[ID: a realistic illustration of Zuko and Sokka from Avatar: the Last Airbender. They are pictured as adults, in profile view, kissing. Zuko has long hair and is wearing Avatar Roku’s antique crown in his topknot, and a sleeveless red shirt with gold trim. Sokka’s hair is grown out just past his chin. The bottom part is curly and the top part is braided back into a wolf tail with blue beads woven into it. He is wearing a blue sleeveless shirt with white trim, his white bone necklace, and blue and white circular beaded earrings picturing a crescent moon. The background is a view of a blue sky and darker blue ocean. They are brightly lit and their hair slightly tousled, as if by the beach a sunny summer day. End ID.]
My favorite books include Frankenstein, The Metamorphosis, and other stories about the horror of having your humanity stripped from you not by any supernatural means but rather the people around you and in particular their ignorant refusal to understand you or communicate on your terms. Yes I’m autistic. Yes I’m trans.
auditory processing issues are like yes i can hear everything in this room no i didn’t hear what you said yes i will finish your sentence when you restart and no i will not know the answer to your question after all of this
Character A is a good cook. It’s just a hobby, but getting to come home every night and make themself a meal is a huge part of their routine.
Character B has never been much of an eater. Food is more of a utilitarian routine, a packet of noodles or a fried egg is dinner enough for them.
B and A have been dating for a good while, and have begun to dance around next steps. They decide to move in together, a nice little apartment with a beautiful kitchen.
Soon, B’s eating home cooked meals every night, and is in a dilemma. Their stomach’s not used to food that’s so heavy and rich, and not every night. They go to bed with an upset stomach more often than they’d care to admit— not wanting to hurt A’s feelings.
One night B’s had a tough day at work, they stress ate two burgers and a shake after they clocked out, and are feeling pretty lousy by the time they get home. Their gut is heavy and growling, they’re not used to such greasy food anymore. They walk into their apartment, hoping to just curl up and sleep their stomachache off. But they’re hit with a strong, savory aroma. A’s spent the evening prepping dinner— chicken soup and homemade bread. B can feel their stomach sinking.
They force down a slice of bread and butter, but the soup does not want to go down. The struggle through, keeping a straight face until they let out a loud, greasy belch, and A suddenly notices how bloated they look. They’re confused, but B explains. A takes B to bed. A tummy rub and discussion about food is in order.
Reminder: system accountability is for when an alter does something HARMFUL out of system. And alters are our own people.
It is not an alters job to be responsible for what an alter does in headspace (although it might be specific alters jobs to take care of the situation due to their role), we do NOT have to apologize to anyone for things that happen within our own fucking system.
It is not our job to apologize for an alter thinking or believing a certain thing if said alter is NOT voicing any harmful beliefs. Believe it or not, systems, especially recently discovered ones, do not have full control over other alters because we are our own people not a damn object to be molded to fit what someone else wants, we exist to help protect US, not you.
It is not our job to apologize for nonharmful actions either (which should be obvious but yk), or what other alters interests are.
Some of y'all need to stop throwing around system accountability for anything you don’t like about a system. And even those of you who do use it correctly need to realize alters are people and the rest of the system can’t control everything we do 24/7 like we’re fucking puppets. That’s not to say a system shouldn’t take responsibility if an alter does or says something hurtful, they absolutely should. But the way some of y'all speak about us is really fucking insensitive to the struggles of being a system, not to mention sometimes outright dehumanizing.
