a reminder for people who fakeclaim systems (and for systems who doubt themselves as well) for not fitting stereotypes OR for fitting them âtoo muchâ
terms like âfictiveâ or âlittleâ are only labels! they arenât rules that define exactly what an alter acts like!
fictives can be source connected or not connected; have a personality and appearance exactly like source or completely different; have a ton of memories or no memories or memories that are totally different from canon; enjoy being viewed as source and like to talk about source events or not want to engage with source at allâor for all of these, anywhere in between. it doesnât matter where a fictive falls on any of these scales. none of these possibilities are âmore validâ. none of them are signs of faking. they are all possible variations on a general concept.
as for alter age, that doesnât mean anything any more than source does!
littles could speak in baby talk or be able to write a college thesis, cry when something startles them or enjoy playing horror games, have parents in the system or be completely independent, look like a baby or an adult in headspace, prefer to crawl on the floor or play extreme sports, have trouble tying their shoes or know how to fly a commercial jet, or anything in between, and all of those possibilities are valid, and none of them mean faking.
iâm saying this because iâm tired of the constant contradictory stereotypes and misinfo about alter typesâESPECIALLY both fictives and littlesâand how they relate to behavior. some fictives are almost exactly like source, some arenât like it at all. some littles act like actual children, some have the maturity and skills of an adult.
assuming what an alterâs personality will or âshouldâ be like because you know their source or age label is like assuming someoneâs favorite color because you know their gender. itâs stereotypical and itâs often wrong. not all girls like pink, and not all littles act like children.
the other way aroundâassuming that their source or age has no impact at all, like claiming fictives who are source-similar are fakingâis equally annoying, by the way. thatâs like claiming a girl is faking their gender because they do like pinkâwhich hopefully you can agree would be absurd!
anyway, tldr: just let fictives and littles exist in whatever way they are without judging their behavior based on that
- đ yatta (host; she/any)