preferences, etc.. Most of our fragments are just really passive most of the time. And in a way, I like that about them. Not in the sense that this is a trait I look for in people, but in the sense that it's a part of them and I'm not about to demand they change it.

Besides. It's actually quiet most of the time in here. Imagine if we all started having loud opinions and emotions about things?? I'd never get any thinking done.

Okay I know I say this about a lot of things but I genuinely think an experience that isn't really talked about much is going "why are you like this" about a headmate and then finding out they're a fragment

Like oh. Right. My apologies. You literally cannot chillax. You have all the complex thinking of our adult brain and none of the complexity yourself to match. No wonder you're like this. Please, continue your bullshit