On Doubles (again)

Hi- I’m not fictionkin but (respectfully!) curious. I was wondering, what are the implications if more than one person is kin with the same character (which I assume happens fairly often)? How is that navigated?

-anonymous via tumblr

Hi there! I’m always happy to answer any polite questions, and this is one that definitely seems to be THE question that outsiders ask about fictionkin.

There are a couple of answers to your question.

How is it navigated socially speaking? 

The answer is that we accept that no matter what our personal feelings are, that the personal feelings of everyone else are important too. The polite thing to do is to accept ‘doubles’ as they are called in kin circles, and either interact politely, or block and not interact with those you don’t want to interact with. 

Some fictionkin prefer not to interact with doubles because they find it emotionally or psychologically difficult to deal with. Most, however, accept that doubles are a thing and everyone is equally, as the kids say, “valid.” This is all part of the social contract of course and is routine broken by rude and aggressive people who decide they should scream at people for being ‘fakes’. But they’re the minority.

How is it navigated ideologically?

Broadly speaking, and accepting that there are always people with differing opinions most fall into two categories:

Spiritual fictionkin: generally believe in a “multiverse” where every possibility for every version of reality exists simultaneously. You are probably familiar with this concept from Marvel comics and the MCU. Basically there are infinite versions of every person, and two fictionkin with the same kintype have the soul of different versions of that kintype.

Psychological fictionkin: generally speaking believe that being fictionkin is a purely psychological phenomenon and not a spiritual one, and so there is no conflict in the idea that multiple people will have the same kintype. 

I hope that answers your question. Please feel free to ask for clarification if you need any, or read back through my archive as this is a subject we’ve discussed many times.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *