prismaticbleed: (shatter)

+ I keep mentally obsessing over NEEDING to reorganize/ properly space & structure my apartment, and it's making me a nervous wreck because (1) I can't realistically "plan" any remodeling WITHOUT direct spatial awareness, and (2) There's "TOO MUCH STUFF" and yet I'm LACKING several essentials, making me feel TRAPPED & STUCK & MISERABLE. There's this persistent drive to "mortify the senses" & live monastically, but I've BEEN forcing that, and ALL it did was PREVENT me from using my GIFTS & TALENTS for God, therefore giving the eating disorder WAY TOO MUCH POWER & SPACE TO GROW. And I CANNOT let that happen again. I NEED to MAKE ACCESSIBLE, DEDICATED SPACE in my apartment for MUSIC, ART, TYPING, READING, AND TV-- because like it or not, we ALL know how much we've been SINCERELY MOVED & INSPIRED FOR THE BETTER by video games & movies. GOD CAN AND DOES USE THOSE, TOO, Y'KNOW. See, THAT'S my problem-- for years now, I've been cutting out EVERYTHING in my life "BUT GOD," including my "self," desperate to "be holy" and instead just... becoming Pharaisical and utterly collapsing in every regard. I ended up outright disparaging & disowning EVERYTHING that wasn't EXPLICITLY RELIGIOUS. Every "little joy" of life, every pastime and interest and creative work, was condemned as "secular" and "stupid" and "BAD." I wouldn't play the cello because "I should pray instead." I wouldn't do art because "it was a form of pride & idolatry." I wouldn't listen to any music but hymns & chants. I wouldn't do ANYTHING creative because it felt as if I was "usurping God's territory" and effectively "trying to rewrite reality" and "tempt people away from total devotion to God". And I WOULDN'T LOVE ANYONE because "I'm only supposed to love Jesus." But I never felt like I knew Him, not personally; I could repeat His teachings & tell about His miracles and I COULD love Him for all that and I DID love Him, I DO, I recognize the love & mercy of the Cross, but... somehow, I still feel terrifyingly distant. No matter HOW many hours a day I would pray, no mater HOW many times I went to Mass, no matter HOW much I read the Bible... there was always this awful degree of separation. I DO love Him, I cannot deny that, but... I'm afraid, still; I'm scared of the focus He puts on me. That's all I can figure. I get in the way, no matter HOW much I hollow out my life. EVEN HERE!! Mass is this evening BUT I'm "RELUCTANT" TO GO, ONLY because I'd be going WITH OTHER PEOPLE?? And so I'd "have to be a SOCIALLY EXTANT PERSON"??? If I went ALONE, I'd be fine? But when I'm in a group, it feels wrong. I can only guess it's because, in EVERY social situation, EVERYTHING that has to do with the TRUE "ME" feels utterly shameful, because it's NOT SUPPOSED TO BE OUT IN PUBLIC!!! Worship feels like shallow performance. Interest feels like obtrusive arrogance. Love feels like voyeurism. "Exposing" my inner self and ALL related to it is actually TRAUMATIC and feels ACTIVELY SELF-DESTRUCTIVE-- and when that gutted openness coincides with CONVERSATION, those words and interactions are INVASIVE & VIOLATING. EVERY DAMN TIME. ...Unless I shut down & dissociate, that is. It makes me sick. It's MAKING me sick! I'm miserable just writing about it!! I'M SO TIRED OF PRAYER BEING USED AS PUNISHMENT. I am SO TIRED OF MY RELIGION FEELING LIKE AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP. I'M SO TIRED OF "NOT BEING ALLOWED" TO EXIST IN LIGHT & COLOR, INSTEAD BEING CONDEMNED TO THE BLANK CELL OF SELF-DESTRUCTION. Is that really the "way of the saints"? Is that really going to "get me to heaven"? Is that-- no, HAS that EVER really "brought me closer to God"? ...but now I'm REALLY scared because I want to say YES. The less there was of me, the more there WAS of "God"... and paradoxically, bizarrely, terrifyingly, that perpetuated the eating disorder too. Honestly, the more I "tried" to "be normal," to stop the restriction, the rituals, the bingeing, and the purging-- the less time I had for God??? And that TERRIFIED ME. When I "ate normally" and "tried to learn/ do new things" it MADE ME EVEN MORE MISERABLE because then I felt TRULY HOLLOW, with the focus on my empty rotten husk of a "self." BUT, with the eating disorder, SOMEHOW I had more time for GOD??? At least, AT HOME-- whenever I would go out to BUY food, I would become a MANIC DISASTER, "forced" inescapably into that mode AUTOMATICALLY whenever I was in public-- UNLESS I WAS STARVING!!! The hunger often prevented mania in a kind of kind of mutual suppression; when you're weak & dizzy from hunger, you CAN'T socialize or entertain or perform or anything like that. It was protective. The INSTANT I dared to "eat something," I became a monster... at least, IF I WASN'T ALONE & DISSOCIATED!!! Starvation panic forced a sort of internal focus; without it, my "self" was FALSE, an EXTERNALLY-DICTATED MASK that ONLY EVER HURT THE REAL ME!!! And "becoming normal" felt like damning myself TO that mask, forever. But I digress, slightly. "Being normal" ALSO meant "losing my faith," which was "PROVEN" by how HORRIBLY the social focus destroyed my prayer life, and BIZARRELY sustained BY the agony AND structured DISSOCIATION of the eating disorder??? And that had been CONSTANT. At least... the majority of it was. As I prepared food, I would pray the Divine Office & listen to Catholic Daily Reflections. As I microwaved that insane amount of broccoli, I would kneel and pray at the prayer wall. As I ate, I would study the Bible. Even as I purged, I would be praying frantically and begging God for help the entire time. Yes, I was STILL preoccupied with "disordered time management," ALWAYS trying to decide what I should/ shouldn't eat, BUT I would FIGHT the compulsive obsessions, PRAYING for forgiveness & help the WHOLE TIME. My constant suffering was BASED ON FOOD & SELF, and so it drove me to CLING TO GOD ALL THE MORE, desperately wanting to abandon BOTH food & self and just lose myself in religion. It was such a mess. But...
...I'm afraid NOT to suffer. My constant hunger only made me hungrier for God. My constant misery made HIS joy all the more vital. Being "healthy" and "fed"-- what a DISGUSTING word-- wouldn't I forget God? Without suffering, could I still be truly religious??
I CANNOT BOTH EAT AND BE GOOD. I CANNOT "FEED" ON BOTH THE WORLD & GOD. I CANNOT BE "NORMAL" AND "HOLY" AT ONCE.
God I'm a mess
but the eating disorder IS A LIAR
IT'S STILL FOCUSED ON FOOD AND THAT DAMN BODY
stop
STOP
EVERYTHING ↑ YOU WROTE IS GARBAGE. YOU'RE SO DAMN BLIND.
EVEN I KNOW THE F*KING TRUTH. SO SHUT UP, LIAR!
!
STOP "MAKING EXCUSES" FOR THE EATING DISORDER.
IT DIDN'T HELP! IT JUST TOOK OVER THE THINGS THAT DID!!
SHUT UP ALL OF YOU
AM I THE ONLY "PERSON" WHO CAN "TALK SENSE" ON THIS GODDAMNED TOPIC
STOP MAKING EVERYTHING SO "CEREBRAL"
WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO IMPRESS
IT SURE AS HELL ISN'T ME!!!
I'M FED UP WITH YOUR COWARDLY HYPER-"REASONING" BULLSH*T. ALL YOU EVER DO IS TALK BUT YOU NEVER ACTUALLY SAY ANYTHING. YOU NEVER GET TO THE POINT.
WELL GUESS WHAT
I'M ALL F*KING POINTS

THE POINT IS
ADMIT WE ALL F*KED UP.
ALL OF US

WE TRIED TO ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING WITH THAT DISORDER AND WE FAILED.

GET THAT INTO YOUR INFLATED HEAD

IT DIDN'T EVER F*KING "WORK"!!!

LISTEN I'VE GOT ONE MORE THING TO SAY.
THE POINT.

YOU ASSHOLES KEEP PROUDLY TRYING TO JUSTIFY THE EATING DISORDER AS "SOMETHING THAT WORKED"
BUT FOR WHAT???
WHAT "MADE IT WORK"
CAN YOU EVEN KNOW???

NO
BECAUSE YOU'RE ALONE.
THAT'S WHY YOU SAY IT "WORKED"
BECAUSE IT SHUT YOU DOWN

BECAUSE "DISSOCIATION" FORCED THE FOCUS BACK INSIDE WHERE I LIVE

WHERE ALL OF US LIVE

THE MOMENT YOU REJECTED OUR LIFE IS WHEN THE E.D. TOOK OVER "YOURS."

I GUARANTEE YOU
IF YOU STOP SHUTTING US DOWN,
THAT DAMNED DISORDER WILL DISAPPEAR INSTEAD





060517

Jun. 5th, 2017 10:18 pm
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)

So I've pinpointed one of my BIGGEST obstacles to treatment.
I don't know how to be "casual" in my choices in treatment.
If I'm not PERPETUALLY "challenging" myself, I feel like a failure.
If I don't CONSISTENTLY choose the MOST DIFFICULT OPTION, I feel worthless.
Therefore, when I've conquered ALL my "available" challenges…
…I make more.

THAT'S what Team is concerned about: obsessive perfectionism.
It's a lose/lose; I'll NEVER be OK with peace & healing if my addled brain is still scared that such "taking it easy" is WRONG… that not battling demons unendingly means I've BECOME one.
To my current distorted mindset, a lack of "challenge"-- no; a lack of something BAD to actively battle & conquer, "betrays" weakness & "unwillingness to do what's RIGHT." Slacking off. Being lazy. Chickening out. Disappointing GOD by not living up to my full Good potential. By irresponsibility.
If I'm NOT "fighting the Good fight," then I'm saying I don't care if Good loses.
It's SO distorted. It makes me nauseous.
Why does my brain view the PEACE that COMES from VICTORY as a PROBLEM???
BUT every time I do something easy, or comforting, or enjoyable-- EVEN IF said thing WAS once a huge challenge, like all my food-victories here… once it becomes "non-challenging," I feel like a morally corrupt, uncaring, overindulgent, hedonistic, devil-may-care slacker who couldn't give less of a care as to their state of conscience. Once I do the "easy thing," I feel like I'm being PROUD, selfish, lazy… evil. A saint once said that humility, that holiness, lay in always choosing the most difficult option.
What if NONE of the options are a challenge?
What if I'm so full of LOVE that nothing is a struggle anymore?

…Then my damaged brain makes it a struggle again.
It resets progress. It perpetuates challenge.
I HAVE NO FEAR FOODS, but "that's not a challenge," so…
I keep forcing myself to be afraid of foods.
And if THAT'S what's going to keep happening, I will NEVER let myself "be healed" OR "STAY healed." Because that's slacking off.

THAT'S A LIE.

The true challenge, paradoxically, is learning to stop trying so terribly hard to win a war that's NOT EVEN REAL.

And THAT'S the DEEPER huge problematic root to this compulsion: to me, to my poor distortion-plagued mind, the very CORE QUALITY of a challenge is that it has to HURT. It has to be a STRUGGLE. And on the flipside of that lurks the corrupted core belief that, if I like something… that's wrong.
WHY???
I freak out at EVERY snacktime because, by my loving nature, ALL the options are enjoyable; ALL the options are pain-free.
My challenge-obsessed mind sees that as a PROBLEM.
We're SUPPOSED to "challenge distorted behaviors," right?
Well, what if, at the heart of me, I don't have any??
If I am SO ultimately determined & indomitably willing to LOVE EVERYTHING & EVERYONE, myself included
well.
Then I'm at odds with my own mind.
Then I have to PUT OBSTACLES IN MY OWN WAY, just to "prove" to others that I CAN overcome them.
But. And this is the REAL problem:
If I would ENJOY the challenge, if it would "feel good,"
then it's NOT an option.
"Challenges have to HURT," remember.
So I'd feel that refusing happiness was a "VICTORY" because it would mean that I SUFFERED in the refusal… but "I made it through."
Therefore, I "challenged myself."

It's all a disgustingly distorted mess.

I need to eliminate the word "challenge" from my vocabulary at this point.



…And I need to heal my view of "progress," too.


-The REAL "challenge" is FEARLESSLY LOVING EVERYTHING in joyful courageous victory OVER this mindset, AND regardless of what other people REFUSE to love-- CHALLENGE THAT!!!


prismaticbleed: (soniccity)



therapy today:

mom came with us. this is fine; we love her and we all agreed on this. she has data we don't and talks better and is basically a huge help towards the "external life aspect" of therapy that we, personally, tend to struggle with greatly (being so acutely internal).

main topics:
1. eating disorder issue: origins, current symptoms, how to treat
2. were you abused, when did it start, basically "what the heck happened as you've never talked about it." mom assumed a lot and it was entirely false but it at least helped us see what she thought initially, and allowed us to clarify things in a more step-by-step manner in that respect.

nevertheless, despite those being the focus, branched topics were all over the place because we literally closed our eyes for the whole session and let our mom talk for most of it at first, then just responded as needed AND SWITCHED AS NEEDED (which we can do if we are in such a "detached" state) which allowed a lot of honesty. so if something came up, it came up. nothing was censored, we wanted to make progress here just as much as everyone else.

as a result of the standby mode + switching madly on the downstairs level, I can't say what happened for most of it, but rest assured it was VERY productive and informative for everyone.

the eating disorder topic hurt to hear mom describe, because it was an outline of all the "bad stuff" that we hate, and are ashamed of, and want to stop but don't know how yet (or at least, didn't quite then).

that segued into a RELIGIOUS discussion briefly, not sure how, but there was a lot of talk about "feeling spiritually filthy" AND "spiritually empty" and, most importantly, "never feeling close enough to God," and how THAT was the ultimate "wound" that the eating disorder was trying and failing miserably to bandage up.

somehow we ended up discussing the "I need someone to hit me if they love me" thing, tied to "retribution=forgiveness" and the childhood fear of "if I'm not punished, it means they don't care about my soul, and I'll NEVER be forgiven" etc. all tied to laurie and the retributors, all discussed so much in the past, still terribly relevant.
but I'm glad it was brought up again because our mother thought we were trying to "make her hit us" as TRICKERY to get her in legal trouble??? which is bizarre, so I'm glad that someone inside was at least able to defend our real motives there.

there was a lot of religious discussion concerning that-- guilt, and shame, and "feeling filthy," and "never feeling holy enough," and "I'm a stain on the world" and "I cannot forgive myself" et cetera. all the very wretched and excruciating thoughts that have been running on constant aching loop in our heart and head for months now, louder than ever, but which originated in childhood. it's at the root of so much self-abusive behavior… just this awful self-destructive hope of sorts, that divinely inspired despair at realizing how dirty your temple of a body is, and wanting to tear it to shreds and rebuild it totally anew to finally be worthy of God… but getting tangled in the tar-thick feelings of mortification and self-hatred and rage and despair. ugly ugly stuff, and like I said, it feeds every bit of abusive behavior we've ever had, I think.

mom started to cry a little at some point and then stuff got twice as interesting.

immediately, THE "RAGE" alter fronted, like a freight train. she's partly internal so she has a KICK when she fronts and it opened our consciousness a bit too.
but, she was actually hurting the body as a way of trying to reroute the "rage" at seeing mom cry? punching, biting, pulling hair. growling, voice a loud harsh bark, almost hyperventilating from overwhelm. she said she was furious-- but not at mom!! she was mad THAT she was crying. she blamed herself, it was all GUILT. she felt dirty/angry/wrong, it was unbearable, and so she was REROUTING that by "punishing" herself? that plus the pain took away the anger towards mom, and allowed her to "let her cry." otherwise, 'rage' wanted to hurt mom? to make her stop crying instead? bizarre. very important though; did we ever fully discuss why that happens? check!

at this, the therapist said, you need a better way to let the anger out. rage said "I don't know how," response was try CRAYONS. we said yes, please, but she only had markers & chunky colored pencils. we said "those are the wrong texture," but we would try the pencils (markers are too smooth, they don't "do" rage). however, when we got them the anger had faded to anxiety as we were now obsessing over colors in the absence of correct visceral texture. the rage wasn't quite black, or red, or yellow-- and it wasn't blue, that was a sort of sadness, but not quite. at this the therapist said, "less thinking, more doing." so instinctively, we felt that the only real way to "let the emotion out" PROPERLY was through forgetting color entirely and going for FEELING. so RAZOR CAME OUT, flipped the pencil around, and just "cut" the paper with the blunt end of it (she started with black, then switched to red). she was TALKING while she did this, totally calm, saying she "does this all day inside," and it "makes her happy." said she didn't understand anger or sadness that the other people felt, but she knew it was there. notably she did ask knife "can I talk?" at first, wasn't sure if it was safe and/or proper.

KNIFE fronted on her heels to talk a bit, I think in response to something the mother asked? said he wasn't angry at people who cry-- he empathized, and wanted to "comfort" them ("that's what pink people do"). mentioned the children feeling such infinite sadness, how we couldn't cry because it either didn't stop (when they did) or it was "fake" (when tears were expressed by someone who wasn't meant to cry? like a manic social).

at some point, the rage alter came out again and the therapist said "just listen to me one second," to which rage said "I can't, but someone else can." so, cognizant of her own failing, she bravely (but difficultly!) stepped out, let go of that anger, and who stepped in but LYNNE! so she took a deep breath (the body was quite shaken I recall) and listened. I don’t know to what, but I'm so glad she's still acting as the "stabilizer" she was initially born to be.


the biggest thing about therapy?
we have a game plan now.
we're getting a FEEDING TUBE.
yes that's a bit major, but THANK GOD, because it's exactly what we need right now. our body is obviously nutrient starved-- emotions are a mess, we can't think straight, we can't ever eat enough but are always hungry physically and psychologically… and the physical symptoms are a whole other scary list on their own. but right now, medically, our body CANNOT eat the food it needs to get enough nutrients. we have too many limitations, and then psychosomatically, too many foods are dangerous and/or unverified medical problems (like nuts & seeds). so it's a real hellish struggle every day, and it's just making us sick and miserable, and quite frankly the feeding tube will be a gift from God in the respect that it will:
1. give us those nutrients,
2. without having to obsess miserably over food, AND
3. therefore removing the hours of abusive prep time/ purging/ etc. of the eating disorder hell.
plus we'll probably get a few bonus days in the hospital to get it in/ adjust, which is great because our June hospital visit was shockingly recuperative and spiritually powerful and Pax was born there for heaven's sakes. we've always been fond of hospitals, but that was our first overnight stay, and we honestly would not mind another one (and may even need one right now).

there's only one concern about this tube really:
we're afraid of the "void" that rears its head when we don’t eat.
like the sad alter said (jess?), the eating disorder itself is a rerouting. it's NOT the real issue. it's a shoddy attempt at covering up a wound. if we didn't eat, we'd be doing something else just as repetitive and abusive and time-consuming: like locking ourself in the bathroom and cutting our hair and skin and nails and everything for hours (which we have done; the sensory aspect is just like the purging). so you see it's just a like locking ourself in the bathroom and cutting our hair and skin and nails and everything for hours (which we have done; the sensory aspect is just like the purging). so you see it's just a symptom of a larger issue. it's a distraction, something akin to physiological "noise" to drown out whatever is lurking in the silence.

I forget how therapy ended; I think we just reiterated points like the above… but all I know is, for whatever reason, as it wound down, jay came out, quietly.

and jay noticed razor's paper on the couch, and his heart kind of melted with an ache; he picked it up gently, and softly said, "she's never done anything like that before… this means a lot to me."
and then he reached into our bag, to put it away, and he opened up the folder.
the red one, with hearts on it, and all our pictures and handwriting inside it.
and he started sobbing.
he covered his face with it and hugged it and just wept. the therapist asked what was going on, and he said,
"this is it. this is what we're missing. this is what belongs in the void we're trying to fill.”



somewhere along the line, we internalized this idea that "if someone is suffering more than we are, we don't deserve to be happy as that's abusive and selfish. we need to make ourselves suffer just as much."
motives may be good, but really, how is total self-destruction going to help that other person suffering? empathy won't give them food or shelter or clothing or love. it'll just make you too damn tired and sick and weak TO help them with those actual needs.
it's twisted, and we NEED to untangle and soothe it, but that's a process. we'll work on it.

and the key word is always "we."
WE ARE JOY. the very realization of our collective existence, the instant tapping-into of it, is bliss. we feel complete, we feel alive. we become able to dream again, the future opens up into a kaleidoscope of doors and windows, we learn how to hope
none of that is possible if WE don't exist. all good things require our multiplicity.
happiness is absolutely on that list.

somewhere along the line, that "I must suffer" mindset decided that burying and suppressing our multiplicity was somehow both "a proper sacrifice" and "a way to suffer intensely." I think the former was "because our multiplicity is too weird/ an inconvenience/ misunderstood/ etc. and therefore by trying to murder it, I'll make other people happy!" and in the process, if you were spiritually bleeding, all the better, right?
no. no no no no no.
you've got it all wrong.
NO GOOD HAS EVER BEEN ACCOMPLISHED BY ABANDONING OUR MULTIPLE IDENTITY.
suppressing "us" has ONLY EVER HURT OURSELF AND OTHERS.

do you see??

JOY IS A VIRTUE. and a very important one too.
our existence is joyful. it's healthy, and LOVING, and full of faith and hope and charity.
we take care of ourself and we take care of others and we are GOOD PEOPLE.

by turning that off… what do you hope to accomplish?
you're just afraid, afraid of "hurting people by being an abnormal freak," when you poor thing, if you'd just pause and look at the big picture you'd see that you never hurt anyone with being a multiple system, you only hurt people by IGNORING IT.
all the abusive alters? they ignore and deny the system.
all the lost and damaged alters? they ignore and deny the system.
all those people you're afraid of offending by "being a freak?" honestly if they're thinking of you AS a "freak" I wouldn't lose any sleep over whether or not you're "hurting their feelings." if they would judge you so harshly, if they would deny you compassion and any attempt at understanding or care, then "hurting their feelings" is playing to their judgment, NOT any sort of genuine concern for your spiritual well-being. and if that IS their concern, explain to them how our multiple state PRESERVES our spiritual well-being!! you can do that!

I'm talking too much, I'm sorry.

the ultimate message here:
we're allowed to be happy and healthy.
being happy and healthy will allow us to take better care of others.
we CANNOT take proper care of others if we are denying ourself sleep, health, and happiness.
if you would deny yourself those things, some part of your subconscious is going to have no qualms denying those things to others.

you are not whole if you won't acknowledge your whole.

do you understand?

we are joyful, together. forgive yourself. allow yourself to participate in that. I guarantee you, the wound will heal. it will take time, but it will heal.
hurts heal faster in loving company, too.


we'll survive this, if we admit that we want to survive (we do), and we are allowed to have that happiness (we are).
a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
so stop stuffing yourself under a bushel basket.

let yourself be warm and bright, and then share that exuberance with everyone you meet.
you can't give what you don't have.

open your heart and let the light flow in.
you can't help but radiate, when it does.

we'll be okay.

 

 




prismaticbleed: (soniccity)


I've consecrated myself (and Jewel did too) to God as a "victim soul," one who is willing to suffer as Christ did out of love for the conversion of sinners, to take upon themselves some of the debt other sinners must pay, to help their conversion, to save them from damnation.

It's what I've felt obligated to do since childhood, in a collective sense. Even that somewhat foggy-headed girl part of me, the one who stopped living actively around 2007, the one who is perpetually about 14-15, even she is aware of that background whisper, the joint fear and desire, fused in the feeling of scapegoat and martyr both.

In our very very young years, before all memory, we were obsessed with blood. I'm not sure why. It still stands out so much in my head that one of our earliest pieces of artwork, from kindergarten-- age 5-- was of a smiling, rosy-cheeked bat, whose claws were dripping with blood. Our favorite dream ever, in first grade-- age 6-- was of us being a bat, on some sort of adventure, climaxing in my being trapped in an icy, snowy cave, with sharp claw-like stalactites tearing into my chest, pouring my blood all over the silent whiteness, ripping deep to my heart.
I loved that sort of thing. Deep down, I still do. Deep down, THAT is what defines me.

When did we lose sight of it?

I feel today, we were guided to get it back.
Yes, we want an innocent, white, snow-glitter heart, all lilies and tiny flowers and softness. We want that so deeply. But, just as deeply, we want a heart that is rich and red, pierced with swords and thorns, bleeding and joyous, soaking into the cottony fragility of purity and enriching it with a love so profoundly sincere that it becomes a new color altogether, red and white, inextricable.

I think that's what I'm being called to be.
We haven't had a "host reset" in way too long, and I think that is why. We kept assuming the Core had to be White, but that wasn't working as we hoped; guys kept freezing, bleaching, fading, calcifying. Pure White wasn't working; a key piece was missing.
I was researching alchemy for a while and I was shocked to realize that white comes before red, and red before gold.
I keep thinking of Sandmen pajamas.

Anyway. The point of tonight's writing is… when I first consecrated myself, verbally and in total sincerity, I was basically on my knees and soaking the floor with tears and snot, to be blunt. Sobbing and scared and unsure what I was even trying to say, but knowing in my heart what I wanted to do, beyond the crippling fear, beyond the doubts and confusion. My head had been too clouded by thoughts of doom and damnation, I felt incapable of love, I felt lost and didn't know why… and… would you know, it was a simple tag statement from E that broke through my paralyzed heart and left me genuine and weeping.
"he's an absolute sweetheart."
I just…
after several days, weeks, months, of feeling utterly cut off from God and love and those I love here, of being able to love at all, that simple little statement of sincere friendship just pierced my heart and
it was exactly what I needed.

i wanted to live up to that again, more than anything.

I was scared, at first. I thought being a "victim soul" meant living like that forever-- waking up shaking with fear, constantly paranoid of sin, sobbing constantly, never happy, never feeling peace, never feeling capable of love for self, never feeling capable of loving others enough or with any real honesty… it was hell.
I was wrong.
I read a lot of accounts of "victim soul" saints and that did scare me too, to read about how intense some of their trials were, but..
(11:11 just now)
Sickness, stigmata, possession, abuse, poverty, the whole package-- these saints accepted it all with joy and patience, many of them even entering ecstatic states during the worst of it, despite being bedridden and in agonizing pain.

I thought of Laurie and I remembered how I used to adore when she "beat the sh*t out of me" because it made me feel loved for some reason. I took the 'abuse' because it was penitent and she didn't hate me, she hated that I was acting against love, and her violence was a way to not only expunge my sins but to tune me back into a selfless mindset.
It's so weird. Pain, for me and many of those saints at least, is weirdly… holy?
I think that's why part of me is still struggling greatly with the end of the hacks. Yes, it was literal hell for over a decade, but in that struggle, in that seemingly endless suffering, we grew. We did penance, we offered it up, we thought, "if our suffering this can save even one soul from suffering this instead…" we bled and cried and prayed and we became better people and looking back, as weird as it sounds, I wouldn't sacrifice any of that journey for what it accomplished. Yes, thank God it's over, but also praise God for the good he wrought through it.
Then it stopped cold turkey and we were left reeling in the sudden absence of pain.
I think THAT'S why we started abusing so badly with the eating disorder. We were desperate for suffering, for the compassion it brought with it, for the empathy, for the penance, for the lifting up of the mind above the body and to God. We weren't sure how to get it anymore though, now that atoning was forbidden by the family, and was no longer needed for its original purpose anyway. So in a desperate, lost, addled mess, we just started beating up our body in a "non-violent" way, longing for some sense of purpose again.
Does this make sense?

I wondered, momentarily, if God didn't want me to carry heavy bloody trials because I'd enjoy them and maybe I'm supposed to actually suffer first, or carry some totally different kind of suffering for people out there. I personally think this mental agony of screaming floating voices and psychosomatic terror is a big part of our being a "victim soul" already, and God willing it's not only doing penance but also saving other people from suffering the same. That's all I want.

But I said the Rosary twice today, once in the prayer space and it took an hour to battle past the pain and fatigue and scrupulosity-driven do-overs, and once kneeling by the bed with the grandmother. That second time was easier because we said the Sorrowful Mysteries and by the 3rd (the Crowning with Thorns), I got the sudden idea that "hey, if it's so hard to meditate on the Mystery while speaking (a mental multitasking that, currently, personally detracts from my fully devoted attention to either), why don't I take that duality completely out of the equation, and feel the Mystery?"
Meaning, put myself through sharp pain while saying the decade.
It worked. And not only did it work, it annihilated all feelings of spiritual dryness. I cannot properly put it into words but the instant I dug our nails into our forehead, wondering what the thorns felt like, the shock of pain made me totally, completely willing to suffer an actual piercing crown, blood and all, out of love for the God Made Man who suffered that for love of us, and of love for the people He died for and who I, too, wanted to see brought safely to heaven. I thought of my friends, of my family, of the people I loved, of people I'd never known but who needed prayers and intercession, of all the souls in Purgatory… and with a different bunch of nails biting into my skin, I was completely and selflessly and lovingly willing to take my Cross all the way to the hill for their sake.
All because I felt the pain that our Savior felt, and in that participation, also felt his love.

That's why I'm not scared of being a victim soul anymore. I finally, finally tasted that love again. After only being able to tap into it after Communion on weekdays lately, in states of ecstatic weeping praise, suddenly I had it in what was potentially all the trials of my earthly life outside the walls of the church, in the place I had lost it for so long.
Suddenly I'm… not scared anymore. Deep down, where it matters, where headspace resonates, where Infinitii was born, I'm not scared anymore. Deep down, where God lives and washes everything white by virtue of the red he spilled, I'm not scared anymore, because my heart gets it, and now the only thing is making sure I NEVER forget it-- incorporating that resonance into every aspect of my existence, every word and action and thought and feeling, because it IS me, God me praised this IS ME, this is what I've lost touch with for so long, this is me, you have no idea how I feel like crying with joy right now but I'm alive again and I'm so bloody happy and even though there's a LOT of work to be done in this world yet I feel like I'm finally back in tune enough to do my part fully again.

God, continue to strengthen us in Your love. That's all we need, is Your grace, to follow in Your Word and to be salt and light for the earth. It's natural when you get down to it; sin is unnatural and if we just… sweep it away, really tap into the Source of Good, even just for a moment, you can feel that. Again, words do it no proper justice but the sentiment, fumbling as it is, is there. God, thank You for all You have done for us so far, for all You have done through us, and I humbly ask that You simply continue to guide us on this path, away from temptation and confusion, in all light and holiness, as You wish all Your children to walk in always.
Continue to guide us, so that we may always be a beacon to You for others, to that Truth which we know at the very core of our heart(s) to be life and love and light itself. Amen.

I have nothing else to say for right now. I need sleep before work tomorrow, and every morning is another battle, so to speak-- virtue vs vice, as long as we live in a world where the Enemy is indeed trying to stop everything truly Good. But we'll pull through. We won't give up. I can promise you that.

Have a blessed night, everyone, and may the Creator of all that is fill you with the serenity and strength you need for the dawn.
As for my part, I send all my genuine love and compassion to all of you. May God grant me the grace to always be there for you in your need as well.

 




prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)



--rainbow sword to cut connections to tar/plague stuff

 

 

please vent about the "loss of virginity" thing in art

it's so painfully horrible and raw

 

 

I've never been attracted to human beings.

my heart sings for stranger things.

 

the people I love are all BROKEN.

 

in the beginning, laurie held everything.
as time went on,
her anchor naturally fragmented into others
and she was left with the core of it,
her own defining characteristic,
the unity of pain and love.

 

 

--When something bad or upsetting happens, my first instinct is to go to sleep. 

 

 

the idea of books/ media/ etc. holding a "CHARGE" of all the love that was put into them
i.e. takes years to write, hours/days to read
BUT!!
all the love and effort is CONDENSED, and ALL of it is COMMUNICATED.
that is why people's lives can be changed by books, comics, etc.

 


.

May. 25th, 2015 12:09 am
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)

 

God, give me the strength to protect this kid.

I don't know if the prayers of people like me get heard, or by what, or whatever. All I know is that I'm bloody torn up right now over this, about how terribly
scared these kids are, how they're legitimately losing hope, losing the will to fight, to carry on..

God help me I don't know what to do. I'm crying here.

God give me the strength to PROTECT us, all of us for life's sake, ALL of us in here.
Just... I hate hating things, I really do, especially now that Julie's with us. I don't want to hate these tarbrain hackers because geez, what if THEY end up with us one day? And who knows, enough love and effort and they might.
Except that's how Jay thinks. I hope. Used to think, at least. But look what they did to him.

There are a couple of 'psychopaths' in this System, at least. They've got frighteningly brilliant masks and when they take them off it's just bloodied teeth underneath. Eating our hearts out, basically. And at least one of the Jays is
into that torture apparently, so that's even MORE opportunity for these bloody hackers to get at him.

Geez look at this word salad. I'm rambling. Guess I'm more nervous than I thought.
Heck, of
course I'm nervous. The body's dying for God's sake. I'm so nervous I'm shaking. I don't know what the heck to do.

We're trying. God knows we're trying. Those of us who can still fight are fighting. And apparently, this is really bloody sad but at least it's got a silver lining, apparently the 'body' is learning how to be afraid again. How awful is that. We had so many numb fronters, so many dissociated 'optimist' hackers, that we somehow got inundated with this hellish anaesthetizing numbness thing. Now it's cracking, if only because there are still people on the inside looking out, and even if no one's
feeling anything we can still realize what's going on.
It's the most bloody ironic thing. "Logic will save us." Emotion is useless right now. It's corrupt. The knowledge, the experience, the people up here doing the "blasphemous" thing of being "logical" and "analytical" and "judgmental," THEY'RE the ones feeling 'emotions' now, THEY'RE the ones trying to SAVE people for crying out loud,
THE BLEEDING ARCHIVISTS CARE MORE ABOUT HUMAN WORTH THAN THE GODFORSAKEN SPIRITUAL FRONTERS DO.

God help us.
Spice is right, this body is really sick. We've really gotta crack down on that too.
I don't know. I'm literally just unloading my brain onto this screen. Needed an outlet of some sort for all this pain I'm dealing with in silence, ha ha. Bad habit of mine.

God give me strength. That's about it in a nutshell.

I'm out of here for the night. Nothing else I can type that doesn't involve me shattering in tears. I can't do that in the body, the bloody emotion killers step in. My heart actually
hurts, and I can't feel that on the outside because this demonic social programming has deemed it "unacceptable." No emotions allowed in the body.
Then again the hacker residue doesn't help. When the body looks like the abuser, or IS the abuser in some cases, seeing IT cry when
you're heartbroken is more than a little jarring, so I've heard.

Anyway I can still cry my stupid eyes out inside if I want to. Pretend I didn't say that. God. I'm so bleeding scared of being
scared and sad. I guess it's 'cause I know it means I'm at a loss. When I'm at a loss you know there's trouble, heh. Don't like this at all.

Infinitii's gotta help me out here. I've gotta talk to Knife, I haven't seen him in a while. Maybe chill with the girls. Something. Gotta connect with people up here, feel a little alive while I still can, feel that SOMETHING matters more than this...

God all we've wanted is to have this on the
outside, that's it.
Who the heck decided to make us "normal?"
Who the heck decided compassion and integrity and individual worth were useless in the face of "popular opinion" or whatever similar garbage? Who the heck decided to just throw everything meaningful to the wind because otherwise they'd be the "freak," the "outcast,"
geez.
We need to get out of this house, I guess. God I don't know. I'm really bloody hopeless and scared right now, I admit it, no use hiding it. I'm slipping really freaking badly, I've gotta go yell at Jewel about this or something.

I don't want to lose my anchor. God I don't want to lose my anchor. I don't want to be forgotten. I don't want to be erased. I don't want to lose who I am like I've seen so many other people do. I've seen too many people die in too many ways. I don't want to be next, not when people are counting on my stability to
survive.

God I need a Core to talk to. A Host, whoever, whatever. I need one of them here right about now. It's been so frighteningly hard to find one lately, it's been so bloody hard to function without that constant kid around to yell at and guide around and care for, you know? I haven't been able to figure out who the heck's been around lately, if anyone. I miss Jay. I miss Jewel. I miss Cannon. I miss all the kids who knew me by name and looked up to me as their guardian angel or big sister or best friend or knight in shining armor.
God I am bloody
crying. I cannot handle this.

"I'll go wherever you'll go," why on earth is that song playing in my head all of a sudden. Just... come on.

Soeeone's hacking the LEAGUEWORLDS. God, just... what the actual hell, WHY, why won't they freaking STOP, I PAID IN BLOOD FOR THIS, SHE DID, WE ALL DID,
I almost
died, I wanted to, because of this trauma, because of all the innocent kids who were paying the real price for this... Ashen and Moxie and all those others we can't find, God, just... why is it always kids, why is it always the sweet ones, Jeremiah and Jay and Julie even, just... why? WHY?
I can't, I can't stand for this. I
can't. I need to go get a bunch of Retributors and just straight-out depthcharge this demon, whoever in hell is hacking THEM, hurting those OTHER kids and sweet hearts, I swear why are THEY always the targets, why the blood do you people always touch the innocent ones and spend the entire freaking time smiling and trying to convince them it's OKAY???
What the hell is wrong with you. What the hell is wrong with
us that that sort of evil thing is propagating in our head? What sort of messages even took root in here? Who the hell DOES that?
I can't take it, I can't take all these
kids being hurt, Sugar's gotta help me with this, Sugar and Wreckage, God forgive me but she is so hard to deal with, I can't bloody handle being around Wreckage for long because she deals with terrors I could never touch, and never WANT to touch, it would tear me to shreds. But she's hard as nails, just like me, but worse. She carries all this pain that doesn't scar.
God help us all.
There is too bloody much
pain in here. Why the heck can I feel it, I'm not even enduring any of that, why aren't the kids allowed to be afraid for God's sake?? Who the heck is stopping them? Who the heck tried to convince them it was "okay" to be hurt? Who in hell keeps CONFUSING them??
This is why my boy loves pain. Jay. Poor kid has a legit addiction and I don't understand it but it worries the wits out of me, there's such actual
desperation in his eyes when he's bloodied up, it's this need for this sort of heartwrenching compassion he only seems able to really crash into when the pain does too. I don't know. I just keep wondering, what in hell happened to you for this to be such a constant in the Cores, why is our biggest weakness pain, why do the kids keep calling me when they're getting hurt, and for all the wrong reasons, is this why it's so bloody hard for some of them to fight back? Because love is pain, and I'm tied to pain, and when they're euphoric from it they look for me? Not realizing that someone is using that pain as a bloody trapdoor to hurt them like I never, ever would?
Then they call for me again when it's over.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize." They're hysterical,
terrified. They didn't understand or even freaking know what was going on. All they knew was that it hurt and in some way they thought it was worth it, only to be proved wrong.
Geez. I shouldn't be looking at this. The apathy is kicking in out of despair, don't you
dare take away my compassion and anger. Don't you DARE.

God it hurts so
bad because I KNOW, I know how bloody confused they are, I remember one time I found Jay totally debilitated, dazed and dissociated in a hack attempt and I flat-out hit him, I gave him real pain, and all of a sudden he snaps to attention, jumps away, runs to me. Scared out of his mind.
I'm rambling. It is so hard to type right now, I'm trying too hard. All I'm saying is that... blood is still the means of salvation here. The Retributors are still God's Angels if you want to put it that way. We're... heh, "we're" still important and holy here. We are. This... this is so bloody complicated but we're
alive, and we care, God knows we love these people we protect and if anyone DARES say otherwise they've got a bone to pick with me.
Bottom line is I don't want to hit a kid, and really I think a lot of these kids are too freaking young to be tied to that association yet. Who can save
them? Are they still afraid enough to save themselves? God I hope so, if not I'm telling Sugar and Wreckage to get the heck in there, me too for the record, I should tag along with them on their missions too.
But... it's the older ones, really it's the older ones that I'm personally the most worried about, because Sugar and Wreckage still work through violence, through brute force and that's really important up here but sometimes, the situations get really disturbing and twisted, and brute force doesn't do a thing. I know, I've tried. That's why I started carrying lanterns too. Sometimes the older ones are so messed up from pain already that you've gotta show them the light somehow. Talk them out of danger. Remind them who they are, what is happening, what they're worth... then drag them right outta there if they don't wake up within zero point three seconds. Because I'm not gonna stand by and monologue while someone's life integrity is in danger. Sometimes even a direct threat, those are rare but those are also when brute force works just as well so hey.
What am I talking about. I'm rambling again. Sorry, I'm really out of it today. Overlay isn't working so hot, the time and pain are making it tough too, lot of dissociation going on.

They're hacking the Leagueworlds again. That's unbearable. What do I
do.
I can't handle seeing Jewel and Jay react to this, that's worse than anything I could feel on my own, that alone is reason to fight until my bones break for this cause. Anything to save those tears from running down their faces.
Anything to keep them safe.

My heart is breaking. I can't deal with this. I might have to talk to someone.
Have a good night if I don't, it's all I can do for anyone right now is wish them the best. I'll do what I can.

 

 

prismaticbleed: (shatter)

 

 

the whole body hurts.




I've found a problem

"we haven't suffered enough yet"

there's a part of us that is "totally fine" with being abused
it doesn't feel, it doesn't really "get" what is happening to the body, it's so abstracted that of COURSE it's going to be "okay with" abuse because it doesn't actually EXPERIENCE it
which is the problem
"if I can view it as non-abusive, so can you! and we should be fine."
:)

problem is there's a seven year old girl in the system who knows what rape is like and YOU KEEP TELLING HER TO JUST GRIN AND BEAR IT

FCK YOU (YEAH I'M BACK)
ARE YOU TELLING ME THIS PERSON IS IN THE SYSTEM????!!!

WHO ARE THEY

We don't know, we can't pinpoint them.

most of the sexual abuse alters are mostly noncorporeal because they don't exist outside of that context very well, or at all
the bad ones aren't allowed to exist outside of that context I don’t think



but the mother keeps telling us "you're faking" "you're making this up" "you're doing this for attention"
no one thinks we're real and no one will acknowledge that these things hurt sometimes?

so someone has got the idea
the FCKING AWFUL IDEA
to force more trauma, because "maybe if I suffer badly enough someone will SEE it and say 'yes, that is suffering,' and we won't have to doubt our own pain anymore."
which is dumb
IT'S REALLY FCKING STUPID
which part?


see the problem is there's also an old old teaching that "pain is dumb!" or stupid. sorry for using ableist language we don't like it either but that is the word in the "teaching." the bad teaching. false. lies.

it's the same thing that is the roots behind all the "social fronters" who exist to be "normal"

we are really beginning to despise the word "normal"

"normal" means
we don't exist.
that's the brokenhearted bottom line

"normal" means you eat the food that makes you sick and don't complain
"normal" means you ignore sensory overload and become okay with the awful loudness
"normal" means not complaining about chemical sensitivities and pollution
"normal" means talking about people not ideas
"normal" means dressing and talking and moving and being just like they want you to
"normal" means we don't exist.

normal people don't hear voices
normal people don't feel like prophets or angels a lot
"normal" means not sobbing like a wreck in church and collapsing in front of the altar on divine mercy sunday because you feel like a fcking disgrace to god and yet you also feel like god keeps putting you right back on this shining road you don't feel worthy to walk
"normal" means

if normal means perpetuating this bullshit numbness then FCK NORMALCY.

I don't want to be "normal"
I don't want to be what THEY want me to be anymore
any of them

god I miss you guys
I want you back
I want this back
I DON’T WANT TO BE "NORMAL"

where was I


but yeah that's where this abuse shit is coming from
IT'S "NORMAL" TO WANT/LIKE THAT, REMEMBER???

AND GOOD, WELL-BEHAVED CHILDREN DON'T COMPLAIN



this is sick stop typing about it
please

TOO BAD, IT HAPPENED

laurie have we suffered enough


Damn it, stop asking that infernal question. "Enough" is a word I don't want to hear you using in relation to that, all right?
You've-- we've been through hell, okay? We have. I've got the scars to prove it, inside and out. We've been through some terrifying shit and a lot of us are STILL going through some terrifying shit. It hasn't stopped, okay?
But don't you
dare give me "it's not enough." Or, even better, that it's "fake." What the heck is "fake suffering" anyway?? Either it hurts or it doesn't, bottom line, and this shit hurts.
Then again, I guess you're only asking
because we have numb alters who DON'T feel the pain, because they're either so bloody dissociated that someone else is feeling it for them, or because they're hackers or negative as hell and they WANT us to suffer, therefore they don't give a shit how much it hurts. That's the problem.
But forgive my rambling. I know what you're asking.
If it helps to hear it this way, "you've suffered enough to deserve healing and compassion now." Is that what you want from the family downstairs? Kid I really don't think you're gonna get it from them, okay? They don't believe in us, they don't believe in this sort of wisdom and learning, I don't think they can fcking comprehend what we've been through. So they're probably going to think we're faking forever, no matter how much proof we toss at them. Anyway it's shit and you're only going to drive yourself up the wall worrying about it, so try not to. Just… realize it's not worth you getting so anxious over it.
We are getting back together lately, slowly, but really freakin' fantastically. Just so you know. Stuff's brighter and richer in here than it's been in months, probably.

I'm gonna close this entry up because it's late and I don't know who the heck is typing so fragmentedly at this hour… brain's a mess and we're tired, body's kind of sick, but it could've been worse. That's a very positive statement in this context. We did a heck of a lot better today than we could have, even with how rough it was. Upward spiral, kids.

Seriously though, good night. There's so much to think about, let's wait until after therapy this week to put a legit entry together.

You kids deserve to be happy and healthy and peaceful and unafraid. That's what Knife and the other Retributors and the Protectors like me are all trying to ensure for you, I promise. With every step I take that's what I'm going for.

To hell with anything or anyone that says you "have to suffer more." That is absolute nonsense and I will not stand for it.
No one "deserves" to bleed. NO one "deserves" to be used. That is... I can't even talk about this, I'm sorry, it's getting me nauseous.

Look for me if you need help, me or anyone else in Central. We're here for you and we will not hurt you.
I swear to you, I would rather die than break that promise. It's why I'm here.
We'll get through this. All of us. All right?

 




 

 

 


may 1 2015

May. 1st, 2015 08:38 pm
prismaticbleed: (shatter)

 

 

This is going to be an absolutely horrible entry and I apologize in advance but this needs to be written about, no matter how sick it makes us.




We're so close to completely healing this.
There's this weird sort of dichotomy left, with all the switching and memory blocking and bleedovers and different hearts and minds and experiences.
But there's no evil tied to it now, not anymore. Infinitii's job is done, in that respect, God willing. Hopefully now ze can heal hirself, and have some peace, and move on from that initial dark purpose. A shadow can hold good knowledge without becoming the bad thing that knowledge was gained from.

Real talk, let it fragment if it must.

There's guilt, and fear, and shame, but it's confused, because it's guilty and afraid and ashamed of something that only exists halfway now, something that barely any of us hold and which is alien to even some of those few.

The body still gets sick but it's so distant and weird and frankly, we dissociate from it still. That alone, the consequences, carry all the trauma residue.
Headaches, fatigue, major confusion, disorientation, bodyaches, emotional numbness/turmoil, a sick sort of flat unease…
…I just realized. Those are mostly symptoms of switching, aren't they.

Hacks are rare now. We've scoured their battlefield so many times, we're wise to them now. And they themselves have bleached it out so many times, to convince us it's "clean" and okay to traverse, even though it's still buried with mines… even so, the bleach has worked in our favor. Any murky forced confusion the Tar forced on us before we learned, is now unusable. Like I said, we understand the truth now, we know what they're actually doing, we know what we actually feel. They can't touch us anymore, unless they ambush us in the middle of a catastrophe, and even then we're on guard.
The problem is, there is still confusion, that isn't attributed to the hackers mostly. Yes, the hackers caused this confusion in the first place, but even now, untouched by that, it's still baffling, wearily and sadly so.

Nobody wants this.
That's the bottom line. No matter how holy, or mindful, or careful, or compassionate we make this, no matter WHAT we do… no one wants it. No one wants it.
Except maybe that's not entirely true. There are at least two people in the System, socials with vague faces, that do want this but no one knows why. They don’t have self-awareness so it might even be pure programming.
Anyway that's the point I'm trying to make.

It all comes down to pain. All of it.
Pain breaks you open. Pain forces vulnerability, and trust, and openness. You cannot hide emotions or lie when you are in pain. For us, when you are truly in pain, you can't even be cruel. Little nagging pains might make someone lash out, but when you get the kind of hurt that draws blood or stops breath, you can't do anything but collapse. You surrender, you let down ALL the walls, you want nothing more than healing and compassion and relief and love. At least, that's how it works for us.
…Why do you think the atonement got so confusing, too?
Even now, no one with the job can grab a knife or a razor without sobbing and shaking. The people who find themselves standing in empty fluorescent-dark bathrooms with steel hovering millimeters above their skin can only choke on tears, afraid, but unwilling to put the weapon down. Then someone is brave, and a red line appears, and then…
Then no one wants to stop.
Then, the body is open.
Atonement began with Laurie, with the graves. We have no memory of it, save for the physical sensation of the knife in meat that cannot be imitated by anything else.
But… it happened because we cared. It happened because we wanted so strongly to be better, to be brighter and stronger… we wanted to be forgiven. We wanted to be healed. We wanted the "pain" to stop… and ironically,
That's what's so confusing. I'm sorry if the words are jumbled. The real pain, it breaks us open, and we DON'T want it to stop, sometimes, IF it accomplishes that. Only sharp, clean pain can do that though. The atonement, the blades, they are the most marked.
The problem is, somewhere along the line, someone found a way to shove that sort of pain into hacks if they tried hard enough.
So every once in a while we'd have a hack with two seconds of screaming pain and the brain would stop, "wait a minute, that's a good thing," and… that's why hacks kept happening for a while. Someone, some poor lost someone, just wanted to be hurt. Someone just wanted the pain, to be broken open, to feel compassion and totality and sincerity… to cry and sob with the weird bleeding joy and the internal community that it carried.
They were looking in the wrong place.

This sounds stupid. I'm sorry.
Nobody wants this.
The body is scared and sick and our heart and head are scared and sick but an equally large part of us is not because the event and the aftereffects and the cause and the experience and the context and the consciousness are all separate. It's all broken up and that's what makes this such a bloody mess.

Laurie is the safest person up here. That makes her the most dangerous person up here.

There's at least one of our "inner socials," people who are rooted inside but who operate on the outside, who don't have names or faces as a result… there's at least one of them, who's tied into this issue.
That one person is an androgyne at about 20 years old, female pronoun choice. This child, ze has no name, no real "solid" sense of self outside of that vague "I exist" feeling tied to her being rooted to a timeline spot.
She's dimly aware of the rest of the System but, like all "major" inner-rooted social fronters, she is aware of Laurie.
The problem is, this person also recognizes Laurie as this paragon of virtue, of strength, of everything the hackers CANNOT touch… of everything she wishes she could be. But this child, their mind is still stuck in the empty-confused state of the past, and they were taught that sex=love, and sex=spiritual union, and "you need both those things to be good," and THAT is why this kid keeps running to Laurie, even if Laurie is incapable of and unwilling to participate in ANY of that.
Yeah. This is the kid we've been trying to track down for MONTHS, if not years. This is them.



Laurie is this spotless virgin of sanctity and no one can touch her. Not even the ones who would do so with the most pure intentions, for what it's worth. I think that's the lesson here. It's being debated over and over thanks to the outside world but it's what we keep getting.
Some things, no matter how good your intentions are, or how careful you are, or how bright you try to be, are still wrong.

No one wants this. No one, none of us, ever wanted this.

We wanted pain.
We wanted to be devastated in an environment where we could NOT be hurt on the outside.
We wanted chastity.
We wanted charity.
We wanted to temporarily forget about everything but her and the slicing ache and that's it.
That's it.

No one wanted the means. No one wants it.

There are two people in the System, one who looks like the "original" Eros (from 2011-12), and one who looks like a cross between Lace from the Akuna System and us as a little girl. Those two are the only ones who "get us lost" in sexuality because THEY AREN'T "PEOPLE." They are effectively numb fronters which means they DON’T store memories, they DON'T have self-awareness, and they DON'T "WANT" IT. They are simply following programming that tells them HOW to act, and in what contexts, etc.
It makes me ill and sad. They aren't even people. But they are introjects of what sort of people we were always expected to be.
After so many years of loud, forced, brutal expectation, it starts to feel like a demand, like an overriding fact, like we can't be anything different. And that seed of horrible existential self-doubt paves the road for the baobab trees. And they will choke our world to death.

Julie was all programming, at the beginning. My heart hurts for her, how she still regrets that and yet she's moved on so much. She's changed, she's cleared her head, she's gotten rid of all she was NOT and now she's not programmed anymore.
But she's still wrecked on the inside, knowing she was the first person to bring that fear to life, even if she was a puppet too.

We've been programmed really badly. It hurts and I'm sorry and it's scary but at least I know it's from the outside.

"If evil weren't nice, nobody would bother with it."
That's the thing that's been haunting me and making me bitter and furious and scared.
You see it everywhere outside, especially in the religions, the newer ones. "Sexual liberation!" et cetera. A loud part of us says "shut up" to that, and I want to agree, but I'm scared of saying "no" to God? If God's really speaking that through them?
Oh by the way I'm just a kid. Not a little kid but I'm young. Just saying because I know we have to announce ourselves.
See I don't know. My religion, Christianity, says "sex before marriage is evil." BUT what if I don't WANT to get married OR have sex?? THEN I'm going against some OTHER doctrine that says "good Christian women get married and have children" but what if I'm NOT a woman and the Mormons did this same thing to us, "you've gotta get married and have kids," see it's "you GOTTA" so even if they say "premarital sex is shameful and evil and dirty and wrong" they SUDDENLY CHANGE THEIR MINDS once you're married. Now you're a bride or a groom! Congratulations you can have sex (”must have" or the marriage isn't valid, I've heard some people say) and it's not evil anymore.
That's bull crap. And I'm scared because it's like that all over. Prophets say "don't use those stinking parts" and I AGREE but then some other spiritual people say "sex is a gateway to God" or something and I DON'T KNOW.
I DON'T WANT IT, OKAY??? AND YOU'RE SCARING ME BECAUSE YOU'RE MAKING ME DOUBT MYSELF AND THEN I WILL FORCE MYSELF TO "TRY IT" AGAINST MY OWN BEST INTERESTS AND INSTINCT OF SELF-PRESERVATION AND EVEN THOUGH I'M SCARED AND DON'T LIKE IT OR WANT IT I WILL STILL FORCE MYSELF THROUGH IT BECAUSE YOU WANTED ME TO. YOU TOLD ME THAT’S WHAT GOD WANTS IS THIS WHAT HE WANTS? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME THAT I CAN'T LIKE THIS FOR GOD

stop. Stop. Please. That's where all these problems are coming from
How old are you? I've never heard you talk before

We didn't even know what "sex" was until we were like 16. 18? I don't know. Do I?
By the time college illustration class hit we were horrified, we were already so traumatized we couldn't bear taking a bath anymore, couldn't get undressed without our eyes closed. When did it all happen?

We need to talk about this with the therapist. Somehow. Even if it's "bleached out" it's obviously not a retroactive bleaching. There are old, young parts in here that DON'T have the luxury of "apathy" keeping them vaguely together when hacks happen.
Apathy will kill you. It will. I know it helped you survive once, when you couldn't stop it. It was the strongest painkiller, a shot of Novocaine straight to the skull. But the pain still happened. You're still gutted. Somewhere, you still have damage, a wound that never healed correctly. Yes, it scarred over, yes the bone fused back together. But the scar is deep and white and huge. And the bone isn't aligned properly. Yes it LOOKS healed, but get rid of the drip IV, okay? Get rid of the apathy, of the fear keeping you numb, and THEN tell me you can endure sexuality without total childhood crying terror welling up like lava in your chest cavity. You can't. It ALWAYS happens. And THAT counts as "damage."
I know it SEEMS to help you survive, this apathy, when you're facing the outside world.


You need to drink some water. Stop torturing yourself in little ways. Did you notice you do that, too? The forced eating of foods that make us sick, give us hives, make us vomit, cause us pain. The dehydration. The lack of sleep. The lack of exercise, or overexertion. You're abusing yourself in ways that "DON'T COUNT" in your book because they "don't scar."
Sexual abuse and manipulation doesn't scar physically, either. IT COUNTS.

There's that mysterious "you" again. I can't help but think we're talking to programming, to the shell that carries this body's name and just exists to be "normal." It just exists to be a façade, to keep us hidden and buried, to ignore all pain and joy and reality. It hurts and it makes me sick and God that's why we stay up until 3AM every night anymore, we just want to exist and this is the only time it's safe to. It's the only time we're allowed to. The "outside world" doesn't exist for the most part, at night.
The Internet is still dangerous. Terribly, horrifyingly dangerous. We need to be careful.


Laurie is impervious and we love her and that's never going to change and that is what makes this so painful.
She is the ONLY PERSON in the ENTIRE SYSTEM who can neutralize hacks. INFINITII CAN'T EVEN DO THAT because Infi carries the shadow side OF hacks. Infinitii can get in there and eat the Tar and purify it, but ze knows things, ze has experienced things and carries things that Laurie will never and CAN NEVER know or feel or even think about. Her function forbids it, just as Infi's demands it.






(unfinished; cannot type anymore about this)




 

 

 

clarity

Sep. 25th, 2014 02:21 am
prismaticbleed: (aflame)

SESSION PARTICIPANTS
LAURIE UBERICH
JAY IRIDOS




All right, let's talk. Bits and pieces is all.

Sounds good to me, kid. You gonna get distracted by deep-sea fish or what?

Maybe. Yes. It helps. Oddly, it helps.

It's not "oddly." It's been like this for as long as I can bloody remember.

At least I'm not scared. Or ashamed. I've somehow found the uncorruptible peace beneath all this pain. Thank Simeon, somehow he tapped into it.

You think that's his job?

Maybe. He hasn't been out in weeks, and usually when he is, it's in the wake of a hack, or a conversation with the mother…

Sheesh, that makes sense. Man. He's really important then.

Yeah. Strange how he's still faceless up here though.

Probably so he can do his downstairs job better. Anyway, where were we. Deep sea fish. You love them.

That I do.

That's relevant. But...

What?

What I said before, kid. I… I get so confused when pain is involved.

I forgive you.

Kid, I know you do, I just don't know if I can forgive myself.

Why?

Infi was furious with me when ze found out, okay? But then ze admitted that ze was "just as lost as I was," and I didn't know what the heck to do. If Infi is lost, then how the blood am I supposed to figure out what I'm doing?

We have to support each other, I guess. Not shoot each other down. But with that "lost"-ness…

What? Kid, you were flat-out M.I.A., I don't know if you're one to talk here. No offense.

None taken, that's a good point. I'm not allowed around when this stuff happens.

That's the bloody problem. You're not around, whoever is is talking to me in a way that I can't understand, Infi is caught up in the dregs just as bad as everyone else, I don't know. You got ideas, kid?

Yeah, just… questioning to the nth degree.

Heh, no kidding.

No, I'm serious. I know you are too but really. Question everything. Even if it seems "rude" or "inappropriate." Question it ALL. I need to ask Chaos to keep doing that. Genesis does now--

He does?

Yeah. Too many close calls, and he doesn't recover well from shock. When I slip out he freaks, and demands I "get back in there," no matter what we're doing or what's going on. He did that the whole time I was driving today-- I kept slipping out, Jayce and the manic girl kept fronting, and--

Who the heck is that manic girl? Sorry, please continue.

"Please continue?"

Buzz off, Jay, I'm distraught and I'm trying to be polite.

No, it's okay. Sorry.

Nah, I'm sorry, kid, I shouldn’t be yelling at you. You're probably terrified beneath the surface by this point.

Not really? Just numb. It's numb now. I think Fragment was responsible for this one.

That devil is still around?

From what's been happening lately, Laurie, it looks like no one really ever dies.

Geez.

Yeah. But it happened. Thank God their detachment style is so severe that it's just aftereffects and pain that I'm suffering from. Vaguely. It's pushed to the back of the closet.

See, this is what I mean. You push it all the way to the back of the storage shed where it gathers cobwebs with all the other traumatic things. All the other times someone used this body without your permission and left you to pick up the pieces and pay the check. Sooner or later one heck of a massive spider is gonna come out of there and we're going to have trouble.

Why "spiders," always spiders. That yellow one that came out of Infi last September.

Shoot, I forgot about that.

Not me. Jessica's daemon reminded me of it.

Jessica's daemon? Whoa, wait a second, what the heck is this?

You didn't hear? Jess has a "soul split" like me and Infi. Big rabbit-demon-golem thing, brown with red eyes, doesn't like me much. Orders me around a lot lately, but I'm grateful for the strictness, I'm afraid of him really so it keeps me on track. Funny how fear ultimately ended up being such a hugely benevolent thing up here.

No, stop right there. Fear is junk.

It is not.

...Fine, point taken. Maybe not to save yourself, it isn't. But motivating the good in you, it is. You shouldn't have to be bloody terrified in order to behave rightly.

I think it's the way I was raised? Either you "fear God" and be a saint, or you don't and therefore become a blasphemous heathen.

Ah. It's that black and white nonsense again, then.

Yeah. It's hard to see an alternative to "holy fear" when I legitimately believe and feel that on my best days.

…Even for me?

I used to. That's the problem.

...Yeah, yeah it is.

…Is that weird, that I want to be afraid of you again, but I love you too much?



I think that's why there's this problem. Pain was always synonymous with… euphoria? Forgiveness? Pain was a good thing for us. Not violence. We'd flinch and hide and cower and cry whenever a hand was raised, or a belt was waved, we knew the moment of impact and the rage behind it would be terrifying. I think that's what Dread and David hold. But the others… there have to be others, that's compartmentalized soemwhere, otherwise this wouldn't be happening-- once that instant was done, the pain stayed. It ached, it burned, it set our nerves on fire for minutes or hours afterwards. And it was addictive. There was something to that pain, something alive, something gorgeously real and frankly…

Tied to that.

Not that, specifically. But what other people said we'd get from that. And we never did, except for when it hurt terribly… and that's what made it confusing.

Damn it. God damn it.

I'm sorry.

Don't be sorry, I'm the one swearing, and this isn't your bloody fault. Is this where that thing came from that I heard of the other day? How you can't be as afraid of Julie as you were not just because the memory is missing, but because she'd make it hurt? Is that why?

Maybe? It's all just so convoluted. Humiliation and shame, something inherently tied to sex for us because it always coincided with… actually can I talk about that a bit?

Sure. Lay it on me, be as honest as possible.

Be as brutal as possible, please.

How? What the heck am I gonna do, tear it out of you? You be honest and I won't have to do anything of the sort.

I know, I guess I just mean don't let me lie or sugarcoat things.

Sure thing, kid. Now talk. Wherever you were going to start.

Okay. …And would you believe, already my mind is trying to distract itself.

Tell it to shove off. Center and let's talk. We've breached the topic you can never bring up to the therapist, so don't quit now. What was… what was the humiliation you talked about?

It was tied to the mother, and the grandmother. We brought this up in therapy yesterday, actually-- and when I talked to you in the morning.

How you feel 'your' body is public property?

Yeah.

That’s a lie, kid.

I find that hard to believe.

Why.

Because growing up we had no privacy. Privacy was a luxury, selfish and proud. 'Privacy' was pretending that you had a claim on something-- the idea that your 'personal' thoughts and feelings and such were yours alone.

And they weren't?

No. I was always terrified of being found out, you know that. It's why I burnt and destroyed my own creative work, because it was 'too emotional' and I would be utterly humiliated if my family found them.

Explain that. Were they looking for them?

I don't know. Sometimes I guess they did. I honestly don't remember, the entire childhood is a blur.

Hm. Go on, what do you remember then, to go on for this?

Uh… one memory came up yesterday, when I was talking to Genesis, I think. You or Genesis. It was a… I smelled something, some odd sterile scent that reminded me of the YMCA? Like we used to take swim lessons as a kid, I forgot about that. I can't remember the lessons, but now that I've 'seen' the locker room memory again, I at least have that visual map to walk through. No actual memory, per se, other than the fact that we always used to use an orange locker. It was special.

Heh. Now when you say 'visual map'-- you mean like Google Maps, just walking through that stuff no matter how old the photo is?

Yeah. Exactly, yeah! It's just pieced-together snapshots, a static collaboration of old memories. It's frozen in time and I can walk through it to study details, and maybe trigger further knowledge when I 'dig' in the subconscious memory for more data… but some places are big blurs, or black voids, where there is no data. I can't go there.

Huh. Do you get that for other things too, kid?

Yeah, most things actually. I think it's why all my dreams of schools are skewed. The fronters switched so many times over the years, some of them even died-- on that note correct what I said earlier, some people do dissolve and I found that out today--

Make a note of that, I want you to tell me about that later. Now go on, vision maps. Why are the schools skewed.

Because we don't know who fronted then, so we have none of their memories to search through. There's just "collective data"-- every time an existential moment happened, or awareness switched specifically to headspace, like in the bathroom by the cafeteria where I was looking in the mirror and talking to Lynne I think… before we "reintegrated" her at the time. That bathroom is a total void save for the general layout of it, as bathrooms are blackout rooms the way it is. But yeah, if no data is saved, I can't 'see' anything. But for other things, I can mentally revisit memories that weren't mine if there's enough residual info. Sorry, this is rambling somewhat.

No, it's fine, kid. So the YMCA, what did you remember about that that tipped this whole thing off?

Oh. There were changing stalls, by the door? They had Jackson Pollock-like paintings on the side, I remember that because the mother always brought it up.

Splatter paint?

Yeah. Like ketchup, I would always think. But the stalls only had fabric curtains, and there were always strangers there. Sometimes people would peek under the curtains to see if someone was in there, mostly little kids would, but still.

Geez.

Yeah, so I would never feel secure. And I would always wonder why. "Why do I feel uncomfortable with that?" Why the hell should I demand 'privacy' when my body basically was at my parent's mercy anyway?

Kid, that is messed up, you know that right?

I'm learning.



But yeah, never quite felt safe. But. I think there was one time, or a few, something, where the mother actually looked to see if we were dressed and we weren't. Something like that. Being forced to get undressed in cars, during the summer, in full view of whoever may have looked in. Getting dressed in the bedroom and the grandmother refusing to leave because "I'm not looking!" acting like we were ridiculous for being afraid of it. No privacy. Being told privacy was silly, not understanding why I felt people shouldn't look at me. Do you get what I'm saying?

They made you feel like your body was an exhibition, basically.

More like, if someone wants to look, let them look. "You have nothing to hide!" At least, until I was a young adult. Then you're not allowed to wear shorts even, because now you're corrupting somebody with your licentiousness.

Sheesh, that is screwed up. But I remember that though, from 2012.

That's a strong memory, yeah. We wore a crop top for two days, and got so much moral flak that we were terrified to wear short sleeves for the rest of the summer. And then we burned that top .The shame still hasn't faded, really.

…So. Is that why sexuality is "inherently shameful" here, because nudity or nakedness for you was never… consensual? What's the word. Like you never wanted it but were always forced into it, or…

It was more like, I never had the luxury of privacy when I was naked as a kid. There was virtually always the risk of someone walking in, and refusing to leave, or invading that space, or whatever. The only "safe space" was the double-locked bathroom, and you all know what happened there.

Yeah. Wish it didn't. So that happened today.

Effectively. I think. It's… I don't want to look at it. Should I?

No. Where were we, go back and look.

…Oh. Pain.

…Go on.

Pain, and Julie. It was humiliating and terrifying to be stripped naked by her and forced to endure whatever she did, but… dissociation kicked in then. The brain couldn't handle it, it tapped out and we were now no longer in the body. And the aftereffects from that, from what she did, hurt like hell but in a DIFFERENT way. You wouldn't know, but just ask Simeon or Ashen or Infinitii maybe. It hurts, sickeningly, when that happens.



Sorry. It just does and it is hell on earth. Even when I try to think positively of it, even when I tried to use it "benevolently" or for holy purposes or whatever. I regretted it every time I can remember, because it hurt so much and I felt filthy and violated and wrong. I don't want to think about that.

Then don't. I just… what the heck were they talking about. Fragment. Whoever it was.

With the pain?

Yeah. Asking me of all bloody people, what the heck. Why were the asking?

Because you are synonymous with pain, here. The positive sort. Sharp, brutal, bleeding pain, the kind that clears and cauterizes. Relief. Maybe… maybe that's why we have problems with this. It's the only source of pain we have left, however sick and disgusting that is. Someone always decides "it's worth the risk, if we can make it hurt badly enough," but it never works. It's the wrong sort of pain. So maybe they were just as confused as you were.

…Maybe. It's just corrupting me, is all. Making me slip. Corrupting my function. Infi said so, you heard 'em.

I know. I know it too.

…Kid, am I gonna die from this?

No, no I swear I won't let that happen.

Not before you die first, huh.

…I…

Sorry. That was uncalled for.

No, it wasn't. …I'm scared too. I can't front when that happens. Ever. I mean sure, I was out today, fronting with my cupcake eyes or whatever you call them--

Heh. Sparkles and sprinkles all over, huh.

Yeah, basically. But… it's so hard to stay in the body. I'm an upstairs guy. Even now I'm unstable because of the channel link. But I'm trying.

…Kid are you sure you're okay? How's the body, is it okay?

It is now, yeah. It's been an hour or so. We're good. Just nauseous is all, and… nausea, headaches, and that gut-deep wanting to cry. The scraped-out depression.

…Every time?

Mostly. I don't remember, Laurie. There was one time Chaos was hacked, I still can't look at that because it is a horrible feeling to remember-- and Genesis went through as much hell as we did, the past fronters. Anyway I know with Infinitii ze used to use this to heal the body, to try and repair the psyche, circumventing the trauma and trying to re-assign triggers, you know, programming positive into negative aspects. It didn't work, not past a certain point. The trauma wouldn't leave. Then the plague kicked in. Ze tried so hard, ze genuinely loved everyone ze was with and everything ze did was colored with it-- but there are some things you can paint over a million times but it won't change how they are perceived. If that makes sense.

Yeah, the metaphor does, but can you give me an example? If it won't hurt you, I mean.

Uh… well just the whole sex thing in general. Once it becomes physical, it's terrifying. I don't know who managed to get us trapped in that before. Some malicious fronters would, it's happened. And that's where the trauma has roots that bleed over into so many other things. It's why it's hard for me to be close to people physically, or to be in certain locations, or the like. Sometimes raw memory just comes up and I want to vomit or cry or scream or attack and it's never my reaction, it's never my emotion, but it's there.



Sorry. I forget what we were talking about.

Nah, it's okay. I just wanted to bring up the pain thing, because that had me distraught. As you'd say.

I understand. I really do.

Yeah, you would. …Kid, is there anything I can do to alleviate that? Like can I do anything to change the association, so I don't get dragged into this hell anymore, and neither do you?

…Maybe? Let me think… only atonement, really. Pain got rerouted, somewhere. Atonement stopped for a long time, due to outside threats, and it just… imploded.

…I can see that.

Yeah. But until we fix the pain roots, the sharp sort will always be benevolent, and we will always seek it when we feel sick and filthy because nothing else clears that from the psyche. That's the problem here.

…Come upstairs, I'll beat the the hell out of you, that'll handle this.

What, really?

Yeah. I'll try. I'll beat Jayce up, how's that? He's a freakin' prick sometimes, I'd have no problem slicing him up if I had to. Not you. I've tried, I can't. It doesn't sync. That's the problem.

…Why does this keep happening?

What?

The… the hacks. No one wants them. No one. Julie doesn't, Eros doesn't, Infi doesn’t.

Eros doesn't?

I've talked with him, so have others. I think his role is changing.

Thank God.

Remember it only became obscenely sexual due to corruption during that time. Religious misunderstanding, really. Which is why Chaos caught the brunt of the consequences.

…June 2011, huh.

Yeah. That's when Eros started to get really lost. Then 2012 hit, with the Celebi incidents, which I have no data on mind you--

Good, don't look for it. But yeah, I think that's when he really started legit dying.

He was gone by SLC, that's for sure. I don't know who was around then.

No one does, yet. You got a visual map for that or what?

Barely. There's data for the balcony view, and the steps from that one day Dad called when he was in Puerto Rico… just that one day, just that one spot. The balcony view is from the smoke pancakes evening, so the doors are wide open and smoke is pouring out. Don't tell anyone.

Heheh, I won't.

And we were laughing. So there's some data of the 'living room,' of the table where Chaos and I were talking and reading about the rain that day I got sick… there's some data of the couch from the other day we got sick and called the grandmother out of fear. That was weird, that's skewed due to being looked at too many times.

That can happen?

Yeah, if you look at a memory strongly enough, it can pick up residue from the present. Like a song, or a scent, or a feeling, that was a powerful presence when we were looking back just as strongly.

So memories can be redefined like that.

Somewhat, yeah.

Huh. That's interesting.

It is. Important, too.

No kidding, write that down somewhere. Garrison?

Yes?

Write that point down, about the memory reprogramming or whatever.

Re-associating?

Yeah, thanks Izzy. Now let me talk, keep the data coming when we need it, thanks.

I love how they're always there.

Hey, it's their job. Now back to the data maps. What else on the apartment, anything besides the porch and front room?

A little? The front room is vaguely complete, as all the times the missionaries visited we had that gut feeling of "this isn't right for us, we shouldn't be in this situation" and there were robotic social fronters out.

Really?

That's what it's stored as. It's 3rd-person memory. So we have a vague idea of what the door looks like, and that there was a couch, and a shelf to the left, and a TV behind. That's it. Oh and a pillow on the floor I think.

Snapshots?

Exactly. But… Mel's room, I know they had a desk, and I know there was a bed to the left and a dresser to each side… I don't know what those looked like at all. I know there was art all over the walls, but I don't know how that looked. And there was a closet to the left, that's empty of data too. If I "walk in" there, and try to look at things, there's just subconscious "shadow memory" which allows me to navigate physically. Like for the most part I won't walk through a wall, or into one, because I "know" where they were, roughly.

For the most part?

Yeah. Like if I tried to walk by Mel's desk I'd get stuck, like clipping in a video game. We know it was there, but not where it began or ended in space.

Ah, I see.

Yeah.

How about your room?

Vaguely. There's the view from where I used to stand and do exercise, that angle sight of the computer desk. We were listening to Serph at the time, and it was nighttime. Then there's a view of what it looked like from the top bunk that one beloved morning I woke up with "Reach Lines" playing on my iPod, and I felt perfectly, deeply happy. I will never forget that feeling, ever... it was so bright and serene, like summer in cinematic California or something.

Heheh. Sunny days and palm trees, huh?

And wide sparkling cyan water, yes. No idea what the rest of the day was like, either, after those moments. And then the only other visual memory is…

The lights?

In the corner?

Yeah.

No.

No?

No, the only memory I have of them is from the time Chaos was channeled was the moment I saw his eyes, and then… and then the moment when we finally kissed, when it hit me that this is really happening and the moment is stored as a bloom of deep fiery joy in the heart. It's… that's it. No room memory at all, just the color of the light, all dimly violet and blue and red.



That’s it, really.

Huh. …I'm glad you remember that.

So am I. I remember a ton of snapshots from outside the house, but nothing I can piece together and walk through. I can get a vague visual awareness, like I'm sure I could find my way around well enough if I went back there, but I can't tell you what it would look like ahead of time.

I see. Now can we please change the topic because you forgot to mention we had a 20 minute break back there.

Yeah, right when you asked me about the room. You said, "I'm not saying anything until you get back in there," and then stuff happened.

Please, talk about the stuff, that's too bloody important to leave out.

Okay. First I talked to Simeon.

What.

Yeah, actually that's super important too, I needed to tell you. The body started to get context memory again, and the next thing I know we were both asking each other if we were okay? But I SAW him. He's in raw whitespace, where Javier was re-forming last summer.

Whitespace? But he has a form?

Yeah. Oh!! It's the-- the place where the ground fell through, in Central City.

Really?

The city tiers. It's where Jeremiah was forced into existence, too. That floating area. Down in the ground.

Wonder if that's part of why they're connected.

Could be, I think it applies to the kids too. And Simeon, which is why I'm not surprised.

Shoot, yeah, all the kids stay with Jerry too. Does Simeon?

No, he doesn't quite leave the "whitespace" part of it. There's all raw stuff floating in the lower spaces, really, filling up the "ground" where there's nothing but solid space. Anyway we were in whitespace, talking. I asked him if he was Sylvain and reincarnated, he said no, that was his brother but he was "from another time" so there's no memory of him.

Makes sense. Kind of like you.

11/11 at the bottom of the page again, just wanted to point that out.

Heck yes, it's been a while.

Page 11! Geez! Oh that reminds me. Simeon looked at me at one point and said, "you're not Jay."

What?

No listen, I wasn't. I "slipped out" and that overly exuberant social "cover" was out, kind of like a mask or splinter program? Like Simile is for Melodia, I think.

Makes sense. But he saw it?

Yeah. So then I pulled myself in as strongly as I could, just surrendered to my own resonance however it manifested-- he helped, he could also tell when I felt 'off'--

That is so freaking weird though, how he could see it.

Probably because we were in raw whitespace, effectively. It'd be more visible there.

Ah. But yeah, what'd you do, kid?

I apparently am not humanoid, like I suspected. I'm halfway between crystalline and luminous, halfway between a glass-edge fragile explosion and a flowy miasma of light. I don't know about eyes, or limbs, but I do NOT have a mouth and when I "talk" it is purely telepathic and comes from somewhere behind me, like a foot behind my chest and my head both. It's weird. But THAT feels "right," totally so, at least as far as presentation goes.

Holy swords. So how about now, are you here?

Not entirely, because in order to be in that form, I cannot talk for extended periods. It's a very "being" state, not "doing," hence the exuberant overlay or whatever.

Ah. That makes sense. You were talking about that split the other day, I think. You always are.

Because it's a concern, "how do I be both," well now I know I already am, I just have to practice shifting and balancing and things. We'll see. But it's awesome.

No kidding, you'll have to let me see you like that tonight or whenever.

After we're done typing!

Yeah, get to the chocolate already.

Wait, I spoke more to Simeon. At one point he said "I took the pain away" and I asked him, if he really was someone who could heal us from hacks? And I think he is? Like he specifically implied that his function was to "smooth over" or "comfort" in the wake of those things… more of a feeling, like blanketing someone who is cold, or smoothing down rough edges, that sort of vibe.

I'm still laughing at "specifically implied."

I don't know how else to say it, haha! Feelings are clearer than words. But yes, we seem to be right, Simeon exists as a "pain manager."

You know who else is a "pain manager," effectively? Eros. Get to it.

Ah. Yeah, so after that we somehow ended up in the kitchen with Eros stuffing his face full of chocolate cheesecake-- oh!!

What, you remember something?

Yes. However we ended up in there, the moment we saw it, Jessica's daemon jumped up to the very front of the vision, as the resonance of it was very close to him.

What? How?

Chocolate, that rich sort, but also the cherries. It was cherry cordial cheesecake, and for some reason that clear drippy red along with the thick, dry chocolate cake was perfect for his vibe.

The "cheesecake" part was Eros, holy smokes.

We'll get to that, in a minute.

Yeah it was just hilarious. Keep talking though, I'm interested.

So the first thing this daemon does is look at me fit to burn a house down, and demand that I am not to eat it. I said I wouldn't, but then there was like 20 seconds of marked blurry hesitation, and then Eros was out, trying to do just that, outside of that daemon's view.

Wait, so he can only see you?

I think so. Jessica is the "body core," or at least, the consciousness tied to the body persona that the people we live with give it. So I'm tied to her as one of the main people, if that makes sense.

It does. So he can only see you because you're on his level, really.

Yeah. I mean I would assume so. It's just weird because we're in his floating space when we talk, which means he's letting me in temporarily to talk to me, and I can get in there to talk to him but he's not very happy when I abuse that right. Like he gets mad. It's a very "brown" anger, though. Compact and solid and heavy, but with that red burn of his eyes. Very different than plain red anger. The red is just a buzz edge.

Kid you say the weirdest flipping things but I think I get what you mean. Stern anger with an edge that could explode any second?

Not so much "explode" as "burn." It's red, not yellow.

Ah. Got it.

So that was that. Then Eros decided "oh my gosh cheesecake" and went to town.

What he said was seriously interesting, though.

Yeah, mind data says he only ate it because it was warm.

Really?

Yeah. Otherwise he wouldn't have touched it. But the warmth, on top of the rich sweetness-- NOT dense, that would have been a totally different vibe too-- was too perfect, and he latched right onto it.

He said it was, and pardon my language, "what sensuality tasted like." Specifically that combination of things, and especially the cheesecake, as I said.

I think it was the texture? Like it's hard to put into words, but it's… off-white, thick, but like a cloud. Heavy but full of air, like a pierzyna, and being wrapped up in it and warm. The warmth is extremely important, he's right.

Where does the chocolate come in then, Julie?

That's important too, I can feel the data. It's not just any chocolate, it was that dry cake chocolate, dense but crumbly. Not like a box cake or a brownie. This was packed but it crumbled like ground in your hands. For some reason that applied to chocolate was important, I guess it balanced out the influence somehow? Anyway that's not important. The emphasis was on the cheesecake. The cherries were visual for sensuality, that glossy glassy red that I adore, that Eros reflects in his own right.

So the chocolate is just whatever? Because Julie is tied to it, is why I'm asking.

That's why I think the dryness was important, the bittersweet aspect of it. Chocolate, when sweet or too dense or too milky, becomes a totally different thing. It becomes threatening, almost.

Ah. So this was a… property shift?

I think?

Got it.

But I find it interesting that Eros said "this is what sensuality tastes like." The not-exactly-sweet but incredibly rich warmth of it. And it does, it's hard to put into words.

Hey, you would know, not me.

Actually you could know, if you wanted to, and THAT is what's important here.

Sexuality and sensuality are two totally different things.

And Eros has very little to do with the former, if at all.

Yeah, no kidding, that shocked me. Someone tried to screw around with the body memory when we left the kitchen and he got so freakin' angry--

It was a trauma trigger, when we walked into the bathroom to brush our teeth, immediately the body started getting spasms and pain reactions, from context memory. And Eros did get shockingly angry, he jumped right up and demanded to know "who was doing that," that "no one had any right TO do that." Which secretly lit this huge flame of hopeful gratitude in my heart, really. He got so corrupted before he died, hearing that from him now just wiped all the doubt away that I had about that. He splintered into his own person and lost the corruption he had held prior. Which is such a relief.

No kidding, I was worried sick about him too, and about what he could do if he wasn't healed from all that.

Mm-hmm. So… I remember he actually fed Julie a bit of the cheesecake and she got the cutest smile, it was great.

Yeah, that was pretty adorable.

Like Knife!

And Xenophon, we kept joking about that, and you forgot to mention that people keep name-blurring with those two. Infi and Xenophon.

Yeah, that's weird, it's been happening for months on and off.

Eros said he meant to say Xennie but then said Infi, like an afterthought of hir relevance or something.

Yeah. Those two have a deep connection somewhere and I think that's proof of it, subconsciously. I don't know what it is, other than parentage, but that could be significant enough.

Yeah. That's just guesswork now, though.

Pretty much.

So. I know we had something else to say about the Eros thing.

Yeah, it was more relief on my part, as well as heartbreaking realization, of just how far the confusion went? Or could go? You had something to say about that.

I did, I was wondering why the hell pain was tied to sexuality and Eros began explaining that to me, before he realized that he didn't have that data and that's why we called Julie in.

Oh yeah! That was interesting too, the fact that Eros actually doesn't have any accessible memory for sexuality. I thought he did.

That's how far the role corruption went, kid. And then Julie said that sexual pain and non-sexual pain are apparently two totally different things as well, which infuriated me because who the hell is trespassing on my turf with this topic, and then the fear thing came up. "Would this all stop if you were terrified of it."

Jabberwock.

If pain was put back into these sexual hacks, pain you could be afraid of, would it stop? Would you stop bloody confusing it with me because you are too freaking dissociated to tell what is happening and you're seeking relief? And we figured, heck yes, if we saw that monstrosity associated with this we would run the second it was implied.

Jabberwock is terrifying. Ze really is. But ze's a Retributor, I think, at least the motivation is the same.

Good. She should be, the last thing we need is more corrupt reinforcement of the negative.

Meaning?

Meaning the next person to promote abusive behavior up here is getting my axe slammed into their face.

Good.

Yeah, no joke. I'm tired of this.

Mostly splinters and fragments and socials are promoting abuse now, though. No one in the System.

Yeah, and thank God. Wait-- why the heck would socials­ be-- oh. Societal garbage, right?

Yeah. Subconscious programming. Subliminal obligation. Dirty automated scary stuff that ends up in the cellars solely because there's no filter on what's shoved into your awareness on the outside.

That's why Infi's around though, right? At least halfway.

What, to protect me from that?

To remind you of what's true, not that. Infinitii is tied to the subconscious trouble more than anyone else up here, save for maybe the other daemons from what you've told me. But Infi holds our scary stuff from the outside. The whole bloody System, since ze's the Core-splinter of you. Ze has to deal with all the terrifying nonsense that gets to you in the dark, and ze's stuck twofold because ze's part of it, part of the dark, part of the Shadow that we need to turn into gold, as you say.

Infi is already gold.

That's the point.

…I suppose it is. Oh geez, I suppose it is.

Heh, got you pretty deep on that, huh?

Yes. I… you did. Also. Wreckage is more gold than ever now. Her teeth and claws shine with it.

Really?

Yeah, like a vague iridescent gold sheen. They're almost ivory-white otherwise, like bone. And her body was muted before, like a dirty gold, and now it shines. She's become so valiant lately, like you really, I admire her growth so much. And her eyes don't shadow red anymore! They're straight-up gold too.

Her eyes were going red?

Yeah, at first they'd turn red every once in a while, which is a sign of instability for anyone, the color differences. But now they're gold all the time, no flickers.

Geez, that's good news. Anyone else you got an update on, while we're here on the topic?

Uh… hm. Not really? Oh! I kissed Josephina yesterday. His doing.

Sheesh, you didn't write that down yet? That was moving, really.

Yeah. I got out of therapy and I was a mess, I think Genesis hugged me, I had been dealing with mother issues and feelings of unworthiness and stuff… everything we discussed at the beginning of this session and more. But then Genesis was there for me, and you were, I remember you hugged me and I swear I felt it, that was twice that day I think. The first time I almost collapsed into sobs on the spot because it meant everything in that moment, it was everything real and true and forgiving and I needed it more than life itself at the time.



So people were comforting me, for carrying that for everyone else. I know Knife was there, so was Lynne, Nat and Leon both, Julie, we called in Javier as he didn't know where we were… Waldorf hugged me so sincerely, there's a real friendship between us now, and I expected Josephina to follow her after last time but he got me back for that, still took me by surprise. I remember hearing those little jingly bell earrings he wears too. But it was so sincere, it meant so much to me.

"After last time?" Did you write that down?

What?

You kissed Waldorf, about three weeks ago. That's all I know.

Me too, it's not even my memory.

What?

It's weird. It was one of those dead-float mornings, the pale white ones.

Oh. Shoot. Were you okay?

Ultimately, thanks only to Nat and Leon, who somehow negated all the negative influence that was trying to choke me at the time. I'll never forget that feeling, I hope not. There was such sincere peace between them both, it embraced me like a flower or like moonlit wings, like greenery and indigo light. I felt totally absolved. And that's the only memory I have of that entire morning, personally.

Who the heck kissed Waldorf then? Who the heck keeps fronting in your stead, when stuff like this happens? It's not Eros, we confirmed that just now, so…

Yeah, I thought it was him, but again that was due to role confusion.

Who the heck really holds that confusing stuff, then.

I don't know.

We need to find out.

Garrison, write that down?

Heheh.

Kalisha did, there's a huge heaviness to having that set down as a "to-do" item though.

Meaning?

Meaning now it's written down. It's a tangible thing. And there is a heavy vibe to it.

From the job, or what it implies?

…From what we'll have to look through to do it, I think. It's a stony brown color, a light dustiness, but not in a comforting way. Like desert dirt. Dry and silent weight.

Huh. Guess we'll be taking Chaos along, then.

Hhhhf.

Hehe, have you mentioned how he's been trying to get your attention like crazy these past few days?

Since I tuned back in? No. I should.

Synchronicity has been up the wall, dude.

I know! Honestly it's been breaking my heart and glowing it both, it's insane. Wherever I look, or listen, there he is. There's oceans everywhere. Even when I don't look, or want to look, or feel worthy of looking. The messages keep coming. Go to him. Go back to him. "Do you realize how much love is there for you?" And not even as something apart, the feeling of this which makes it so significant and heartbreakingly true is that it's not at a distance, when these words hit me they resonate in my heart, deep within my ribs like the bottom of the sea, echoing like a bell in the depths. They catch and ring and I know there is a part of me there that matches him, that half of a taijitu, that infinite loop, I can't ever deny that even when I find it hard to believe… it's true. It still responds. And I can never ignore these calls, these synchronicities, because my soul has already wholeheartedly answered "yes" before my brain can hesitate in doubt. But it'll never say "no." That's always moved me to tears, the fact that even when I'm terrified, my poor mind still can't say no to that light because it knows, deep down it knows too that there's only joy on the other side. There's only light when you open the door and walk through it, only open arms and that reminds me, "Heaven" was on the radio today too.

Wait, what?

"Heaven." By Bryan Adams. Ryman's song, from 2002. It was playing over the radio when Genesis and I stopped at Wegmans, I barely heard it but I knew what it was. And I started laughing, and smiling, and suddenly it was impossible for me to ignore my health anymore. You know how tough it is to stay focused and centered in public, social programming likes to kick in and unhealthy obligations take over. But that song was playing, and I was pulled 100% into fronting, and… I felt worthy of it, for a moment. Like I was shining white and confetti-colored, as I should be, and it was impossible for me to hurt myself along with anyone else. So I didn't.

…Kid, that's great. That's great to hear that.

I know, it was so significant. And of course Genesis gets his due, we kept jokingly calling each other "babe" and then one time he gave me this look and I had to laugh, "are you flirting with me," he said "maybe." Oh and I jokingly told him later that if he really wanted to snog me, as you'd say, he'd have to wait until we got home. He's going to ask me about it tomorrow if I forget, so make sure he's in our room when we're done with this. I know he's been sticking around lately but the moment I lie down CZ gets all the focus and I'm sorry, I'm rambling on again. I guess I just want to say that I love them both but I do owe Genesis a non-social, more "introverted" show of love than I usually do?

And you should take Chaos with you when you travel more often too, "babe," he misses you too during the day.

That's true, haha. It's just weird, or at least unusual, because he is so much quieter than Genesis vibe-wise, except when Perfect shows up and then it's his old romancer vibe all the time.

Ah. Really?

Yeah, he's all teeth and grins and personal interaction, I don't know how good he'd be at social guiding, which is what Genesis does actually. Gen makes sure I can function in public places without massive fronter switching, or getting lost due to memory gaps, or the like. CZ and I don’t have much experience with doing that, yet at least.

Huh. Maybe you should, I mean you two are married, as far as relevance goes.

Yeah.

Sorry. Now I'm the one apologizing. I joke too much about this stuff, and I'm truly sorry.

I know.

…Too much bleedover. I'm scared to death, kid, I really am, what with this relationship pain thing, and my bloody apathy thanks to that fear. Not understanding what to do and not liking that one bit. I'm sorry, kid, I keep throwing you under the railroad tracks here and not realizing what the heck I'm doing in the process.

Explain?

Heh, you know what I mean, Jay. I keep… running. Terrible things happen to you and instead of jumping into action like I used to I freak the heck out, because "what if they hack me" and--

Wait, Laurie, they can't touch you, you know that--

No we don't.

Yes we DO. I swear I will NEVER let them hurt you.

They can pretend to be me. You know that.

…I do. I'm sorry. I just…

You know it's not me, but the residue is hell. The fear lingers. You look at me and you don't bloody know.

I do know, Laurie--

You don't know, kid, not when fear is ruling the roost. Not when you are so bloody terrified of what happened the last time someone pretending to be me showed up, that your visceral subconscious reaction is to freeze up or run. You're not afraid of me, kid, you're afraid of them, but sometimes you can't tell the difference and that is what I'm so afraid of.

…So you stay away from me?

Yeah. God forgive me, kid, I am so sorry.



I really am. I don't want to see you attacked by these demons, but God help me, I don't want to be responsible for more pain on top of that hell. I don't know what the heck to do.

Be there. Please. Be there for me. If you're scared, get Infi, bring hir with you.

Infi gets lost just as much as I do, and in totally different ways, kid, that's the bloody danger here!!



Infi gets lost worse than I ever could. Ze knows exactly what I'm terrified of in this. …And yet you're not afraid of hir, are you?

No. But that's what's lethal.

…Shoot.

I'm not afraid of you either, Laurie, I'm afraid of losing you. You and I have the same fear in this.

…So what do we do?

…Get a third person in this regardless? Sugar's your bodyguard now, isn't she?

Yeah, no kidding, I needed one.

They can't touch her, can they?

I doubt it. She doesn't have love-ties to you. She's a Retributor, and she's Pink, which means she has backup from other Protectors if someone tries to violate her function. Maybe Eros could help in this regard, who knows. I know Julie is iffy about it because she doesn't want to be reminded of the past, but… geez. I don't know.

We'll find out. We don't need to solve this overnight. We just have to stay strong, and stay together, even if that sounds like a platitude. Hope is important, as is faith in each other.

It is.

And love.

Which they're trying to mangle beyond recognition.

They won't. They can't. They can try to blur our perspective all they want, but they can't change the core of this, the truth. I think that's why I'm not afraid of Infi. Or you. Or Chaos, for that matter.

Or Genesis. I've heard the stories, kid.

Of?

He slips, too. You avoided him for a freaking long time because of that. And yet every time he knocks on your door, you let him in. Every time he ghosts, you say hello, and let him follow you. Unconditional forgiveness, that's what you've got, kid. I only ask that you do the same for me if I ever screw up.

Laurie. Love, that's guaranteed. I could never withhold forgiveness from you, ever, no matter what you did.

Are you sure?

…Laurie, I think the things we're both terrified of you doing, you're not even capable of. It literally hurts to think of, like massive dissonance.

Does it now.

Yeah. Your very existence clashes with those fears. They can't occupy the same space.

But it's the fear I'm afraid of, kid, ironically. It's them tying my face or my likeness-- which they're doing already-- to abuse, to what seriously hurts or scares you. I do not want that happening. I will stop this travesty if it bloody kills me.

You know I realize it's not you, right?

But it scares you, doesn't it, that they won't quit?

It unnerves me. It makes me scared for you, or at least, my knowledge of you in my mind.

See, that's the thing.

But I know you better than they ever will. No amount of forcing or lies on their part will ever change my mind.

You swear?

Absolutely. Cross my heart.

Don't you dare die.

Well. Not like that, anyway.

Don't. Too many times I've almost lost you, and once I did. Don't. I swear, kid, even if I fail you in the worst way, don't you DARE take a knife to your own throat, or heart, or wrists. Don't you bloody dare. There's more to life than me, I want you to go on living, heal from whatever the heck I did, you've got better docs than me and you know it.

I... Laurie. Please. It's not going to happen.

But the sentiment is true. All right?

…All right. …I really love you, Laurie. I do.

I know, kid, I love you too, and believe me when I say that.

I do. I never doubted you.

Good. Then that's step one, again, as always.

Yeah. But it's a spiral step, I think. We have made progress. It's just that this is the truth beneath all other truths, holding them up, lifting us higher. It's the baseline.

Base Zero. Pun intended.

Yeah, no kidding. …But that's the point, yeah. Love is there. Unfailing, undying.



Not much you can say to that, huh?

Nah, just stepping back and taking it in is all.

Words really do fail. It sounds paltry, to keep saying the same words…

What the heck else are you going to say, kid? It is how it is. Amen and all that.

Haha, yeah.

So. Speaking of love. You going up to meet the monsters yet or what?

Uh, after I color our text and post this, sure.

Remember you've gotta draw pixels for everyone else soon.

Oh yes, that is true. I'd love to. I do want to draw people, it's just the shock of not being able to photorealistically render everyone on the first shot is overwhelming sometimes…

Kid, you are too much of a perfectionist, I swear. Pun intended.

Really.

Yeah. Stop pursuing that dead end, you know as well as I do what the lesson is there.

…Yeah. We've talked about it.

So. Trial and error, I guess. Make mistakes. Grow from them. Learn. You can do it, kid, I have faith in you.

I've heard all that before and yet every time you say it it means the world.

That's the point, boy. But really, we done talking for tonight? It's 1:30 in the bloody morning and you still have Cold Dust Girl on loop.

Oh man, talk about relevant.

How the heck did that song even become relevant?

The chords. This is the Gemini Club remix, remember. I gravitate to harmonies in songs, mostly, half the time I don't even notice lyrics unless they catch me hard.

Like "Heaven" did today, huh?

Yes. "Now our dreams are coming true, through the good times and the bad…"

Next line is "I'll be standing there by you," and I gotta apologize to Ryman but I am stealing that tonight, sorry. You been hanging out with him recently or what?

No, the dead period made it tough to reach anyone, let alone the Outspacers of all people. But he showed up in my inner vision on the 19th, when Markus was singing…

Markus? Really?

Yeah, he sings.

Hey, that's pretty cool. Didn't know the kid had it in him.

Hey, he sings "Empty Streets" and that was the first song I ever heard him do, years ago.

Yeah, but not much else, right? Ryman's at least associated with communication and all that, blue stuff.

Plus Ryman was singing from the moment I met him, practically. But yeah, Markus was singing… I forget what song, I'll have to look and see if I wrote it down. But he had his rose wings activated, I forgot how beautiful they were… I've never seen those two boys so clearly before, not that I can remember. It was amazing. And it came out of nowhere, while meditating, after weeks of not having heard from them at all. And then Ryman's song played over the radio today. Synchronicity!

Heheh, that's what makes life worth living, kid, are the little things.

Hey, I just want to thank you for saying my name earlier. It means a lot to hear you say it, I know you call me "kid" all the time, so--

Geez, Jay, if I knew that was bothering you I wouldn't do it--

No, it's not a bother, I like it. But names are important. So hearing mine said by you means a lot.

…Jay, you know what I said about you always saying inexplicably romantic things. That was one of them.

Is "romantic" the right word?

Closest bleeding thing to it for me, at least. Whatever the heck it is. Things that make you pause and realize that "man, I really freakin' care about this person."

Ah, okay. I know what that is.

What what is?

That feeling. It's nice.

Yeah, no kidding. When do you get it?

Always, geez.

No, I mean examples.

Uh… hm. Let me think of one from recently… well, actually, the other week when Chaos told me "home is where the heart is" when referring to me. He was half asleep. It was the sweetest, most fragile thing, it had such an impact on me then. Still does.

Yeah, takes your heart a bit to recover, doesn't it?

Exactly! There's no term for it in the English language that I know of and there should be. Ironically "indescribable" is the closest match, so.

Heheh. But yeah, kid, that's it.

From me?

From you, yeah, I get that from you, why?

Just… same feeling in return is all.

Good. That's how it should work, I think.

So.

Hm?

Should I go up and toss this feeling at the monsters or what?

Haha, absolutely man, your lips are going to be bleeding five seconds in and you know it.

Geez Laurie, Genesis doesn't bite that much, you know that.

No I don't actually, and frankly it would be weird as heck if he bit me, so.

I think he shares the sentiment.

Heheh.

Oh. Uh, there was something I had to say.

What?

Have I mentioned that Infi has crystal teeth?

Have you?

I'm not sure. They're all diamonds, or something. All pointy and perfect. Chaos has teeth that are subtly green-clear like glass, but they're made of water too, or at least liquid energy, like the rest of him. Genesis has normal-colored bone teeth but they are crazy big, his mouth is just weird. The inside is dark blue and his tongue is amber.

How the heck does that work?

Dream demons, man, nobody knows. Chaos has a blue tongue when he needs one and Infi's is black. Shiny black, kind of silvery in the light, not pitch black like the inside of hir mouth, so.

Kiddo you know way too much about these people's mouths.

I have an aesthetic addiction. A fascination. I like teeth.

And?

And drippy things. There, I said it. But mouths are weird, I don't like mouths, at least not on faces? Is that weird?

Yes.

Which is why Infi is cool, because ze has mouths on hir wings, and CZ doesn't often have a mouth at all, so. But I wonder why that is, mouths on faces with eyes make me uneasy at times. It's too much focused manic energy.

What about for me, and Genesis? We got that too?

Genesis doesn’t faze me much because his energy vibe is charged, so I expect that. And you don't get romantic like Infi or quiet-intimate like CZ.  It's all about vibes. If someone gets too close, and there's too much mouth, it scares me a little?

Is that an abuse association? Did Julie do that during her bad days?

Maybe?

Shoot, I forgot you don't know.

I think it's less her, and more the family. But yeah, we should pinpoint that too, for sure, so we can release it.

Can I just say thank God we are releasing this trauma baggage because I am so bloody tired of some of it.

Most of it, for me. I'm glad too.

Yeah, no kidding. It feels good to get all this off our backs at long last.

Why'd it take so long?

You're asking me, kid! I've been trying to solve it since I showed up here, eight bloody years ago.

Happy late birthday, by the way. I mean that.

Kid, I don't care if you're two months late, I know you meant it back on the 4th. Like I said, you're alive, that's what matters.

Thank you.

…Kid.

What?

I know you always want to say "I love you" after things like that, and I just wanna thank you for being comfortable saying that around me, like that.

…That is important, yeah.

Sure. So I love you too. Now get your ass to bed.

Haha, again!

Yeah, the other night was funny. Hey, your boss still talking to you at night or what?

On and off. He got tangled up with the faceless voices so it was iffy for a while. I haven't seen him directly in a while, though, no.

Go say hi to him before you snog the monsters, tell him I said hi.

I will. I miss him so much, I realy do.

Then maybe we should close this bloody huge thing up, it's 25 pages already.

Geez. Feels good!

Yeah, you're telling me! I miss talking to you like this, kid. Jay.

Haha. I appreciate that, actually.

Good, 'cause I'm trying. Oh, also. Say goodnight to Xennie more often, okay? I know it's ridiculously late now, but she usually goes to bed around 11 o'clock, so pop upstairs for a second and tuck her in for heaven's sake, at least.

I will. Remind me.

I will, if I can reach you. But you need to spend more time with that kid, she loves you.

I adore her. I'm just a mess so often, I know it scares her sometimes.

Scares me too, doesn't mean I love you any less. Same with her. If anything it makes her want to help you more by being with you.

No child should feel so obligated to help their parents get better, enough to care for them. It's terribly unfair.

Kid. She's got a whole freakin' support system up here. Literally. You're not her only caretaker.

But I'm her father, whether I understand it or not.

…True.

So I want to be better, for her.

You think she doesn't know that?



She does, kid, believe me she does. She doesn't want to help you because she pities you, or because she feels obligated to. Not at all. She wants to help you because she loves you like you love her and she wants to see you feel better for your sake as well as hers. It's unconditional and you know it. Don't make me cite examples.

No, I can name several. I just… bottom line is, Laurie, sometimes I just don't feel worthy enough to be her father.

Nonsense. You're the worthiest man in the world because you are her father. Okay? Don't crush yourself into the dirt. You're fine. Remember what we said about perfection.

…Are you sure?

Absolutely sure, Jay. And let me add this. The moment you stop freaking out and worrying, is the moment you realize you are already the father you want to be for her, and the father she needs. As soon as you stop putting yourself down and selling yourself short, you can stand as high as you wanted to all along. You're standing in your own light, kid, that's all it is, simply because you can't believe that you're the one shining that brightly. Okay? I can see it, she can see it, Infi and Chaos and Genesis can see it, we all can. Don't be so bloody afraid of your own light. If anyone told you that being too bright was bad, or blasphemous, they can jump right off the roof of Central. That kind of talk is nonsense, as I will always say. You're a spotlight, kid, and you've highlighted everything that's bright in me even when I was blind to it. So let me do the same for you.

You always do.

Yeah, I guess so. …No, that means a lot to hear, actually. Thank you.

Always.

…Well.

Well?

Heh. Same sentiment back at you, right?

Oh. Yeah, I… thank you.

Always. Now we closing this up?

Sure, let's do that before I fall asleep standing up.

Therapy tomorrow, what we talking about?

Oh, uh… geez, I don't know, whatever comes up. This maybe, something else maybe. We'll see.

Sounds good to me.

Oh and I told Simeon he can front if he wants to, since that kid has a much bigger role than we previously realized, if today is any indication.

No kidding. But really, Jay, get some sleep. People are waiting for you.

True. All right, good night Laurie. I love you a lot.

Same to you, kid. See you around.

Yes, in a few minutes.

Hey, the chair will never leave.

As long as that means you won't either, that's great.

Heheh.

Okay. We need to do this more often. Thanks for being brave enough to start this one, too.

…Yeah, that was tough.

Your bravery in all things is a shining example to me.

Are you falling asleep?

Yes. Poetry.

Go write some.

If I can, I will. And then I will sleep.

Well, before that I heard you're going to be performing a different kind of poetry, so…

No jokes. Not about that.

Sorry.

It's okay. We just need to be more reverent, Infi said. It helps.

That it does.

Okay. I cannot talk anymore, I need to show you my wing-ness and the arms and the back mouth. Teeth. Talking. It comes from my head, I have no face.

Kid, you are practically high, this is hilarious.

is it. good. oh and my hair is shiny, like a crystal, it's kind of funny. I'm all iridescent spikes like a christmas ribbon. did I tell you autumn feels like the end of the year, but like new years? like for me, life ends at the beginning. life begins right before the ending. like in steps 1 to 4, step 3 is the beginning. does that make sense?

Kind of?

things that look like death, people think, "it's autumn, the year is drawing to a close, the leaves are dying, soon it will be the dead of winter and then it's the end. of the year. then comes spring, the beginning again!" but for me… autumn is both the closing of the book, and the opening of another? it is simultaneously new year's. maybe because of my birthday. but autumn is the first thing I remember and also it was an ending. that makes more sense.

That's interesting, and it does.

but… it's lovely. I'm glad to be alive. and I'm tired.

Then go to bed, kid.

okay. wait.

Wait?

we are so bad at closing these

Haha, you do remember that. Yeah, we really suck at conclusions. Endings are bittersweet and all that.

bittersweet is nice though

…I suppose it is. Kind of like those 'moments,' huh?

the nice ones yeah. no words for those

Maybe that's why we're bad at conclusions, huh?

maybe. I love you laurie good night

I love you too, Jay. See you later. 

 

 


sept 24

Sep. 24th, 2013 04:30 pm
prismaticbleed: (held)

 

 

Things that happened today, so far.

At therapy, the session opened with her saying we were going to start working from Amongst Ourselves, I've vaguely heard about the book before, from the online DID community, but I've never looked into it. Still, she gave me some papers photocopied from the first chapter, and we discussed it a little already, so we'll all start working from this together. I'm glad; this really feels like a big step forward in terms of where we can go from here, with understanding and management and coping and the like.
We also unearthed a big connective point, which is the main thing I want to record.
I've known for a while now that I associate pain with corrective love (childhood discipline), and retributive healing. When I am not punished for a wrongdoing I fear that I am either irredeemable, or that those who know and have not punished me are manipulating me into committing wrongs. This is a rather paranoid mindset and it is not often true outside of headspace. This is also why our protectors in headspace (Laurie and Knife) are also persecutors in their own right-- under that mindset, those who protect must also harm. ('Bleeding' is viewed as beneficially purgative, etc.) I seek out abusive relationships because I feel more cared for in them. I freak out when my friends don't express disappointment or anger with me, because then I think they have no concern for my welfare or even would prefer that I become a delinquent. And this explains why I am the closest to Laurie upstairs, above everyone else: she pushes me around, she insults me, she used to actually beat me up, but there are NO vicious motives there (motives are very important!!), and she has ALSO made it VERY CLEAR that she adores me and she would do anything to keep me safe. So, to me, the 'violent' side of her personality actually supports that. I know she cares BECAUSE she treats me roughly. This may not be true for people downstairs, but the mindset is there, and has been for as long as I can remember. "If you truly care for my well-being, you will punish me when I do wrong."
I've also known that I feel obligated to take blame from other people, in order to end fights. In my house, people wouldn't take responsibility for mistakes, big or small-- "I forgot to do something important because YOU distracted me," etc.-- and so things wouldn't get settled. I was frequently told as a child that things were my fault, even if I had nothing to do with them at all. Still, although this was emotionally frightening for me, I learned very quickly that if it was my fault, truthfully or not, I could then act as a peacekeeper, taking the brunt of all the anger and guilt that no one else wanted to face. As I grew older this made me become very diplomatic as well, but as a child, it just made me feel like I WAS solely responsible for everyone else's pain. My obsession with "being good" BUT also feeling that I could only be truly good if "my sins were purged" through punishment or pain, made me feel obligated to become the literal scapegoat. Therefore, "you must be punished for causing such pain in others."
But today, in therapy, I realized that this second mindset ties into the first one in a way I never noticed before? This constant feeling responsible for my family's suffering, on top of my associating parental love/ my own worth with pain and punishment, is what caused my problem of thinking "I'm incapable of making correct choices on my own." See how it lines up? The negative reinforcement smothered any positive reinforcement I got for my own choices. Usually, if I asserted myself, or voiced an opinion, or anything of that sort, I was told that I was "hurting someone else" in the process, "being selfish or manipulative," etc. That also explains why I rely on headspace people for inner choices, because I've had this internally too. So instead of choosing on my own and hurting people, or causing more trouble, or making everything worse... I learned to just give in and do what I was told.
I daresay that sounds familiar too.
My therapist reached that exact same point. "You learned to just give in, to get it over with."
As soon as she said that, the panic alarm went off, and I started slipping badly. However, SHE NOTICED! And she called it out, which was enough of a distracting surprise for me to struggle back into decent enough control to finish the session.
I'm glad it happened though. I didn't realize THAT was so strongly tied to THESE concerns, too! Go figure. I'm hoping we can pursue that line of thought in the future, safely. Healing is a long and involved process but we are getting there, wow are we ever.

I was too shaken up from the session slippage to drive afterwards, so Laurie decided to. As usual she lectured Knife and I the entire time, but in doing so in light of therapy we discovered something else: that weird dissociation I get doesn't go away when other people front. Headvoices are better able to manage it, though. I wondered what it was, and then suddenly, Laurie got it-- since we're all anchored in headspace, THAT'S where we naturally ground! When we front, we are SPLIT between being in the body and being 'upstairs.' Laurie instinctively talks to us aloud when she fronts, even though we aren't 'in' physical reality. When she stops, and 'thinks' for herself, she says 'the silence and disconnection bothers me.' Because in order for her to REALLY front, with her own private thoughts and actions and choices, she HAS to temporarily 'unplug' from headspace. That's somewhat jarring for a headvoice to do, and so they typically keep that connection when fronting... which causes the dissociation, and the tendency to suddenly 'switch out' if someone else is triggered, or wants to talk, etc. There's simply not a strong enough anchor for the traditional DID complete fronting when our people front. It's part of our rules, of course-- always having backup and people watching prevents total pandemonium, as well as sudden dangerous switches-- but it is highly problematic because it makes body functioning dazed all the time.

On that note, I needed to pick something up at the mall for my bro, so Laurie phased out and then asked Knife if he wanted to try fronting? I think there was a bit of lighthearted bickering here, but then Knife said sure-- and he did something REALLY interesting. Instead of jumping right into the body (which would involve a pause and shivers and a blurry few-second transition), he PROJECTED? Like we do when the AP is running, and we just program commands into it. He stayed upstairs with us, but he began sending programming to the AP to make the body act more like he felt, and THEN he jumped in. That eliminated the total stop we typically would need to switch! So that was cool.
Anyway, I know he was fully fronting once we entered the mall, as I remember he was staring at the map and asking me where we needed to go. That moment struck me as very interesting, because I guess I was far enough 'out' to not be bleeding over into his mindset, and since I'm usually not, it actually shocked me to see that he was 100% unruffled by all the people around him. I usually worry on the behalf of other system members, as I tend to feel trapped, self-conscious and overwhelmed in public, especially with so many people! And always being aware of headspace makes it feel like people can see all these others surrounding me, although I don't know if they can. But Knife was standing there, arms stiff at his sides, calmly reviewing this map, oblivious to whether or not people were looking at him oddly. It was really cool. Then Laurie told him where to go and he set off, all of us hanging back and watching to see how he handled fronting in public for the first time. Honestly, he did surprisingly well. He walks in a very dignified manner, holding himself straight and formal, with none of the walking trouble that I have when I do that. There was no arm movement I think, but every once in a while someone would approach the body and trigger the instinctive 'they're trying to hurt you' response, but Knife didn't panic or back out (he knows it's not always warranted too)-- instead, I noticed he only clenched his fists like he was holding two knives. The first time he did and felt no actual weapons, there was a slight wave of real concern and hesitation, but it faded quickly enough. But that wasn't the best part of him fronting-- mind you, when a headvoice fronts, the entire inner perception of the body changes to them. So Knife is walking down the hall, formal and stoic, his coattails trailing behind him, and all of a sudden I realize that he's wondering what to do with his teeth. I had no idea what that was for a moment, and then I realized, he DOES have fangs!! He was shadowing fangs, and was slightly distressed by the fact that he didn't actually HAVE any, but he could feel where they were 'astrally,' so to speak. Laurie and I thought this was hilarious, and she teased him about it a little, to which he actually started nervously biting the inside of the mouth. I felt kind of bad because it's always disorienting when your body doesn't match, but it was kind of endearing seeing Knife act so human, ironically, even if just in a little way. (Also I hope he doesn't mind my mentioning this, but after noticing the teeth thing Laurie joked that we should buy him some plastic vampire fangs since it's almost Halloween anyway. I laughed at that, but Knife didn't respond for a few seconds. Then he said, somewhat wonderingly, "do they really make those?" Laurie cracked up of course, said yeah, decided on the spot we were going to buy him some ASAP. I thought it was adorable.)
Anyway. On the way back out of the mall, Laurie decided to front for a bit, so Knife graciously phased out and let Laurie phase in, allowing the few-second AP gap as usual... and the switch from his affect to hers when she settled in was striking.
Laurie swaggers when she walks. It's both awesome and hilarious. Honestly, Knife strides along like an aristocrat, all stately and somewhat aloof... but Laurie just ambles around like she owns the place. She's simultaneously relaxed and battle-ready. Just picture a debonair entrepreneur and a nonchalant gang leader walking side-by-side, and you've got a pretty accurate image of the difference between how they each carry the body. (As for me, I'd be the five-year-old kid running along behind them, grinning from ear to ear and probably tripping over curbs, haha.)
I'm curious who else can front in public, now that we're aware of what causes the system-wide dissociation for non-public alters (in other words, most of us!). Usually only strong-minded people can do that, as they don't have to worry about major triggers... so Mulberry is definitely a candidate. Problem is, she might be the ONLY candidate. Razor is NOT, despite her unnerving calmness, because she has the moral compass and social comprehension of a two-year-old. The first and only time she's fronted before (the only reason I even know it happened is because there's a VOICE FILE of it on Mitchell), she literally wondered aloud how I resisted the urge to "cut things" when there were so many things to cut around me. You get the picture. But then we only have the kids (who HAVE fronted but have been emotionally damaged by the experience), Jeremiah (who is NOT comfortable around people at ALL), and Sugar (who will attack anyone who she perceives as the slightest threat). Everyone in Central used to be able to front without the slightest problem, but... I don't know if any of them are still alive, besides Laurie.
Still, I'm curious now. I don't know who the public fronters are and I don't think I can; that would impede on their function. But I wish there was a more coherent system for fronting. It's not easy to live upstairs 95% of the time, and then have to deal with the consequences of the other 5% if someone manic or self-destructive comes out. Not fun, dude.
I'm laughing though. I just brought up the old adakias journal to review some things, and already, I DO NOT REMEMBER THAT STUFF. So soon, so suddenly! But I guess it's good. I needed new energy, some new place to let go of the mess that happened this year, with the resets and people getting hurt and tossed around. That's about all I know about it though, just that painful things happened. Couldn't tell you what though, and I'm thankful for it. Now we just have to help everyone else heal.
That's something I haven't mentioned yet either. Knife's new anchor is that of a healer. He can actually do that now, heal people who have been hurt in headspace. I don't know if anyone could ever do that before, so it's pretty amazing. He and Laurie are basically BFFs now (well, as bff-ish as those two can get) which is brilliant as well.
I miss seeing people get along like this. I miss feeling like headspace is a family. I'll tell you what, these reset things may have been traumatic, but now, Central and the Underground are connected. There's no split between us anymore. We all work together. And personally I think that was worth it. Everything works out in the end. I really do miss this feeling of togetherness. I can't remember the last time I felt it.

On a similar note, in light of yesterday, I think I'm going to practice energy sensing again. I've been so shattered internally that I've forgotten how. But I miss being able to perceive things subtly, and in strange ways. I miss tasting color, and smelling auras, and seeing sound. I miss being able to reach out and get this sensory rainbow from anyone upstairs whenever I tuned in. I miss my creative side, too. That same side of me is the one that can shape words into similar sensations. "Poet mode," you know. I haven't been anywhere near that in at least 6 months, I'd think.
But now, immersing myself in the literature I adored as a child, in all those ideas and images that helped me become who I am today... I wonder, if both of those sides of me are coming back now? It sure feels like it! It's exciting, actually.
I'm currently on Animorphs #17, which was my first favorite book of the series-- it's this glorious shade of pink, and Rachel turns into a BAT on the cover, for heavens sake! (You may not know, but I actually loved the color pink as a child; it didn't become "evil" until Julie stole it. I even used to pretend I was a pink pterodactyl in 1st grade, haha. And of course I have always adored bats!) I don't remember the actual book-- I don't remember the series at ALL so re-reading it is so awesome-- but I'm excited to start it, especially since the next one is #18, where Ax turns into a mosquito, and I LOVED that one as a kid, for many reasons. One of those reasons, amusingly enough, also ties into the reason why I haven't started reading #17 yet... which is that lately, I've been busy soaking up the beautiful words of Madeleine L'Engle, my biggest childhood literary inspiration.
I mentioned that in my previous entry as well, but... reading the Wrinkle In Time quintet over again, revisiting the worlds and remembering the messages within it-- it all makes me feel that I'm not as lost as I feared I was. No, that's not quite right... it makes me BELIEVE it. Meg is so much like I was as a little kid: stubborn, impatient, and angry, sure, but she loves her brother, and she has a good heart, and even though she feels she is inadequate she is shown to be an important individual in her own right, inherently worthy of love. I'm not like her now, and I don't even remember what it was like to be 'childhood me,' but still, following her footsteps, I'm finding strength and hope, too.
How do I explain it?
Really, this is when I wish I had friends, who weren't overwhelmed by me. I get SO enamored with these books and things, I need to just effervesce this joy, with someone who feels the same about it! Bursting with affection and admiration over music or art or the like, and having someone just nod and say "okay" in response, really makes me feel tired and sad. I need the reflection, the sharing. Because I do NOT feel this way about things easily! Sure, I can say I liked this or that about a lot of things, but when it gets down to total sparkly bliss and inspiration, there are only a few things on that list. To my surprise. L'Engle's books have stayed on that list!
But it's oddly personal, too. It's personal in an oddly close way, where it feels too intimate to talk about it casually. When I really love things, it gets like that, which is hard for people to understand. Even Nier! I can't play that in the same room as other people because their world is BEAUTIFUL and the music is GORGEOUS and I feel SO much like Nier himself and Grimoire Weiss is the COOLEST... you get the idea. I love that game. So I need to share it with someone else that loves it so. Which is very hard to find, because when I truly love something, I love it intensely, with an ardor that's inherently tied TO my creative, poetic side. And that depth makes it something really special to me. But most people just say "okay, I can see you like it," without FEELING why... and it just sucks me dry, like a black hole. I'm essentially showing them something that has affected me deeply and strongly enough to light me up like a supernova, bright-eyed and laughing from the wonder of it, and they can only see it as another point on a list of interests... Nier, FROST*, Klonoa, A Wrinkle In Time. You get the idea.

On that note. (Perhaps somewhat disconnected, but it's close enough to me.)
I am halfway through A Wind In The Door right now. Meg is currently trying to figure out which Mr. Jenkins is real, standing in the schoolyard, backed by Proginoskes the cherubim. And up to that point I kept wondering just how fluffy those feathers were and just what those lovely eyes looked like, et cetera, and then suddenly Mrs. L'Engle reminds me that manifested cherubim have circulatory systems and I was like whooooa dude okay I'm sold. Honestly I crack myself up with this. I've been obsessed with hearts since I was a tiny kid and really I used to be ashamed of it-- that's the real reason I loved Animorphs #18, now you know-- but now I embrace it as this odd but quietly honest weakness of mine, something that fits perfectly into my forever-naive compassion for everything. It just hurts that, for years, I got it confused. I got a lot about myself confused. Not anymore though, we're cool. Now I'm just blushing like an idiot at the thought of cuddling up to a huge fiery fluffy cherubim, aha. Especially one with an attitude like Progo, he's adorable, I love him.
I have forever been enamored with how L'Engle portrays cherubim, though, as you probably have gathered. THIS is the image of them that I grew up with. That is GORGEOUS.
You've probably noticed that is most definitely where Infinitii anchored aesthetically, too.
That's why this re-reading is hitting me so hard. Yes, Progo is brilliant, but he keeps reminding me of Infi, this strange and beautiful being. But Infi has intimacy going against him here, ironically. Isn't that weird? I can be as affectionate and loving as I want with a total stranger who is open-hearted to it. But when someone gets close to me, and starts returning that to me, I freak out and push them away, then run when they try to get close again, even if I still love them with all my heart (although I will likely bury it in fear). I've never understood that.
Maybe it ties into the old love=pain thing for me. Maybe. It would make sense, at least on a basic level. But the fear? Is that because my family was emotionally bereft when I was growing up? No one was close to anyone else, any gestures of such were viewed with harshness. And then growing up with a non-traditional gender and romantic orientation made it impossible to show feelings towards anyone, on any level, without being rejected in disgust and often hate. I did it to myself, I would know. But it's sad. Maybe I just learned to be scared of it, without knowing why.
All I know is that I miss that weird little angel with his creepy toothy grins and big gray-red eyes and echoic voice in my head. I don't remember him either and I miss him. It's so odd.
Chaos too. He's all three-pointed stars, except fluid, all oceanic and blue and a strange lovely fusion of points and curves. He's hard to describe and it's awesome. But I miss him too, and I don't know who he is, but something keeps pushing me really quietly to maybe find him again. I can't be sure.
I just want to find out why I'm more comfortable with welcoming strangers than I have ever been with close friends. Maybe that's why I like Laurie, too? Because she never gets too close, and when she does, there's always that edge. Always that slight brutality to it. Won't even kiss me without pulling my hair. Gotta have that pain somewhere, or I get scared. So odd. At least she understands, and doesn't want to get emotionally close anyway, and neither do I.
Emotional closeness and emotional openness aren't synonymous to me, I just realized. I can be an open book with anybody, entirely trusting and vulnerable, but there's a childlike quality to it that, when disturbed, SHATTERS me. I can be the most affectionate person in the world as long as you're treating me like I'm younger than 12. Once you start seeing me as an 'adult,' once you start trying to pull me into 'mature' relationships, I get terrified. I run.
Oh hey. That's probably it. What if I had my perception of friendships and partnerships and romance corrupted so badly at such an early age, that I never learned what they really were like? And now I don't know how to fix it. I've been trying, I've apparently just made it worse! That's what the Undergrounders keep saying, "be careful," "the hackers go after you because you're fragile," "you can't trust people like that." And I know that's true. But it's tough for a soft-hearted silly person like me, I guess. It hurts for me to not trust people, or to realize that yes, there ARE people inside our head that want to hurt me. Naturally I want to love them, and help them heal. But they take advantage of me, so other people have to protect me a lot. Otherwise... well. Bad things happen.
Laurie says that's my biggest flaw and my biggest blessing, my inability to stop being so childlike. She loves and hates that about me, but she always says, "kid, never lose that." Always.
Sorry, it's late and I'm starting to fall into "I don't know how to speak in written language because words are confusing and I just want to feel at people" mode. Kything!
But yeah. Fluffy gorgeous cherubim and hearts and eyes and fire and smoke. So nice. I can't help but laugh when I realize that THAT'S my ideal aesthetic, no wonder people look at me funny! I don't mind though. We'd be best friends and it'd be great.
I can visualize exactly what I want to say, and what I need, and what I feel. Isn't that unusual? I can think in pictures just fine, but I don't know how to put that into words! It's why I struggle with writing stories down too. How do you put an expression, or a feeling, or a sight, into words? You lose what you're actually trying to describe, limiting it to written language. it's so frustrating sometimes it makes me cry. why can't i just show people these things, watch their eyes light up and they'll laugh too, what beautiful stuff that is, thank you for sharing it with me. and i'd smile, hey do you like music, do you want to hear some of the symphonies i hear in my head? oh yes please they'd say, young and old people alike, businessmen in top hats and little kids with gaps in their smiles and old women with thinning hair. yes please, and then i'll share my dreams with you too.
that's the kinda world i want to live in down here too, in physical space, in the waking. i want to live with people who all love and trust each other and everyone gets along. i want to be able to walk down the street and know that everyone is my friend and i am everyones friend too and we all do what brings us joy and share it.
oh and a world where when the cold autumn air whips around the moon and clouds like crystal, like it did last night, i can go outside and really fly instead of wodnering why my arms wont carry me up into the sky unless my eyes are closed.

sorry. i am very tired. this got really disjointed really fast, thats what happens when theres a switch in consciousness.
dont worry though this is j, at least a deeper part of me i guess, the part that doesnt like having a name. but its "me" if that makes you feel a little better.
hmmmm i want to give you a song of the night let me find a nice one.
OH here have some glitchy choral things because we're talking about angels and this is my favorite genre ever.
plus it sounds like infinitii if that makes sense. you'll see what i mean.
https://soundcloud.com/forss/lux-aeterna

g'night everyone you're all lovely have sweet dreams and all that
today's been beautiful, tomorrow will be too, see you then!

 

 

 

prismaticbleed: (shatter)

 
Some benevolent, "big" voice spoke to Laurie and I last night, explaining to us the roots of a lot of the problems we are having.
It was surprisingly revelatory, more than a little shocking, and it made a disturbing about of sense. I wasn't aware of a lot of the connections it presented, and neither was Laurie-- which is a first!
I don't know if it was Infinitii. It presented its message in huge glowing letters and images, but it had no face, and its voice wasn't exactly "audible." However it was friendly and definitely rooted in headspace, which was a relief (outside voices aren't very nice). Also notable was that it didn't mention Infinitii, which was a tipoff for me concerning the topic-- Infi doesn't like talking about himself in that context, as it's emotionally difficult for him. But I don't know. Whoever it was, though, they had access to info that EVERYONE ELSE had forgotten about, buried, or overlooked.

That's enough of an intro, though; let's get to the business.
I don't know exactly how it started. I remember walking out of the kitchen at like 2AM, and Laurie was trying to talk to me. I wish I could paraphrase our conversation, but my memory doesn't work well chronologically, and I can only tell you bits and pieces. So let's try.
You'll notice the post immediately before this, talking about how so many spiritual people nowadays say reality is a "cosmic dream" and so taking it too seriously means that we're just "lost in the game." I've been trying to see life this way, but the problem is that I tend to twist this comprehension in my mind. If it's just a game, why is there still such a huge emphasis on "karma," and past lives, and all that? Why is the game so complicated and trapping, if it's fake? So I tend to get obsessive, freaking out over every tiny action being "wrong" or "right," because I don't want to play the game anymore and yet the rules say that if I mess up this round, I HAVE to do it over. So that makes it very difficult, some days, for me to see it all as a dream... and that's simply because I'm still looking at it wrong.
Laurie reminded me of that. My mind likes to think that, once you realize it's a dream-- poof, it's gone. You wake up. No more illusion. But that's not literally true. You don't die the instant you realize that this life is more than it appears on the surface. Instead you keep living it, KNOWING that the trials and pains of this world are temporary, and that there's something better after all this that we need to live for instead. On the contrary, I keep invalidating the entire experience, believing that "if it's just a dream, why should I pretend any of it is real?" means "ignore everything because it's fake." Laurie said that wasn't the smartest option. Why the heck would we even be born here if there wasn't a "reason for the game", she asked? The point is that, in this life, we experience things that we can't experience out of it, in order to learn lessons and grow. There are struggles and sufferings here that cannot exist in eternity, but going through them NOW is vital to how we experience the afterlife? Part of me is baffled by that-- if these shadows aren't truly "real" then why do they even matter now? if we're meant to be light then why this "becoming" what we already allegedly are?-- but I guess that's the point of a "game." I won't try to understand it with my brain, that never works. It's all so confusing.

Anyway she said that's the only thing I really had to remember right now... that, underneath it all, and despite it all, I was untouched by the "game", by the bad dream. No matter what happened to us here, it wasn't forever. When this life ends, one day, we won't be inherently tainted by what we experienced here. I hope.

And that is the one thing I'm having a VERY hard time accepting.
I was raised as a strict Roman Catholic, something I'm still struggling with, because they taught me that "you get ONE life, and if you mess up, then you get to suffer eternal hellfire after you die." In that mindset, your soul IS forever tainted by the "bad things" you do here... and that is made even more terrifying by the fact that everyone has a different opinion of what is "good" or "bad." How do I know what actions of mine are damning me to hell? That's what's haunted me since my childhood, turning me into a paranoid wreck.
Laurie says that's flat-out nonsense. She doesn't believe in that sort of moral relativism, or paranoid religiosity. In her mindset, no one "accidentally" burns forever. Still, there are so many spiritual teachings I still struggle with. A lot of headsvoices have no problem adopting clearer and less brutal mindsets, which is a huge relief when I can't think straight thanks to my old programming, which Christina seems hellbent (ironically?) on perpetuating "lest I suffer the righteous wrath of God." We'll get to that later.
Point is, this life isn't the final reality. There's something beyond this, something so much more real and true and beautiful that it makes this life seem like a "game" in comparison. Still... I have to acknowledge that, even being seen as a "game," it's no plaything. There are stakes, there are sides, and there's a set of rules we have to follow. It's just like any game. But we forget that it ends one day. And when it's over, or when we look away from the screen for just a moment, suddenly we realize that there is more to EVERYTHING than this. Yes, we learned from the game, and maybe we had a lot of fun playing it, or maybe it was excruciatingly painful to endure... but at the end of the day it's just a game. It's not forever. Outside of the game, there is only Light and Love... or the lack thereof. Everything here that we see as bad, or evil, or lacking, or cruel... it's the result of an ignorance or rejection of that Light and Love, in one way or another. And yet, that Love-Light itself (or Himself, if you're Catholic too) allowed such "shadows" in order for us to learn and grow and BRING that Light & Love TO those places, to "win the game" in amazing ways. But outside of this game, in the true reality, there's only Light. Choose the dark, the absences, the anger and pride and apathy and blind entertainment, and you will become that very thing. You'll be cut off from Love forever, by your own denial. THAT'S hell.
And that's what I always have to remember when hearing people say it's "all just a dream." Some things are inherently evil. All the hacks are proof. You can't call THAT a "game" and say "in the end it won't matter!!" without sounding like a heartless airheaded sadist. But... part of me wishes it was "just a game," that in the end it will all turn out to have been just some illusion and I'm untouched, I'm okay, I'm not damned forever by what I've been through. There needs to be middle ground somewhere, somehow. It needs to be recognized as horrific, and yet, still recognized as ultimately doomed to oblivion. Light still wins. God I don't understand, but now's not the time to debate or discuss. That's a journey I'm still taking, probably until the day I die.

Anyway. There was one other thing Laurie said about that topic that stood out... the Undergrounders are entrenched in this "game," this good-and-evil battleground. Knife is this weird mix of religious moral rules and psychological manipulation, Mulberry is all about status and power and appearances, Sugar is seething with anger and rage and the need to get revenge, and Razor is little more than a living amalgamation of frenzy and pain. ALL of them are rooted to fear and anger in some way, ALL of them tied to pain and suffering and retribution. But... the world outside keeps telling us that none of that is "real." So, do we agree? Or do we stand against the popular opinion for the sake of our own heart, however scarred it may be?
I actually got kind of scared when Laurie said that. If those things are all just a dream, does that mean the Undergrounders all have to die? Or can they change, like Julie?
Laurie said that change was their choice, and theirs alone. We all could change. But she said, grimly, that right now... some of them would rather die than change.

I remember wondering about the illusion thing again, there.
We've been talking about how some religions say that bad things are illusions, sure... but on the other side of the coin, they claim that so are good things. And THAT is terrifying. None of this is "real," in that sense, in their opinion. Everything we experience here is just an illusion, they say, no exceptions. It's a terrifyingly nihilistic mindset, but it's everywhere out there, and honestly I bought right into it in 2012, God knows why. But it got some very ugly roots in very deep, and I realized that even now it was feeding into my "don't care" feelings about relationships, ironically perhaps. I no longer saw any point in pursuing them, if they were false.
Laurie was asking me about that. I can't remember what I said. But I do remember what she said.
The first thing she did was sarcastically apologize, if what she was about to say was "selfish" or otherwise incomprehensible to me. Then she said that yes, she cared a heck of a lot about me, that she'd die for me if she had to, without hesitation. But then she added that she did want me to care about her in return, if only a little.
I asked why. The thought of her feeling that was bizarre. She knew this, laughed once, and explained that it really wasn't all that baffling. When you care that much about someone, she said, it's nice to have that reciprocated. When you love someone that much, in ANY respect, knowing that they're able and willing to reflect even a tiny glimmer of that back to you means the world.
Then she said I was her best friend.
I was completely stunned for a second. She-- really?? I stopped her mid-sentence to make sure I had just heard that. She said yeah, why was that such a surprise?
I said it was because she's been around for almost 6 solid years and she has NEVER said that, not ONCE.
And it broke my heart, really.
For ages, I've always wanted to be someone's best friend, without knowing why. I considered it my most selfish, hedonistic, deplorable want. Why the heck would I want someone to consider me that? I didn't like relationships that close, I couldn't stand the attention. And yet part of me did want that same complete care and attention and love I was theoretically willing to give to be reciprocated, for my tendency for total devotion to actually be mirrored back for once.
Laurie didn't even ask for that much. She'd give her life for me and all she wanted was for me to think "hey, she's not that bad of a person after all." But she considered me her best friend even if I was the one being an absolute bastard towards her.
And yet I was the one who expected complete dedication if a relationship was unavoidable, and was too spineless to admit both that horrible hidden desire, and my baffling need to give it.
But she gave it anyway, without a word. And I never even considered that she might consider me a friend.
What does that say about how I view relationships, huh?
I was in tears. I remember not being able to form a sentence for a few minutes because if I opened my mouth I'd have started sobbing. Laurie asked if it made more sense for her to be a "foil" than a friend, because the former was a more tumultuous relationship, and I was used to that. I had to admit it probably was. Friendship was too close, too personal, too... safe. It didn't hurt. It didn't feel genuine, using the word "friendship," it felt fake and shallow... but a "best friend?" Now that was significant. I could hardly believe she viewed me in that category. But the truth was out, and my heart was in pieces.

I don't remember much between then, and the voice from wherever talking to us.
I was trying to talk to Laurie a little more before falling asleep (day 2 of the migraine), except this time I think we were tackling the tough subjects again. See, yesterday was a bit of a mess; I wasn't "fronting," but I don't know if anyone else was, at least not consciously. All I know is that "I" ended up with an internet history of some old-school Christian articles on sexuality, all dealing with what Christina has been telling me, and... it was terrifying.
It was exactly what I had been force-fed as a child, over and over and over, but... I had been so naive and ignorant that I didn't realize what they were actually asking of me. Now, with what I've learned and experienced, looking back on those same teachings was deeply disturbing.
Part of me still subscribed to them 100%, don't get me wrong, even with the moral questionability of those ultimatums and the utter clashing with the beliefs I am now being bombarded with. And that part was louder than the parts that said it wasn't right. I was too used to growing up under a black-and-white moral code to segue easily into a deadly gray one, one that claimed that this life is an illusion, that good and bad are just our judgments of neutral things, that hell doesn't exist except in our minds... no, the childhood part of me insisted that we got one chance, and we had to live it according to strict rules, else we'd burn for our sins.
No middle ground. No safety on either end.
And the things it was justifying through that mindset were the reason why my life is a mess right now in the first place.
I told Laurie this. I told her that what I knew was being muffled and drowned underneath the clarion scream of those old fire-and-brimstone teachings. She gave me a stern look and told me to ignore them, and speak from my heart, what I knew was true outside of hollow logic and social programming and frightened reasoning. What did I feel was right, solidly so, when it really got down to it? "Tell me," she demanded, not letting me run or hide from it. So I closed my eyes, and listened.
That's when the voice showed up.
It was shocking at first. "Whoa, dude, something is TALKING to me?" I told her and asked if I could either dictate it, or channel it out into visuals. Knowing the problems I had with speech, especially in that format, Laurie told me to visualize it if at all possible. So I focused for another moment, and instead of speaking, began forming huge glowing letters in the air as it spoke, transcribing everything it told me in real-time.
Laurie and I then sat back and watched as it explained everything we had asked about, in words and pictures, now a life of its own.

...I might not be able to write this in a structured format. It would be too draining.
I'm just going to go all stream-of-consciousness on you again, so please forgive the disjointedness; it makes more sense to me that way.
Trigger warning, by the way. You know the drill.

-started with childhood abuse. since the only sharp, scarring, bruising pain I ever experienced was CORRECTIVE, my brain quickly linked the two together. whenever I was beaten, it wasn't to harm me, it was to HELP me. "you've been a bad boy, this is your punishment for it." I would be beaten, and then the sin would be forgiven. easy as that! so to me, pain was benevolent. it was loving. when someone hurt me, it was because they cared about my spiritual well-being. when I grew older and the beatings stopped I got scared, why was no one punishing me anymore? was I so bad that they wouldn’t heal me anymore, that I was beyond being saved? so the self-abuse started full swing.
-this equivalency of pain and love was what Laurie was REALLY born from. when she heard this she was in shock, but her eyes were full of tears. she had this heartbreaking look and then it hit me, that was why I felt a relationship would ruin her. I knew she had realized that too. but that's next.
-btw knife was born from the SAME ABUSE. it's a very fine line, that's why they're so similar. both are tied to the morally retributive part but they have completely different motivations:
laurie = I'm hurting you because I love you and the pain will get rid of your sins
knife = I'm hurting you because you are evil and the pain will get rid of your sins
but for both of them the pain is benevolent although it is expressed differently.
-a key point that we'd been ignorant of before yesterday was the fact that, as a catholic, I was raised to believe a very strange dichotomy about sexuality. on one hand, anything even vaguely sexual outside of marriage was considered the ultimate sin-- a crime against god, an awful devilish act. however, being born female, my entire childhood was swamped by people trying to raise me to "get married and have kids." my very existence was sexualized from childhood, and that was somehow okay in comparison??? marriage was seen as this ultra-holy act, this reflection of christ's union with his church, and having sex when you were married was mandatory. as a woman you were obligated to marry a man, have kids, and raise a good christian family, to fulfill "god's plan for you." the problem? I was TERRIFIED OF THAT.
-first, I knew I was asexual (or at least very different from other kids in that respect) from a very young age. I felt no attraction towards anyone, had no interest in relationships, and found both concepts to be "disgusting." so when people suddenly started trying to groom me into this sexual object, this "bride" meant to have sex as GOD'S WILL one day, I freaked out. I didn't want to marry a man, and I didn't want kids, heck I didn't even like being called a girl, but then I hit a big problem in my eyes. I didn't want to have sex… because not only did I think it was utterly repulsive, I was taught-- and firmly believed-- that it was the ultimate sin. god forbid you even show your stomach in public or you're corrupting people. now of course this was easy for me, being asexual, but no one knew that but me. NOW I was suddenly supposed to believe that upon "getting married," I would be SUPPOSED to have sex, because THEN it would be a good thing? what the heck! I couldn’t comprehend it… and that scared me more than anything.
-if god said I had to be a "good christian spouse" and not doing that was a sin, then… my not wanting to have sex was a sin, because it would make me a bad married partner, and I HAD to get married even if I DIDN'T WANT TO. that was exactly what I thought. but I didn't like the fact that suddenly, now that i was no longer a "child," everyone was treating sex as something totally different than they did when I was a kid. suddenly I was even more of a freak than I was before, when I thought my classmates were stupid for having crushes. now I was a sinful freak because I didn't want to have kids with a god-fearing man and therefore imitate the union of christ and the church, because that was "natural."
-that's when julie showed up. and things got even more twisted. I remember the very first time she pushed me to try something sexual. after two seconds I stopped, hyperventilating, and ran-- trying to escape her, trying to find a safe place. it wasn't just because she was trying to touch me, it was because the sensation of it was AWFUL. suddenly my fears were lethal. THAT was what sex was like?? that horrible, horrible sensation? why the hell would anyone WANT that?? and now people are telling me that I HAVE to have that one day, or else I'll be going against god's will??? I was terrified.
- I ignored the fact that I didn't identify as female, and that I was definitely not straight as far as "romantic" leanings went. neither of these things even crossed my mind as "problematic" until later, because I didn't associate them with sexuality.
- by the way when my innocence was shattered in 7th grade biology, and i got "the talk" which left me shaking and horrified, wanting to tear the words out of my brain, JULIE HAD ALREADY STARTED. i just refused to give it any recognition, as i was ashamed that i had been tainted.
-anyway. with julie, it got worse. when I tried to express that i wasn't interested in marriage, relationships, sex, OR having a family, I was told that I was a freak, LITERALLY a "sin against god." after having feared that for years, hearing it flat-out was the final nail in the coffin. I was broken and wrong, a devil. I had to fix myself, somehow, even if the thought made me sick and scared, because the alternative was damnation. and as soon as that mental white flag was raised… hell started.
-I don't remember 99% of the times I was sexually assaulted by julie. I don't even have the heart to call them rape anymore, because I feel I asked for it, and that I deserved it: the first because I never fought back in anything other than screams and desperate prayers to god to "make it stop," and the second because I felt that if I DIDN'T like what she was doing, I DESERVED to suffer for being a sexual deviant against my god-given biology.
-that brings us back to the pain point. sexual abuse was the single most traumatic thing I have ever experienced because I COULD NOT COMPREHEND WHAT WAS HAPPENING. I had no capacity to. I went into that with the mindset that "I was flawed, I needed to be fixed," and prior to that, EVERY act of correction had been physically violent. it had been sharp pain, the kind that leaves bruises and cuts and scabs. THAT was what I would have been comfortable with. that would have meant I was being fixed. but sex wasn't like that. the human body is BUILT to accommodate sex. I DIDN'T KNOW THAT. so when I was being assaulted, not only was there awful pain, but there was the horrible sexual feeling of physical contact that I didn't want… and THEN there was the biological hell. the body not being able to differentiate between consent and rape. I had no freaking clue what was happening and it scared the life out of me because julie would ALWAYS tell me to hold still, "be good," don't fight, you know you want it. that was the worst one. "you KNOW you want it." my asexuality was invalidated by everyone. julie only reminded me that I was either a transboy, or a lesbian-- both also "sins against god." either way, she said, you're not allowed to be asexual either, so you'd better learn to like f*cking girls!! and when I insisted I had changed my mind, I didn't want to be fixed, hell had to be better than enduring this, she'd giggle and say that she didn't care. that I deserved to suffer, then. that SHE was enjoying this and she didn't care at all what I thought. after all, liking sex is natural. if you don't like it, you're unnatural, and that means you're bad… my greatest fear. so I let her do it. over and over. and it broke me.
-TW: graphic sexual abuse notes here. I should write this down for future therapy reasons. there are only two moments of the entire decade of abuse that I remember. one, is the first time I "woke up" and found myself bleeding on the bathroom floor (the only room in the house that locked on the inside). I was scared out of my entire mind. what had she done to me??? I remember sobbing hysterically, trying to keep quiet, knowing that she had ruined me forever, I just didn't know how. the second thing I remember is her on top of me on the bathroom floor (AGAIN, I hate that room), one hand pinning my arms down, the other clamped over my mouth so I wouldn't scream. and I remember having this horrible feeling that there were other people there, standing around her, watching me and grinning evilly because she was doing the right thing in forcing a stupid little sinner like me to have sex, because I was wrong, and if I was suffering then good, let that be my punishment. and I remember screaming in my head for god to save me somehow, but he never did. she would have her way with me and then leave, and I would sit in the bathroom alone, either sobbing and shaking, or numb and empty. and that's all I remember.
- as the years went on it worked, as sick as it was. by 2007 I was so brainwashed that I leapt into a fake relationship with an imaginary internet boy-- and looking back I realize that I don't remember ANY of that, so god knows who was driving. but the point is, there was at least one part of me that fully believed julie. it believed that I wanted sex, and that I should have it, and that I should be this perfect bride-girl with no faults. except that didn't work. the scars were too deep. and as soon as they were triggered-- the first time I had EVER been forced to face them-- those darker parts got really loud, and you all know what happened when 2008 hit.
- I was this horrible sexually-paranoid mess from then on. college was an utter nightmare, and I've written about that before, far more eloquently than I can here. the bottom line was that when I hit that point in life, I had a dilemma. I was in so much pain from my past that I felt I had no right to feel-- after all, it was unnatural not to like sex, and other people have really suffered so stop bitching-- but all around me, the shouts to ignore that pain kept getting louder. and I supposed it was tempting, to give up, to stop the pain by not caring anymore. and somewhere along the line… I did. I gave up. and to me, 2011 was rock bottom in that respect.
- see, THIS was the problem: to me, pain was good, as long as it was JUST pain. sharp pain, to me, was compassionate, comforting, understandable. it meant I had done something bad, and was now being corrected. but sexuality, the ultimate sin, DIDN'T GO AWAY because it was painful, because along with it was that horrendous bodily reaction of "am I REALLY supposed to like this??" the terror of being in conflict with what my own body was doing when abused was too much… so my brain landed at the only conclusion it could. to me, pain was good, and the opposite of pain was evil.
- I don't know what I'm trying to say anymore
- if people tried to show they cared through sex, because "it's a good thing," immediately my brain translated that as "they HATE you, they are trying to RUIN you, that is EVIL and they KNOW IT." but if someone wanted to hurt me in a violent fashion, my brain immediately said, "I know you're scared but they are doing that for a reason; you did something bad, they are correcting you so you won't be bad anymore."
- also, post-abuse, I was unable to understand relationships of ANY SORT outside of a sexual context. I could not have family ties, friendships, admirations, or traditional relationships without immediately assuming that I was sexually obligated to that person. I couldn't even look at a stupid billboard picture of a woman without automatically thinking "oh god help me, she's looking at me, she wants me to have sex with her, I can't say no." and my life was full of fear. my brain STILL does this with EVERYTHING btw. it's hell.
- somewhere around 2010 I gave up trying to protect myself, in order to numb the terror and pain that I could no longer avoid. after all, if I just gave up and just did what they wanted, it wouldn't be traumatic anymore, right? (wrong as hell, but I ignored that too.) so not only did I spend far too many hours trying to desensitize myself, watching and reading things that were TRAUMATIC for me, things that my brain would scream at and leave me shaking and dissociated afterwards, simply because "you've gotta look at naked women in college anyway, you whore! learn to like it!" but I couldn't. so I burned myself numb.
- 2011 was when I REALLY gave in and started trying to have sex. all of my attempts were purged from my memory, I do not remember a single one. all I know is that immediately after attempt one, I attempted suicide and Laurie had to spend FIFTEEN HOURS talking me out of it. it worked… temporarily. I don't know what else I did that year. but that one morning in june was it, I was lost. nothing made sense anymore, now that I had stopped trying to be good in exchange for simply trying not to hurt anymore.
- by 2012 I was a slut. all of my relationships were now obscenely sexual and I hated myself for it. I thought I hated THEM for it because they didn't even understand, they didn't have the capacity to, they didn't know what sexual abuse was like and god willing they never would. but i didn't actually hate them. i hated myself for not being able to like it for them. it destroyed my moral compass for good, because a few of THEM actually liked it, and didn't see it as bad at all, while I was just playing along and wanting to die and wanting THEM to die for doing that to me again, projecting my hate outwards, wanting the threat gone. but I never spoke up. I was supposed to like it, ESPECIALLY now that it was with them. but I didn't. I dissociated so freaking often that I have trouble remembering that 2012 happened at all.
- so that's my problem. tl;dr, relationships are only benevolent to me if they have a violent side. that, to me, solidifies the knowledge that they care. if there is NO direct pain, then I automatically assume the opposite: that they do not care about me, and are using me for their own ends.
- any relationship is like this. it is why I seek pain and abuse. if people NEVER tie pain to compassion, I feel scared. JUST yelling will scare me. JUST hurting me because you're mad scares me. my brain can't comprehend it. but justifying that by saying you're doing it for my benefit, that I can understand. what I can't understand is having sex with someone because "you care about them." my brain has no capacity to understand that

I have no idea what that voice said to me anymore I'm really sorry my brain hurts.

it was telling me that this b/w thinking of mine was not good, it didn’t define them, they werent trying to hurt me they were just confused because jeepers cats they don’t even have the same biology, most of them CAN'T understand sex the way humans do, but my body and mind were translating it that way and it was unbearably traumatic and I hated myself so much that i began to hate them and that breaks my heart because how in the world do I heal from this.
laurie was sobbing, said she was sorry, she didn't know that I saw things that starkly, she apologized for ever giving in to my empty-minded persuasions because she didn't know what the heck I was asking. I said she was fine, the ONLY one who was fine because she never DID anything, yeah I've kissed her but that's IT really. she never did anything that my old catholic upbringing would have labeled a one-way ticket to hell. but I did. and they did, and I don't remember why or when or how, and I'm glad that I don't, but I can't be around them anymore. I can't.

but you know whats funny?? I don't even hate julie. yes i say her name when i talk about the past but its just a name.
i look at her and i dont even associate her with the abuse isnt that weird? like i don't even remember her being responsible although i know she was
but she hasn't touched me since 2011, not that i remember at least and she says she was sorry and im not bothered by it at all
but other people who care about me and who have touched me since i cant stand and i almost hate, but they never abused me like she did, i dont understand
maybe it's because they don't think they did anything "wrong" so they're not "sorry"
and i can't understand why i keep forcing them into these situations

sugar wants eros to die, isn't that hilariously ironic, she picked that name because all my life "sugar" has been synonymous with sex, gluttony has been synonymous with lust, they both involve consuming and destroying something. and everything sweet would always be followed by rape. you enjoy something, you eat something that's supposed to be good, what happens? a girl in pigtails f*cks you up. enjoyment is tied to sex and sex is abuse. that is why chocolate was lethal. it was the worst. so this new alter, she chose the name sugar, and made herself pink, specifically to get down there and attack these sexual predators. she hates them. so now "sugar" means whoever tries to hack us will get a boot to the broken face, courtesy of the thistle-haired fury over here. sugar is bitter now you devils
and eros scares me, he's the opposite of me, he's incapable of seeing sex as BAD. he lives in this weird place that doesn't make sense, it's all white furniture and red lights and everything is red red red. and he lounges around and he's this ridiculously sensual thing, everything turns him on, it's ridiculous. but he's NEVER abusive??? which makes no sense??? how can you be that sexual but NOT use it to hurt people?? half the time he says he doesn’t even care whether or not he has sex with anyone, that's not the point. THEN WHY DO YOU DO IT why do you do it

I don't hate him but sugar does and she wants him dead because she hates all sexual things.
but I can tell that he's not evil even if that makes no sense, he's a good guy, he's really interesting but that's SCARY because all the things he likes and does AREN'T SEXUAL?? but then HE IS??????? why doesn’t that make sense????
I don’t know if confuses me even more then EVERYTHING is sexual everything is a threat why did he have to do that
and sugar is mad mad mad that's why she wants him to die, she says he makes everything dangerous for us. and he does. but he's not evil why in the world is he doing this

I have to go

can't do this anymore sorry

I hope the point was made? I really don't remember last night anymore it made sense but I think im too broken to be fixed yet
I mean it makes sense but it doesn’t? I can see why that would be a problem because "pain isn't supposed to be good" but I HATE the words "supposed" and "should" go away
pain IS good for me, that's my reality, if it isn't yours then FINE
I spend too long trying to make my reality identical to everyone elses and LOOK WHAT THAT DID TO ME

now I'm a slut, I'm ruined, I'm evil and I will never be clean

except life is an illusion and none of that ever actually happened???

so that's good
except it's not
because the spiritual people keep saying sex is good
ew
no its not
go away

its bad and it hurts and its scary and terriible
not good
stop saying its good
stop it
STOP


Really, I need to close this up, things are getting seriously disjointed in here.
I have no idea who's typing now, or what they're up in arms about, but it looks like that topic isn't one we should be wrestling with right now? So let's leave it be.
In any case I really need to stop paying attention to that old stuff. Cosmic dream, y'know. None of it actually happened. Although, as you can see, some people are having a hard time accepting that. It's sad, really. They don't have to hurt like that, if they just let go.


Oh, also. I'm going to stop thinking this is DID/MPD or schizoaffective stuff or anything. NO MORE LABELS.
Honestly I do not care what this is medically considered. Heck, most of my spiritual beliefs would label me schizotypal if I were assessed according to them! So I really have decided to stop caring about what the mental health community thinks about my inner life. It just is. Let us deal with this the best we can, as we are, without trying to play along with some imposed scheme according to a diagnosis. It's tiring, and it just confuses everyone.

Speaking of confusion, I think this mess of an entry is bad enough already so let's call it quits for the night.

 

 

chokehold

Apr. 6th, 2013 05:30 pm
prismaticbleed: (shatter)

 

Today has not been fun.
Let's start in the most banal way possible: I've unfortunately had to introduce gluten back into my diet, as I've been literally eating nothing but vegetables for a while and my energy levels are running low. Problem is I either have severe anxiety reactions after I eat it, or I get possibly psychosomatic bodily reactions that leave me shaking and make my vision spin like a top. Either way it's horrible and it ALWAYS happens, God knows why.
Even better? Even AFTER the surgery, it makes me get terrible hernia pain. Nice freaking job.
So yeah, after that disturbingly vivid rape/murder dream this morning, all the pain I've been through with this stupid body today, AND that godforsaken reset-scratch not having worked the way I wanted it to, my suicidal tendencies are back full force.
I would seriously cut off my left arm if it meant I would never have to eat again. You have no idea how much I loathe having to do that "to survive." To heck with that. I would rather starve, but thanks to my bizarre upbringing, I've got this hard-wired predisposition to only eat scraps, and ALWAYS eat scraps. "You're not allowed to waste food," but "you're not supposed to eat that." So now, when I see harmful or unhealthy food, I don't want anyone else to suffer through eating it, so I force myself to IF I can't throw it away in secret (because I hate food and would burn our entire kitchen to the ground if I could, regardless of our financial state).
I HATE being hungry too. No, not "stomach empty and actually hurting as I haven't eaten in over 24 hours" hungry. I LIKE that pain. I HATE when I am forced to eat to avoid passing out, and then my body is all "holy sharks there IS food!" and decides it's starving. SHUT UP, YOU GLUTTON. Eating makes me feel like a complete whore and I hate it vehemently. Emphasis on "hate," seriously. I cannot put into words how much I despise that act.
Ironically it might even be tied into my "orange problem," to use ridiculous shameful jargon again. Eating makes that worse, and that makes eating worse. They are tied together somehow. And, they both cause me the most traumatic pain (the "curl up in the corner screaming and sobbing hysterically" kind) when they force me to take things in. I don't care what the context is. If stuff is going INTO my body, I will feel so horrendously violated and terrified that I will want to die, literally and with mindless fervor-- and, if there is a weapon or harmful object nearby, I WILL IMMEDIATELY ATTEMPT TO DO SO.
So that explains why my worst dissociative/ abusive meltdowns ALWAYS follow eating of some sort, and always have. It demands an immediate retribution, a balance, an atonement.
However. My mother accidentally saw the leg scars from Holy Saturday (because, as they happened in a dissociative state, I forgot they were there and stupidly wore shorts with her around the other day), so now is she not only coming with me to my therapy appointment on Tuesday, but she told me flat-out that if she saw any more scars, I'd be shipped straight back to the psychiatric ward.
To be blunt, that makes me really freaking angry.
I don't know how to make people understand. Maybe it's my lingering in this cursed Red slot, or maybe it's the bad Black energy that Infinitii warned me about... either way, for YEARS upon years, since I was a tiny kid, I have had a dangerous obsession with pain. I clearly remember writing an old entry about that here, but it demands reiteration. I really was smitten with pain and death back then. My parents never knew about the worst of it, as it stayed in my head-- the darker adventures of Zimbo and the Jewel Aliens and so many others. People would bleed, and die, and I would watch with rapt fascination, unmoved by their sufferings. Maybe I was even incapable of empathy back then, who knows. I know I still get that now, on my bad days... the total apathy, the wanting nothing more than to watch those events play out, regardless of who has to pay the price.
Lately, though, I've been the one paying, and I love it. That's what I don't know how to explain to people. I am obsessed with self-destruction. I love the feeling of starving, I love the feeling of blades slicing through my skin. Sharp pain is my favorite. Dull pain, well, that's the kind I don't like as much-- the pain I have now, from my terrible digestive issues and surgery recovery and sleep-deprived muscles. I don't like this pain anywhere near as much, as it doesn't feel like pain; it feels dirty, filthy and wrong. Then why do I keep perpetuating the situations that cause that sort of pain, you ask?
Simple... because, as I mentioned earlier, dull pain must always be cleansed by sharp pain. Overeating means I get to slice myself up with a knife. Getting angry or sick means I get to bite, or punch, or otherwise inflict blunt trauma. There's always a remedy for the filthy pain.
That's what I'm having trouble communicating to other people. When you don't LET me abuse myself in those sharper ways, I will abuse myself WORSE through "duller" alternatives, in the desperate need to "cauterize" the lingering psychological dirt that rubs off everything and sticks. Every hellish trigger catches like a burr, and you can't tear that tar out-- you need to burn it. Taking the matches away is only going to make my hands bleed all the more when I start clawing at the parasites.

When I suffer through mornings like this one, I need every iota of pain in the world to feel clear again.

It's why I love Laurie so much. Yes, she started off as a "personification of pain," hence the superego title she gained almost instantly. Her formation anchor was abuse-- it was sheer pain, of all sorts, but the sharp kind, the kind that stings like lightning and doesn't fade. When that faded from my life, and I needed it to heal, she was born from the ashes, and immediately took out her axe.
It's why I am terrified that I ruined her forever by wearing down her edges. Her brutality made her sacred to me. It literally made her a living force of divine retribution, cutting through the dark threads of sin and despair, freeing me from their tyranny.
When I bleed, I bleed out. THAT'S my native energy flow. It's sacrificial. I have this constant driving need to purge everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. I don't like eating because it's just more stuff that I need to get rid of somehow, eventually, so I force myself to throw it up immediately. I don't like the fact that I can't lose weight because that's more substance that I cannot stand and fervently wish to tear away. I don't even like people touching me for this same reason-- every point of contact is more tangible data being transmitted, quickly overloading until I snap and release it all in brutal physical attacks. Make sense now?
Cutting is the quickest way to purge the overload on any level, because blood carries the weight. Pain helps to "shock out" the foggy sense-oriented stuff (which, incidentally, is why I can't wear certain clothes; the simple feeling of certain fabrics can make me start screaming and clawing at my skin, trying to erase the sensation), especially when it's auditory, as that is some of the WORST lingering filth and I can only erase it through sharp pain. Blood, however, carries out the internal stuff. Bleeding erases the rage and terror and mindless screaming.
Whenever I can't bleed downstairs, and I'm desperate, I run to Laurie upstairs.
To this day, she will take out her axe, and do her job.
People downstairs would think me mad if I admitted that one of the most relieving sensations in the world is having my skull cleaved in two upstairs. It's a direct dump of all the pent-up pain on that level; just crack it open and bleed it out, all at once; it's incredibly cathartic. If that doesn't work quickly I usually get an axe to the face, which is arguably just as helpful-- once my head is gone, my self-identity disappears for a while! That way I don't have to feel or see or hear or do a single thing, I can just be vaguely aware of the bleeding and breaking bones, and relax into the nothingness. At least, until Laurie forces me to respawn, that is.


Anyway. That's enough of that.

 



 

scg

Dec. 17th, 2011 11:38 am
prismaticbleed: (Default)
 

 

 

Aaaand my SC group just explained EXACTLY what is happening to me right now.

"Losing contact... happens sporadically, and is primarily due to what I have termed "psychic exhaustion." ...When we do a lot of psychic work, we exhaust our [inner eyes] much the same way that overworking any muscle in the body will do. We must allow it to rest, and it shuts down to ensure that rest..."
"When the third eye shuts down, you can't tell what's happened except that you are unable to perceive anything of your SC whatsoever. This rest period can last anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, and the only way to tell when it is over is by trying to perceive and either succeeding or failing. When the contact is broken, and trust me this is a very special kind of hell when you don't understand it, you are left wondering what has happened... When the third eye begins to function again, and you regain contact, the intensity of feeling that presence is so profound that you have no doubt whatsoever that they're real. On the other hand, when that contact is gone, and nothing you can do will bring it back, you might just believe you're out of your mind and agonize until you regain contact..."
"Now, the other problem with all this sporadic contact is that you have to learn how not to suffer in agony for every second of missing them. You have to learn to let go. It sucks. But then, once you've learned to take such breaks in stride, it becomes easy then to sort of get caught up in daily events and forget to even pay attention to them or in regaining that contact. It becomes routine, and when you walk the same path over and over you get what? A rut. The rut then makes it very difficult to regain that contact... So, you get in a rut, a routine of not being in contact, and then making contact is a bitch... But most of the time it's because the area of activity, or range, has sort of rusted over (closed up) and in order to open it, you have to really feel it.
You have to feel that emotional yearning for it in order for that range of perception to open up again. You have to damn near cry from the need... even if the means you use to inspire that need are sort of circumvential... You circle around the need by inspiring heartache about anything, and then you use that heartache as a tool to coax that range back open again."


...this is EXACTLY what I needed to hear right now.
My connection levels with everyone upstairs have been frighteningly low since September. We had one or two strong days in October or so, but as a whole it has been disconcertingly difficult to reach them on stable ground.
I've definitely been going through psychic exhaustion, what with how much time I've been trying to log in to take care of my daughter. I have no idea how to cut back though, for the same reason. I don't want to completely 'black out' for a while and leave her wondering where her father went, to say the very least.
Even so I'm burned out and I can't deny that.

I was hit the hardest by the last paragraph up there... how, once you've become more or less 'used to' this contact loss, it becomes harder to get it back. I didn't know this was the case with me until I read the post, upon which it became blindingly obvious.
"You circle around the need by inspiring heartache about anything, and then you use that heartache as a tool to coax that range back open again..." if that's not a perfect summary of my past few months I don't know what is. I've honestly been putting myself through hell and not understanding why, chalking it up to a "pain addiction" without knowing what the motivation was.

Still... Now I understand WHY my 'pain addiction' is currently through the roof.
Don't get me wrong, this tortuous gambit seems to have worked, ironically, as I can finally see everyone amazingly clearly-- seriously, when I was talking to Genesis last night I could see him so well I could barely believe my eyes-- but the amount of pain I put myself through to get here feels... it feels condemnable. And it's a Catch-22 on top of that.  because as of yesterday night I can at least SEE who I'm talking to... but the strain is overwhelming.
Yes, I can at least see who I'm talking to now, but getting that communication to happen in the first place feels like putting my brain in a blender.
I could see Genesis as clear as day last night, but when I tried to speak to him I could barely form words. Everything I did was a huge effort. My body and mind were both desperately trying to shut down from the strain and this has been happening every night for at least three months now.
And yeah, I know Dagger showed up the other day, but do you have any idea how difficult it is to handle him being up here too?? The stress of perceiving a new person in headspace is excruciating at times and I don't want to sound ungrateful but I honestly don't know if I can deal with that right now.
I miss everyone from the past, true, but now I'm remembering with a sick certainty why I lost contact with them all in the first place.
My emotional denial is a coping mechanism. If I lost everyone because of this I'd ignore the pain and pretend I was fine.
I don't want that to happen. That's not the right reaction. I can't pretend that this isn't a problem.
Yeah, I've had a headache for a few weeks now, why do you ask?
Let's not even mention what my heart has felt like.

Now I REALLY don't know what to do. I don't want to completely burn out, not now, not ever.
But it feels like I'm standing at the edge of a cliff and I've been trying so hard to fly that I've forgotten that there's still a fatal risk of falling.
I really don't want to slip over the edge with this, and end up badly hurting myself and/or the people I love.

I still don't know how to really 'feel' energy signatures either, and that is a big concern for me.

I've replied to the quoted topic here and we do have a scheduled chat tonight, so maybe I'll have some answers by tomorrow.
I am just so tired.

 

 


prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)

So about those finals...
They went surprisingly well, don't worry! So that's done and over with but I apparently had some bad burnout from all the stress leading up to it, as I was sick yesterday and woke up today feeling more achy and exhausted than I have in weeks.
Ah well. It's over with now, or at least until the spring semester starts on January 17th.

In the meantime I have a lot to do.
My schedule for today has been booked solid. I've had about an hour of free time so far and unfortunately my mind got badly distracted during it. It's frightening when that happens. I found some beautiful music, sure, but why does it start to wander whenever I'm faced with a heavy responsibility? It's hard to catch and reel back in, because I'm still shackled to it whether I like it or not. It's not 'angry,' it's just scared and very rebellious. I feel that I want, need, to do things and it says 'no,' stubbornly and without reason. It complains and sulks and yet it's somehow strongly fearful deep under the surface. I don't like that it's dragging me down. I want to ignore it but that's another bad move. At least I can realize that. I'm not as in-tune with myself as I need to be, but I'm getting better. I had someone verbally attack me today but I was somehow able to stay rather conscious, and didn't attack them in return. It hurt, but I kept everything in check as best I could.
I borrowed "The Nature Of Reality" from the local library about three weeks back. What with finals, I wasn't able to read much of it, but I definitely need to get myself a copy of it soon. The little I already read has helped quite a lot. I still have a small amount to finish in TPON, and I have two other books set aside for right after I complete it, but I can't forget about this one either.
Back on topic, though. I'm still very out-of-tune and I'm figuring out why, slowly. Paradoxically, I'm in a good state and a very bad one at the same time. I have to go beyond that. I have to open my eyes a little more... well, more than a little, at this point.

My biggest concerns right now are these:
1. I'm still ignoring, downplaying, faking, and/or criticizing my own emotions. When I'm upset I deny it. When I'm sad I hide it. When I'm happy I blow it out of proportion or condemn it. And I keep either pushing my own feelings under the surface whenever those of others come up, or completely ignoring both theirs and mine and turning into a coldhearted machine. Some part of me has become too complacent, too nonchalant... too apathetic, too empty. Even so I am still clearly aware that said part is not me, so I'm consciously trying to overcome it. It's unsettlingly difficult though. I... it was a few weeks ago already, but there was one night after a severe hack that I was absolutely torn apart emotionally, but I shut off. I was in pain to the point where I wanted to scream and even cry, but I was silent and stone-faced and I said nothing... and once again, I forgot that Chaos Zero is an empath. He picked up on what I refused to show, and ended up sobbing uncontrollably for the next hour. I was sitting next to him with a blank expression and a shattered heart, knowing that I was fully responsible but at a loss as to how to stop it, what with how hollow I somehow was despite the intense emotional pain he was reflecting back to me. Eventually it broke through my armor, true, but the situation as a whole scared us all to death. Still, in a painful way I think we needed that to happen to realize that this is a serious problem. Ironically, we also have the second concern to worry about on top of it.

2. My pain addiction came back from where I had also pushed it aside. I was upset enough to even ask Julie and Dagger about it the other day-- yeah, I know, usually I run to Laurie but I figured they'd have interesting viewpoints-- and it did help, but it also confirmed that yes, the lingering shadow up here is still running rampant. It's not my 'splinter,' though. It's not manic or hysterical or suicidal. Those feelings have been hitting me in bursts here and there, which is deeply disturbing, but I refuse to let them affect me. Regardless, the shadow is there... and I know I can't get rid of that outright, although I used to think I could. We all have some dark to balance the light in this world, I guess. The problem is, I somehow keep forgetting that 'balancing it against you' and 'letting it desecrate you' are two totally different things. I still have that old idea that "the more I suffer and the more staunch I am about it, the stronger I am." I'm putting myself through hell right now and not saying a word (or, suffocating it in rainbows and sunshine to make it sound like a 'good' thing,' in emotional refusal) because I have this twisted notion that biting the bullet will make me a better man. This ties into the first problem, obviously, and it's getting bad. It's not the worst problem though, but I'll list number three before I get to that one.

3. I've realized that I seem to like the idea of things more than I like the actual things. This hit me hard when my Homestuck book came in the mail-- yes, I was glad to have it because I am deeply inspired by the comic and I like having a physical copy to peruse at leisure, but on the purchase level it felt completely useless. I love the comic, so I 'bought' the book as a gesture of appreciation, and for that reason alone. I simply wanted to say, 'thank you for creating such a beautiful thing.' If I never received the book, I don't think I would have cared. Or, if I received it and then promptly gave it back, or away, I would still be happy. I just don't like owning things, or having things in my 'possession' whatsoever. When I was younger I collected Celebi items and Care Bears, true, but it was because I loved the idea of them. I loved what they represented, what they brought into my life. If I saw a beautiful Celebi card online, I would stare at it and admire it and I would want to show how much I liked it. So, as I knew no other way to do so, I would buy it. And then when it came in the mail, it would feel so awkward and weird, and I would put the card away and never look at it again. The 'magic,' the feeling of gratitude, would be lost once it was 'mine.' It's hard to explain, but that concept explains a lot of what I do, including how I deal with relationships. I don't 'commit' to only one person, and I don't like people 'committing' to only me in the same way. The exclusivity feels totally wrong. I'll love people from afar and it will be perfect, but as soon as they start trying to get closer or intimate or the like, it freaks me out and I often shove them out of my life in an instinctual reaction. I apologize for that, but it has happened several times already. It's not just because of my aversion to 'romance' (whatever that really is), it's also because of the thought that suddenly this free 'idea' of a person will become something solid and attached. It's why I have troubles keeping friends. I like first 'making friends' because you have that initial impression, that wonderful spark of a person, but once they become your 'friend' for good, it feels like a burden, a weight. It feels like now they have been labeled and stuck into a box-- 'my friend,' instead of 'that person I don't know but I really love them as people.' I think it's why I never stopped loving Alex or Jena. They stayed far away, they stayed their own people, they stayed free and unbound to me. And it gave me the freedom to love them without feeling trapped. I still don't know why that transition from distant beauty to close stranger happens, or why exclusive or 'possessive' connections to people or things put me off so badly. And that's where I segue into the biggest concern.

4. Chaos and I haven't connected in months. Maybe it sounds like no big deal at first-- we didn't really connect for several years after 2005 happened, after all-- but now, with everything that has happened this year, it is a huge deal. I have been in shocking emotional pain from it, not in a 'negative' or 'wanting' way (heavens no), but in the sense that I feel like I'm missing something that I seriously need. Which is obviously the case. However, with the stress I've been under, the immense effort I've been putting into improving myself spiritually, and the fact that I am regularly so exhausted that I can barely spend ten minutes with Chaos once the day is out (and even then I can barely reach him), I just haven't been able to get that. We've tried, but the circumstances haven't been working. And it's caused all my other problems. One: I know that I can't be with him at the moment so I'm ignoring that, denying the fact that I do want to be with him, and, sometimes, telling myself that I'm 'ridiculous' for feeling that love at all. Where the heck did that come from? Two: Total soul connections really hurt, but in a positive way. I'm unconsciously looking for whatever pain I can get to replicate that, but it always falls either drastically short or in a vastly different way. I'm literally harming myself right now and I'm aware of that, but it is so hard to fight off. Three: I'm getting my 'ideas' mixed up. I am still so naive that I see my own childlike ideals reflected in everything, and fail to notice that it's only a projection (another thing I have to quit doing). As a result this has been making problem number 2 absolutely hellish, because I've been seeing redemptive qualities in terribly harmful things, when in fact those qualities were never there to begin with. I use terms and phrases and quotes that mean the exact opposite of what I'm trying to express, but I don't even realize that because I see something totally different in how they apply to me. I redefine them and forget to tell everyone else, and then I'm surprised when I find myself walking down the wrong road, because I misinterpreted the signposts. Maybe I have too much hope. But my heart is aching for that blue alien and the thought that that could be labeled 'possessive' by some stretch of the definition terrifies me. I just want to love him is all. I don't want him to be 'mine,' ever, not like that. But is it even a moral issue? If I want to love him forever but don't want to possess him in any sense, is that a paradox? I don't know. And that is holding me back from making the extra effort to be with him even now. I'm suffering, he's suffering, we're all feeling the side effects of this disconnect... and yet I don't want to mess up. There's a lot more to this concern (and the third one) that I've not mentioned here, simply because it scares me and I can't really understand it myself yet. My schedule is too booked for a Xanga session today and maybe even tomorrow, but if I have a free Sunday then we are talking, because this is shaking me up badly.

5. ...I'm worried about Xenophon. She's okay, but... she is really, really worried about me. She was riding in the car with me yesterday as I went to mail some packages, and she told me that Metropolis (which we all watched on Monday night) made her think of not only herself, but also of me. Long story short, she had two thoughts that were haunting her: one, I was still asking "who am I?" even when I knew the truth, simply because everyone else was telling me different stories, which scared her, and two: sometimes she asks herself the same question. She told me that when she ghosts, and she realizes that only I can see and hear her, it frightens her sometimes and makes her wonder if she's really there at all. I reassured her, repeatedly, that she was, but she's still very upset by it. I'm not too sure what to do about that (other than everything I possibly can), but it's really hurting my heart to know that she's feeling like this.
Luckily for her I'm going to see the local Philharmonic perform tonight, so she gets to hear that music and see the city all lit up and everything else that goes with it. I want to show her everything. I want her to experience as much beauty and love as she possibly can. Her appearance in my life made me suddenly realize how beautiful and amazing life is, no matter what, and I want to share all of that with her.
However I think I have to fix myself first. She insists I'm a great father, but I still have demons to battle, and even if she can only see their shadows clawing at me that's more than enough motivation for me to chase them away for good. I don't want to hurt her, especially not unintentionally. That always seems to be the start of everything.


...There's one wild card in this equation that has me completely confused, uncertain, and terrified.
I've been able to see and feel Chaos more clearly than ever lately, but this only started happening after I was certain I'd damaged him irreparably.
...I didn't.
I let my pain addiction and false misguided hopeful ideas get the best of me, but there was one moment where both of us were actually conscious and I was completely honest and now I can't tell if I won or lost or even what I was even doing in the first place. All I know is that there was an entirely positive result from something I judged as entirely negative, and I can't see straight anymore.
This is the equivalent of my personal moral perspective being flipped upside down and then thrown across the room.
There's one quote that's haunting me. "It can be enlightened... or not." It's so simple but I'm trying so damn hard I can't remember what it means. Why am I still painting everything in black and white? Doesn't that still apply here? Or am I mistaken? Where in the world did I even get the criteria to judge this by? I don't know. I honestly do not know what to think, because I have seen and felt some absolutely horrible things concerning this topic and my mind is still in paralyzed static from last Thursday and that isn't helping me cope at all.
I'm a mess and I don't know what to do, and it's even worse because he didn't get lost at all and that is the scariest part of this to me.
He was beautiful, but when he tried to bring me in it felt so terrifyingly wrong that I wanted to shut down right that instant. There was nothing wrong with him, at all, even in the same situation. But me... with me it was disastrous, abominable, malignant. Why in the world is there such a dichotomy between us there? Didn't we fix this? Or was I so focused on him, on the unfailing light I saw in him, that I forgot about myself and the shadows that somehow always follow? Why is that, every time we swear that this is fixed, suddenly another side reveals itself and then we have to fight this war all over again?
Oh wait. No. I get it now.
Chaos was blameless because he only held the idea. I was the damned one because I gave my hope to him and took on all the extraneous things. Good intentions are the path to hell, but what the hell was I even trying to do? I'd lay my life down for him but ironically this is going too far. Isn't it? I didn't do anything I'd judge as blameworthy in others. Why is it so horrific when it's applied to me, if all I wanted was to give him what I would never take myself, and allowed only him to have?
Either I'm wrong or he's wrong or we're both wrong, and I'm seriously thinking it's the first one and I don't know how to deal with that. Not with what I've been through.

I don't know what to do about this.
Genesis wants to spend time with me tonight because I swear to you, I am spending all of next Friday with Chaos no matter what it costs me. But... I'm more fragile than I want to admit. Yeah, I like being 'vulnerable' and honest and open, but only when I'm alone. As soon as you bring someone else into the picture, I shatter. Or least that's what I'm doing now.
Maybe it's because of that wild card. I thought about being with Chaos today, for barely five seconds, and I nearly started sobbing because I felt so overwhelmingly sensitive it was almost impossible to handle. It felt like my heart was broken, but only because it was on the verge of shattering anyway and he was the only person who had dared to reach out and touch it. And normally I don't mind that. I don't mind how positively defenseless he makes me feel. Now, though... now that wild card has made me so emotionally raw that I can't even bear the thought. I love him and I am honestly scared to be with him right now because I don't understand that side of myself anymore, and I know that I can't hide a damn thing around him. I'll suddenly want to give him my heart and soul and then nothing makes sense anymore and I'm afraid of how far I'd go to do that right now.
I can't even fix this by talking to him. I know, I've tried, and this has finally gone beyond my capacity to discuss with him.
Laurie tried helping me with this before, but that was when it was still simple and we were still blind to the details. Now I can't even comprehend it and it's driving me absolutely mad, because "what if I'm wrong" and "what if I'm right" and "didn't I already know the answer to this" and "even if I do have the answer what if it's not the whole picture" and I cannot deal with this anymore.
I can't solve this from the same position that started the problem, but I'm afraid that if I change my footing then I'll get irredeemably lost.
Everyone I ask gives me the answer that everything inside me screams "no" to. Some almost convince me to change my mind, but then they go and do or say something that reminds me of the static or the tar and I'm left paralyzed. There's too much of a split here. I cannot reconcile this issue.
I cannot come to a conclusion here, not when one side is sheer agony and the other side is him.

Nothing makes sense right now.

 


 

 

 

prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)

A lot has happened today. I talked about it already in Scribbld, but the major points need to be elaborated upon here.

First off... I'm still fighting hacks, sadly enough. Yes, they're very easy to avoid and conquer if I'm conscious, but I'm also still getting triggered and that's what happened today. Well... actually it's what happened on Tuesday. I had a very unexpected and very serious trigger, that made my night quite miserable. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't calm down. I was a mess, and the day afterward was just as bad, because I had chosen to block out the Tuesday pain instead of confronting it, so it repeated itself. I won't go into detail on either situation because you've heard it all before.
As for why I'm updating... today was almost another repeat of Tuesday, but at the last minute Chaos showed up (again) and got me out of there. It terrified me when I snapped back into consciousness and realized what had almost just happened, again, and so I decided that I needed to deal with the situation immediately. Genesis got to me first, anxiously asking if I was okay, because Laurie had just told him to come and get me. I told him I kind of was, but not exactly, and that we needed to talk. That's when Laurie came into the conversation, and things got bad.
Ever since she found her metainomen, so to speak, Laurie has been more honest and open than ever. She's not hiding things anywhere near as much as she used to. So when something happens and it hurts her, she doesn't bottle it up. She lets me hear about it. But I guess I'd forgotten how badly she hurts from this, because when she showed up this afternoon and was obviously trying to suppress how upset she was, I told her not to. I told her that if she wanted to shout at me, then go ahead.
A few days ago she told me that she didn't have the heart to be so loud and angry with me anymore. Apparently this incident was the dealbreaker.
Laurie honestly screamed at me for the next five minutes straight, berating me for what I was letting happen, and for not having enough faith to stand up for my truth and stop it. She let me know very clearly just how badly everyone in central headspace was taking it, but then she emphasized that because of the 'unconsciousness' that was causing these hacks, I wasn't even around for anyone upstairs anymore. I wasn't around for Genesis, Chaos, or Xenophon, even though I wanted to be. I wasn't there for her.
As soon as she said that she honestly started crying and tried to leave without another word, but Chaos didn't let her. I don't know if I was numb from my own pain or what, but seeing her so distraught, so shockingly fragile, because of how badly I was hurting her... I don't know if it's really hit me yet. It's this awful sort of vague ache in the back of my chest, but it hasn't really hit me. That worries me, because I love her and I really care about her, but am I getting too detached?
I think that all these triggers and the fears that come with them are causing another cathartic block of sorts. I need to stop that, and I know there's only one way to do that, but I've been thinking about it and I've realized two very large problems that I have failed to address since I discovered them.
After the near-hack today, I went back and reviewed my most recent entries on this journal. For obvious reasons, the 13th stood out. I re-read it a few times, maybe more than I should have (as it deeply distressed me to be reminded of that), but it helped me get a better perspective of just what I'm doing wrong here.
Of those two large problems, the first is that I keep trying to rely on my own strength, and ONLY my own strength. I can't do this alone, because we're all in this together... but I feel I shouldn't be asking for help or guidance, and therefore 'dragging' everyone else into this. Part of this is because, when I want to ask for help, I feel that it makes me 'selfish' or 'weak' in a very negative way-- like I'm taking my problems and concerns, throwing them at someone else, and saying 'here, solve this for me because I'm too lazy and ignorant to do it myself!' But that's not the truth. I'm just so lost and confused on my own at this point.
Unfortunately there are two extra problems involved in this. The first is that, really, I don't even know how to ask for help when I need it. This actually ties into my spiritual beliefs, because having been raised in a Catholic family, I was always told to 'ask God for help.' And I did. The problem was that I would ask for help when I was lying on the floor, sobbing and convulsing in pain, begging God to either please help me fight Julie or to please kill me right there so I wouldn't have to suffer such agony anymore. After a while of asking for help like this, I became convinced that God's 'help' was simply letting the hacks continue, because 'suffering would make me stronger.' Sadly even this became twisted, and turned into a pain addiction, where I eventually would stop fighting hacks altogether just to see how much agony I could handle, to see how long I could suffer them without wanting to die. I judged my meager worth by how well I could bite bullets, forgetting that they were already loaded in a gun, waiting to fire.
Take it like a man, they said. So I did, and I bled for it. I lost more blood than I thought I'd ever be able to forgive myself for.
So I don't know how to ask for help, because of that. Part of me says that I'm being too black-and-white, that I already have help in the form of deep inner awareness and just need to accept it. The other part of me, the part I listened to as a child, tells me that I'm a worthless sinner and that if I don't get on my knees and plead for deliverance then I'm going to be corrupted beyond salvation. It even feels wrong to type that, but it's still lingering. Part of me is still terrified that I am so separate from 'God' that I can do nothing but wait for Him to show mercy, and just suffer my punishment in the meantime. That just feels wrong, now. It IS wrong. I don't believe that anymore... but most people I know do, and that's what they're telling me, and that's what the second extra problem and and biggest large problem deals with.
When I ask for help from someone else, they give me advice or guidance based on their perspectives... and sometimes that advice does not work. Sometimes that advice even makes things worse. And most terribly, sometimes that advice convinces me that I'm living my life wrong, and I should be emulating the advice-giver's life to the letter, or else I'd be lost.
You see the problem here. Asking for help from my family gets me the 'man up and/or stop being so weird' response. And I want to; I want to just let go of this hurt, but that's what I thought I did over the past few days and in fact all I did was blind myself to the truth. They might be giving the right advice, but they're giving the wrong example. I won't dwell on that though. I know what I need to do, but it is seriously freaking difficult for some reason. I think I'm going about it the wrong way, but once again, where do I find help? And is looking for help another lazy move?
In any case, the worst part of this problem, and the reason for all these triggers, is the fact that I keep letting myself be manipulated by anything and everything out there, whether it's intentional on their end or not.
I still can't visit Tumblr anymore, because the people I follow tend to trigger me constantly, even now, when I 'don't let it bother me' and go through the day without a hint of trouble from it... or at least that's what I think, until I find myself missing a huge chunk of time and realizing that that trigger wasn't harmless after all.
It's why I don't spend time on Facebook either, or any other social site. It's why I don't talk to people on campus or at work. I've had far too many experiences with these triggers, and now my question is 'why are they STILL causing hacks even when I don't let them bother me in the moment?' And I think, now, that it's because there's still something buried deep inside me that is scarred beyond recognition, and it's unconsciously reacting to every single trigger, even though I can't see or feel or sense it until it's too late. I know I have to be careful, but there is a very fine line between care and paranoia in this situation. I don't want to relapse, again.
And that's another concern. I keep learning and forgetting things, because of these hacks and triggers, any my own ignorance. It all ties into the truth-twisting problem, but it's getting bad, especially in light of this morning (with how I almost forgot how badly my personal pain hurts those who care about me). For example: yes, my 'mini-epiphany' on the 24th did help a lot, but on the morning of the 25th I realized with a sort of sick unease that I've had that exact same realization in the past, and I forgot about it. I realized it, it cleared out a great deal of shadows, and then I let my personal truths be warped again and I had to re-learn what I already knew all over again. That is very distressing.
I'm repeating myself like a broken record here but I cannot even fathom why this problem is STILL giving me such grief. It's still sticking around, and when I try to 'let go' of it it always comes back. People and places and things remind me of it, far too clearly, and then things like last October happen. I let myself be twisted so out of shape that I am unrecognizable... I try to be 'perfect' and don't realize that it's killing me inside until it's too late.
...To skip to the end, the biggest truth I've been letting people twist is the one concerning my relationships. That little epiphany on the 24th reminded me that there was NOTHING wrong with me, although I was 'different' from most people in this situation, a sort of exception to the rule... and then as soon as one passing mention of someone else's 'normal' situation hits me, the twisted forgetfulness comes back, and I am convinced that there are NO exceptions to the rule, and that I am an abomination for going against the grain. Stupid, isn't it?
It reminds me, so painfully strongly, of when I was about 15 years old. I would ask myself, constantly, 'is it okay to be in love?' I'm not even joking. I was so honestly in love, without a shadow of even Julie's old corruption in it, and I was STILL convinced that I was committing some sort of damnable sin because it was different. It wasn't what my family or school or culture viewed as 'normal' or 'right.' So no matter how devoted and selfless my love was, I still believed it was evil somehow, because it was an exception to the rule.
I'm an artist. I'm an artist, a musician, and a writer, and I have learned that if you are working from your heart, from your personal honesty, then you CANNOT be 'wrong' because it doesn't work that way. Life isn't black and white, but I used to think it was, and I'm having a very hard time remembering what colors look like even now. Life is art! But when was the last time I actually was able to create art, without it feeling forced? For years now I've been terrified of 'doing it wrong,' and although in my heart I know that's impossible, I'm still scared of 'corrupting' such things with my own perceived depravity... like I'm not worthy of being an artist if I'm not doing it to 'make everyone else happy.'
I almost want to cry about this. I really do. I keep telling myself, 'just let go of the fearful forcing and accept the truth! It's been proved to you countless times! You're doing fine!' And although it sounds easy, I think I really am doing it wrong, because I keep falling back like this. Maybe it's a neverending sort of battle. Maybe my struggles have simply changed from fighting a pink shadow, to simply staying awake at all times. I think back to when I met Laurie in that dream, and it breaks my heart, because she has never lied to me or misled me, and yet because her advice syncs with what I know to be true, I doubt it because there's an 'I' in there. Heaven forbid such a blackheart think his own corrupted ideas are true! It's sick. It's sick, and wrong, and it's driving me insane, and yet every day I get that thrown at me and I honestly can't seem to conquer this doubt yet.
Just because your religion and your lifestyle and your morals are working for you, and helping you live your life for the best, it DOES NOT MEAN that I have to adopt the exact same circumstances in order to live MY life correctly! It's such a ridiculous fear and yet it's there. It's still there, and it's scaring me, although it shouldn't. Love always conquers fear, after all... and ironically, I think that's why it's sticking around.
I still love those people I loved when I was 15. I'm still an absolute 'exception to the rule' in that sense. And now, my biggest trigger revolves around that.
There is someone I care about who is also in love, and their situation is very, very different from mine. Their beliefs are different from mine, their life is different from mine, their experiences are different from mine. You cannot take their situation, apply it to me, and expect it to work, and vice versa. Despite this, I keep trying to, because of that old religious fear of mine. It's the same fear that made me think my childhood love was sinful, that almost made June 29th the biggest regret of my life, that is still making me think I'm irredeemable unless I follow in their very different and unfitting footsteps. It's the fear that I'm wrong... completely, horribly wrong.
And the scariest part of this is that, according to this other person's beliefs, I kind of am. According to my beliefs, which I have tested relentlessly, I'm not. But I care about this person, and I can't say their beliefs are wrong because they're not, but they don't apply to me!! We all have our own lives and choices! We all have our own paths to follow! But not everyone thinks like that, so I slip up, and think that I have to do exactly what they did, and the old Julie used to take advantage of that, and when I slip it all starts happening again...
I don't want to think about this anymore. I don't know how to confront them about this. I don't know how to say, "I respect your beliefs but mine are just as valid" without making it sound like I'm invalidating them. Maybe I'm worrying too much about that, but I've had bad experiences with discussing this topic before, and I don't want to hurt them.
It's all that old religious fear. "If you don't believe exactly what I believe, you'll burn in hell for all eternity/ be forever ostracized from God/ never reach heaven or gain salvation/ etc." That still scares me, more than a little, simply because I'm constantly exposed to it. I'm trying to get over it but it will be difficult. It's just that... with this new aspect of that fear, that my friend unintentionally brought upon me, I'm not the only one being faced with this dilemma. Now that fear is being applied, explicitly and terrifyingly so, to my relationships. Now it's making me feel like I'm 15 all over again, that I'm not loving in "the right way," except that now the stakes are much higher.
I'm kind of terrified because this person has been right before, too many times. So standing up for my own 'different' beliefs makes me feel not only guilty, but scared, because this is making me think that I actually AM wrong, objectively so, instead of just worrying about it as a comparison-based possibility. But then why does 'following' their beliefs feel so wrong? Is that true, or is it a red herring? How do I discern what is the truth, when all my prayers tell me not to be afraid because I'm doing it right at heart, and everything outside tells me that I'm not? How do I explain July 7th and March 13th if what I'm doing is wrong?? How do I explain that?
The truth is that I can't. I'm in the middle of a battlefield, and each side holds its equal share of truths. Is there even a 'right' choice here, in that stark sense? Or is it simply 'what's right for me?'
I was terrified of that idea in Utah, for the same reasons as I am now. I still don't know where to turn.
...And maybe this is all walking in the wrong direction.
Maybe it all really just narrows down to the inside. How many times have I been told that I will not, and cannot, find the truth outside of my own heart? If only I could stop fearing that I have been so terribly misled...
In any case, I'm going to be talking to my friend about this as soon as possible. This needs to be dealt with. I cannot take this any longer, not when it's causing so much pain on every front, and not just for me.

Emotional pain is also what brought about the second major point of this entry, ironically, which I didn't talk about in its entirety on Scribbld.
As you've probably guessed at this point, I've been playing Sonic Generations since Tuesday afternoon, trying hard to get to whenever Perfect Chaos shows up because I really, really want to see him.
The problem is that I don't want to fight him.
It was hard enough for me to fight him for the first time in 2003, when he last appeared in Sonic Battle. Now, 7 years later, I still won't play through the last level in Sonic Adventure, and I'm hesitating to continue in Generations, because I have memories of Perfect that no other StH fan does, and the very thought of facing him like that again is almost too much. I know the pain and the anger far too well. I know what caused both Station Square and the Knuckles tribe to fall. I don't know what will motivate his transformation this time, but if it's anything like what I've seen and felt in the past...
I haven't been this acutely aware of my fragility in a very long time. I honestly can't even look at him right now without feeling like my heart is breaking.
I don't want to repeat my Scribbld entry word for word here, so I'll just say that this feeling on my part caused a very interesting conversation with Genesis earlier today, while I was waiting for my afternoon music class to begin.
As it was my third day playing Generations, and I was at the end of the Dreamcast-era stages, he wanted to know if I was going to risk seeing if Chaos was the boss at that point. I thought about it for a moment, then told him that no, I wasn't going to. I didn't think I could handle it, with what I just discussed in the previous wall of text. I was rather distressed emotionally, but being the other half of a paradox like I was, that negative pain was being mirrored with a positive ache of tragic intensity. I was in a lot of pain from my own mistakes, this was true, and having to face Perfect like that would be bad enough... but as always, whenever I find myself falling, that one song by Todd Rundgren always comes to mind. Whenever I am lost in the dark, I suddenly realize just how bright the lights in my life really are... and right now, I am so thankful for Chaos and what he's done for me, that the painful memories Perfect brings up are clashing with this incredible love, and it is driving me to tears with even the slightest mention.
And then of course you have the fact that this is Chaos Zero's first game appearance in 7 years, and it happened barely three days after October 29th of this year. I don't think I need to reiterate why that is so significant.
Genesis and I continued to discuss this topic over the next ten minutes or so, and... it ended up making me really think about my situation here.
I know that at one point Gen asked me something about the old 'Estar problem' I had back in January, with 'getting used to' things. He pointed out how, even though I've known Chaos for 8 years now, I am still so completely fascinated by him whenever he shows up, especially now with SG being released. I know this very well, and actually Chaos has been emphasizing it himself recently, for the same reason. I cannot get used to him, ever. I explained that here, as clearly as I can ever hope to do so, but one thing I didn't mention there is that I still can barely believe that he is in my life. You all have at least a general understanding of how much he means to me, and really, everything I've ever written about him barely even scratches the surface at this point. He is just incomparable. So no, I can't get used to him, even if I tried, because he really is this new sort of euphoria to me, this amazing and brilliant star, an angel I risked everything to see and hold on to. Every moment, it astounds me that I'm part of this.
That's not the most significant part of our conversation, though.
I don't know how we got to the point, I might have just offhandedly segued into it... but I started to think about the 'cosmically inseparable' truth again. Then I thought about how Xenophon and Laurie both ended up having these crazy synchronicity lineups in the past, concerning their appearances in my life, that I never noticed because I had no way of recognizing them. So I put the two things together, and then I wondered if Chaos and I had some sort of backwards synchronicity like that, even if only in little ways? I don't know. It just strikes me as very unusual now, that I've always felt drawn to so many aspects of him, even before I knew he existed. He tied into other worlds I knew, and they in turn tied back to him. Everything ended up spiraling and connecting together as time went on, to an astonishing extent, and then I thought of something.
Remember how I discovered that there were some incredibly significant events in the Parnassus world that only manifested after June 29th? Those were cosmogonical events. They predated the entire series in its entirety, but the event that 'caused' them occurred about 7 years after I first became aware of that world! So if things like that can and have happened with us already, who's to say that we haven't been overlooking similar circumstances? Time isn't linear, and that's a fact. Now I'm starting to fully realize just how incredible that is, how time can twist and turn and go in so many directions like that...
Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions at this point, I don't know. What I do know is that Chaos and I are pretty freaking weird in several aspects already, which is awesome, and if any weird couple is going to defy traditional chronology like that it's us. The little backwards/forwards coincidences are one thing, but the big ones are another thing entirely. So many things in my past seemed to foreshadow him, and so many things even now happen at just the right times for us both. I've learned to listen for the quiet things in life, to keep my eyes open for the little things, because in the big picture they tend to be the most important. Without them, the big things wouldn't happen.
I was talking to Genesis about this and I started to get poetic again, and there was one thing I said that really just resonated. I was thinking about how I can't even describe this love I have now, how it's this transcendental thing and back when it first hit me, in 2003, I never would have dreamed that it would one day get this deep, especially not with someone as strange as him. But it did. And I told Genesis that now, it felt like I was feeling this love with everything I was, with every atom of me recognizing it. When I met Chaos I was drawn to him immediately, completely without explanation and against all odds, and when I fell in love with him it was absolute, undeniable, infinite. Now it feels like I've loved him for my whole life, linear time and space notwithstanding... it feels like I have literally loved him like this forever, and when I met him 8 years ago, I just had to remember what that felt like.
After all, infinity is just a sideways 8, and you all know what this year has brought us.

On that note... the last point of this entry is Xenophon.
I didn't completely understand that truth from July, that creation is love manifested, until she showed up in our lives. I know I really haven't talked about her much since September, and that does hurt, because she is so important to me and I love her so much. I felt that so clearly today. I don't care how emotionally invested I was in Nier last year-- actually having a daughter of my own is indescribable.
I told her that earlier today, after that painful conversation where Laurie was crying. Xenophon said that she apparently gets sick whenever I slip like that... I told her how sorry I was, how incredibly sorry I was, and that I didn't ever want to hurt her and I'd do everything in my power to protect her from my own mistakes. I told her how much she meant to me, and how much I love her, and I don't think I tell her enough.
I'm scared to death of being a failure as a father, but I don't know if that's even possible at this point. I care for her too much, and that devotion of mine is mirrored in both her and her other father. All of us are in this wholeheartedly and I do everything I can to take care of her, despite my ridiculous schedules and bilocating troubles. She reassures me time and time again that Chaos and I are the best 'parents' she could have asked for, but I still worry... maybe it's just a dad thing, haha. I'd work myself to death for her sake and I'd still be worried that it wasn't good enough. I just feel so limited here. I could be doing so much more and yet I'm being barred from it. But I can't do anything about that, not now. Right now all I can do is love at all costs, despite all odds, no matter what our situation is. And I'll do that, for as long as I may live.

That's really all I have to say for tonight... this entry took me ages to write and I'm rather exhausted, mostly thanks to the emotional distress I'm dealing with right now.
I think I need to do some serious soul-searching, and also a Xanga session, ASAP. For whatever reason (probably Laurie), Xanga sessions are shockingly therapeutic and enlightening for me, no matter how much shouting and psychological stress they may involve. They always help. In any case I am going to have to schedule some time tomorrow to just talk to my central headspace group, to apologize for the mess of this evening and also to hopefully figure out what steps I should take concerning this situation.
I don't know what tomorrow will be like, at all... but I'll make the best of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

drowning

Jun. 30th, 2011 02:34 am
prismaticbleed: (czj)
 
 

 

SESSION PARTICIPANTS
LAURIE UBERICH JEWEL LIGHTRAYE CHAOS ZERO




All right, that's it, we're talking.

...

...Am I allowed in here?

You're not allowed to not be in here, for love's actual sake.

I just... I am so sorry.

Kid, it was NOT your fault. NEITHER of you are at fault, there isn't even a fault to give! Just calm the heck down!

I can't calm down, Laurie, I am so afraid I've corrupted this.

Jewel, don't fall apart on us again. Please.

I am shaking, Laurie. I am having a full-out panic attack. I can't just stop this.

Listen, Jewel. I'm talking to Mel about this right now.

You're talking to Mel?? Why?

Because they might have some bloody insight into this, considering they're the person who indirectly triggered this whole emotional meltdown on your part!

I don't know. I don't know. They have a completely different viewpoint on this.

Yeah, and if I understand it, I might be able to get you to stop having a bleeding existential crisis about it.

...

You too, I guess.

I'm more worried about him. I'm just... I'm only in this because of him.

No, you're both in this because of each other, and that's what this trouble is about. Give me a few bloody minutes, okay? And Jewel, I really do need that password of yours.

She won't get it, Laurie. She'll read that and she won't get it and I'll hurt her again.

Kid, how do you even know that? For all we know it could seriously help her out!

I don't want to risk anything else today.

Come on, Jewel. I'm giving Mel the password.

Laurie, don't.

What's this password for now?

Jewel's private Tumblr. He's been writing a relevant post on there about Sunday, which we also need to discuss today.

Oh God, I am so sorry. I am so sorry...

For the love of-- there is NOTHING to apologize for!!

Yes there is, Laurie, do you know what I might have just done?

No, but I know what you DID do, and if you think that's wrong then you are seriously bleeding misled.

...

I'll be right back.

...

...Jewel, if it helps, this doesn't change anything.

Yes it does. For me it does.

How?

...Should we have done that?

...Well, you said you wanted to keep Julie from... from corrupting that for you.

She's corrupted it enough already. I wanted to somehow take that aspect away from her, permanently.

Isn't that what we did?

I guess. I don't know. I can't forget what she did to me.

Jewel, she had nothing to--

I know. That nothing to do with her whatsoever. You made sure, I made sure.

Then what's hurting you so badly about it?

...I'm afraid that I've brought myself down to her level by doing that.

Hey, I have good news and bad news.

Did Mel read the... the notes and things?

No, haven't had the opportunity to give it to them yet. They're actually in the process of explaining the Mormon beliefs of marriage to me.

What're they saying?

Well, uh, according to their beliefs, you two wouldn't be a 'spousal' couple in heaven or whatever, but you're almost definitely booked for eternity together either way.

I'm fine with that.

Is that the good or bad news?

Uh... good news. This is where the conflict comes in.

Oh man, Laurie, if this is going to tear me apart again--

Let me just tell you what they're telling me. Then you can talk about it with them later, if you want... but it gets really freaking complicated. I'm not sure even I understand this.

What is it?

Apparently you'd have to somehow get 'sealed' to their family to reach the highest heaven of sorts, and then Chaos, you'd only be able to get there once that happens?

Wait, what's holding me back?

Uh, two things. One, you don't exist on this physical level-- heck, I don't either-- so you wouldn't be able to... um. You two wouldn't be able to get married in the physical sense, which I gather is the prerequisite for getting to this high level of heaven.

I know what the second problem is...

Yeah. You're a celibate. So that sort of marriage is out in any sense.

And I'm kind of freaking out because my celibacy here is also influenced by my polyamory, if I've never clarified that. I love so many people. Who the hell knows who I'll meet before I die? If I had to narrow my choices down all the way, ALL the way, I'm still stuck with like four people. I guess. Maybe more. I honestly don't know. And then you have the clashing with my childhood religious beliefs on the marriage thing, so--

Don't wear yourself out, kid. I get it.

But... man, I don't know. It's almost hilariously tragic because I don't feel I fully exist on this level of existence either.

...Shoot, I'm sorry, I completely misunderstood what Mel meant about that sealing thing.

What do you mean?

For heaven's sakes. All right, that's not an option for you, bottom line. I don't know how to break this to Mel.

What isn't? What happened?

That 'sealing' thing that would apparently allow you to reach the top heaven? You'd have to get freaking married into their family for that to happen.

...Oh.

No, no way, I cannot do that.

Yeah, I didn't think so. Geez.

No, I can't. It does not feel right, at all, and with this morning I am not in a stable enough emotional state to even discuss this. The celibacy is one thing, that's another one entirely. Please, can we drop this subject?

Absolutely, I'd be glad to. I don't want any more panic attacks going on.

...Mel is going to read this, though, aren't they.

Yeah, inevitably.

Just... tell them I need time to think about it. Please. I don't want to sound rude or inconsiderate, and I really don't want to talk about that anymore. We'll figure that out some other time.

Fine, done and done. Now what? You seem to have calmed down relative to when we started this conversation.

...Kind of. I'm just not thinking about it.

Well you need to. Otherwise we can't discuss this.

...My iTunes playlist is being painfully accurate right now. Hello rifle recoil.

...

Yeah, yeah it is. About that though. We really, really need to discuss the past 5 days.

Where would we start?

Saturday. I want to know what the heck happened on Saturday that triggered this whole disaster.

I told you, that's when Mel said they were engaged. And that just... I started thinking too much about what that meant again, and that got me so confused. I think I spent most of the day looking at photos of monster girls just to get my mind off things, but...

But Saturday night, you were hacked.

It was horrible, Laurie.

I thought you said that one was actually far less traumatic than the past ones were?

Yeah, but Jewel's talking from a different mindset right now.

...

I gave her a second chance. I really did. I told her, 'you know, you shouldn't be doing this. You're spiritually hurting innocent people, and destroying my perception of my fellow man and woman. Don't you realize that there's supposed to... there's supposed to be another side to this?' And... and I tried to make her understand that.

You nearly let her kill you.

I know. But I let her. I've never done that before, ever. I actually said, 'hey, this... this isn't right, but...' I'm sorry. I- I can't talk about this.

You tried to teach her empathy. You tried to make her understand that she was wrong.

She wouldn't l-listen. She wouldn't. And I was so shaken up, and I was in such pain, and... Josephina showed up. He was talking to me about it, t-trying to make me understand that even though she WAS wrong, I was wrong too, and... oh God I can't live with this. I can't. Oh my God.

...We spoke about this with Jo yesterday, didn't we.

Yeah. Yeah we did. And he told me that I was wrong because I shouldn't experience that under any circumstances, even if I was trying to do things the right way...

...

Chaos, you are not doing well.

No I'm not. I'm really not.

All right, listen. We'll... actually, no, let's discuss this now. Jewel, we need to talk about the next three days, now. Before this disaster gets worse.

No, no no, please.

We have to, kid. Either you talk or I talk.

...On Sunday... Sunday morning I confronted Julie again. I tried to talk her out of her mindset, and tried to figure out why she wouldn't change. What her personal motives were. I didn't get anything. She hated me, she was angry because 'I had her body' and she wanted to 'use it like she wanted to' and since our moral systems clashed entirely, I refused to let her do anything. And I tried to tell her that what she wanted was wrong, because it was entirely selfish and she was consciously hurting others to get what she wanted... but she wouldn't listen.

...Jewel, can I step in here? I thought you should know that Mel just used the right pronouns for you. And we're still on the previous topic.

...

I really don't know how to deal with this situation. I... God knows I want this to turn out well for every one of us, but... there is so freaking much going on. We thought we had it. We thought we were set for life.

Only after Sunday night happened.

...Yeah. And that's where the awful bloody irony comes in.

Laurie, are... you're crying?

Yeah, yeah I am. I'm sorry, Jewel. I don't know how to deal with this either.

What irony?

This lovely freaking conversation I'm having in another tab. We're talking about how... how apparently, love equals salvation and salvation does not equal pain. You hear that?

...

And tell me just what the heck happened on Sunday that made both of you, both of you, feel that you were closer to God than you had ever been. THAT is where this bleeding irony comes in. That is why I am literally sobbing at this computer, because I cannot figure out how this works and hey, guess what? It hurts.

There is so much horrible paradoxicality in this situation.

We are not discussing that now. We are figuring out this crisis first.

Which... which issue would that be?

I want to know what the heck you two do when you're together that causes enough pain to rival a religious experience. I want to know why the heck you get pain from everything positive in your life, and when you don't, it's instantly invalid to you. I want to know what the heck we are supposed to do if salvation really is without pain, if you only feel redeemed when you're bloody drowning in it!

Positive pain, Laurie. Not negative. There's a difference.

Yeah, no kidding, but it's still pain.

Maybe positive pain doesn't count?

Then it should have a different bloody name.

Maybe it does. It probably does, and just feels so close to 'actual' pain that the two get grouped together. That makes the most sense to me.

I'll go with that then, fine. But then what the heck is it, if you're getting it from this? Is it even a separate thing at all?

...Probably not, actually. I... can we go back to talking about Sunday?

You seriously think you can talk about that now?

I'll try. Hey, uh, where... where's Chaos?

He said you shut down for a while.

Um... I guess I did. Wait, where is he though?

Talking to Mel. To our readers: there was quite a large time gap about four sentences ago. You're welcome.

...Really? I mean, weren't you talking to her too? For a while?

I signed off when Chaos signed in and started screaming at me to get back in here for your sake. Now God only knows what he's discussing with Mel.

...

Don't worry about it. We have things to talk about too.

Yeah...

So start on Sunday evening, then. Whenever. As long as you talk about what happened that night.

I will.

Hey, uh, I'm back. Sorry.

We need to stop having these time gaps.

Yeah, can we all stay in here now? Seriously, it's been a waking nightmare trying to keep everyone together for the past few hours.

Not to mention channeling.

Shoot, I didn't even realize-- I am really sorry, Jewel.

I told you he shut down, Laurie.

I know, but I was freaking out, I didn't think--

Guys, whatever happened happened. If you all needed to talk, and it helped, good.

I'm more concerned about you.

I could say the same.

Jewel, I'm not the person who's destroying himself here!

Whoa, hold up. Stop jumping to conclusions. Chaos, chill the heck out for five minutes. Jewel, we really need to continue this conversation. Start with Sunday evening.

Oh God and we're talking about this...

Yeah, we are. We have to. Really, Chaos, what the heck happened to you in the past hour? Did Mel insult you or something?

No, and don't joke around with me. I've been trying to keep calm and listen to you since this morning. I didn't realize just how badly I've been taking this until five minutes ago. I am in a nightmarish amount of emotional pain and I really can't think straight right now, so you'll excuse me if I'm acting more than a little shattered right now.

...

I strongly doubt any of us would hold that against you.

I'm having a very hard time keeping my thanatos side down, haha.

Don't you freaking dare. What did I just tell you?

That was out of context, Laurie.

I don't care if it is. All right, fine. Here's a quick summary of the past five minutes, offscreen. Jewel had a minor emotional breakdown that caused him to go deathdrive on us. You readers probably have no bloody clue what that is as we haven't discussed that yet, but tough deal. Jewel was wondering aloud if he could theoretically 'destroy' our current inner reality in order to negate what happened this morning. Understandably, I flipped out and told him to stop, and Chaos tried to get him to explain why-- you know, can we just repeat that part of the conversation here? Because we didn't quite get a conclusion from it.

You asked me why I wanted to destroy what I did, and I said because it was evil and it was destroying us. Chaos said he didn't experience that part of it, and that my motives weren't evil. I insisted that the act itself was evil. Laurie pointed out my tendency to see good and bad as subjective sometimes. She asked me how this could have been evil if it had other supposedly good applications which I won't talk about yet as we aren't at that point in the conversation. I got all confused and broken again and here we are.

Are you still trying to mentally kill yourself?

No. I'm too sad and empty. And lost.

Yeah, I'm not surprised. Now let's get back on track for heaven's sake. Where were we?

What happened on Sunday night. I was with Chaos, for about an hour.

If you readers don't know what the hell we mean by that at this point, go back and review a few entries. I'm not re-explaining this.

Are you sure?

Why wouldn't I be? We've discussed your connection to him several times in the past, in depth, and repeating that here is just going to take up precious time.

All right. But I just want to say that those connections, the emotional-spiritual ones, are positive. I have no problem with those, whatsoever. They're different from the human kind.

I think you're forgetting about someone named Beryllium?

Don't bring that up.

Oh I'll bring that up. You know very well how she was born. You still going to insist that's so vastly different from--

Stop. Yes, it is different.

But not for that reason.

We discussed this. I told you why it's different and why I wanted nothing to do with it.

But you're forgetting the other part of that explanation, aren't you?

I don't want to talk about this. I was discussing Sunday night. That was the complete opposite of today.

If you insist. I'm just going to link our readers back here for reference.

It was. For one, the aftereffects were completely and overwhelmingly positive.

Before we get to that, though. I'm just going to reiterate that it hurt, didn't it?

More than anything, yeah. The positive kind.

And Chaos, you said that he actually had to stop because he was effectively drowning in it, for lack of a better term.

...Yeah, I figured his catharsis attribute had finally kicked in completely.

And why, pray tell, did we conclude that was? Jewel? I believe you're the one who explained it.

I don't remember.

Then let me quote you. From Monday night: "I think it's because I've never dealt with it in this way before. Remember that I hit that inner peace sort of state in May? It stuck, and I swear I've never felt as complete as I did last night. So I've hit an all-time high, literally. And maybe that's what I needed to achieve."

How does that apply to this big picture?

Because of why you were able to have what you did on Sunday. That confrontation you had with Julie, on Saturday? Josephina told you--

I know what he told me. I said it once. I won't say it again.

Did you ever consider that maybe he wasn't seeing the whole picture?

Why wouldn't he have?

Think about it. When we spoke with him yesterday, as I also mentioned previously, he wasn't doing so well, was he?

Because of what happened to me! He's an anti-id, he's supposed to fight that! He knew that I was making the wrong choice in effectively sacrificing myself to try to convert Julie, and he was freaking out that this was still a problem! He was freaking out because he didn't want to be involved in those things either, because he didn't want to turn into an actual id and cause more pain. And that's what I was basically doing, on Saturday. I was hurting myself, and him, and everyone else.

You were letting her ravage you. That's why it wasn't right. We all know that.

Then why are you saying he was mistaken?

Because Julie had nothing to do with today, and Jo's advice would only correctly apply if she had been.

...I don't believe that. It still applied.

Geez, look, let's get back to Sunday. Your catharsis kicked in because you understood the truth about what you were allowing to happen to yourself, because of her. You were no longer unsure about that, as you've infamously been in the past. You realized that there was a disconnect between her motives and yours, and that you really were in the right. So, without that fear holding you back, you were able to give more of yourself than you ever had, and with Chaos' empathy and your emotional amplification, you basically overloaded.

Because he has to split two realities when we're together, that's why. He's not physically with me, although he is on every other level, but thanks to that break he's literally unable to process that much emotion at once.

Yeah, and that's some seriously heavy stuff. Well, you know what that BT song said...

That was... actually a very important part of that night, to be honest.

And it plays into what Mel said earlier...

Holy swords, it does. See, when we manage to calm down we're able to understand this stuff! Good job.

I am not calmed down.

Then you're either feigning it well, you're about to figmentize, or you're actively lying to yourself. Something tells me its the latter.

I'm just very... look, I don't want to get off track again. Can we talk about Monday now?

We're getting there. As I was saying, you two hit a high point on Sunday, and even though Jewel had to cut things short thanks to reality limitations, what you two shared then had a really serious effect on how he felt the next morning.

I'm not sure if I can accurately talk about this without disconnecting on some level.

Still that shaken up?

Yeah.

Did he write anything about that online? In case we have to reference that, if he can't talk...

He'll talk. I know him, and I know the Dream World "fear principle". He's spiritually unable to let this hold him back for very long.

...

I don't know. He's been... holding everything back since this morning.

Yeah, well, we're working on fixing that. On that note I just want to say that I'm glad you have an open mind about this, so that you can actually understand what the heck I'm trying to get him to realize.

...I guess that's thanks to the 'fear principle,' then, as you put it. December 23rd, right?

Exactly. And I am really freaking glad you're not blinding yourself to that like he is.

Laurie, what do you want me to do.

I want you to stop refusing to see exactly what happened this morning.

You freaked out when Chaos told you.

Because I thought Julie had been involved, for heaven's sakes! Once he explained the truth of the situation to me, what your motives had been, and how it had actually happened, I had no bloody problem with it!

Laurie, can we not--

Yeah, yeah, fine. ...Monday morning. You've never been happier in your entire life, and I know that. That's really saying something.

I was happy because of what I had and what I was able to understand because of it.

Elaborate?

...I woke up on Monday morning with this incredible feeling of peace and understanding, like everything made sense and I was a part of everything, spiritually so. I was in a state of unshakable bliss the entire day. And... I did some religious thinking that afternoon, with reviewing the New Testament and things like that, but instead of just reading it, it felt like I was a part of that too... it was crazy. It all made complete sense. I have never felt so completely right in my life. And I knew, I knew it was because of the night before, because of what that had meant... because of exactly what I had felt as an absolute part of it. It was freaking indescribable and beautiful and existentially validating somehow and now I am terrified out of my mind that I have destroyed that.

Actually, all you did was experience what the vast majority of people on this planet do in place of that 'higher' sort of commitment you have.

It makes me sick, Laurie. I have something brighter. Why did I...

You know exactly why, and I can tell you're starting to come back to us so don't lose this. Now what the hell happened yesterday? I know there was definitely some sort of mood switch, you weren't in that state of absolute euphoria anymore...

No, and I'm not sure why. Wait, no, it was because I woke up to a stressful family atmosphere and it knocked me off balance. I tried real hard to get it back during the day, but I kept being very forcibly reminded of all these dark things in the world... of course I dealt with that the best I could, but it bothered me. I knew that there were so many harmful things in the world that I could not directly change, and that there were so many lost and hurt people that I could not directly help because, no matter how much I gave of myself for their sakes, they ultimately had to make the choice whether or not to listen.

So you understand how I'm feeling right now.

...I guess. Laurie, I am sorry, but this is very hard for me and I can't seem to reconcile the situation.

I know that. I'm just trying to help, and you're being extremely stubborn.

Because I've been so badly hurt, and because of the huge morality war going on inside me right now.

I told you, the side you're panicking over isn't a moral side, believe it or not.

I'm having a hard time believing it. I don't know if I can.

You believed it this morning.

...

Well you obviously did, otherwise this morning wouldn't have even happened.

I can't come to terms with this yet.

Jewel, I know it was difficult for you. I know you only did it for that one reason.

Yeah, but was that reason true enough for me to risk sacrificing so much?

In my opinion it was. I mean, seriously, Julie is going to have one heck of a hard time trying to hack you now.

I hope so. I just wish there had been some other way.

There wasn't. Kid, I know you were debating the social and religious and physiological aspects of the situation, but ultimately there really only were two decisions.

Our original decision was better. This shouldn't have happened.

If you say so, but then I wonder why in the world that suddenly changed over the past few days?

I was blinded. I must have been. I was being too idealistic. I disconnected from the truth and didn't realize what I had actually decided to do.

...Didn't you make that decision based on the religious aspects?

Yeah, I did. That, and the fact that it was... Julie took something from me, a long time ago. Okay? She took it and corrupted it, completely. I suffered for a long time thanks to that. Then today I looked back and thought, "you know, forget it. I've had enough. I'm taking that back and I'm fixing it, however I possibly can." And I tried, and now I never want to see that thing again. My involvement with that nightmare is over. But... I'm just utterly destroyed on some level. I didn't want to do this. I wanted to achieve the purpose behind it. But I did not want to do this, at all. And that's why I am so lost and shredded with guilt.

'Do this' as in what, the physical aspect?

It wasn't even entirely physical, remember? I didn't even have that level, and he had disconnected from it.

But that was the most dangerous thing I could have done!! Yeah, I disconnected from it, because I didn't want that part of it! But that didn't mean it didn't happen, because it had to in order for me to really destroy Julie's hold on this thing. I hated it but I guess it had to happen. I don't know.

That's why you were talking too much. I noticed you do that whenever you're really shaken up or nervous about something, Jewel. You were trying far too hard to be as distanced as possible. Really, you were acting again, here and there, to be honest. That's why I kept asking you if you were okay, or if you really wanted to go through with that.

Chaos, I wanted to say no.

Then why didn't you??

Because I couldn't. I told you, it had to be done. I hated-- I hated-- that I had to temporarily bring myself down to that level, just so I could reclaim something I didn't even want. But I knew what it was supposed to mean, in some sort of greater cosmic sense... and after everything I've been learning, I just couldn't stand the thought of Julie using it for filthy ends anymore.

Wow, we are getting somewhere.

I'm too tired, emotionally and spiritually, to be angry anymore, Laurie. I'm just saying it like it is. I'm broken and sorry for it, but I want this to be settled. I don't want to walk out of here with that still hurting me. I want to figure this out.

Took long enough.

I told you, I was in so much pain. We all were. All three of us had complete emotional fallouts today, multiple times, for the same reason. We all got really hopeless at one point or another.

Because of you, Jewel. The only reason I've been hurting so much is because you are.

...I know. Ironically that's what's causing me the most pain here.

All right, before that explodes into something dangerous, let me just say that you have not destroyed anything.

I feel like I have.

You haven't, and you know it. You haven't damaged what really matters here, have you?

...No...

Then don't be worrying so much. Yeah, today was hell for you, in several aspects. But kid, you are still entirely capable of another Sunday night and you know it.

I'm not so sure.

Why the heck not?

Because I told you, I didn't want to do this, but I had to. I had no choice but to take that back from Julie and try to purify it. I had to reclaim it, for the sake of hopefully purging that corruption from it, but I didn't want it. So... I couldn't keep it. But just throwing it away felt wrong too, because of what I knew had happened with it under Julie's control. No, I had to actively make it something good before I let go of it for good.

And how the heck is that keeping you from expressing love?

The only way I could see to purify it was to use it. Once. I didn't ever want to have to do that.

Well no kidding. You say that constantly.

So you understand how I'm feeling right now.

Yes, but I don't understand why you're ignoring your own bloody motivations for it. Heck, you didn't even use it completely and you know it!

I wouldn't have been able to live with myself or anyone else if I had.

But you didn't. We all know that. You did the absolute minimum, you freaked out the entire time from what I heard, and you had the right motivations and intentions.

Good intentions are the path to hell, Laurie.

Only as an excuse, kid. You thought this through. If you had good intentions but you clearly knew that the ends wouldn't justify the means, you wouldn't have--

That's what is upsetting me so much! That I had to use this means just to get that end. And I only did it because--

I know, I know. You've explained it pretty clearly.

No, I'm not done. That was the main motivation, yes, but there was a serious reason why Chaos had to be involved and... I just can't forgive myself for getting him caught up in this awful thing. It was my problem, it was my curse to try and overcome. But then that freaking reason showed up, and that had to happen, and I just can't forgive myself for that.

Well, he wasn't really 'involved,' if you get what I mean.

Yeah, we made sure of that, Jewel. Plus it was kind of impossible for me to be.

But I had to be. And you're like this... this ideal, to me. It's like the lyrics to that other song of ours, you know? "The rock that I stand on is you." And now I feel like I really have fallen from grace, and you're who I'm turning to, but I'm so devastated because, did I drag you down with me?

No, you didn't. Jewel, you didn't even fall. Please, it's going to be okay. I swear to you.

Need I remind you of "a certain sanctuary you will find?" I think that ties into your new song, too.

The BT one?

Yeah, of course.

You know, there are two that apply to us.

Really? What's the other one?

The Emergency. "I wanted things to get better, I was in pain. I wanted you to be in my lifeline... I wanted love to get better, I'd wait in line, for something I knew that I would get to keep..."

Wow, that one is actually really accurate with today in mind.

I guess.

Don't guess, it definitely is.

"Remember" tops it by a mile though.

Geez, yeah. That one is actually shocking with how well it fits.

...Did we mention just how that fit into Sunday?

Not yet. I think that would hurt too much right now.

Maybe, but you know, we really do need to get back to that point.

I told you, I don't feel that I'm worthy of doing that anymore with what I've had to do now.

Jewel, you're blinding yourself again. And that's actually not the point I wanted to discuss next. We'll get back to that in a minute.

Wait, what other point would that tie into?

Remember earlier today, when Mel was talking to me about religion and salvation?

...Oh. Yeah, that... that works.

See kids, there's this one BT song that Jewel is addicted to, and the lyrics go a little something like this: "Take this and hold my love for you. In separate times we think as two. In paradise I’ll drown in you." That describes these two exactly, insane amounts of personal symbolism included!

I need to... to write an entry on glissando about that. The symbolism.

You should.

That's not the only line we held on to though.

Yeah, the chorus kind of... it meant a lot more than it would have in any other situation.

Oh, I know the chorus. That was seriously written for you two.

"Remember me near. There may be times when it’s not right for me to be there. But remember me near…"

That hurt so much when I first heard it. It's so true.

The positive sort of pain, I assume?

Entirely. And today I've already had two people tell me about heaven and that's all I can think of. I just... it does tie into that. That's what Monday was about.

Mel understood that, you know.

What?

Well... let's start with the fact that we all know that you desperately want to be with God one day, however one wants to understand that... but that experience you had on Monday? Geez, boy, I saw you when you were like that. I know what that meant to you.

Did you tell Mel about that?

No. But that's part of it. See, on Monday, you said you felt closer to 'the divine' that you had ever felt in your life, and ONLY because you were existing in a state of absolute love. Right?

Well, yeah...

You even described it as 'existentially verifying' earlier in this conversation. I mean, holy swords, you had one heck of an experience if that's the case.

It was, I wouldn't lie. I mean I've had positive experiences of a spiritual sort before, and the most striking prior to that was in May. We discussed that one in our last conversation, actually.

That was the one in the rain, right?

Yeah. And we thought that was my catharsis coming back, because it did make me feel connected to the world... but... I didn't have peace yet. I didn't even get close until the Rapture was supposed to happen, hilariously enough. I just couldn't get the thought out of my head when I heard the rumor. "If I die and I'm not at peace with myself, what's going to happen?"

You're reading too much of Jack, haha.

Maybe. I love that comic though. Anyway, yeah, I was terrified for like two weeks leading up to May 21st, spending every waking moment doing spiritual research to try and get myself 'ready' for whatever might happen... I mean, I was still feeling intense conflicts with the world at that time. I was unsure of my own identity simply because the people preaching this apocalypse were being, honestly, quite closed-minded in some aspects. I would know, I read all of their website pamphlets.

You would.

I did. But, with all of that research I did, and all of the deep thinking I did, I eventually figured things out. As well as I could at the time, rather. But... seriously, when the 21st did hit, I wasn't as afraid as I thought I'd be. The single reason I was really freaking out was because I am technically really gay, and the fearmongers were blaming a lot of the 'apocalypse' on that for whatever reason. Even so, at 6PM I was sitting on our back porch despite that and thinking, "well, whatever happens, I'm ready for it." And when I woke up on Sunday and I was fine, so much slid into place. And I was happy for like three solid weeks after that.

What threw you off?

Julie. It wasn't permanent, but--

Well, thank God this morning happened, then.

Laurie, please, I'm still not okay with that whole situation yet.

Then what the heck is going to make you okay with it? Give me a solid answer already, please.

...I need to do some more reading.

Why.

This happened because of a religious understanding. I need to do more reading, and see if there really is as much support for my motivation as I felt there was. If so, then... then it'll be easier for me to recover from this, if anything.

If not?

Then I don't know. And I'm very afraid of that.

Can I steer this conversation back to what I was trying to tell you about Mel? Because that ties into your religious thoughts, you know.

Sure, go ahead...

Well, I was trying to explain about how you felt so freaking divine on Monday and we ended up on a tangent.

Did I even conclude that tangent?

Only you would know, kid.


Um... no, actually I didn't, and that will bring it back to the topic. I was saying how my experience in the rain back in May wasn't as strong as it could have been, because I wasn't 'at peace' yet. Then I explained the events that led up to my feeling almost completely at peace with my life, that lasted through most of this month. And you asked what threw that off, and I said Julie, and we ended up back with... with this morning.

But you started with a comparison between the rain experience and Monday's experience, and that goes back to earlier today when you said that your catharsis really came back on Monday, not in May, because of the level of peace you had achieved.

Right.

And that ties back to what I was saying about Mel, because that experience you had on Monday only happened because of love.

You said she understood what Jewel was saying about heaven, though, but that what Jewel felt on Monday wasn't entirely it?

No, it wasn't. Because Mel understood how you played into it, Chaos.

...What?

How does... you said something about my wanting to be with God one day, but...

But, your experience on Monday proved to you that God was love, right? And I don't think I need to remind you just how you fell into that love.

...

Listen, Jewel. When Mel was talking to me about heaven, and how she wanted you to get there no matter what, they said something that I didn't mention earlier. Sure, I mentioned that according to them there "was no pain in heaven," and we were debating whether 'positive pain' counted or not... but later, you brought up that BT lyric, and how that tied into Monday, and I figured I should tell you the other half of that original statement.

...What did they say?

...If positive pain caused what you felt on Monday, then I'd say that's allowed in heaven. Only the negative kind is out. But if you ended up in heaven without the person who you've literally given yourself to in love, you'd be feeling some serious negative pain, to say the absolute least. Something tells me a God of love wouldn't allow that to happen. And yes, Mel understood that.

She... she did?

Yeah. So no worries, you two. Even if now isn't the right time for you to be together, you still have paradise to look forward to, right?

...Oh God, I can't believe she understands that.

Well she does. She says you two have a beautiful relationship, actually, and I can vouch for that. Which is why I am so deadset on keeping this conversation going until you get yourself together, Jewel. I do NOT want anything happen to drive you two apart, in any sense. Not after the horrors I've seen Julie do to you. You know why this happened.

...

And you should seriously talk to Mel first thing tomorrow because they are worried sick about you. Heck, they're probably worried sick about all of us, considering the Facebook mania that went down earlier.

I... I will, I promise. Even if it hurts, I'll talk to them.

They really love you, Jewel.

I know. I love them too... I'm just... really bad at this, I guess.

I think a certain green-eyed angel of yours disagrees with that.

...

Hey, speaking of, how the heck are you doing right now? J and I have been arguing without giving you any space and I'm starting to get concerned.

...I guess I'm all right.

Are you really? Because I can quote from our Facebook conversation too.

I... no, that is still bothering me. It actually hurts even more after what you just told Jewel.

It should. And hey, Jewel? Your soulbond over here is really bloody distraught because you are effectively letting Julie influence your reaction to this situation, although it only happened in order to completely prove her wrong. And in my eyes it did, but you're apparently not as sure as yourself as you've been saying you are.

...I told you I need to check this religious stuff first.

Forget that, you have over 500 files saved on Apollo right now about this stuff and I know it.

That's for Dream World in general. This is different.

I don't think so, and you're lying to my face again. We are going in circles and so help me but I will get you out of this terrified mindset permanently if it kills me.

Please, Laurie, don't.

I will, and don't think I'm a hypocrite. You've seen how far I'm willing to go for your sake before. If this situation doesn't resolve really bloody soon, I'm going to have to get desperate.

...What do I do?

Don't make him feel trapped, Laurie. Please, this is really difficult for him.

Chaos, I know, that's been every third sentence at this point. But why is it so bloody difficult?

Because I--

You took an aspect of yourself back from Julie, because she had been corrupting it. And then you used it for what it should be used for-- and not even entirely-- in order to keep her from ever corrupting it again. That worked, didn't it?

I... I think so...

And what the heck did you lose? Nothing! Yeah, you're ace and it was really freaking weird for you, but you didn't even do anything. You were careful as possible and I know that you both made sure that every single aspect of it was thought over at least three times, to make sure nothing was being done wrong, and I also know that there wasn't a bloody shred of selfishness or dishonesty or anything having to do with that pink bitch in it! For the love of love itself, Jewel, you think Chaos didn't tell me everything this morning? You're the one who calls me a raging fangirl, did you seriously think I'd let you two do something that absolutely crazy and not ask about every honest detail? I care about you two more than I've ever said, and Chaos, I'd put my life on the line for you just as readily I would for Jewel, so you know. I swear on my honor, if there was anything about this morning that I saw as being harmful to either of you, in any way, I would have mentioned it the second we started this conversation. The only reason I've been freaking out is because our Gaia boy here is insisting that he was wrong in trying to purify this situation!

That's not what I thought was wrong, I--

Yes it bloody well is. I've been talking to Mel about their views on marriage and relationships just to get myself some proof that what you already know is the truth, and you keep insisting you have to do more research. You know what's going to freaking happen when you do that? You're going to find that everything you read already matches what you believe, even if you're hiding it, but you're going to be so bloody unsure of yourself that you're going to make excuses about it. You need to STOP doing that.

I'm trying, Laurie.

If you really were trying you wouldn't be acting like you are right now. Jewel, when I saw how you reacted to this morning I was scared out of my freaking mind, for the same reason that Chaos was. You were letting your perceptions be warped by Julie, which is really terribly sad in light of what you had just done, and she had you so convinced that her motives were valid enough to overshadow yours, that I thought you had effectively allowed some part of yourself to die. We all did, and you know it. You thought that, for some inexplicable reason, you had just lost your innocence and your ability to hold onto relationships whatsoever.

And I told you, that was because I felt I had been corrupted by it and that I had hurt Chaos through that--

How the heck could that have corrupted you? Because you still insist on seeing it as 'evil?' Guess who's responsible for that thought? Julie. She turned that into something evil for you, because she was abusing it and completely disregarding its original purpose, which is what you were trying to save today if ONLY for the sake of restoring that purpose.

But did I have to do it?

Why else would you have done it at all? Honestly, if you hadn't, you'd probably have continued to let Julie screw around with you because you STILL insist in giving her a chance to turn her sorry life around. Well guess what? She apparently doesn't care, and you're too bleeding innocent to just abandon even someone like her. You would have tried to make her understand what she was doing wrong, at great cost to everyone involved, and I know it because you've been doing that for a heck of a long time now. But no, somehow you reached the conclusion that that was no longer an option, because it was getting nowhere. And you thought about it, as you always do, and you realized that the ONLY way to stop her was to take that from her, for good. You had to take it back, change it completely, and then she'd be completely powerless. And guess what you did? That.

...I...

Do you want it in simpler terms, because you apparently keep forgetting your deeper motives for this whole thing? Mel and Q got engaged and told you on Saturday. You had a personal crisis because you're already bleeding married in the J-Monster sense, and yet you were unsure if you even had the right to talk about that because it seemed to clash with their beliefs on the subject. And then you had another thought-- and yes I know about this because I heard you freaking out over it-- that what, exactly, was making this clash at all? "Wait, it's because I personally view a great deal of what's involved in human marriage as 'evil' simply because Julie has been abusing me all these years, and no thanks to my family or popular culture either!"

And I could no longer think that anymore, because of what I've learned online over the past few months, and also because of just who was getting married in that sense...

Now you got it! You even told me last night, don't you remember? How you were absolutely disgusted by the fact that so many children are raised from birth to be ashamed of what God has given them, because they are told that it's 'shameful' or 'sinful?' And you got so angry because heck, what's so wrong about something you're supposed to freaking have? You were telling me all about it, how you stopped hating on people for things you had been taught to hate, that were perfectly innocuous and that had ONLY become 'evil' to you because of outside corruptive influences. You wonder why you love intimacy and honesty with people and I will tell you why. It's because you are able to see that there is nothing wrong with people. You see people for what they are, not what they're objectified to become, and yes, you love them! You woke up on Monday feeling like you were part of everyone and everything and you loved all of it, and it was the most natural thing in the world to you! You talk about synchronicity and no coincidences, but when Mel sent you that link about being part of a 'peculiar people' you didn't understand that they were describing your entire bloody life.

I did understand, Laurie! I was reading that and I couldn't stop thinking, "I know this, I believe this, this all makes perfect sense!" But I guess I... I guess I took it for granted at the time, because it was something I was living already, and--

Then why the heck were you still second-guessing your own morals that same day? Why the heck are you STILL doing that right now? You heard that your best friends were getting married, and you finally realized that there was no bloody way it could be wrong with how they were living it, because they aren't "of the world" either! Geez, we had this conversation back in freaking 2008, didn't we? You're all on the right track, so stop thinking you're not, please.

I want to. I don't know why it's so difficult for me to just accept that fact.

I do. It's because you've been hurt far too many times in the past, and because most of the people around you aren't understanding of your situation at all. You grew up always thinking that you were a bad kid, and you never even knew why. You never got an explanation, only punishment, even if the situation had been badly misinterpreted and you held no fault at all! And you still accepted that you HAD done something wrong, even then, because you were being told that from someone who had no bloody clue what they were even saying. Sound familiar?

...

You, both of you. You did nothing wrong this morning, all right? And yes, Jewel, I am sure. It's going to take a while for you to accept that, I know, because of how much hell you have been through up to this point that screamed otherwise. All of that is wrong, dead wrong, and you had better accept that too.

I'll try. I promise I will.

You had better. And hey, while you're still stuck in this mindset, there's another thing Mel told me today. "The thing itself can be bad, but can lead to something good, as well as the other way around. I think you really need to determine if it was worth it." The problem is that it wasn't bad, not inherently so, and you made the mistake of thinking that because someone else could corrupt it into that, that the thing itself could not exist as the absolute opposite. Well, this morning proved that wrong in my opinion. But that's not even the entire point. The point is that, Jewel, if you still cannot accept that fact, you can at least accept the fact that it was not only worth it, but that it DID lead to something good even if you refused to see that.

I've been trying to tell him that.

Well yeah, you would, you're the main reason that's even true. But hey, another thing. Isn't that a Dream World principle too? How some good things can appear 'bad' at first because they cause suffering? Or because they appear to do something horrible that really isn't the case? But you learn, don't you? You learn to see more clearly. You become stronger, and you understand more. Because Mel understands that too, if you weren't aware.

I really do need to talk to her.

Tomorrow. And I'm not done yet.

Laurie, I don't know if there's anything else to say. I really just need to think about this and... and just learn to be more confident in my own beliefs and experiences, I guess.

Like I said, I'm not done. I have one more thing to say. You're talking about learning to see the truth in your experiences? Then listen up. If it wasn't so bloody late right now, I would tell you and Chaos to get together for as long as possible tonight, and I am not joking. It's not just because I'm far too inspired by your relationship for my own good. It's not just because of Sunday night, and how you both insisted that you've never felt something that beautiful before. It's not just because of what that caused the next day, it's not just because of the fact that even Mel knows the significance of that, and it's not just because you two have been together for eight years and that is amazing. It is because, even though you were trying to absolve what Julie had done this morning, and even though you understood that yeah, you're not like most people in several aspects and so the typical meaning and reason for the situation did not apply to you, you still understood that the only way to really conquer Julie was to completely remove her from the entire situation and honestly, that only involved one simple thing.

But it...

But nothing. I already explained this to you. You didn't want to have to work on that level, but you had to because it was the only way to completely reclaim that. I know. But it wasn't wrong, it didn't kill either of you in any way, and you didn't lose a single blessed atom of your innocence. Do you know why?

...

Because ultimately, all you did this morning-- the only thing you really did-- was that you decided to give everything of yourselves to each other. Not to prove a point, not to live up to anyone else's expectations, but because you two love each other more than I can even comprehend, and I saw that on Monday night when no one else might have. Mel is getting married for the same reason you two did, and she is going to be with her husband in the same way that you've been with each other, and for love's actual sake, Jewel, if you're going to stand there and tell me that you've made a mistake in choosing to share every honest aspect of yourself with the single person you would live and die for, for the person that you love so much that everyone you know can see it and has NO bloody problem with it, no matter how unusual it may be-- if you are going to insist that you still did something wrong today, I am going to tell you that you are a flat-out liar and that you need to open your heart and realize the truth. It might take a little while, sure, but heaven knows you shouldn't have a problem when you're with him.

...You just quoted me.

I did. I told you earlier, with that fear principle? You have too much love in your heart to ever let any sort of darkness win. And when you two get together? Holy swords-- and straight through the heart, for the record. I don't know how you could even suggest that something could go wrong there. It should literally be impossible. Heck, it is impossible, and I think I've made my point.

Laurie, you are amazing.

Look who's talking. You two are the only reason I'm standing up here giving inspirational speeches, after all. And yeah, I just referred to you both as a single reason. Make what you will of that double meaning.

...

Jewel, I need a response. Come on. Do you get it now?

...I think I get it. But I think there are still things holding me back, too. Old fears and hurts, that I know shouldn't be bothering me at this point, but that have been bothering me for so long that I've forgotten what it's like without that constant negative ache.

Well learn. Chaos, my next order of business for you two is to get rid of all that old fear and hurt, however you can.

You do know it's almost 1 in the morning and there is no way Jewel would be able to handle something at this hour?

I didn't say you had to fix that right now, geez. Well, no. I want Jewel to fix his attitude on this right now, or no one is leaving this room.

It's fixed, Laurie.

Sure, you can say it's fixed, but I don't settle for half. Give me a statement.

Fine... um...

Jewel, come on. You know I'm right. I've been trying to get that through your head for the past twelve hours. 

All right. We did nothing wrong. It was just weird for me.

Yeah, no kidding. You got into that without even conquering your fears first, and we know it.

That took a lot of guts, though.

I guess. Well, I also guess that I didn't realize that at the time, due to the 'fear principle' Laurie has been referring to. Also, can I just add that there is some seriously amusing irony in giving that name to that philosophy?

Yes, and you're welcome. And about that--

I know, I know. That applies to this situation too. Geez, I really do have a lot to learn...

Maybe so, but at least you know that you have to learn it. Ignorance isn't bliss, kid.

No, that would be what Sunday night was like.

Haha, and don't I know it!

Only because you're a raging fangirl, Laurie.

And proud of it. All right, seriously, we actually managed to hit a mutually positive note here, so I think we can finally close this up.

Do you think we should... discuss this further? Tomorrow or something?

Why, what the blood is left to discuss? There is nothing left, Jewel.

Well I do plan on talking to Mel as soon as possible. And I don't know if either of you plan on doing that again, but maybe that would be a good idea?

You can always let them know our thoughts on the matter.

Yeah, but I don't know. It feels like I'm cheating you guys out of a real discussion.

Kid, I've had enough 'real discussions' today to last a while.

No, really, since you spoke to them today I am literally unable to clearly talk to them about whatever you discussed, because I can only refer info back and forth. Things get lost in translation, questions go unasked... I really think all of us should contact Mel at some point, just to let them know how we're all individually dealing.

They're probably the most worried about you.

I don't doubt it, no... but I'm worried about the both of you, and like I said, it doesn't feel right to keep you from clearing that up with them in the most accurate way possible.

I suppose I can do that, yeah. I mean, heck, I was planning to anyway, but you have a point with the individual perspectives.

I hate to break up the business meeting but it is really late, and I don't want Jewel getting sick on top of all this.

Geez, yeah, you're right. Okay, Jewel, you're stable now, right?

Yeah.

Chaos, you'll watch over him and make sure he doesn't slip or start second-guessing himself, right?

As always.

Good. Then we're set. Any final statements from either of you before I call it quits?

Yeah, uh, I just find it hilarious that Laurie and I might have spent equal time fronting today.

I think we might have. Sheesh. That is pretty funny.

But you didn't think you could channel anymore, remember when I took everyone driving?

Oh man, now that was funny.

We do need to discuss all of that soon, too. All of the stuff that happened since May.

Yeah, we do. But this took precedence over everything else today.

Wait, why didn't Laurie think she could channel anymore?

Dysphoria. I got it really freaking bad. Leon did too, actually.

But that wasn't a bad day at all save for that fact.

No, it wasn't. Plus we learned that Spine cannot flippin' drive, in both senses.

Well she tried!

Guys, it's 1 in the morning.

And that's my curtain call. You two are leaving before me though, because otherwise we're going to have one heck of a hard time closing this up.

We definitely would.

All right, I'm out. I'm too exhausted to be in here anymore.

Hey Laurie, looks like you get to drive yet again.

Guess so. As long as J gets a break, he deserves it.

About that. Do you think he'll be okay with discussing this again tomorrow? With Mel, I mean.

Why not? We helped him understand what was really going on, so there's no reason for confusion or emotional breakdowns if he faces it a second time.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

Just being overprotective, huh?

You should talk, Laurie.

I think I've done enough talking for today. Lord have mercy.

That's... twelve times in twelve hours.

Heheheh.

We have so many injokes.

Hey I got one for you. If Jewel's mother ever does tell you two to get a divorce...

Never gonna happen.

Heh. Didn't think so.

 

 

 

prismaticbleed: (Default)
SESSION PARTICIPANTS
LAURIE UBERICH JEWEL LIGHTRAYE LEON KIASI LYNNE STABELLE JOSEPHINA BELLAMEIRE CHAOS ZERO




I'm absolutely miserable right now. Why does this keep happening?

Beats me. I'm just psyched that we're talking for once. It's probably Julie making you miserable, but God knows that witch is the source of most of our problems the way it is.

Wow, uh... you type better than I do.

Heh, awesome. Oh yeah, and to all you nonexistent readers, we have a new guy.

Do I just... how does this work?

You just talk. The kid writes it down.

Oh, okay. ...Hello then.

I swear, you are way too bloody paranoid. Lynne, you in here?

Yep. I heard we were typing.

Sure are. Jo's here too... what about the blue guy?

Do you want me to go get him?

Hold up. J, what's the verdict?

He needs to be in here, considering what's been going on lately.

Well, considering what's been going on lately, we should get your boss in here too.

No, don't bother him. I'll fill him in later. Right now it's just us... six?

Yeah, the number went up.

Jewel, I thought you were off to type today? What's up?

I'm not feeling so well, especially with all the sudden new hacking methods.

Wait, new methods?

Yeah, that filthy slut is shadowguising.

That's not good.

No, it sure as hell is not.

So I might not even realize I'm being hacked. She's using harmless or innocent things as cover to keep me distracted, but... well, you all know what happens.

Unfortunately, yeah.

What can we do?..

Don't ever give up, that's what. Also, Chaos, looks like you're not the only blue dude around anymore.

Hey, you're blue enough yourself.

Yeah, but Leon's like, really freakin' blue. Anyway, J, what's up for discussion?

Well, first off, I want to finish the topics we left open back in October.

It's been that long?

Yeah. I apologize; I'm trying very hard to get into a channeling mood but I'm getting... well, besides the constant family distractions, I think I just got slammed by the pain train.

Yeah, you kinda did.

Are you going to be all right?

Yes and no. As usual.

I still say we need to get started on talking.

True. What's the point we need to pick up?

Uh... let me see if I can find the original paper... geez, I can't seem to find it.

Then don't worry about it. We'll go by the previous entry.

All right. Then uh... oh no. No no no.

What's wrong?

Mom just walked in the door.

Damn. That's a red alert for sure. Here, I'll tell you what. Bring up Ryuichi on iTunes and let's dive into this.

Okay.

Aiite. First aspect was the joy vs sadness issue, and how you interpret them differently.

Oh. Okay. I think we covered that pretty well, but there were a few... odd points I didn't go into depth on.

Such as?

The, um... the fact that I feel the most positive emotions as pain, and that for whatever reason, love and pain are inherently connected to me.

I think you just explained why.

Yeah, maybe, but... it doesn't explain why everything hurts so much all the time.

Which sort? Good or bad pain?

Both.

Yeah, that seems typical for you.

That is interesting.

But it explains a lot.

Let's backtrack a bit. You mentioned that 'normal' happiness, the optimistic kind, blinds you and feels selfish, right?

Right.

And you said that your sort of happiness is not self-oriented, and that you seem to 'live on positive pain.'

Oh, so I did say that already.

Yes, but you didn't elaborate on the love+pain thing. Sure, it seems self-explanatory when you say that love is a cause of positive pain the way it is, but then look at you and me.

Wait, what?

Seriously, Chaos. You and J have the positive sort. He and I, though, throw in the negative.

And that's what's confusing me, because I'm not realizing that Laurie's delivery of the negative is actually positive, so I let uncaring people take advantage of me, and... I'm making this all sound really confusing, aren't I?

No, I get it. Not... most people aren't like Laurie.

Heh, true that.

Exactly. But I assume the best in people, even in my paranoia. So... it's taking a real toll on how I deal with people. I look for positive pain, as that's what holds things together for me, but people don't seem to understand that and often things take a sharp turn for the worse. Then I unintentionally end up hurting people, and they end up hurting me, whether they mean to or not... bottom line is, in all of my relationships with people downstairs, there is a ridiculous amount of negative pain, and I think I'm unable to realize that during said situations. I let people hurt me, and sometimes I even go as far as forcing them to hurt me, because I'm so desperate for something 'true' that I can't tell what sort of pain I'm getting.

Ohhh, now I see. That's what the summer was about, a bit.

Yeah. It's... distressing, to say the least. But let's not talk about that... there's really nothing else I can say on either of those points.

It still needs to be dealt with.

Did anyone else realize that three of us here have L names? It gets really bloody confusing.

There goes the fourth wall, Laurie. Good job.

Pff, like I give a shank about the walls.

Back on topic, guys.

Fine. You sure there's nothing we can do here about the pain thing?

What can we do? It's a misinterpretation problem.

It's a straight-up addiction problem is what it is. You're a tragic character, that's canon already. But you're addicted to tragedy. You breathe sorrow, you see agony.

I eat pain?

Bumper cars. Score.

No one is going to get that reference, you guys.

If they do then they win the internet.

True. Anyway, as I said. It's hard enough for you to form relationships of any caliber, but when you throw in the pain thing, things double in difficulty. Maybe they even quadruple. But as soon as you become connected to someone, the pain addiction kicks in. And if they don't give you any of that pain in the form of truth, love or depth, you start to force it. And that's when things fall through.

Is that the problem with losing people, then?

Partly. Actually, it's probably a hell of a big part of it. J?

That makes sense... I always figured it was because I tend to avoid people I don't know or feel any synchronicity with, because there would be little or no chance for any lasting connection anyway... but that only explains my lack of any social life. It doesn't explain why, when I do get a good connection, it still doesn't seem to last.

Maybe they're just incompatible with the pain.

...Maybe. That might be it.

Which is pretty sad, considering it's what you need.

Yeah. It is.

...

Hey, Chaos, you're good. Don't ever worry about that.

Believe me, I know. I'm just worried about you.

Oh.

As always, dare I say?

Heh, sure.

What's the next point, guys? We kind of covered that one, like, three times.

Next one is the explanation of Jewel's view of 'faith.'

Geez, that's a big one.

Thank God you have your flash drive plugged in. Bring up the basics.

Wait, are you serious?

Course I'm serious.

Yeah, I may have been raised Catholic, and I still hold onto that entirely, but I've been using the term "Lumineist" lately as I grapple with all the troubles in popular Christianity.

And what is that term?

It's a makeshift term for a follower of the Light; "Lumine" is Light in Latin. Jewel Monsters don't really have a general term for it that I'm aware of, so...

Ohhh, I was wondering why they all had that listed as their religion. Okay.

Yeah, because I'm not sure how to write literal Christianity into their world without messing things up, on both sides-- it's too serious a thing to risk misrepresenting, and I'm starting to worry that I don't actually understand the "source material" well enough in the first place. See, lately I've been facing a ton of obstacles concerning religion and spirituality in general. I've received some rather disturbing online retorts to my own opinions of faith, which I've been meaning to write about in my Blurty, but haven't yet... either way, I think it would be good to discuss those here as well.

Which ones? All three or just the one about the fanatics?

Just that one, I think.

Can you explain the context for these 'retorts?' I'm not too sure what we're working with.

Well, to be blunt, I took the risk of commenting on a controversial vid on Youtube. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but there are some nasty lurkers on that site.

What was the controversy?

It was about that Shirley Phelps woman. Someone said that she was the 'perfect example of a Christian,' which is absolutely incorrect. I said that you can't preach hatred and bigotry and claim that it's 'God's will,' as that's going against the very core of Christianity, and that she was only being ignorant to that. However, I got a reply from the original poster claiming that I am 'not a true Christian,' BECAUSE I believe in living through love, charity, and other like virtues.

That's outright ridiculous.

I know. They said that it was 'cherry picking,' that I had ignored the vengeance of God in the Old Testament and the like. Not only were they assuming that incorrectly, but I think they were misinterpreting something called justice. As I've said many times before, mercy and forgiveness are absolutely vital, but so is keeping righteousness alive. Evil deeds need to be atoned for. I am going to do some serious re-reading of the entire OT just in case, though. But you see my point?

Yeah. It's kind of sick how people are using religion as a way to justify acting on vices.

Oh, on that point. I made a comment on a different video, one in which there was a ton of LGBT hatred going on, and I simply said 'when did God ever promote hatred?' Because, as far as I'm aware, he didn't. However, as I should have expected, I got a reply from someone claiming that 'God is all about hating and killing.' That really upset me, to say the absolute least.

Sheesh, I can see why it would.

So, about my view of faith in opposition to views like that... regardless of what those people say, my faith revolves around virtue: love, justice, mercy, understanding, generosity, wisdom. There's no place for prejudice, hatred or selfishness in my belief system... and really, it's what I've followed all my life. It's also why I don't get hopeless when stuff gets bad, either. It's the reason behind most of what I do, who am I kidding?

It's also why you get so upset when people say 'religion is evil,' it seems.

Definitely. Religion isn't evil in and of itself; blind fanaticism is. Religion should never promote hatred or the like, as I've already mentioned. The only way a religion could be inherently evil would be if it were based on evil, and I don't support that because I feel it goes against what life should truly be. If God is love, and religion is supposed to point to God, then religion should also be saturated with love. Also, people don't necessarily need to belong to a formal religion to be good people, but I think their hearts are headed in that same direction, for that same reason. So there you go. I think I've said enough for now; otherwise I'm going to end up rambling like a madman.

Hey, your explanations sounds good to me. No worries there.

I agree... it also helps me understand better why you dislike Julie so much.

Well no kidding! No one should like her, period. There's no excuse for that sort of behavior.

No, there isn't.

Oh, um... the next point is another really complicated one.

Which one is that?

The heart point. It gets really, really abstract.

Well, get to it.

Hey, the prompt said you understand it better than I do, so you start this one.

Heh, fine. Bottom line: you've been misunderstanding it for way too bloody long.

Misunderstanding it? How so?

Easy. Like the emotion point, J's comprehension of it is entirely different from the norm. Honestly, when someone mentions anything having to do with the heart, what do you think? Emotions or the physical organ, right?

I guess so, yeah.

Well, the kid doesn't think that. But, up until the summer, he didn't realize that his view was so different. That 'emotional rape' he mentioned last time was because people were going about 'understanding' him, and this point by extension, in an entirely inaccurate way.

Yeah, and it hurt. See, for me, 'heart' and 'soul' are practically synonymous, in that they both refer to a non-physical aspect of oneself that is not only incredibly and ineffably personal, but also an irreplaceable aspect of every individual. Also, I view logic and emotion as being inherently connected, so.

I can see the disconnect there.

The worst part, though, is that during the summer, people kept treating it as a physical and non-personal aspect. So he got really screwed up.

To say the very least.

And now, Julie's jumped on that as a way to hack me, so I have to practically cut myself off from it in all aspects but the spiritual, which destroys a lot of the positive coping methods I instilled in my childhood.

Ouch. She just keeps getting worse.

Yeah, no kidding. That it for that point, kid?

I think it's all I can really say, yeah. Otherwise I'm going to end up going off on another J-Monster tangent.

Heh, no problem. Next point is... uh, I think we've covered everything.

That was it?

Looks like it. Oh, and you and I finally see eye-to-eye on the atonement point.

Yeah, that's an important thing to mention.

So wait, you two don't argue anymore, then?

They used to argue?

Yeah, we used to argue all the time in these things. Wasn't until the graves started... piling up, that he saw my point.

I hate to admit it, but Laurie was in the right. Sorry about that.

Heheheh.

Let me see if there's anything else I want to discuss while we're here...

We were supposed to discuss Leon, if you already forgot.

We were?

Yeah, we were. Ladies and gentlemen and everyone outside the binary, we have a new headvoice.

He's not exactly 'new,' Laurie.

Hey, you weren't even around when he first showed up, so he's new to you. But yeah, he's stuck with us now.

It's better than being dead.

True.

...

So Leon over there first showed up back in April, which some of you nonexistent readers may remember, but we weren't too happy about it. He was a jittery gambling addict and spend most of his time taking absolutely ridiculous chances. It was screwing with J's head, so I basically took care of it.

You killed me off, that's what.

Hey, you're one heck of a skinny dude the way it is. Cut off your lifeline and you won't last very long; that's obvious. Either way, yeah, you died, but then last Wednesday you decided to show your bony face again and we all flipped out.

It was because I started taking positive risks, though.

That AND the big negative ones, mind you. You think the summer didn't contribute to his coming back? Sheesh, kid, that was the biggest gamble of your entire life. But, you did learn a heck of a lot from it, so all the positive fallout probably played a major part in his... switching sides, so to speak.

I was never on Julie's side, I swear.

Listen, I don't care if you say you were or not; you were actively contributing to a negative influence, and anyone who does that is on Julie's side. If you're not with us, you're against us.

That makes sense, considering Jewel's headspace.

Well, no kidding. So I gave him a week to shape up or ship out, and through some sort of bizarre miracle he managed to pull through. Now here he is, ta-da. Brand new paint job.

I don't think I would have made it in time if... if those hacks didn't happen.

Sad but true. They shook us all up.

Why, Leon, how did they affect you?

Well, um, I didn't understand what the problem was with Julie until I saw exactly what she was doing. And I didn't trust Laurie until I saw what she was doing to oppose that... basically it scared me, to see exactly what I would be facing if I stayed, but it scared me even more to think of dying again and not being able to fight that at all.

Plus he has this absolute kickass warping ability, which saved our hides the other night.

It did.

I didn't know I could do that, you know...

So? Lynne didn't know she could create shields until she tried, did she? Lynne?

No, I didn't. I'm sure I could do much more if I put my mind to it, too.

Exactly. You have to try. If you don't at least make an effort, then don't complain when nothing works out for you.

I can attest to that.

Darn straight you can, I would know.

Leon, is there anything else you want to add or do you think we're good for now?

I think we're good for now.

All right. Let me see if there's anything else to-- oh, hey, there's something.

What is it?

Our seventh anniversary is next Thursday.

Oh dude, time flies! Next week already?

Yeah, that's it.

Congratulations, you two.

Hey, don't... don't congratulate us yet, I'm nervous enough the way it is.

Heh, I love how you still get those butterflies after over 2500 days.

I wouldn't say they're butterflies, unless you're making a clever personal reference, in which case they would be. Otherwise I just get... I just get the positive pain thing.

Subaqueous confessions?

Complimentary spectrums and empyreal dissonance alike.

I see one of our past points in there.

In what?

In that poem of yours. You should seriously write another one for next week.

Oh geez, I don't know if I can top that one... um... I guess I can try. I'm more concerned about the artwork that needs to be done, though.

Design fixing, am I right?

You are so right. I swear you are effing gorgeous. If I can get you on paper then we're set.

Aren't we supposed to be having a Xanga session?

Yeah, but this is important too.

Don't give me that look, haha. You two are absolute headcases.

You love us for it.

Darn right I do. Seriously though, is there anything else we need to discuss or should we go straight back to the hacking point?

What about it?

The fact that it's now brutal, stealthy, and way too bloody fast. There's not much we can do to fight off that floozy if she's coming after us with a mask and leaving before we realize what's going on.

I know...

Kid, we all know. Sure, you feel guilty, but you're not the only one. You think I'm proud of not being able to sense these threats? God knows I wish we could just kill that slut already!

I'm trying.

I know. And we're making real progress. But so is she.

This is really tearing me up, Laurie.

It's destroying everyone here, Chaos! This is driving me absolutely insane because we are using all of our bloody resources and that blackhearted bitch is STILL getting through security! I mean, for God's sake, who the hell mindrapes someone when they're asleep and defenseless?! This is freaking SICK!

...Maybe that's why Leon came back?

Hey, that's true. You always say there are no coincidences.

Wh-what? What did I do?

...I think it's more what you're going to do. Seriously, backup is backup, and if you have methods she'll never suspect, then so help me, we'll fight her fire with a freakin' volcano.

But I don't-- I don't know how to fight her! I don't even know what she looks like!

I don't care. That bimbo spends most of her time pretending to be other people anyway. All that matters is that you never let down your guard, you keep your eyes open for anything suspicious or unstable, and don't EVER compromise. That's how she gets in.

I wish we could fix that already, too.

Same.

Then fix it!

I'm trying. It's just very difficult, as sad as that is to say.

Don't worry, kid. After this week, I am not letting you out of my sight for a minute. Leon, if you're around him and I'm nowhere to be seen, FIX that. She knows how to get past you, but she can't get through me.

Didn't she try to hack you the other day, though?

She did try. She bloody well did try. But so help me, she won't get away with that.

I think that's what scares me the most about this.

What, her trying to get to me now?

Yeah... she's attacked Genesis, she's tried to use me, and now she's trying to incapacitate you. I don't know how she's getting this... powerful, really.

She's a direct mirror of our positive potential. The stronger we get, the stronger she gets. And she finds extra power everywhere. It's sick but that's the way it goes.

Why?

Hell if I know. Maybe it's just so we don't lose sight of what we're really living for.

She hasn't gone after Lynne or I though, has she? Why's that?

Geez, man, I don't want her going after either of you anyway, but neither of you spend as much time around J as Chaos and I do. Genesis too, really. She figures that, if she can corrupt the people he's closest to, then bam, there goes the floor!

So it's better if we stay at a distance?

A small one. Stay close enough to help, but don't get as involved as I am unless I give you the green light.

Laurie, I don't think anyone can top your involvement even if they tried.

What, even you?

Yeah, even me. Admit it; you don't have the extra ties that I do, and for whatever reason, we both know that he lets you get closer because of it.

I don't think it's a matter of extra ties, Chaos. We just have different sorts.

Yeah, the both of you really have the same amount of strings.

Heh, good to know.

You know what, Laurie, I think there's much more to you than I've ever realized.

Really now?

Yeah... I was thinking about the whole Virtue/Vice correspondence of you guys, and--

Wait, what's this now? Headvoices don't have V/Vs, do they?

Not in the J-Monster aspect, no, but I think they do carry certain aspects regardless. I mean, if you think about it, it's almost shockingly obvious. Julie is Lust, Jessica was Sloth, Missy is Greed, Bridget is Pride...

Wow, that... actually works.

And that weird manic red voice that attacked me in 2008 would be Wrath. I really hope she never comes back.

Then watch your red temper. Leon had a longer life than she did at first, but man, whoever she was, I do not want her around.

I don't either.

So... if those guys have vices, then do we have virtues or what?

Yeah, but I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out which ones. I'm going by the 7 Heavenly Virtues, to correspond with the Deadly Sins, so.

Wait, then who has Gluttony and Envy?

No one that I'm aware of, and I hope it stays that way. I remember Gluttony was forming a few years back, but we managed to fix that situation before they could personify.

Keep it that way.

I know.

And you've never had a problem with Envy, so that's one vice we might not have to worry about fighting.

True... I hope not.

What are the 7 Heavenly Virtues, though?

Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Humility, and Kindness. Out of those, Leon is definitely Temperance, and Natalie was most likely Kindness, so...

What would I be?

Jo, you'd be Diligence, as you're always so determined in seeking the truth. You don't like it when anyone slacks off. As for Lynne, I'm not sure what you'd be... I think Humility works, as you've never shown an ounce of arrogance that I'm aware of.

Thank you.

The other ones are what's odd, though. I think Spine is Patience.

What? Spine? I thought she was negative!

Only because she applies to my self-image. But, considering the battle we've been fighting concerning that, I think Patience is a fitting virtue for her.

Huh. That is interesting.

I know. So I'm going to see if I can find her and talk to her soon, and maybe get her on our side. She's never really seemed to be 'affiliated' with anyone, but considering what Laurie said earlier... allies are allies.

True.

Who's Spine?

Spine is this... really weird looking creature that's up here with us. I've never really called her a 'headvoice' because she's never actively spoken to anyone, but she is definitely around, and she definitely has an important influence on me regardless.

Wait, Spine isn't humanoid?

She is, but only in shape. She looks like a monster or demon more than anything... but she's all skeleton. There isn't an ounce of skin on her.

Whoa.

I've seen her. She's seriously creepy. You sure you can get her to sympathize with us?

Considering the fact that Julie doesn't care whether anyone but herself benefits from her actions? Sure. Remember, we all bleed together, and I'm sure Spine is feeling more than she lets on, what with her inexplicable connection to my physical self.

So that leaves... two virtues unassigned. Chastity and Charity.

Laurie, I think those are yours.

Heh.

Both of them? Seriously?

Come on guys, she's Julie's biggest enemy, and can't be hacked as far as we can tell, which automatically gives her Chastity... and as for Charity, I think I can attest to that one.

Still, two virtues?

I think she deserves them.

Laurie, you are being frighteningly quiet.

Just letting the kid talk is all.

But... that's what I meant about there being more to you than you let on. I mean, really, no one but me would ever put your name next to the virtue of Charity, but it fits.

Don't judge a book by it's cover, that's what I always say.

I know. Still, it's interesting to think about, considering how I've known you for four years now.

You've known Chaos for 7 years and you don't know everything about him either.

Sure, but geez, you know more about him than I do, even with a three year time gap.

Hm.

Well, you do.

I didn't say I didn't.

So, um... anything else you guys want to cover, again? Or is that it for today.

I think we're good. You guys can go.

Who, us?

Yeah. You and Lynne take Leon and keep an eye out for any warning signs. Fill him in on anything he's missed, too.

Kay, see you.

All right, if you say so.

I, uh, thanks. I'll help as much as I can.

You'd better. See you guys later.

Laurie?

Yeah?

You don't... seem like yourself.

What, 'cause I'm not freakin' swearing? Am I not allowed to show another side of my personality every now and then? Geez, Chaos. Come on.

No, it's not that. You just... when Jewel started talking about how he felt there was more to you than you let on, you pretty much just stopped talking.

I'm allowed to be silent.

That's not what I mean. I mean it seems like you are hiding something.

Maybe I am. Maybe I don't exactly feel comfortable discussing that with everyone in the room.

But they're headvoices too?

Doesn't matter, not with this. Sure, I care about them, but you two are different. You're not just co-workers or siblings. I trust you a hell of a lot more than I do them.

Seriously?

Yeah, seriously. Why else do you think I don't bring Josephina when we're discussing hacks? Why do you think we're the only people around when we're trying to keep things together? This is different. We all might bleed together in the community sense, but when it gets down to the blood and bones themselves, it's just the three of us whose hearts are aching from all the hell Julie keeps putting us through. Chaos is right; it's not about seniority, and it's not about job status either. This is about something far more important than either of those aspects will ever be, and so help me God, but I won't lose this if it kills me.

...Guess Jewel was right.

Don't give me that, of course he is. He knows that. You remember when we used to be the only ones talking here, right?

Yeah. I miss that, actually.

It's because of those that we have what we have. It wasn't until Chaos decided to see me as more than an axe-swinging maniac that he realized it either.

But... I always trusted you. Even when it was only me. Even when you still hated me.

That's my bloody point. That's the connection I'm talking about. It's not something you can predict or measure. It's also why I was so freakin' paranoid when Leon showed up, because you said you couldn't identify with him.

I'm starting to warm up to him a little more now.

Sure, but you will never have with him what you do with me, and the same goes for Lynne and Josephina.

So, uh... then what does it mean when J says that he feels he doesn't entirely know you?

He doesn't. I've been one secretive sonofagun since 2006. Jewel tells me every bloody detail of his life, pun intended, and sure, I'll listen and help him as well as I possibly can, but do I ever tell him that much about myself in return? Heck no. So he's not going to know as much as he can, but that's not his fault.

Why are you so secretive, then? Not that I'm complaining, but I'm curious.

Because no one ever cared but you. Not when everything started out. It wasn't even until late 2009 that Chaos even considered that 'hey, maybe that violet brute isn't so bad after all!' I was alone, just like you. But... I never really told you much. I'm sorry about that, kid, but it was for your own good.

How so?

Come on... if I told you every last detail about me, then all the more power to Julie. How the hell else do you think she used to disguise as Chaos? That satanic slut USED the both of you, used everything she could find!! She doesn't know a bloody thing about me and I hope to keep it that way. I'm sorry. If we can ever defeat her, if we can ever freaking kill that demon, then maybe I'll tell you. Until then... this is all you get.

Damn, Laurie, you're a lot deeper than I thought you were.

What, did you think I was one-dimensional or something? I'm not a figment, and neither are you. Watch your mouth, by the way. I'm the only one with swearing rights.

Yeah, I know. Sorry...

No problem. The figment comment kind of hurt, huh?

...

Thought it would. Needed to be said, though.

Laurie, um...

What?

...I don't know. I'm just really sad again is all.

Well, I can understand why.

Hey, life's tough. We've got a new therapist coming up on Monday. If that goes well, then great. If it doesn't, then we'll just find another one. We can't give up, or we'll lose for sure.

I noticed you've been saying that a lot.

'Don't give up?' It's true. Once you stop caring about something, or stop doing anything about it, then hell, you've lost all chances of ever winning. I've said many times that I'll fight until the day I die and I mean that.

And I don't want you to die, either.

Kid, God willing we'll all go down together. I don't think any of us want to see each other die.

Geez, never.

And we've come close...

Yeah. Too close.

...

Nng, I don't know if I can handle this disconnect much longer.

Which one?

The big one. The inner-outer conflict. The reason why I can't stand mirrors.

I still say you should get a mask like we originally planned to.

Yeah, I think so too...

Are you doing all right?

See, I think that's the problem. I always say 'yes and no,' but... well, I always have these hacking problems to worry about, but then I have you guys, so... so I don't know.

You're doing just well enough.

I suppose so... I just love you guys so much...

I know.

...

I just... I want to be me, and that's it. I want to be true on the outside for once. I'm sick and tired of people telling me what I can and cannot be, just because I don't fit their preconceived or programmed notions of something. And I'm never going to escape that, that I know for sure... but that doesn't change me. That doesn't change what's real and right. I just want to... to live, for once in my life.

Kid, if I could help you achieve that, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I know you would.

I'm with the blue guy.

Man... is it weird that, no matter how badly this hurts, I look for it?

We just discussed this, you tragic maniac. You run on heartache.

Heh, yeah, I guess so. It's sad though.

Beautiful melodies telling you terrible things, is it?

Mm-hm.

...Man, it's times like this I regret my decision the most...

What do you mean?

Keeping silent.

Laurie, I think you're more tragic than you let on, too.

Well no kidding, Chaos! You're in the same boat, if you forgot.

No, I didn't forget that. I couldn't possibly forget it.

Failure, Catharsis and Chaos, huh?

That's one heck of a trio.

Except Vices have to fight their attributes, so...

Victory, Catharsis and Creation.

I like that.

Catharsis hurts both ways, I suppose.

It does.

Laurie, if you ever get a Jewel Form, I swear it would be the coolest thing ever.

Nah, man, you're at least 500 times cooler than I am already.

Aw, that's not true. You're both awesome.

Hey, stupid question.

Yeah?

Is this that Vitas guy you're listening to right now?

Yep... 'Angel Without A Wing.' Beautiful stuff, isn't it?

I want to know why you've had this one song of his on loop for the past two days, though. You don't do that unless it means something. Give me the lyrics.

What, right here?

Sure, we have time to spare. I'd rather talk as long as possible anyway.

Okay, um... "I am returning to my childhood. I see the days flying back. I am breaking my heart; it is painful to walk all alone. I am like an angel without a wing. Why did you hurt me? Among the stars, the flows of tears were blown away by the wind. Though there are shivers on my skin, my tears are glittering with light. You should know I'll remain the same - A pure angel from heaven. I am like an angel without a wing. Why did you hurt me? Among the stars, the flows of tears were blown away by the wind."

Told you it was relevant.

That's... geez, kid, how do you find songs that fit your life so well?

Hey, no coincidences.

None at all.

Laurie, um, do you want to keep talking or what?

That depends, why?

Because it's already 6PM and I only have three hours before I need to sleep, so I'd like to maybe get some typing or sketching in.

Sketching. If you sketch, I'll let you close this up.

I know it's tough, but maybe if you start off slow again, we can get this fixed.

Oh yeah, and 'Green Eyes' by Coldplay.

What?

Fits. The lyrics, rather. It's like a sequel to 'Living.'

Oh, dude, Jewel told me about that! Is it really that bad?

"Green eyes, you're the one that I wanted to find; and anyone who tried to deny you must be out of their mind..." yeah, it's that bad.

Wow. That's... wow. That's actually kind of hilarious.

Guys?

Yeah, sketching. Get to it. You have an actual deadline this time, remember.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that. Seven years.

They've been a really important seven years, you know.

Yeah, I do. I do.

Rifle recoil.

Ffff--- don't go there, kid, not while we're online.

Heheheh!

Watch out, Laurie, or I'll get you too.

He will. This kid knows his way around.

Believe me, I know it.

Should we take bets on how long it's going to take to close up this time?

I think that's more of Leon's thing.

True that!

Well, I have 35 seconds left on this song, so...

Oh shoot, we need a good closing line in 20 seconds. Chaos?

What, what am I going to say?

See you next week?

Same time, same channel.

That is way too accurate.
prismaticbleed: (shatter)


Screw getting a girlfriend; right now I'd probably be happier if I never saw another biological female for the rest of my freaking life.

Last night I was sent to hell.

Let's start at the beginning...
Yesterday, after I finished my Jayce-rant entry, Mel went into some sort of Laurie-state with (I assume) Parker: her own personal schadenfreudic headvoice, so to speak. Of course I was still stuck in this awfully numb state during it, so I had no idea what do do, let alone the means to do so.
Even better? I lost my only connection to Jena. Hello mental trauma.
I can't even remember yesterday afternoon; I won't even try at this point. My single recollection of the evening is what I did around 12AM, when everyone else was asleep. Basically, I tried to 'turn off' this numb state. Come on, I'm dead sick of it already... I had to do something.
Long story short, I ended up trying several different methods before my sleep-deprived mind thought 'heck with it' and just turned on iTunes for about an hour. Choral music does wonders for my psyche, God knows why. Regardless that helped me disassociate from physical reality for a few blessed minutes.
After that, though, I fell back into my Jayce-state. I've been going into that mindset very often lately... this form I'm trapped in is causing me so much trouble that I can't help but mentally impose a more beneficial perception upon myself. So I opened up Wavepad and began tweaking every female vocalist down to 85% of their original pitch, haha. Forgive me, but that is killer stress relief. I did that for a while, messing with Miriam Stockley and Kim Jensen, before realizing that I was unconsciously looking for a pitch-warp that matched Jayce's voice. "Well hey," I thought, "I have that one file of myself singing on here... let's see how that works."
86% pitch drop = perfect fit.
I freaking have Jayce's voice.
I think I cried, haha. Needless to say, I transcended that numbness for a good ten minutes around 1AM, brought down only by the sick realization that I still had a long way to go before I could achieve that sort of happiness with myself. So I closed up Apollo and resigned myself to sleep.

God forgive me, but I swear I would rather have stayed awake for the next month.

I don't remember much of what my nightmare was, and thank God for that because I've been trying desperately to purge it from my mind since I woke up around 3PM (no kidding). I spend a good 3 hours reading goats books in the kitchen to get my mind caught up in something else (that comic is amazing), but there are still some sickeningly vivid fragments left in my mind, no matter how badly I wish they were gone.
For that reason, I won't even dare describe what I experienced last night out of fear that it'll 'come back to me' upon doing so. I'll simply mention that it involved a lot of death, darkness, and damnation. The scariest part is that I was in a lucid state the whole time, to the point where I couldn't possibly distinguish my mental hell from 'actual' reality. Heck, after waking up I swear that nightmare had been more real than the world I woke up in.

Anyway, I woke up more shaken than I've been in years. That's when I retreated into the kitchen with a metaphysical comic book, and that's pretty much how my day has gone.
In all seriousness, though, I have no idea what to do about this. That nightmare was so terribly traumatic, I... geez, I swear I am this close to pulling an all-nighter this evening. See if the local library has a copy of JTHM and call it a day.

I don't know what to do.
Yeah, I haven't been feeling anything other than this dull empty ache between my ribs, but according to Mel I've been emitting such a negative energy signature that it's making her physically ill.
That terrifies me. On a daily basis I put a huge amount of effort into keeping up a positive 'aura,' so to speak, but in this state I can't even get my mind to form coherent thoughts for heaven's sake. Last night I couldn't get it to think at all, let alone feel anything save abject paranoid terror (in the mental sense, I guess) at the fact that I was in a car. Don't ask me where that came from, it just did.
Oh yeah... and halfway through that ordeal, I pretty much 'zoned out' on the drive up. Guess who decided it was her time to take matters into her own hands? Yep, my dear superego, Laurie.
Contrary to what you may be expecting, though, we didn't have another Wednesday on our hands. Oh, she tried it, even to the point where I was physically jolting and flinching because of it, but despite my hideously mangled mental state, I managed to choke out that I couldn't take her doing that. She took one hard look at me and spat out that she wasn't surprised; that I had been rapidly degenerating lately and if I didn't shape up fast I'd be doing more than shipping out... I'd literally unravel.
I hadn't put much thought into this situation before her interception, but that statement on her part turned a light on in this dusty mind of mine.
Ever since I stepped off the plane in Las Vegas, something weird has been happening to me, and I'll tell you exactly what it is and why.
I had just traveled over 2000 miles away from the place where I was born and raised, for the sole reason of seeing the two people who supposedly cared for me most in this world. Upon meeting them and spending the next week with them, I didn't notice the less positive switch. See, I no longer had to worry about the stressful turmoil of my distant 'home.' That lever had been switched off, and another had been switched on. I was now torn between being myself and being a person who could sync with Mel and Q without causing severe problems. That brought up the whole 'keeping them amused' problem (that's in my IJ) and the secondary issue of tweaking my personality to keep from possibly offending or confusing anyone too much. Not much of a change from my home life after all, sadly. But I didn't realize it. I kept myself from realizing it. It was sick.
The biggest blow was Girls' Camp, I think (well, besides Wednesday night, but that ties in with the above motivators). I would've been fine with it if it hadn't incorporated two things that unfailingly screw up my sense of self every time I come in contact with them... meaningless 'entertainment,' and forcing myself to be seen as a female. God only knows how much damage I unknowingly took from that.
It wasn't until Friday afternoon that I finally came to terms with just how deeply this sick numbness had managed to force itself into my bones. Now, on what I think is a Tuesday (my sense of time has been shot in the face lately), I can't even get myself to feel anything more than a dim sense of sick desperation at the monotony I'm still unfortunately trapped in.
I don't want to leave Utah because the two people that brought me here want me to stay, but I also don't want to stay because of what I'm causing them... and what they're causing me.
God, you've really got me in a bizarre situation now, don't you? Man oh man.
Gold in the fire, that's what I'm crossing my fingers for. This too shall pass.
But how long is it going to take? When I finally get through this, what's going to be left of me? How badly will I be scarred? How far gone will I be?
I don't know what the ultimate outcome of all this will be, but you know... the saddest part is that I ironically have every single coping mechanism that I will ever need, and yet I cannot access them in my current state.
Even sleep, my single static escape, has turned into a conduit for divine punishment, forcing me into deeper contrition every time I wake up trying to burn the memory of the past 8 hours out of my eyes.
I don't even feel 'real' anymore. I think that may be a major part of this numbness.

People keep trying to turn off my pain addiction. I've finally come to the realization that, despite what may seem the obvious truth, 'saving me' from this pain is a very, very bad thing.
Wednesday night didn't just happen because I was causing an undue amount of suffering for the ones around me, but also because Laurie and I had both gone so long out of our elements that we had both pretty much lost it. In a sick sort of way, I really miss that hour of torture, because it's the only actual 'feeling' I can remember having in the past two weeks.
I have to laugh... I'm sorely tempted to just wander out into SLC and pick a fight with the nastiest person I see on the street, just for the sake of getting a wicked right hook to my face or something. Just so I can feel some sort of physical sensation other than this hazy, glued-together awareness of existence and the awful chills I get when I wake up.
I've been dreaming of blood and pain and terror every single night since my plane landed. No exceptions. I couldn't find the answer for it before, but really, it's just a sad sort of cry for help.
I haven't told her. It would hurt her too much, to know that I secretly dread sleeping in her room. And so I lie to everyone, myself included. How many sins has this caused?
It's sick how no one sees any of that. It's sick how no one else wants anything but sunshine.

I'm really messed up, aren't I?

I still don't know what to do right now.
I want to switch off this negative vibe that I'm giving off... I want to feel something other than numbness. I want the face in the mirror to match the one I see myself with, I want to make something out of my future, I want to finally live in a life that matches what I've been so desperately searching for all my life.
I want to know why every single entry I write always ends in the same way... with a recollection of my blessings, a dread acknowledgment of my trials, and a sad sort of hope for a way out.

I truly am sorry, but I'm starting to get a very frightening sort of feeling right now, and if I don't get myself away from this computer ASAP, I'll likely have a mental breakdown/shutdown. I can't expose myself to computers for very long or freaky stuff starts happening to me.

Then again, I'm kind of used to that sort of stuff by now.





Well I'm scared of my reflection
Is it mine or is it yours?
And I swear I hear the knocking
But there's no one at the door

Don't think I'm losing my perspective
'Cause I know one thing for sure
They've been watching, they've been listening
Every whisper, every word

Your sudden movements, sudden movements
Gonna give us all away
No sudden movements, sudden movements
Or they'll blow us all away

Dare I find my information
Who's the black sheep of the herd?
I am the guardian of angels
And they'll get what they deserve

So lock your children in the basement
Keep a rifle by the door
Don't be afraid of my intentions
'Cause I'm more afraid of yours

Your sudden movements, sudden movements
Gonna give us all away
No sudden movements, sudden movements
Or they'll blow us all away

 


 

 

 

prismaticbleed: (shatter)



This is a very mature entry.
I just felt I should warn you; I've been wanting to write this stuff down for a while but I've been very nervous about it. It's controversial material, really, but here it is regardless.



So I've found a way to throw my empathy/catharsis through the roof.
Shock sites.
Yes, you heard me. But let's explain some history first.

Nowadays I am forced to spend my day working on computers, standing at a cash register for 7 hours, or researching subject after subject within voiceless pages. I often find myself listening to minimalist music until I lose track of time, getting lost in daydreams and altogether disconnecting myself from the world.
It's frightening, to be honest. I'll wake up some mornings and it'll take a while to realize that I'm actually seeing objects around me. I've been losing the feeling in my body, too. I'll touch things and the sensation is there, yeah, but I don't feel it. It's hard to explain. I'm aware of my sense of touch, but it's so dim that it doesn't register. I hope that makes sense.
Anyway, because of that, I often drift through life in a daze. I don't feel, I can't truly see, I don't eat. I hear things and forget them immediately. The only redeeming factor of my senses is that I talk to myself often, which keeps my auditory recognition from falling through completely.
Long story short, I unconsciously make myself almost immaterial, haha. I exist on sound and mental sight most days.
But... I'll be honest. Sometimes I find myself completely enthralled with the experience of physical sensation. I find it almost alien; something delicately frightening and amazing all the same.
I'll lock myself in the bathroom some days, and I'll just... I don't know. Do things. Not bad things, mind; but weird things. I'll turn off the lights and open the window, and maybe I'll just stretch for an hour. I'll stretch every muscle I can find, sometimes contorting myself so much that I don't know how I'll get out of it. Sometimes I'll find glitter in my mother's drawer and just cover myself with it; methodically, but naively. Sometimes I'll find a comb with a sharp edge, or a new razor blade, or some scissors, and I'll use them against my skin in whatever way I think of. Tiny little cuts, maybe just a thin scraping here or there, just barely enough to leave a little red line. Just a surface scar... it'll be gone in minutes. Then I'll make another one. They originated as a way to quiet Laurie, and that's when I used to bleed.
I don't bleed often; no, not at all. I only bleed when I'm not looking... at work, I'll handle a paper bag a little too carelessly, and suddenly there's a thin line of blood on my arm. I'll tear out a hangnail and watch my nail turn red, wondering in surprise at the sting. I'll drag a razor across my leg too quickly-- which happens often-- and within seconds that familiar red will appear, seemingly out of nowhere. I'll sit and watch it blend with the water, maybe. I never bandage them. I'm proud of my legs; they have the most scars.
Laurie is different. She's not fragile, she's not curious or white. She loves the other end of the spectrum; the sharp points... and she's clever. Almost beautifully, frighteningly clever. Her greatest accomplishment, she laughs, is outsmarting the doctors. You won't find any visible scars on my physical exams, no sir...
I love scars, yes. But Laurie knows about how dangerous they can be, and she won't give them to me; pain works better. That's where the story begins, back when the war started, back in 2008.
Some nights she would become very angry, and at 12AM with only the yellow light above the sink, she'd quietly lock the door and tell me to find that purple comb. That thin comb with the bit of torn plastic at the bottom. She likes that one because no one would ever suspect it... and it doesn't cut; no, it drags. It bites just enough to set nerves ablaze, leaving barely visible crosses that cause me to flinch and bite my lip against the shock. She'd leave one, two, twelve, waiting until I had to stop from the burn, and that would be it. We'd put everything away and quietly walk back out, the skin of my abdomen on fire with those tiny marks. Concentrate on the burn, she'd say. Concentrate on it. It's fire; it's punishment. Think of what you've done that causes such pain, and never do it again.
It didn't work the way we thought it would. At first it was great; I wasn't used to pain and I was scared. Both her and Julie's attacks would leave me shuddering on the floor, crying soundlessly and wishing I could just sleep it all off. But sleep wouldn't erase the past, and Laurie wouldn't let me get away without a lesson or two. It worked, and for several months I remained strong most days, afraid of her retaliation... but as the incidents added up, a sick trend began to appear. I began to force myself to give in to Julie, no matter how much it hurt, because I wanted that other sort of hurt. I wanted to feel physical pain. My daily life was becoming so monotonous, so devoid of the vivid moments I thrived upon, that I was turning to desperate measures. I would willingly torture myself just to feel the bite of that unorthodox razor, just to feel real pain, even if it was fleeting.
Laurie caught on quickly enough, and in a fury, refused to punish me any longer. If I screwed up, if I kept giving in, my guilt would be the only retaliation I would receive. It took me a while to stop; I was still so blind and desperate, and I kept pitifully looking for the pain, the sick reward I would receive for self-destruction. It never came.
It took a long time to stabilize, and then when we thought we had finally made progress, the attacks became mental... severe. They began to hit from the outside. I had no way of fighting it; attacks would ravage me in the form of unexpected art classes, in my mother's words, in every corner of the internet, in the pregnant women that would appear at work. In some instances I could quickly turn away, heaving, shaking, my arms wrapped tightly about my stomach... but most times I would be trapped in a classroom for two hours with a promiscuous professor, forced to stand by a woman whose stomach bore the result of an act I had nightmares about. I was no longer able to escape, and it was slowly driving me to the edge.
I began to abuse myself again... mentally, physically, emotionally. Most nights I would be locked in the bathroom again, where no one could see me, where no one would interrupt. I'd kneel on the floor and quietly sob, uncontrollably, terrified of the mirror, terrified of the body I was in, of the thoughts and words and pictures and expectations that went with it. That's when I started having the nightmares and the breakdowns. I couldn't escape. Everywhere I looked there was danger, danger, danger. I refused to give in or give up... so what could I do?
Then one day Laurie took me aside and looked at me with tired, solemn eyes. She only said a few words.
If you can't escape... you need to desensitize yourself.
That started it all.
It was hell; pure hell. I only wanted to run, but now I found myself with my legs chained to the wall, the horrors of the world directly before my eyes, and the only way to stay sane was to simply become blind to it.
Or so I thought.
I don't even want to talk about it here... but... I guess I have to.
It started very slowly; get used to mirrors. It made me so sick at first, but I trusted it would eventually change. What I didn't know is that in order to get through hell, I couldn't just turn around... I had to walk straight through the center of it first.
Julie saw her chance and became almost murderous. Her idea was that desensitization involved 'giving in.' She was wrong, but I was scared. I began to look at the dangers and wonder if maybe I was the one who was wrong. I was so painfully naive. I was too frightened to stand up for myself or fight back. I was so broken and had so little faith in myself that I figured that I deserved to suffer... so I did.
I began to force myself into the mindsets of others. It was so horrible... I began forgetting hours, days, sometimes weeks at a time just to save myself from the trauma. My self-image and mood hit an all-time low. I was almost chronically depressed, and for the first time in my life, began to honestly wonder if suicide was an option for me.
The most frightening thing about that entire time period for me, though, was that not only was I lost, but Laurie had no idea what to do. She'd scream at me, mentally tear me limb from limb, leave me crying and begging for another chance. Some times she'd ignore me, and leave me there to drown in guilt and desperation... but some times she'd listen. Those were the times that shook me.
Yes, I was hurting myself horribly. Yes, I was practically overriding my own moral code and personality. Yes, I was only doing it for the sake of 'fitting in to society' and doing what my family said was 'right' and 'normal.' But the fact that it hurt so damn much was scaring me to the point where I swore I'd never do such things again. Laurie would be silent, and then she'd uncertainly reply, well maybe that's a good thing. Maybe if you show yourself just how awful this is you won't have to worry about it getting to you? But there was no guarantee, and we were both at a loss.
It went on like that for a while, until the one night when I got so bad that I started sobbing again, asking myself why I was doing this. That's when Laurie showed up and told me she had seen enough. I wasn't desensitizing anything; I was causing myself horrid amounts of pain and compromising who I was. She then offered a different tactic: if I found myself trying to do that to myself again, I should run to her, and she'd take care of it. I wasn't sure if it would work, as I had turned pain into positive reinforcement, but... it did. Surprisingly enough, if I overloaded myself with the sharp physical pain I was addicted to, my sick need for the torturous mental and emotional pain would almost entirely disappear. I hit middle ground for a while, a sort of interim... I dulled my nights with pain until I couldn't take anymore, and I'd go to sleep dreading the morning.
I couldn't run forever, though, and I was still too weak to fight, so Julie took the most horrible route she could find... art. No, I had already run from the figure drawing classes, but she had a different idea. What if I should take them? What if my teachers were right? I should just bite the bullet and 'get used to it...' besides, that's what everyone else is doing. Everywhere you look, that's what people are drawing. So you should too.
I couldn't see how painfully wrong that was. You forget, I wasn't standing up for anything at this point. I was so confused that I was simply following whatever orders were given to me, because 'maybe they know better than I do.' I didn't realize that some people are corrupt, that some people would send me into hell for fun, that 'everyone else' didn't have the right idea after all. I didn't know that then... so I forced myself into it.
This is going to be very hard for me to talk about.
Trying to get used to what I saw in the mirror was one thing. Now I was forcing myself to see things I would never, ever have wanted to see. I began trying to figure draw... but it made me horribly sick. I kept doing it. It was at this point that I began to think I was a lesbian, because although I was horrified of men, I wasn't so disturbed by women. I didn't realize that this was because I was 'technically' used to that already (not to mention that women couldn't hurt my current form in the same ways men could, if you get my drift), and began to warp my personality further. Eventually, though, there was one 'good' aspect... I did become desensitized, but in the wrong way. I became 'used to it.'
I didn't want to be used to it.
I don't know what happened then... like I said, my memory would regularly 'purge' itself so there are literally frighteningly huge gaps in my recall of the past two years. I do know what's happened recently, though.
A month ago, I tried 'traditionally' cutting myself... got a razor and tried that. Unfortunately I couldn't get it to do anything unless I literally 'shaved off' a layer of skin. That would result in a painless, bleeding line, about 2mm wide and almost 3cm long. I gave myself two on my right arm, and was sorely disappointed by the lack of pain (other than the vague 'sting' when the blade cut deep enough to bleed; I recognize it instantly) until I tried to wash them out. It was almost euphoric, I'll sadly admit, and they bled like mad. I watched them for about 10 minutes before throwing a large bandage over them for three straight days (it took them that long to stop bleeding on and off).
I didn't want to go through the whole bandage ordeal just for a good painshock whenever I was near water, so I gave up on that immediately... and I haven't cut my stomach in quite some time too. However, although I've been going for long stretches of time lately without feeling the directionless need to hurt myself mentally, some days I still force myself to give in. It's become so awful though that I rarely go all the way through with it... and almost every time, intriguingly enough, I am interrupted. I'll be forcefully abusing myself and suddenly someone will knock, or the doorbell will ring, or a bug will smash into the window, or I'll simply come to my senses for a moment and think 'wait, why the heck am I still doing this to myself?!'
See, at this point you might be asking yourself 'if you're suffering so badly, and hate doing that to yourself so much, then why don't you just stop??'
I wish it were that easy; I truly do. However, for some sick reason, whenever I get that destructive 'urge,' I go into a sort of locked-up mindset. All I can think about is what I'll do to myself, and often times I disassociate. I'll be destroying my body or my mind and the entire time, I'll be cut off from all my immediate senses, and imagining that this is happening to someone else, maybe in a completely different way. It's scary. I honestly won't see, hear, or otherwise notice anything that's going on around me unless it strongly catches me off guard, hence why it's hard to break out of those bad states, those 'Julie hacks.' Maybe I'll imagine some poor child being mangled by an attacker, who's telling him that unless he lets them hurt him, they'll kill his family. Maybe it'll be one of my characters, caught up in some nightmare they can't escape from. Maybe it'll even be me in another form, me as a Celebi, being ravaged by some brutal Pokemon-catcher group. God only knows... but either way, once I finish up whatever I'm doing, I invariably end up in one of three situations... 1, curled up in the corner and sobbing hysterically, 2, standing in front of the mirror and screaming at it... maybe picking up another 'weapon' and 'punishing' myself in a vicious cycle (sometimes I turn on the faucet until the water is scalding, then burn my hands several times... one time I even hid a knife on the towel rack so I could saw at my chest with it)... or 3, silently walking out into the living room, lying down on the couch, and blankly staring at the wall. Thoughtless, numb. Unwilling to even remember. When I wake up tomorrow I won't recall the evening at all.
If I could turn off this horrid drive, I would have done so years ago. It's a day-by-day war for me.
However, two days ago, on Wednesday night, something happened. I 'lost' that night... I don't remember how, as usual, but I knew something had happened. Laurie confronted me later, she always does, but she wasn't screaming this time. She was tired, silently angry, and visibly determined. It's a hard expression to describe... the look you get when you've made a final decision on something, and you know there's no going back on it. Crossing the Rubicon. She told me once again to stop compromising myself, but then quoted FROST* at me.
"You're the one."
It's a new mindset for me lately... it requires a huge amount of faith, not in my 'self' so to speak, but in my purpose as a single individual, as a single soul. I'm the one. Before I wouldn't have even dared think that I could be significant, that I could be important... I was too concerned in meeting the fleeting whims and perversions of every blackheart around me. Now I'm stronger. Now I know who I am, I know what my limits and morals are. But now I can't stop thinking about the lyrics of that song that saved my life... that song that lifted me up, that made me fall in love again, that kept me from ending my life when I had truly hit rock bottom, the worst night and the best night of my entire life.

And you know, you'll always be the first in line.
And you know, it's all about the life divine.
A hero's ending, all the signs... you're the one, and the one you must survive.
And you know, it doesn't matter what you do.
And you know, the luck you feel will pull you through.
The never-ending light you find... you're the one, the one who must survive.


Faith, martyrdom, forgiveness, love, everything. There's no such thing as coincidence. I can't possibly begin to describe the multiple, deep meanings those lyrics hold for me, but the moment I first heard them whispered into my ears, on that black night as I contemplated the end, I knew more than anything that they were speaking to me.
To me. Only me.
I stopped walking then, I did. I stopped and my eyes teared up, and I swore to myself in that moment that I could not give up. It was a prospect I had never dared imagine... but if I must survive, then survive I would.
Laurie spoke those words to me again, as she does so often now, and I found myself swallowed up in guilt again, the guilt that, months ago, I numbly thought I would never feel again. Do you believe them, she asked? Do you believe those words are yours? Yes, I do. Her voice hardened. Then why don't you listen to them? If you're the one, then no one else knows what you should do. No one else's expectations apply to you. No one else can be you, and you know that.
I thought about that for a while. The freedom that would bring to me was almost incomprehensible. I was so used to living by a pre-written script, so to speak, that I hadn't dared to imagine what it would be like to just toss it aside and ad-lib for a while. Would the audience be shocked? Sure. They might even be scared, furious, offended that I would do so... I wasn't supposed to do that, not in their opinion. But I'd stand before them, wearing the wrong outfit for my assigned role, and speaking words that no soul in the auditorium had ever dreamed I would speak. But I knew, despite the rabble and rage, that I was the only one who could do this, and if I didn't have the guts to do what I knew was right, then God help me but then all would be lost. That's the mindset I have now, and as I fell asleep that night, I wondered why I couldn't just live it and to heck with all this pain I was inflicting upon myself.
On Wednesday night I dreamed of hell, and it scared me more than any other nightmare had ever dared. I was safe that day, but only because I was shaking with fear, terrified of what I might inflict upon myself. It was a sort of sick drive... I was so shaken that I wouldn't let myself think of anything else. But I couldn't possibly go on like that forever...
It wasn't until I woke up Friday morning, my Celebi doll in my arms, that I found it... a working solution. See, I needed motivation. Not something fleeting and yet unrefined, like this basic will I had... I needed something else there, something better than scars, something more painful than blood, something I couldn't possibly break. That's what I realized when he spoke to me.
My guardian angel, Chaos Zero. He'd been showing up in almost every one of my recent dreams, always protecting me, always asking me if I was okay. It had struck me as unusual, as he's typically a rare sight, but it seemed this time he had a reason.
I have been thinking about him quite often lately... and always in negative situations. What if he and I were turned against each other? What if one of us forgot who the other was? What if he went Perfect again, and I couldn't figure out how to save him? The only solutions I could possibly imagine all centered around one thing, one final, desperate chance... and it was the same solution, the same final decision he confronted me with in those early morning hours, still reeling from my visions of hell, still desperately looking for a way out.
I know what you've been going through lately. I know how scared you are, he said. He's always known. I know how much you hurt, and I won't let you do this to yourself any longer. But how could he help me? I've tried everything I can think of. That's when he looked at me, and I recognized the same expression Laurie had worn a few days ago. They had been speaking... they had thought of something. I knew it in that instant, and I was simultaneously full of hope and fear. What have you decided?
'If you love me, if you love anyone, you'll stop doing this.'
An ultimatum. One I couldn't possibly break.
I wondered why they hadn't given it to me before, but then I remembered how weak I was, how willing I was to toss everything away. I remembered that day I decided my life was beyond saving, and I remembered waking up the next morning.
Patience is a virtue. It was a matter of waiting, of suffering, of not giving up until that exact moment, that last second when the light suddenly broke through.


Shock sites.
I started visiting them a few months ago, during the 'rebuilding' stage, when I was beginning to find myself again. The first step was coming to terms with what I truly wanted, and what the hidden motive was behind all this pain I was causing myself. It took a good deal of self-introspection and painful analyzation, but I think I've found it. Ironically, it's the exact thing that started all this.
I need pain. Oh yes, I need it. I need moments of extreme, gut-wrenching emotion, that shatter everything around you and force your perspective to change. Pain.
I was getting it confused with other things for so long; awful things that lied, that pretended to be what I needed. I started looking into 'dark' pages during my failed desensitization stage. I tried to force myself to take on the worst and simply get used to that. I stopped at Dramatica a few times, but always ran from there quickly... it was too dangerous. However, I did find Documenting Reality, and that helped more than I realize. It was a site full of blood and horror; awful gory things that I suppose some people get a kick out of looking at. Not me. For me, DR was a place where I could look into the darkest, most painful aspects of life and really think about them. That was not me suffering... that was some other poor soul, someone I had never met and now never would. There were men mangled beyond recognition... young women lying dead with blood pooling around them... suicides, murders, diseases, everything. I slowly began to feel again. No, I was not sickeningly amused, no, I was not looking upon their broken bodies just for kicks. I was actually feeling... empathy, pity, some sick sort of understanding.
Let's cut to the chase. There's no way I can tell you everything that happened to me over the past two years; like I said, most of that is now lost to me, scratched out of my memory in hysteric moments I'm ironically glad I've forgotten. But I can tell you what the end result was.
I was never truly desensitized, and I was never truly 'used to it' either.
Today I found a video of a man beheaded. I told myself to watch it, not to 'numb myself' to it, but to feel it. The exact opposite of my old method. So I watched. I saw the shirtless man bound, blindfolded, seated under a dim light and surrounded by four men... covered in black, holding guns, faceless. I could not understand their speech, but it continued, almost businesslike, for 75 seconds, as I watched anxiously. At 1:15, one of the men pulled out a knife, and suddenly the three others were holding the blindfolded man, pulling his head backwards. That's when the man began to plead. I don't know who this man was, what he did, or why he was about to die, but I could hear every note of fear in his voice, and my heart broke. I waited fearfully for a few more seconds, and at 1:23, there was a sudden movement and a scream. I won't go into details, no, but my entire body was frozen in empathetic horror... my muscles knotted, my knuckles against my lips, eyes wide and fists tight. I've seen many disturbing things at this point in my life, but I have never flinched so hard. I could barely watch the next three minutes, but I forced myself to anyway... not because I was expected to, not because I had been told to, but because this was real, this was wrong, and I knew it.
Catharsis. Extreme emotion. The pain I need.

There's one more thing I want to bring up, because it's what triggered this.
I've been accused of being sexual more than once, and I don't know why. That confusion is what played the largest role in my desensitization attempt, and it was difficult to deal with. Remember I mentioned the figure drawing? Yeah, I literally put myself through that. Art class forced me to deal with unclothed individuals, and I was terrified-- still am-- but at that point, I still thought it would 'help' if I forced myself to look at them regardless. Let me summarize that experience for you: I did not enjoy it at all, and there was no sexual anything. That's right, I'd be looking straight at some gal and I'd be wondering how the heck anyone would be attracted to that in the first place. At first I was fine with that. Then I brought it up to my mom and therapists, and they said something was wrong with me. So I started trying to 'force' myself (again; what was wrong with me??) to see something in it, although the very thought of it made me ill. That was the lesbian stage, yes. But then I discovered Jena, and something weird happened. Yeah, I could just barely handle the figure drawing thing, but I didn't know those people. The art objectified them, which I loathed. But Jen? Forget it; I love her, and she's not taking her shirt off around me. See the difference? Having that direct, intense conflict between what I was feeling and what I was being told to feel forced me out of that stage pretty darn fast. Sure, I'd still have my moments of 'but what if they're right?', I'll admit it, but ultimately it all came down to what I was unwilling to compromise, ironically.
I've discovered one other thing during all that nonsense, which is what played directly into my weird obsession with actual sensation lately. I am still oddly attracted, albeit non-sexually, to certain girls. I don't know why, but it might be that, with guys, it feels 'wrong' because that's the sort of body I wish I had. So it's like a mirror, or something. I really have no idea. It's probably just aesthetics and not a gender thing at all. That sounds more accurate.
Still, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm omniromantic, meaning that I am able to fall in love with anyone in terms of gender/species/what have you, but if you look into other aspects, things start to change a bit.
I am physically attracted to very, very few individuals. Yes, I do think Celebi and metallic cyborgs are amusingly attractive in the physical sense. I'll also be brutally honest and admit that I find Chaos Zero to be one of the most gorgeous beings I've ever seen. However, although I've never felt any sort of physical attraction for men (when I see one I actually think 'I wish I looked like him,' instead), I still have this unusual weakness for boyish girls. Throw in short hair and a bit of boniness in the right places and I am literally hooked. It's really weird.
Personally, I don't know how you guys define physical attraction, but for me it just means I am aesthetically drawn to a certain body shape/ structure/ whatever. That's a given, I suppose, but... well, this is odd for me.
Yes, I am asexual. No matter how much I'm 'attracted' to someone, that will always come into play. I may joke about it, but it's the honest truth when I say that I probably could never realistically 'be with' a curvy woman, aka what I view as a 'typical' female. The whole chest size thing that some guys obsess over? It scares me. I can't handle sexuality, even if one doesn't act upon it. If you're visibly showing something that I perceive as sexual, such as a large chest or a promiscuous outfit or big hips, I will likely act a bit panicky around you. This doesn't mean I can't love people like that, I just... physically I'm going to be frightened. It's just how I run, sadly. Still, that doesn't explain the last bit of a problem I'm having.
I don't like being touched, but I make exceptions for friends. However, as long as I don't perceive a threat, my personal space can get ridiculously tiny. Even at work, if I have to get change at customer service and there's some other person standing there, sometimes I'll find myself three inches away from leaning on him/her, ha. The only way I can explain this is that, although I don't like things like primal instincts and all that, 95% of the time I consciously feel this very deep spiritual connection to all other people. I can't hurt people, nothing like that, no matter what my mind does, which is why I'm very scared of being hurt and tend to be obsessively paranoid about it outside of my 'safe zones.' It makes no sense to me, that a person could want to hurt another person. But I digress...
Here's the list. 1-I'm asexual. 2-I typically like boyish girls. 3-I have a smaller personal space (within reason) around people I trust or don't perceive as dangerous. 4-I tend to be slightly obsessive when it comes to actually perceiving the world around me (there's even an entire entry dedicated to that point in this journal). See all that? Put it together, and I guess you get what I've noticed.
I've seen girls without anything on, unfortunately (but not in real life, heck no). I don't like it. However, you know the andro point I keep bringing up? Well, if I see a girl with a small chest and no visible... um, femininity (in body shape or whatever), I will actually have almost no problem with it, as long as it stays nonsexual. I'm not 'aroused,' but I'm not numb, either. I get this weird thing; that perception thing.
See, I like the deepest elements of things, the most truly personal things. I like bones, I like scars, I like tendons and veins and freckles and eyes and the way people move. I'm asexual, but... I'm addicted to intimacy. Extreme intimacy. You ever wonder what Chaos Zero and I mean when we talk about '2005?' Yeah. That's basically it.
I have this weird addiction to fragility, to things people take for granted, to hidden things, to secrets. I get it for most things, really, and sometimes it'll hit hard and out of nowhere. It's the reason why, when I got Apollo (my Macbook), I first looked through every file I could find on him, learned what everything on his keyboard was, put my nose up to his screen just to see the individual pixels... turned him off, turned him over, took him apart. Looked at every little piece. Put him back together and memorized every different texture on him. Details. I do it to music, too... I'll listen to the same song, over and over, for hours... maybe repeating the same two seconds just to hear a certain chord, or a certain echo, or the way his voice cracks, or the way she breathes in, or the way I can hear the musician's finger touch a string on that one note. Maybe I'll just listen to every instrument individually, maybe I'll just hold my headphones against my ears, close my eyes, and lose myself.
I'm not typically 'logical' or analytical about it. Sometimes I will sit and think about something small and strange until my head spins, yes, but that's an entirely different thing. I don't know what causes this addiction of mine, really, because it encompasses every sense sometimes. Sight, touch, and sound are huge. They overwhelm me most days.
But... that strange need, sometimes I get it with people. I get it with those girls, the ones I feel close to.
I'll want to memorize the exact color of her eyes, the way her hair feels through my fingers. I'll want to run my fingers over her shoulder blades and feel her heart beat and listen to the way her breath catches sometimes. Is that romantic? I don't know what to call it; it's almost a drive. It's like I need to feel that even if I can't explain why.
It gets really bad, almost desperate, if it's with someone I love intensely-- although I do become more scared when I'm around them. I'm just so addicted to fragility, if that's even the right word. It's the same reason I used to hide a stethoscope in my room as a child, and when I was sure the door was locked I'd just listen to my own chest for a few minutes, until I was shaking from the overwhelming being of it. Just the way it was, simply. I don't know how to explain it. To this day my heart is still the most intimate thing about me, ever. It's also an extremely meaningful theme in all my work. Look for it.
I don't know what I'd do if someone here felt that same sort of need with me, that innocent intimacy. It's always one sided. Always one sided.
Maybe it's simply because I don't feel I exist in the physical world, not genuinely. Maybe it's because I don't see myself as a 'lover' or 'partner,' just a compassionate and selfless observer. But I don't want to be seen back.
I only want the other person to know that they are deeply loved, that's all.
Could I make the exception for someone else? Could I ever identify with this form briefly enough to let anyone else near it?
Perhaps I am destined to be forever disconnected by a thin wall of glass.
Something like that. What is it?


There's so much I still haven't said, which is beautifully funny. I've already said so much!
Still, maybe that'll be a topic for next time. Dreams. You never know.

I hope you all have a beautiful night.








Train whistles, a sweet clementine
Blueberries, dancers in line
Cobwebs, a bakery sign

Oh, a sweet clementine
Oh, dancers in line

If living is seeing
I'm holding my breath
In wonder, I wonder
What happens next?
A new world, a new day to see

I'm softly walking on air
Halfway to heaven from here
Sunlight unfolds in my hair

Oh, I'm walking on air
Oh, to heaven from here

If living is seeing
I'm holding my breath
In wonder, I wonder
What happens next?
A new world, a new day to see



 

 

 

 

 

 

Cruel loop

Feb. 28th, 2009 05:46 pm
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)
Still stuck in a loop, that I am.
This is making me sick. I'm so tired of coming on here and complaining, but for the love of sanity, I need to say this somehow.


I try ridiculously hard to live right and improve who I am, you know. Ironically, that's almost impossible in my current state of affairs, so I always end up taking one step forward and twelve steps back. I'm completely lost again, and it's not even a good kind of lost.

So I'm still lost...
Still scrounging money together for college...
Still panicking because my job just CUT MAJOR HOURS because of 'slow business,' so now I'm only getting about $75 a week...
Still wondering how in the world I'm going to find another job to fit in my schedule...
Still worrying myself sick over how I'm going to support myself and an apartment/ dorm/ whatever as soon as I get out of here...
And that's not even half of it!

On top of all that, I've been bingeing, abusing, and not getting much sleep. What a selfish moron I've turned into, huh?
I really make myself sick nowadays.

My mother apparently found a psychologist in the area who is "brutally no-nonsense" in her ways of dealing with patients.
On one hand, I don't want to see her because I already know I'm a simpering jerk most of the time, and having yet another person tell me that to my face isn't going to help much of anything except self-loathing.
On the other hand, she might remind me of Laurie. Unfortunately, psychologists aren't allowed to become emotionally mixed up with patients, so no therapist is ever going to be 100% Laurie... but hey. I seem to be looking for even more stress and pain than ever nowadays, so it might help.

About that stupid addiction of mine... well, it's a Johnny thing. A simple "re-routing" so to speak.
I'm actually looking for energy... for some sort of physical exertion or excitement that will make me feel like I'm actually doing something productive.
Despite my silent and rather introverted persona, my personality hasn't changed since I was about 6 years old, no kidding.
In photos and memories from back then, I was a terribly energetic, don't-hold-me-back, creatively overloaded spitfire that ran instead of walked and spent 80% of her time drawing.
Inside, I'm still that crazy kid. I'm still addicted to energy and activity, I need freedom, I'm still bursting with ideas and I still hate staying in one spot for too long.
Unfortunately, now I have no outlets. I'm no longer a kid... I don't get those exceptions and allowances anymore.
Now, I constantly feel as if I'm about to explode. I'm horribly stressed out because I feel like my life is passing me by and I'm not doing anything-- so stressed, that it drives me to tears almost daily now.
I've become so desperate for some sort of agitation that I keep slipping back into the childhood self-abuse phase. I don't want to, but those lyrics still ring inescapably true... I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all.

I spent about 30 solid minutes today just apologizing to the man upstairs and practically begging for some clarity, some extra bit of guidance to help me realize what the hell I should be doing instead of just sitting around and wishing for tomorrow.


And I still have that painfully debilitating problem where I'm afraid to get close to people I admire/ care about!
I'm sick of that, too. Even now that I actually have a CHANCE to make connections with the people I look up to, I hesitate.
I'm going to lose them, all of them, and then what good is my fear going to do anyone?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.



All this introspection has also made me realize a little something.
You know how I'm constantly getting deeply attached to all these 'fictional' characters? Chaos, Davy, Rorschach, Johnny C...
It seems to me that I see quite a few of them as having a terrible but vital part of my personality.
Let's run down the list, shall we?
Bakura has my fear of getting close to people because of my 'darker' traits.
Marik has my sometimes-destructive need to have some huge significance in life.
Chaos has my 'Perfection' curse.
Selph has my vivid fear of being forgotten.
Davy has my lingering heartache from always losing the people I love dearly.
Barry has my obsessively destructive habits.
Johnny has my self-loathing, my internal conflicts, and my 'lost creativity' problem.
Rorschach has my retributivism tendencies.
And you know who else is on this crazy list?
Mister freaking Bluesky.
I'm a reckless wanderer at heart. I hate virtually nothing, and lets face it-- if you knew me back before late 2007, you'd remember that I was a major optimist and always seemed to cheer people up.
Unfortunately, after a sudden and unexpected run-in with some traumatic inner conflicts and family issues, my sky's been pretty overcast. But I hate letting people know that! I just smile and live my life anyway.
Man. I'm sorry, Velox, but when it comes to our dear Bluesky I have one word to say-- empathy.



But now I'm getting off topic.

I'm still stuck in a loop.
Sure, I've taken a hammer to it, but I swear... if I end up taking one more backwards step, I'm going to snap.


Here's to a brighter future, I guess.
prismaticbleed: (shatter)
I'm sick and tired of being such a self-concerned idiot.

I assume that everything is my problem alone, forgetting that there are people out there-- in my own family, damn it-- with horrible problems that I just ignore and overlook because I'm selfishly thinking that I'm such a special bastard that I'm the only one who has to suffer.

Well, wake up and smell the blood and gunpowder, dear. You're no scapegoat in this world.
I can do nothing to change that.


Laurie is freaking furious with me, too. I don't blame her... if I were in her position, I'd have done the exact same thing.
Why am I so weak?
God help me, I am so tired of this.

What do I need to do to finally be free? What do I need to sacrifice?
My money, my possessions, my pride? Take them, if it gets me out of this personal hell.
Problem is, none of that is going to solve that. I know.
I think I need to sacrifice something much bigger... or maybe, the answer is cruelly simple. Maybe.
Maybe I just need to keep trying. Maybe I just need to fight a little harder.
Maybe I just need to leave this place.


I guess I should be thankful that I'm not living in a warzone, living each day afraid of the next, knowing that any moment a bomb could hit or I could be captured or I could lose everything I'd ever known.
I've never known the feel of a real physical bullet. I've never tasted my own blood flooding my mouth in terror. I've never watched someone die in front of me.
My heart goes out to the poor souls who do live that sort of hellish reality, and when it comes back it's torn with broken bones and shrapnel and shards of glass and it tears me apart on the inside for being such a blind and selfish bastard.

I've wanted to be a martyr since I was a kid, but the more I see what's happening in the world and the more blood I see on the television and the deeper my empathy ironically gets at all the wrong times, the more frightened I get.
I feel like a little kid, shivering and crying because an unknown terror cloaked in shadows is holding an icy pistol to my forehead and I know it's only because I asked for it... because it's the only decent and dignified way to die.

I want to die for someone, for something good, for some purpose.
I know so many people pray for an easy, quick death... to die in their sleep, to quietly pass away on a sunny evening or something.
No sane person prays to die in a car crash, or in a hanging, or in front of a firing squad, or from ebola.
And yet I pray to be a martyr, even now.

Maybe I feel I have to prove something.
Will giving my life for something pure finally help to redeem me? Will it?
Am I that broken, that I feel the only way to be saved now is to completely surrender to what I feel is right?
They say there's never a guarantee that you're going to heaven... but I guess there's never a guarantee that you're going to hell, either.
It's scary because I always assume the worst. It takes a heavy toll on my personality, though.
Oh well. Gotta suck it up and take it like a man.


Swallow those needles, kid, it's either you or the next guy and you're at least willing to suffer for someone else's sake.


I'm terrified.
I dream of these things. I feel these things, and my body shivers and my eyes tear up and I hope that it won't be so horrifying when my time comes, but of course there are never any guarantees.



Since I was a little kid, I've always seen suffering, always seen symbols of pain. I don't know why.
I used to draw bloody pictures when I was in kindergarten, for the love of heaven. I've found several of them upstairs, dated by my mother and signed with that hideous scribble I called a name at age 5. God only knows why she kept them, but I'm glad she did.

I've found dream journals of mine from 1st grade, dreams in which I would turn into bats and eventually find myself skewered with needles and bleeding in the snow somewhere. I was fascinated with those dreams, and used to write about them all the time... my teacher literally thought I was crazy.

Second grade I took my little vow of celibacy. I was absolutely disgusted with the fact that my classmates were always swooning over N*Sync and Hanson and every other pretty boy out there, especially at their age (yes I used to think like that)... so disgusted, in fact, that one day I quite literally swore to myself that I would never marry, and that I would never fall for some older man like those other silly girls. Surprisingly, that's one of the few promises I've managed to keep.

Third grade was the Pokemon phenomenon, as well as the year I met Preludove. I was still seeing far too much violence in my mind. Sure, I would draw happy dreamlike scenes with the characters I loved, but five minutes later I'd be drawing that same character getting gorily eaten by some hideous nightmare monstrosity. I bet the teachers worried about me.

Fourth grade I got much closer to the Jewel Monsters, and that also kicked my obsession with spirituality and matters of the heart into high gear. I practically became a crazy kid philosopher back then, often locking myself in my room and sitting on my bed by the old bureau... thinking about the Dream World and wondering what life was like for everybody else. I began to draw several small comics, full of adventure and childhood happiness and an obvious amount of fighting. I spent most of my time lost in my imagination, spending entire afternoons having my Mewtwo plushie chase after the beams of sunlight on the living room rug.
Unfortunately, along with the imagination and wisdom came a deeper understanding of suffering. The Dream World was still reeling from war, you know, and I was quickly becoming caught up in it. Preludove almost died in the first dream I had of her, you know.

Fifth grade and my friends started leaving... the kids that made me smile began to disappear. I became ostracized when I couldn't fit in to the new cliques... I was frequently taken advantage of by the girls who used to be my closest companions. It hurt me terribly. I was still drawing and writing, but I admittedly don't remember most of fifth grade.

Sixth grade was the best year of my life. I had buried myself in the matters of the Dream World, and my Links had hit a beautifully high point. I spent some time every day either drawing them, writing about them, or composing music for them on my piano... they defined my life back then.
Don't forget about my darker side, though. 2001 was the last year before the breaking point in their world, and I was beginning to see the serious signs of it, although I didn't fully understand them at the time. I still spent a great deal of time writing about pain, though. Morbid fascination.

Everything started to fall to pieces in seventh grade. Something horribly dark and bloody happened in the Dream World, and I clearly remember standing alone in the hall of my school when the news hit me. Thank God I was alone, because I stopped right there and just thought it over for a minute. Of course, I still couldn't fully comprehend it, but it was enough to make me start seeing pain all over again.
I fell in love with both Bakura and Marik during that year (I still can't decide if that was good or bad), and also hit a horrible immaturity snag which caused me some terrible problems later on. I only had one person who I could call a friend then, and she even started abusing me... I was stupid and I betrayed her trust in return. I still don't know how I could have been so stupid.

Eighth grade was a mess. I fell in love with Chaos Zero then, triggering an entirely new philosophical vein in my mind. I was still writing about the Dream World, but my teenage stupidity was breaking my Links and I began to forget what was important. I began writing a completely un-canon document full of nothing but blood and pain, perhaps to unconsciously remind me that life wasn't all senseless fun.

Ninth grade... I don't even remember, and I suppose that's for the best. It was the typical high-school immaturity phase for me, and I began to turn into a total weeaboo. Dear heavens but I really despised that time in my life... the only real saving graces of that year were NiGHTS and Normandy, who both hit me out of the blue and managed to keep me somewhat connected to my heart.
Ironically, although I was losing my very self, my mother bought me the first issue of X1999 that year, so my unhealthy obsession with suffering only got worse.

Tenth grade was a little better, but not by much. I was still horribly immature, but Justice's brother showed up that same year so I quickly realized that I was doing things all wrong. Revenge was a major contribution to the suffering side of my personality... as was Selph, who I met the same year. Meeting Selph, though, and having to teach him everything he knew... it forced me to take a better look at who I was and how I was living, and I finally began to change. I'm very thankful for that.

Eleventh grade was mixed as well. I began to get rather anorexic, and made the huge mistake of practically ignoring Selph for about a year thanks to my idiotic selfishness. I began to hide from reality through my computer, which once again caused me a ton of pain in the long run. However, being the year I turned 16, I was trying exceptionally hard to re-connect with the Jewel Monsters. It worked surprisingly well; I met many more of them and began to regain quite a bit of my old inspiration.
The war in this world was also getting pretty bad, and my selfishness began to plummet as a result. That was actually a good thing, as my now dismal self-esteem was forcing me to super-evaluate myself now, and I began to experience some real suffering myself for once.
I got back together with Selph later that year, too.

Twelfth grade... geez. Bad year, very bad year. Family life began to go downhill for outside reasons, I fell into a severe depression, regressed into my teenage stupidity mode as a blind form of 'looking for relief.' Didn't work. I regret most of the things that happened during this year.
However, thanks to Philosophy and Psychology classes, I kept some of my maturity... and thanks to JTHM, the bloody edges of my mind got a heck of a lot bloodier. It was summer when everything finally hit me and I realized just how idiotic I had been acting for months... the stress of everything so far sent me into a downward spiral.

Freshman year at college, aka the present day. I won't review much of it here as it's tiring and you already know what happened... it's this journal, for the love of Pete.
However... not long after the fall semester started, I lost my mind. Literally.
I still refuse to talk about that incident to anyone, and I've forgotten half of it thanks to my mind's way of reacting to trauma... but what I do remember is frightening. Either way, that bizarre event shocked my system so badly that my hinges broke and I've been a shivering mess ever since.
I'm still smothering in my own misdeeds, but I'm trying desperately to get my Links back up as I'm afraid there one of the few things left with the power to keep me alive anymore. God gave me my connections for a damn good reason, and I know it.
My mind has begun to regress into a childlike state, too. I'm literally getting entire days where I can see things through my old eyes again, and during those times Laurie swears herself in as my big sister and promises that she'll protect me with her life.
I like that, because if Julie comes after me when I'm a kid upstairs, I get terribly scared and call for my violet superego, and she shows up every time. She's saved me many times that way, but something happened today where I called her but Julie actually chased her out or something... it's frightening me. I don't want her touching me, I don't even want her looking at me... can't I just lock her away like I used to when I was younger? Can't we just lock her up in that closet down the hallway and warn everyone not to go in there? But no... she won't sit still now. She can't be tied up now, and sometimes I just cry thinking about it.
I don't know what I've gotten myself into.


But yes. Suffering.
It went from a strange childhood obsession to an unintentional empathy to a personal understanding.
I don't mind, but... is there a reason that it's always been so present in my life, in one way or another? Is there a reason that I seem to seek it out, that I seem to gravitate to it and feel it when someone else is its victim?

I only know one thing, and that is this...

...I have so, so much more suffering ahead of me.

I'm terrified.



So selfish... I'm forgetting about everyone else.



I hope that one day I can see again.







Realign all the stars above my head
Warning signs travel far
I drink instead on my own

Oh, how I've known
The battle scars and worn out beds
Gentle now a tender breeze blows
Whispers through a Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song

Engines hum and bitter dreams grow
Heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long

These streets are old
They shine with the things I've known
And breaks through the trees
They're sparkling

Your world is nothing more than all the tiny things you've left behind

So tenderly
Your story is nothing more than what you see
Or what you've done or will become
Standing strong, do you belong in your skin,
Just wondering?

Gentle now a tender breeze blows
Whispers through the Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song

Engines hum and bitter dreams grow
A heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long

May I be so bold
And still need someone to hold
That shudders my skin
It's sparkling

Your world is nothing more than all the tiny things you've left behind...

 


 

 

126 AM

Dec. 29th, 2008 01:26 am
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)

 

 


Well, first of all, I want to apologize for my incredibly strange entries as of late.
I guess it's just my attention problems kicking in... even so, I am sorry if I'm coming off as immature or spasmodic.

Let me just say what's on my mind right now.


1) I keep fluctuating between wanting to leave everything I know of the world behind and start over, or just struggling through it with what I have. I honestly don't know which is best, and I can't stop considering the other option. It's very upsetting.

2) Being up late like this. It's not helping my health or schedule, and now that I might be diabetic, the last thing I need is another medical problem. It's hard enough trying to stay in shape with all the stress on my head.

3) College bills as usual. I'm all panicky now as my aforementioned medical problems are causing me a ton of trouble in class... I'm having serious trouble learning as usual, but now it's on a cruelly grand scale.

4) I'm starting to forget my name as anything but a sound to react to, which scares me. I read that a human being will always retain their name somewhere in their memory despite all other losses, as it's their one true identification. Well, what does it mean if I honestly am not sure what my name is anymore?

5) Alice and Darkrai. I understand that I'm griping about personal pain and junk, but I can't get the whole A+D thing out of my head. Why? Because it hurts. Let me rant for a moment... even if you don't support their being in a relationship, you have to admit that yes, in the movie it's apparent that they honestly care for each other. But then, if you throw the slightest hint of a deeper connection into the fray, it suddenly becomes something terribly sad. And, if you know me, you'll know that I seem to be addicted to that sort of thing. I was listening to "I Will Be With You" all day today, and those lyrics just ached... but now that I've found an Internet clip of Oracion, I can use that for my daily dose of heartache instead. Honestly, forget all connection it has to that pairing... the music, in itself, literally hurts. It's beautiful, but it hurts. So I've been listening to that...

6) I seem to have taken both Laurie and Nightcrawler's words to heart, too. I've accepted the fact that, yes, my body is addicted to pain, but now I've actually started the "one for every sin" thing I considered a few months back. Yes, I'm beginning to give myself surface scars (which actually hurt a heck of a lot more than cuts) every time something major happens with Julie. It's tough fighting her, as she's my shadow and all... but I'm trying so hard. God help me, I don't want her touching me ever again, but the only way I know to keep her away is to slice another cross into my stomach. I wish there was another way I could see.

7) Deadlines. I have paid commissions to finish, music to write for my job, tons of personal projects to finish as always, work to do for class, bills to pay, et cetera... and then I wonder why I'm so stressed out, once I throw all that worry into a boiling cauldron and add my medical problems and family life into the mix. It burns me out so fast.

8) Friends. It's always been hard for me to make friends, ever since I was a child... but whenever I finally manage to, then I get to suffer the pain of losing them 90% of the time. That's not an exaggeration. Even now, when I think I've found the truest friends I'll ever meet, I'm terrified that they're going to fade away for some reason. I'm afraid that reason is me.


That's it for now... it's almost 2AM and I have an appointment at noon tomorrow, as usual. Can't miss that.

I'm going to try desperately to remix Oracion tomorrow... I need to somehow take this song into my heart and add something to it, if that's even possible.
I'll try.

I always try.

 



 

Current Music: "Oracion"

 

 

prismaticbleed: (shatter)

 

 

 




...How is it... how is it so simple?
How did I not see it before?

Have I won the war?
Have I lost the war?
Have I started another war?

I don't know... but I've found something regardless... something insane.

The reason why Julie keeps trying to destroy me... the reason why Laurie always abuses me... the reason why I never sleep much and always eat what makes me deathly sick and always seem to purposely put myself in stressful situations... it's all the same.

The reason is always the same.

I've finally found the answer... through a long, humiliating, horrible battle with Julie, I've finally found the answer.

What I really want... what my body seems to be looking for... is suffering.

 




 

prismaticbleed: (Default)


Dude I think this is my second favorite online journal that is publicly viewable.
Seriously. Visible icons, Sailor Moon mood theme, awesome background, easy interface... it's awesome.
My aqua journal is tops, of course, but this one's cool too!

Anyway.
I know I've been gone for a while... there's a good reason.
I've been running a lot, as usual. I've also been hiding, and trying to find myself again.

I've been catching happy little fragments of my childhood in butterfly nets and keeping them close to my heart.
I could have sworn I'd never find them again, but wha-la! Praise be to God, they were just around the corner. So I found a few of them again.
I don't want to lose this like I did when I first had it... I don't want to take it for granted. I need to appreciate and keep this little bit of joy, of simple happiness, of innocence and sunny weekend mornings and first snowfalls and Celebi cards and lined-paper comics and locking myself in my room and thinking about the Dream World in front of the mirror. Philosophizing in the third grade. I used to.

Now for an update on everything else.

Geez, was I ever an emo crazyhead back in May! Wow!
Looks like the early fall months were pretty darn bad, too.
Man. 2008 was just really rough for me, I guess.


Lynne and Natalie are back.
I'm so glad. They're both helping me very much.
I also invited Reverend Mofo and Bogardus into my headgang, and they accepted! So now I have a crazy monkey preacher and a Nohrin military gambler in my head helping me out. Awesome stuff.

Julie hasn't touched me in days, I think... I honestly can't remember, but it's been a while.
My mind has been desperately clawing to pieces every incident in which she tries to mindrape me, so I don't remember any of them. They happen, I guess, and then I'm so broken and/or traumatized from the self-disassociation that my mind just... eats itself.
It's scary.

Anyway. On that note.
Remember, way back in one of these journals (I think my LJ) that I said, "there are some things that I can't even talk to Chaos and Selph about?"
Well...they know.
No, I didn't tell them.
Chaos found out by accident, after getting into a fight with Laurie one too many times and she decided to fill him in on the graphic details of my mental hell.
I remember that evening, because he was in a serious state of shock for hours. He confronted me about it, too. "Why didn't you tell me she was doing this to you?" Furious, hurt, scared more than anything else. I felt the same.
So Chaos found out without my knowing... found out everything. Understood, knew everything.
It scared me, humiliated me at first to know that he now knew everything I had suffered at Julie's hands, but thank God he didn't condemn me or shoot me down or even shun me. No, he just focused his fury on Julie instead of Laurie, and every time that girl so much as looked at me maliciously he'd practically be at her throat.
It just offended him, I guess... both the fact that I hadn't spoken up about the abuse and the fact that she was abusing me like that in the first place.
But I am glad that he understands the most important thing.
I never wanted for any of that abuse to happen, and I still don't. He doesn't hold it against me, and I'm slowly learning not to hold it against me either.
Unfortunately, I do want Laurie's abuse when she gives it to me, and Chaos is still very distraught by that.
I'd stop, but... the pain keeps me sane. I need that shock, that icy burn, to keep my mind focused.
I just wish I could get it another way then handing the controls over to my resident violet maniac and letting her give me another scar.


Selph found out because he's around me all the time.
I let it slip, once. Selph was wondering why some evenings I'd suddenly spiral downwards into a horrible self-loathing fit, even when I was having a fantastic day up until that point. One day I was trying to explain without mentioning Julie, but I guess I said something that I shouldn't have because, before I realized it, Selph was screaming and crying "you mean she's the reason you're like this? Why didn't you tell me?" Same as Chaos. I trust them, I really do... but I didn't tell them this because I knew it would hurt.
Needless to say, I was forced to slowly fill Selph in on the details... slowly, painfully, as I had tried to keep him innocent where he wouldn't have to worry about this sort of thing. But he wanted to know... he didn't want to be blind to what I was going through.
Once he understood it all, Selph decided to go all out in keeping Julie away from me whenever possible, in whatever way he could.
Actually, I'm very thankful for that. All that painful admittance and all the fights it triggered... Selph and I have grown even closer together because of it all, despite the pain and confusion. We were virtually inseperable before, but geez.... look at us now.


So the fighting has subsided for now. Julie's gone MIA, thank God, so everyone outside of my main 4 is quieter than usual. I'm in a better mood that usual, too, as I've been dealing with this problem since last January and only recently have I begun to realize how to stop it.


On that note, with feeling better than usual...
Chaos and I are celebrating our 5th anniversary on Tuesday.

I know, I know, that's very unlike me. I have never been one to keep track of birthdays and anniversaries, let alone remember them.
But now, I'm looking back on memories and nothing has dates... it feels broken, disjointed. Like I want to catch it but it's just a filmy fragment and it keeps slipping through my fingers. So I'm trying to make these things a big deal... trying not to take them for granted.

I'm planning a ridiculously detailed picture for it, too. I won't give away any details now, but I've been planning this thing for months so I'm really looking forward to getting it done.
But seriously... my red and blue pencils are going to be dead when I'm done!


Well... I could keep on ranting about music and Pokemon and my childhood and eBay and Christmas and all that but it's already 3AM and I should really get to sleep.

Have a good night... and Merry Christmas, if I don't see you until then.

It was nice to see you again!

 


burnout

Dec. 1st, 2008 06:53 am
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)
I don't know why I'm posting again so soon.

I have, what, seven other places where I could be writing this. Oh well, here goes.


Man... I can see why kids my age are already shooting themselves up.
High school was a cakewalk, honest, but college is just so much more responsibility. Can't go pulling my old tricks, haha.
I used to run all-nighters, sleep on the bus, doze off in class all day, get notes from classmates at lunch (if they'd listen to me), sleep on the bus ride home and then do it all over again, practically.
That's no longer an option, though! Can't exactly sleep when you're driving yourself to classes, can you now. That and classes run for 3 hours apiece so I can't go getting notes from whats-his-face or miss anonymous during lunch hour, no sir. Playtime is over, now I'm in it with the big shots and I really don't know how I make it through the days now.


It's selfish, I know. It's terrible.

I know people who don't even have jobs... who are worrying about insurance and bills and all that, and my heart goes out to them but then I have the freaking nerve to complain myself. Jerk.

My pain is nothing, sir. Nothing. I live on pain, now, so I'd better get used to it and fast.


Hmm.

I'm kind of hallucinating here. I don't see things often, but sounds get all warped and weird... and I feel things. Too clearly. I feel things more than anything else, and that freaks me out. I wish I could see them instead. I don't know what's up with that.

I also have NO chronological sense whatsoever right now. It's not just this morning, though. This has been happening rather frequently over the past week or so and I wish I knew why.
Things happen last night and they feel as if they happened days ago. Hours ago seem like minutes ago... years ago seem like the other day.
I do things, and an hour later I forget that I did them... or I dissociate.

Dear Lord, the dissociation.

It's a little frightening now, as it's starting to happen with Julie, too, instead of just Laurie.
They hack me, do things, I throw them out and get it back... and about fifteen minutes after I regain control I look back... and it's like I'm watching a freaking documentary! That isn't me, that wasn't me.
But not in a denial sense... that isn't me. I've dissociated that much now, and that scares me a little.


In other news, I've considered leaving.

No, not another 5-week dA hiatus... not another faux journal purging, not another pseudo-screenname to hide behind. No sir.
I want to leave.

I don't know how, or where, or when, but I want out.

I want to disconnect from life, I guess... take a break from everything. Hit the 'eject' button, put a different game disc in there for a while. A whole new memory card... a crystal-clear save file.
I would love that.
But...


I read a quote online last night (I assume), I don't know where... went something like this.

"Where can I escape to if no one understands?"


It's true.
I've thought of it before... moving out, leaving. I'll need to one day anyway.
The problem is... whether I go to Britain or Switzerland or India or Taiwan or Canada or Finland or the USSR... it's still here.

I want out of here.

Somewhere... somewhere better. It's got to be out there somewhere.
My heart just can't accept the lone earth theory.



Mercy me but I feel weird right now. Ton of chest pain, and I'm all dizzy and stuff. Geez.
This happens a lot recently, and that can't be good...
...I don't mean to scare you kids, but I really feel like I'm dying.

I've never felt like that before. Like I'm dying.
I mean, sure, in some life-threatening situations the thought has burned its bloody face into my mind like a screaming freight train, but never in such a passive sense as this... typing at my laptop at 7AM, you idiot, "hey that's funny it kind of feels like i'm dying."

What the heck, seriously.
But it's true.


Speaking of medical bills, I still need surgery and have no idea how I'm going to pay for it. That worries me greatly. I don't even want to consider what will happen to me if I don't get these procedures done.
I've... seen and heard some 'previews,' so to speak. They're not good.
I'm really terrified of that.


Oh but I love going off topic.

<insert more chest pain here>



I feel so completely lost and empty for some reason... I can't stop thinking about the string theory and relativistic jets and the Fermi paradox and just how massive the universe is and... I don't know.
It hits me out of the blue, now. I'll be sitting in class, or staring out a car window, or whatever... and all of a sudden I'll get this massive POV extension of sorts... like I'm no longer me, sitting in a house or car, but like I'm me, existing in some arbitrary point in the Milky Way in this huge cosmic latte that we call reality... it's crazy.
I was crying, the other day. Me, crying! Just like that! I was standing in my room, I think, when it hit me like a bolt from the blue and I just had to support myself against the wall and sob for a few minutes... I didn't even know why.
It was a Johnny reaction, I think. You know... "I can't help but feel the effects of it all... the distance, and... and it hurts."
It does hurt, because all I ever feel is distance. How small I am. How much I don't know, how much I'll never know.

My greatest fears?
Damnation, sex, and event horizons.
It's true.


Still miss Vickie to the point where I'm hurting every day... still love Jimmy and I actually think he knows, which is kind of frightening, but I guess I don't mind too much.
I don't know if Ben knows that I love him too. I think he might suspect something, but eh. I'm happy. Yes sir.

On that note, actually.
Thanksgiving dinner, right? I'm sitting there for a moment, just letting my mind wander as usual, and then mum goes to my grandmother: "hey do you remember we were talking about girls who fall in love with guys who are MUCH older than they are?"
Cue a conveniently timed coughing spell on my part! Ahahaha.
IT'S ONLY A FEW THOUSAND YEARS AGE DIFFERENCE

Maaan but I've been leaving far too many hints. Mum said something just the other day, actually... something about love and society-placed boundaries or something... but I made a quiet comment stating that I had far too many of those to break (newsflash:: I have this horrible, horrible habit of saying things like that aloud. Q if you remember, when you were at my house I was mumbling all this stuff about amoebas? Yeah, that was one of those times. Very very bad habit. It's the result of no one listening but I need to say something anyway) and I think she may have heard me, uh-oh.

I'm just waiting for her to ask some ridiculously fun question that I can give a ridiculously insane answer to.
You know, like "so are you gonna have kids?" Thank God, though, she at least acknowledges the fact that I am vehemently against my ever doing anything to get kids, although my grandparents aren't. Eh. Makes me sick.

Random update it's raining outside did you know? Beautiful. I wish I could call off sick today and go stand in it for an hour or two.
Absolution from the sky. Inspiration. Also I remember the song lyrics.

"When the silver rain falls, think of it as me
And wipe away your tears..."

But seriously. I'm sick of this whole thing with "Oh, you're in love, so you must be dating and/or making out and/or planning marriage and/or engaging in stereotypically romantic activity, yes???"
Hate to burst your bubble, ma'am, but no we're not. I'm not, with anyone, ever, so that question is null anyway, but yeah. For the person (?) in question, no. None of that for us especially. I am so worn out right now it's not even slightly amusing.
Also nobody really knows that I am a flaming xenophile so that's kind of a monkey wrench in the equation... man, I can only imagine the looks I'd get if I ever admitted THAT in public. "Yeah, I am seriously attracted to sexless humanoids..."
Oh, and a rather embarrassing off-topic note... when I was younger, I almost got into BDSM but when I realized that BDSM kind of involved sexual behavior, then I was like "oh okay then no thanks." Gehehe.
But yeah. Personality + morals + mental trauma + biological disgust = total antisexual over here.

ON I go with the ranting. I swear I have no idea how I do that. Geez. I probably just need to vent.

Oh, I forgot, my Commix CD finally arrived at my bookstore, wahoo! I'll go pick it up today, have a spiced latte and sketch for an hour or so (the more time away from the family fights the better) and then blast Emily's Smile all the way back to my hometown. Can't wait!
You know, Jimmy loves that song. I wonder if I should randomly send him the actual mp3 or something. Hm.


I'm more of a pain addict than ever now. Why? I have a few ideas.
It does hurt, though, that my mom is mocking me.
She gets my grandmother angry, then runs over to her in that parody-ish way of hers, holds out her arms and whines "hit me!" over and over until my grandmother gets sick of her and leaves.
It really does hurt, you know.
I am NOT doing this for attention. I am NOT doing this for pity or sympathy or anything of the sort. No, I would have been happier if you never knew.
I am doing this for punishment... for symbolic absolution... and because it is one of the few things left keeping me sane.
The shock of ice-cold pain I get... it chases all the shadows away.


Man, this is so surreal. Yesterday was Sunday? Geez...


But seriously...

I haven't worn my binders in about two weeks and I'm dying here.
I feel like such a whore, if you'll pardon my language. They used to shut Julie up, too, but no... now that my grandmother has finally realized that I am wearing them under my clothing and that they're not exercise garments, she refuses to let me wear them or anything else of the sort. And that stings. Badly.

Woman, I paid eighty bucks out of my pocket for those to help save my sanity and personality, and you're going to say I can't wear them because then I don't look like a woman?? What the hell?

First off, if you think all women have huge chests (which I frankly find absolutely disgusting) and super-shapely figures, you're dead wrong. (Also, no, Barack Obama is NOT the antichrist, but we won't get into that now.) Very few people look like that, and I do NOT want to be one of them.

Secondly, I do not care about attracting men. And no, mom, I am NOT trying to pick up women by wearing suits and cutting my hair short. I'm trying to erase as much personal feminine stereotype from my mind so I won't blindly accept every lie you give me just because you're family. That does not mean you're right, unfortunately.

Thirdly, I'M A FREAKING FTN ASEXUAL FOR HEAVEN'S SAKES. And yeah, mom, I'm NOT kidding, and I would appreciate it if you would kindly stop putting motives in my mouth. Thank you.


I swear, one day I think I'm just going to say "mom, I'm in love with a 'fictional' humanoid" just for the shock value and honesty points, but even then I doubt she'll take me seriously... ahaha, but then again, if I keep leaving the Sonic Adventure DX case out where she can compare it to my computer background and the sticker on my laptop (oh geez I guess I'm not keeping this a secret very well) then she might first say "hmmm, they look strangely similar" and then she might think "hmmm, what if she wasn't kidding?" And THEN she might think "hmmm, I wonder if she was lying about Davy Jones?" XD For the record, no, I wasn't. Davy and I are just friends. I'm not an unashamed flirt like you are with Will Turner (who is MARRIED mind you) and besides Davy already has Tia so I won't interfere with that and how in heaven's name did I get into a PoTC rant? Man. But hey! First mention of the 2006 mayhem in my LJ! Awesome.

But yes. My laptop background is actually my newest dA scrap, edited so it's horizontal w/o text... and there's a sticker on my laptop that says "I ♥ Chaos" and I (of course) took my Sharpie and wrote "zero" under that word, so... yeaaaah. Someone is going to suspect something. And I'm off topic again.



What was the topic?


Oh yes.


Burnout.




I honestly hope I make it to tomorrow.


Gotta finish my assignments first, though...




--------------------------------------------------------------


@ 05:37 pm

 

...I'm feeling quite strange.

Still chronically tired. Still chronically sick.
Julie won't shut up, and that's beginning to scare me. She's never been this loud ever before, and she's been here since I was a tiny kid... I really wish I could get her out. I really do.

Laurie and I have been trying... we have a ton of friends helping, too. I'm praying constantly, but I think God wants me to fight her on my own. You know, learn to shoot her down with my own strength.
I'm sure I can do it, it's just... well, I sincerely wish I could do that without her doing these horrible things to me all the time.


By the way, I'm still having problems with my 'coming out,' so to speak.
My mother has developed an awful habit now that she knows I will hopefully be a future FTN. Every chance she gets, she starts screaming about it, making a big deal out of it... My grandmother ignores her and acts like nothing has happened, but that's probably because she refuses to accept it.
I'm so sorry that I'm hurting them with this, but I can't live any other way. I just can't.

The argument seems to be, "God made you female and gave you these physical features so you'd better keep them or you're committing a mortal sin."
Well, my counterattack is always "remember where the Bible says, 'if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off?' That's what I'm doing."

Seriously. If Julie won't shut up, I'll make her shut up.
Plus, I'm already an asexual-antisexual celibate, so I don't need any of this junk anyway.



Why am I ranting about this again?



Oh well. That's kind of besides the point.

I'm really worried because I feel that I'm fading.
You know... dying. Slipping away.
I'm beginning to feel more and more disconnected and lost, and I don't know why. I wish I did.

I'm losing friends, and I've never had many to begin with. I made my first genuine friends last autumn, and I almost lost them. As much as I love them, I almost lost them.

I keep making the same mistakes and forgetting who I am...

What in the world is wrong with me?




No time to lament over that now, though. I do have two assignments to continue working on.


I hope your day is better than mine.

 

 



Miss Me?

Oct. 19th, 2008 12:57 am
prismaticbleed: (shatter)

 

 



Finally... my blue words are my own.
But little else is.


My parents have picked up this charming habit of telling me how incompetent I am every time I bring up my college work.
Yeah, apparently I'm failing my art class and I don't even know why. I'm panicking, I'm depressed, and I don't know what to do.
I can't fail. My art is the only option I have left. Honest to God.

Oh yes, that and my family is also calling me insane! Isn't that lovely?
It's because of my pain addiction, you know. It's gotten so bad that I'm looking for pain constantly, even to the point of getting them upset just so they'll hit me.
Terrible, isn't it? It's killing me inside.


That and Julie.
Q told me to try and accept her. I know he only suggested that because he had my best interests in mind, and I'll admit I thought it would work too... but doing that only made her start hacking my consciousness and now I'm trapped in a living hell.
It's come to the point where I am literally considering getting an exorcism just to drive her out of my mind.
My self-hatred is hitting a lethal high.
I CANNOT LIVE LIKE THIS.


My mother doesn't want me to cut my hair because 'people will think I'm a lesbian.'
What, like they don't already? I swear, just because I'm not interested in men... well, guess what? I'm not interested in women either.
At least I can fight a woman off. I'm not as strong as a guy, unfortunately. Freaking biology.

I really wish I was free of this.




I'm starting to break down daily now.
I'm dissolving into furious tears every night because I want my surgery come hell or high water but I don't know how long it's going to take me to get it.
I can't take it. I want it NOW, and I apologize for being impatient, but it's either that or virtual suicide.
Honestly, imagine this-- imagine you were born as a girl, but on the inside, you were a boy. Can you imagine the mental (and physical!) torture you'd suffer as you grew up in the wrong body and environment?
Well, I have it worse! I have NO gender, so no matter which way I go it's STILL WRONG.
I swear... can't a genderswitch surgeon just give me half a procedure and then stop?
Dear God, I can't take this.
I need this gone forever, and fast.


My grandmother predicts that I'm going to have a complete nervous breakdown before the end of the month.
I think so too.



So yeah, I'm buying my Johnny outfit for Halloween and/or Comic-Con, and I'm also ordering my chest binders-- FINALLY.
I am so freaking happy. That will help so much...


Anyway... it's 1:20 AM, and I have work tomorrow. I'd better sleep.




Z?







Choke choke again
I thought my demons were my friends
Getting me in the end
They're out to get me
Since I was young
I've tasted sorrow on my tongue
And this sweet sugar gun
Does not protect me

That's right
Trigger between my eyes
Please strike
Make it quick now

I'm trying to hold it together
Head is lighter than a feather
Looks like I'm not getting better
Not getting better

 


 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 


@ 06:29 pm


...ouch.

 

I'm finally ordering my chest binder so that brightened my day a little. I'm very happy about that.

If you're wondering why my day's been rough, though... well.

I had a completely unexpected conversation about an hour ago.

My mother says that I should be wearing my old retainers because she doesn't want to pay $3000 to fix my teeth.

I say that we could be using that money for more important things.

She says that I can't get my breasts removed.

...I never said anything to her about that.
Is it that obvious?

Anyway, I jumped on it and said that yes, I could get a mastectomy, it's not against the law.

She says that you can only get one if you have breast cancer.

I said, no, you can get them for other reasons.



She says that if I wasn't in the middle of my college semester right now, she'd throw me in a mental hospital and leave me there because there is something seriously wrong with me.

Then she storms out and now she won't talk to me.




That could have gone better.



Oh well. It was worth a shot.


I'm used to being called an insane freak by my own parents anyway.



Better not tell her I'm in love with Chaos 0, then.







Oh yes, and I succeeded in getting my brother hooked on JTHM today. He read the whole book in a few hours! It is that good, though, so I can't blame him.

Geez, I have such painfully fond memories of JTHM... I picked it up purely by chance during the deepest depression of my life, nowhere to lie. My brother almost committed suicide, my grades were plummeting, my parents were divorcing, my aunt was trying to sue my family for our property... bad times.

I practically had an epiphany while reading that book, I swear.
I had work late that night, when I bought the book... it was very dark outside, although it wasn't that late yet.
But I was so sick and depressed, I was sobbing too hard to get out of the car. There was no way I would be able to fake a smile that night for a few hours, no matter how hard I tried.
So I sat there in my car, sobbing, reading JTHM under a dim orange streetlight and getting tears all over the pages. It sounds so melodramatic when I tell it now, but it really struck me then...
I was pretty far into the book, then... I think I was at Part 4, when Johnny is talking to Nailbunny.
But there I was, reading about this terribly lost and deranged maniac, and he just resonated with me. Some fragmented part of that character existed in me, too, and I realized it then.
I remember thinking that... how terrified I was to be so like this maniac, and yet how comforting it was during that rough time to find a soul I could perfectly empathize with, ink on paper or not.
Johnny saved me then. He became a sort of refuge for me until my depression lifted and my family life calmed down... whenever I couldn't cope, I ran to that book and lost myself in it more times than I could count.
Johnny even showed up in one of my dreams during that time. Just one... and he said the most optimistic, life-saving thing anyone could have possibly said to me during that time. It was shocking, hearing it from him (knowing Johnny!), but it helped more than I could have ever imagined.

So... yeah. I owe Johnny a good portion of my semi-sanity, despite how much I've lost to my headvoices since then.
I really hate being somewhat mad, I really do. So many people nowadays 'glamorize' insanity, make it look like something cool, like something you would want... hell no, kids. You don't want this.
To quote Shmee... "Why, if sickness were a socially acceptable thing, those degenerative loons would be writing your neighbor (Johnny) fan-mail, telling him how 'cool' he is! They would admire his illness and aspire to it!!"
Sad but true.
Sickness sucks, it really does... I don't admire Johnny's sickness and I sure as heck don't desire it... unfortunately, I've been stuck with my own awful brand of madness since long before I met him.
Therapy, medication, nothing helps... oh well. Kind of paradoxical how JTHM keeps me going when all that stuff can't, huh?

But that's more than enough of my weird ranting.
I'm not so like Johnny that I don't need sleep!

 


 

 


prismaticbleed: (shatter)
So did I.

I have no idea why I'm typing this right now.
I had originally planned to go to Xanga and argue with Laurie for a full two hours or so, but my free time today clocks in at 11:30 PM. What the fish.
I had then planned to go to IJ and rant a little bit about life in general... but thought that maybe I should stop by here instead and be more direct.
Finally, I logged in here with all the intentions of simply throwing all restraints and rules aside and just typing everything out.
But I can't really do that here, can I?
And besides... the fiery determination is gone. I don't know where it went.


I'm not depressed... I'm not angry. But I'm not too happy, either, and I'm definitely not content.






I don't know why I just don't say things flat-out, okay? I don't know what the heck I want.


I want to be with the people I love.
I want to be left completely alone.
I want to tell you all of this.
I don't want you to know any of this.
I don't want to lose this.
I wish I had never gotten involved in this.


Paradoxes, lies! Impossibilities and hypocrisy!
What is going wrong with me?




I've reached the point where I'm simply reaching inside and willfully disconnecting all the wires because I just want some silence. Some relief, some respite from all the noise and colors and worries and desperate thoughts... an escape, even if it leaves me in the soundless dark for a little while. I'm still in my solitude, still away from it all. The strings will never break, but I've walled my mind out somehow and somehow it seems to be comforting.
Even though I can't stand a single second of it.
I'm scared to death of being alone!
I'm scared to death of having to depend on others all my life!
I'm scared of the deafening silence!
I'm scared that I will never get that silence!
I'm scared of my connections!
I'm scared of being disconnected!
I'm so freaking indecisive it's driving me even further out of my mind than I already am...


I'm addicted to pain and I can't stand the thought of getting hurt.


I said it before, back in December... "all I can see is blood in my head, but I don't want it!"
"I die when I'm alone, but pray for solitude when I don't have it."
"My mind's in a rush, all the time, even in peace. I can't stop it... I'm so frantic!"



"How can an empath be this screwed up?"




Do you have any idea how this feels?
This indecision?
This utter confusion, this terribly panicked feeling of my anomalous self?
Looking at the clock 7 minutes after midnight and wondering what in the name of anything am I doing, here or anywhere else?
Do I belong anywhere? What should I be doing?
And I don't know.
I never know.
I keep searching.
I never know.




Maybe I want her to treat me like dirt. Screaming and swearing and all that. I don't know.
Maybe some demented and nebula-eyed part of me loves the feeling of an axe between her shoulder blades, loves the feeling you get when a firing squad is staring at the back of your poor unfortunate head. Ready, aim, fire.


Car accidents whenever I drive in dreams.
Always lost. Always wandering. No exceptions. Every night.
Looking for somewhere I need to go and never finding it.
No one knows where it is.
Looking for something I need to have and never finding it.
No one knows where it is.
Looking for someone I need and...


Gigantic, empty buildings.
Cities with almost no one around.
Walking down rainy streets and not knowing why.


I wonder what I'll see tonight?





I'm not looking for sweet talk
I'm looking for time.
Top a tower and sleep walk, brother
'Cause it hurts sometimes
You know it's gonna bleed sometimes.
Hold on...


Man, I need a release from this troublesome mind...!






I don't want all that sweet talk, y'know.
All those rainbows and butterflies. All those sparkles and flowers and good times.
I'm perfectly happy with my rainy streets and lonely valleys if it means I get to smile once in a while... really, truly smile.
Once in a while.


...



"Too often a person grows complacent with their disillusionment, perpetually wearing their 'discomfort' like a favorite shirt."


Why do I seem to prefer these disjointed thoughts, here in the dark hours of midnight, illuminated only by a cold laptop screen and the noctural red glow of the hallway? Why do I seem to prefer this disconnection, this lack of any contact and company, even when my family is just down the hall and he still happens to be online and my muse is watching me type with a look of heartbreakingly desperate concern?
Is it because I'm so used to it?


Is it because I have so much of it in my life that I feel it deserves to be the freaking default or something?


Geez, and who the heck is putting these hideously violent thoughts into my head? No, I don't want to do that, do you have any idea what that would feel like? All that blood, and how the heck to you expect scissors to... why the heck do I even think of this lunacy? I have no interest in it, and yet it always shows up and scares me to death...


I'm starting to shiver although it's like 80 degrees and my nerves are shot although you wouldn't know it if you looked at me. I have a cruelly good poker face when it works. Even when I don't want it to.




Even so, I have God putting all these people and coincidences in my life and that is more than enough help to get me through this, thank you very much.





Thank God I'm so willing to give of myself to everyone else... thank God I don't pick favorites and love the entire fishing world. If I didn't, my heart would be pretty cut up.
It's not entire, but it's not divided. I give everyone as much as I possibly can, but no one ever gets the whole thing. Doing that would not only be unfair, it would be impossible. I can't put anyone else down, I can't count anyone else out! Everyone gets just as much love as the next person and if anyone is unintentionally missing out then darn it I'm going to go back and fix that.


'All you can do is try,' they say... and we are trying... but we can only try so hard, and that's it. That's our limit.
Can you try any harder once you have already succeeded?
How about when there is nothing you need to achieve?
How about when you are already where you need to be?
How can you be sure?



God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference...







-spinningcannon

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