ok ima talk a lil bit abt my system’s dirk’s memories of being a system in his source. ill be adding this to the system dirk tag cause i think it’s interesting and he doesnt mind ppl adding his experiences to their headcanons or whatnot.
he was just in a two person system w hal. i think originally hal was literally just an oc that dirk played around with in his head, this sort of idealized version of himself, an expression of his alienation from society, of feeling inhuman. unfortunately that is just about the age that his abuse got so, so, much worse, so that idea of hal in his head started becoming more and more autonomous until he became an actual person.
he does have memory loss but can interact with hal in headspace pretty okayish. it took him a while to realize his memory gaps were due to hal fronting; he sorta just thought hal was a figment of his imagination so the idea that he could be affecting his reality never really occurred to him until later.
As usual they are kinda having a constant power struggle. I think he was very resistant to hals existence at first considering Hal is 1. Insufferable 2. Frequently makes large decisions that would impact both of their lives without exactly consulting Dirk on the matter. In his eyes he knew what was best for Dirk and acted accordingly. To be fair Hal was the only reason they practiced any amount of self care but i do think he kinda overcorrected in many areas as well. (That fuckin image @crabgodds drew of Hal quitting dirks job for him? Very much that.) Oh and 3. Dirk was very weird Abt the way Hal interacted with his friends, especially his crushes. Relationship w Roxy became very weird too bc she didn't know they were plural, all she knew is that sometimes "Dirk" was very affectionate and sometimes he really wasn't, which i think was rough for her.
Only two people knew Abt dirks system; he actively told Dave and vriska just sorta found out. The vriska bit is funny; she basically found out and said "hey if you don't let me hang out w Hal sometimes I'll tell everyone; i like Hal better anyways." Hal is very cool w this arrangement, Dirk begrudgingly deals with her.
A point of contention was the fact that Hal disliked dirks abusers while Dirk still had a lot of complicated feelings Abt them. Hal was a protector so he would come stand in when things got too much for Dirk to handle. He would do his best to minimize harm in those scenarios. I don't think he wants me to get more into this bit so yeah!
I think things got easier for them once Dave was able to convince Dirk that Hal was actually generally trying to help him and convince Hal to like. Idk maybe communicate a little bit lol. Things weren't perfect obviously but the mindset shift of them being enemies to them being teammates really was a huge step in them becoming a less dysfunctional system. Dirk sorta allowed himself to rely on Hal a little more + started respecting him as a real person a lil more (despite pretending to be pissy Abt it)
My Dirk def had an ok relationship w Hal overall; i think under different circumstances, with less ppl supporting him it could easily have been very different and a loooot more self destructive.
I'll post more Abt it as he remembers things. Maybe he'll draw a thing idk
