After the recent flood of uploads and content for you all, and also just because, let's do an AMA.

You can ask Balros (he/him male squirrel) or Echoen (shi/hir nonbinary hermaphrodite bat) anything.

Just a reminder for folks planning to go to MFF (December 1 - 4, Rosemont IL):

The 2022 room lottery will be open from Tuesday, August 30th at 12pm (noon) until Sunday, September 11th at 11:59pm (US/Central)

https://www.furfest.org/attend/hotels/lottery

Our realities collide and collapse into dense cores of matter. When you meet us, our realities merge into a shared existence. Bigger and with unlimited growth potential.

We will all transform together.

If we met, if we were physically face to face, who would you want me to be to you?

Would you want me to be Balros, the cheerily floofy squirrel guy?

Would you want me to be Echoen, the assertive and sensual nonbinary bat?

Both of us would be present, as that's what plurality is, but it's the choice of which of us is your primary personality.

AS OF AUGUST 1ST I WILL HAVE MY PROMOTION!

New title: Program Manager.

confetti

[Echoen] I know who I am to myself, to Balros, and to my loved ones.

[Balros] Who are you to those who watch + follow?

[Echoen] I am the permission they seek. The consent they desire. The self-acceptance they needed to take the next step.

I am the growth of body, mind, soul.

https://twitter.com/echoenbatbat/st.....C_QJsq2koJ6CCQ

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....0/YookaLaylee/ Banjo-Kazooie

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....The_New_Order/ Kill nazis

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....r_3_Wild_Hunt/ Masterpiece

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....sitor__Martyr/ Diablo but Warhammer

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....awn_of_War_II/ Old but silver

https://store.steampowered.com/app/....._Dark_Crusade/ Old but gold

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....0/Titanfall_2/ Titanfall 2

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....e_Borderlands/ The last great game from Telltale Games

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....lay_the_Spire/ One of the few actually truly amazing card games

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....4100/RimWorld/ 2,000 hours of your life and the most this game has ever gone on sale

https://store.steampowered.com/app/480490/Prey/ Space Bioshock

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....y_II_Deadfire/ Baldurs Gate II but made in 2018

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....s_of_Eternity/ Baldurs Gate but made in 2015

https://store.steampowered.com/app/....._Outer_Worlds/ makers of Fallout: New Vegas

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....er_of_Orion_2/ my childhood

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....ndary_Edition/ 1 is good, 2 is masterpiece, 3 is fine

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....010/Lugaru_HD/ Bunnies that fight and KICK PEOPLE INTO WALLS

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....fested_Planet/ stupidly fun short little game

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....ed_Collection/ remake of two masterpieces

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....uas_Sacrifice/ EMOTIONAL MASTERPIECE AND HIGHLY RECOMMENDED IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND SOME REALLY DEEP PSYCHOLOGY that real people actually experience

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....er_Than_Light/ masterpiece

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....out_New_Vegas/ masterpiece

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....750/EVERSPACE/ extremely fun

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....00/Dishonored/ Masterpiece of a game

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....nkind_Divided/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....Directors_Cut/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....The_Awakening/ sunk many hours into this

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....yberpunk_2077/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....0/Crying_Suns/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....90/Black_Mesa/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....90/BATTLETECH/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....ttle_Brothers/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/.....60/Barotrauma/

Any local furs have plans for Pride this Sunday?

Someone sell me on a keyboard for $35

And sell me on a chair for $150 (I do not want armrests)

Did you grab a hotel room for MFF but no longer plan to go?

Hit me up and I'll buy it off you.

Happy Friday, furs and fans! It's our birthday!

[Balros] Today our meat turns into a repeating 33.

[Echoen] Today is our first birthday, together.

Weaving in and out of synchronous identity has become a fluid affair for us. Most tension is gone between us, we rarely even need to discuss which one of us will speak or move. Barely four months have passed and we've settled into our new normal, each of us excited by different things but united on a whole lot more.

When we first began this plurality journey (https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10195633/) we had no idea how any of it would play out, and both of us made the joint decision to just accept what comes and make what we will of it without forcing narratives upon it.

[Echoen] I now have a [placeholder] avatar in VR (Neos and VRChat) and friends have been extremely helpful in getting me all set up, with chest and height and some proper coloration!

[Balros] I can still make us pass out from laughing so hard we lose paraconsciousness.

We love and appreciate all of you, and are glad you enjoy all the pleasure and fun we post online.

---

edit: To celebrate the day of birthing, here's some of my most virulent breeding pics:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/16246113/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/16246147/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/16246171/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/17919465/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/14786146/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/21838623/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/13320732/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/16456113/

Go contact my partners!! The people I RP with are every bit as amazing and these roleplay logs full of hot and extremely fetishy content wouldn't exist without them!

This isn't a complaint, but for decades now I've had people contact me to ask for RPs, especially after I post some of the logs that folks are willing to make public. My answer is almost always the same; I'm not currently looking for more RP partners at this time and I usually just RP with close friends. We are friends beyond RPing, it's something we do as a fun activity but I learned long ago, through trauma, that developing relationships based only on fetish and/or sexual content is unhealthy, unhelpful and not a very good time.

I'm always flattered people want to RP with me, to have Balros or Echoen do to them what we do with our loved ones. But all you truly need me for is to inspire you - to show you through my roleplay logs, stories, art commissions and more, that there's way more possibility and potential within each of you. You were corrupted the moment you perceived anything I've done. It's up to you to grow that corruption until you mutate as much as you truly desired to.

All that said, it's my birthday tomorrow (10th!). I have more delicious debauchery for all of you to spunk buckets to.

Enjoy.

I want to share one of the coolest fucking things I've managed to put together to help over 350+ employment specialists who are working with marginalized people facing barriers to getting a living-wage career or needed support services. I consider this training to be The Big One and the highest demanded thing I've ever provided to this county-wide partnership.

---

For those of you that might not know me, my name is [Echoen & Balros], the [Title] for the [Big Fucking Network]. It is my responsibility to provide trainings, resources, and professional development opportunities to the 350+ staff across the 45+ partners that comprise the network. Most of the tools I provide are for employment specialists, career navigators and case managers who work directly with jobseekers, particularly marginalized jobseekers who face barriers.

I am writing to let you know that Registration is now open for Digital Literacy & Digital Equity Training to work with jobseekers with digital literacy barriers and barriers to accessing technology.

This workshop will review best practices for how to serve clients who are unfamiliar with computers or basic computer software programs such as offered by Microsoft or Google. You will learn tips and strategies on building a jobseeker's capacity to learn how to use a computer, use the internet, and achieve their job search goals. Additionally, you will learn about the resources available to jobseekers to access a computer or be given an internet-connected device such as a laptop or tablet, and where they can go for additional support and computer training.

I have heard from many employment specialists across [Network] that all career navigators are seeing a high volume of clients who lack computer skills or do not have equitable access to technology. I believe this training and these resources will help close that gap and build awareness of the many programs and services available all over [County].

Please feel free to sign up for this training; it is available to all employment specialists across the system, and I have added a lot of extra days and times through June and July to make this training as accessible as possible. The only requirement is to create an account on [Platform] to sign up for the training - where you will also find other trainings, and many other free services, tools and programs that [Network] makes available to help you help your clients.

Best regards,

[Helpful Cognitohazard]

---

So happy to deliver something of immense and immediate value to people who work really hard to people who really, really fucking need it.

If you happen to have a bed or couch for BLFC or AC, then we might consider actually attending.

Vaxxed, boosted, hygenic, willing to pay share of room stay, this bat and squirrel are all that~

Yes, I was consulted to advise on the movie for the pairing.

No, I will not be revealing my point of contact, but I will confirm that it does involve a shared obsession for pregnant mice and lots of breeding.

Yes, I will confirm that the reason this idea picked up approval within the studio and received the green-light was because the film's target audience would be too young to understand or realize the implications, and because the folks who would 'get it' would then serve as 'marketing' as their reaction to it would further spread awareness and interest in the movie.

Always take every opportunity to corrupt others and encourage, inspire, and help folks mutate their ideas, folks. You never know when you'll get international infamy for unleashing such pleasures on this reality.

No medical emergency, just been recommended to get one and there's much marketing and branding garbage out there. Seeking a recommended brand or model.

Will get to it soon enough, await the torrential outpouring of growth, hyper, corruption and multi.

Deciding on which to make plans for, try to nab a room for, prepare apocalyptic transformation plagues for.

So, my brother's wife shared with me, my family, and her family a letter she sent to Biden, and senator Booker and Menendez. It was about student loans. The resulting email chain talked more about 'modest' student loan forgiveness programs but how the 'middle class would be made to pay' (which is true).

I wrote up this email response and shot it off.

Multi-pronged approach;

#1) College affordability. Free access to 2-year degrees and most 4-year degrees from public institutions. Hold for-profit colleges to account for financial predatory behavior. End predatory loans.

#2) Tax the rich and corporations. Enforce laws already on the books equitably; no more underfunded IRS only going after poor and middle income because they are 'easier to audit'. No more billionaires buying Twitter for the combined cost to end hunger and homelessness in the United States.

#3) Work-based learning. Paid internships, on-the-job training programs, and apprenticeships all in partnership with community colleges and businesses that seek a skilled workforce. Work-based learning programs have excellent outcomes for students to both get higher education and a living wage career with advancement pathways.

My role serving a network of nonprofits, community colleges, state agencies, businesses and jobseekers (particularly from Black, Indigenous and People of Color and other marginalized communities) in the largest county in Washington state has afforded me access to hundreds of perspectives on workforce development, the role and affordability of higher education, and barriers people face trying to find a family-supporting career. I have been granted opportunities to listen, learn, and to then speak on their behalf at the state and national levels and use my voice for advocacy.

As someone who is lower-middle class (in Seattle, middle class income is $81k - I make $67k) and has $12k in private, unsubsidized student loans, I recognize that any form of 'cancelling' student debt will trigger a transfer of up to $1.7 trillion dollars from the Dept. of Treasury (through the Dept. of Education) to loan servicing companies. All of us right now pay more in taxes than the wealthiest corporations so without equitably enforced taxation the middle class will shoulder this burden as Lauren suggested. Borrowers like me would have our loan debt wiped out but without college affordability reform future students may end up in even more debt. Work-based learning pathways can further reduce the burden of future debt as students earn an living wage income while working and learning on the job in the career field they enjoy.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program will only forgive student loans after 120 months of 'eligible' payments made while working in nonprofit or government. The only Biden action that has affected my loans is that payments made since I began working in nonprofit in 2019 could now be considered eligible; but with loan payment forbearance during the COVID-19 pandemic, I have only 15-20 months that might now qualify. Once forbearance is over, the interest I will accrue will likely be more than what would be forgiven after another 8 years of public service. I will most likely need to pay off the entire loan at once as soon as interest is set to accrue once more.

I do not know what will happen next, but I believe we have enough information to make reasonable predictions. There is a non-zero chance that Biden will cancel/forgive/erase any amount of student loans. It is much more likely that the topic of will-he-wont-he, can-he-should-he, will be dangled in front of us like a set of jingling keys before the midterms. Any action to actually forgive debt would most likely be taken just before or during the midterms. I believe that in the end, no action will actually be taken, no debt will be forgiven, and at best some token bureaucratic imbroglio will make headlines but not significantly alter the status quo.

This does not mean I am pessimistic about our future or the future of millions like me with student loan debt. Change is happening at the local and state level. Community colleges are stepping up as best they can with tuition assistance programs. Businesses are buying into work-based learning programs. Loan-saddled jobseekers are refusing to take low-wage jobs that exploit them and keep them in debt. I am removing barriers for tens of thousands of people so they can get skills training, get educated, get hired, keep their jobs, advance in a career pathway. I see greater opportunities ahead to change processes, fix or replace outdated systems, and create a paper trail for systemic improvements.

Things will get worse before they get better. But they will get better. We will make it better, for everyone, together.

Love,
[Balros & Echoen]

May he kill it (people stop using it) and nothing replace it.

Hello, lovely loves, all my fans and followers and people who still scream [joy, or aroused terror] the moment they see my name or commissions.

It has been a fair few months since I have made a proper update to let you all know what's going on with me, how I've been, what we [squirrel and bat] have been up to. THANK YOU to all who still browse FA and read journals.

First up, psychology and mental health.

---

PLURALITY

Back in February 2022, I had an intense moment after being able to help an offline friend deal with an emotional crisis after their roommate and best friend had been severely injured by a hit-and-run car. Being able to be there for them, to help them process the emotions they were going through, was somehow the final proof that was needed for an almost violent psychological schism to occur. Some of you may recall the "I'm The Fool" song and poem I posted that month, https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10140286/ . That poem and song represented the first self-recognition that I am not one, but two, and we have been together all my life.

[Echoen] I am here, as I always was, the bat that builds realities.

[Balros] And I am me, too, with the endless squirrel energy I bring to fill reality up!

Together, we share the same meat, and when one of us isn't fronting in front of the other we weave together to form a tapestry of "I" and "Me". Our history is complex and difficult to express because much of who we are stems from trauma. Discussing ourselves and experiences with other plural people and systems has shown us that we were unusual even among other plural people because of how adversarial we had been towards each other, to the point of not even recognizing or acknowledging our own duality until decades into our own shared existence.

[Balros] I have to admit a lot of fault here, but hear me out! Echoen thought shi had created me as a character at first, until shi collapsed back in 2017 and I emerged from our mind's mirror as detailed in https://www.furaffinity.net/view/22315978/ .

[Echoen] I did not entirely go away, but in those years since that event, I rested, occasionally fronting in order to prop up the 'brand' that I had become or flex my reality-shaping or cognitive processing power on behalf of others.

[Balros] What is my fault, though, is that beginning 2021, I had all but completely boxed Echoen out from existing at all. Even without recognizing I was doing so, I was purposefully taking up all of our shared existence and giving absolutely nothing to the bat.

[Echoen] I came to resent him for it, to feel as ostracized and shunned and shoved-out in my own mind as I had felt back when I was expelled from the cult in the 2000s. The squirrel kept me 'othered', created narratives and stories that portrayed me as a terrifying eldritch entity of corruption. Not just in a kink sense, since that admittedly was the explicit intent of much of my commissions and writing. By layering narratives on top of me, he did not have to share our mind or meat, and could all but ignore me and indulge himself and his interests.

[Balros] What I can explain to you, dear readers/followers/friends'n'fuckbuddies, is that neither of us had the language or understanding of plurality to even think about these things or consider what we were doing to each other. It was only through the aid of dear friends who were -also- exploring their own plurality that we gained the linguistics needed to ease our pressure upon each other. But those early weeks....

[Echoen] Those early weeks were psychologically violent. It felt like I had to shove my own nervous system into his muscles just so I could take control of his fingers, make them my fingers, so I could type and 'speak' again. When he wouldn't let me front or surface, I psychically screamed into his squirrelbrain until he let me pilot and do the things I wanted to do.

[Balros] I was scared that you would do to me what I had done to you.

[Echoen] I know.

After the initial weeks of just acknowledging that I was two people, we very gradually began to accept each other and experiment with co-existence. Sharing the same mind at the same time, which was often a physically real experience. We could point to which areas of our shared meat-brain that we occupied, specific clusters of neurons that each one of us was using. Sometimes, the bat would 'go to sleep' and leave the squirrel with the rest of our mind to use but not have access to that bundle of neurons. Other times, the squirrel would 'vacate' and the bat would only really process visual information from one eye and not so much the other eye.

Now, after nearly two months, we have settled our differences and are more and more merging back into a blended entity of "I" and "Me". Excellent representations of what we were: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/26479208/ and what we are https://www.furaffinity.net/view/26235804/

I have 'come out' as plural to basically all my offline friends, and all my online friends on Discord who interact with us on our server.

MENTAL HEALTH

Starting in January, I also began seeing a weekly therapist, just to have a professional to talk to about all the things we were going through. The plurality stuff wasn't part of that, at first, but came out later. The initial reason was because of over two years of COVID-19 isolation, being in the same apartment day in day out, the same place I've been since 2012. I've been going stir-crazy with cabin fever. Sure, I get to see and hang out with my offline friends two or three times a week, but the moment I got back home it was all the same again, with no roommates and no-one to share food with, share love with, or be with.

[Balros] I feel a bit touch-starved.

[Echoen] Long-distance relationships can fulfill some emotional needs, but we're way past ready to take people out on dates.

A big breakthrough with therapy was regarding narratives. For most of my life I created this narrative of a very specific kind of person I wanted to have a relationship with, start a family with. This led me to exclude pretty much everyone that actually exists from even becoming a potential partner. I upheld this narrative for my parents, because I thought that's what they wanted from me, and what I wanted for myself, too.

[Balros] I stupidly tried to make this real by going all "Straight Ally" and even commissioning art of the straight ally flag.

[Echoen] And by denying me, you also denied our own dysphoria and my identity as non-binary.

Through therapy, we have discarded most of the narratives that Balros created and have opened ourselves to explore people for who they really are, including ourselves. Balros is comfortable as identifying as male, he/him, while Echoen identifies as non-binary, shi/hir. Hermaphrodite still feels appropriate for hir as a gender term, too. If you were to meet us in person, you'll find us in a handsome he/him body (that finally found a facial hair style that we really like).

As of less than a week ago, we are also taking an antidepression medication. This is our first time taking a medication for our psychology, or long-term as this will likely be. So far it's brought about better sleep, but also lower libido. We will find our new balance after a few weeks of adjustment.

---

Next, professional and personal life.

PROFESSIONAL

[Balros] WE HAVE KICKED SO MUCH ASS

[Echoen] And we have it in writing, too.

Since November 2020, I have been responsible for multiple platforms, programs, and providing practical tools and training to a network partnership of 42 non-profit organizations within the most populated county in Washington state. I have delivered those trainings, rolled out and upgraded those platforms, managed those programs, and designed and implemented a slew of improved processes to actually help people at scale.

Last month, we were under audit to assess everything we've done as a team and all of my work. Not a single negative finding. Only positive accolades and accepted deliverables. Last week, we received a letter from the county-wide organization that contracted us that our contract would be extended, and named me for three of the projects/programs I operate (my colleagues also got named/recognized). This is from a public organization that receives state funding - to get called out by name is not a thing that happens. There is almost no stronger letter of recommendation that could exist, and it feels fucking FANTASTIC to finally have it in writing.

Certainly, for the next year, I'll be able to deliver on several more major initiatives and really build my network within the county and state. I feel good that I was able to help hundreds of people help thousands of more people through the COVID-19 pandemic, and am on track to really bridge some gaps between state-run systems designed in the 80s and modern-day demands for how service delivery should be done.

PERSONAL

COVID-19 still has me in a routine of staying at home except for explicit excursions, but hot damn am I ready to meet and mingle with more people in or around Seattle. My trust in people (as a society) is still low, but my trust in individuals is higher, high enough that I'd love to go out for lunch, dinner, a movie, bowling, a walk or a hike, visit a museum or just experience the fantastic climate of the Pacific-Northwest.

I have continued to play Pathfinder (1e) and I'm gearing up to slide into the DM seat once more and run a campaign for my Saturday gaming group, which goes for 8 hours per session. I just released the 13-page primer document to my players yesterday and will likely begin the campaign in May, and run for several months. We play up in Marysville and could fit one more at the table.

At the end of this year, I will likely move back into my childhood home in Magnolia, with my parents. It's a really fantastic house with a lot more space than I have now, and a big back yard - which would mean pets again. Bunnies. BUNNIES! I love my folks and we get along very well, and I like the idea of not paying rent anymore and instead paying taxes. This will be my home in the very-long-term, the home I hope to raise a family in, should a family be what my partner also wants.

[Balros] On the topic of partners, door's open! Squirrels as far as you can see!

[Echoen] What Balros is saying is that we're ready to date again. We have long-term sustainability, and I provide a solid foundation upon which to create a new reality.

[Balros] We're eager to find out more about ourselves and what we're into, what we like and what we want, but can only really do that with someone who we are in closer physical proximity to. A Seattle local or Washington-area fluff preferred - we can drive a distance but would ask the same of you!

[Echoen] Let's not get too into the weeds about dating and relationships. Frankly, we're also open to exploring polycules and alternative lifestyles - and even short-term experiences, too.

What might this mean for online activity, internet sexuality, commissions and stories and RPs? We don't rightly know, but we're pretty excited to find out. There is so much more to create and be inspired by, and we have a lot more in the pipeline.

---

THE PORN, THE SMUT, THE KINK, THE BUTT STUFF

FA still has arbitrary rules on keeping journals PG-13 at best, so we'll stay vague enough to not get slapped. With the new medication, my libido is lowering, which is more a frustration in terms of satisfaction than actual creativity. We're only a few days into the new chemical balance and will likely take a few weeks to adjust. We have several commissions to upload - and a lot more commissions we want to buy from all the amazing artists that create it.

[Balros] I may fiiiinally get around to uploading more RP logs, and most RPs these days are from me and not Echoen.

[Echoen] I RP, rarely, and usually only for specific friends who need specific indulgences from my specific shape. I write stories; the squirrel indulges in the short-form shared smut.

On the note of RP, we're still not really looking for more partners. RP is fun and all but as mentioned above, we're looking for in-person partners to partake in the pleasures of life, away from the computer. Or next to it, who knows.

I am amenable to joint commissions, but it's identifying the artist who's open that's the issue. I have a roster of artists I love to commission, always happy to learn about someone new or returning and needs some funds.

---

[Echoen] Thank you for reading, everyone, and we love you all so much.

[Balros] Let's wrap this off with some music!

Feb 28, 1955 - April 12, 2022

All he asks after his passing is for us all to laugh as loud as POSSIBLE!

To his honor, we shall. Have a good guffaw, and love his human humor!

I am screaming

I am rage

Flight cancelled. They want to rebook me to a much later flight with a 5 hour layover, arriving at my destination TOMORROW FUCKING MORNING. AFTER THE BURIAL CEREMONY FOR MY UNCLE HAD ALREADY BEGUN.

My fury is incandescent. I am returning home. I will not be there for my uncle's last goodbyes. I will not be there for his family. I will not be there for my mother as she says goodbye to her younger brother for the last time.

This is unforgivable. Alaska airlines, fuck you. Pay your pilots.

Not one, but TWO sweet souls have snapped the sinful half-million screenshots!

 Tiratel and  minhande

Now, just who are these dedicated corruption-smut lovers with keen timing and a great sense of kink?

 Minhande is an otter with a profound interest in multi and hyper, and so much more. Over the decades I've seen Minh's commissions here and there, many of them appealing or inspiring to me and my own preferences of perversion. Lots of mid-transformation or multi-mutation pictures, and a considerable amount of growth. Inflation, weight gain, endless productivity, and great taste in artists who draw curves and swells. I keep a decent library of my favorite corruptions they've pumped out into this universe.

 Tiratel has a plethora of the most adorable squeaks to fill out a gallery. Colorful, bouncy, bubbly, often rounded out with inflation or hyper-sized endowments. A distinct preference for plump paws and pretty massive endowments, showing off growth seems to bring them delight - and me delight, too. I am particularly pleased by the multi-hyper and many-gender commissions they've procured from some of my favorite artists. I always squeal when I get to see this inflatable squeak show off a new way she's swelling up.

Be sure to give both of them a watch and a thanks!

The opportunity to screencap is fast approaching.

It may be days.

It may be hours.