#miss circle fictionkin

[kthecritter]

Hii, if it'd be possible, could I have a miss circle (FPE) wallpaper with dessert themes and the fictionkin symbol? Thank you so muchh :3

here you go, I hope you enjoy! hope you meant dessert and not desert, because that would be awkward lol

[dinocanid]

The voluntary/involuntary debate (-is making me lose my mind)

I don't see anyone saying this, but something being missed in the whole "therianthropy (and otherkinity) is completely involuntary!" conversation is that so much of the argument is overcorrection, and it's being treated as a binary when the lines are all grey. Which makes the constant back and forth feel very tiring.

First: context

10-ish years ago (even today in some crotchety circles), therianthropy-focused spaces were chomping at the bit to "weed out the fluff" due to the surrounding alt culture at the time (teen wolves) and the release of a few documentaries that many considered quite cringe-y and embarrassing. They went "oh god, we can't be associate with those weird people" and, while that wasn't the only contributor to the gatekeeping and grilling culture at the time, it was a significant one. So any new therians hoping to join communities were often grilled the hell out of, because people wanted to check if they were ""real"" therians and not those "fluffy teen werewolves" on TV. Therianthropy wasn't a game or a trend, it's a part of you, which is true. But "it's not a game" got bastardized into "it's involuntary" due to overcorrection and a lack of preserving nuance. Regardless if you think you were born a therian or if someone goes "I really want to be a [nonhuman animal]" and starts to embrace that identity, that's still therianthropy. "I want to be this, therefore I'm going to be this, and I am this" is still therianthropy.

This problem isn't unique to therianthropy either, "otherkinity must be involuntary" is also a result of overcorrection, more specifically due to the ableism and damage kinnie culture has done to the fictionkin community. Dragonheart Collective wrote a concise essay on this, so I will link that [right here] rather than repeat things, other than I have noticed "voluntary" be conflated with "kinnie" when it should not be. "Being kin isn't just relating to or liking something" got bastardized into "otherkinity is involuntary" by the community. Regardless if you think you were born otherkin or if someone goes "I really want to be a [character or nonhuman creature]" and starts to embrace that identity, that's still otherkinity "I want to be this, therefore I'm going to be this, and I am this" is still otherkinity.

Second: nuance.

No, involuntary doesn't inherently mean "it's a game". What counts as voluntary or involuntary is so blurry that a common conclusion can rarely even be reached on what it means. Things that have been seen considered voluntary:

Noticing the identity and choosing to embrace it versus shove it down and dismiss it

Waking up one day

Really wanting to be something and deciding to embrace it, versus dismissing it

Was born with the identity but picks and chooses which parts they prefer to focus on and explore

etc. along the above lines

And these are all perfectly fine ways of experiencing therianthropy and otherkinity, people have been having experiences like that for years. This is completely normal and nothing new and it's so tiring seeing people point fingers at places that these things didn't even come from, like TikTok.

"But what about linking then?"

This debate is much older than "-linking" terminology, which in and of itself is a product of this very debate. People made new words because so many were arguing if someone's identity is real if it originates in a particular way. This doesn't change how "-link" terminology should be used today, but it is worth noting that those are perfectly normal ways to experience otherkinity and therianthropy even if these other terms exist. It means you can use whichever personally feels best to you. It does not mean that people need to be shoved out of the non-link labels.

[altern1a]

With cohost closing, do you have any ideas of where alterhumans (particularly adults frankly) even meet up/find each other? or is it just discord servers and accidentally finding someone is althu in passing. Sucks that it's so hard to find community.

Alterhumans are everywhere, you just have to be willing to put yourself out there! It's so easy to miss each other when we can't recognize each other.

I will deeply, dearly miss cohost. It was unique and beautiful for how safe and easy it was to be openly alterhuman. But it was never my main platform for meeting people.

You mentioned discord servers, and yes, those are really really good for socializing! You will naturally be limited on who you can find but it's fantastic for forming bonds with whoever you do find. (May I plug Alterdirect for finding servers?)

Here on Tumblr, there are active tags you can follow to find a lot more of us. #alterhuman is a good place to start, of course. I recommend following the tags for any identity you want to meet people with. For example, I currently follow #alterhuman #otherkin #therian #fictionkin #fictionfolk and quite a few more specific ones.

If you're fictionfolk and looking for sourcemates, another thing you can do here on Tumblr is submit a canoncall to any relevant blog that accepts them. There are a lot of general canoncall blogs and some sources have "kin help" blogs that do source-specific canoncalls and some other things. Results definitely vary with canoncalls; if someone has made a discord server for fictionfolk from your source that's usually a bit better, but since not everyone is on discord you can always do both.

Something that's really started taking off in the last few years is online conventions! Tons of alterhumans that are otherwise quiet and hard to find will show up to these. @otherconvention is the biggest one and the one I personally recommend the most, but it is no longer the only option so look around! If you have trouble finding other conventions, they often advertise in the off season server for Othercon.

There is also tons of alterhuman activity outside of big centralized platforms. Older ways of connecting never really fell out of favor with the community and there's also been a big resurgence due to The Everything. Forums are a really good alternative to discord if you're good with the slower pace and lack of a dedicated app. The biggest alterhuman forum I'm familiar with is Nonhuman National Park and smaller forums advertise there so it's definitely where I recommend starting. There are also many, many personal websites, and even more going up post-cohost. A good place to start finding those is the Alterhuman Summoning Circle webring.

The larger alterhuman community is evasive and tries to stay off the radar, for obvious reasons. But once you've gotten into it, it's surprisingly well interconnected. We really like being able to find each other!

I also have a dedicated resource I'm working on to help those who aren't as enmeshed (and even those who are!) find the living alterhuman communities where they can actually meet each other. I'm not as good about keeping it up to date as I'd like to be but you can find it here: The Alterhuman Web

Thank you for reaching out to me about this, it's one of my favorite topics! It's not right for us to feel alone when there are really so many of us. We are stronger together!

I'm also going to loop in @who-is-page and @a-dragons-journal in case they have anything they want to add that I forgot about! Lemme know if you don't wanna be tagged in stuff like this. Also, anyone else who wants to can add their thoughts too, obviously.

[looks-to-the-moon-cock]

DID YOU STUMBLE INTO THE UNKNOWN, IN FEAR OF YOU?

(About Me)

[PT: In all caps and bolded reads, "Did you stumble into the unknown, in fear of you?" with the next line reading as follows, unbolded and in parentheses, "About Me". End of PT.]

Meowdy, howdy, hello hello! Welcome to my blog! This is my intro post!

Quick Info: Kinship, They/It/Neopronouns, Intersex, Queer, December, Capricorn, Adult, White, Neurodivergent, Disabled, System, All Intro Images have IDs in Alt

About Me: Proudly Neurodivergent, Queer, and Plural. Also an angry Military Trained and Crippled Punk that supports Decolonization, Defunding the Police and Military, and crushing Fascists and Colonialists with boots, cane, and wheelchairs manually.

My Blog: I post about my special interests, hyperfixations, disabilities, and US low class and physically disabled experiences a lot here! Also I reblog my art from @death-tinkerer here to share since its my "love language" with mutuals, friends, and partners.

Credits of Art: Icon is by @death-tinkerer, Header is Rubicon's Region Screen from Rain World, LTTM and Rivulet are from Rain World, Rivulet gif is from the Rain World Miraheze Official Wiki, Live LTTM Reaction is an edit by me, Gourmand Expedition Icon is from Rain World!

Please be aware I try my best to content warn posts! Mutuals may send in triggers and squicks for me to tag! If I miss something that I have tagged in the past, don't hesitate to tell me!

My RBYF (Read Before You Follow) is included under the cut.

Important tags;

| | post - Posts I've made

| | reblog - Reblogs from other blogs or my own blogs

| | ask - Asks and Ask Memes

| | vent - Vent tag! Feel free to block.

Other "| |" tags - Related to people I know! Masterpost is BELOW the Live LTTM Reaction image!

My art - My art and also other creative media

Friendo arto - I don't even remember why I named it this tag but it's friend art that I reblog and tag with this!

Fandoms (limiting to SI and Hyperfixations)

Ace Attorney

The Blackout Club

Darkest Dungeon

Dead Cells

Disco Elysium

Don't Starve

DOOM

Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon

Final Fantasy (7, 10, 10-2, 12, 13 Trilogy, 15)

FNAF

Homestuck

Inscryption

Just Shapes and Beats

Kingdom Hearts

Legend of Zelda

Lobotomy Corporation (and related)

Minecraft

Mob Psycho 100

MLP

PMMM

Rain World

Risk of Rain

Slime Rancher

Sonic

Star Wars

Super Mario Bros

Team Fortress 2

ULTRAKILL

Undertale/Deltarune

Topics (SI and Hyperfixations)

Ambience Music

Armorsmithing

Blacksmithing

Bladesmithing

Cafes

Cooking

Crystals

Dice

Disabilities (mostly my own)

Dragons

Fictional Species

Gardening

Marijuana/Weed

Mixed Genre Music

Queerness

Scifi Fantasy

Spirituality

Tabletop RPGs

Tarot Cards and related

Variety of Music in general

Read Before You Follow; I will block the following people with stances like these

Transmed/Truscum or T(W)ERF/SWERF/FART

Anti-kinfolk, Anti-fictionkin, Anti-MOGAI and LIOM

Exclusionists (of any kind in plural, queer, physically disabled, mentally disabled, neurodivergent, etc circles and communities)

MAP/NOMAP/AAM

Bad Faith Discourser

Callout Post Discourser

Ship Discourser (just don't be gross)

Intersexist towards intersex people regardless of identity.

Paraphilia Without Filter (i.e. TAGGING)

Thinspo/Proana

Right Wing Extremeists, Nazis/Neo-Nazis, Fascists, Colonialists and Defenders, All/Blue Lives Matter, MAGA, Trump supporters/defenders, JKR supporters/defenders, and a lot more so this will be liberal

Think Amatopunk includes Incest/Consang

(SOFTBLOCK) Minors on first follow

(HARDBLOCK) Minors on repeated follows

I am allowed my own space and to reply to stuff if I feel like I have input that could be helpful. HOWEVER. If you think I was rude but want to better understand my point, just ask immediately. I never mean to be rude. My default for talking and explaining can be beyond blunt and harsh due to how language has worked for me, as a result of brain damage and severe CPTSD and Disassociative Amnesia.

Feel free to also correct me if I have been wrong about something! I don't mind corrections and will correct myself from then forward.

I may have missed some things but this is just to say, I can and will update from time to time.

This is the "Masterpost" of all my mutual tags! If you'd like one and/or do not see you mentioned, Lemme know! (I can try to change tags too, I just like naming the tags myself lol)

Me:

"#| | meat suit" - Info about me OR aesthetic stuff

"#mecore" or "#me" - Stuff I like a lot and associate with Special Interests and Hyperfixations.

Closest to:

"#| | bunhun" - @scrybe-of-the-dreamworld

"#| | jackjack" - @beware-the-dog

"#| | eggcellents" - @coffeecereal

Friends:

"#| | butterfly-scholar" -

"#| | cold-as-ice" -

"#| | invaderz" - @anewed-hope

"#| | manorbuddy" - @elysiangroom

"#| | meatastic" - @molochzmeat

"#| | orb-ponderer" - @mobianheart2008

"#| | synthetic-humanoid" -

Mutuals:

"#| | disco-nnected" - @bathroomcube

"#| | re-iteration" - @lemboweeeee

"#| | cripplefunk" - @crippled-peeper

"#| | rattled-snake" - @lemon-snake

That is all! Thank you for your time, Mutuals!

Also here's an 18+ intersex only server I am running! ♡

this is the end, did you find what you are looking for? /j

[PT: The text reads "this is the end, did you find what you are looking for? /j." End of PT.]

[the-magnus-archives-institute]

Hello! We've decided to go ahead and make a TMA kin/fictive sideblog since the tag is mostly dead. We also participate in Popculture Paganism, specifically geared towards our source. Here's a list of everyone you'll see and their tags on the blog!

Jonathan Sims - Statement recorder, avatar of the Eye and the Web.

He/him

"See the sun the shadows cast, from all the times I floated past, see the ocean spinning out, with all the hope and all the doubt"

#the archivist

Michael Shelley/ The Distortion - :) I am perfectly safe and harmless these doors are perfectly normal :)

He/they/it/none

"See how I circle, imaginary mind, imaginary lines, let the maze of my design carry you on. See how I fly away (away, away, away, away)"

#the distortion

Gerry Keay- I'm the distortion's special little guy he picks up like a ferret :] Desolation avatar, "The fire that consumes"

He/him

"The crow offers me a smoke. He says, "It'll take you for a joyride.""

#gerry

Melanie King - founder of the Blind Bitches Club

She/hxr/they

"I have nothing to say to you."

#melanie

NotThem - a NotThem that sometimes takes the shape of others. Currently Pamela

All pronouns

"I am the mockery of a memory"

#notthem

Martin - headmate whose fictionkin of a vast avatar Martin.

He/they/sky

"For our bones in the ocean forever will be"

#martin

Pamela - also referred to as Hive, Corruption avatar Chonny Jash fictive.

He/him

"This life did not choose us. It chose to consume us"

#the hive

Flurry - Vast/Lonely avatar Ghostbur fictive with a connection to the archives

He/her

"Cold and winter air and mountain rain combining"

#the frost

Helen Distortion/Richardson - :)

She/her

"Little miss, this isn't the deal we had!' Oh, did I mess it up? Well, then, that's just too bad!"

#helen

Nikola Orsinov - The ringmaster of the Circus!

It/he/they

"She knows you heard her staging music murder!"

#nikola

Sasha - Archivist Sasha who was killed

She/they

NotSasha - The Sasha that replaced her

She/they

Stratus - TMA Heart fictive, avatar of the Lonely

He/it

Nimbus - TMA Mind fictive, avatar of the Dark

He/it

Noctilucent - TMA Soul fictive, avatar of the Buried

He/xem

Joel - Smallishbeans Life series fictive who kins Tim

He/him

Annus - Unus Annus fictive, associated with the End

He/hxm

[thornsent]

I genuinely miss the old fictionkin communities so much.... honestly I don't even want to be involved for kinnie reasons I'm just a weird introject + have a lot of Thoughts but most lore circles would probably not appreciate me literally + audibly choking back tears talking about hornsent rights

[e1ectrostatic]

Tagged by @wayward-aeon :] 🤎

I'm answering these questions mostly through a "Luca" lens, but with some general stuff peppered in too.

My life on Tey/vat gets its spotlight here.

1. Which category of alterhumanity do you belong to?

Many. The main one that I'm open about is fictionkinity. Other categories I belong to that I'm public about are also more often than not tied to my fictionkinity somehow.

e.g. I consider myself "human but to the left" thanks to certain events of my canon.

2. What/who is/are your type(s)? (if you have any)

I have a few. On this blog, I talk mostly about being Luca Bal/sa.

3. Do you experience shifts? If so, can you tell us your most common shifts and your strangest cameo shift (if you've ever had a cameo shift)?

Yep, every so often. My most common shifts are between the two fictotypes I'm currently most in tune with.

I don't really experience cameo shifts, at least not often, so I'm not sure how well I could answer that. If it counts, I do sometimes spontaneously feel congruent with select official "AU" versions of myself, as well as with how I was portrayed in source (I'm canon divergent). Those may not be strange in the grand scheme of things, but they sure feel strange to me.

If you want a more detailed description of my Luca shifts, I wrote one here.

4. How do you experience your alterhumanity in everyday life?

It's simultaneously all-consuming and not enough.

Internally, it's so prevalent, and natural as breathing. I never have to think twice about my self-perception. There's a certain comfort to it. It's no longer shiny and new, it's just my life, and I couldn't be happier about that.

Outwardly, I think I water myself down too much. I have a bad habit of feeling apologetic, beating around the bush, or brushing things under the rug, even among supportive company.

This is partially out of caution. For all the attention its gotten lately, alterhumanity is still hardly understood. It's easy to be misinterpreted, or for my identity to be perceived as something that's not "serious". Sometimes I want to say outright, "This isn't something I'm 'doing', it's something I am. I'll be this for the rest of my life. Treat me as such."

Another part of it is wanting privacy. I'm very reserved, and my fictionkinity, for all its prevalence, is still tied to a lot of very personal stuff. It's easier to dance around the topic and play things off as a joke than it is to allude to having baggage, even if the latter is essential to knowing me.

Basically, I express it constantly and unabashedly both internally, and externally with my boyfriend. I'd like to work on it in other areas, in theory.

5. What do you think of the community?

It's so vast, and diverse. It's great to see so many different experiences being shared.

It does have its issues, as does any community. I think many in the alterhuman community, for all its diversity, ironically need to be more mindful of experiences outside of their perspective. Sometimes the language I see used by some reveals a blind spot in their perspective, or a bias, or that they've forgotten the existence of a certain demographic. I'm not immune to this, either. I hope we can continue civilly learning from each other to make the community a more welcoming and accommodating place.

Something I appreciate is the overall tone of radical acceptance in the community. The 'come as you are' attitude is very welcoming. We do have a bit of a respectability politics issue, but I see a lot of pushback against it in the circles I frequent, which is great. The hand that holds the muzzle is not the hand that feeds. Bite 'til you reach bone!

6. What are the things that make you most comfortable and euphoric in your alterhumanity?

Just treat me like me, lol. Nothing feels better than being called Luca, or my kintype being referred to as me without second thought.

7. Are you experiencing species dysphoria?

With regard to being Luca, not really, since I'm human. I do miss the "to the left" aspect of my humanity, though. I should be able to play in outlets. Give it back.

8. What advice would you like to say to a young alterhuman who has just awakened?

You will be confused. You will come to contradictory conclusions. Don't scramble to fit yourself into neat little boxes — experience life first, and think about labels as you go along.

And on labels: they're optional. They're tools that are supposed to help you make sense of your experiences, not criteria you're obligated to meet to be "real". If you find none of them help, or that they change over time, or that you switch between using and not using labels, that's okay and allowed.

Oh yeah, and even if it's tempting, don't try and throw yourself or others under the bus to appear "normal" or "palatable". None of us are truly free to express ourselves until all of us are.

Live authentically, and stay curious and openminded! Both with yourself and others.

9. Do you have/want to have gears?

Sure, that sounds fun! I don't have anything I'd consider "gear" that's related to my identity as Luca, but I'd like to.

In general, all I really have are materials. I have the means to make a yarn tail, but have yet to start it.

10. Do you know/have any theories about the origin of your alterhumanity? If so, tell us! (all beliefs are legitimate)

Nothing concrete, but I do believe my origins are a mix of metaphysical, psychological, and something else entirely. I don't subscribe strongly to the dichotomy, as doing so doesn't serve me.

If you want to learn more...

Here's a link to a post where I go into detail about the spiritual aspects of my fictionkinity.

Here's a link to a post where I go into detail about the psychological aspects of my fictionkinity.

11. Tag someone/a creature to answer these questions!ㅤᵕ̈

...I think anyone I would have felt confident enough to tag has already been tagged BAHAHA

I don't think I know any mutuals well enough to gauge whether being tagged in this kind of thing would bother them, but any who see this, please do feel free to do this :]

And I mean, any who see this in general, feel free! I'm hungry!

If you are a alterhuman, reblog and answer these questions!

(don't be afraid to write a lot, do what you want ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯)

1/ Which category of alterhumanity do you belong to?

2/ What/who is/are your type(s)? (if you have any)

3/ Do you experience shifts? If so, can you tell us your most common shifts and your strangest cameo shift (if you've ever had a cameo shift)?

4/ How do you experience your alterhumanity in everyday life?

5/ What do you think of the community?

6/ What are the things that make you most comfortable and euphoric in your alterhumanity?

7/ Are you experiencing species dysphoria?

8/ What advice would you like to say to a young alterhuman who has just awakened?

9/ Do you have/want to have gears?

10/ Do you know/have any theories about the origin of your alterhumanity? If so, tell us! (all beliefs are legitimate)

11/ Tag someone/a creature to answer these questions!ㅤᵕ̈

[who-is-page]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Plural community, nonhuman community, Dark Souls, Mass Effect, and fandom in general! Go!

Plural Community

The plural community, everything in it aside, is already a fairly difficult space to access if you haven't been introduced to the idea of multiplicity or plurality before-- if you (like we did, and like I imagine many people do) think for an extended period of time that you're alone in the world as some type of many-people-one-body freak, suddenly being exposed to the idea that you're actually not alone in these life-defining experiences can be fucking terrifying. When you combine that with the inherent cruelty that is system medicalist rhetoric, you make the plural community functionally accessible for an incredibly large amount of people. I don't think many people understand the long-reaching effects that sysmed rhetoric has on multiplicity and plurality as its own definitive subculture; sysmeds aren't just traumatizing non-sysmed plurals who disagree with their (anti-science) standpoints, they're also inherently taking away valuable resources from those who need them most: young, vulnerable plurals and people who are only just discovering their plurality and looking for answers.

Nonhuman Community

There is no singular "nonhuman community," in all honesty, so this is difficult to have an unpopular opinion on. There's many small nonhuman communities, some of which like to scream and wail that they're the ~most valid~ when in reality the idea of outsider-oriented validity is a fucking scam and they need to get over themselves. I will say that I disagree with the way some nonhuman communities like to pretend that there's no missing stairs in their local groups, and that I find the idea of there being a threshold of morality connected to nonhumanity to be not only functionally redundant, but also fucking stupid. If someone experiences instincts or urges or feelings connected to their identity, or they identify as a creature or animal often villainized, that doesn't actually mean anything about them as a person and about their moral compass. It's our actions that make us who we are, not parts of our identity that are beyond our control. ...Which circles back around to why ignoring missing stairs, or worse justifying them through the existence of their identity and instinct, is a functionally terrible practice that people should feel ashamed for supporting.

Dark Souls

People who don't bow before they PvP, and people who drink estus during PvP, are fucking maidenless and should go back to Neopets. They can have their rules-less gods-abandoned wasteland there, instead.

Mass Effect

Fem!shep should be considered the canon Shepard, Mass Effect 3 has one of the best DLCs out there with its Citadel DLC, and the Mako IS better than the Hammerhead and I will die on this hill. Mass Effect also has one of the most welcoming fictionkin communities I've ever had the pleasure to be a part of, and Shepard doubles are literally the best fucking people ever to vibe with. I'm also pretty sure the ME fictionkin community is 90% Shepards because all of us die horrible deaths, but I don't know if that's necessarily an unpopular opinion.

Fandom

Super unpopular opinion, but. If someone writes WW fanfiction or WW fanart, especially if they vocally and loudly shit on JKR's work and in no way monetarily support her, then I think that's fine. I feel like it's possible to be openly critical of an author's work and to even help work towards dismantling a piece of media's monetary foothold, while still enjoying fan-made content; these things are not mutually exclusive, and I actually feel like may even put someone who's criticizing it in a better place, because they can even more thoroughly dismantle the media bit by bit.

[shadowfae]

The stuff you were saying about fictionkin not being there anymore really struck something in me

I got here late I guess? Maybe if I'd actually been more active back when I awakened in 2017 I'd have had a bit more luck, but since it's only in the past year or so that I've been active I feel like I'm wandering round some sort of ghost town. There's echoes of there being more once, I can see this vague thing that there used to be so much more that just... isn't a thing anymore and it's so frustrating and upsetting.

I am the person in my social circle that you go to for kin stuff apparently and honestly I feel like I'm stumbling around blind in the dark a lot of the time and I hardly have anywhere to go for answers myself.

All that is to say, I would miss you a lot if you left.

You can always ask me, getting interaction from others and being able to talk to others is kind of what makes a community. Make your own blog, come off anon, and just start pestering people. That's the good stuff.

Honestly, I always wanted to get to the point where if I did have to leave for some reason, I'd have helped set things up to continue on without me, and leave the community a little better than it was when I got here. I know that's not going to happen, because we can't go back, and yeah, I really do feel the 2014 community was better than it is now for the most part. Yes, we have broader definitions and are less exclusive, but there's less of us than there once was.

I really hope we can find and/or make the community come back. That would be good. We'd all feel a little less alone.

[epochryphal]

fk: So a big thing that got discussed in a circle I'm vaguely in: many creators arguing about how uncomfortable they would be if anyone was kin with their ocs, and don't almost all characters count as someone's oc? And that it's claiming it, possibly going against characterization, generally insulting the creative process they went through if it's 'memory/past life' fictionkin. And I'm a creator too, so definitely I would feel weird and uncomfortable over someone being kin with my characters

see, okay. i’ve had this convo with creator-types a couple of times. because of course you don’t want someone stealing your hard work, claiming it as theirs, and portraying it in a way you disagree with, right?

but let’s examine those claims.

stealing your hard work: what do we mean here by stealing?

obviously not ‘enjoying’; if that were the case reading a fic or viewing a drawing would be theft, and that’s not true (even when things leak, i believe, but waiving that dimension of grey morality).

benefiting from it? well, if it makes someone’s life better, inspires them, uplifts them, helps them make sense of the world and connect to people… that’s benefiting; is that undesirable? why are you creating and putting your creations into the world?

profiting from it? yes, okay, bad without your approval and mutual profit - but we’re not really talking about intellectual property theft turned into marketing for money through merch. i don’t think there’s a financial profit component to *being kin.* that’s some… uh, criminal/asshole behavior, notttt really linked to identity.

my honest best guess here is - stealing as in “benefitting from in a way i didn’t intend and which makes it feel taken out of my control, making me feel i’ve lost it as though it were physically taken from me.”

and that’s the “claiming” thing, right? asserting authority. standing up and saying, “actually, this is mine, and i know it best and have the final word.”

but the vast majority - and i know this may seem unbelievable! because looking around, the highly visible ones are the troublemakers - the *vast* majority of kin, yes fictionkin too and whether spiritual or pastlifey or otherwise, don’t fucking do that!

look, it sucks ass to look around and see “x character against y thing” as if kin-ness was proof of personal opinions. i hate it. and it’s an appeal to authority, a fallacy. and yeah there are some who are saying their word is canon, is Truth, overwrites canon, *they* would *never* so that part’s invalid. these are bold claims and uncomfortable and painful and icky.

and - to be perfectly clear - i’m not trying to appeal to a “but we’re not like THOSE kin, we’re GOOD and BEHAVE” respectability bullshit, i’m… i’m legit just trying to say that, that’s Bad Behavior, by Anyone

because? it’s not only kin who can/do that actually! roleplayers, other creative types, other fans. anyone can proclaim My City Now and go canon-divergent and loudly insist they are the canon now.

(and there are degrees, y’know? and degrees of reactivity to it. creators who dislike *any* fanfiction because it will be *inevitably* misrepresenting their world and characters. creators who only dislike x kind because *it specifically* is misrepresenting their intent. creators who say “go wild, it’s all canon.”)

fictionkin can be, probably are, the most egregious / visible / provocative case, to be sure. because there’s that specific claim to authority, sometimes with a spiritual tinge which makes it very hard and awkward to disagree/argue with. and because wow, personal, someone saying they’re *your* character and *you’re* wrong / hurting them.

but… mm. yes, all characters were oc’s once. where’s the line where they become public domain, become open to having fic written about them, to fix-it arcs and au’s and kidswaps and playing with how they’d be different in different scenarios, become “not weird” to find that people are kin with?

because if you’re saying that line is a certain threshold of popularity/cultural saturation, a certain size of fandom… why? and are you sure you’re not arguing it shouldn’t happen at all? that it’s only Maybe an Unfortunate Expected Thing if something hits critical popularity?

and then… why wouldn’t people connect to, find themselves in, things regardless of size? regardless of date made? sure, most popular = most visible = highest exposure = maybe more finding there, but…

and further - why does it hurt anyone, invalidate anyone, that that person over there conceptualizes of their connection as reincarnation, as spiritual? that that’s the lens of meaning they ascribe there? as long as they’re not trying to convert you to their belief system? as long as they’re not using it to manipulate people?

seriously. why isn’t that a fucking compliment, that someone finds your character to resonate so strongly, so particularly, that they believe maybe that was them in a past life? is that too woo? too weird? too crazy? too awkward? too cringey? or is it fear of what they might do?

because if it’s about actions, about claims to authority and that sort of - stealing without credit or respect, fostering resentment of you - okay! totally! but that’s behavior not identity.

and if it’s about the other stuff… please stare at that.

specifically, please ask: **what would it take to make me comfortable with someone being kin with an oc of mine?**

if they promised to respect your vision and rights as creator, even if they disagree, and to never argue their feelings usurped your creative license?

if they promised to never bring it up where you could see it, including by accident in public..?

nothing…? why..?

as a final note, i know a lot of creative-types, actually, who are flattered as fuck by people being kin with their oc’s. (interesting factoid? usually furries. which i could opine about the whole sona culture and what’s complimentary and expected etiquette &c.)

so“possibly going against characterization” - so do fanfics, friends, that’s how it be“claiming it” - hopefully not in an asshole way, if so, please block as an asshole. if merely using the *word* kin constitutes “claiming” to you… that’s not good faith“insulting the creative process” - some people believe in multiverse theory, or that all our stories/fiction/etc really happened somewhere else and creators are channeling that. it’s a belief, a mode of thought. many of those same people still deeply respect the work it takes to share/create that stuff. if you feel they’re not acknowledging your hard work, taking you for granted, acting assholeish, block ‘em, treat them like any other entitled person. (on the other hand if you feel they’re not Properly Acknowledging and Lauding you with enough Disclaimers and Praise every time they discuss what you’ve created or relating to it… hm)

it really fucking is just. hey, a sort of subculture and word people use about intensely relating to stuff. doesn’t mean that intensity is gonna disrespect you. some might. but seeing that and leaping instantly to DISRESPECT is… missing a lot, and tarring with same brush, and is pretty disrespectful itself.

[shadowfae]

I don’t know what I’m more surprised at, the fact that I’m named as a big otherkin name and not fictionkin when I am exclusively fictionkin, the fact that you put me as a little less important that Chi (dude what are you smoking can I have some I am in no way that influential and deserving of that amount of  respect--), or the fact that I’ve done a panel at Othercon (and will do another this year) on this very topic and have been very outspoken about how wishkin and KFF affect primarily fictionkin and that was either missed or forgotten in here?

You make the exact point I do a lot, which is that KFF fucks over fictionkin more than anyone else. Sure, sometimes they’ll name their ‘otherkin’ (not kintypes, in this case it’s their IDs their primary kins, secondary kins, and their otherkins) and name a bunch of animals they enjoy but primarily we’re the ones getting the brunt of it.

If there’s a solution to this, I don’t know what it is, and the point of the panel last year and the one this year was / will be that we need to figure out a solution. Honestly, when I did the panel last year I was still of the opinion that maybe they’d adopt linker stuff and be serious about it. Now? I don’t believe we have half a chance of that.

It’s to the point now that Wikipedia doesn’t see kinnie as related enough to otherkin to warrant a redirect instead of its own page. Kinnies on tiktok refer to actual fictionkin as, I shit you not, 2016 tumblrkin. (It makes sense in its fucked-up way. Tumblr was always known for being pissy about words and social justice and taking things a little too seriously, and we are nothing if not pissy and taking things seriously, as we damn well should.)

It’s hard to make and publish things about fictionkin identity because it requires a sort of lived-fanfiction or copyright infringement. We’re not either of those things, but how accurately can we describe who and what we are without explaining or naming our canons? Some of us can do that, others not so much. I can tell you “I lived through a war of a power struggle between two gods, only one of which I knew when I was 15, and then the god of those gods made me one of his children and more powerful than the both of them, and I proceeded to make my own world and wreck them” but the moment I clarify that I’m a Devil, which is a type of god but not the same thing as a God, then to anyone who knows of Deep-Sea Prisoner’s works, it’s pretty clear I got caught up in the events of The Gray Garden.

Those of us who are very canon-divergent get it a bit better, it’s harder to recognize the source and you can explain more without being identified. But it’s also harder, because the moment you realize I’m a Devil from TGG and due to the fact I was mortal during the game’s events, I’m clearly not one of the canon Devils, it’s painfully obvious you’re talking about Luteia shadowfae, because I’m one of three DSP fictionkin that’s not a fucking kinnie and I haven’t spoken to Dell in years and Icarus no longer wants anything to do with me, and neither of them have ever really been in fictionkin circles enough to be the primary suspect.

Unlike a lot of therians, with the amount of qualifying entities you can be as fictionkin, the moment you know our fictotypes it’s really really easy to find us. Therians don’t have that problem nearly as much, hell I’ve seen at least three different orca therians, at least one tardigrade therian (and actually probably two), two different fruitflies, you get the idea. From DSP, there’s three of us that I know of, and you can’t mistake us for each other by a long, long shot. So we don’t get that ability to swap our name out, talk about ourselves, and not be sought out the moment we walk off stage. And then again, that’s if we can get on stage and publish something without having to pay royalties because it’s a derivative work, even though we didn’t sign up for this shit.

And honestly, it’s so fucking difficult because even within our own community, the only real thing we have in common half the time is the fact we’re different from everyone else. A bird and a fish can find the commonality of being stuck on land and completely out of their native environment and also now they’re mammals. Take Poppy aestherians and I, both fictionkin, and I have to say, as a Devil, a skypirate, and a mass murderer the only thing I have in common with her Ben 10 fictotype is that I too occasionally had to deal with seven-foot-tall hot guys who were a far cry from human and that’s uh, not much to go on. (Poppy’s great, don’t get me wrong, but if we’re similar by fictotype it’s her gnoll stuff and my Absol stuff. If one of us were missing either of those, we’d be nothing alike at all.)

I naturally gravitate to the shapeshifters, the monsters, and the animalistic folk chilling at the edge of the shadows. I have nothing in common with Homestuck fictionkin whatsoever, and the only reason we’re under the same name is because someone bothered to write down a caricature of our lives and stories.

I’m not arguing for a divide here, that would be asinine and the last thing we need, but honestly I’m just elaborating on your point that yeah, we get the short end of the stick no matter what we do. And that sucks! And there’s no real good way to fix that!

Fuck, for all our differences, I wish we could put up a more united front. I wish the fictionkin community wasn’t so ravaged by KFF so that I could actually talk to others in the tags and find commonalities I might not have known to exist. But I don’t know how to fix it. I really wish I did.

I want to say this can be fixed with us writing a shit ton of essays, but not everyone’s me and spits out 2k words on the fly to avoid doing their homework. Essays also aren’t all that accessible, either, and a lot of nuance gets lost when we assume everyone’s read insert-monumental-essay-here and it turns out like three people did.

Honestly, I just. I don’t know. A lot of older ‘kin are going back and making Neocities sites to store their writing, and when finals are over I’ll be joining them because honestly it feels like the thing to do, but I don’t think it’s as good of a solution as what we need. It’s a step, but we need more than that.

How do you fix a scattered community that nobody trusts each other to talk about thanks to stolen words and mockery? I can barely speak to teenagers in the community the moment I know their age range because the scars run that deep. And that is a shitty thing to be, especially when teenagers who are fictionkin need the boost and time away from their friends who think they’re faking too.

I want to say mailing lists and big discords like Otherconnect, but nobody but me checks their email and lots of folks can’t handle big discords. Forums aren’t all that intuitive if you didn’t grow up on them, I myself get super lost in them. Social media is a terrible place to get anything done. We can link to essays on Wordpress and Pillowfort all we want but that won’t make anyone actually migrate.

If there was a solution, I wish I knew it. But the fact that we’re acknowledging that there’s a problem has to count for something. The more of us that know there’s a problem, the more likely it is someone has the idea that saves us. The more willing we are to put in the effort and make it happen.

Chiropterra’s idea of a nonhuman AO3 might be the best idea I’ve heard so far, and it’s getting pitched at Othercon this year, but AO3 was never meant to be social media like forums and tumblr and livejournal are, so I don’t know. It can’t hurt, right?

I've had this idea floating around about fictionkin and our lack of pr 🤔 once I get on the laptop I'll try and elaborate

[ask-wolfnikiforov-blog]

okay so you've mentioned before that you're kin with viktor, we have that much, but what does kin mean to you. like why are you kin. what IS kin. i'm honestly curious and i think i might be myself but going through the tag hasn't given me much insight???

{ah! it’s always so fun to explain it to people!! and yeah the tags can be a bit confusing and all over the place??? nooot the best point of reference for the kin community (which is full of really great people by the way, but we also have our own set of discourse and drama that you’d probably find out about fairly quickly upon joining us if you’re right about being kin)}

{kin means different things to different people because at its core kin is usually a very spiritual concept and you’ll never really meet two people with identical beliefs in abstract concepts like that. but for the sake of explaining it briefly, to most people kin is the belief that you were something nonhuman (or a fictional character that can totally be human) in a past life! that’s the most widely accepted definition, but there are people who think differently; this is actually a common point of discourse but tbh in my opinion if you think you’re kin you probably are, no matter what personal definition you follow}

{usually, especially in cases of fictionkin, the things you’re kin with have some sort of impact on your identity. like i’ve adopted the name ‘vik’ for myself in online circles because it makes me feel nice to be called a derivative of my kintype’s name. i can’t really explain it but there’s something nice about being recognized as your kintype(s) by friends & i know a lot of people who literally only go by their kintype’s name. but then there are people i’m friends with who probably wouldn’t care to hear about it, and i’m fine with that}

{despite popular stereotype, we don’t believe that our kintypes are our genders or that we are physically our kintype (well… some do but those are the types we discourse over lmao)}

{it sounds REALLY FUCKIN DUMB to tell people outside of the kin circles on the internet that i believe i was a 5 time gold medalist from a gay-ass sports anime in a past life, so i don’t. most of us aren’t rly keen on telling people bc we do recognize that it’s Extremely Weird and that it’ll set us apart from others (at least in the modern kin community on tumblr, i guess some middle-aged therians have different ideas? idk i have some opinions on that)}

{there are a lot more topics i could cover, like missing people from those lives and memories, but i dont think many of my followers want this clogging their dash lmao}

{i hope you have an easy enough time finding more information & u can message me if u need anything ovo}