an elf ghostwriting for a border collie and some vampires

adult, therian & plural & fictionkind. renelfchild on dreamwidth. if you know me from elsewhere no you don't ❤️

[jackrabbitten]

Hi, I'm Ren and I don't really talk in much detail about my alterhumanity etc. on tumblr (although I still think it's useful for connecting with folks). Most of that stuff goes here, on my Dreamwidth page!

Briefly: I'm queer, I'm part of a plural system, I'm a Pop Culture Pagan, and I have various fictional connections that influence my identity more than regular society would accept. The most public and most frequently discussed of those connections is with a canon-divergent version of The Phantom of the Opera, who has been a presence in my life for a very long time and kind of straddles the line between fictive and spirit companion.

Sometimes the rest of the system posts here with a tag identifier. Sometimes they don't bother identifying themselves. It's whatever.

Here's a general rundown of the headmates that you might see around:

Ren (me!) and C (operating mostly as one person for the purposes of this blog. I'm a Phantom of the Opera OC and a Wood Elf. C is a border collie/black-tailed jackrabbit therian and a vampire from an undisclosed fictional source). It/she/he for us.

D.E. and W (vampires from the same undisclosed fictional source) She/her for D.E. and he/him for W.

D.E. is short for [DATA EXPUNGED] (not her name) and sometimes you'll see hers and W's source itself referred to with the same term. We just don't feel like naming it for various reasons.

Erik (the Phantom of the Opera, sometimes). She/they/he for Erik.

C, D.E. and I have been our de facto co-hosts lately.

[woodwool]

severely deficient in whatever vitamin makes u a person

[mutationgirl]

(having a good week) that’s right. the goal is to increase my baseline. make the spirals shallower until they spin lazily on the surface of the water, lose their suction. im not trying to fix it all at once, im trying to incrementally improve my way into something tolerable. and once im there maybe i can shoot for good

(having a bad week) and in my terrible forge i will temper the flames of ruin

[jackrabbitten]

Chasing Angel Studios around like WHAT'S IN YOUR MOUTH WHAT'S IN YOUR MOOOOOUTH

[bebsi-cola]

you know what, "because i'm in pain" is a good enough reason as any. why do you want to take meds? in pain. why do you wanna cancel? in pain. why didn't you want to talk? in pain. yeah don't be a jerk to everyone you meet and expect them to welcome that. but why were you being a jerk? in pain. it's a reasonable explanation. being in pain should be enough of an explanation. it should be considered an immediate problem that we try to fix as soon as possible instead of expecting the vast majority of people alive to just get on with it.

[fforsythiaaa]

Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as “problematic” in class and our professor was like, “That’s cool, but ‘problematic’ doesn’t really mean anything. It means that the thing you’re describing has a problem, and in and of itself that’s not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else it’s not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like you’re trying to say that this is bad, but you don’t want to say ‘bad.’ Is that right?”

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

Anyway. Whenever I see the word problematic, I can’t help but think of this professor being like, “Good starting point, now let’s get specific.” I think when we have to commit to saying “that’s ___” it requires a lot more careful thought about the truth and impact and complexities of whatever we’re claiming. Sometimes there really is some bullshit afoot, and also sometimes it’s art, and it should be full of problems, because that’s what art is.

[hypokeimena]

#'this is present in the text' is often a good first step #but those second and third ones (naming it; describing its function) are vital (via @elucubrare)

[heartattackinblackdye]

it/its pronouns appreciation post

[xenosaurus]

it’s a shame more vampire media doesn’t pull from vampire bat behavior because they’re such sweeties. they can only survive their incredibly specialized diet because bats will share blood with colony members that didn’t find a meal! there’s evidence that suggests the donors sometimes initiate this behavior themselves by approaching hungry bats! the colonies are mostly harems of females with a few males but they’ve been observed letting unrelated males in when it gets cold so they can all stay warm! cute little social critters!

[xenosaurus]

@yupekosi your tags have created such a beautiful world

[jackrabbitten]

[ID: a screenshot of tags reading "#this post gave me a beautiful mental image of a vampire mansion full of beautiful goth women #dragging in brooding ya vampire boyfriends from the cold like stray cats". End ID]

[glintblade]

male bisexuality is an elvish trait

[jackrabbitten]

I wanna start playing Path of Titans again...

[succubusboyfriend]

practicing self care less out of self love and more for the sheer logical reasoning of it’d be kinda stupid of me to expect myself to be able to function without proper maintenance

[succubusboyfriend]

“oh i don’t deserve rest and relaxation, i haven’t done enough, i haven’t earned it” and my car’s breaks don’t deserve break fluid because they aren’t breaking well enough to earn it. that’s what you sound like!!!!!

[reasonsforhope]

If you do not schedule time for maintenance, your equipment will schedule it for you

[egberts]

i got that dog in me but it's poorly socialized and i don't take it on as many walks as i should

[archivekin]

Subtle gear for nonhumans

A lot of gear suggestions aren't conducive with workplace or school dress codes, might be unsafe for some, or just aren't everyone's style. Here’s some ideas for understated nonhuman expression that's not just "wear a graphic print".

If this post inspires you to buy anything, please shop secondhand where you can!

CLOTHING

Fabric choices - Animal print or fur isn't the only option! Focus on which textures you associate with your ‘types. Maybe you like heavier fabrics like wool or leather, wrapping you in a protective layer. Maybe you enjoy the lightweight feel of silks and linen that flutter in the wind. Maybe the structure of sturdy denim feels like a chassis. What feels right against your skin?

Cut - This refers to the shape or style of a garment. What silhouettes read as your ‘types? Maybe you want to add bulk via a boxy blazer with shoulder pads. Maybe sleek, straight cut trousers or a pencil skirt is more you. Look up cuts of jeans if you're new to this and want to start somewhere!

Socks - Maybe they're full on novelty socks, maybe they've got hoof prints on the underside. Fun and subtle!

Shoes - Big platforms or steel toe boots might remind you of hooves, or running shoes can keep you nimble and quiet on your toes. From an aesthetic standpoint, pay attention to the colour and textures. Maybe a brown suede reminds you of your paws, maybe metal hardware reminds you of your shell.

ACCESSORIES

Watches - These could be subtle, with just a strap colour your associate with your ‘type, or a full on statement piece that looks like alien technology. I picked mine because it reminds me of a cat collar.

Cat collar bracelets - Speaking of, these just look like leather bracelets and are a hell of a lot subtler than wearing a dog collar!

Glasses frames - Does the shape of your frames feel insectoid? Round and owl like? Qquare and boxy? How do they transform the shape of your face? Of course, a relevant colour or pattern is also an option!

Pins & Brooches - These could be colourful enamel pins or small simple vintage brooches. Wear them on your clothes or bags.

Belts - This can be a great place to introduce heavier textures like reptile skin or suede, or you can go the opposite direction and use fabric or rope. A statement buckle can be a fun addition if you want to get a bit flashier!

TL;DR Thinks about these two things: what feels right in a sensory way (good textures, lines up with phantom shifts) and what looks right to you (colours, patterns, how fabric sits on your body).

[two-facedgod]

I know you miss home, but try to remember everything this world has to offer - take it from a god who's been on this planet since the beginning. We've got thunderstorms, city lights, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You can listen to Nirvana, eat sushi, kiss your loved ones, and read comic books. Explore the forests. Lay out on the beach and get some sun. Get lost in the urban jungle. Earth is a beautiful and terrible place - I don't want you to miss out.

[cosmicstrays]

being physically nonhuman and/or having a body like a theriform doesn’t automatically unlearn you of racist and anthrocentric propaganda and ideals. matter of fact being any level of nonhuman or alterhuman doesn’t automatically unlearn you of it either. changing what names you put on yourself doesn’t change the fact that you are still living a lifestyle supported by a habitat that is shaped by systemic racism and human supremacy and sustained by willful ignorance of the everyday evidence of those facts.

this goes beyond the physical nonhumanity misunderstanders in the community too. i’m sick of white alterhumans posting endless lists of labels and microlabels as proof they’re “woke” when being anti-racist and woke isn’t in your fucking identity and self-talk, it’s in your actual actions towards others or by yourself, ESPECIALLY in your reactions to getting criticized for doing something that goes against what you “identify as” standing for.

[slightly-sigilant]

As someones who've been put off from interacting seriously with the otherkin/nonhuman/therian communities for over a decade for this exact reason, we could fill several pages with ranting on this subject. Maybe we will, someday, but for now I'll offer some reading that I strongly recommend to anyone trying to unlearn these toxic patterns.

Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a Potawatomi botanist, is a brilliant and hopeful read about the ways that indigenous peoples learned from and related to the land, and the ways that the rest of us today can draw from that knowledge to realize kinder, more reciprocal ways of living with the world. Check your local library for it if you can't afford a copy; if mobility is limited, check to see if your library offers ebooks via Libby.

For a shorter read (but honestly do read Braiding Sweetgrass if you at all can), The Myth of a Wilderness Without Humans is an article that addresses a number of the same topics.

Some additional context: one of the most subtle but insidious forms of racism that we see in the community is this attitude that Humans Are Inherently Bad For Nature (which then often generalizes to Humans Are Inherently Bad). People so often treat this as Obvious Fact, when... it's really not! The idea that humans and nature Can't coexist, that they are Fundamentally Separate, is a myth constructed by an exploitative and imperialist society, which erases all of the indigenous cultures that have very different ways of relating to the earth and its beings.

Racism is a many-faceted beast, and to be clear, this is only one facet of it, but it's one that's so pervasive and so unquestioned in the community that I wanted to call attention to it in particular.

[ceruleanheaven]

[very clearly indulging the urge] im fighting the urge

[antigonickpdf]

our longing for inconvenience by hanif abdurraqib (id in alt)