Hey everybody, we’re the Sparks system, a plural system of over 500+ members. Most of us are fictives, specifically from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, due to our hyperfixations. We collectively use they/them pronouns, but each member has their own pronouns. We’re bodily adult and have known about our system for over 10 years.
Hosts:
Lucas | 19 | He/Him
Dom | 56 | He/Him
Azalea | 23 | He/Him
Zielo | 20,000+ | He/Him | @zielosparks
Sukuna | 1000+ | He/Him | @king--of--curses
Other Blogs:
@sparkssystem-art | Art Blog
@huntersquad | Hunter Fictives
We also identify as alterhuman. We have system members that are otherkin, fictionkin, fictherian, fictionhearted, and fictionlinkers.
If you have any questions you’d like to ask us about anything, feel free to send in asks!
I just got asked what tumblr was. I answered "chaos incarnate, not sane, twitter if twitter was very gay". Hope that was an alright explanation, I honestly panicked a bit, how am I supposed go describe whatever this *gestures vaguely* is.
Honestly there's not even a large degree of separation between Bakugo me and Gojo me. Gojo is just "yep that's me with different coloured eyes and hair". It barely even feels like a separate identity at all, in contrast to my Tanjiro 'type which feels more like another version of me. Gojo to me is just like if me as Bakugo put on contacts and bleached my hair. Like, this is so functionally the same person in my mind even though there are differences, it's so hard to tell apart.
Fair! Nice to hear of more anyhow. Other than you, we know our partner system has a few fictives, and we have a few ourselves other than myself. None of our other KNY folk have their own blogs but I know Smoulder (Kyojuro) and Nevermore (Giyu) at least use Tumblr on our main blogs often enough lol.
Previously mentioned partner system here. We have Muzan, Doma, and a noncanon Twelve Kizuki member.
We never realized until now that we only get the demons, and OP's system basically only gets hashiras (I'm including Tanjiro in that list lol). Although I guess you guys do have a Rui. One of them.
I’m Jayfeather, a fictive of the character by the same name from the Warriors books. In those books, as well as my own memories, I was blind. This came with a lot of challenges and quite frankly ableist bullshit I had to deal with back there. Now, since my own death, I’m here. Stuffed into the body of a twoleg, sitting here with our kittypet on our bed next to me as I write this–an uncanny reminder, in a way. But this isn't about him. With all the weirdness that is being here, there’s one thing that unsettles me the most. I can see.
Our eyes are far from perfect. We need glasses, our vision is degrading over time and will continue to do so, we’re light sensitive as a result of our autism. But we can see, and we can do it well enough that I can see the individual leaves on trees, ants running along the ground if I look closely, and the faces of those we care about. You’d think this would all come as great news to me, the blind cat can finally see what grass looks like. While that’s interesting and all, it’s a very surface-level, watered down version of what I really feel about it. It’s nice to see, I guess, but it’s also so inherently wrong.
My disability came with its own struggles. I suffered greatly because of it in a lot of ways, both due to ableism in my clan and the things it prevented me from doing in life. But in the end, it’s a part of who I am, who I shaped up to be, and it dictated the path of my whole life. It’s as much a part of me as the fact I have ears, or paws, or a tendency to mouth-off at anyone who says something foolish around me. Those things can cause struggles too, those things can hurt me, just as my blindness often did. It doesn’t make any of them less healthy to accept as a part of my being. Now I’m here, and along with other traits my body once had, my blindness is also gone.
(Read more below.)
You’d expect me to miss those other things. Species dysphoria is known about, of course if you had a limb taken away you’d struggle to cope with that loss. People can understand why I’d miss my tail when I need to balance better, or my fur when I feel cold. Missing a disability, though? That’s something a lot of folks tend to be unable to wrap their heads around. People are quick to jump to assumptions of “wanting to be special”, eagerness to fake a disability, or the feeling itself being indicative of being ill in some other way (which also, mind you, tends to be brought up in ways that are pretty ableist to those conditions anyway, leave them alone). People expect those who were disabled in memories who now aren’t disabled in those ways here to feel happy, to feel “cured”, to feel like this is a new chance without the horrible terrible disabilities weighing them down. But I think it’s worth discussing as a genuine form of dysphoria one can have, related to missing an inherent part of themselves, just like any other thing normalised in the community to miss.
I don’t want to pretend to be blind here. I don’t want to make the body blind, either. Being blind, like any other disability, also doesn’t come with a magical “special person” card so it’d be ridiculous to even think of it that way (not to mention ableist). I don’t want to be blind to use it as an “excuse”. I don’t want to be blind for “fun”. All those stereotypes we’ve seen brought up when someone misses a disability they once had? They sure as hell don’t apply to every case, and assuming they do is honestly ridiculous. In my case, it’s not even because I’m delusional or have BIID–though those things also should never make the feelings less acceptable to talk about. Hell, I don’t necessarily want to be blind here, in the same way I don’t want to transform into a cat. I would not be able to live this life the same way I’ve been doing it if I suddenly was a cat again, or if I was suddenly blind again. Despite the fact I miss both those things about myself, I can also just… Live this life, even if it does hurt sometimes. A person can miss something, be dysphoric about something, or even actually want something without implying anything else about actions they’d take around that.
My blindness, in the end, is the same as any other bodily trait you’d be likely to miss from one's own exomemories. Not because it was perfect, not because it was without flaws, but because it was me, and now I no longer have it. I miss my paws, despite the fact that it’s easier to get by here with the addition of thumbs and fingers to grab things. I miss my blindness, despite the fact that it’s easier to get by here while being sighted in a body known to be sighted too. Those two things feel almost exactly the same to me, and yet, one is much more normalised to talk about than the other.
This inherent tie between disability and sense of self isn’t even unique to myself and my past life memories. It’s really similar to how we’d feel about a “cure” for our autism here, in the present, in this body. Our autism disables us, it means we will never live a “normal” neurotypical life. It’s caused us plenty of suffering, and it still does and will always do so. Yet, a “cure” for our autism is a cure for our selfhood, our being, our own identity. There is no us without what we were born with. Who would we be otherwise, if it was suddenly gone? We wouldn’t know ourselves.
This even applies to more “scary” things we have. Our schizoaffective disorder especially. We struggle with disorganised thinking and speech often, yet we make fun with it. We have plenty of injokes because of silly things we’ve said while struggling to remember a basic word. Our hallucinations may be scary, but we’ve learned to live with them and cope well. We ask them to pay rent, we laugh about it, we have jokes about them and we’re used to visions and voices buzzing around our head. With our dissociative identity disorder, we wouldn’t even be a “we” in the same way we are now if we didn’t have it. We have some tulpas, soulbonds, daemons… But a lot of our main fronters would never have existed. We wouldn’t be where we are today. We suffered to get to this point, and we still suffer, but this is us. Our head would feel empty without all of this. We’d be missing fundamental pieces, or even our own selves altogether. You cannot strip us, a disabled person, of all our disabilities, and expect us to feel whole.
You could argue, maybe, that a mental disorder is different from a physical disability. There’s a separation between body and mind, or whatever. But honestly? If you could really and truly cure most of our physical issues, there’d still be a struggle there, for the ones we’ve had most of our life. Aside from needing to pay for them (even if we wish we didn’t need them sometimes) we’d be confused to look in the mirror and see no need for our glasses. We’ve always needed them, always will, that’s a part of us, we look wrong without them. We’d also feel naked without our cane to help us walk, and our ears would strain to hear the satisfying clack of it hitting the floor in time with our steps. We’d listen for that little reminder to us that we have something to hold onto to ease our pain and help us walk at all. These things being lost could be coped with, but they’d leave a mark, just as my blindness has left on me.
Some things that we deal with are newer. Symptoms and struggles we’ve yet to learn to cope with and integrate into our daily life as parts of ourselves. Those things would be easier to let go, a lot of them we’re actively trying to fix. But for those things we know will be lifelong, and we’ve made peace with? Those things that will walk with us always, until we die? A part of ourselves would die with their “cure”. That’s the point, really. It’s a loss of something that’s shaped your life, even if it’s shaped it in more negative ways than positive. You can’t take a person's shadow, even if it’s dark, cold and gloomy, and not much more than that. It’s tied to them. There’d always be something “off”. And with my death and arrival in this body, I had mine taken.
Aside from it being a major part of my sense of self, since getting here I’ve learned that my blindness also protected me from what seeing is really like. It’s horribly overwhelming. I know being visually overstimulated can come from the autism the body has, but I think my point still stands no matter its origin. Lights are far too bright oftentimes, colours can feel like burning, and being able to see gross or horrific things just adds another sense that has to be forced to perceive them. I’m one of the folks in here that often walks around wearing our sunglasses, not because I think they look cool, but because being sighted really does hurt me physically. It’s absolutely something I still haven’t adjusted to, even being here in this body for 3 years now. I doubt I will ever adjust to these things.
Another thing I’ve learned since my arrival is that I do think my vision is actively worse than some of my headmates. This isn’t really new to us–we have multiple headmates who can’t hear, see, walk or speak as well as the general collective can. I’m still not blind for sure, but our glasses don’t work as well for me. They still do something, at the very least, but it’s noticeable that I just can’t see quite as well as the rest (aside from other headmates who struggle). Things are more blurry, I have trouble getting them to focus on anything at all, and our lazy eye even seems to drift more when I front.
Headmates with differing levels of disability (or entirely different disabilities altogether) are no new thing, I believe the concept has even been studied a little. It’s familiar to us, for sure, as stated we have plenty. I know that technically, these symptoms are “all in our head” and they don’t “mean” anything, there’s not always going to be a connection to our previous bodies in how our symptoms manifest… But, on one paw, I’m a little ticked, because if I’m going to be forced to see… at least have me do it properly, without worse vision or pain? On another paw, I’m a little upset that I didn’t end up being blind when I front. We know other folks who have similar stuff, and some little part of me is upset that I end up stuck struggling against bright lights when the brain could have just kept me blind even though it would come with its own struggles. Hell, maybe I’d be mad that my headmates can see and I still can’t, in that theoretical? And on another, this is as close as I’ll get to how I was before. Maybe my pain from being sighted would be worse if I could see properly? I know for sure if I was entirely blind in front, I’d be unable to do a lot of stuff my system does regularly here. Maybe a middleground is for the best?
In the end, I don’t see this as a cure. A cure implies I’ve had something fixed, and this is not something that needed healing. I’ve been changed, altered, or given sight, but not “cured”. A nonhuman being born into a human body is not “cured” of their paws any more than I am “cured” of my blindness. It was a part of my body and self as much as anything else, and I will stand by that. I also don’t see my feelings about it as something to be ashamed of, despite a lot of ideas we’ve seen floating around. It’s not wrong to miss a part of yourself, even if it was a disability you no longer have. I honestly think that line of thought gets too close to “disabled people can never be happy while being disabled or they’re faking/not really disabled” ideas, and I’m very happy to stay right the hell away from that ableist nonsense.
I’ll cope, I’ve done so for 3 years now, and I’ll continue doing so. I’d just like to get this out there, and maybe see a little bit more kindness about the whole concept of missing your own disabilities, maybe share some experiences with others who might not have felt okay to talk about it. Others with similar experiences might feel differently to me, they might feel cured and happy that they’re no longer disabled–this is in no way anything against those folks either, more power to them, I’m glad they’ve found joy. This is more of an account of my own experiences than it is any sort of one true way to feel about it, don’t misconstrue it as anything beyond my own emotions, gripes and experiences being offered and shared to the public.
At the very least, I’m an angry old cat with opinions who can’t for the life of him hold them in for too long. A cat who can’t front without going on a rant at least once. So… I personally won’t be going anywhere, blind or not, and my system as well as everyone else is stuck with me.
I've changed my appearance from canon Kirishima quite a bit--I immediately changed my hair upon getting here because what the hell was I doing back there?? But I've been thinking more and more about if I want to change my appearance more. I mean, I'm in a headspace, body mods are usually as easy as just willing them into existence. Maybe stripe markings like my dragon kintype would be cool? Horns? Pointed ears? There's so many choices.
Anyone else changed their inner selves willingly? What did you change and why? And beyond that, has anyone got body mods or changed their outer appearance to be more species euphoric? What did you do?
I have 3 kintypes of (sort of) the same character but with visual differences. The switching between them in headspace between shifts was kind of annoying me, and making it very obvious I wasn't shifting to one of them nearly as much which was sad, so I merged all of them into one form. Feels a lot better now.
This was originally a response to this post, but it derailed a little so I've split it off into its own and expanded it.
Creating headmates, becoming a system, becoming plural--if these things interest you, absolutely awesome! It's always great to see people interested in plurality, and often making a system can come with a lot of benefits depending on why you do it. It can be a very, very rewarding experience and hopefully if you do decide to be plural, yours will be too! But there's a lot of things related to creating a system that aren't talked about--the parts that might not be so fun, the risks, and the things you should maybe have a think about before committing to it.
As a disclaimer, this isn't to sit on a high horse and tell people when to and when to not be plural. In the end, you decide what happens in your own brain, and this post is our own opinion! But these things are rarely talked about from what we've seen, and we've seen a lot of systems struggle more than they would've otherwise if they thought a bit harder beforehand. We wanted there to be a resource to explain a lot of those common issues from our own perspective, to at least make people think.
This will sound largely negative because of that because we are focusing on risks, and of course not all systems have any internal issues at all either! Though considering what being plural might come with as a package-deal before deciding to become a system yourself is important before making those decisions.
Why do you want to be plural?
The first question to consider is pretty simple: why? There's plenty of reasons, and not many are harmful across the board, but some carry more risks and need a bit more thought than others. Have a think about why this is appealing to you--do you want friends? A partner? For fun? To share your responsibilities with someone? How will being plural contribute to that?
Thinking about these things in-depth can help you figure out weighing the risks to the benefits and making the decision to (or not to) become plural. What do you want to get out of it, what are you willing to give up, is it okay if it doesn't go how you planned?
Becoming plural for romantic/sexual partners?
This is going to be a long section, because it's such a loaded topic. But.. If you want to be plural to get a partner, the most important thing in our opinion to remember is that your headmate will be a fully fledged person, with as much agency and complex emotions as any singlet. They can like you, dislike you, be romantically interested, hate you. Headmates of any kind aren't objects or your personal fantasy. This is important to remember for any reason to become plural.
You cannot create or contact a headmate with the expectation that they will become your partner. You can have hopes, you can form relationships with your headmates if it happens naturally between you, but in the end, you will need to be understanding and okay with the fact that they may not reciprocate. It can be amazing to have in-system relationships, we have a lot personally! They can be great in ways so different and unique from relationships with those in other bodies, but you still need to approach them with the same care you'd approach other relationships with.
This means accepting them as a part of your life and as your headmate even if your relationship doesn't work out, or they never fall for you in the first place. You can't force a singlet to date you, and it's not okay to force a headmate to either. Like singlets, you can't know what direction your relationship may steer in until it happens. You meet someone, you talk, and things develop in one way or another naturally--things just can't be forced. And like with singlets, you need to be aware that you will 1000% need to respect their boundaries, and open to communication about them.
You also need to understand that even if they're a soulbond of your favourite character, or a tulpa you made, or another headmate you made specifically to be what you want... They can change over time, so much so that you might even end up disliking them. You need to be open to that idea and not try to force them to be who you wanted them to be--people change and develop over time, headmates are no different. Even if you do end up not getting along, you are the one who has decided to share your body and life, so you have to make peace with that possibility. Plurality isn't something you can usually ethically undo (unless your whole system agrees, outside of going no-contact with day-trippers) if you don't like the people you made, you have to live with them.
Honestly we'd advise almost entirely against becoming a system for the intent of creating a romantic relationship with your headmate. Historically there's been issues, especially in the tulpa community, where headmates are created for the express purpose of being a partner, and that has huge ethical issues around it and develops into further problems. Creating a sentient being specifically to be a romantic or sexual partner to yourself and holding that as a strict expectation for them is objectifying at absolute best. You can't do that to a singlet, you shouldn't do it to a heamdate. Abuse against headmates is real--if it would be abuse to do to a singlet, it is also abuse to do to a headmate.
But if you are entirely, wholly okay with the possibility that your headmate may just be a friend or not even like you at all, and you're still willing to accommodate them once they exist in your body and treat them with respect and equality... You can get a headmate with those romantic hopes in mind, as long as it doesn't affect any other way you treat them.
Becoming plural for internal friends?
Honestly.. Pretty good reason and pretty common! You still need to keep the above points in mind, but focused around friendship instead. They are people, they might not end up being your friends, and you need to understand that you can't force them to fit your idea of them once you've made them real.
Things might be okay for a while, then they might get rocky. Alternatively, things might start out horribly rough but end up with you being close later in life. Be open to all these possibilities. It's just like any friendship with a singlet--there can be ups and downs, there might be breaks, there might be things you disagree on fundamentally... And you need to be aware of those possibilities.
Becoming plural for fun?
Plurality can absolutely be a fun experience! The process of making/contacting your headmates, then getting to know them and going about life together can be so rewarding. Once again though, you need to be open to the idea that it may not always be fun. You might argue, your headmates might have a falling out with you, you might disagree on things all the time.
You need to be aware of those things and be ready to make compromises, respect them, and treat things seriously sometimes too. Some created systems never have any internal issues ever, which is great! But before you start the process, you need to be aware that you might need the skills to compromise, resolve possible conflicts, and make plans that are good for everyone.
Becoming plural to share responsibilities?
Another pretty complicated one, but it all boils down to the same sort of thing: you need to be okay with the idea that your headmates might not help at all, and that you cannot force them to bend to your will. It can be amazing to work as a team to tackle homework, work, socialising, chores, and other daily life struggles! Sometimes, because headmates can be just as complex as singlets, there might be times where no one can cooperate and you have more of a frustrating "my roommate never cleans up after themselves" situation than a nice neat schedule you all follow together.
Another ethical issue that at least used to be common around tulpa communities is creating a headmate to do all your chores, responsibilities and work for you, sometimes to the point of making a headmate just so you never have to front again. This is another thing that is abuse, objectifying, and a reason you shouldn't make a headmate. These things can happen naturally, some headmates love working and cleaning, but you should not create a whole living being with the intent to have them work for you while you just front to have fun, or don't front at all.
Do you understand what a headmate is, and what that really means?
Of course, if you're looking into this, you know the concept of headmates. They're people who share your body/brain who might be able to control the body and hang out with you! But sometimes, even though a lot of people understand as a concept that headmates are alive and can be as complex as singlets, people don't realise what that can mean. Not all of these are always applicable, but some things to think of:
Your headmate might disagree with you on many things.
Your headmate might like and buy different foods, clothes, etc.
Your headmate might have different hobbies and want to have some money to spend on them.
Your headmate might want to front and control the body. Sometimes, they might want more front time than you're comfortable with giving and you'll need to negotiate.
Your headmate might want their own social media accounts, their own social circles, their own friends and partner(s).
Your headmate might use your things in the front--eat your food, play your games, use your makeup, draw in your sketchbooks, take photos on your phone, etc.
You might argue with them.
You might not like each other too much, but you're stuck in the same body and have to navigate that without harming each other.
They might be romantically interested in a person different to someone you like, and you'll have to navigate that together and with the other people involved.
Your headmate might have times where they don't want to be bothered or spoken to.
Your headmate may be unable to give you much or any privacy, for example if you're constantly cofronting or they're stuck being co-conscious.
Your headmate might have boundaries that are hard to accommodate or respect.
Your headmate might have a disability you need to accommodate, or triggers you need to take note of.
Your headmate may do, think, feel and want anything that a singlet you've never met before might. This includes things you don't like, things you want to keep to yourself, and things you do like.
You need to be aware of these possibilities and more, and know that you still want to be plural regardless. The skills to navigate any friendship or social situation apply to headmates too--conflict resolution, how to compromise, how to make decisions as a team, how to accommodate others' needs without sacrificing your own.. Those are all so important when you're sharing your whole foreseeable future with someone. And it likely is your foreseeable future, being plural can often be a lifelong commitment.
As an added note, this isn't always the case, but persecutors are also possibilities in any type of system. Disordered, nondisordered, traumagenic, endogenic--it doesn't matter. Sometimes, you may get a headmate who acts harmfully, toward you or the body or your friends. And even in that case, you need to find ways to cope and deal with the situations that might present. Without resorting to abusing that headmate, as is so common in plural spaces.
Often persecutors are treated as some sort of public spectacle to harass and abuse, but this quite literally makes it worse for everyone involved. "Hurting them back" often results in more aggravation and further issues. You need to have the skills to navigate and manage potential severe conflicts internally.
In a lot of cases, headmates tend to become persecutors because they've been mistreated and neglected or treated as if they're inherently lesser than the host in the first place. You need to treat your headmates like full, real people, no matter what.
Headmates can be kind and loving, and they also might be rude, cruel or aggressive, and you won’t know what they’re like until you meet them–just like any singlet. You need to know before you make a system that you can't always just "get rid of" them, walk away or block them if things go wrong, because you literally share a body and brain (and in the cases of day-trippers who you can cut contact with, you need to be willing to do so). You will need ways and supports in place to manage in case things go badly.
Are you okay with sharing your life?
This was touched on in the last part, but we're expanding upon it here. You, someone who has brought a person into reality to share your life, need to at least be understanding of the concept that your headmate might have differing life goals than you. It's hard to navigate and complicated when it happens, but at least finding a compromise is key.
It's likely to feel unfair to your headmate if you make all the life decisions, don't involve them in the process, without a chance to have their own goals and life path. And this can lead to a lot of conflict! After all, you created this person and they're likely to want something at some point. We've known many systems who have created headmates just to "talk to occasionally when I'm bored", and those headmates often get frustrated and feel isolated and objectified because they aren't allowed any say and aren't allowed to live their own lives.
Letting your headmates have their own hobbies, letting them have input or coming to decisions together about your career or education, helping them with their own life goals while still aiming for yours--these can all be good compromises to not being able to lead fully separate lives! Though this is a lot to compromise on for a lot of people, so it needs to be taken into account that sometimes, your goals won't line up and you'll need a middleground.
Do you understand the stigma?
There's a lot of weight that being plural can hold. Movies like Split affect primarily CDD systems, but these things that portray being more-than-one as something dangerous like that can and do affect people's idea of plurality as a whole. People around you might not understand, including those close to you. Particularly being a created system can come with extra infighting from syscourse as a whole.
Do you know who you'll be comfortable telling? Would you be able to cope with not being accepted? Do you want to share? What if your headmate wants to share, maybe because they don't want to pretend to be you? Those are some things to think about regarding the stigma of it all.
Letting your whole life be dictated by avoiding being anywhere close to something stigmatised plays into a lot of ways people get negative biases against certain groups, so we encourage you to avoid getting too deep into "avoid at all costs" as a mindset. It's not often very helpful to think that way either. But at least considering that there is stigma that exists, what it is, what it means, and how you'll navigate it before committing to being plural is a good idea.
So, In The End...
Hopefully this provides at least a little insight into potential struggles with plurality. Truly we've seen enough headmates be harmed in our time by people who wanted to make a system and weren't ready to accept what headmates being full, other people means. Hopefully, thinking about these things can prepare some potential to-be systems for what plurality might mean for them. Hopefully you can think about ways you'd solve problems beforehand, or learn a little about how to cooperate with people you might not like, or learn ways to compromise on things that may be important for multiple people.
If you read through this and are having second thoughts, that's okay. If you still want to be plural but are worried, think on it a little more, maybe brainstorm ways you could cope with potential issues, think about solutions, ask the community for ideas even! You can still prepare yourself to become plural if you don't feel you have the capacity as you are right now, it's perfectly okay to be unsure. Take your time, you have plenty of it.
As stated in the beginning, this isn't meant to be a "don't become plural ever" post, it's a disclaimer, a thing to consider before committing. Headmates and originals/cores alike are hurt by quick decisions all too often and we want to encourage people to just think a little bit more, to hopefully minimize harm and make plurality overall a more enjoyable experience for those looking to become systems.
Challenge: make a poll with five of your all time favourite characters, and then tag five people to do the same. See which character is everyone's favourite. (five OF, not top-5-of-all-time)
tagged by: @raceispunk (thanks for the tag!)
no pressure tags: @mossy-stormcloud, @rustyelias, @ambiently-80s-gay, @vvanillavveins, @atrashmammall
it was hard choosing only 5 ngl, so they are my current obsessions rather than my all time faves
tags (no pressure): @evangelineflowers, @syntia13treeman, @jo1sstuff, @edgy-fluffball and i really can't think of another person to tag for the life of me (sorry) though if you see this you are encouraged to do it too <3
@sparky-jaded @spookypointyears @avianavionthebird @possibly-a-jellyfish @wolveseye66577-blog @iotaphora @eldermage1 (sorry if you didnt want to be tagged)
YOU 🫵 NEWLY KINFIRMED TANJIRO KAMADO. you might not remember me but im one of the first 2 demons you ever killed with a sword in final selection. hows it going.....
I'm fine! How's that parasocial relationship with fictionfolk you don't even know going??
If we can pick canonmates that easily, then I, Muzan Kibutsuji, order all demons to leave this Tanjiro alone. That behaviour is ridiculous, and this Tanjiro is unfortunately my friend.
i want to begin a conversation. let's start a list of the ways that fictives are, for lack of a better word, regularly dehumanized:
the fear of getting into any media because you might split a fictive
being used as a trophy to show how much someone liked a media
being spoken to like we're characters without permission
being held accountable for source actions
being shamed for being introjected ("why did it have to be THAT character?"); being shamed for being fictive-heavy
trans and otherwise not-the-same-gender-as-source fictives being misgendered because of the assumption that they must be the same gender as source; being called "a trans [character name]"
the assumption that we're all exactly the same personality as source
feel free to add on, i know i've missed a world of bulletpoints i could make
not a callout on anyone, we're guilty of all of this too. just bringing attention to some things i've noticed that we should probably stop.
The idea that fictives and systems are uncommon enough that people shouldn't be encouraged to learn about how to behave toward fictives.
And/or the idea that fictives and systems are uncommon enough that we should keep to our own spaces entirely if we don't want to be treated like a toy by strangers online.
A lot of the time, we'll tell someone that what they did to us as a fictive is disrespectful and we'll get a response of "oh I didn't know, I'm new to this, thank you for telling me", or something else genuine. But sometimes, it turns into one of those "if you're so offended then why are you online at all??" conversations. The victim shaming of it all is what gets us more than the actual comments. Our fictives telling you to stop saying sexual things to them, talking to them as if you know them personally, or as if they're a chatbot for your personal entertainment is not an overreaction on our part and we're tired of people acting like it is.
Beyond that:
Treating insys doubles as something unbelieveable or as a point to share how much you're obsessed with a character.
Comparing insys doubles to each other and picking apart their differences (when done without consent / dehumanisingly).
Freaking out at fictives when they're dating the "wrong" sourcemates--either a noncanon ship or a "problematic" ship. This completely ignores that fictives are people and don't have to be 1:1 with their source.
Freaking out at fictives when they're dating a non-sourcemate, prodding them about "crackships".
Being used like a chatbot, and in our case we've had people open chatbots of our sources while we're right there and try to get us to give opinions on the conversations they're having with the bot of our source.
"UGHHH the fictive printer went AGAIN!!"
Honestly those "headmates we'd get fakeclaimed for!" trend posts that tend to single out fictives. While the point of these tends to be to destigmatise, sometimes they come across more as people "telling on themselves" and shaming their own headmates.
Acting like there's a line of how many fictives are "acceptable", acting like fictive-heavy systems are more likely to be fake.
Trying to convince fictives to source separate or that they "need" to for their "health". This is seen as the norm for what to do when you get a "problematic" fictive in some spaces and it sucks.
Honestly I could think of more but I think I've rambled enough. We've had a hell of a time being out as a fictive heavy system online, lol. Maybe this post might bring attention to some things some people don't know are harmful, though.
Talking to a fictive about their source without asking if it's ok first.
Posting memes about the character someone is a fictive of with the intent that they see it without asking if it's ok first.
Treating fictives like they're always the same age as the character.
Saying things like "I don't remember that part" when a fictive is talking about their own life and not the media they're from.
When fictives randomly apologize to other fictives they don't personally know for how source-them acted.
Simping/getting possessive over fictives because they're your "F/O" and that means you love the fictive too.
We have dealt with all of this. People have said that our fictives are pathetic because source-them threw a "tantrum" over their family dying (this has happened hundreds of times, I wish I was exaggerating, Infinite from Sonic Forces, if you know, you know). People have said they want to beat our fictives up because they're villains. People sent insulting memes towards our fictives to make fun of them and get a reaction. We've had people say we're disgusting for "letting an 8 year old date a 15 year old" when the fictives in question were 19 and 21, got told it didn't matter what ages they actually were, it's the media that counts and we're sick for trying to argue. We've had our infodumping about our lives interrupted and talked over because we're not canon. We've had multiple people that are fictives of characters that abused people in source come up out of nowhere and immediately apologize for abusing us, we don't know you??? And shout out to that one girl that we were not friends with that decided she was romantically involved with every version of a specific character in our system and wouldn't let them speak to other people without butting in and trying to focus our attention on her for way too many months.
Sometimes things can be pretty isolating, even in your own community. I wouldn't wish my own suffering upon any other fictionfolk but man, it feels weird when mostly everyone seems to be focused on one thing that doesn't apply to you.
I didn't get as deep into it as I wanted to for this page, but the fictionfolk community at large seems to have a specific way about treating people from lighthearted sources if they also happen to have dark exomemories. It feels like it's always assumed that if you're from children's media or a happy source, you can't possibly have any memories that include suffering! Which isn't true, and I think even though these subjects need to be navigated carefully… Being pushed aside for it or having those feelings kept hush hush doesn't sit right with me. Maybe it's just the places I've been around, but it's a thing I wanted to write about.
Saw another reblog that talked about how OP (and us) own a pokemon server and sort of vagued like they assumed our server was the happy-go-lucky place Rusty was complaining about. It's not, we talk about the dark side of pokemon there all the time, it's really good for exotrauma stuff. This was a post about the general community.
So, in saying that, if I can shamelessly self-promote here, here is a link to our and Interstellar's pokemon server, for all of you people reading this comic and handshaking on needing people that understand you: https://discord.gg/M6XBfNArqX
Some of our system members have separate hobbies, which is pretty funny sometimes.
Like... we have a bunch of graphic novels--those are mine specifically. Another systemmate actually got them for me because I love comics! But they've been sitting there on our shelf unread for months because I just haven't been in the front. It's not just me either! We have people who have ongoing knitting projects they haven't been in front to finish. We have people with paintings and embroidery and digital artwork and gardening and cooking projects. They just take a very long time to be finished because.. Well, the guy who started them isn't there for a while! Does our ADHD affect our ability to finish projects without jumping to a new one? For sure! But the fact that I did Not start making that dragon plushie or that writing project myself absolutely affects if we're gonna finish it or not too.
"Why haven't you read those yet?" "Why haven't you worked on that scarf in so long?" "Why haven't you finished that painting?" I am not the me I was last week. Or last month. I'm not the me I was this morning. Those belong to another me that's on break right now. Those things aren't mine.
We feel so guilty about this when it comes to our fanfics. The people writing them haven't fronted much lately. We love that people keep commenting "more please" but I can't work on those because they are not mine.
Yeah, you. Fictionkin, fictive, fictionhearted, fictionlinker, fictionflicker--whatever else you may be in the tags. I wanna get some potentially positivity and experience sharing going because there's some Stuff that isn't great in the tags right now but ALSO I think fictionfolk as a whole (and not just identify-as fictionfolk but yes those too) deserve a nice little platform to share their experiences. So, use this ask game. Or just reblog and answer the questions. Or post the answers yourself. Be free.
1. What's your fictional identity (hearttype, kintype, etc)?
2. If you have multiple, do you have one you're closer to than the others, or is more important to your identity overall?
3. How many fictional identities do you have?
4. What's your favourite part about being fictionfolk?
5. What's a positivie interaction that's happened as a result of your fictional identity?
6. Have you told any people in your offline life about your fictional identity and gotten a positive reaction?
7. Have you told any people in your online life about your fictional identity and gotten a positive reaction?
8. Is there anyone you've met as a result of your interactions in the community who's very important to you now?
9. What's your favourite thing about the fictionfolk community?
10. Tell us about a time you've experienced species/identity euphoria as a result of one of your fictional identities.
11. Do you experience any shifts (mental, phantom, dream, etc) of your fictional identity? Share a bit about those and how they feel!
12. Do you have any canonmates (if applicable)?
13. Do you have any sourcemates (if applicable)?
14. Do you wish to seek out canonmates/sourcemates? Why/why not?
15. Do you have a favourite piece of fanart/fanfic/etc that ties into your identity? Share it (with credit)!
16. Do you have any art/fic/etc specifically made for you as a fictionfolk of your specific identity (made by yourself or someone else)? Share it!
17. Does your fictional identity differ from source in any way/is it canon divergent? Explain a bit about that!
18. Are there aspects of your fictional identity that you previously questioned, decided weren't a part of your identity, but you still look fondly upon? (Past 'types, etc).
19. Do you have any spiritual identities? Explain a bit about that!
20. Do you have any psychological identies? Explain a bit about that!
21. How old were you when you discovered/chose your first fictional identity?
22. Did you ever take a break from the community, but came back later? What made you come back?
23. Have you ever considered fictionlinking? If you already have, what made you decide to do it?
24. If you decided to 'link a fictional character, who would it be and why?
25. If you decided to 'link a fictional species, what would it be and why?
26. Have you ever questioned being fictionhearted? If you already are, what started your questioning into that connection?
27. Do you have any fictional hearthomes? What are your favourite things about them?
28. Have you ever questioned being a fictionbased archetrope? If you already are, what's your archetropal identity?
29. Have you ever questioned being fictionkin? If you already are, what started your discovery of that connection?
30. Have you ever had a fictotype turn out to be a fictionflicker or vice versa? What was that like?
31. Do you have any fictionflickers? What are they, and how do they make you feel?
32. If you're a system, do you have any collective fictional identities?
33. If you're a system, how many fictional identities do you have across all of your headmates?
34. Do you have any soulbonds from a fictional source? Share a bit about that!
35. Do you have any memories/noemata around your fictional identity? Share some if you'd like!
36. If you do have memories/noemata, what's your favourite?
37. Does your identity intersect with your gender in any way? Share a bit about that!
38. Does your identity intersect with your sexuality in any way? Share a bit about that!
39. Is there anything you'd have loved to hear back when you were first questioning your identity?
40. Is there anything you'd like to share toward fictionfolk who may just be starting to look into the community?
41. Free space! Share anything about your identity/ies that you'd like to!
Answering these for just me, Damian posting.
1. What's your fictional identity (hearttype, kintype, etc)?
Fictive of Damian the Dark, a Sonic OC from a roleplay our old host was part of.
2. If you have multiple, do you have one you're closer to than the others, or is more important to your identity overall?
N/A
3. How many fictional identities do you have?
1
4. What's your favourite part about being fictionfolk?
That I can read my source material. Helps with memories and keeping the timeline of when things happened.
5. What's a positivie interaction that's happened as a result of your fictional identity?
I don't really have one that I can think of, but I guess meeting the alternate versions of people I knew that have also ended up in this system is kind of cool.
6. Have you told any people in your offline life about your fictional identity and gotten a positive reaction?
No, but also yes? Met our partner system online, we've met up irl a few times, they know who I am. Guess that counts in a way? They're very accepting, I mean, they're the one that made this ask game lol.
7. Have you told any people in your online life about your fictional identity and gotten a positive reaction?
All of our friends know.
8. Is there anyone you've met as a result of your interactions in the community who's very important to you now?
Our partner system.
9. What's your favourite thing about the fictionfolk community?
Honestly I think it's really silly sometimes when you acknowledge people's identities. Sonic and Bakugo are talking about cooking recipes. Pikachu and Kratos are discussing their college majors. Goku and Gojo are playing scrabble and are getting mad that their made-up words aren't in the dictionary.
10. Tell us about a time you've experienced species/identity euphoria as a result of one of your fictional identities.
So we have me as a character up on artfight, and someone read that I have "plant manipulation powers" and drew me with a rose. The picture is so sick, I'm using it as a Discord icon now. But like, roses are my thing, that's my plant of choice, and we didn't mention that in my profile, nor did we really mention much to be honest, we filled it out in like a minute. I just love that someone was able to capture my vibe with the rose and the pose and the feel of the image.
11. Do you experience any shifts (mental, phantom, dream, etc) of your fictional identity? Share a bit about those and how they feel!
Well I'm me 24/7, so mental shifts aren't really a thing. Don't really get phantoms either. But we've had a few dreams about me, so there's that.
12. Do you have any canonmates (if applicable)?
Plenty. Through people soulbonding people and those people soulbonding others, my system also has my 3 spouses, our 10 kids, some of our kids' friends, my 4 siblings, my dad, my dad's girlfriend, and way too many of my dad's friends. In total there's 47 people from my canon specifically in this system.
13. Do you have any sourcemates (if applicable)?
Yeah, there's quite a few people from my source but not my canon in this system as well.
14. Do you wish to seek out canonmates/sourcemates? Why/why not?
Not really a thing I can do in other systems, due to the nature of my source being a private roleplay. I've already soulbonded everybody I wanted back though.
15. Do you have a favourite piece of fanart/fanfic/etc that ties into your identity? Share it (with credit)!
N/A
16. Do you have any art/fic/etc specifically made for you as a fictionfolk of your specific identity (made by yourself or someone else)? Share it!
I've drawn myself a few times. My favourite is this one we got on artfight. Credit to https://www.deviantart.com/lamp-p0st
17. Does your fictional identity differ from source in any way/is it canon divergent? Explain a bit about that!
So that gets a little bit weird. Source is ongoing. When I got into this system, there were no differences between my life and what this character went through, but since I got here, the story has taken my character and done some really messed up things to him. It's like I'm watching my own hands try to give me trauma I don't have. So I'm completely separated from the roleplay character now due to that, that's not me anymore, I'm just another version of him whose story has a clear divergence point.
18. Are there aspects of your fictional identity that you previously questioned, decided weren't a part of your identity, but you still look fondly upon? (Past 'types, etc).
Nah.
19. Do you have any spiritual identities? Explain a bit about that!
I'm a soulbond, so yeah.
20. Do you have any psychological identies? Explain a bit about that!
Nope.
21. How old were you when you discovered/chose your first fictional identity?
Soulbond, so not applicable.
22. Did you ever take a break from the community, but came back later? What made you come back?
No, I've been trapped here. Help me /j
23. Have you ever considered fictionlinking? If you already have, what made you decide to do it?
I haven't.
24. If you decided to 'link a fictional character, who would it be and why?
Uhhhh.....hmm. Probably Dabi from My Hero Acadamia. His whole arc about being born for someone else's goals, being abandoned, rising up from the ashes to make a name for himself, it's all very relatable.
25. If you decided to 'link a fictional species, what would it be and why?
Really not sure about this one, but I'm already part ghost, but my ghosts are a bit different than ghosts here, some depictions of ghosts in media are really cool, so one of those maybe?
26. Have you ever questioned being fictionhearted? If you already are, what started your questioning into that connection?
I haven't.
27. Do you have any fictional hearthomes? What are your favourite things about them?
I actually hate that I have hearthome feelings about this. There was a dimension of pitch black darkness that I was trapped in for almost 20 years. I hated being there, I hate everything about it. But I get such a feeling of homesickness when I think about it. I practically grew up there, I spent a good chunk of my childhood and all of my teen years there. I have a complicated relationship to it. No favourite things.
28. Have you ever questioned being a fictionbased archetrope? If you already are, what's your archetropal identity?
Haven't questioned anything, but I might have a villain archetropal identity? Not sure.
29. Have you ever questioned being fictionkin? If you already are, what started your discovery of that connection?
Haven't questioned, no.
30. Have you ever had a fictotype turn out to be a fictionflicker or vice versa? What was that like?
Nope.
31. Do you have any fictionflickers? What are they, and how do they make you feel?
Nope.
32. If you're a system, do you have any collective fictional identities?
Fictional, no.
33. If you're a system, how many fictional identities do you have across all of your headmates?
...I am not counting. There's over 500 people in here. Just...going to estimate around 300 different fictional identities?
34. Do you have any soulbonds from a fictional source? Share a bit about that!
Besides the roleplay, we have soulbonds from Sonic the Hedgehog, The Owl House, Steven Universe, My Hero Acadamia, Hazbin Hotel, Jujutsu Kaisen, The Magnus Archives, My Little Pony, Pokemon, Madoka Magica, SCP, Splatoon, Undertale, and Welcome to Night Vale.
35. Do you have any memories/noemata around your fictional identity? Share some if you'd like!
I do have memories, I remember most of my life. The roleplay being a thing we have complete history of helps a lot.
36. If you do have memories/noemata, what's your favourite?
Making me choose one moment of my entire life? Fine. When I was a young kid and I invited my friend into my secret room full of video games. We had a lot of fun playing games, then we kissed for the first time. That was special. Ended up marrying him when we got older.
37. Does your identity intersect with your gender in any way? Share a bit about that!
Uuuuuggggghhhhh. I didn't used to be bigender, but then I had to possess a girl's body and then my brain didn't want to let go of that. Dying and ending up here didn't even fix it! Stupid ghost powers.
38. Does your identity intersect with your sexuality in any way? Share a bit about that!
Nah.
39. Is there anything you'd have loved to hear back when you were first questioning your identity?
N/A
40. Is there anything you'd like to share toward fictionfolk who may just be starting to look into the community?
We don't bite, unless you bite first. We will protect you from the stupid people that say you can't be whatever you think you are.
41. Free space! Share anything about your identity/ies that you'd like to!
im tired of people pretending that fiction is reality.
fictionkin hurts one's identity because the person stops being themself to be someone else they believe they were in a past life, alternate universe, or another world. you stop being yourself to be Noob from Forsaken. thats not okay.
its also strange how we are treating fictional worlds as if they are real.
i cant even write anymore nowadays. if i create a character, is he real now? what if he is a terrible person? am i responsible for his actions? what if he has trauma? will someone who is fictionkin suffer just because i created a character out of joy and boredom?
i prefer to think that fictionkin is just not a real thing. it is unhealthy, im tired of people pretending that it isnt.
You can believe what you want for yourself, you can believe fictionkin isn't a thing that can happen--whatever, that's your own belief. But seeing as you put this in the fictionkin tag... I'm gonna comment as one.
You can say that being fictionkin hurts someone's identity and is unhealthy--that's your opinion as someone who is not a medical professional or at the very least is not the medical professional of every single fictionkin out there--you don't KNOW what it does for someone and their identity and their life. There's some struggles that come with being fictionkin, of course, but there's also a lot of joy to be had, and there's a lot of... Just being what you feel you are.
Not all fictionkin treat their worlds as if they're real either--psychological fictionkin who believe their identity came from something other than reincarnation exist. But even if they didn't.... Who does it hurt for someone to hold this personal belief? The belief applies to themselves, you don't have to agree. You don't have to believe Sonic the Hedgehog or Ash Ketchum are real in some other universe or something--all you should really do is... Just leave people be. I believe in my identity coming from reincarnation but I literally don't care if others believe that or not, it doesn't matter.
We might have a strange perspective on this as someone with a psychotic disorder, but the "reality" most people can agree upon, the "consensus reality", is..... Well, yeah, it's undoubtedly real. But the thing is... If you hallucinate and gain new fears from that, or if you have a horrible dream and now can't look at some things the same, or if you have a nice dream and now want to achieve something you did in that dream, those are things that aren't present in the consensus reality, but they still affect you. These are still things you've felt and saw and experienced even if they're not right here right now or what most people see as "real". That doesn't mean your new fear or new goals shouldn't exist, and it doesn't make those previous expeirences a part of the consensus reality either. You can be affected by things regardless of if they're real or not if you feel strongly enough about them, and for a lot of fictionkin, feeling strongly about these things isn't something you can choose to stop, nor is it something you forced yourself into. You don't have to believe in past lives or alternate universes or anything like that, neither does any fictionkin, because at its core, what it's about is your identity and your self discovery of that part of yourself.
With the next point though.... It's hard to tell you what to think because it's based on what you choose to believe if your writing causes a person to exist. That's your choice. But what I can tell you is that I have never met a fictionkin who blames the source creator for their trauma, or their actions--that's... A little strange. There's fictionkin who are a little unaligned with source who feel strangely about how their source depicts them, but that's not really an insult to the source creator or blaming them either, it's simply sharing their own experiences. You can write and draw whatever you want--fictionkin will exist regardless of if you do or don't. There is a line between fiction and reality, and yes ficionkin blur it a little around the edges, but I don't know of anyone who'd blame you or get upset with you for writing a fictional story even if someone ended up identifying as a character you wrote.
And on your last point... If you'd prefer to pretend fictionkin aren't real, and it's all unhealthy, and you'd rather not engage with the community because it upsets you like this regardless of what we say to you to explain ourselves? Next time, don't post your thoughts on what we should and shouldn't do in our tags.
I hear you, but I dont need to be a doctor to have my opinion on something, and my opinion still stands that this isnt healthy, people take this too far.
You are also not a doctor, you cant say that this is healthy and safe.
It doesnt just blur around the edges of fiction and reality, it blurs everything, because someone identifies with my character, but if I say "no you dont, he isnt real", the person will claim "yes i am him in real life" which turns my fictional character into an actial person who holds all the trauma i wrote on the guy with the intention of him NOT being real to not suffer the trauma i wrote. It ruins writting as a safe place to just not be real.
A belief can be proven to be wrong. I dont think there are any proof that someone is the reincarnation of a fictional character, therefore, I dont believe.
I also thought that by being fictionkin, I didnt have a choice- that i was stuck suffering as my kintype and that i would always miss my source. But no, i just... Got out of it. I decided it hurts me so I got up and stopped.
If its so easy to stop- is it really an identity? Is it even a real thing?
I literally cried for 3 months about a person in my source. Thats how MUCH i was connected to it and now I just see it as something i got deluded into because i wanted to fit in and be the character i found relatable while people enabled my delusion.
I strongly believe that what is fictional should stay fictional. I think kin takes things too far, I preferred when it meant that you found the character relatable rather than literally being the character.
Do you also believe all trans people don't exist because a small amount of detransitioners say that they were never trans and therefore don't believe it is a real thing? Because that's exactly how you sound. You thought you were something, you weren't, so we must all be wrong too?
I promise people are not going to come up to you saying "but I am your character irl" unless there is some sort of excruciating circumstance leading them to do so, like the person is your friend, or you are publicly hating your own work and someone wants to show you how impactful it was to them. But even if they do tell you, you're not going to be blamed for anything that happened in source. I joke that if one of my source creators wasn't homophobic, I would have had an easier life, but I don't ACTUALLY think it's his fault! Because he didn't actually write my life, he just wrote a thing that's "close enough" to my life that I can point at a character and call it me.
You're making up guys to be mad at while also saying that your experiences match the entire fictionkin community. Which is a little rude and egotistical, to say the least. Being fictionkin isn't unhealthy, what's unhealthy is going up to a bunch of people and saying "um, actually, I was wrong about myself and therefore I think you are all hurting yourselves, just stop being who you are." Get off your high horse and sit down, you don't know us.
You essentially walked into a gay bar, said a homophobic thing, and are getting mad at the gay people for being offended. Stay out of our tags if you can't handle the heat.
I am comparing you to transphobes because I felt that was the easiest comparison to get through your thick skull that hating on an identity because you were wrong about yours is A BAD THING TO DO. I'm not implying you're transhobic, I'm saying you're spewing the same rhetoric as transphobes do at us, so if you're not transphobic you should realize how this sounds. Also, fictionkin and transgender are both an identity thing, so they are somewhat related so this metaphor does work, and also tons of fictionkin are transgender because of their kintypes, soooo, try again.
Never said you were shouting, just said you were saying horrible things, there's a difference.
At this point I want to believe you're a troll misreading everything on purpose, or that tumblr's piss-on-the-poor curse is really going strong here. If you're not a troll, please take a second to read people's posts for crying out loud, there's so many bad takes you're taking from literally everyone you're arguing with.
Don't worry about me though! I'm having fun. I was originally trying to actually help get through to you, like everyone else in the notes was, but I think our patience is collectively running a little thin, so we can have some fun with this.
im tired of people pretending that fiction is reality.
fictionkin hurts one's identity because the person stops being themself to be someone else they believe they were in a past life, alternate universe, or another world. you stop being yourself to be Noob from Forsaken. thats not okay.
its also strange how we are treating fictional worlds as if they are real.
i cant even write anymore nowadays. if i create a character, is he real now? what if he is a terrible person? am i responsible for his actions? what if he has trauma? will someone who is fictionkin suffer just because i created a character out of joy and boredom?
i prefer to think that fictionkin is just not a real thing. it is unhealthy, im tired of people pretending that it isnt.
You can believe what you want for yourself, you can believe fictionkin isn't a thing that can happen--whatever, that's your own belief. But seeing as you put this in the fictionkin tag... I'm gonna comment as one.
You can say that being fictionkin hurts someone's identity and is unhealthy--that's your opinion as someone who is not a medical professional or at the very least is not the medical professional of every single fictionkin out there--you don't KNOW what it does for someone and their identity and their life. There's some struggles that come with being fictionkin, of course, but there's also a lot of joy to be had, and there's a lot of... Just being what you feel you are.
Not all fictionkin treat their worlds as if they're real either--psychological fictionkin who believe their identity came from something other than reincarnation exist. But even if they didn't.... Who does it hurt for someone to hold this personal belief? The belief applies to themselves, you don't have to agree. You don't have to believe Sonic the Hedgehog or Ash Ketchum are real in some other universe or something--all you should really do is... Just leave people be. I believe in my identity coming from reincarnation but I literally don't care if others believe that or not, it doesn't matter.
We might have a strange perspective on this as someone with a psychotic disorder, but the "reality" most people can agree upon, the "consensus reality", is..... Well, yeah, it's undoubtedly real. But the thing is... If you hallucinate and gain new fears from that, or if you have a horrible dream and now can't look at some things the same, or if you have a nice dream and now want to achieve something you did in that dream, those are things that aren't present in the consensus reality, but they still affect you. These are still things you've felt and saw and experienced even if they're not right here right now or what most people see as "real". That doesn't mean your new fear or new goals shouldn't exist, and it doesn't make those previous expeirences a part of the consensus reality either. You can be affected by things regardless of if they're real or not if you feel strongly enough about them, and for a lot of fictionkin, feeling strongly about these things isn't something you can choose to stop, nor is it something you forced yourself into. You don't have to believe in past lives or alternate universes or anything like that, neither does any fictionkin, because at its core, what it's about is your identity and your self discovery of that part of yourself.
With the next point though.... It's hard to tell you what to think because it's based on what you choose to believe if your writing causes a person to exist. That's your choice. But what I can tell you is that I have never met a fictionkin who blames the source creator for their trauma, or their actions--that's... A little strange. There's fictionkin who are a little unaligned with source who feel strangely about how their source depicts them, but that's not really an insult to the source creator or blaming them either, it's simply sharing their own experiences. You can write and draw whatever you want--fictionkin will exist regardless of if you do or don't. There is a line between fiction and reality, and yes ficionkin blur it a little around the edges, but I don't know of anyone who'd blame you or get upset with you for writing a fictional story even if someone ended up identifying as a character you wrote.
And on your last point... If you'd prefer to pretend fictionkin aren't real, and it's all unhealthy, and you'd rather not engage with the community because it upsets you like this regardless of what we say to you to explain ourselves? Next time, don't post your thoughts on what we should and shouldn't do in our tags.
I hear you, but I dont need to be a doctor to have my opinion on something, and my opinion still stands that this isnt healthy, people take this too far.
You are also not a doctor, you cant say that this is healthy and safe.
It doesnt just blur around the edges of fiction and reality, it blurs everything, because someone identifies with my character, but if I say "no you dont, he isnt real", the person will claim "yes i am him in real life" which turns my fictional character into an actial person who holds all the trauma i wrote on the guy with the intention of him NOT being real to not suffer the trauma i wrote. It ruins writting as a safe place to just not be real.
A belief can be proven to be wrong. I dont think there are any proof that someone is the reincarnation of a fictional character, therefore, I dont believe.
I also thought that by being fictionkin, I didnt have a choice- that i was stuck suffering as my kintype and that i would always miss my source. But no, i just... Got out of it. I decided it hurts me so I got up and stopped.
If its so easy to stop- is it really an identity? Is it even a real thing?
I literally cried for 3 months about a person in my source. Thats how MUCH i was connected to it and now I just see it as something i got deluded into because i wanted to fit in and be the character i found relatable while people enabled my delusion.
I strongly believe that what is fictional should stay fictional. I think kin takes things too far, I preferred when it meant that you found the character relatable rather than literally being the character.
Do you also believe all trans people don't exist because a small amount of detransitioners say that they were never trans and therefore don't believe it is a real thing? Because that's exactly how you sound. You thought you were something, you weren't, so we must all be wrong too?
I promise people are not going to come up to you saying "but I am your character irl" unless there is some sort of extraordinary circumstance leading them to do so, like the person is your friend, or you are publicly hating your own work and someone wants to show you how impactful it was to them. But even if they do tell you, you're not going to be blamed for anything that happened in source. I joke that if one of my source creators wasn't homophobic, I would have had an easier life, but I don't ACTUALLY think it's his fault! Because he didn't actually write my life, he just wrote a thing that's "close enough" to my life that I can point at a character and call it me.
You're making up guys to be mad at while also saying that your experiences match the entire fictionkin community. Which is a little rude and egotistical, to say the least. Being fictionkin isn't unhealthy, what's unhealthy is going up to a bunch of people and saying "um, actually, I was wrong about myself and therefore I think you are all hurting yourselves, just stop being who you are." Get off your high horse and sit down, you don't know us.
Every time I see someone gatekeeping names like "number names are for this-world programming survivors only!!" or "you can't have a japanese name unless you're bodily japanese!" we have an urge to soulbond people with the names being gatekept. Like, brb, soulbonding Five from The Umbrella Academy and Katsuki Bakugo from My Hero Academia. Just to make you mad. You can't stop me~
Daven: Could we get a picture of my wife, Vanessa, please? She is very pretty and is only slightly infected by something called The Void. Feel free to make the wing bits longer and more tentacle-y, they're very shapeshifty.
Hey, get art'd! Hope you like it :>
[THIS IS A REQUEST, DO NOT USE UNLESS YOU ARE THE INTENDED RECIPIENT]
Program: Firealpaca
Approx. Time: 1h
Original Date: 02.05.25
Commission/Trade/Collab status in bio/pinned!
Art Of: Vanessa (Sparks System) [Headmate]
(System Member Artist: Chime)
The first time I opened my eyes, I was alone and starving. I saw other pokemon hunting and getting food and I ate what they left behind. When I was confident enough in what I'd learned from watching, I started hunting myself. I remember the first time I saw another shinx. Before that, my life seemed normal, like this must've been how everyone started out. But when I saw those shinx, about my size, all playing together as what seemed to be their parent brought them food, I realized I was different. Their fur was blue, mine was yellow.
I tried to find a yellow shinx, or a yellow luxray, where I must have come from, but I never found anyone that looked like me. Unfortunately for me, my search brought me up a mountain where a staraptor was looking for their next meal. I ran as fast as I could, I got swiped at a bunch, I tumbled down the cliff. I should have died, but I happened to land in front of a human, who scared the staraptor off and took me back to his village with him.
After I was healed enough, he brought out his other pokemon. It was scary at first, but they were able to explain what was going on, and answer my lifelong question. The reason I couldn't find my family of yellow shinx is because they didn't exist. I was abandoned because I was different. The humans understand why I was yellow, but my family must've thought I was sick. I'd be cared for here. So I stayed. There were some weird things about my human compared to the other humans there, but I was weird too, we got along really well. He and the other pokemon he had were like a family.
Eventually I had evolution explained to me, and I was asked if I was excited to evolve. I didn't want to. I was thrown out by my pack because of how I looked, they probably assumed I was too weak to survive. But I did survive and found a new family that liked how I looked. I didn't want to evolve out of spite for being abandoned, but also appreciation that everyone I knew now said I could do anything. I was going to do everything as the weak shinx that was left to die, because I could.
Fast forward a year, and I helped my new family save the world, complete the journal of information on every pokemon, and even defeat the god of all pokemon, Arceus! I had it all, everything I could have ever dreamed of! I was strong, I was a hero, I had the best family and the most amazing human.
And then suddenly…I lost everything. My human disappeared. A few days after our battle with Arceus, he just vanished. He seemed off after the battle, none of us knew why, and then he was gone. We waited. Some pokemon went out to look for him, they came back after a while. We waited. A few decided they would be off with other humans, that they could still be of use. The others followed on their own time. I waited. Some humans came into the house I was now alone in and gave me food. I waited. He never came back. I waited.
Now, I'm here. Next life. Where I'm a fictional character from a fictional game. Now I'm here and I know why he disappeared. He was weird compared to other humans because he wasn't from that era and Arceus sent him home. Maybe he tried to tell me and I didn't understand. Did he really have to go? Why couldn't he have stayed? Why did I have to be abandoned again? Why would Arceus do that to me? I waited.
