#got a HABIT headmate

[skullbowz]

I’m still working on the HABIT and Nina drawing but here take this for now 🙏

Let’s hope Nina doesn’t get eaten idk

[washedoutwings]

yeah so uhhhh we’re always permanently low on motivation so umm yeah sorry but we are doing one of those note things

20 notes: we will try to take our meds more consistently

50 notes: draw at least something once a week

70 notes: eat something for breakfast every day (at least an apple or protein drink)

100 notes: start keeping better track of our delusions/hallucinations

150 notes: tell our therapist about 2 of our headmates

200 notes: start a system journal

300 notes: tell our therapist about 5 of our headmates

500 notes: tell our therapist about all of our headmates

700 notes: tell our doctor about about our chronic pain

1000 notes: eat something medium for breakfast at least three days a week (like a bowl of cereal)

1500 notes: ask our closer friends to use she/her less (they know that we’re trans)

from here on it’s more about just good habits that we don’t have much motivation for instead of self care type stuff, so less important

2000: draw every day (when possible)

2500: finish writing one of our wip stories/fics

3500: start working on an art commissions portfolio

4500: start working on a writing commissions portfolio

6000: set up art commissions

8000: set up writing commissions

sorry, we feel really guilty about this but we really need some motivation for this stuff. honestly we don’t expect this to even get to 20, but that’s fine! no deadline, ummm if you really want to spam idc, feel free to tag people. i’m not gonna tag anyone, i don’t want anyone to feel pressured

edit: WHAT THE FUCK where did yall come from???????

edit 2: damn i was offline for like 2 days and it was barely at 300 and we log back on to 500+ uhhhh thanks ig lol

edit 3: well we’re almost at 700 so..i guess i’m gonna add a couple more?

edit 4: the gimmicks got to us…also added some more

[melonsystem949]

Methods our system uses to better help internal and external communication between alters that can maybe also help you!

1: We call it the buddy method!! To do this you need to find an alter who is able to talk to most alters. Or someone who has free access to a lot of places in inner world that most headmates don’t. This can look like many things, but preferably a gatekeeper or a protector!! Us personally we even have an alter who’s role specifically is to send messages to other alters! Anywho, ask them to send a message to the chosen alter. For example:

“Could you tell *Name* to do the homework sometime today?”

Then proceed to let the alter communicate that to the alter you want the message to be sent to! Doing this can also help certain alters know when and how to do certain things. It sometimes can even get them in the habit of doing productive things, for example how I stated before, doing homework!

2: Therapy!! Now this may sound cliché but it is really important that you do therapy, more importantly, TRAUMA THERAPY. It is best to get a licensed therapist who specializes in dissociation and trauma. Doing EMDR, grounding, and coping skills was a huge life changer for us. Not only did we get to process suppressed trauma, but it allowed us to break down those amnesia walls to help our communication between alters.

3: Journals/Notes/Reminders. THESE ARE GAME CHANGERS!! OH MY GOD I LITERALLY CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. Journals, notes, and reminders will literally save your life ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ !!

Putting reminders on your phone or sticky notes in places you can see helps so much!! Especially if you have really bad amnesia. It also helps to have a planner or a system journal where you can discuss certain topics between alters. For example, you write something down when you front, and the alter does the same! Make sure everytime you are aware you are fronting to check the journal to see if that headmate replied!! You can also use apps like simply plural!! Make sure to make the reminders very clear and specific. Sometimes when you just do simple reminders, the alter out may not know entirely what to do. For example: instead of saying “Do the dishes.” Try to say something like this, “Whoever sees this, please rinse the dishes and put them in the dish washer. After, unload the dishwasher and put them where they belong.” Doing this helps so much.

4: Trust what gatekeepers/protectors/caretakers tell you. Most of the time when these type of alters tell you to do something, listen, or remember to do, it is for a reason. Be open minded and allow your parts to guide and protect you.

Functional multiplicity is super important for us, and maybe it also is to other systems out there. Never feel afraid to want to be in control of your system. It’s hard to be in control, but it’s better get to know your parts rather than push them away. Communication is super helpful and can help you get to live the life/childhood you never got to live. I am so proud of you for getting this far. ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪

[prose-among-the-trees]

Begging screaming crying shitting pissing pleading for the internet to understand that DID is not an “alter disorder,” it’s a complex dissociative disorder.

My parts are a result of the trauma I went through and the dissociative behaviors I got in the habit of subconsciously to cope with trauma and abuse.

I am parts of one whole. Unless you and I have some sort of understanding or are quite close, you will not see me inform you about a switch or another part being out and about. This is for my safety.

I still have a CDD if I cannot participate in build a headmate (good god) posts, fictive appreciation posts, source calls (which I find particularly insidious anyways), and system anonymous ask games.

I am in therapy to cope with the trauma and the dissociation. I am not in active communication with every one of my parts, and the communication I am in with a few is not nearly as extensive as the community describes alter relationships as. I don’t know how to be “buddy buddy” with every piece of myself.

I really wish the internet never got a hold on CDDs, which is hypocritical since it’s the only reason I’m diagnosed and in treatment, but hear me out.

Did has become an online game. Medical professionals are publishing papers on the rise of sociogenic illness. I’ve known multiple people in my online and real life who have seen my did and decided to fake it as some way to fit in and be Cool and Fun and Interesting. I have known people to actively use the idea of splitting introjects as a manipulation tactic to keep others in their lives. This is disgusting behavior that all stems from the social currency of being ill online.

I’m so sick of it. My disorder is not fun and games. It’s not a joke, it’s not a way to use people. It’s debilitating for me.

For all the people who might reblog this and talk about “oh well maybe it’s agony for you but I like it!!” Cool. Keep it to yourself please. I’m glad you’re doing well enough to be in that spot; this post is not for you.

If it’s not glaringly obvious I’m anti endo so if endos wanna come and give me their two cents I’m not going to care. Call me a hater I don’t give a fuck.

[the-ribombee-lapidarym]

How did you discover your plurality, and do you have any tips for someone looking to become an endo?

This ask is phrased in a way where it makes us think you are either misinformed or an anti-endo asking in bad faith. We're going to assume it's the first one. We're going to answer the second part first. (Edit after writing: it turned out way longer than we thought so we're putting a cut here)

First of all: you can't become an endo. You're probably thinking of willo, or willogenic. These are systems that create themselves, whether through imaginary friends or characters accidentally becoming sentient, or through tulpamancy, paromancy or willomancy, all methods of creating a willomate. Tulpamancy as a term is more controversial than the others, as the process was adapted from a Buddhist practice, but we're neither Buddhist nor a tulpamancer so we don't think we really get a say :] while we don't have much experience with that, we do know a few things:

Firstly, there is active and passive forcing. Active forcing is sitting down (or lying down) and visualising your willomate's form, working out the details and such, while passive forcing is more like talking to your willomate while doing other things, like washing the dishes and explaining the process you go through.

Find a guide! Tulpamancy's the most common form of forcing a willomate so you'll find the most guides under that, even if you personally think it's cultural appropriation.

Be consistent in your forcing. Try to do it at least once a day. If you miss a day that's fine, but try to get into the habit. You can even set timers to remind yourself

Be patient. Every willomate takes a different amount of time to develop, and for a beginner it's typically longer. Don't get frustrated when it takes weeks, months, or even years for them to develop.

Understand what it means to have a headmate. It is not like having a roommate, or a pet, or a toy. They are sentient. Your willomate can take on attributes you imagine them with, but most likely they will develop their own personality. If you are not ready to live with another sentient being in your mind 24/7, do not go through this process.

That's all the tips we have, really. So, to answer your first question:

We discovered our plurality through a few things. At the beginning, we actually thought we weren't a system, and were interested in becoming one, so we began the process of creating a willomate! That's how we know those tips :]

While we were scrolling Tumblr looking for more tips, we came across a post of a system answering an ask from someone looking to be a willogenic system. The answer was quite helpful, but then they went on to say that "if you are so interested in becoming a system, it might be you're plural already, and willomancy/tulpamancy is your system's way of subconsciously trying to recognise itself" (paraphrased).

This kind of "got the ball rolling" for us. We started looking into the past and noticing things about ourself that was explained by plurality. It was a slow process at first and we were struggling to identify headmates: at first we thought we were a proxy system, with one frontstuck host and other headmates trying to front, with "me" unconsciously blocking them everytime. As it turned out, we all just had such weak identities that we blended together and couldn't tell each other apart.

We made a post complaining about it and asking if any other systems had any tips we could use to tell ourselves apart, and a very lovely system by the name of exorsysm gave us the tip: "assign each headmate a colour, and see what colour you feel the most strongly" as that pertains to the fronter.

So, we did that, and started off with just 6: Red, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, and Grey. We added more later, with first Pink, then Yellow and White, then we started adding fictives.

Eventually, after a long time of differentiating ourselves and tracking our fronts and switches (if you want to know how long, probably multiple months), we could identify ourselves well enough to start naming ourselves, doing some picrews and working out appearances, and start filling in Simply Plural's info.

Red became Alizarin, a protector and anger holder, Blue Crescent, our most common fronter (but not the host), Purple Mika, Grey Nimbus, a cassmate. Orange stayed unnamed for longer but we eventually identified Orange as Alpenglow, another protector. Green Pradera, Yellow Helios, a mood booster, and White Inziel, a caretaker.

After that we started either forming or discovering new people, most of them fictives at first, but then we went through a bit of a hard time and formed a couple trauma-holders and protectors, Whimsy and Tazbel. (Neither of them had colour names, although Tazbel started off named "Haha traumaboy" in SP)

Anyway yeah that's a bit more info than just "how did you discover your plurality" but eh. In terms of origin we started off as quoigenic (unknown), then constelgenic (originating from being constelic), then nebugenic (not quite coalescing into one whole personality as a child, sort of drifting and nebulous instead), then just endogenic bc we had no idea, then back to quoigenic, and now we're pretty much sure of adaptive! Though we are looking through origin terms under Adaptive and seeing if one fits. So far there's a couple options but we'll keep them private for now.

Anyway, hope this helps and answers your questions! We also hope you're not an anti-endo making fun of us! :D

~ Whimsy 🔮🌟 (shy/zie/it) and Indigo 🌊⛓️ (ae/he/it)

[multiplicity-positivity]

Internal Meetings

This post also started out as an ask response, but it kept getting longer so we’re making it a post on it’s own! Our own system has internal meetings once every month or so. We’ll share a bit about what that entails along with answering some specific questions which were sent by the anon asker. In a Q&A format so we can be sure to answer everything!

What is an internal meeting?

An internal or in-system meeting is a gathering, conference, or conversation held by multiple members within a system. An internal meeting can have as few as two members or as many as countless, depending on the system and their own capabilities. In our collective of around 20 members, usually 8-12 show up to our meetings. It can get to be a bit crowded!

During our system meetings, we update others on how our life is going internally and externally. We ask each other how they are doing, and have others provide status reports for members who are unable or unwilling to attend. We create an updated roll call for our parts to keep track of our members. We keep each other in the loop about important events happening in and outside the system. And we try to in general just socialize with each other a little bit to help us stay connected and in tune with one another.

How can we go about establishing internal meetings?

Our meetings started off with just three members, and they grew gradually over time and as our communication skills improved. It’s okay for your system meetings to start out small! To start up a meeting, first establish when and where the meeting will be held. Pick a time that works for your system when you don’t have prior obligations and can be fairly uninterrupted. Our own system holds our meetings in the living room of our headspace, with our body physically in our bedroom in the evening when we are calm, safe, and available.

Whoever wants to hold the meeting should tell every headmate they have access to, and those headmates can in turn tell others. If you’ve established a time and place, you can do things like set a reminder on your phone, save the date on your calendar, or leave a note somewhere that’s visible which other headmates can access.

How do we get into a routine of holding internal meetings?

Our system started off haphazardly trying to hold a meeting whenever we felt we needed one… but it got hard to keep up with. We are autistic and incredibly routine-oriented, so incorporating internal meetings into our routine helped a great deal to ensure we could actually have a meeting successfully.

Our meetings now take place on the second Wednesday of every month (or every other month if we feel like we don’t need/aren’t ready to meet) at 7:00 PM. This is a time where we are usually not busy, and are able to set aside an hour or so where we will not be rushed, bothered, or distracted. We have the meeting time set in our calendar, and there are a couple members in our system who have taken the job of keeping us reminded about our meeting and gathering those who want to join when it’s time for the conference to take place.

To those hoping to start up a routine, our best advice is to pick a time that works best for everyone and start making attempts regularly. Whether it’s once a year, bimonthly, once a month, once a week, or once a day, make a habit of attempting to meet whenever your established meeting time comes around. The more often you make genuine attempts to meet, the easier it will be to hold a successful meeting in the future!

What if some headmates can’t/don’t show up?

This is likely bound to happen, especially if your system is large or has high dissociative barriers. And that’s okay! Our own system has a designated minutes taker (or record keeper) who takes notes during the meeting in our physical journal. That way, any part who was unable to attend can check out a record of what happened during the meeting as they are able.

We also have some parts who don’t front often, some of whom also struggle with things like reading and staying grounded. For these parts, our caretaker pays attention in the meeting in order to share what we’ve discussed with them at a later time. If your system has headmates who don’t front often or who may struggle to understand a notes recap, having a designated headmate who can effectively relay the meeting’s events to these system members may be incredibly helpful!

What if some headmates refuse to show up?

It is a very real possibility that some headmates may refuse to attend your system’s internal meeting. They may have certain issues which prevent them from comfortably attending. They may not get along with the rest of your system. They may be sullen or traumatized or obstinate. And while it is important to try and include these headmates in system life as much as possible, we don’t recommend forcing them to show up or scolding, punishing, or shunning them for not attending.

Rather, we’d recommend treating them as you’d treat those who genuinely can’t make it to the meeting. Keep the meeting’s minutes in a central, visible place where they can see when they next front. If someone who has been to the meeting interacts with them in the future, maybe they can share some key points or takeaways. If they are unwilling to listen, be frank with them and insist on telling them only the things which are necessary for the system to know for their own safety. In all this, remind them that they are welcome to attend any future meetings, but will never be shamed for not showing up.

How can we keep internal meetings diplomatic?

Our system has a part whose role is mediator. They act as a calming presence and help to keep the peace when things get heated. If your system has a member who has or is willing to take on this role, maybe let them try to act as a diplomat for a meeting and see how it goes.

Some things to keep in mind for the whole system during meetings:

Things may get intense. There is a difference between heated discussion and useless, spiteful arguing. The former should be welcome in system meetings while the latter should be banned.

Internal meetings are for everyone. If one headmate is facilitating the meeting, that’s fine. But if one member is monopolizing the meeting and taking up all of the time talking about what they want while ignoring the wants and needs of their headmates, that is not fine.

Fights may happen. When they do, ask the members involved to breathe and calm down before expressing themselves. Words exchanged in the heat of an angry moment often sting more than those said after a chance to reflect. Maybe invite overwhelmed or emotional headmates to use REST (<- hyperlink to our post) before speaking in order to engage more effectively.

Do not shame, judge, or make fun of any headmate for concerns or ideas that they bring to the meeting. Do your best to treat each other as dignified equals, even if what someone else says sounds goofy or ridiculous. Take each other’s thoughts seriously and treat each other with as much patience and kindness as you can.

How can we ensure every voice is heard equally?

Our system usually has a roster of members pulled up (like Simply Plural or our own list) during meetings. We take note of who is there, then try to make sure that we’ve heard from everyone who has something to say. Sometimes headmates may want to just observe, and that’s fine! No one should be forced to share if they don’t want to.

Having a designated facilitator can immensely help with making sure every headmate’s voice can be heard equally. The facilitator can chime in with “Greg, we haven’t heard from you in a while, is there anything you’d like to add?” or “Daisy, you’ve been talking the most today, why don’t we let someone else share their ideas?” It’s possible to facilitate in a calm and non-confrontational way that allows all members to be heard while simultaneously not forcing other members to feel like they’re leaving the meeting without fully expressing themselves.

Conclusion

Another long post from us… our apologies! We do hope that this post may have some useful tips for anyone out there who is hoping to start internal meetings in their own system. Please keep in mind that resulte may vary, and it may take a few tries before you’re actually able to hold a successful meeting. That’s okay though - don’t give up and keep trying regularly!

We’d love to hear from y’all! How do internal meetings work in your system? Do you employ any strategies that we haven’t listed here? If you’ve made it this far, thanks so much for reading! Have a great day, everyone!

[the-bird-brains]

Me: I know trans people feel like they're in the wrong body and should be in x but like is it really that odd? I mean I'm disabled of course I hate my body.

Realizes I'm trans nearly a year later.

Me: I don't get nonbinary, I mean what does it mean to not be a guy or chick?

A year later realized I was trans ftm, then years after genderfluid.

Me: otherkin? What's that?

I "knew I was a cat in a past life" as a kid and years after hearing about otherkin relearned about it and therianthropy.

Me: DID is a thing that exists.. but no way I've got something like that, I'll research it though for x and y reasons.

I'm plural (not with DID) and have been for QUITE some time but severely doubted it even after researching a good few times.

Me: soo therianthropy and otherkin..ing(?) isn't just about having past lives of being an animal/fictional character but being them in the here and now like system headmates are [insert species/character here]? Okay then...

i am a pony... well for now, could go back to being a formless biped eventually...

Anyways this was just a post from me, Indie, pointing out a good few times I'd questioned/not properly understood things and later found I'd fallen under them. I have a very odd "I don't get it it's dumb" then x time later "ohh, I was dumb.." habit. Not all of these were "that's dumb" to me many were "what do you mean that's a thing?" both as a question of 'wait really' and also 'how does that even work'. Idk basically if I question things for too long I essentially adopt that thing into my being/realize that thing is very familiar to me personally.

[vulpixisananimal]

[A: 6 C: 97] - Folded Fields

(Ramos) [Alex] {Nihil} <Altiare> |Jasmine|

“IIIII have-an-I-deeeeee-aaa! IIIII have-an-I-deeeeee-aaa!” [Crux skipped over, yelling in a sing-song voice. They were holding up a sheet of paper.]

[You had been going in circles. After your meeting with your actual, literal God, you woke up in your Garden. You went around and got anything that might be useful, and then you left into the woods with Bonnie and Crux taking the lead. The issue was that you had passed the same tree about six or seven times now! So, you were taking a break.]

“Oh yeah?” [You sit up.] “Let’s hear it.”

“Okay okay!” [Crux collapsed to their knees with Bonnie following suit. The two had been inseparable so far. Once Bonnie, Crux and Eight had their whole system discovery— Syscovery? Sure syscovery. —Crux had “disappeared” just like your headmates had, and that made Bonnie panic. Headmates seem to only appear when they actively make their presence known, so if Crux stays quiet, which they do a lot, they disappear.]

[The solution? Bonnie and Crux hadn’t stopped holding hands since they left the garden.]

“O-okay, so, uhm, the idea I had was uh, was uhm. . .” [They stare at the paper for a second, then unfold it and place it down.] “Here!!”

[It’s. . . A drawing. Rolling green fields folding into each other, and a bunch of light clouds. There were a few figures down in the field which you guessed were you, Ramos, Crux, Bonnie, and Eight. Most of the page was blank or covered in clouds, save for the big tower with a light on it. ]

[THAT had been a constant of this place, the tower. Or the lighthouse, as Eight had called it. It wasn’t like Sol, the sun, it was. . . Just wrong. It didn’t dim, it didn’t dip below the horizon line and beckon night to take its place. No matter where you were, that light would find a way to reach down and touch you.]

“A map?” [You look up at Crux, who’s nodding excitedly.] “I dunno if a map will help much here.”

“Uhm, maybe but uh, uh. . .” [They sink down, shy, until Bonnie pats his back encouragingly.] “. . . W-well maybe if, if we do things, a bit weirder than, than we can, figure things out?”

“. . . Hmm. . .” [Looking down at the map again, the drawing of the fields didn’t actually. . . Give any directions. It had the field Bonnie woke up in, your garden, and the clouds you sat on when you talked to flicker off to the side. The sides of the field folded up impossibly, like a pipe cut in half. It’s a long shot, but. . .] “. . Alright, let’s try it.”

“Yay.” [They smile shyly at you.] 

“Told you they’d like it.” [Bonnie stuck their tongue out and stood up.] “Let’s go!”

“Alright troupe leader.” [You stand too, doing a quick stretch of the legs.] “Lead the way.”

[And you’re off again.]

[It was easy to keep pace with Bonnie. Eight had a habit of appearing and telling you all to hurry and run up ahead, but they learned quickly that doesn’t actually do much. You take this time to think, or try to think, anyway.]

[That’s the weird thing about this place. Your headspace had. . . Well it hadn't exactly gone away, but it wasn’t in your head anymore. You could envision it, yes, but you weren’t there like you once was. It was its own physical space now, a space that you had left earlier today. So now when you try to pluck a berry from your greenhouse and eat it, your technique to remember things, it feels. . .]

[Unreal, ironically.]

[Stars, that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Despite it looking like you all had separate bodies now, you still shared senses. If you felt something, so did everyone else. If, say, Ramos felt something, then so would you. You’re sure this will only be used for innocent reasons.]

[And then there’s your traveling packs; both yours and Bonnies. You don’t know why they were here, sitting in the tool shed for no reason. Perhaps it was some subconscious law of the universe that if you’re doing long distance travel, you have a pack. That may also explain Boniface's cloak, as it seemed to have an endless supply of snacks! Even if it was the same eight or nine over and over again. You didn’t complain, it just meant you didn’t need to go hungry.]

[Ah yes. Hunger. You hadn’t really felt hungry; peckish, yes, but true hunger never came. Is it because your body didn’t expect you to be hungry yet? Ah! Is it because the sun is always shining? And so the body doesn’t feel time pass, so it doesn’t think it should feel hungry! How strange. That also explains why you never feel sleep calling to you. You get tired, and take naps, but true sleep seems. . . Oddly evasive. Oh what else is there?]

[Well there’s the fact the world seems to be curling in on itself. If you look up, you can see the place you stopped at a few hours ago in a gap through the trees. It made you nauseous to look at. Was that it? Any more weirdness to talk about?]

“What’d you expect? Of course it’s weird.” <You walked in front of Alex, eyes closed.> “Remember when we went in Miras head? How weird and abstract that was?”

“Yes I remember.” [You roll your eyes.] “That’s nothing to say about people who don’t think visually, or in the written word, or how dreams have a different way of thinking completely.”

“Exactly.” <You twirled a finger.> “The only constant we got now is that there is no constant.”

“Except the sun.” [Bonnie mumbles from ahead of you.]

“Except the sun.”

“Except the sun.” [You nod in agreement.] “I hope we don’t get sunburnt from this.”

“Knock on wood.” <You casually knock on a tree as you walk.> “If we do, I’m blaming you-”

“OVER THERE!!!” [Crux points to a gap in the trees. You run over to him and look at where they point.]

[A Saudade. It started running.]

“Let’s go!!” [In a motion, you were off like an arrow.] 

[Bonnie kept pace a few steps behind you as you ducked and weaved through the trees that seemed to reach out and grab at your clothes. But you refused to be dissuaded. This blinding rabbit wasn’t going to stop you from finding the others, and it wasn’t going to get away!]

[You weave through the woods, slowly catching up to the rabbit. You reached out a hand, just a bit more, a bit more!!!]

[A tree branch thwacked you in the face and made you stumble. Bonnie rushed past you in that time, and rounded a corner. Dammit, you gotta catch up. Keep it up, you keep sprinting, rounding that same corner, only to see there was a river of rushing water blocking you and Bonnies way. The Saudade was sitting peacefully on the opposite bank. Out of reach.]

“CRABFACE!!!” [Bonnie yelled at the rabbit before it ran off.] “GET YOUR STUPID BUTT BACK HERE!!! BATFACE!!! CRABFACE!!! STUPIDFACE!!!”

“Well, shit.” [You huff, and sit down.] “I hate this place.”

“Bleeeeeh.” [Bonnie sat, tucking their legs in under their cloak.] “Stupid. . . .”

“Can’t be helped.” [You mumble, even though it wasn’t that reassuring.] “This place is under his influence, so his sadness would be protected by it.”

“Yeah I guess. . .” [Bonnie stays quiet for a moment, just staring off into the water.] “. . .”

“. . . We’ll find them, Bonbon.”

“. . . I know. . .”

[. . . Well what are you supposed to say to THAT? Stars. . . You lay back and close your eyes.]

[. . . Heh. . . Isabeau would know what to do. He always has an idea of what to do. Ah big guy. . . He’d probably be finding people and getting them together, keeping them safe. Or if not that, he’d be beating up sadness and doing something smart. Something smart, like. . . Like. . . Like finding some universal landmark, something you can reach, something like. . .]

“Where’s this river's source?” [You ask aloud, eyes skill closed.] “It’s got to have a source, right?”

“Huh?” [You hear Bonnie get up.] “Oh!!! Oh yeah! Uh, well it’s flowing that way, so if we just follow it the other way we’ll find it eventually!”

“Right you are, kiddo.” [You chuckle, and sit up again, rubbing your eyes.] “Water flows from underground springs, up through the mountains, breaches the surface, and then starts trickling down into the ocean.”

“So if we wanna get high up, follow the river!” [They sound excited.] “C’mon, let’s go look!”

“Sounds good!” [You stand and turn to Bonnie, already a few feet up the riverbank, and pause.] “. . . Bonnie?”

“Huh?” [They turn.]

“. . . Your uh, your cloak’s different.” 

[Instead of the white half-apron half-cloak you were used to, this new cloak looked thicker, light-gray, had fluffy trims around the base and neck, and for a moment you thought it glowed; Bonnie's chronic eye bags were gone, too. Their eyes widened, and tried managing an awkward smile.] “N-nuh uh! I-it’s the same, look!”

“. . . Uh huh?” [Hand on your hip.] “Sure it is-”

“Alex-” <You jab your elbow painfully into their side.> “Come on.”

“What!” [You squint at them for a second before realizing.] “Ah, Right.”

“Yeah exactly, it’s just a cool cloak.” <You chuckle and keep walking. If whoever was suddenly in charge of your little Southern Star didn’t want to be seen, then you should oblige.> “Maybe you should get your glasses checked, Sherlock Holmes.”

“Stars you Watson.” [You grumble, and start catching up. Once you’re side by side with ‘Bonnie’ you pat them on the back.] “C’mon, kiddo, let’s get going.”

[You keep walking in silence, with the kid close behind you. After a few minutes, they speak up.]

“. . . . Ember.”

“Hmm?” [You glance back, the kid’s looking away, sinking down into their new cloak.]

“. . . I’m, I’m Ember.” [They’re mumbling.]

“Oh, cool.” [You smile back at them.] “It’s good to meet you Ember.”

“. . . M-mhm. . .” [They take a couple shaky breaths.] “. . . ‘S, good to meet you too.”

“Even if we’ve already met?” [You try and joke.]

“H-heh, yeah. . .”

[You slow down for the new kid, and hold out a hand for them. After a moment, Ember takes it and squeezes, still looking away. A few minutes later, it started to lightly drizzle.]

“. . . Uhm. . . Alex?” [The kid keeps their head down.] “Can I uh. . . Ask you something?”

“Uh, sure?” [You grinned at them.] “Don't need to ask permission, little buddy.”

“Okay. . .” [There's a little pause.] “. . . We've been hearing things.”

“Yeah?” [You bite back a snarky reply.] “Uh, how so?”

“I’m. . . I dunno.” [Ember mumbles.] “‘S not like talking to the others, it's. . . I dunno, like listening through a wall.”

[You pat their head.] “How long ago did this start?”

“. . . When we were in the garden.” [They cut you off before you respond.] “They didn't want you to worry.”

“. . . Well.” [You squeeze their hand and smile at them.] “I'm proud that you told me, Ember.”

“T-thanks, Al. . .”

“Ah it's nothing. C'mon, let's find our family, then we'll figure out who your little ghosts are.”

[sonic-4-episode-ii]

heres a "quick" list of some hcs regarding physical disabilities, mental illnesses & other stuff that can impair function or is "odd" physically but i dont know the proper term for

might update this every once in a while but for now thats it

spoiler alert: its all chronic pain!

Sonic

Fibromyalgia, big-time. Uses massively thick socks to stop his feet from hurting too much while running.

DID, which starting developing when he was like....4. now that he's (mostly) gotten over his "just push everything down" era, inter-system communications are pretty strong, and he's friends w/ a lot of his headmates

doesnt have the best eyesight (in fact its p awful) but hes convinced he can still see well enough so he refuses to wear his glasses. WILL NOT wear contacts

has NPD

autistic. contrary to popular believe, he doesnt have ADHD

schizophrenia. idk which type or whatever. hes got the hallucinations.

has auditory and visual (???) synthesia which caused him to. make the sonic CD us sountrack. yeah

Tails

HoH, but doesn't like using hearing aids. A bad habit inspired by Sonic's refusal to wear his own glasses

OCD, huge-time. his paranoia can get so bad sometimes that he doesn't even trust Sonic. doing much better in that regard nowadays, though.

tic disorder, hits themself or has their neck turn the other way violently (hurts!!!!!!)

so obviously autistic they get a little embarrassed abt it sometimes

c-ptsd haver

Knuckles

Undiagnosed chronic pain, has no idea what's causing it. Fully believed it was emerald stealing karma for YEARS.

gets weird pinched nerves alot because of some of his old scars being close to nerve endings. ow

has bad eyesight but genuinely didnt realize for years

has a sort of? processing disorder thing? i dont actually know what it is. when you try to talk but actual gibberish comes out n you cant think. someone else had the same hc but i forgot what they called it. but he has that

does actually have a lot of trauma due to being alone for most of his life and being raised by nothing but a rock and maaaaybe some birds. crazy ik

Amy

Horrible, awful eyesight. worst perscription out of ALL of her friends

Hypermobile joints, which is part of why she has such a horrible posture (along w her dysphoria).

abandonment issues due to. yk. being abandoned by her parents, which ends up leading into her getting unhealthily attached to anyone who gives her the time of day (and she arbitrarily decides is totally the one for her)

Shadow

PTSD (canon)

mobility issues (canon)

NPD + maybe borderline...?

Rouge

pretty much 100% deaf, uses hearing aids.

has some kinda smt going on because of the way she grew up but fuck if anyone knows what it actually is.

Blaze

Had anorexia for years, which has caused a lot of muscle weakness. Now that she's in recovering, things are a lot better, but she still uses a cane most of the time.

has depression, anxiety and self-worth issues due to being bullied as a child. not just for her flame powers

double anxiety bc of people trying to take her shit

Silver

similar to Blaze, weak thanks to a really bad diet as a kid.

due to genetic mutations caused by radiation, contamination of drinking water & food, and extreme changes in the environment, silver has four arms

also a really weird immune system that flip-flops from being disturbingly strong to scarily weak (can eat actual trash somehow but a cold puts him out of the running for weeks)

anxiety + separation issues. tries to be stoic abt it tho

has dyscalculia And dyslexia, struggles with understanding english especially

Vanilla

chronic exhaustion + fibromyalgia from a young age. sort of worried cream will end up having it too

Cream

weak immune system due to lots of childhood illness. might not be able to be vaxxed bc of it

gets ear infections really easily, made significantly worse w all the dirt she kicks up from flying with her ears

unspecified panic disorder due to trauma. tries to stay brave

Charmy / charmie / charmee

constantly low blood sugar due to weird bee stuff + inconsistent diet as a kid

he thinks hes funny :/

might have autism and/or adhd

Espio

undiagnosed mobility issues. can climb fine, but has trouble walking and cant run. uses a cane

anxiety he refuses to talk abt to anyone except the other chaotix and, very rarely, silper

Vector

self-inflicted hearing loss. went to too many concerts

developed anxiety after taking care of charmy and espio for so long. thanks kids

Sticks

OCD. tends to unintentionally encourage tails's delusions. currently getting experimental therapy thats working rlly well

somehow has almost every possible vitamin deficiency

Eggman

tics similar to sonic and tails's

OSDD

NPD

Neo Metal Sonic

transfeminine metal sonic from the main au

chronic headaches after episode metal

joints tend to seize up when chilly for too long. although shes immune to water, its worse when shes cold

tics due to system errors / bugs she and tails cant fix. she doesnt actually mind them since it makes her feel more connected to her bros :]

memory problems also after episode metal

due to her memory problems she has to memorize stuff by repeatedly being given info and it takes way longer for her to learn things compared to other computers so i think she has a learning disability? bc of that?

has weird backwards sensory issues. lack of harsh lighting or metallic noises unsettles and can overwhelm her

might have NPD

has delusions. getting better at recognizing them, which helps her help tails more

Hyper Metal Sonic

second, transmasculine metal sonic from a spinoff au

self-induced chronic pain (wtf bro)

joints also seize up when cold

Sage

doesnt feel much physically, which leads to her getting bad injuries she barely recognizes for ages

autism beast

Scourge

popcorn lung due to smoking several packs of cigarettes daily so his voice sounds more gruff

everything sonic has also

[kaboom--bitch]

I'm currently having some drinks for Christmas in cofront with a bunch of friends, plus our partner system. That got me thinking though. Do other systems have headmates who have different responses to alcohol? That can be defined as loosely as you want.

As with most system things, if it can be experienced once it's a real thing, so the answer would be a resounding "yes". But I'm interested in specific experiences here too--we don't see much talk about systems and Adult Stuff of any kind. So I'm opening the discussion.

In that same vein, do any nonhumans experience alcohol differently when in a shift or not in a shift? It's not something we've had time to test but hey, we might experiment in the future with it.

I personally feel like I can drink more without feeling too off, compared to the rest of us. Maybe it's because I can handle being drunk better, or maybe it's that I don't get drunk as easily. Or maybe there's something I'm doing differently that I haven't noticed. Who knows.

Fin drinks a lot more without actually paying attention to himself, so he's usually needing to be monitored so we stay safe. He gets silly when he drinks.

Mystery normally only has one drink and then gets bored--it just doesn't seem to find it interesting.

Vince kind of just... Zones right out when he's tipsy. 1000 yard stare and everything. The world stops moving and he's just there hanging out in the middle of it.

A lot of us are more inclined to want to drink based on source memories--old habits die hard and all that. But it's a nice recreational thing for em when they can.

We don't drink too often so we don't have too much experience with how different headmates handle it, but there's definitely things we've noticed.

[the-insan1ty-clause]

🌌 Intro 🌌

intro (condensed)

The first version was so long we apologize. Will be keeping it up but heres my version 🤭

Collectively, call us Orion. We go by he/him pronouns unless otherwise specified. Maned wolf/horse/snowy owl bioterms appreciated (Sidenote for any irl friends who may receive the honor of our blog; Orion is our collective name specifically online. If u know us irl, you already know what to call us 🤭)

will be using the tag "The stars are talking" to indicate text we added either in reblogs or original posts

Sideblogs;

Interests- @the-insanity-clause-interests

Littles/syskids- @the-1nsanity-clause-kits

bodily a minor. Interact with care. (Just dont say anything weird, really)

we mostly post plurality and therian content.

plural; we're pro endo and mixed origin ourselves. We're a fractal collective as far as any of us can tell (coining post here). We are The Orion Collective (or Constellation for funsies). We typically dont go by ourselves singularly. But here are some of the headfriends who may show themselves:

(this list is outdated. Sorry. The sets of us that had been fronting got switched around again. None of us (the "new" sets) are interested much in socials. We'll probably be back more regularly eventually. For now though, i dont want to take this list down for archival purposes)

Tomberlin; stole the name from the singer, lol

Angel; the most social

Beia; rambler (she/her preferably plus others)

Zebra; placeholder name, prob

Somber; i like lover's rock

Caban; sounds sarcastic but isnt i promise. Usually overcompensates for this (w a lot of hearts (🫶) and stuff). Likes to say bitch a lot but attempts to refrain

Jade; keeps everything in order inside

Pace (she/they) / Paisely (Xe/xem); separate but go hand in hand. Bit less positive folk but we love them anyway

therian/otherkin; we are horse, maned wolf, red fox, elk, deer, snowy owl, angel, elf, to name the more prominent ones.

No particular dni's but if you're rude or some sort of bigot/etc you'll be blocked or at least ignored

we love and welcome interactions!! (although we are Very bad at starting conversations). Tone indicators like /srs and /hj are helpful to some of us that arent great at discerning tone from text. But not required or expected!

please tag or put warnings on food related stuff when interacting !!

We're therian, generally. Woof! But also otherkin. And fictionkin. Etc

Lgbtqia- We're apart of this as well. Though i wont get into the details on that, haha

Interacting- the only rules are, no explicit content, and do not ask for money or for us to promote you. Failure to follow this could result in anywhere between deletion, blocking, and reporting. Second chances rarely given.

We're diagnosed with a few things and undiagnosed/self diagnosed w/ others. Please refrain from talking too much about food and/or abuse without a tw or some sort of warning while on our blog. Things like asking our fav food or eating habits, while innocent, isnt exempt from this. Thanks :)

Now for the fun stuff!

We repost stuff about our interests (ex. Arcane, dai, pokemon, etc) to our sideblog, @the-insanity-clause-interests

Our littles use @the-1nsanity-clause-kits as their sideblog

Rundown- our interests include Arcane, httyd, dai, pokemon, kipo, jentry chau, dead poets society, The Hobbit, studio ghibli films, wings of fire, the end of the fucking world, and many others. We absolutely WILL go on rants about any of these with the slightest provocation. Yall've been warned :3

on this blog, though, we mainly just post and reblog stuff related to any of our identities. Like stuff about being therian, plural, lgbtq, etc. As well as the other random tumblr things we find. Oh and politics occasionally

Commision/artsy stuff- We do a lot of creative stuff. We do (nondigital & typically not colorized) art (our pfp is a drawing of ours), sometimes various crafts (for example, we made a mask of one of our theriotypes), we are in a local choir, and sometimes write music, poetry, and stories (though we've never really posted that stuff before). We do (free) commissions/requests if anyone happens to be interested. We're short on time these days, so it may take a while to get it to you, but feel free to send us an ask/message regarding it if youd like! (Note, if theres something you want, and its not listed here, just ask- theres a good chance we'll make it. Like alter packs or mood boards, for example)

Hope yall enjoy youre time here. Happy hunting! AwroOO!

[bah-changeling-hospital]

FILES , DOCUMENTS AND INSURANCE. . .

HOW THE FILES AND DOCUMENTS WORK ?

Files and documents is a list of how detailed you want your patient to be , so say like faceclaims and system info , likes and dislikes and comforts , all that beautiful stuff !! I made this especially cause a few people have gotten confuse on how the documents work !

Think of it as a "level one , level two , level 3 , ext" type of thing , the higher , the more detailed ! But you don't need to say "I want lvl 1 , lvl 2 and lvl 3" , you can simply say "I want -insert your option here-" and you'll get anything that's above that option !

"I want this but I didn't want this in my insurance !!" or "I don't want that as my patients personality ! You made it wrong !" If you ever run into this , please please specify what you want. For example , say you want a vaccine but you don't want shots and needles. Please specify this !! If you want your patient to be or look or act a certain way , please tell me more about the patient !! I want all my patients to be happy :((

If you got any questions , please don't hesitate to go to the receptionist desk for help !!

DOCUMENT LIST. . .

CHECK—UP

—

Name

Nicknames

Pronouns

Genders

Terms

Sexuality

Age

Species

EXTRA BANDAGES

—

Extra stuff (usually extra names , pronouns , terms , labels , genders , ect.)

SHOTS / NEEDLES ( this is generally only for patients who may be radqueer )

—

TransIDs

CisIDs

Other IDs

Other labels

MUDs

Paras

VACCINES

—

Roles

Source (if character comes from a digital media of sorts)

Headmate type

Proxy

Triggers

Behaviors

Location

ORGAN DONATION

—

Appearance

Personality

Aesthetic

Style

Languages

Good habits

Bad habits

Hobbies

Coping mechanism

BLOOD DONATION

—

Interaction status

Likes

Dislikes

Comforts

Beliefs

Theme song / song suggestion

SURGERY

—

All of the above / extremely detailed , basically if you choose this you'll get everything else as well :}

[plural-affirmations]

Here's to persecutors and similar roles!

Y'all don't get nearly enough appreciation, in my opinion. This one's for you!

Shoutout to:

Persecutors

Perpetrators

Avengers

Angerholders

Traumaholders who deal with their trauma in unhealthy ways

Those who still have loyalty to their abuser(s)

The people who don't necessarily want to stop being a persecutor/similar role, or they're not ready to right this second

The ones who cause harm to their loved ones (internal or external), by accident or on purpose

Anyone else I missed!

You deserve kindness and respect, just like your other headmates do! We've all got things we need to work on, or habits we're not proud of. Give yourself some grace today!

Thank you for being here!

🖤💜💙💚💛

[toomuchambition]

So there's a new Simply Plural update, and we feel like infodumping about it. That's it, that's all this post is.

One of the first things that caught our attention was something new added to the member count — "Archived members." And sure enough, in the member profile settings...

We could see this being helpful for dormant members and in other exceptional circumstances. It doesn't seem like there's a way to browse a list of archived members, but there's an option in Advanced search that allows archived members to appear. It'll take a while to see if this helps our organization in the long-term, but it seems promising so far.

Also, the new Creation Date toggle is a lovely addition. We got into the habit of manually tracking when new members show up/are discovered somewhere in the middle of 2023, so anyone before then, we're not sure, so this is a great tool for history checking. Not all of our headmates get profiles on Simply Plural when first discovered, depending on many factors, the main one being said member's comfort with being included. But still, as small of a thing as this might be, it genuinely made us happy to see it.

Profiles seem mostly the same, except for two new things. For one, avatars got changed a little bit. Clicking on the avatar goes to a new screen titled, "Avatar editor." However, the web version (which is the only one we use) still doesn't allow for uploading files, so if there's anything else that's new, we wouldn't know.

But also new to profiles, and something we're excited to try out, is a whole section! The message board;

Any other members can write messages on a specific member's message board. It operates pretty closely to direct messages. You can even mark them as read, however the member in question has to be logged in front in order to mark them. Typically, whenever someone comes to front, whether its been six days or six months, one of the first things we like to do is check their profile in order to ground them. So, this message board would be perfect for leaving reminders for headmates that can't be communicated with for one reason or another. And, also, the meme potential :3c

We'd also be curious if friends could also leave messages on these boards, and how that'd work. Can headmates from different systems leave messages? Can singlet friends leave messages? We're shy about sharing our Simply Plural so we might not ever know, but the curiosity is there.

There's also some new options in the options menu, such as hiding the time someone has been fronting. There's also a section called timeline settings, which we think are new but could be wrong lol

We appreciate the option to hide how long someone has been fronting. Because of our OCD, if a headmate has fronted for more than like, 24 hours, then we sorta feel compelled to keep them in front, just to "keep the streak," so to speak, and from there its quite easy to become frontstuck. Of course, having such stability in identity for a long-ish period of time can be helpful, but when we're trying to encourage headmate diversity and an active front, that can get in the way. So, hopefully, being able to just hide it will help calm that part of our brain.

They also removed a section from the Members / Front page but we forgor what's missing T_T

Annnd that's about all that we noticed. Consider the info dumped.

[starlit-harbor-citizens]

uh vent below the cut ig, tw for fat shaming, bulling, burn out, overthinking, and dissociation

gggod im so fucking burnt out. ive barely been main host for like three months and jm are so burnt out and tired. like. dude. i need a break but there's literally no one who's willing to front to deal with shit. I'm so close to just creating a headmate to take my place for a bit.

I've been really blurry and off the entire day, and that only got worse when a shitty bully at our school just decided that today is the day he continues with the stupid fat shaming he's picked up a habit of doing to us

we're not even fat, at most we're chubby. like . dude.

and struggling with self image then hearing that genuinely feels like a stab to the heart. like . ow . i genuinely cannot handle anymore of this shit, i might just have to ask our mother after this week to call us off for a day or two so i can have a break even though i low-key hate being at home

im so freaking tired . i really don't wanna keep dealing with high school but nope, we got one more year then we're out . Im just. hhhh. really freaking tired. And out of it. People just always seem to find the "best" times to bully us or harass us or make snide comments, and all those times happen to be when we're already feeling like shit or overstimulated or dissociative or just everything

and ive been stuck in an overthinking loop so That's lovely too :/

sorry about this i just need a place that I can get my feelings off of my chest because hhholy shit today did not feel good

-Ambrose

[rin-and-jade]

CW: abusive relationship mention, system re-discovery

Hello. We’ve had a very interesting journey with our plurality. We first discovered our plurality in the beginning of 2021. A couple months later, we got into a year long abusive relationship that turned our endogenic plurality into traumagenic DID. It took us a long while to accept that our plurality had turned to DiD. It felt like another way our abuser ruined and took something from us.

Two years later, with lots of trauma therapy and trauma work, we’ve recently discovered we’ve never been endogenic, and have had DID our whole lives. One of our arguments against our endogenic plurality secretly being traumagenic was that we could recall traumatic events in our life. But we recently (as in, a little over 24 hours ago, as of typing this) discovered trauma we didn’t know that we didn’t know. And it changed everything. This trauma we discovered is the core feature of the initial “endogenic” headmate we had in early 2021.

Basically we’re at a loss and have no idea how to move forward. We’re curious to know if there are other DID systems who thought they were endogenic too, and how they coped and eventually learned to be okay with the realization. We feel like we can’t trust ourselves. We feel like we don’t even really know who “we” are. It’s such a strange feeling, learning what you thought was your objective truth is wrong. Like very wrong.

Before I delve into this ask, those who wish to talk about origins or terms outside of respect and healthy discussion--Get Out. This is not syscourse and i am not involved in it either.

--

It can be a very shocking twist of perspectives when you're presented with new evidence that challenged your current beliefs. Some systems can assume they are plural without any traumatic evidence, i've also seen some systems questioning if everyone lives with multiple voices and identities all in their heads--one of them was me.

I would suggest for you to take it slow, you've got time and my support to process through this difficult realization. It can be painful to learn that your life were not all sunshine and rainbows.. but we can reframe that by being aware of the trauma you've endured, gives you meaning to heal more and un-learn many unhealthy habits to pursue a life that aligns with your values and goals.

Also, you don't have to trust yourself immediately--it's about still treating your own health, body, and unfinished trauma with respect. By giving it space to allow itself be who they (or you) are, question with curiosity on how to take care of yourself better instead of criticizing, you can support yourself the best and trust is also built through the act of forgiving one self despite every faults or wrongs it had ever done.

It takes time to know who you are (which took me a whole lot of years and learning to figure that out), but one day you'll make it there too.

If you need someone to sort some thoughts out or require advice, my DMs are open--having a friend will benefit you well in your healing journey!

- c