FoxSky

Aiyana | 24 | Red Fox Therian | Alpha of the Northern Steel Pack

[shyfoxsky]

Revised Introduction Post

Finally getting around to remaking my introduction post, now that I've officially confirmed my theriotype, so here goes!

Hello, my name within the therian community is Aiyana, though that is obviously not my real name, but you can also call me FoxSky or Fox for short. I go by she/they pronouns, am in my mid 20s, and have a Bachelor's of Science in Wildlife Management. I've always had a draw to wildlife, especially canids, that started when I first saw wild red foxes as a child and has led to now, when I've completed my degree with research on red wolves. I grew up with dogs and regularly saw cats and rodents, and even today my passion has not waned. These experiences alongside my animistic beliefs have led me to considering myself a fox mentally, emotionally, and physiologically.

I am a standard red fox vacillant therian and otherhearted to horses, wolves, and black bears. I confirmed my theriotype after nearly a decade of back and forth questioning, four of those years under the label of wolf therian. I have been awakened since December 19, 2015, privately re-confirmed red fox in September 2024, and publicly re-confirmed it in December 2024. Back in the mid 2010s, I was a therian YouTuber, but I quit YouTube due to various personal reasons, including my upcoming career. I am also known as shyfoxsky on Instagram. I am the former alpha of the Flowering Aurora Constellation, later known as the Ocmulgee Pack, but since it’s dissolvement I have become the alpha female of the Northern Steel Pack with my mate.

I moved myself and my content to Tumblr because a lot of people I know from Instagram did the same and because I no longer resonated with the remaining community there. I’ve been looking to reach more of the older side of the community since rekindling my bond with my nonhuman identity in my final semester of college, and have found a new home here. I’m mostly here to post general therian stuff, including my own personal essays and updates, and interact with other alterhumans, but I might also be in some fashion or music tags on occasion. I don't have a DNI but in general I won't post about or discuss political issues or drama that don't directly relate to the therian community. I won't interact with hate, and will simply delete, block, and move on. I am a grown woman with a degree; I have no time for children with nothing better to do than harass strangers on the internet. My ask box is always open and I hope you enjoy my blog!

Photo Credits: FoxSky (me), Alain Caron, Ian Murray, Dennis Sheehy, @/wizardsfang

(Last updated February 23, 2026)

[devouringdivine]

A fox far too comfortable around suburbia. A fox who lost it's teeth and makes it's home beneath your porches.

A fox domesticated is still a fox

[shyfoxsky]

Photo Credits: Sarah Paese

While grocery shopping today, my mate saw the rotisserie chickens out and we decided to get it for dinner tonight. Being supportive of my therianthropy, he thought that I'd like to be the one to carve the bird, so that was my job, and I loved it. Getting to go in with my bare paws and just pull off wings and legs and huge chunks of meat and go picking around bones for every little scrap so as to not waste anything, nibbling on skin and fat as I went, it was heavenly. I don't usually get prey drive with real animals, I'm just one of those people that's too inclined to respect wildlife and the creatures that die so I can eat. Getting to behave fully on instinct was so euphoric and made me feel like a mature vixen, making sure the prey my mate brought to the den is plucked and ready to eat. It also just felt really respectful, taking the time and effort to get my hands dirty and ensure nothing was wasted. I doubt we'll get chickens often, but I definitely plan on doing that again when we get another.

In other news, we had a bit of a scare, as our kitten was lost for a little over 24 hours the other day. Just steps from the house after an outing, her breakaway collar did its job, and she bolted and disappeared in just a few seconds. I spent all night outside waiting for her to find her way home, and the next day I rented a trap from our local humane society, put up flyers, and searched every inch of our block. The day after she got lost we got a call, which turned out to be a neighbor who had called the number on one of the flyers I had put up after their dog had sniffed her out hiding in a bush. She's now been home for over a day and is back to normal. She has no injuries, fleas or ticks, or trauma, and was only hungry from missing a couple of meals. I've since gotten a two-point leash extender so I can have one attachment point on her collar and the other on a harness, preventing this from happening again. We're happy she's safe and sound and that we have such good neighbors that care about us and her.

[shyfoxsky]

Photo Credits: FoxSky (me)

After over nine years, as a present to myself for my ten year therian birthday/awakening anniversary, I bought myself a brand new therian symbol necklace, one of the first pieces of gear I ever owned. I plan on still wearing my old one, I’ll just be switching between the two depending on what I’m doing. For work, exercising, hiking, etc. I’ll wear the old one since it’s already been through the wringer. My new, shiny one will be for everyday things that won’t expose it to lots of sun and sweat and hits.

It’s very full circle for me, being able to get a new necklace like this as a ten year gift to myself. When I bought the original, being a decade awakened never crossed my mind, it was so far away. I bought it with Christmas money and wore it to school under my shirt. My new one I bought with money from my zoo job, got delivered to my house with my mate, and will be wearing out every day for everyone to see, even at work while I give talks about and with my own theriotype. Life is good.

[shyfoxsky]

Photo Credits: FoxSky (me)

As a reward to myself for getting my job at the zoo, I ordered a jumbo fox plush I’ve been eyeing for awhile. It’s by Wild Republic and is a dream to have. Now I just have to figure out where to put it.

[shyfoxsky]

Photo Credits: FoxSky (me)

Finally, I've met the other red fox at my new zoo job! He's a little shy, especially when it's loud, but I plan on visiting and being around him as much as possible so he can become more comfortable with me. During my initial tour of the grounds, he was hiding and didn't want to come out, but we gave some people a tour today as part of a training workshop we allowed to be held on the grounds, and he came running and looking around while it was just him and I. I had gone ahead of the group to check if he was out today, and up until the rest caught up, he rounded about and checked me out (as you can see in the photos). I can't wait to educate guests about our kind this season and advocate for us.

[aspdzai]

Being otherkin is crazy like…

What are you doing in this situation

[aestherians]

Made one for the adults

[aestherians]

I lied here's an actual photo of me at work

[shyfoxsky]

Trying to hold twenty kids' attentions with wildlife facts for more than five minutes:

Forcing a smile while getting yelled at by a guest because an animal didn't come out and pose for their Facebook photo:

Taking full advantage of my break:

POV you're a guest knocking on the enclosure glass with a sign right there telling you to Not Do That:

Ending up soaked after my tour group gets rained on:

Treating myself to a plush at the gift shop before I go home:

Photo Credits: DJJAM Photo, therandomizer1889, JABCECC, Sarah Paese, JABCECC, JABCECC

[shyfoxsky]

Photo Credits: foxboy_angel

In perhaps one of my most exciting posts in a long time, I'm thrilled to share that at long last, I've gotten a job! Not only that, it's a zoo position working in conservation education! The zoo originally told me all of the positions had been filled, but at the last minute, someone backed out, so they called in any applicants who were willing to take the opened position and did immediate interviews. I didn't think I'd get it, I knew there was a schoolteacher applying, wildlife is already a super competitive career field (not to mention how much crazier it gets when good zoos are involved), I have no professional experience in this particular field yet, and I'm still decently new to the area. I did everything I could to help nudge things in my favor, took some lucky charms of mine, asked my spirit guides for help, burned a candle for them the morning of, etc.

While my mate drove me to the interview, my nerves had me mainly looking straight forward, but at a specific moment I felt compelled to look out the side, and just as I did, a hawk flew alongside our car. Hawks mean a lot to me, as they're spiritual messengers for me. Every time I've seen a red-tailed hawk in person, it's been at or on the way to someplace that will have a major impact on my life, like around my childhood home, at my hearthome, on the way to move into my college dorm, and during my move to where I live now. I have never seen a wild red-tailed hawk in person outside of instances like that, and when it happens, the hawk is always within a certain distance from me. Sure enough, I landed the job, which will now be my breakthrough into wildlife conservation and management as a career.

The interview itself was great. It was supposed to take an hour and a half, but I ended up spending three hours at the zoo just for it. The person who interviewed me (who is now my department head) said he felt very comfortable and calm talking to me, and that my experiences and skills filled a lot of gaps they need. They're doing some habitat restoration and data collection for state and federal research on-site, which aren't things most zoologists really have hands-on training in. As a natural resource management major, my degree's bread and butter is things like that, which is what gave me an edge over the other applicants. There was even a fun point where I got to answer the 'if you could be any animal, which would you be and why' question, and I like to think he noticed my fox necklace and the red fox pin on my bag after I gave him my (very obvious) answer. Either way, I got hired on the spot, so now I'm in the stage of getting all of the paperwork and legalities done so I can start my first shift and training. I won't be doing much (if any) handling, I won't be a keeper, but it seems very likely that I could transition from a seasonal educator to full-time keeper if the zoo likes me and a spot opens, but even if that doesn't work out, I'll officially have a completed wildlife position on my resume, which will make it much easier to find another job once the season ends if I don't stay. It's all very exciting, open doors and opportunities surround me. Tail wags all around.

[shyfoxsky]

For anyone who isn't following me on my other therian socials, here's a bit of an update on what's been going on with me.

In the last couple of weeks it's been getting warmer, warm enough to open the windows during the day, which is making me and the cat very happy. The fresh air and cool breezes and birdsong is really just keeping spirits up while I fistfight the job market. My laptop charger broke, right in front of me it just cut off and wouldn't work anymore, so I got to enjoy half a week in the den without my computer. That same week, I also got sick (I'm pretty sure I gave myself iodine poisoning), but everything's okay now. The new charger works great and I know to not go so crazy on the salt.

The pack got to go to a local state park with a lot of forest, and it was fantastic. We only got to hike one of multiple trails, but we had a great time, and I plan to go again and explore the rest. There are thoughts of changing the pack's name, and sharing a name with this park is an option being thrown around, but we'll need to go at least a couple more times before we can be certain if that's what's right for us.

I'm still feeling cross foxes, but I'm not obsessed with them like I was a couple of weeks ago. They've become a bit of background noise lately, and I'm really seeing myself in red foxes again, which is both great and annoying. I don't particularly see one over the other when it comes to which one is me, if I had to pick between them as far as which is more me it'd take a long time and it'd really come down to what I'm feeling that day and any differences between my self-image and example photos, which has me thinking that I'm perhaps both. In the same way that if I dye my hair or wear different clothes I'm still me, I am the same fox, whether my fur is more red or black. It's not really me being polykin, more me seeing myself in multiple colorations, because at the end of the day, a fox is a fox. I think I'm going to keep my profile and whatnot as a red fox, simply because that's what I'm used to, but don't be surprised if I post occasionally with cross fox photos.

In other news, I believe I have a new kithtype! Since realizing that turkey vultures just aren't one, I've felt something missing, like I was being called to find something. I got myself back into animism and animal spirit work, and through that black bears came up a few times, alongside my deep homesickness for Appalachia. Reminiscing on just how much the region has meant to me throughout my life, I noticed that a lot of my memories there include black bears, whether it be appearing in red fox movies I watched as a child, decorations in the place my family stayed at while on vacation, or me being the only one to spot a real one grazing next to a viewpoint. Black bears have always been one of my favorite animals, I've even questioned them, and they've had a place in major locations and experiences in my life for as long as I can remember. If you've been following me for awhile, that statement really sounds like how I describe horses and wolves.

The nail in the coffin here was going and looking into these guys. With turkey vultures as a good example of and contrast between animals I'm otherhearted to and animals I just really like, I felt more comfortable simply looking at black bear media and listening to how it makes me feel. While watching a documentary about a young sow and her cubs in eastern Canada, I felt so emotional that I cried. It was the kind of emotions I'd feel looking at a horse or wolf after not seeing one for months, like how I feel looking at my plushies and figurines of those species. It's not something I ever felt with turkey vultures, like seeing an old friend or family member after so long without contact. I'm only a week or two into this, so I am being very cautious of these feelings simply being novelty, but there's also the point to be made that black bears aren't novel to me. As for right now, I'm casually using the otherhearted label for black bears, trying it on, seeing how it goes. If it still feels right after a few months, I'll let myself be concrete in calling myself black bearhearted.

Photo Credits: Gordon Korky Dimmick, Kenny Ross

[shyfoxsky]

Hi! Wolf here!! I have a question about fur coats real quickly!

Is it normal to have gut feelings of your fur coat/pattern? For me, it’s odd. When I imagine myself as a grey/silver black phase-like wolf, I feel a strong “me” feeling, unless it’s with the wolf and not necessarily towards that specific fur type.

When I imagine myself as a deep dark brown, almost black fur (like a coyote for example which I’ve been questioning here and there. I have felt a “me” feeling wash over myself but it wasn’t too strong), it too feels like me.

Do you have any thoughts on this?

Hello, thank you for the ask! I'm actually currently in the midst of figuring out my own coat, so you're in luck.

Even though I'm between the standard and cross colorations of red foxes right now, I myself still have an idea of what I'd look like in both forms (the shade of my red fur, how dark my black fur is, how much silvering I have, and how large the white of my tail tip is). These things, for me, I've always felt and known. When I imagine myself as a fox, think about what I'd see in the mirror and not question as me, those things are always consistent. When I look at photos of certain red and cross foxes, it feels like I'm looking at a picture of a doppelganger, or celebrity look-alike, or a character with the same features as me. I see those traits and know inherently that we share them, like when I see a person with the same eye color or hairstyle as me. Those feelings don't happen when certain traits are incorrect, like a lot of silvering or a tiny white tail tip. I get the same feeling of wrongness when I look at European red foxes, which have much different coats and proportions than American red foxes. Gut feeling is important, it's a way we process our world and ourselves. If you were to look in the mirror and see someone else's face, it would likely freak you out a good bit, like uncanny valley. Imagine looking in the mirror and seeing these different colorations. What feels the most right? What feels like "this is someone else's body"?

One of the main reasons I'm even questioning the cross coloration is because I see black as a part of me. I'm emo, so I pretty much exclusively wear black, and that has over the years become an identifying characteristic of mine, how some people point me out in a crowd. I feel most comfortable when I'm mostly covered in black with some red around my face and down my sides, similar to a cross fox's pattern. If you're caught between two colorations for the same species, it could help to notice what feels comfortable on you. What colors and patterns of clothes and hair feel like you, versus an imitation of something you want to be? When you catch a glimpse of yourself in a reflection, do you have to double-take, or does that color automatically register as just you?

It's also important to remember that a lot of people see themselves as multiple iterations of the same person. For instance, someone who dyes their hair blue all the time will consider that hair color to be their own, they'd recognize themself in a picture with freshly-dyed blue hair, but they wouldn't consider a photo of them as a child with brown hair or one with their dye fading and their roots turning brown to be fake or edited, because that's also a hair color that is theirs. In the same way, some nonhumans consider themselves to have multiple coat colors. A lot of wolves' coats change as they age, so they could be called different colors, and it'd still be correct. If you feel like multiple coats describe you, roll with it. You can also keep a journal of which ones you feel like each day, and over time, you may be able to look back and notice a lean towards one or the other, or maybe you'll find an influence, such as seasonality or phase of life. I myself thought I was a wolf throughout college due to how inherently social college is.

Whatever you do, let time pass. There's a lot of outside factors influencing how we see ourselves, most we never know of. With me and wolves, it took me finishing college and months outside of it to realize why my brain had switched up for nearly four years. You have a whole life to figure this stuff out, so don't sweat it too much. If being those coats and species right now makes you happy, go crazy.

Thanks again for the ask, sorry if this response is a bit long. I figured the more I can try to help, the merrier!

[shyfoxsky]

Photo Credits: FoxSky (me)

After getting a bit more used to the new tablet and actually putting time and effort in, I made my new, updated kinsona/truesona. I made two versions, one red and one cross, so I have an accurate one no matter how I'm feeling day by day. Hopefully these will get me to make more therian art for myself soon. I'd love to have an absolute hoard of it.

[shyfoxsky]

Photo Credits: FoxSky (me)

A relative gave me their old tablet, so I drew my pack since I had motivation and have been wanting an image with a wolverine, cross fox, and black cat together for us. It’s not very good, just something to get the new tablet learning process started, but it’s something I felt fit here.

[shyfoxsky]

Photo Credits: Derek Hammond

After over two weeks of consistent personal journaling about it, I feel the need to update here about what's going on with my identity. Rather than struggling with or questioning another species, my brain has decided to latch onto and even obsess over the partially melanistic coloration of red foxes, aka the cross fox.

A couple of things that I consider necessary for me to be me are my red hair and my participation in the emo subculture, both of which I've seen as non-removable parts of me for well over a decade now, likely over half of my life at this point. I am a ginger that wears all black, it's how people point me out to others in a crowd. I have even been told that a similar description is how someone was told to find me on my college campus. Ginger and black are as me as my above average height and legal name. Both of these are represented in both red and cross foxes, but one is far more closely matching how one would imagine an emo fox than the other, and that is where I'm having this hiccup.

At first, I thought that this would blow over quickly, I've always been a red fox, and I even see myself as one with more prominent black on my socks and ears. I even continue to see myself in them through this phase, but after over two weeks, I'm still obsessed with cross foxes, and I've even made myself a collection of photos of individuals that look just like how I imagine them. When put side by side, I really can't say that one feels more like me than the other.

As of right now, the intensity I feel for cross foxes is only growing by the day, and has been steadily for half a month. I have no idea when that will slow down, let alone end, but I do plan on waiting for that low point so I can more honestly look at the two color morphs. I'm also considering the possibility of being multi-coated. Not a polytherian, they're both exactly the same species and my preferences for things like habitat, prey, climate, etc. don't change between the two, so it's not even a difference in subspecies. I've seen very little to nothing about therians with multiple coats for one theriotype, but I'm still researching.

Until this resolves, whether that be next week or next decade, I'm going to roll with my feelings day by day and post in whatever color morph I feel like. I won't be posting all the time about it, I don't need fifty posts back to back about how I raided flickr for all of its cross fox photos, but I will try to update if something new happens.

[shyfoxsky]

My warrior cats self-insert used to be a long-haired deep red cat, and in the last few years, it has switched to a medium-haired black and red tortoiseshell cat, and I have a sneaking suspicion that’s somehow linked to my current internal conflict with red vs cross fox color morphs for my theriotype.

[shyfoxsky]

Photo Credits: Anna Kukekova, Arctic Fox Daily Wildlife Rescue, Cat Tales Wildlife Center, CranesMistressOfFear, David Burt, David Stephens, Dianne Van Eijl, djidoudou, Geoffrey Kuchera (x2), Gillian Floyd, Jamie Taylor, Jennifer Everett, Judith A Bassett Canid Education & Conservation Center (x3), junchan1, Linda Freshwaters Arndt, Ohio Canid Center, Paul Crozier, Simone Heinrich, theCatandthePat (x2), Unknown Photographer (x2), WildPotatoCat, Will Harford

Been seeing some posts on my dash that reminded me that yeah, this would fix me.

[percysfoxblog]

all curled up

[blossom-possums]

Hiya!!

Idk if it’s just me or if this is a thing, but I can barely find any emo/edgy/scene fox representation!

I see a lot of cool emo cats and wolves but I don’t find many emo foxes! (In edgy art, moodboards, etc. although I was able to find one moodboard)

Sooo I made a bunch of emo/scene fox moodboards! Mainly because I was bored and i dunno you’d think that you’d find a lot of emo Fox stuff but I don’t see it often!

I tried hard to have a couple different types of foxes besides the red fox!

I made this green one first! Mostly for myself (but feel free to use it!)

More moodboards under here!! VVV

The next is a purple color scheme with a silver fox!

The next one is pink with a marble fox!

Blue with an arctic fox!

Orange with a cross fox! (This one was SO hard to find things for)

And last but not least! The brown(?) indie scene with a gray fox! (Also known as a tree fox!)

Idk If this one is good.. but whatever it was still fun 2 make!

Anyways! That’s pretty much it!

Feel free to use these for anything! (Even if ur not a therian) :] Also if there’s anymore foxes yall want to add I can!

Alrighty! Bye every critter!!