#sorry if this sounds snippy this is the 7+th time we have had to explain this topic to some level this week

[monsterqueers]

Hi! Ok so the reason why there isnt a bunch of resources for monoconsciousness is because of a couple of very important factors:

1- Its a very new microlabel and not an established term. This means that things to do with the somatic experiences described are very unlikely to use this term when talking about it.

2- People in the plural community -with the exception of tulpamancers- simply don't talk about their experiences enough or actually make guides. They ESPECIALLY dont talk about what it felt like before they cracked the plural egg. The microlabel-ey section of the community (which is what monocon belongs to and is popular in) is weighted towards making and hoarding labels, NOT talking about experiences or self-help. Therefore, people identifying as monocon are much less likely to be making anything of the sort because that is not the community's focus.

3- The label is a flawed *framework theory* over an *experience of switching style* with a bunch of other stuff tacked on, it isn't a 'type' of system. It is this way in part because of the aforementioned no one talking about experiences so no one knows that what is called monoconsciousness is just. Normal System Experiences of switching plus normal untrained/poor system skills in certain areas. Theres not even consensus that there are 'types' of switching! There is a big argument in some spaces that the only real kind of switching is nonpossessive/'passing the I' and everything else is backediting of memories and parallel processing isn't possible. The framework-theory is NOT a universal one, so things that may talk about similar somatic experiences are often not labeled with this microlabel.

This switching guide calls the non-possessive/'passing the I' style switch the only way to switch for a reason. Tulpamancy spaces call 'possessive' style/''polycon switching'' 'possession' and NOT normal switching for a reason.

But because no one talks about somatic experiences or how things *really feel stripped bare of explanations* nearly enough, everyone is tricked into thinking switching is more grandiose and 'separate' than it usually is, and this means people think they can't/aren't switching when they actually are.

So for actual things that can help for the experiences described, you want to look at things that are for teaching you specific skills you want to learn instead; headspace building guides, co-consciousness, stronger internal voice and differentiation for headmates, switching at will, learning to switch posessively and parallel processing, etc.

We have a collection of plural guides on this page you can scuffle around with anon that may be a helpful starting point for learning system skills: https://dragonsroost.neocities.org/plural/pluralpapers

Hope this helps!

Hey uh- do you have any resources/anecdotes on monoconsciousness?? I'm only asking you because you mentioned in you and Caldwell's "coming out" post that yall are and I feel like it's hard to find any sources more helpful than "well the consciousness monos". Thanks I hope this is no hassle!!

I also had some trouble finding that; I learned about it from another couple of monoconscious systems wei happen to be friends with, so most of my information admittedly comes from their experiences and explanations (and comparing to muir own). Most of what I have found doesn't explain it in words that make much sense to me, unfortunately, so that's not helpful.

Effectively what it means, as far as I can tell, is that the system has only one "camera," one sense of consciousness, which in most of our cases seems to be locked to the front, but idk if that's actually true of a larger sample size. Switching doesn't manifest as "I step away from the front and leave my headmate to take over" so much as the sense of "me" becoming someone else (as that other person takes over the "camera") and then watching the headmate that was fronting leave to go do whatever.

(In our case, I don't really leave the front, so it's mostly a question of how much Viridian is in the front with me, versus sitting "on the couch" and calling up to me (usually where she's at if she's not actively doing something, because she really doesn't like blurring with me, which tends to happen if she's fully co-fronting with me), versus way in the back where I can't really communicate with her.)

In our case, we don't hold a whole lot of memory about what people are doing when they're not in or near the front, but that may be because Viridian doesn't have much do to except sleep or watch whatever I'm doing, given that there aren't other headmates for her to interact with; we know monoconscious systems that do remember what a headmate that switches into the front was doing before that in the back, and monoconscious systems who have basically no awareness of what's going on in the back at any time. I think that just varies.

Hopefully that helps a little, at least? And hopefully people have better resources than I do in the notes. (I'd love to read them myself, lol.)

[notsoguiltykpop]

The Tenth Floor pt8

Min Yoongi had gone through 34 secretaries in the past 24 months, and each one of them left in tears. This fact alone should have warned you against taking the job, but the pay was too good to pass up. Surely you could put up with a billionaires temper-tantrums, right?

Yoongi x Reader & Taehyung x Reader

Genre: Fluff, humor, probably some angst

Warnings: Strong language at times, maybe some slight smut eventually

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

“Make who pay?” You pulled away from Taehyung, trying to see his face in the scarce light of the half-moon. “Why would you even think that it’s a ‘him’?”

Taehyung shrugged. “You were out with Yoongi all day, so I just assumed...” His voice trailed off. Seokjin must have told Taehyung where you were, and that coupled with the fact that you were only a block away from the carnival made it understandable how Taehyung would figure it out. 

“It has nothing to do with Yoongi.” You took a step back, away from Taehyung as you dried your eyes with the back of your sleeve. “He went home hours ago.” You weren’t sure why you suddenly didn’t want Taehyung to know what happened; maybe some part of you was protecting Yoongi, but you had no idea why. 

“Alright. So who did make you cry, then?” He asked after a moment.

“It doesn’t matter.” You shook your head, trying to clear it. “Can you drive me home?” 

“Yeah, but--” Taehyung didn’t look like he was ready to drop it, and you held up a hand for him to stop. 

“I know you want to help--and I appreciate it. But right now, I just want to go home. Anyway, what happened tonight is my business, I’ll sort it out.” 

Taehyung nodded, though somewhat reluctantly. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.” He said gently, and you nodded despite being sure there wasn’t anything he could do. This was between you and Yoongi, and something told you that getting Taehyung involved wasn’t a good idea. 

It wasn’t until you were home, after kicking off your shoes and about to change into your pajamas that you realized that your shirt was buttoned crooked, your lipstick smudged, and your hair a mess. 

All you could do was hope that Taehyung believed your lie, and hadn’t jumped to more conclusions than what he let on.  

You called off from work the next day. You explained to Namjoon that you were fairly sure you had the flu, and that you didn’t want to spread it around. Namjoon didn’t argue, only told you that he hoped you would feel better soon.

His understanding only made you feel slightly guilty for lying to him. But you couldn’t go into the office today. Not after the previous night, leaving things with Yoongi like that--and you weren’t looking forward to seeing Taehyung either.

So you stalled facing your problems, drowning them in ice cream and dumb reality TV shows. By three in the afternoon, you could almost pretend that none of your current issues were real, that it was all just some bad dream and you were still unemployed and racking up debt. The thought shouldn’t have improved your mood, but you figured at least if you didn’t have a job, you also didn’t have a hot boss to almost sleep with. 

And Yoongi was attractive, you had finally decided. Asshole or not, there was something there, something about him that was new and exciting, and made you wish you didn’t care that you were his secretary, or about how it would make you look if anyone found out about it. 

You were starting to feel sick. This could have been all the candy and sweets you had eaten, or could have been caused by your train of thought, but either way, it was time to put away the ice cream and eat some real food. 

You were frowning at your empty fridge when your doorbell rang, and you turned your glare towards the sound. No one should be bothering you. Your neighbors all had day jobs, and they knew you had one too. It wasn’t like you had told anyone that you were staying home that day, other than Namjoon. 

You were tempted to ignore it, but when the buzzer sounded again, you internally sighed. Whoever it was wasn’t going to just leave, so you walked over to the peep hole. Who you saw didn’t make any logical sense, but you opened the door a crack anyway. 

“What’s up, doc?” You narrowed your eyes at Jungkook, who had a grocery bag in one hand, and what looked like a medical bag in the other. 

“Please don’t say that to me again.” He crinkled his nose, and it made him look a little like a bunny. “Namjoon said you were sick. So I’m here to check on you.” 

You rolled your eyes. “What, he didn’t believe me so he sent you to prove I’m lying?” You hadn’t meant to sound so snippy, but you didn’t have the patience for Jungkook right then, not with everything else that had been going on. 

“No.” Jungkook sighed. “We agreed that for you to miss work, you must really feel like shit, so I came to make sure you weren’t dead.” 

“Well, you got your answer.” You said dryly. You weren’t sure if you believed Jungkooks words or not. You started to close the door, but he caught it with one hand, making that impossible. He dropped the medical bag as he did so, not seeming to care as it hit the floor.

“You told Namjoon you had a fever this morning, has it gone down?” He asked.

“Why do you know where I live, anyway?” You demanded rather than answer his question. You let your door open, realizing that Jungkook wasn’t going to give up until he had his answers.

“Namjoon has all that information--you gave it to him, remember?” Jungkook picked up the bag from the ground before following you into your small apartment. 

“Yeah, I remember. But I thought it was confidential.” 

Jungkook shrugged, reaching a hand towards your forehead before you could respond. He put the back of it to your head lightly, frowning. 

“I don’t have a fever.” You said flatly. There was no point trying to convince a doctor that you had the flu when you were perfectly fine.

“No, you don’t.” Jungkook nodded. “Let me see your throat.” 

“Fuck off, you know I’m not sick.” You couldn’t muster the energy for your voice to have any malice, so instead you just sounded tired. Jungkook just rolled his eyes, walking past you to your kitchen. There he took the tea pot from the stove, filling it with water as though this was a normal thing for him. 

“I suspected you weren’t sick, but I wasn’t going to rule it out.” He said mildly. “So what happened between you and Yoongi last night?” 

You watched as he opened a few cabinets before locating the one with mugs, pulling two out. “What makes you think that anything happened between us?” You asked, trying to sound calm. Did everyone at the office know? Had Taehyung told them? Had Yoongi?

“Logic.” He answered, now looking for tea. He found it in record time, which was a little unnerving. “You and Yoongi went out together yesterday, you suddenly don’t want to come to work, Taehyung’s acting like he’s waiting for an excuse to kill Yoongi, and Yoongi came in to work with a teddy bear...” Jungkook gave you a smile. “You’ve really made working there very interesting, you know.” 

You blinked slowly at him as he handed you a mug of tea. “He did what?” You said after a second. 

“Who?” Jungkook was now looking in the plastic bag, and pulled out two to-go boxes, holding one out to you. 

“Yoongi.” You clarified. “You said he came to work with a teddy bear?” 

Jungkook nodded. “Yeah. When Hoseok asked him if he was alright, he just kind of shrugged and kept walking. Didn’t yell or anything.” 

“I take it that’s not something he usually does, then?” You said, and Jungkook laughed. 

“No. He’s more likely to burn a teddy bear than he is carry it around with him.” 

He didn’t stay much longer after that, ate his food and drank his tea, occasionally telling you to do the same, and then stood to leave. 

“You should come to work tomorrow.” He said as he stretched. 

“Why?” You scoffed. “So I can be fired?” You hadn’t told Jungkook anything of what happened, but he seemed to have been able to piece together enough. 

“I was thinking more that it you might be able to keep Taehyung and Yoongi from murdering each other.” He shrugged. “They both listen to you more than they do the rest of us.” 

You shook your head. You didn’t want to have that much influence over either of them, let alone both. “Are you going to tell them that I lied about being sick?” You asked as you followed him to your door. 

“Nah, what would be the good in that?” 

“Jungkook?” You stopped him halfway through the door. “Why did you really come here? You knew that I probably wasn’t sick, you said so yourself.” 

“Maybe I’m trying the whole “not being an asshole” thing.” He winked, and you rolled your eyes. 

You followed Jungkook’s advice the next day and showed up for work early, as per usual. Jimin raised an eyebrow at you in the elevator, but before he could make some snide comment, you started acting as though you were having a coughing fit. 

“Sorry--” You gasped between coughs. “I guess--I guess I’m still a little sick.” Jimin backed into the far corner, making a face as you continued. 

“You should’ve stayed home, then.” He muttered, and you ‘accidentally’ coughed in his direction, making him flinch. 

You fixed Yoongi’s coffee before knocking on his door, pushing it open without waiting for an answer. You had decided that your best bet was to act as though nothing had happened, and hope that he would do the same. 

“Morning!” You said with a smile, though it was slightly painful to look at him. Knowing how his lips felt on your, his hands on you... Were all things that you desperately needed to forget.

“Don’t you mean ‘good morning’?” Yoongi asked, and you noticed that he already had a steaming mug in his hand. 

“No, I was just stating that it was morning.” You replied. “I brought you your coffee, but I see you already have some.” 

Yoongi nodded. “From today on, there won’t be any need for you to bring me my coffee.” He looked back at the spreadsheet he had been looking over, and you frowned. What did that mean? Did it mean that from today you were fired?

“I’m not sure that I understand, sir.” You said, trying not to think the worst. 

“As surprising as it may be,” Yoongi said as he looked up with a small smile. “I’m capable of getting my own coffee, so there’s no reason for you to do it for me.” 

“Oh. I see.” You said with a slow nod. You didn’t see, but you weren’t going to argue. A small part of you felt almost disappointed that Yoongi hadn’t fired you--it would have made your life slightly less complicated if he had. “Well, if that’s all...” You were about to go, planning to slip out of the room before things got to awkward. 

“Wait, I--” Yoongi stopped when his eyes met yours, and he shut his mouth abruptly. 

“Yes?” You said, in your mind chanting please don’t say anything about the other night, please don’t say anything about the other night...

“Nothing. I’m just--I’m glad you’re feeling better, that’s all.” He finished, the words sounding a little strange coming from him. You realized that he seemed to have stopped putting on the act around you, and you almost wanted it back. At least with screaming Yoongi, you knew what to expect. This other Yoongi... You had no idea what he was going to do. 

“Thanks.” You said, somewhat stiffly. It wasn’t that you didn’t appreciate the words; you just didn’t know if you trusted them. You wondered how many people knew it was an act--did Seokjin? Did Namjoon? Surely not. Wouldn’t one of them have warned you if they knew? Not to mention, they both got nervous around Yoongi when he was angry--they wouldn’t do that if they thought it was a show. 

It made you want to ask Yoongi why he had told you, of all people. It wasn’t like you knew him well, or had even been working for him for very long; you were just a normal employee. One that, before Thursday, you thought he disliked. 

But asking Yoongi anything to do with what happened that night made your palms sweat. You didn’t want to think about it, let alone bring it up. And anyway, Yoongi was busy all day, you weren’t about to interrupt him to talk about something he probably wouldn’t want other people to hear. 

“What are you thinking about?” Taehyungs voice pulled you from your thoughts, and you looked up at him. You were sitting at a small two-person table in the cafe on the first floor, and Taehyung had plopped down in the chair across from you. 

“Stuff.” You replied, not eager to explain. Taehyung had stayed quiet, but would have to be blind not to notice the looks he had been giving Yoongi’s office all day. 

“Wow, you’re so descriptive.” Taehyung teased. You shrugged. 

“It isn’t anything important.” 

“I highly doubt that.” Taehyung sat back in his chair. “Whatever you’re thinking must matter to you, therefore, it is important.” 

You rolled your eyes, but couldn’t help a small laugh escaping your lips. “Right, like I haven’t heard that one before.” 

“Can I sit with you?” You hadn’t even noticed anyone approaching your table, and you looked up in surprise to see Yoongi standing there with a salad in one hand. The sight was so strange you didn’t know what to say, so Taehyung beat you to responding. 

“There isn’t enough room.” He said simply. 

“You could move, then.” Yoongi replied calmly. “It’s not like you’re eating, anyway.”

“I was here first, you can’t just tell me to give you my chair. Sit somewhere else.” Taehyung pointed to a nearby table. 

“You’re being unreasonable.” Yoongi deadpanned.

“And you’re being childish.” Taehyung smiled. 

“I’ll move.” You cut in, picking up your own food. There was no way you could eat with the two of them bickering like this, so you sat down in at the table to your right. 

“No--” Yoongi started.

“Don’t do that--” Taehyung said at the same time as he started to get up.

“Sit.” You told both of them, and they both slowly did so. For a while, you were able to eat your lunch in peace as the two men gave each other dirty looks, but eventually Taehyung left (to your surprise).

“Can I ask you something?” You asked after a while. You and Yoongi were still sitting at different tables, and it was a little awkward to talk to him like this. But you were afraid to switch seats now, with so many other people around. What would you do if your co-workers started jumping to conclusions? Then again, eating lunch together didn’t mean there was anything going on, right?

“Sure.” Yoongi replied with a nod.

“What’s the deal with you and Taehyung?” You weren’t sure that it was your business, but you were curious, and it couldn’t hurt to ask.

“What do you mean?” Yoongi asked carefully.

“I mean you seem to dislike him--more so than if he was just a coworker or shareholder. So why?” 

“That’s... A long story.” Yoongi said after a moments thought. “A pretty boring one, too.” 

“Will you tell me sometime?” You asked, unable to stop yourself. 

Yoongi smiled, only faintly, but it was there. “Yeah. Sometime. Just not today.” 

You didn’t argue--’not today’ was better than not at all. 

You knew you shouldn’t be asking questions, making your situation any worse than it already was; you needed to keep work separate, and only see Yoongi as your boss, nothing more. But that was feeling more difficult by the moment, and you feared it wouldn’t be long before it was too late.

A/N Thank you for reading!! As always, let me know what you think! <3 <3 <3