Your Sweet Six Six Six | Sitkolson [C]

Chapter 69 | Inner World

"I've been doing my research, to the best of my ability." Chris said, "Are amnesia barriers a problem for you?" 

"It varies from alter to alter. Obviously, we keep Jules safe anyway we can. He only knows about Ricky and I, and he doesn't have any of our memories. I'm the only one in the system that even knows Sparrow exists, and he pretends like he doesn't know about any of us." 

"Oh..." Chris paused, his mouth open but unable to speak. His volume dropped, "I thought Ricky knew about every alter." 

Ryan sighed, "He's always been a very proud person. You know that, Chris. When I told him about Jules, it was a big ordeal. He pretty much went through the stages of grief; denial, anger, depression. He still hasn't gotten to the acceptance stage, actually. After I saw how he reacted, I knew there was no way I could tell him about Sparrow." 

Morgan sat up and retrieved pad and paper from the coffee table. "It gets confusing sometimes, even for me, so I'll make you a little cheat sheet. I'll write down everyone's role in the system, and next to their name I'll put which alters they're aware of. I'll put stars next to the alters who they share memories with too. 

"We don't always share memories with each other. Sometimes, we just have more of a general idea of what happened when someone else was out. For example, say Ryan and Ricky take a trip to the mall, then I come out the next day. I could remember the fact that we were at the mall yesterday, but I won't remember what time of day, what stores we went to, what conversations we had." 

After going quite for a minute to finish jotting down his "cheat sheet" for Chris, Morgan handed over the piece of paper. As soon as he was alone, Chris would be taking a picture of it to save to his phone, in the event that he lost this very valuable scratch of paper. 

(a/n: i made the 'stars' plus signs bc stars looked dumb in this font)

"It's all so fascinating to me. I haven't gotten to do as much reading as I'd like, but I'm actually interested to learn more." Chris said.

"Really?" Morgan replied, "Most people are just scared of us."

Ryan wrapped his arm around him, pulling him back into his chest with a smile. "For those of us who have more than two brain cells, it's really interesting, especially once you get into the medical studies. There's been cases where one alter is fronting, they'll run a test for a disease or something, and it'll come back positive. Then, another alter fronts, they run the same test, and it comes back negative. We've had a few people interested in using their system for medical studies, but I know that would just end poorly." 

He sighed, "Yeah, I'd have to agree with you there." Chris cut himself off with a yawn. He glanced at the time on his phone, seeing it was only nine. "I've become such an old man, fuck." 

"Next time I see you, I'll make you feel young again." Morgan teased.

"That reminds me, you mentioned to me something about Ricky telling you I wasn't straight. Which, first off, I need to kick his ass for that next time I see him, but secondly, how do you guys communicate?" 

"In headspace. Hosts often times find it difficult to enter the inner world though, so usually most my talking with Ricky is done when we're co-conscious." Morgan glanced up at Ryan, "Speaking of, did you want me to talk to the unknown about fronting?"

"If you could, I think it'd be good for the whole system. You've all been switching way more than normal, which usually means you're under too much stress." Ryan replied.

"You're not wrong." He grumbled. "It's not easy for me to get a hold of him, though. If I'm fronting, he's watching after Jules in the inner world, and if Jules is fronting, I'm usually focusing on watching him in the real world." Morgan groaned, reaching for his head. Despite having downed meds earlier, his migraine persisted. A bitter smile graced his lips. "I've been talking too much." 

While Morgan tried to laugh it off, Ryan seemed far more bothered. He took Morgan to their bedroom to rest, placing a cold towel upon his head to aid his headache. There wasn't much he could do though. Usually, headaches brought on by switching and/or dissociating were untreatable. Ryan told Morgan goodnight, that he'd be in soon, and left him to rest. 

The thunder continued to boom outside. Considering how unpredictable weather like this can be on their switching, falling into a nice slumber was probably the best thing for them anyways. Ryan returned to the living room and elaborated on his foul mood. He explained how Ricky's distaste for Jules had gotten so bad that he sometimes lashed out at other alters for speaking of him too much to others. 

"Ricky was really grateful when you decided to start hanging around here, but that doesn't mean he's going to quit his shit. I love him more than anything, but you know how he gets." He said.

Chris simply smiled, "Stubborn? Yeah. How long has Jules been around? And how long has Ricky known about him?"

"He's known about him for maybe... Eight months? He started coming around about a year ago and a half ago. I think Jules was always there, but he was scared to front. Now that he knows I like taking care of him, he comes out the most often and the easiest. There are positive triggers you can use to make them switch, but even they don't like being forced to switch." 

Chris looked over the note Morgan had given him. There were simply question marks beside Sparrow and the monster's names. "How often does Sparrow front?"

"He's the trauma holder, so only if something triggers bad memories for him. That's part of the reason he doesn't leave the house much anymore. This world is shit, and there's a lot of things out there to trigger him." Ryan reclined on the couch and rubbed his tired eyes.

"You've had a long day, and the power's still out. Maybe we should call it a night?" 

"Yeah... I'll show you to the guest bedroom." 

—

guess who's got writer's block for this story again? it me. 

if you've got suggestions, send them my way. be as weird as you'd like. i shall give proper credit if i use your idea <3