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Colorful and hopefully optimistic but maybe hateful occasionally

Nope, lilltleloc, you are nothing like B. You are YOU! You do have free will and you do have a good, decent mind. Your caring heart is big and you do know what is right for you. The desire to please, as abuse victims, sets us up to be more compliant than normal. You got caught up with a mentally ill manipulator. I grew up with a mom similar to B. The desire to please and the fear of conflict make a tough combination to work through. There is no reasoning nor defense of the actions, words, or attitude of someone who is so maladapted, living in their own warped sense of reality. I am so sorry that you got caught in the insidious web. But I am really proud of you, yep I am, to be able to break away from this relationship. It is not easy to do but each day you walk forward in your own, newer, and healthier life, you become stronger in your own identity and in your own strengths. Those memories, and they are now memories, are of no value to you, except to remind you to never allow someone to speak for or control you. You are in control now. How cool is that? You get to make decisions that you deem best for you. B's dark cloud no longer has to have an influence over you. It is time for littleloc to shine and grow and find enjoyment in life on her terms.
 
Nope, lilltleloc, you are nothing like B. You are YOU! You do have free will and you do have a...
That is cool...

I worry that, because B was abused (not nearly the way I was, but she did get death threats from a stepmother she was living with any time she was "bad," and her half brother was potentially sexually abusive), that she was going through the same things I was, emotionally. That she was complacent while I made up a world.

But then I remember that I was uncomfortable with it, from the start (when I realized she was taking it seriously enough to be emotionally attached like she was), and I remember having to do everything I was told but NEVER telling her to do anything (she did things out of kindness), and I remember that I thought the entire time that if I were her I wouldn't literally believe what my stories were. Especially not past age 17, when I started getting pretty realistic -- realistic enough that it was showing in the stories.

It surprises me looking back that I really thought I was at fault for all those years. Even if she was abused, she didn't have to take it seriously.

I should have backed out the moment she took it seriously, but I didn't know. I was a kid. And I thought no one else was going through this, and adults I tried to get help from didn't take me seriously. Because, in their words, B couldn't possibly REALLY believe what I was saying.

So, me coming clean about it wasn't me coming off drugs and alcohol and feeling ashamed, it coming off whatever that was and realizing it wasn't my fault.

Side note, but I hope I don't get any very hard addictions, because that relationship felt like one and I'm so glad it's out of my life. It's really nice being in control. And not having something let you think you are when the THING is what's in control.
 
Yeah, you got this! You never have to go down that path again. You are now a pro at recognizing manipulation. There is no reason on earth to give in to that, anymore. You are your own person. You are learning to be YOU, not them! You never had a chance to learn how to be yourself. You were defined through the will of someone else. Compliance on your part just ensured that you would not have to face stronger adverse actions from B, your dad, the pedo or anyone else who tried to control you. It did not mean that you were relating in a healthy balanced manner. It just meant that you didn't have the skills to counter the control. Now you do. Now you have hindsight and experiences that show you the difference between a good and an unhealthy relationship. And it sounds like you have some good friends, especially A, who can be used as a counter-balance on those days when your mind wants to justify or care for sicko B. If they say "run", girl, you "RUN". They are seeing the real B...not the one your mind wants to see. You, my dear, littleoc, need to practice NOT excusing B or anyone who has abused you. They are not to be excused. They were wrong...period. You are facing a new era in your life. One that is yours, just yours. Practice living your life, thinking forward, not backward. B has no place in your forward life, now. Enjoy your "you" time in the dorm. Have some free silly fun time, just for you.
 
I honestly do think that at one point, B liked me or even loved me (maybe at most as a friend). The resentment didn't come from me, though, even in the middle of the relationship when I started to hate her, in about 2011, 2012. I still loved her and wanted her to be okay. I think she appreciated that.

I think she also took advantage of it, and if I had my self-respect that I have now, then -- I wouldn't have stood for it.

I did realize something about Fungus me. He is rather "large" (as in, in a lot of places and with many minds). That, I'm slowly figuring out, was my empathy. Because I'm constantly thinking about everything else.

Fungus me had to take care of his physical body and "heart" (where hypha spreads from spore, not an actual sciencey term) to be able to take care of everyone else.

The "everyone else" were Fungus's "loved ones" -- organisms of all kinds that he took a special liking to, usually on Earth. (It's bizarre, probably... sorry about that.) Could include literally anything you could think of. Death was a large theme -- he keeps things that died that makes them into something else.

That's symbolic for something else -- something that would be interesting/terrifying in a book, but not in real life.

Anyway -- Fungus cared about loved ones partially for instinctual reasons (s/he was frequently compared to a computer, though the idea is offensive to him) but also because they really were worth a lot to him. They give him meaning and he wants to help them and save them and support them, and watch them grow into bigger and better things, and discover themselves, over and over.

THAT is what Brandi took advantage of. She wanted someone to love her unconditionally, no matter what she did, and she wanted someone who would literally be available 24/7 to give third party (therapist-like) advice -- and a nonhuman creature who was interesting AND interested/invested in B's life and development (because that means B is interesting, especially if she has an interesting non-human friend) who, being nonhuman, could easily step back and provide a big picture that she literally couldn't understand.

And that makes me incredibly sad, because I feel like I gifted that to her and then ripped it away -- but I had to. For my sanity, and honestly because if she wants to get better? She can't have unrealistic expectations about being practically worshipped. You can't rely on other people to take care of you -- not like that.

And.. she could have asked for that from me as a human friend, with boundaries. So I wouldn't have been up at night thinking I was evil and literally insane for going with it. So it wouldn't have been off or uncomfortable. I had that empathy as a human being, because that's what I am. Very few other organisms on Earth have empathy the way a human being does for their own species. Humans are so empathetic that they will open windows to let bugs out, or open clinics specifically for dogs, cats, horses -- humans even love to see baby animals.

Humans are empathetic. The most empathetic I saw a fungus be didn't quite match up. Symbiotic relationships with humans, other animals, other fungi, and plants are awesome -- but so far I have yet to be comforted by a fungus who didn't want me to be sad.

Makes me weirdly uncomfortable to say that... but it's true. I've seen disappointment in a pea plant and I've seem fungi respond to it. But fungi aren't mentally complex, like humans, no matter how complex they are otherwise.

I'm confusing myself. But that's fine, I'll just keep repeating things until they sound like reality. In the meantime -- I'm going to fix my bike's rear brakes and also let this female tufted tit get at the catfood, because the ants already have and this tit is REALLY hopeful :P
 
Now you do. Now you have hindsight and experiences that show you the difference between a good and an unhealthy relationship.

They are seeing the real B...not the one your mind wants to see.

B has no place in your forward life, now.

Love it -- and literally no one has said otherwise yet, not even Brandi's girlfriend! (In middle school she talked bad about B constantly -- that hasn't changed for some reason.)

I'll do lots of stuff I want to do. Like take a bike to the greenway and get ice cream instead of sit around in a dump of a house :P



I did just remember that Jamie (Brandi's girlfriend she dated in middle school, and then cheated on me with when I went to college) had a fantasy world too. She acted like it was completely real. But I doubt she thought it was. I think we were children.

I remember being weirded out when I heard Jamie in high school talking to her "friends" (they were horrible people) about demons/spirits in her head -- just like Brandi had been. But in high school.

When I told Brandi that I am littleoc, not a Fungus, the first thing she said was that with Jamie, it had been "consensual." I wonder why it wasn't with me, and why she thought it was ME being forceful.

Maybe distorted thinking? I probably don't need to waste my energy figuring it out -- but I keep checking and double checking to make sure I'm not the "evil" one. But I never thought of B as evil, and she told me I was an evil, schizophrenic psychopath. So... one of us wasn't okay enough to accept that most people aren't evil.

I don't think I'm evil. I try really hard not to be. I get scared that I am and then change what I'm doing.

Brandi beat her dog for chewing through a BluTooth once. Peeing on her bed. She said she was "that depressed."

I have never beaten my dog and then claimed it was because I was depressed. Never. If I had I'd be going around begging for forgiveness and I'd regret it for the rest of my life.

I tried to be mean to animals when my dad was, but it didn't work. I was raised by a cat. Three cats. One of them was trans -- no joke (no, I'm not going to try to prove that... nor would I get a cat a sex change -- they can't consent). I know too much about them and appreciate that I've never been mauled by a cat.
 
I don't think I'm evil. I try really hard not to be. I get scared that I am and then change what I'm doing.
Oh my god, @littleoc, you are the least evil person ever, I swear. You are incredibly kind and incredibly helpful - always. Trauma sucks - if you could see yourself the way the rest of us see you, you'd know that. But the trauma - and Brandi specifically - made it so you can't right now. But you'll get there.
 
It's interesting how you described fungus -- because it almost makes me like him (her?). I think you my be on to something -- that fungus represents your empathy and how it can get away from you. By that I mean how you can care so much for others that it covers up both your own needs and some of the complexity of reality. As in - you empathize with people so strongly that you want more for them than they do.

Maybe that's part of the struggle for both B and mom? That you want something to be better in their lives, even if they don't. Yes, they may tell you they do, but if they really did they would make it happen. They would at least try rather than make constant excuses or blame those around them. And they do blame you -- because they see the hope you have for them. I'm going to bet it makes them mad - because they don't want to change. So instead of seeing themselves as you see them, they blame you for seeing them as more than they want to be

I'm rambling a bit --- hopefully I'm making some sense!

Oh - and no punkin....the one thing you don't need to worry about is being evil.
 
It's interesting how you described fungus -- because it almost makes me like him (her?). I think you my be on to something -- that fungus represents your empathy and how it can get away from you. By that I mean how you can care so much for others that it covers up both your own needs and some of the complexity of reality. As in - you empathize with people so strongly that you want more for them than they do.
I find this flattering -- is that weird? Thank you for saying this. I can see what you mean by it making others upset, I think. It's sort of hard to wrap my head around, and it makes me sad, but I think you have a point.

I have the urge to explain fungus gender in general, so in a few sentences -- fungi don't have female and male, because they don't have egg and sperm. They literally fuse their bodies to mates and make fruiting bodies with babies that only have half a genome (compared to what we leave babies with as humans). So, instead of gender, they have mating types -- and one species can have literally thousands of mating types, and they are all compatible for the most part unless they are the same or too similar (probably a way to avoid mating with siblings or parents).

Brandi felt Fungus was a male presence, because in the Other World I had created, males of a certain species she wanted to belong to (it's a very long story, I'll try to fit it in here later one day when I'm ready) were very gentle, nondominant, and "motherly." Long story short. Gender roles were very different, stereotypically, for them. But humans could be that way too. Culture is always changing. There are a lot of humans with lots of backgrounds.

I guess in a weird way she was calling me gentle. It would have been nice to be human though. I can like other organisms and still be human.

Although, Brandi did tell me she was sexist. It bothered me a lot, because she would claim that all women were evil, obsessed with makeup, full of gossip -- whatever the school bullies were. I'd always say, "What about us?" Because we were female, biologically. And that can't be argued, and I like my sister who is also female and has even participated in my abuse (I think maybe it wasn't abuse because it wasn't intended -- I still need to process this).

Maybe she saw it in herself and assumed all women were bad?

Brandi was obsessed with gay men. She liked one of my friends because he was gay. Which irked everyone because... rude. It's nice to not be hated for it, but to be near someone obsessed with it, who also told me I couldn't be gay because SHE was confused? She was obsesssd with gay male porn. Which I hear is a niche thing and I won't judge, but she was very strange about it. Inappropriate even.

Fungus didn't want to talk about sex, but she did. I was worried she'd feel taken advantage of, but she kept insisting. She wanted to know her love life. Then she would compare her current one to it and it was all extremely uncomfortable.

I feel like she really tried to be friends with Fungus. But she hated me, human me. Called me insane and a psychopath. But... I'm not a different person from Fungus.

I'm really hung up on this. I think maybe I should bring it up in therapy next week, when my therapist is back in town. Along with the dog assault. The first one that shocked me so much. But especially the Fungus thing, specifically my guilt and shame over it. I'm so afraid I did something to her.

But she HAD to have known. People don't just believe that a kind Fungus is following their every whim. They believe that a human is trying to show care in extremely strange circumstances, or something like that?

I just keep thinking of when she reached out to me that day in May 2016. She was so sad. It was before she sent that text when I had "lithium poisoning." She was reaching out. She needed help. But she didn't choose Human Me. She chose Fungus and I therefore couldn't make a boundary, couldn't back off. And she sent that text when I couldn't defend myself, and had her girlfriend Jamie text me. And I really did care.

But I was hurting too. I had every right to cut her off in 2016, and I didn't want to talk to her again for good reason. If she viewed me as her support, then that is flattering, but... it wasn't friendship. I was both addicted to and dreading her texts by then. I just wanted it to end. It was so confusing, how much baggage there was. I was willing to talk, but she never was. I wasn't allowed to have problems. She could unload all of hers. Literally every bit of it, and ask for medical advice -- the hours of research I did on her behave is amazing -- but I couldn't do the same. Not as littleoc.

She had to know every detail, and then suddenly didn't care, and also was upset when I merely said that a day was hard. Then she'd explode into talk of how hard her life was and how I was never there for her.

She was okay with hearing about Fungus's problems, and said she felt bad that every single encounter was about her. It made her feel embarrassed and needy.

Fungus reassured her, to be fair. But by saying that it is okay to be sad, or confused. That at her age, 21-22, the instincts of purpose can really get powerful if they haven't already, so it makes sense that they were bothering her.

I tried to be forever patient and understanding.

I think that's what's confusing me. If I was trying to be as under

I wonder if she had BPD. But that's not really my business anyway.
 
*If I was trying to be as understanding as possible, and as gentle and patient and teacher-y and possible, then the opposite extreme in a PTSD-black-and-white view+manipulation that occurred to make Fungus that possible, would be evil.

But if I kept it up? I was still evil.

So, it was only me that could be evil.

I feel like I took something too far. But I did tell her. I couldn't live with the guilt of feeling like I was manipulating her -- but what was I manipulating her to do, anyway? Let me love her? After I had tried to cut her off already?

I mean, I love people I hate, but I don't stalk people. I wanted her to understand why I thought I had done it so badly that I messaged her the next day.

The reason I couldn't sleep the night I told her Fungus was littleoc was because I was scared I had ruined her, and she was going to kill herself. That's what she had told me she would do. I was so incredibly sad, like nothing I had ever felt. Too much to cope with. I just wanted her to understand what I had done.

She used to tell me that she'd forgive me if it wasn't real. I wonder if that was ever true, or when that changed.

Actually, no. She'd said she'd forgive me if I had made it up. As if that wasn't obvious.

I think she really needed an adult as a child. Because now that I remember, she was taking Jamie's middle school pretend games just as seriously. And Jamie and I were both children and played along.

Jamie was even hurt that I didn't include her. I remember that extremely vividly. I ended up buying her neat thrift store items and claiming they were from her past life or something and that cheered her up immediately.

You know, because it's nice to be included. I would assume she wasn't taking it literally, but kid's games are serious sometimes. But still games. Like imaginary friends. The owner of an imaginary friend knows they aren't real. No matter what's going on.

But, even if Brandi wanted to believe it so badly -- it's still not my fault, what happened. I was a child. I DID try to get help from adults when it got too serious. I did get manipulated into keeping it up, no matter how bad I felt about it. If became bad either way. So, for some reason, she needed it. Maybe to feel loved. She did lack that. But I've had too many identities that made me uncomfortable and never would it have been normal to keep this up like that, for one party to feel good while the other one literally thinks they don't deserve water.

I wonder sometimes if I was looking for a victim... but people don't just take games literally. That's not the healthy scenario. It's just not.

Very confusing. But I still remember abuse and still don't think I would be comfortable -- if the roles were switched -- letting a human be a Fungus and talk only about myself all the time.

Confusing.
 
There is a large storm on the way. And it is making me nervous. It has produced tornadoes, pretty large ones.

I knew a storm system would be here because I dreamed about it (my body always knows when the weather turns and it causes bad dreams about tornadoes) but I've been trying to ignore it.

Ended up staring at a radar often anyway, because my twin brother was out driving in it, so... he's fine. He made it to his destination.
 

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