#on voluntary identities

[flamingpudding]

Fictober23 Prompt: 15 - "Fine explain it to me."

Fandom: DPxDC

Rating: T

Warnings: Slight shipping but can be seen as platonic too

A/N: Just wanted to mention that I usually am more of a found family themed dpxdc writer but this was a self runner once I started writing until I realised that this could be seen as a ship.

Danny sipped on the champain, he was drinking leaning against the wall. Next to him, also leaning against the wall with crossed arms was Dan glaring at everyone that even remotely tried to approach them. Dani had disappeared into the crowds and Danny was convinced that she had made her way to the buffet table and had found a hiding place with whatever food she had piled up high on a plate. He had seen her do that before.

"How long do these things go?" Dan asked, glaring at someone specifically, Danny knew was a business partner of the fruitloop.

"A couple of hours, usually fruitloop lets us leave around 8 pm." Danny answered easily, surveying the area for any familiar face he might recognize despite knowing he wouldn't. Sam's family wasn't attending this gala and any face he could recognize was probably a business partner of Vlad or someone he had seen on a magazine cover.

"Dile back your glare. Your eyes are glowing red." He offhandedly mentioned to his time-clone-twin taking another sip. Dan only growled at him and looked stubbornly away, though his eyes lost the red color and turned back to a blue.

"How do you and Dani do this shit?"

Danny hummed, museing how things had changed over the past couple of years since Dani and him started to attend these Galas Vlad made them go too. "I hated it at first too. But you weren't socialized enough to attend and Dani used to flat out refuse but we got used to it and found our tactics on how to handle it. Dani usually raids the buffet and finds a hiding place, I just hang with Sam if she is here."

"But she is not." Dan growled, now glaring at a rich kid that had looked like it wanted to approach them but wisely decided to turn tail at Dan's glare. "These stuck up kids are trying to mock us aren't they?"

"Yup." Danny popped the p. "We could always ghost the fruitloop though."

"And have to listen to him lecturing us later? No thanks." Dan's eyes went over the people at this place. He saw Vlad talking to someone he was pretty sure had been on the cover of some tech magazine before but then his eyes stopped on a guy with black hair and blue eyes looking only slightly older than them that was staring at them very intensely.

Dan rammed his elbow into Danny's side, causing the other to wheeze and nearly drop the glass he was holding. The one he had spotted was now on his way to approach them and Dan narrowed his eyes. "You know that guy?"

Danny once he caught his breath again looked up and his eyes widened with recognition. "Shit!"

But before Dan could question the other about that guy, who was now speed walking with a business smile towards them, Danny grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him along with him. "We need to go, like right now."

Dan dragging his feed and making Danny literally drag him along only looked at his phone arching an eyebrow mockingly. "It's not 8 pm yet."

"Text the fruitloop. We are going-"

"Danny, what a pleasure to see you here, I didn't know you attended galas like this." Danny got cut off by the same guy Dan had spotted watching them. He hadn't seen how but somehow that guy had managed to cross the hall before them and block Danny's exit.

Dan heard Danny mutter a distinctive "fuck" before letting go of his elbow and smiling at the guy nervously. "Dick. What a surprise. I didn't know you would be here."

"Dick?" Dan repeated with an arched eyebrow but Danny swiftly stepped on his foot.

"Well Bruce thought it was about time again I attended one of the Galas with him again. You know how it is, don't you?" There was a glint in the other's eyes and Dan eyed him interested, the guy had some dirt on Danny. This was going to be interesting.

"Ah well yea, Vlad asked for me to come along too and someone got to represent my late parents too after all." Danny laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck and clearly avoiding direct eye contact.

"Represent your late parents?"

"Yea funny thing, my parents willed their company to me and-"

"I thought you said you were an engineer working for Dalv.Co? To think I told you about how I am with the Waynes and yet you never mentioned even once to me your relation to Masters." Dan blinked, okay so that guy was a friend Danny had made somehow outside of Sam and Tucker.

"I do! I do, it's just that… well... I can explain!"

"Fine, explain it to me."

Danny appeared to be a flustered mess while this Dick was staring at him with crossed arms. Dan watched them with fascination and a small amount of satisfaction at how Danny fumbled with his words. He then felt a tuck at his side and locked down to find Dani offering him popcorn.

"That's Dick Greyson." Something suddenly clicked for Dan and he smirked down at Dani.

"The guy that's teaching your Gymnastic course that Danny always volunteers to take you too?"

Dani nodded once more and now also sporting a mischievous smile.

[alterhumannerdygoat]

to BE voluntary or to DO voluntary

I think that otherlinking would be better off being characterised by the action of crafting the link, and not just by it being a "voluntary identity".

First of all, I've come to believe that solely dividing identities by whether or not they're voluntary isn't the best method. (Other members of the community have made excellent points about that already, also just. the quoiluntary label.) It forms an artificial binary whereas in reality, being somewhere in the middle is very common. Also, in and of itself, whether or not it's voluntary doesn't necessarily have a major impact on the actual experience.

In terms of 'linking being an action, (in my experience at least), you don't simply wake up and say "I've decided to be X." You actually have to link first in order for it to really feel like part of your identity. The linking can be simple and quick, but it's still something that you do.

This may not seem like a huge change, but in my opinion it would make a lot more sense for the distinction between otherlinking and other forms of nonhumanity to be framed this way. It seems a lot more accurate to the experiences I see, and personally I prefer the perspective of focusing on the linking.

Isn't the whole point of it being voluntary that you do the voluntary?*

(PLEASEEE if you have an opinion on this share it, this is some random thoughts of mine and I love, love, LOVE talking about 'linking!!!!)

*grammar is for the weak /silly

(also I don't know how common of a perspective this is, the otherlink page on therian fandom wiki kiind of gives of these vibes, but also is quite different from how I use the term lol)

[the-pea-and-the-sun]

sry to engage w goofy ass discourse but im kinda tired of seeing the phrase "afab intersex people used as a gotcha" abt ppl who dont like phrases like tma and tme like. i dont think thats whats happening man ur talking like intersex ppl arent actively on the site and talking abt their own experiences we're not using ourselves as a gotcha. like a lot of intersex ppl r talking abt it themselves u dont gotta keep pretending we're a fringe hypothetical case. intersex ppl are just often not included in these types of conversations and applying a label to someone based on their agab is fucked up no matter what its just more obvious when you're an intersex person and you know that sex is not binary and your agab doesnt reveal some intrinsic truth abt ur biology or identity

[transmasc-malleus]

remembering when majima was trying to connect with makoto and downplayed his own torture as "nothing compared to what she went through" and i genuinely think he believes that wholeheartedly.

[chordata-on-alterhumanity]

Hey, so i really liked the guide to otherlinking, but i am still really confused on some things, #1, Can you please give me more examples of otherlinking? Or how it happens? #2, Can you accidentally become an Otherlinker? Or is it always a choice? (sorry if i sound uneducated on this topic)

Hi! Thank you! I'm happy to hear you liked it :) I'm happy to try helping #1 Examples; How it happens I'll talk about past 'link experiences of mine for examples! -> Wind Archer Cookie - Back when I took on this 'link I felt a great pull of wanting to be a part of the Cookie Run character roster. I kept seeing people who were 'kin of it, and the characters seemed so appealing, but none of them struck me as ME. I eventually realized that I could decide that one of them is me. I chose Wind Archer, because they were the most appealing to me in appearance, and started identifying with their traits from there. I can relate to their serious nature, even if initially I was put off by how they seem too serious to be me. It was nice to lean into that capacity of seriousness by engaging with that linktype. It was also nice to engage with the aethetic - the green, the wind. -> European green woodpecker - I'd always wished to have a theriotype, and have felt animalistic shifts, but whenever I did introspection on those, it always turned out that it was just me feeling natural human impulses. Then one day I realized I could just pick an animal 'type. The decision of it being green woodpeckers was very random. I've become a bit obsessed with the birds' behaviours, life, and looks despite the randomness. I informed myself about them and internalized that info heavily. -> Kirekiyo Shinguji - I took on this 'link because Kiyo's story bothered me a ton and wouldn't leave my thoughts. By identifying as him, I managed to work through what it was that triggered me so much about him, but why at the same time I like him so much. My high interest in learning about humanity was one trait in common with him. His aesthetic slaps, too. Creeplord. -> Itachi Uchiha - I had a dream in which I was Itachi, a character I'd never cared about before in my life. The dream made me identify so easily with him. I kept that feeling of "This is me" around after the dream on purpose, reminding myself of me being him and picturing me as him physically. -> Raihan - An identity I took on to cope with exam stress and an injury. I like Raihan. He's fun and cool and relatable in some aspects. That's all LOL

To summarize: "How it happens" is very individual, both depending on the person and what it is that you set out to 'link and why. It can be to cope, for fun, for other reasons. Having someone in common with the linktype prior to linking already is helpful, but no necessary. You can link something you have nothing in common with, and adapt those traits along the way, or shape the thing into something more befitting of you (like an AU in the case of a fictional character).

#2 Accidental 'linking I'd say yes, if you don't know about the label and you do something that can be described as 'linking. I.e. choosing to identify as something in a very linker-y way before you've heard of the terms.

Otherlinking is, by definition, always a choice, yes.

But, sometimes alterhumanity can be quoiluntary - not quite clear on whether it was a choice or not. Most if not all of my linktypes have had a sort of pull to them, pulling me towards the decision - some more strongly than others. Are they kintypes because of that? Eh, I don't think too much about it. My process of growing into the identities has been built on a lot of active decision. Memories tend to not just come to me, but instead are built. I can't force just anything, because it has to make sense in my head and feel true, but I'm not left to the whims of chance when it comes to "remembering". I also don't try to find out what I look like - instead I carve myself. Shifts, too, are actively induced and built. These are rather different experiences from otherkin. Instead of discovering yourself, you build yourself. But, oh, hm. There's discovery in that as well. c:

I hope this makes sense and helps!

[jacks-manidiary]

Girlies I& decided to check out some girlblogs and I& discovered that a lot of manifestation advice can be really helpful for otherlinking!! I& heavily reccomend looking up how to manifest because the advice is supposed to be more general and apply to goal achieving in general, so especially with something intangible like achieving the identity you want I& found it to be super affirming and helpful!!!!

[primeministerofantarctica]

saw someone call the breadwinner a movie about being trans i am once again begging people to acknowledge Cultural Context instead of refitting stories to fit their own comfort levels

[ziracona]

Me when Harvey told Harv who Batman is

[a-dragons-journal]

you there. person posting a "list of alterhuman terms" post in the community tags. name and define five alterhuman identities that ARE NOT nonhumanity or fictionkinity. if you try to use voluntary nonhumanity as one of these the dragon gets to eat you. you have five minutes.

[therihare]

otherlink are just as real as otherkin and therians. it doesnt matter if your identity is voluntary or involuntary. one isnt superior or inferior to the other.

stop thinking of voluntary identities as fake, less valid/real, less 'worthy', or inferior.

stop thinking of involuntary identities as more valid/real, more 'worthy', or superior.

we are siblings, not strangers. not enemies. not opposites

[nyctohyloph0bia]

Honestly y'all need to chill with the "nonhumaness needs to be involuntary!"

The only reason you're saying that is due to wanting to present 'valid' enough for outsiders. It's not a choice so they won't bully you, like they do furries or other people.

And I hear you cry "but KFF!". KFF aren't nonhuman, they just relate. If someone comes over to me and says "I choose to be nonhuman today, I am nonhuman no matter what other ppl tell me. I genuinely identify as nonhuman." That isn't KFF, that's a nonhuman.

Truly, I'll just go "woah...that's so based". Because truly, what are our differences? We both genuinely identify as nonhuman....and yeah that's about it.

You might say, "they don't experience shifts!" There's nonhumans that don't experience shifts. And there's humans that experience shifts, we call it the "shifter's disease". Basically when a full human researches or is around nonhumans and begins feeling phantoms or feeling nonhuman, despite not being nonhuman. So it isn't exclusive to us.

"They don't have noemata!" There's nonhumans that don't have noemata.

"They don't suffer species dysphoria." Theres nonhumans that don't experience species dysphoria. Also cool transmed rethoric.

"They weren't born with it!" There's nonhumans that become nonhuman later on in life.

"They didn't wish their whole life to be a different species!" And? I can imagine there's some nonhumans that didn't even realize they wanted to be/were a different species.

"It's disrespectful to nonhumans that suffer due to their identity!" Another cool transmed rethoric. It's only disrespectful to you because you're up your own ass and believe that anyone who didn't suffer like you did, that didn't have it as hard as you isn't as valid as yourself. But what you don't realize is by having that belief you are excluding such a large portion of your community.

There's involuntary nonhumans who don't suffer from their identity at all and they're still part of our community.

The line between voluntary and involuntary can get blurry very quickly and hard to describe. But truly, you are no one to say who can use a label that rightfully describes their experiences.

Get real and truly think about why you're so upset at someone having a good faith identity.

[alterhumannerdygoat]

Rambles about new 'type :D

Ok so lionblaze is very alterhuman for me right now :3 (I'm still reading the warrior cats books though so idk his full plot agsjs)

He's really silly and kind of relatable, pluuuus he leaves a lot of space for me to project onto him >:3 (compared to like ivypool for example who's emotions on a similar plot thing are shown more in depth)

I've just decided to try using constellic terms, but also he in particular feels more identify-with than identify-as to me, and I'm too lazy to research how that would fit in with him being a constel (and the term is even more niche than otherlink TT^TT)

If i did some linking (actually putting in effort to make myself identify as him) with him i could easily identify AS him I'm pretty sure, buuut I'm enjoying the identify-with identity with him :3

A while back i REALLY hyperfocused on him, and while that's now gone, (ughh christmas break is over can't watch the same 3 pmvs over and over while copy and pasting every one of his scenes into my notepad), i still feel the connection.

I could call him a hearttype, but also likeee i want to keep it more casual. Same with calling him a heartlink, plus the fact that I didn't do any conscious linking, and that's important for me personally when calling something a linktype.

I am also aware that this is something normal (/neu) humans could experience with characters buuut i think viewing him through an alterhuman lens is just better

Oh and also another possible term would be copinglink, because of the nature of my projection. Lol "copingheartlink" would be accurate XDD

But yeahh I'll be sticking with trying out calling him a constel :D and if i decide another term suits better, I'll makea post about in anyways XD

[in-tua-deep]

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If you are interested in participating, please follow the link to complete the survey.

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This research project has been approved by the University of Indianapolis Institutional Review Board (IRB). Approval date 09/27/2024; Approval number 02118.

[creatureheart]

Made an updated version of this with a bit more info on things and a few tweaks, so go check out that version here!

I've made a few posts talking about things in the nonhuman and alterhuman communities recently, mostly just brief looks into them, so I thought I would share this one.

The info may not be all that much, and could easily be expanded upon, but I did my best for a simple bit of info for certain things.

All pictures have ALT text included, but I shall post the text also here, under a cut, cause it's a bit long, lol

Nonhuman as an identity: To identify as not human either fully or partially. (hate/trolls will be reported and deleted)

Reminder: These are all personal identities and why someone identifies as nonhuman and what term someone decides to use for themself is exclusively their business. In the end it is what makes the most sense to the individual and not up to others. Now, onto some of the communities that are included under the nonhuman identity:

Otherkin: from the term "otherkind" - an identity which typically encompasses being wholly or partially a nonhuman entity. Usually understood to cover those who identify as mythical creatures and other fantastical things. Also covers those that fall outside of beings and creatures.

Examples of non-being or creature based identities: Conceptkin: an identity where one identifies as a concept such as the concept of night or fire. Objectkin: and identity where one identifies as an object. Songkin: an identity where one identifies as a song.

Examples of being and creature based identities: Therianthropy: usually shortened to therian - where one identifies AS a nonhuman animal. Some will say that this term refers to only earthen animals, living or extinct, but it has never only encompassed earthly animals. The community's language came from those who identify as werecreatures. Theriomythic: an alternate identity term for one who identifies in some intrinsic was as a mythical creature. Paleotherian: an identity term for one who identifies as a now extinct earthly animal, like a dinosaur or mammoth.

Cladotherian or Cladokin: an identity term for one who does not identify as a distinct species, but a broader identity encompassing an entire genus or larger grouping. Cladomythic: an identity term for one who identifies as a group (clade) of animalistic mythical creatures.

Fictionkin: an identity term that covers all things fictional. For those who identify as something fictional like characters, animals, species, objects, etc. These can be from books, shows, video games, etc, but not always! Original fictional characters and such are also possible.

There are many other identities that fall under the nonhuman umbrella which is why it's important to do your own research to figure out if a certain term works for you. All these identities share the trait of being involuntary. You cannot choose to be therian, otherkin, or the other mentioned identities.

While the already mentioned identities are involuntary, there are some identities that fall under being voluntary. Otherlink: an identity where one voluntarily identifies as nonhuman. Copinglink: an identity where one voluntarily identifies as nonhuman to copes with things such as trauma, stress, etc.

A lot of people may also say that it is impossible to become a therian, otherkin, etc. While the identity is involuntary, things like trauma and neurodivergence can cause an individual to take on a nonhuman identity when they had not had one previously.

Most will usually see people explain that these identities are spiritual or psychological, but these are only some of the ways that individuals may experience them. Some other experiences of nonhumanity: Symbolic Metaphorical Ancestral Physical (Yes this is an actual reason for some and they are just as much a part of the community as anyone else. Physical and Ancestral nonhumans are part of the community's history and some of its founders.)

For those looking for more information, and community places, here are some places to check out! Werelist Nonhuman National Park Alterhuman Archive The Chimera's Library. The above are forums and archives of information on the community. Most archived information is thanks to who-is-page, liongoatsnake and frameacloud on tumblr.

While this is a brief look into the nonhuman identity that I could share, I do hope it has been helpful in some way. Remember to be true to yourself, and don't let anyone tell you how to feel. Ignore, report, delete and block the haters!

Yeen out~

[chordata-on-alterhumanity]

im asking this in a few places, hope you dont mind

dunno if this is the right place to ask, but with otherlink/copinglink, what would i interpret from a situation of a link feeling so strong and seperate that it feels like a person different from me? its kinda become an imaginary friend situation, where i start talking to the link in my thoughts, and i guess i fabricate responses back.

sometimes i space out a tiny bit, and the link kinda does stuff for me, but not completely? im still aware of stuff and i can take back control whenever, and the connection is kinda weak.

like- i guess the way to put it is that both the link and myself are playing a game together, looking at the same screen, but for majority of the time i have the controller. even when i do hand it over, i can take it back whenever.

i dont think the link is completely autonomous despite being seperate, as in, again, conversation feels puppeted on the link's end, even if it would feel more right to give the link personal identity.

i dont think im plural, especially since the link is never consistent with what it is and changes nearly every week it seems, but i dont think im completely singular either. any advice would help, if you can. thank you.

There's a couple of things I'm thinking of from your description. Plurality doesn't have to be clear-cut, experiences such as demiplurality and being pluralflux exist, and median systems are generally more "different facts of one core" than what you see of systems where system members are incredibly different. Tulpas, similar to 'links, are created on purpose but separate individuals from the creator and need to be upheld in order to exist at least at the start until they establish themselves or all the time. Daemonism comes to my mind as well, as a daemon is a representation of you, but not you, but also you, and their appearance and personality can fluctuate. They represent you, after all, and you are ever-changing too, courtesy of being alive. Even if everything's separate, thoughtforms and you can be shapeshifters.

All these labels stated, there can be plenty of overlap and fluidity. My headmate who was created as a tulpa and I frequently merge and unmerge because I'm fluctuatingly singlet and plural. Does that make them a linktype when we're merged? I could label it as that! Can something be a link and a thoughtform at the same time? Sure! I have this one... idk what, and the character is so many things to me, sometimes at the same time and sometimes only one thing or the other.

Personally what you say makes me bet on this being an early-stage tulpa or daemon with slight sprinkles of being plural, but you're the one who knows your experience best and the only one who can decide on your label, if you even want to put a solid label on it. Whatever happens, I hope things won't cause you any distress and that you'll figure it out!

[incognitopolls]

For any sub-labels that reasonably fall under the "umbrella" of one of these categories, select the applicable "umbrella" category.

Anon mostly sees therians and some otherkin on tiktok and youtube, and wonders if there will be a similar skew on tumblr or if there are more of other types here.

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