Your Friendly Neighborhood System

Heya o/ A system that decided the only way we're going to curate our own online experience is by seizing it by the hand. Nice to meet you!

[the0peratingsystem]

I love you.

[fruitorchardsystem]

Every time someone says the word system my brain creates this image

[yeehawpim]

I can be the ship and its sailors

[dissociated-bones]

Me: Oh man I am so stressed out lately I sure wish I had someone that could take on some of these responsibilities for me

My brain immediately:

[thestarrynightcoalition]

Is this anything?

[erasermic]

and i'd kill her again!

[partyhorn]

An overworked wishing flower

[migoliveblogs]

Unfortunately, the original video "Steven and The Stevens from the perspective of steven" no longer exists in its original form on youtube or reddit, at least from what Human Bob could find.

So one of the lovely people on our Discord server edited up a version similar to what has seemingly been lost.

Their tumblr name is novantinuum and they bring you this little gem(see what i did there?)

[jelloapocalypse]

Hey remember in Season 1 when they would just go on insane artifact hunts like it was Xiaolin Showdown and find this like this and nobody ever talks about it again

[mycavesystem]

curious if anyone else has a physical tell that a switch has occurred. like for us as strange as it sounds when we switch theres like a 60% chance that we get one of those weird whole body shivers that ive heard that some people get when they have to pee. does anyone else have anything like this or is it just us

[thefiresystem03]

Yes!

Probably the easiest way we switch around (and it's normally a sign of movement between the members that are already in the front) is a signal that we always know is someone else taking control of the body. It's this almost bubbling sensation that happens behind our eyes. Or fluttering eye pressure, to be more exact. On the outside our eye lashes can be fluttering, and we'll normally have one good hard blink that's a sign that the switch finished. Or the uncontrollable rapid blinking (as if we got dust in our eyes) will stop, and we'll know that someone got themselves situated and in control.

It can also be a sign of those in the front conversing, but without putting it into words. There's a lot of information and conversations that are easiest to have (and can occur instantly!) if we allow the thoughts and feelings to just bounce between each other without the person whose fronting being in the loop. If your brain isn't having to translate out whole conversations, they can just naturally occur as the free sharing of information as individuals that are all hooked up to the same mental pathways. It's like sending whole information packets at once! And sometimes we don't even know what was communicated afterwards, just that something was.

Alternatively, while people come and go from the front, or if someone slams into the pilot's seat from the back. We get this whole body jolt that we assume is that mental presence causing our brain to basically do a "Nervous System Check" to be able to instantly orient themselves and hit the ground running by firing a signal to all of our nerves as a means of grounding. The switches happen instantly, and there's no blurry-sliding (compared to those switches that can gradually occur). It can be a whole body jolt, but in particular we get them in the legs or right in the chest. You sort of feel this building pressure sensation in your feet, and have to clock "oh! That's somebody doing the equivalent of knocking! Yeah, come right in!" And that acknowledgement allows the person that's trying to come into the front to instantly slide into control.

If you don't allow it to happen, it'll cause blurriness and feeling switchy (a sort of half in control) can then occur as our brain isn't sure who's supposed to be driving us. Alternatively, however. These sort of switches are someone doing the mental equivalent of knocking, right? So you can also send back a sensation of "Hey, no! I actually can't switch with you right now!" and this allows their presence to just naturally recede straight into the back. Again, dodging the gradual slide or feelings of disorientation.

[jingerpi]

people seemingly make out dissociative amnesia out to be like what you'd experience passing out and staying asleep for 9 solid hours but in my experience it's far more like one of those nights where you're really struggling to sleep.

you wake up a few times halfway through the night you wander off to the bathroom before making it back and quickly falling back asleep. you hear some words and you think they're your partner but you might be imagining it. there's a loud banging noise but god knows where it's coming from. someone asks you about classes tomorrow but you don't remember if they really did or if you just imagined it. you go to the bathroom again only to realize once you're there that you never got up out of bed.

you wake up a few hours later and get on with your day. well aware of the time that passed but you're really not sure which bits were dreams or not, and if you don't think about it actively it'll probably fade from your memory before you realize. doesn't mean you don't remember some things or didn't notice the time pass, it's just really really messy

[thefiresystem03]

Every member of a system is so much more then just the role they play, but sometimes it shows so differently between members.

Most of our main fronters in typical day-to-day life have their own genres they enjoy, different save files they tend to lean towards when they have down-time, food preferences, etc etc.

But there's a lot of members that don't care about daily life, and really only front if it's specifically what they're concerned about. And that's fine! Everyone is entitled to spend their time how they want it.

But sometimes. It's always nice when you're pleasantly surprised.

🐰, making lunch: 🎶

🧢 (only fronts if we're sick): Hey what's up

And she was standing there going: I didn't do it! I don't know what you're fronting for, but I didn't do it!

And it turns out. He just really likes Nutella (we haven't eaten it in years)

Your own system can always surprise you! And it's nice.

[thefiresystem03]

[thefiresystem03]

[thefiresystem03]

Being plural is so great

Work day too long? Try being 8+ different people swapping out throughout your shift with others in front too! The day flies by.

Don't want to do something? There's probably a guy that would handle it, and not mind a bit.

Dishes? Errands? Tasks? Cleaning? Different perspective?

👏Teamwork👏

[thefiresystem03]

I know a lot of systems use the "driving a car" metaphor but we really like to think of it as riding in the passenger seat instead.

No matter who's fronting, you're all already in the car. The destination is set.

Sometimes someone's riding shotgun because they're helping as the navigator or they're just sitting there because they like the view. Maybe they wanted to talk with the person in the driver's seat.

We might do things different ways, but we're all still holding each other accountable and doing our best to do what's right for the system.

Maybe someone is giving directions 2 steps ahead, while someone else would be playing with the radio station every five seconds. Maybe someone found themselves up in the passenger seat because they were the last one into the car, and now they're just rolling with it.

No matter how we handle matters or enjoy our free time or hobbies differently, someone is always up in that passenger seat living life. There's no need to feel like you've been hogging the seat, or anyone that feels like they've been sitting in the back row too long and is getting frustrated because of you. That's why we communicate.

At the end of the day, the drive is still going to pass the same.

[thefiresystem03]

Alters with the same name (but are completely different guys) are the fronting equivalent of whack-a-mole

[thefiresystem03]