I do wonder how other plural systems see their headmates, like, do you have an actual space where you can imagine or see them? How do you communicate? Are your voices different? How do you know who's fronting?
(That's also why Klor is essentially a ball of goo - that's what he looks like. I can't tell what I look like)
@ChlorideCull You look like a spikey fuzzy ball of fur!
@ChlorideCull As I understand it, the visualizations aren't something innate, but rather part of a series of techniques the systems in question have developed to help them deal with exactly these sorts of questions.
Some systems do have a multi-sensory headspace their members can interact in. I know at least one system that does and one that doesn't.
My own experiences probably won't help too much in specific, but I can tell you that the important thing is to keep experimenting, trying new ideas, and find something that works for both of you.
3.5k char, plural stuff, details of our experiences of headspace / communication / fronting
@ChlorideCull [Rose] It's varied a bunch for us.
The first things we figured out when we figured out we were we, were that non-fronters felt like they were talking from / hanging out in different places in the physical head. Sometimes they'd also have some visual stuff, like Grey would be loafing in a sunny patch of grass. Tasherit felt vaguely like desert around? Like yellow sand and blue sky. But it usually wasn't a super clear image, more vague visual impressions, but we kinda knew what it was (like dreams, i guess, where you just Know some info about a thing in the dream.)
We'd also occasionally had stuff happen in headspaces*, which at the time were kinda fragmented - there was a field/park back home we're very familiar with, so sometimes a few of us would hang out there and it would be very visual, etc.
Then we finally had an actual proper system meeting in headspace and I guess that resolved a few issues because headspace is much bigger, clearer, and more integrated now, and able to be worked on. This one is kind of recent, so being in front feels a bit quieter now generally 'cause I think it's like they're hanging out more in headspace than in the head? Not 100% sure but probably something like that.
In terms of fronting....
Some of us are more obvious - if we haven't had ADHD meds, Willow tends to be quite happy and energetic (most of us are more inattentive, low-energy). Liam is nonverb so when he's anywhere near front we start losing words, and usually wanna stim more.
Sometimes front is like "wait who am I? am I [name?]" and someone further at the back will answer.
Sometimes we have to base it kind of on like... idk, vibes. personality I guess? and Interests.
Like, if you asked me who I feel like, I would say "I feel like me" and if you asked Willow who she felt like, she'd say "I feel like me" etc etc, BUT the things that make her, her, and the things that make me, me, are different, right? So I gotta look at those things.
Like over last Christmas she spent most of a couple weeks in front, and we didn't realise until hopping of the bus and kinda being like "damn, I wish I wasn't studying healthcare, I want to get back into farming" that made us kinda go "wait hold on. Rose is /really passionate/ about its study. Am I Rose?"
And yeah, I've figured out like I'm more into the HC stuff, Willow's much more into farming/agriculture and starts thinking about that more, Ros is into plants and like, food-preservation and such, so will think more about that.
I guess we figure it out mostly based kind of on the front's baseline mood, the topics they wanna think about, what things they wanna do (often in a subtle way, like preferring to do physical activities like chores over laptop stuff), etc.
* we still haven't figured out how the frick to deal with switching + headspace properly. The "control station" idea didn't work for us, that just tends to result in passengering. With how headspace is now we wouldn't know how to set something up like that. I think if we switch on purpose it's... idk, like I gotta glide** back in the head and allow someone to come forward kinda from behind, passing me on one side? I think? We haven't switched on purpose an awful lot, there's the awkwardness of needing someone else to want to come forward *at the same time* as me being comfortable to step back which, as an accidental-micromanager of the system, is hard for me to do.
**Okay but now I'm just remembering that Simpsons gif where Homer just like... glides back into a hedge until he is no longer visible... like that I think.
For reference, when it comes to us, we can visualize some basic blobby shapes that represent each other, and we talk mentally - we have the same voice as our body. As for who's fronting, that is often a mix of both of us, except when one desires to take over (me at work, klor when he goes OwO over something)