(fallen london stamps by Someone in a plural Discord we're in was asking about ways to establish more communication and separateness between themself and a headmate - they had trouble being present at the same time. These were some words I blahged on the matter which I might refine into an actual essay later:
A lot of tulpamancy guides are written with the kind of expectation that you're communicating from the beginning, and have fewer suggestions for building communication between people who already exist (but not at the same time). I think there's still stuff you can do, but it might take some jury-rigging.
FWIW, though, a pretty big segment of my system used to be that way, and now we're more individuals who can chill at the same time.
Well, first of all... I'm not sure how to explain it, but do you each have your own uhhhhh feel? aura? vibes??? Are you able to intentionally switch?
What I mean by feel/aura/vibes: you know how like some people feel bright and bubbly, others feel big and dark, and so on?
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So, context for why I asked those questions: the way we deliberately switch is similar to the way we grab ahold of each other for chats.
Which is, we have a pretty good hold on what each other's vibes feel like. I don't just know that Bast's vibes are deep and dark, beast prowling through the primordial forest, the night sky - I can feel those vibes in the same way listening to music makes me feel things.
If we want to switch, he pushes forward while I step back, and we focus on the feeling of his vibes pouring into our body while mine recede. If I want to talk to him and he's not already around, meanwhile, I kind of feel for his vibes in my head, and imagine myself reaching out and grabbing a thread of it - just enough to get his attention.
I have no idea if this makes any sense, but the whole concept of vibes is fundamental to how we do a lot of stuff internally - if you can get a good feel for the shape and color and texture (all metaphorical, unless you don't want them to be) of each other's vibes, you'll have a pretty solid foundation to work from. At least, if y'all end up ticking like we do.
(Come to think of it, I kind of wonder if this is why a lot of systems we've met make playlists for each other and listen to them in order to bring someone to front? It's like a shortcut for being able to feel each other's vibes.)
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[In response to them thinking about making a playlist for their headmate] Makes sense! If [headmate] makes it to front later, you can also ask her to either make the list or like, proofread it. Add songs that she wants and remove ones she doesn't.
I wonder if a moodboard also helps? Though like, while you can just listen to music, looking at a moodboard is a different kind of engagement. Might still be worth doing as an exercise to help reinforce her vibes... hm.