#thanks for acknowledging that we're plural

[catgirldragon]

BREAKING NEWS: whoever is leaving eggs on these dragons' doorstep likely does not plan to stop

I wouldn't want them to ^.^

[midwinterwings]

Fuck the cringe. Begone thot

I'm literally tomura (source mha) and bodily a crow (gryphon) in outerworld.

I'm not that similar to my source, and I don't identify with the name Shigaraki so I'm just Tomura lol. But I'm still Tomura, which is very cringe and 'lmfao you think you're a fictional character' and yes you're right. It's true. And I ask you, so? What's your point?

Life is too short to be your own bigot to your literal identity that you can't even control. I mean, being your own bigot to any part of your identity, even if its controllable, is dumb. Its extra dumb to try to change if it wasnt even voluntary because you can't. -t

[sophieinwonderland]

r/FakeDisorderCringe doesn't know what biblical canon is, atheists are offended by saying God is plural, and other people casually throwing out some blasphemies and ableism!

👎

For uncreative title.

Atheists Pretending To Be Deeply Offended...

So, let me guess, you're not actually Christian are you?

Those guys sure aren't.

So weird how people pretend to be offended over a religion they aren't even a part of.

(Let's be real though, that's most of the tulpa discourse.)

Oh... you considered converting.

That clearly gives you a say in this conversation. /s

Meanwhile, my host actually lived the religion. He was Christian through his teenage years, and as a child helped his mom teach Sunday School and went to sleep every night on a Noah's Ark pillow.

Sorry, I distracted from your point. We're thieves stealing from a religion. 🙄

Okay, let's talk "canon!"

I just... I LOVE this whole conversation! 🤣

THIS is actual cringe.

Does anyone see the issue here?

I'll let u/AdSuccessful3533 spell it out. Possibly the only person with sense in the thread.

It's not just Catholic Canon either, but Biblical Canon! Like, there's a whole Wikipedia article on it!

The sheer self-righteous ignorance of r/Fakerdisordercringe (and r/systemscringe) never ceases to amaze me.

All of these people so bent out of shape over the use of "canon" to describe biblical text as if that's not been in use for hundreds of years!

"Something a middle schooler would say."

The Heresies!

That's correct. This is NOT the modalism heresy.

Modalism suggests God is a single unified being who reveals himself in different forms. God being plural would mean that God is three beings in one. This is completely in-line with the views of Trinitarianism.

An example of the modalism heresy would be more like this...

Comparing God to Optimus Prime, arguing that they're just different forms like Optimus Prime in a truck form vs him in a robot form, is modalism.

But if modalism isn't enough, we've got some tritheism too!

Besides the tritheism... it's really hard to take people who are calling tulpas appropriative seriously when they don't even know basic facts about the most popular religion in the world.

Also, the part about System not being a term for a person with DID is technically correct. System is, rather, the term used for the total collection of all the alters. But it is very much a term used by psychologists and it's accurate to refer to the Trinity as a system in this way.

Also, if the Tritheism bothers you, don't worry! We're going to go right back to modalism.

The H2O metaphor is controversial for the same reason as comparing God to Optimus Prime. It suggests God is simply changing form to become these different things.

Miscellaneous

Can you show me that rabbit hole?

I'm the one who Tweeted that, and have NEVER been on the OSDD sub.

Who do you think I am?

No... it definitely doesn't sound right. Religion shouldn't just be a thing for neurotypicals.

If one believes in God, then surely God made all people, including those of us who have mental illnesses. Why should Christianity and biblical references be kept away from people with mental illness other than ableism?

I mean, if by in peace, you mean without endogenic systems, then no. You can't.

We're here and we aren't going away. Ever.

And we exist in all spaces, including in your churches and your religious communities. And Christian systems shouldn't be expected to hide who they are because our existence bothers bigots like you.

We're going to share this world, and we're going to share spaces. And that includes churches and religious spaces too. Deal with it. 🤷‍♀️

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank everyone at r/fakedisordercringe for giving me the free material. For a subreddit that's designed to laugh at people for supposed "cringe," you all sure are a goldmine for it! 😜

[funnier-as-a-system]

Heyy I'm that game concept anon! Wanted to say that it's been absolutely lovely to read about different systems' experiences!! Nice to see we're not alone lol. I'm usually pretty confident in what we have going on, and people around us (in college) somehow are... supportive, even tho they don't understand what I'm talking about like half the time, but that moment bent me out of shape a little. Glad to report that I'm now back into the proper confident shape yeehaw :)

Also in my first ask I somehow failed to mention this, but the whole deal with the "romantic connotations" was literally just my teacher making it up himself. Like as much as I wanted to show my relationship with my husband/co-host one for one, I wasn't originally going to make the game characters have a romantic relationship. Cuz platonic relationships are very important too! And overall the goal was to show how alters should have better in-sys communication and collective problem-solving, when possible (and NOT bully each other for 'stealing' each other's life, and NOT bully the persecutors for being mean without trying to figure out why they're mean and without trying to help them, and NOT bully other alters for acting like they do without learning their reasoning, like we did, unfortunately.) I guess husband's 'Protective husband' energy was just too intense for the teacher to handle lol. But NOW I do want to incorporate in-sys dating. We'll see how it goes, I guess.

(also please take care!! That's a lot of asks to have wow. Hope you're doing well!)

Hey there!! It's great to hear from you again!

I'm really glad you're feeling better after what happened. So, your professor was just seeing romance where there wasn't any, huh? Feels like a common theme with professors whenever someone writes about any kind of close relationship – maybe it's due to amatonormativity, or maybe in this case it's just your husband's "protective husband energy", as you say, haha. But I'm happy to hear that you've continued working on your project with passion, and that you have people who support you!

I'm also happy to learn more about this game concept you're working on, because it sounds very cool! Everything that you list are important things for systems to learn, though I find many systems struggle to learn them when they first discover their plurality. As we said to a friend once, with how strongly the idea of "one body = one self = one life" is cemented into everyday narratives, it's difficult to unpack that and accept that your body and life may not be only your own, thus making it difficult to accept your system and respect your headmates. Of course, this doesn't excuse rude or cruel behavior between system members, but it's a common reason we've found for conflicts that occur shortly after syscovery. So, I find the fact that you're not just acknowledging but showing these conflicts and the process of improving relationships (with the word "relationships" being used in a general sense here) between headmates in your game to be a very good thing!

Thank you very much for the follow-up – and for the concern, haha! We'll be alright, but I think we'll soon have to create a specific tag for all these asks about intrasystem relationships. Maybe "datenight musings" will work? Hm, we'll workshop it.

[transpanda-1]

sending this ask on anon bc i'm too nervous to be seen,,

i think i might be plural, but any time i try to fond the others they disappear. sometimes i feel like i can hear them, but then when i try to listen or understand, they go away

i dont have anyone else to talk to about this, im so confused..

🧵Well there's a number of different ways to go about this, but one element we do think is very important is for you to be in a pro plurality environment?

The reason we bring it up is that it is honestly hard to figure out your plurality on your "lonesome". Plurality is a condition that's trying to hide itself from everyone, including yourself. And your mind (if it is plural) has probably been hardwired to see yourself as a singlet by default.

It may seem that we're quite good at communication between alters, but that was an inevitable result of doing this over time. At the beginning, we actually were like that where it felt like we couldn't talk to each other, couldn't co-front, could only exist one at a time at best. It took a couple of years of continuous casual deprogramming to make the barriers easier and easier to get across.

So, where do you go from there?

As it turns out, having someone help you is a REALLY good way to help make breakthroughs. If you're not aware, we have a test we call the "Thank you for existing" test. It sounds like you're having difficulty identifying alters? If you think you might know any of their *names*, though, try to get someone to say "Thank you for existing, blank" to you.

Note your reaction to that phrase. Did your body almost seem to physically react? Or something stirred within you like a full body shake or shudder? That's usually happened with systems helped, because an alter is finally being acknowledged by purely themselves.

But there's other things that are important to know that might help you, like: 1. The estimated population of systems in the world are 1~1.5%, which is around where trans or redheads are. And that seems to be just DID. 2. You don't really need trauma to be plural, but you also don't need outright PTSD to form plurality, C-PTSD, or trauma more over a long period of time, can also contribute to traumagenic systems 3. Many systems find themselves drawn to characters or media featuring them, even without knowing. If you happen to be trans, try thinking of your own tendencies and what you attach to, it may help! 4. Read stories written by actual systems! Unfortunately it's a bit hard to see more official stories, so we tend to recommend plurality stories on ao3 (though see more original works on scribblehub lately). If you want a halfway decent substitute, we find Uendo Toneido from ace attorney good, and just found out about Gemini Sunrise from Sakura Wars.

And if you ever wish to look into more or just simply to have an environment where it's safe to do so: Our DM's are always open and we're very private about people who wish to figure out their own potential plurality. Don't hesitate if you think you need the help!

Thank you for this ask and thank you for existing - Smoothie

[the-crystal-femmes]

Explaining our plurality to our mother really took a toll on me.

I'm glad she accepts it and understands what I was talking about, but at the same time, we're all very nervous about it. I don't know if she'll continue to acknowledge I'm not just one being, instead like.. 5+, but I also don't want her to accidentally set anyone off now that she knows they're there.

I actually did tell her that she's talked to Ula before. She seemed to take that well, and kind of laughed when I admitted he has a British accent.

I also really appreciate her actually thanking Pearl for the dishes being done, because I really wanting zem to have credit on it.

I also did explain what everyone does. How it's most likely Pearl with dishes, how Ula will help with food alongside Pearl, yadda yadda..

- YP

[anendoandfriendo]

WE NEED MORE POSTS TALKING ABOUT BEING SYSIAN AND PLURILLEAN AS LEGITIMATE ORIENTATION TERMS OUTSIDE OF BEING ASPEC.

That doesn’t make y'all invalid if a system is sysian or plurillean and that DOES make them aspec.

But not acknowledging this as a separate orientation reeks of sysmedicalism to a lot of us (as in, us, Rusanya), we see a lot of things that do this that aren't intentionally sysmedicalist but are like Just There as a direct result of plurmisic oppression (see: our vents about how roles are used, how people assume endogenics cannot have CDDs and how that implies to the world we're magically immune to trauma! regardless of your actual intentions, and similar vents).

Critical analysis skills are in fact at an all-time low and that includes being sociologically-minded, we finally figured out the words for it, thank fuck. Being able to treat a thing as legitimate as well as justified while also understanding some of the nastier aspects of the history of that thing does not suddenly mean you're endorsing the nastier thing lmao, that's like saying because you're using roman columns you're like, wdk, entirely and fully devoted a dead empire and everything it has ever said and done and condone every single tiny thing it did in the name of its wars and atrocities etc etc etc.

You get what we mean?????

But because (from our observations) that skill is just so blatantly not there for so many people everything is read in bad faith and it's assumed our intent is to attack when our intent is to, like, point out something we percieve is an actual problem. Like. Constantly. We feel like we cannot talk about things we percieve as issues (or at least, if not issues, maybe just things that are unacknowledged) pretty much ever lest we get disembowled by the online community. Jeez.

Saying it one more time: we could be wrong here, but our observations have indicated that a lot of people do not have adequate skills to identify the actual repercussions of living in a society. Not just the things that are told to you, but also what is NOT said, what is simply assumed, and what the meanings of words are to the normative power versus what YOU are saying.

And in order to like, discuss actual issues. And. Not rip people apart. That's...do people understand that is a necessary skill to have so you don't fall to propaganda, for starters?

We feel like this explains a lot of things (not in their entirety but as a common thread maybe?):

Antishippers

Sysmedicalists

Transmedicalists

Any -medicalist to be honest

People who fell down the alt-right pipeline in some way unintentionally (so, pretty much all of the above but like, can be its own thing too so worth mentioning)

And like, probably way more, but. Like. We know we're rehashing an ages-old discussion with ourselves especially when we say "propaganda exploits that type of ignorance and unwillingness to analyze things," and so, when we say "words MEAN THINGS" what we generally are saying, so, when you're deconstructing them, you HAVE to understand how those words are used when a normative power applies them to a marginalized one.

-------

That's why we also fucking fixate on system roles so much we think, they're the most direct example that we can easily apply that is relevant to us in a way that makes them easy for us to deconstruct. "Role" to us has a very specific connotation and in relation to the normative power, a "role" implies a point of purpose. The way singlets call their friends a "protector" implies a personality trait as in "oh my friend is such a protector, you know?" but saying "my headmates role is a protector" implies a point of purpose, something that as far as we are aware, is a concept introduced by singlets and then forced onto our communities as plurals and systems.

We will never tell people to stop using words the way they personally like, but, for us, the way we can see this being fixed is...just saying "my headmate is a protector" or "she's such a caregiver haha" because it no longer implies a point of purpose.

And the point of that analysis is more about "is it even useful to imply a point of purpose" because, as much as we all hate it, we DO live in a society. It's not exclusionism to ask yourself WHY you use a label, and the pathways that could have led you to that and what the alternatives could have been or could be.

A point of purpose is the language of dehumanization when applied to systems and plurals. So, let's make it so even respectability politics is no longer respectable. Nothing would make a singlet more uncomfortable than forcing them to admit we are people and to wrangle their own language against them.

Do you understand what Rusanya is trying to say when Rusanya says all of this? 😖

[multiplicity-positivity]

hey, so this might be outside your wheelhouse, idk, but you were the first blog i could think of that might be able to help. we're a system, and my partner is a singlet and is looking to understand more about plurality and how to be supportive, and i was wondering if you had any basic overviews or advice for partners of systems? or know of a blog better suited for this kind of question?

thanks for your time!

Hi! Honestly we believe that many singlets in systems’ lives can benefit from the same sorts of research that we suggest to questioning systems. While the articles and resources may be geared towards systems, that doesn't mean that singlets won't be able to learn from them! Our resource post for questioning systems has a bunch of links to resources on dissociative disorders and plurality in general:

As far as resources specifically for singlets, the "Plurality Playbook" linked in our resource post could be useful!

We're not sure about your system origins, but if y’all have a dissociative disorder like DID or OSDD, the ISSTD has a handy source sheet for loved ones of people with dissociative identities - we've used it in the past when coming out to singlets in our lives!

Finally, we'd like to add our own advice for singlets trying to get to know and better support the systems in their lives:

Every system is unique! So the system in your life may have support needs that are different from other systems. Check in with your plural loved one often, try to get to know the other members of their system, and ask them what good support looks like for them!. Also, respect their boundaries and listen to them when they tell you something is harmful/disrespectful/etc!

We’ve had singlets in our lives who, when we told them about our plurality, they acted supportive in the moment, but then refused to acknowledge our system’s existence afterwards, and got visibly uncomfortable whenever we brought up our plurality. Being treated this way by a close loved one is really painful - so don’t do that! If your loved one turns out to be plural, stay aware of their plurality and try to acknowledge it while incorporating the whole system (or all the members who want to be involved) into your life.

Basically, to singlets out there, treat systems with dignity and compassion, listen to us and be respectful, don’t ignore our existence, and do your best to be there for us! In our opinion, this is how singlets can be great allies to the plural folks in their lives.

Anon, we hope this helps! Best of luck to y’all and your partner - we hope y’all’s relationship will prosper in health, respect, and communication!

[acorpsecalledcorva]

It's actually harder to find a psychologist or philosopher that views the self as a singular completely unified and cohesive being than all the ones who recognise and acknowledge that the human Psyche is inherently multiple in nature. In fact we likely couldn't develop DID if it wasn't.

Whether it's the ID ego and super ego, the conscious unconscious and the archetypes of the collective unconscious, bundle theory of the self, internal family systems, transactional analysis, all these concepts and ideas explore the fractal nature of the human brain to compartmentalise differentiated (and often conflicting) aspects of ourselves and call upon them when needed. Fuck, if you wanna get all Descartes about it then the fact that you can have conflicting thoughts and feelings about something demonstrates that it's actually "we think therefore we are and we're gonna have a fight about it".

What makes a CDD brain different is Dissociative barriers. It's like having a room full of people all screaming "I'm Spartacus!", they've all been working together and communicated together to agree that they're all Spartacus. If you start putting walls up between them so they can't coordinate their efforts then some aren't going to know that they're Spartacus, they might start yelling that they're actually Caesar, or Brutus. It's these walls in the way that lead to disorder and dysfunction because consensus can never be reached, they can't even argue about it they just know what they have available to them. That's why communication is such an important early step in recovery. Eventually you bring down the walls, get everyone working in sync, and if they want to they can start calling themselves Spartacus again. They're still separate people but now they fight under a single banner.

Even for someone without those walls though it's very common to have factions and groupings and teams to emerge leading to internal conflict. There's nothing stopping those factions from choosing another identity for themselves. In fact it's incredibly common for them to do so. The characters you meet in dreams are you, they're part of you, they're just temporarily taking up a different identity and personality to act out a training simulation to help you process information and at the end those parts are reintegrated back into being you and calling themselves Spartacus again. Well what if they decide not to? What if they do it while you're awake? What's actually stopping them? The lack of walls between them doesn't force them to be a single identity, the presence of walls just prevents CDD parts from becoming a single identity due to a lack of access to the rest of the brain.

It really is just a societal thing that puts far too much significance on external appearance as being indicative in any way on the inner experience. Just because I look like one person on the outside doesn't mean I'm one person on the inside. Just because I look like a guy on the outside doesn't mean I'm a guy on the inside. Just because I look like a 20(ish) person on the outside doesn't mean I'm 20(ish) on the inside (or actually 20(ish) thank you estrogen)

P.S. obviously this isn't a comprehensive or universal understanding of the selves in the plural community, if anyone perceives themselves as working differently to this then that's totally valid and I'd love to hear how you experience yourself as I just think this is all really interesting

[queerautism]

The new endo hate blog has annoyed me greatly on the one specific thing folks like that always do.

Mainly that they do not care about racism as much as they act like they do. Many indigenous cultures, including mine!, have longstanding concepts of plurality within them. Some people from those cultures who are plural and whose plurality is intrinsically tied to these cultures are endogenic or classify as endogenic because it's the easiest label to use. Some folks are traumagenic in the same way and some folks do not care about how they're labeled. Ya know, it depends, like literally everyone else, lol.

And anti-endos don't care about our plurality regardless of how we might classify it. At the very best I've seen, they completely ignore it and say something about respecting indigenous cultures when pressed before continuing to call all endos ableist and harmful. More often, I've seen them continually dismiss the legitimacy of our culture concepts of plurality when they do actually acknowledge it. Sometimes they try to be subtle about it or might even try to be what they consider kind about it, but, shockingly, we don't appreciate it it and it's pretty awful of them to do.

Even if we're traumagenic the ways in which we think about and acknowledge our plurality are wrong. I haven't had many folks try to "correct" me on it, thankfully, but the ones who have were very much giving "I must educate you out of the good of my heart from your primitive ways" vibes.

Anyway, as always Rouke is cool and incredibly kind and Dave is awesome and y'all deserve love and support.

💜 Thank you!!

I think this is a great point that often needs more attention tbh. Thank you for sharing your perspective!

[ladyimaginarium]

%100 understandable if you don't have the energy or desire to answer this genuinely no pressure here

But I was wondering if you had anything you wanted to talk about in terms of anti native racism in the plural community, if there's anything you could get non-natives to internalize what would that be etc that kinda thing

hellooooo sweetling, thank you for asking !! :3 I& hope you don't mind me& answering, we've& been quite switchy lately !! Now… sit down and listen up, nonnatives, especially you, white settlers, class is in session !!

I. Don't name yourselves after our spirits and/or our nations !! I& cannot express enough how infuriating this is !! There was a time when we& had to deliberately tell a white bodied system to change their alter's name from W**dig* to something else, not just for their safety, but ours& as a Native bodied system !! W **dig*ag are NOT spirits to mess with, let alone to use as a name if you're nonnative, especially if you are a white settler !! These are Algonquian and Anishinaabe sacred spirits, and, no, sacred does not always mean good, and quite frankly, to use our sacred religious figures or any of our nations as your name is cultural appropriation !! And, no, your "w*ndig*" headmate is likely not a w*ndig* at all, it's not a deer creature !! It's very insensitive, our cultures, practices and religions have already been stretched far and thin over the years to the point where we have been imprisoned or murdered for practicing them in the past until only a few decades ago, so be respectful !! Don't be a loser !! 🖤🖤🖤🖤 II. Native bodied systems don't care about your white guilt !! Listen... we& know most people's intentions are well, but at this point, we& don't care, we've& often been forced to listen to white people whine and bitch about how sorry they are, how bad they feel about the way their ancestors treated ours, and will often overstep their boundaries and their place when speaking with us& !! Yes, we& want you to acknowledge who's land you're on, yes, we& want nonnative, especially white settler allies, to be there with us and uplift our voices, but don't speak over us, you're not solving anything by venting to us&, a Native bodied system, about your ancestors' guilt, if you are white. We're& not here to hold your hand, we& won't coddle your feelings, we& won't give you a cookie for expressing and doing the bare minimum and be your palatable native system !! III. Having an exoethnic Native headmate doesn't make your body Native !! I& don't know how else to say this ... simply because you have an exoethnic Native headmate doesn't make your body Native and as such that doesn't give you the right to speak our languages, practice our medicines or call yourself Two Spirit if you are nonnative, especially if you're white bodied !! If you're a system of color and you want to learn our languages, depending on what the language is because some languages are exclusive only to members of that nation, even to other natives, we'd& be more flattered, but if you're a white bodied system who has an exoethnic Native headmate and think that automatically gives you the right to come into our spaces and learn our languages and ceremonies?? Think again !! :3 There are teachings by our& elders and knowledge keepers from different nations that we& are literally forbidden from sharing with nonnatives !! I& understand how frustrating this can be, but respect is essential !! IV. White bodied and nonnative systems of color are not immune to antinative racism and Native erasure in plural spaces !! Native bodied systems, let alone Native singlets, aren't often included in the table on how to make things better in our spaces and are treated like an afterthought even on our own lands !! This happens so often that this led to the term called Native erasure which is extremely common in the media, even in POC spaces !! Don't demand we do your homework for you. Don't hesitate to check up on your Native friends !! V. Our cultures are not homogenous and there is no one "Native look"!! I& don't want to repeat ourselves& but our cultures and peoples are so unique, special and distinct from each other !! We can have any skintone, any hair type, any eye color, we can look like anything !! — 🖤 / Bellatrix& / Beretta&, she/her.

[sesamestreep]

Din Djarin, 30

30. was it worth it? (from this list) further adventures in that modern au with anti-social baseball cap wearing single dad din djarin because i have no idea what's happening on the show anymore, let's doooo this

Once Din pulls into the driveway, he cuts the engine and sends up a tentative prayer to the universe that the sound is not enough to wake Grogu up. The kid is zonked out in his booster seat in the back, clutching the stuffed animal Din had won him at the fair—at the booth where you shoot a target with a water pistol to make it move, of course, because his aim is still worth writing home about after all these years—and seemingly unbothered by the sudden quiet. Din breathes a sigh of relief and then shifts his focus to the daunting task of trying to get this kid out of his seat, up two flights of stairs, and into the apartment without somehow waking him. It's not going to be easy.

With another sigh, Din opens the door and keeps it there with his foot as he digs around in the center console for his phone and his wallet before pulling the keys out of the ignition. Belatedly, he sees the golden light pouring from the open garage door and realizes Cal must be working in there still. Before Din can properly catch up, Cal is already outside and on his way over.

"I'll uh," Din says, as he gets out, gesturing back at the car, "I'll get this out of your way in a few, I just gotta get the kid upstairs first."

Cal shakes his head, already smiling. "No rush," he says, easily. "We're not going anywhere. And besides, you're always up early anyway. Do it in the morning."

"I don't want to block you all in, if you need to—"

"Like I said, we're not going anywhere. It's fine."

"Well—”

"I'll ask Merrin, if it'll make you feel better! But she will definitely also say it's fine."

Merrin is Cal's—well, Din isn't sure if they're married or not. Cal doesn't wear a ring and Merrin wears dozens, so it's hard to tell. They're definitely a couple, because they do that seamless first person plural thing all the time when they talk about each other, but if they happen to refer to each other in the third person, they just use each other's names, rather than “my spouse” or “my partner”, except for the time Cal—perhaps accidentally—referred to her as "my Merrin" and she made a face and mimed punching him in the stomach for it. They live on the first floor and generally manage the property because they know the owner, which means Cal has all of his tools and his work bench in the garage for his various projects and Merrin tends to the garden out back, which grows a bunch of vegetables and strange plants that Din isn't convinced should be able to survive in this climate. He suspects she has a way with these things but has never bothered to ask about it.

"I'll take your word for it," Din says, reluctantly. "And I appreciate it."

"No problem," Cal replies. "Need any help?"

Din opens the door and starts unbuckling Grogu from his seat. "Uh, I think I'm alright, but thanks."

Cal leans slightly back, so as not to be in the way when Din gently lifts Grogu out of the car and tucks him over his shoulder. "Wow, you really tuckered him out, huh?"

"Yeah. We went to the fair, the, uh, Apple and Trout something or other...?"

Cal laughs. "Peach and Chowder Festival," he corrects. "I know it well."

"This is a strange town."

"I know that too. Looks like you did alright, though."

"Yeah," Din says, gingerly lifting the tail of the stuffed shark in acknowledgement. Another parent at the booth had claimed it was a knockoff of some famous trademarked shark but Din doesn't know about all that. He only knows it was the next best thing in Grogu's mind when there were no frog or lizard plushes to be won. "He's happy, at least."

Cal tips his head to the side, curiously. "You didn't enjoy yourself?"

"Ah, well, you know...crowds and lots of noise and kids all hopped up on sugar...that's not really my thing. But it's not about me, it's about him, so..."

"Yeah," Cal says, with a small smile. He puts a hand gently on Grogu's back. "Bet that makes it all worth it, huh?"

Din suddenly feels very stupid for never bothering to ask Cal or Merrin if they have kids. He’s never been great at that stuff, asking the right questions to really get to know people, and so he can only guess what their situation is. He thinks they're about his age, give or take a few years, and that means they're young enough that, if they had any children, he expects they'd still be living together, but he's not sure about that. They could have kids old enough to be living on their own, he supposes. And they've always been kind to Grogu, never once making a snide comment about him not talking much or needing his space sometimes, the way some other folks do. Sometimes, Cal will even let the kid hang out in the garage to watch him work, waving away Din's concerns about him being too much trouble by pointing to Beady, the cat that's almost always curled up around his neck or perched on his shoulder.

"If I can work with this one around," Cal's fond of saying, "your son's no bother."

Still, Din's not sure how exactly to ask that politely—if they have children of their own or not—especially if the answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no. And there is something complicated and sad about what Cal's expression is doing right now.

"Anyway," he says, cheerfully after a moment, and the expression is gone, tucked away somewhere. "I'll get out of your hair. Just wanted to offer some help if you needed it."

Din clears his throat, thinking about how his therapist is always talking about how he should get better at accepting the kindness other people offer him and also something about how his upbringing had convinced him there's some nobility in suffering needlessly. He probably can get Grogu inside and into bed without any assistance, but it would be easier with help. There had also been a discussion in therapy about depriving people of the satisfaction of showing their love for him by turning down their offers to be of service.

"Actually," he says, feeling foolishly nervous about something so small and seemingly easy, "if you could grab the door for me, that would be a huge help."

"Of course," Cal says, with an easy smile. "Happy to."

"And let’s just, uh, make sure we don't lose the shark,” Din says, as they make their way up the steps. “I don’t think I have it in me to win another one.”

[creatively-cosmic]

New pinned? Earlier today we got some tags on one of our art that reminded me that we never really went back and explained anything about ourselves, so. Gonna do it now.

Heya! We're Starry. This is our artblog.

We're a 20y/o genderfucked queer polyfragmented system with a lotta fictives. Pretty much everything here is based on shit in our brain. Heads up: We post Gore, Horror, and occasionally Suggestive content (tagged), along with artistic and partial nudity (which may not get tagged).

You might notice we never take acknowledging our plurality very seriously, or explain things regarding it much ever. That's... Pretty simply cause we don't want to put that on the internet for everyone and God to see. We're explaining it here because it's a part of our art and a frame of reference for a lot of things we make and say.

DON'T TAKE THIS POST AS ANY FORM OF A DNI. We don't want things we make to be treated any differently because of this. The works, writings, designs, and stories we put here are all from a place of concious thought and passion! While we call this blog more of a personal art archival, we do genuinely still put it online to share art that we've put thought, heart, and soul into.

For the record, to make things abundantly clear, we'll put a list of specifications under the cut. But in a nutshell, the main "boundary" I give a shit about is this:

Don't interact with our posts any differently than you would literally anything else. When you talk to us directly, just remember to not treat us like characters.

Thanks for reading. More below if you want more clarification.

Stuff that's fine:

We're fine with "doubles." You can be, kin, ID as whoever you want. If you relate to our stuff specifically, too? I promise that's fine. Awesome, in fact!

Comments/tags. Pleaseee comment on our art in fact it always makes our day. We see all that shit. Analyze, keysmash, shit you can even say some unwise stuff if you wanna. Don't hold back.

Fanart. Look if you ever got possessed to draw one of our designs I think we'd die for you on the spot. No questions asked, go for it.

Asks! Man, feel free to ask about anything. Ask about our stories, designs, opinions, experiences, whatever. Just don't ask about our trauma.

You can use our art as icons and such, just make sure to credit properly if it's in a public space ie social media or discord profile. Don't use it for any of that AI shit though.

Stuff that ISN'T fine:

I can't be damned to fill this out in any thorough way cause I don't really have any hard NOs, honestly. So this is just like. One thing, and it's an elaboration on the earlier bolded thing: Don't TALK DIRECTLY TO US as if we are characters. What I mean by this is... Us being fictives and talking about our stories doesn't mean this is a character blog. It isn't a roleplay blog. It's just us being us. Don't send messages or asks looking for someone specific, or expecting a specific reply, cause their source is your blorbo. And don't get shocked or offended when we inevitably act out of character in our posts, cause we AREN'T a character. We're people.

I guess this goes in hand with that but, don't tell us we're existing wrong as a fictive, alter, or system, too. I'll just block you. This is the only serious response anyone who might try to fakeclaim us is getting. I am not here to explain why we are the way we are, who we are, or what happened. Anyone engaging in """syscourse,""" please. Step back and understand that all that shit is, is sticking your nose into the trauma of strangers on the internet to decide if they're "correct" enough in your eyes. Nobody owes you their life story so you can decide if they're valid. Put your energy into something better.

[sophieinwonderland]

For this anon

We are diagnosed with DID, and it was hell to go through because we had to go with a diagnostician (Who had to admit it was the first time she saw a case like ours).

I mainly wanted to have a diagnosis so I could be acknowledged enough for a proper trauma treatment, given my previous therapist was very insistent of "your trauma wasn't enough to be this unstable, so it has to be neurochemical"

When we saw this diagnostician, she did in fact acknowledge there was severe underlying PTSD (guess waking up throwing up because of nightmares isn't as common as one may think)

In the end all I found around was doctors who wanted to final fuse us by force when I told them explicitly I didn't find any issue with our plurality but actually trauma being shit (Take in consideration we're from a third world country though, one of them even was confused when I brought up the current ISSTD guidelines)

So basically when we figured we weren't earning absolutely anything from these appointments, we decided to take other approaches for our PTSD

We do have a psychiatrist, which isn't my first choice after 10 years of trying to know wtf was up with us and figuring it out on our own when I started hearing and taking advice from the guys in the back of my head

he checks on us once a month and then gives us our antidepressants and mood stabilizers which is-- the only thing that has had any positive impact on us (after taking 15 pills a day and sleeping 24/7 basically)

At the end of the story, we ended up going for mixed origins/spiritual origins for our system despite the diagnosis, because we reconnected with spirituality (Not religious and more unorthodox since we don't have guides) and taking this new path helped us cope with the trauma way better

My point with the story I shared isn't that you need to do the same and go for a spiritual journey, our story isn't the same as yours, and definitely what helps one may not help the other; but what I mean is that a diagnosis doesn't change that your system is real and valid; a diagnosis is only helpful if you aim to get specialized therapy, but, other than that, you have nothing to prove to anyone; only you and your system know the truth.

Hope you're okay anon; and you too Sophie! Sorry for the long ask :)

Thanks for the addition! 👍

[stormy-talks]

Hello. I am the anon that sent that ask to @/our-queer-experience about otherkin being insane. I was going through the responses and saw your comment, inviting me to ask anything.

I wanted to thank you.

And. Well.

I wanted to ask, why are you all so sure that this is not a mental health condition? Because after seeing the responses from different people, I'm still not at all convinced that you all are not insane.

Someone else answered with their experience and feelings about the topic and asked me to take a moment to consider if I believe that "you all being actually insane would mean that it is alright for me to be mean to you" or something like that and, honestly? No. I do not believe that. I would never be mean to someone for being otherkin, I am not going to argue with you or try to convince you you are human, I know you are not doing anything wrong, you are not putting yourselves nor anyone else in danger, you do you, it doesn't affect me. (but I'm still going to check myself for internalized ableism anyways.)

I sent another ask after that one, I don't know if you saw it, explaining this. The thing is that I don't want to just go on with my life thinking that you all are just clinically ill people. I want to at least try to understand, at least take a moment to ask questions and listen to the answers.

I know that there is a possibility that there is not something wrong with you, maybe it is something wrong with me. And I do not like being wrong. So if that's the case, I need to know so I can fix it. Acknowledging that I am being stupid is the first step to stop being stupid.

Also like I know it is not anybody's job to educate me and it doesn't matter what I think about you and your experiences. I am nobody and you all are still worthy of respect. Me not understanding something doesn't give me the right to be an asshole about it.

I am defending myself too much lmao sorry. This ended up much longer than intended.

I just want you to know that I appreciate you wanting to take the time to answer to me and explain this stuff to me, and that I am not coming from a place of hate and I don't pretend to "win an argument."

Well, anon. If you were concerned it's a mental health condition, I would hope you'd be an advocate for people with such an experience. But, with your use of the word "insane" in conjunction with "mental health condition", then I can only imagine you do not actually choose to be an ally to people with such conditions.

Bigotry in secret is still bigotry. On the outside, you'll be accepting and amicable. But you see us as insane behind anonymity. I also wouldn't call the use of "insane" internalized ableism. You did not internalize that.

There are a number of otherkin experiences ranging from psychological to spiritual to many more. There isn't really one way to explain otherkinity and invalidating one experience invalidates them all. So I won't spare you with "But some of them aren't psychologically otherkin at all! Sometimes it's a spiritual belief!" They're all real and valid experiences.

It's no different than plurality. In fact, it all fall under the same label of alterhuman. Sometimes it's something clinical, sometimes it's something more. We all have varying experiences with our bodies and our minds, and it doesn't always feel right to consider ourselves human. Something else pulls us away from that. There's a nagging feeling that our bodies and minds just aren't suited to the human experience.

Humans are complicated, but we don't always choose to be complicated.

You had the right idea by saying that we're not hurting anyone or putting ourselves in danger. You are so very close to being on the right track. Even if for some reason it's true that we are "clinically ill", how does that change the validity of our experiences? Yes, a number of otherkin are actually otherkin because of delusions, but they are still very much welcome in the community with open arms because they have very real experiences not unlike any other such identity.

Knowing why we're otherkin, not knowing why - it doesn't have any real effect on you. You can go about your day. But for us, we don't get to just stop being us. Instead, we have to fight to explain why being human just doesn't always work. We have to explain an identity not everyone fully understands. We don't know why it happens, but it doesn't hurt us. I think if anything, it helps us better understand ourselves by leaning into it.

[transpanda-1]

hello! i was wondering as to what makes characters fit into the unfortunately plural bracket vs the system swag bracket? thank you!

🦋Hello! Thank you for sending this ask! We were mostly going by vibes, but I think we can decently effectively describe our reasoning?

Full disclaimer: We're just one system and admittedly this divisions IS kind of going on a "vibes" basis

To explain the divide in the first place: We personally feel that the media landscape in portrayals for systems is still a mixed bag, and in it's infancy; so it's important to acknowledge generally empathetic portrayals, versus more flawed or demonized portrayals.

So System Swag is mainly for characters who (mostly) treat plurality as an okay or outright positive instance in the narrative. At the very least, kind of normalizing the idea of multiple characters sharing a body to people.

"Unfortunately Plural" is just where the more flawed portrayals go: Murder alters are the most common example, but there's also cases where the plurality is seen as something "curable" or for the alters to split apart at all costs. (Or you're Garu and you're from a sex gacha porn game IUBHSIUYDHGFS)

It's also just the space of "Hey are you normal about multiple people sharing a body. Tell me now, you have 10 seconds."

A character can be from an, admittedly, kind of dogshit series (coughRanmacough) and still be a surprisingly positive portrayal of plurality. And a character can come from a good series but be a negative portrayal of plurality, you know?