Plural Stories

Submitted by erinptah! Thank you, erinptah!

"Okay, everyone -- I'd like to have your attention, please. Tonight is a big night, and I want this to go well. Please remember, Jeremy is a great guy, and he loves me."

Blurb: A cute, sweet story about a system getting one of their members through her Valentine's Day date, and ultimately coming out as plural to a confused-but-supportive partner.

Why is it worth your time?: The director's mother has DID, and they co-wrote this short film to be a 101-level primer on "what that means for someone's day-to-day experience." So it's nothing too complicated -- but it's well-made! Works as a story, not just a day-in-the-life walkthrough.

Uses multiple actors and clever camera work to show different headmates switching and interacting. And it does a nice job of keeping things simple enough for an intro, without totally erasing the nuances. (I liked the way it only gives the viewer 4 headmates to keep track of, but refers to the system being much larger.)

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse intermediate-focus, creator speaks from experience, people: children, people: fictioneers, relationships: family, type: medical, type: switching

Content Warnings: From the site: "The full version contains a scene of intimacy and a flashback to childhood sexual abuse." A redacted version is available with that part cut.

Accessibility Notes: Available for free online. Includes a transcript, and subtitle options in English + multiple translations. Also backed up on YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wYhN39SiWuI&pp=ygUVcGV0YWxzIG9mIGEgcm9zZSBmaWxt

“My armor is made of sky iron, made for me. A bear’s armor is his soul, just as your dæmon is your soul. You might as well take him away” —indicating Pantalaimon—”and replace him with a doll full of sawdust. That is the difference."

Blurb: In Lyra's world, all people have daemons: a shapeshifting animal who settles into one form as an adult. Now Lyra and her daemon, Pan, are rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where the Gobblers take the children they steal - including Lyra's friend Roger. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world. Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, a champion.

Why is it worth your time?: There's a reason this book birthed a whole community, the daemonists. Lyra's Oxford is a fascinating place, and a society built around the normalcy of daemons is what people most remember from it. (Indeed, a person without a daemon is terrifying in this society, the equivalent of a walking corpse.) The daemons are explicitly stated to be people's souls; when one dies, so does the other, and to tear one's daemon away is considered an act of horrific brutality on par with soul-rape and lobotomy.

Plural Tags: friendship, community, nonhumans [daemons, animals]

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: Available in paper, ebook, and audiobook forms. Has been translated into Spanish, French, Portuguese, Norwegian, and Dutch

Misc Notes: First in a three book series, and honestly, I didn't care for the other two books and have zero desire to try rereading them; you might enjoy them, though. Northern Lights has also been adapted to a movie (which apparently sucked), a TV series, and a comic book, and I cannot vouch for the quality of any of them.