AITA for kidnapping and murdering my friend’s alter?
I KNOW THE TITLE SOUNDS BAD. BEAR WITH ME. we used to be very close with a system— in fact, we led them through their syscovery— let’s call them R. so basically, R had… a different set of beliefs than we did. they believed in system hopping (WE DO TOO. HOWEVER.) in a way that we didn’t. while we believed in the idea that items can be traded between headspaces, and alters may even be able to come over for a “visit,” a big part of it for us was that it needed to be 100% consensual and intentional. meaning it was impossible to accidentally hop over or do it without being invited.
they did not share these beliefs, and would frequently send their alters over for visits and text us like “oh, btw, so-and-so is with you now!”. we just kinda humored them. UNTIL.
one day, we woke up and realised all our alters were gone— overnight, in the midst of a high-stress season, we’d gone through a full collapse. our host back then was horrified, suddenly faced with mourning the loss of seventy+ people, so she turned to R for support.
it did not go the way she planned. she told them “i woke up and everyone was gone, i can’t find them anywhere, i don’t know what to do,” and R’s response was “IS THAT WHERE MIRABELLE WENT?!”
reader, apparently, in our sleep, R had “sent us” their alter named mirabel for a visit, and they flipped out on us, accusing us of “holding mirabel hostage” and kidnapping her as “punishment” for them not being a good enough friend. we had never said anything about them not being a good enough friend.
our host responded with confusion, and R only doubled down. along the way “holding hostage” turned into “murder,” once our host emphasized that everyone was gone-gone, for good. R accused us of doing this on purpose, orchestrating an entire collapse specifically when mirabel would be over, and taking their alter away from them for good because we were “jealous” of their high headcount.
over the months since, i’ve begun to wonder if maybe they were right, and we fucked up majorly by taking mirabel away from her system. like it or not, she’s ceased to exist, R is still grieving her, and i can’t help but wonder if it was my fault— if she really was here, and if she’s trapped forever in our dormant hell.
aita?
Voting ended onFeb 5, 2024