Madison Rye Progress

Saaaaberstream.

Heck, there is a lovely plural ask game going around that sounds fun~ So fun I just wanted to answer them all right away. I am bad at following directions and full of skunks.

1. What is your collective name and why? / Whats the meaning behind it, if any.

   Skunks& or Skunkcetera. Not really something I use all that much, honestly, just that most people call me 'Skunks' by default. My partner called me 'The Skunkstack' at one point and it was cute as hell.

2. Do you have any introjects? What types (fictives, factives, OCtives etc) (mainly?)

   Technically 100% fictives. In reality I have adopted fictive names and personalities for aspects which preexisted

3. If you're comfortable, whats your origin?

   I do not really know, nor particularly care to. Just not a thing that is important to me ^^

4. If you're comfortable whats you member count?

   Eight!

5. If you have introjects what is the source you have the most from?

   100% cladists from the Post-Self setting.

6. How long have you known of your system / When did you form?

   Hhhh this is the question that is most interesting to me, honestly, because there was a long, long period of...I will not say denial, except perhaps in that I denied myself permission. I have joked in the past about "I am not plural! I am not plural! I shout as I shrink down and turn into a pile of skunks" as a thing, but really, the concept of plurality for me goes back to my early experiments with role play in 2000 or so. My characters were not me, but they were not not me.

   This grew a bit more poignant whenever my character would shift. When I moved from Ranna to Makyo, there was a sense of perhaps plurality in serial? They were different people. The same sensation has driven statements like "Matthew died in 2012, but Madison was not born until 2014".

   Fast forward a few more years and I was working on ally, which is a very plural project, and yet I did not feel like I was...again, the language fails. I did not feel like I was permitted to be plural, though not by anyone, even myself. I made it all the way through writing four other books with heavy plural undertones, constantly questioning, and it was not until midway through last year that a few long (long) conversations led to me finally just diving right in.

7. Do you have any nonhuman alters/headmates?

   They are mostly skunks! Hold My Name is more coyote than skunk, and Dry Grass is basically human.

8. If you have an innerworld, what's it like?

9. Any insystem relationships?

   Beholden and Dry Grass have a sort of parental/caregiver/guardian relationship with Motes, but they are all generally friends.

10. Does anyone IRL know you are plural?

    My partners, a few friends.

11. Most common genders in the system / Is there a wide range of gender identities?

    They are all feminine. Hold My Name and What Right Have I are trans, Rye is, like...demiwoman?

12. Do you have any littles or middles?

    Motes, kind of, sometimes.

13. Any members have their own playlists? Share them! (/nf)

    • Beholden — (Spotify)
    • Dry Grass — (Spotify)
    • Hold My Name — (Spotify)
    • Motes — (Spotify)
    • Rye — (Spotify)
    • Slow Hours — (Spotify)
    • True Name#Convergence — (Spotify)
    • What Right Have I — (Spotify)

14. How common are system roles? / Do you use them?

    I guess I mentioned the guardian/charge dynamic between Motes and Beholden/Dry Grass, but beyond that:

    • Slow Hours: the poet
    • Beholden: the hedonist
    • Hold My Name: the trickster
    • Motes: the joyous
    • Rye: the storyteller
    • What Right Have I: the devoted
    • Dry Grass: the technician
    • True Name#Convergence: the leader

15. Have you made any system roles or terms (shared or personal?)

    I guess I answered that above :P The roles I have seen elsewhere do not feel useful to me, I suppose~

16. If you have a host(s), if they want to, introduce them!

    Slow Hours would probably be the closest, if only because she was the first (ish). She is, however, too tired to do much introducing at the moment~

17. If you have a protector(s) or caretaker(s), if they want to, introduce them!

    Beholden, Dry Grass, True Name, Hold My Name are protectors, while Rye, Motes, and What Right Have I are generally the ones eing protected. Slow Hours sits somewhere in the middle and off to the side.

18. Do you have any sub/side/sisasystems?

    I have joked that Hold My Name is a sub-system, but that really was mostly a joke.

    Unless...?

19. What terms do you prefer and what terms do you hate?

    I will be honest, not keen on 'headmate', but it is so common, I just live with it. I would prefer 'member', and I like 'aspect', but it is too overloaded. I would rather just be called several skunks.

20. How easily do you introject?

    Varies wildly. Rye just sort of...moved in when I was sick, and it took like fifteen minutes of writing What Right Have I for her to just show up. The others less so.

21. Free question! ask whatever :)

    I suppose I would ask: do your different members have different greetings? Because for some reason, that struck me. They all say hello in different ways.

Personal answer

Everyone in the system knows and likes each other (for the most part; Rye can be kind of abrasive sometimes, and Slow Hours and Beholden have their arguments), but one of the things that I really enjoy about their relationship to me is that they all care for me in a way, right? Like, that is kind of my whole thing. I like play and being little and so on, but I also really like that it makes others play and makes others care for little things, because that is part of what makes life complete. That is a thing I really like, and they all like it too.

In-character

Soooometimes, it is kind of fun to get in trouble?? Even if it takes a little bit of negotiation beforehand.

Take for instance one time when A Finger Pointing made a chocolate cake, very rich, lots of frosting! There was supposed to be a party later in the day, and the cake was baked and sat on the counter, so that it would be all ready to go.

So of course, I snuck in and cut myself a tiiiiny slice — only like a tenth of the cake! — and ate it right there in the kitchen as quickly as I could, mostly just with my fingers.

Not thirty seconds after I got the plate all cleaned up, even in the action of putting it away, she walked into the kitchen and caught me, still with chocolate on my muzzle.

"Motes!"

"I–"

"No, no," she said, arms akimbo. "I am pretty sure you do not actually need to say anything. I am pretty sure that look on your face, chocolate and all, says all I need to hear."

I wilted, ears pinned back, and nodded, ashamed.

"You know, we were going to have a surprise party, even. No one is here yet, but imagine what will happen when they see the cake with a slice already taken out of it."

"But we can just–"

"We can just let them all know precisely what happened, yes?"

"But Maaa..."

"But nothing," she said haughtily. "Come, bring the cake out. It is just a few of us here now, but they might as well see."

There were indeed a few people — and to be clear, all of them in on it — and so I set the cake down on the table, prepared to make my speech, my little admission. Gasps all around.

"Now, I do not think Dot needs to say anything about what has just happened."

"I mean, I–"

"No no, I think what would do much better than an apology would be to show just how much you like cake. After all, it is your birthday, yes?"

I looked up at her quizzically.

"Well? Go ahead! You were apparently hungry enough to sneak a slice early. Have at it, my dear!" She grinned wickedly. "I expect the plate clean as a whistle."

So that was to be my punishment. I sat before those few — Ma and Bee, Slow Hours, Dry Grass, even my friend Alexei! — and ate the whoooole cake. It was agony. It was too rich, too sweet, and Alexei started to cry partway through. So embarrassing...

Of course, then I hugged everyone, willed away the too-full feeling, and the rest of the guests started up for the party to begin in earnest.

Cake and all~

Okay! Saber stream!