#i really hope youre autistic too and not using it as a synonym for being weird/offputting cause ive seen thag before

[aaravos-answers]

*screams at you autistically for no no reason*

*casts a spell to guard the ears and pats your head* Would you like to read with me, starling? Or you can scream more now that my ears are protected.

[machinavellian]

hi :)

i just wanted to pop into your ask box to say thank you for writing interstate! (as well as precedence!). interstate is, to this day, my favorite fic, and also, it is the fic that inspired me to start writing fanfiction. i've read it like a million times- i have a pdf on my computer and an epub on my phone so i can highlight my favorite parts. (i swear i'm not crazy, just autistic lol). i could go on and on about how your writing is perfect. the characterization, the plot, the prose itself. i generally hate happy endings in fics but you managed to write one that i love. i'll never stop thinking about how you wrote the sex scene in one sentence. to be able to get across the whole essence in one simple sentence takes so much talent i could never. and the way you did the pov switch without switching povs (where norman is imagining what ethan is doing) was brilliant! (i am awful about accidentally switching povs)

i wish i could explain myself better, but i'm not as good with words as you are.

anyway, since i'm here i also have a question, and i hope it's not too vague or stupid etc. but how do you do it?? (i guess what i mean is, what books/other media inspires your writing? do you have a writing routine or a secret tip? or is it just natural talent?)

sorry for being a weirdo but your fic is my roman empire so to speak

thanks again for writing and publishing (especially in our tiny little fandom!!)

pardon how late this is, i'm not at all good at tumblr lmao. but ahhh, thank you, you're very kind! it's so great to hear that something i wrote meant so much to someone else, and it's SO great to hear that it got someone else writing their own fic! no judgment whatsoever about the hoarding of copies, my autism is the cause of many mysterious choices i make in life 😌

it's a little embarrassing in a way because i most definitely don't consider myself a creator of great literature or anything, i just work hard on my fics and take the process of writing them seriously (maybe too seriously)... but i'm going to try to answer your question/request for tips as sincerely as i can!

read. like for real, read other people's writing! i actually don't do this nearly as much as i would like to anymore and i can tell my writing is a little rustier for it. when i read other people's writing, i sometimes feel like i'm filling up an invisible "tank" that holds my ability to do words good. :') as a personal example, i have a short story anthology by vladimir nabokov that i've been slowly whittling my way through for a million years -- i loved his prose the first time i read it in middle or high school and i think it has been a big influence on my desire to look for unexpected turns of phrase and vocabulary words i didn't know before. sometimes i like to keep a list of new vocab words i encounter as i read to look up later, but usually i end up getting distracted and looking them up as i go. 😩 though this is easier than ever if you're reading digitally, i suppose! i think learning to identify the things you like in writing is really important. for me, that has a lot to do with not only finding the exact words i want to describe something, but also their cadence/musicality in a sentence. i remember very little about the poetry terms i learned in school, but i think learning about the anatomy of poems can be a really useful tool when it comes to prose also! or if nothing else, it can be fun to try experimenting with shuffling around the order of words or substituting one synonym for another to see how it changes the overall sound and feel of a sentence.

write! then tweak/rewrite. i actually hate the advice "you gotta just write" lmao... pisses me off every time because i know it's true 😭 i can dick around writing notes/meta as long as i like (and i do), but there's truly no other way to make progress like just fucking writing SOMETHING down even if you hate it and think it's bad. i used to get academic papers done in college and grad school by quickly and sloppily blasting down the basic gist of my main points like a 10 year old and then going back and revising it to sound like an adult. it's a little different with fiction because i'm writing something i already actually want to write, but it can still help to jot down the bare bones of a scene even if i don't even use it in the end. writing out dialogue can help a lot in my experience. i do feel pretty strongly that revisions are nearly always necessary -- i don't always get my fics beta'd by another person, but at minimum i have to put it down and re-read it for myself to make sure everything is flowing the way i want it to. betas really are helpful, though, because a LOT of times i'll think something makes perfect sense in my head only to find out my friend has no idea what i'm on about lmao. this can also help with things like switching povs, like you mentioned! there's nothing wrong with having a pov switch happen in your fic, mind you! it's just that ideally it's happening because you wanted it to happen instead of like, uh-oh, i need to convey some information about norman that ethan doesn't have a way of knowing. it's funny you mention the fap/fantasy scene because i think that's literally what happened when i was writing it, like... i think i was like "hmm, i want to emphasize that ethan is most definitely Into norman and this thing that's growing between them, but i've stuck with norman's pov this entire time and i don't want to put one solitary scene of ethan pov in there, if i can help it... but hey, norman's a profiler! visualizing what people do when they're alone is his whole thing!" so that was the perfect excuse to frame it that way in the end. ✨

canon review for characterization. this has less to do with the mechanics of writing, but honestly, if i had to choose, i'd much rather read a fic that totally nails the characterization than one that's perfect on a technical level. y'know that meme that's like "he would NOT fucking say that"? i do everything i can to avoid eliciting that response lfkdslf. iirc while i was writing interstate i basically always had an LP of heavy rain playing so i could observe the way the characters react in different situations, listen to their speech patterns and the types of words/language they use, and just kind of... idk, absorb the general vibe a little bit, i guess? i know i just mentioned you have to write Actual Story and not just notes to make progress, but i do also tend to have a LOT of notes about like... "okay so norman actually really likes this guy, but the reason he's holding back his feelings is because he's given so much of himself to his work and he's so used to looking at people in the abstract that he struggles to connect with them, leading him over time to decide that he can't or isn't good enough to be what ethan deserves, and what could ethan maybe say or do to help challenge that so they can move forward?" etc etc.... at the risk of being Very Autistic, i find i do a lot of if/then calculations when it comes to plotting character beats. 😅 "if these two particular lonely dudes start to form a connection one night at a bar, what then?"

have a thesis. this feels kind of ridiculously pretentious when i write it out, but it honestly really helps me a lot with staying focused: it's basically me answering wtf my point is. why do i think this fic needs to be written in the first place? it's the thing i want to accomplish, the idea i want to share with people who read it. even if i don't have a solid statement to make, there's always SOME kind of central question i'm trying to answer -- a lot of times, that question is as simple as "man, you know, i really wanna see these two bone. what has to happen for that to be possible?" for precedence i think it was basically just "hey wouldn't it be fucked up if...?" and for interstate it expanded to "hey i think these two deserve a happy ending and they deserve to share it together. what does that look like?"

so i dunno, hopefully all that is at least slightly useful and not just self-indulgent rambling, but thank you for giving me the ability to self-indulgently ramble if nothing else 😭

but above all, please do not doubt your own ability! writing is hard and sometimes sucks but it's also a lot of fun and there's not a right way to tell the story you want to tell, it just matters that you tell it. so... DO 💪

[evilkitten3]

No I know but I’m autistic, deaf, non verbal learning disabled that means I only know what I see on tv and some cops are good some are bad. In my real life I have literally never experienced it (they’ve always been nice to me and my other disabled friends) and my mom always says if a cop asks you to do something you do it. Or you risk them thinking you’re guilty of something. I always follow the rules though because if a cop stops me and I can’t hear their commands (I won’t) I am in deep shit. All I know is they need a warrant to question you and they cannot talk to minors without parents/guardians present. What else should I know?

What if say, someone’s decent parent (who happens to also be a cop) asks them how their day was or some other innocent parent question. I literally am confused by that part.

Also, a cop did something shockingly nice for my boyfriend when he got his bike stolen off the bus. The cop bought my boyfriend a new bike. My boyfriend is Hispanic and I thought maybe the cop could be a POC. It’s like. Why? I’m glad the cop was nice (could’ve been faking) and got my man a new bike. Just hope that thief was caught. (2/2)

ok so like how you interact with your family is your business. but when people say "don't talk to cops" what they typically mean is "if you get arrested, don't talk to the cops without a lawyer", not "never say anything to a cop ever under any circumstances" (for starters, you'd need to in order to request the presence of a lawyer)

i'm not really the best person to ask about this, but i definitely recommend taking the time to look into it. i also recommend keeping yourself as aware as possible whenever you see a cop on tv - they have and continue to use propaganda via tv, and people believe what they see.

one last thing: i too have met nice cops. they do exist. but a key thing to be aware of is that "nice" and "good" are not synonymous. some of the nastiest motherfuckers out there get away with their bs just by being "nice" about it. any cop is either actively participating in a deeply broken and corrupt system or choosing to overlook their coworkers who are doing so, and the cops who do try to speak out and do the right thing don't get to stick around. police have fostered a culture of sticking with one another over basically any morality (an "us vs them" mindset), and the few cops who try to do anything about it either get harassed into quitting or just fired.

you are, realistically, going to meet nice cops. you are going to meet cops who will smile at you, who will speak to you politely, who will even when you're being arrested present themselves as wanting to help you. if you take any of that at face value, especially if you're under arrest (or just being brought in as a suspect), they can and will use that against you.

police, according to the court of appeals case warren v. district of columbia, are under no constitutional or professional obligation to provide services to specific citizens based on the public duty doctrine. to be absolutely clear: this is a case where the police department was sued for extreme negligence resulting in three women experiencing over 14 hours of horrific assault, on top of failing to get any id (or even really try) for another man's attackers.

also, i feel it's very important for you to know that in most states, cops can flat-out lie to you to get a confession. they can hold you without charges (in california it's for 48 hours max, not sure about other places), and they can and will use some of the most openly manipulative or flat-out abusive tactics they can to get a confession.

tldr: don't fucking trust the cops

[diesoonandsuffer]

hey! is data and uhura okay for the ask game? hope your day is going well!!!

they're absolutely fine! and i've had a pretty good day, last shift of the week! thank you!!

DATA

favorite thing about them

that he's autistic <3

no but honestly so far everything. like his desire to be human, his line delivery, his kindness. like HE<3

least favorite thing about them

that i haven't seen more episodes with him in them!

favorite line

i haven't heard many like banger lines from him so far but anytime he's like ah yes! this word and then just starts listing synonyms

brOTP

i like when he and wesley hang out

OTP

geordi is in love with the android sorry!!! sorry!

nOTP

any woman. somehow he's gay.

random headcanon

i think he would like ABBA

unpopular opinion

he should have kept the beard. im just kidding idk lol

song i associate with them

i am not a robot by marina LMFAO

favorite picture of them

the transparent version of him that you can put in any setting

credit: @joshuaalbert for the edit

[image ID: Neo from The Matrix: Reloaded standing in a white void. Data is standing in the far distance.]

UHURA

favorite thing about them

that she can balance being badass with being kind. i feel like with a lot of Women characters they cant be like soft and feminine and also strong. i like that she's both

least favorite thing about them

this isn't really her fault but she's just not in enough episodes. and sometimes her plot or use in an episode is really simple and reductive.

favorite line

when nomad asks her to explain why she was singing and the way she tries to explain it is saying "I feel like music." idk something about it is really simple yet poignant and you can tell she's trying to phrase it in a way nomad can understand

brOTP

her and chekov absolute power duo

OTP

t'pring. uhura was like spock your wife is so pretty.....when you get divorced i call dibs

nOTP

her and spock. kelvin timeline i'm looking at you right now

random headcanon

spock teaches her how to play his lute. maybe even the piano, too

unpopular opinion

i don't know if this is unpopular but i like tos uhura better than kelvin uhura

song i associate with them

not a specific song but i feel like i can see her singing to patsy cline

favorite picture of them

how to choose.....she's so pretty <3 <3 <3 i'll choose this one from when she tricks mirror!sulu

[image id: Uhura in the mirror universe outfit leaning against mirror universe Sulu. She smirks down at him.]

send me a tos or tng character!

[autistatai]

AUTIST MANIFESTO (Taily Farias)Hello, everybody. I had left Facebook, but I decided to come back to post something I wrote in flow, I let what came to mind. I didn't review the text and I wrote a lot with indignation. NO, if you know me, I won't delete it and I don't care about the exhibition (YES, AM I AUTIST AND DAE? (YES, I'M AUTIST AND ADAE?) FUCKING TABOO TO SAY THAT IF YOU HAVE A MENTAL ILLNESS, DAMN IT, IT'S JUST A BRAIN THAT DOESN'T WORK PROPERLY, I'M NOT ET, I'M NOT A PSYCHOPATH, I WON'T COMMIT CRIMES EITHER. I say this because many people use the expression "Mentally Ill" as a synonym for bad character or to associate with bad things. I hope that this text of mine can generate reflection in someone and that it suddenly changes the mentality of psychiatrists. And if you come to write shit here for being a doctor I will argue to exhaustion and prove you wrong. THAT GOES FOR ALL THE SPECIALTIES OF DOCTORS. On second thought here, eh, I thought about your attitude and I can't help but tell you one thing: I don't know if you're Ana cuzona or the secretary. You've been very selfish and without humanity (Google the sense of humanity). It was hard to be nice to me and if I didn't know any psychiatrist, as I asked you in the greatest humility, to tell me that. You ignored it. You know, as a mental health professional, or the secretary for being human, you should be more empathic, especially with someone who asked for help. I'm not under any drug before you think I drank or I'm too crazy. It's very difficult to find a good psychiatrist because after college you don't study anymore, you don't try to update yourself, you don't learn these things in medical school. Read the story of the rise of the psychiatry profession. Unfortunately the reality is that many psychiatrists (most of them) don't know how to deal with mental illnesses, which are sensitive people who suffer too much since they were children. Most of you psychiatrists (I'm not a generalist but I already have a good experience with you, Doctors of Mental Health, are just people who prescribe prescriptions based on (little) knowledge of formulas and medicine names. Some even maintain intense commercial exchange with representatives of large laboratories. A shame. I'm still going to pursue my studies in this area (I do my PhD at UFPR and love several areas of knowledge). Only people who only care about the financial side of the profession and had no or little training in psychology and philosophy. And they keep prescribing strong medicines for people who are diagnosed based on their few and prejudiced (not to say almost complete ignorance, shallow knowledge) knowledge. Dae go there and prescribe for 10 years an antipsychotic for a person who is not even bipolar (research the highly malefic effects on the body in taking this type of measurement. Worse, you dope fantastic autistic children for pure lack of knowledge). But of course, who am I to say all this? You studied a lot in college and you're a doctor and you understand what you do. Those who think they know a lot don't really know anything, because every subject is infinitely eternal to study. There is a lot of knowledge, new articles, etc. When was the last time you read an article about your supposed specialty? Think about it. You psychiatrists should be more careful with patients and start analyzing the data you have in hand. Yes, because the pharmaceutical universe is huge and there are many drugs (medicine is a drug, in the sense of modifying the CHEMICAL of the brain, sometimes messing with important functions of the body. If it was the secretary (I think it must be Ana herself), I would like you to pass on this message Dr. Ana and if possible to the other psychiatrists of the clinic. Possible mistakes in Portuguese are due to quick writing and without revision. Playing REAL to see if you psychiatrists will call and stop treating your patients as guinea pigs and "random experimenting" with drugs. AUTIST MANIFEST: in favor of the professional improvement of psychiatrists professionals (this includes ETHICS as well. To conclude: damn, not knowing what drug interaction gives an antidepressant with Fluconazole is regrettable and say in the first ten minutes of a first consultation that the person is not autistic because he looks in the eyes? Damn, what a cliché that is. I once poked a psychiatrist who did this to me until he laughed at his own ignorance of the subject. That's it. Outraged here. You deal with people and administer very strong medications. The least you should have is a little responsibility. Bye.

 Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

#autism #autisticspectrum  #autisticartist #autistic feels #autistic characters

[trinkets-and-spirits]

TL;DR: I’m Fucking Pissed at So-Called Open-Minded Witches Rn. Prepare for a Long-AF Rant.

OK! For those who don’t know me, I’m the sort of person who doesn’t usually make these sorts of posts, because I like to keep my head below the drama. However, when I see those who claim to be open-minded and the sort towards new witchlings or general pagans; but leave out the fact that if you happen to believe or respect any sort of Christian belief or God, you’re basically fake—is the moment that I really stop giving a fuck about who the hell grows offended.

Observe! An arrogant woman, who seems to believe that she has the right to post something as controversial as the topic that we’ll be discussing today, within a Facebook group that consists of witches & pagans in a very wide age span—without receiving any sort of backlash, or comments against her belief:

Seems innocent enough, right? It isn’t uncommon that old practitioners of the craft tend to be a little more hostile towards the modern craft, due to the fact that they follow very sacred beliefs that have been questioned or judged at every twist and turn. || Christian Witches? Pfft! What a silly idea. || Sarcasm.

Before I continue, I’d like to state the obvious disclaimer that the trigger happy folks of tumblr will undoubtedly ignore, but to those who actually read this entire post before hopping onto the bandwagon of sending one person a ton of hate:

I am completely open-minded towards the argument that this woman is creating, because I would be a hypocrite if I said that I haven’t been a tad extreme with my opinions of change within communities separate to the witch community. HOWEVER! The thing I do not agree with here, is the continued spite and discriminative behaviour that this woman expresses towards all Christians & their beliefs. She has the right to her opinions, but she doesn’t have the right to dictate what makes a witch; what makes a pagan; and she certainly doesn’t have the right to claim that this new age bullshit isn’t allowed to shelter under the huge umbrella term that is Paganism.

Right! Now that I’ve gotten the classic disclaimer that nobody will probs read out of the way, I’ll continue with this post; because I want to defend the innocent and curious Christians who stumble onto our beliefs. I want to tell them that all of them are accepted, in my eyes and the eyes of many other witches/pagans, and that people like this have no right to make them feel unaccepted & upset. And by the Gods, I want to let people know that I’m fucking pissed with this sort of behaviour—and I never thought that I’d actually have anything other than the classic jokes about all of tumblr being trigger happy, but the majority of the blogs that I follow on this site; are very accepting towards Christians, and craft.

And those blogs are generally run by amazing people, who may follow beliefs that are as old as time itself; or may be those excitable lot that Grumpy Ol’ Free rolls her eyes at b/c apparently there’s an entirely new branch of magick that has just been discovered, and Free is too fuckin exhausted with her own branches of craft to start looking into another—but I appreciate your positivity! And I appreciate your acceptance towards change, because...let’s be real here; our religion is one that is all about change, experimenting & constant learning.

And to those who might not be acceptant towards Christians practising your beliefs; I understand! I understand your distaste, or your concerns, I really do. Speaking as an autistic member of society, I’ve always been sceptical towards neurotypicals; I’ve straight out hated the idea of being anything other than a lil tolerable towards them—and I still hate it when NTs attempt to get involved with autistic culture, purely because I’ve experienced all sorts of abuse and discrimination for something that I cannot control. Regardless, I appreciate those who are respectful; which goes for the majority of witches & pagans in this community—you don’t agree with it, but you aren’t sending anon hate to every Christian; Muslim; or whatever who happens to be practising our craft. And I can respect that! The majority of those who disagree with the acceptance are very respectful & get on with their lives; but are given a very bad name by people like the woman above—who refuses to be respectful, kind or anything other than spiteful & hostile. And thus, I happen to be real fuckin’ pissed rn. xP

“First of all did you miss the traditional part. Oh I believe you did, and I’m speaking of true pagans. Heatheans!”

*Deep breath* First of all, traditional paganism branches to a number of different beliefs; Roman—Norse—Celtic, and there are a number of others. (To those who have more information on the topic, I do encourage you to comment where you believe my own personal knowledge on the situation is incorrect or has worded information incorrectly; I won’t be mad—I’ll appreciate your help!) From my own knowledge on the term heathen; the word was originally used as a derogatory term against the invading Vikings, due to their lack of faith within the Christian God—and their multiple statements towards having multiple gods. Over time, it has grown into a word to describe multiple different religions or beliefs; though the most infamous would be those who follow Norse Paganism.

The term pagan was also used; but again, was a derogatory term against them. According to Google (where I place my trust, because I lost my dictionary, rip), the definitions of pagan and heathen are the ones that I’m about to share below, though I’d like to state that the terms are vastly used for multiple religions, etc. I’m honestly just stating them so that we’re all on the same page:

Pagan, Noun: A person holding religious beliefs other than those of the main world religions. || Synonyms: Heathen, Agnostic, Sceptic, Athiest.

Heathen, Noun: A person who does not belong to a widely held religion; especially one who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim. // A follower of a polytheistic religion: a pagan. || Synonyms: Pagan, Atheist, Agnostic.

Note: Google has also listed Heathen as a derogatory term, I’d just like to note. Of course, it doesn’t have to be; and I’ve personally considered myself to be Heathen on a number of occasions, but I’d just like to note.

*Cough cough* Of course, I can see the argument that this woman is bringing into the situation. Christianity is not listed as a synonym for either definition; and therefore that must mean that Christians are incapable of being accepted. Fair enough, I guess she has defeated me; by the old Gods and the new, I admit that this woman has caught me out—and this entire post...is pointless. *Gets prepared to delete the whole post, and pretend that I was never upset* But wait! To those who happened to take careful note of what this woman said in the first picture, I hope you noticed the one crucial thing this woman stated:

“A True Traditional Witch is Pagan!”

Oh boy, am I glad that the internet is running smoothly at the minute; because there is nothing that I love more, than adding more definitions to close a witch bitch down. Not that she’ll ever see it, but who cares? A small portion of my 42 followers will probably see it, so at least the hate will be minimal, am I right? :p

Witch, Noun: A woman thought to have magic powers, especially evil ones; popularly depicted as wearing a black cloak, pointed hat and flying on a broomstick. // A follower or practitioner of Wicca or of modern withcraft. || Synonyms: Sorceress, Enchantress, Necromancer, Wiccan.

We won’t go into the definition of Wiccan; because this post is long enough, without going into explicit detail the difference between Wiccans and every other path that happens to fall under the umbrella that is Paganism. Plus, I ‘ve already pissed off enough people with this post; I don’t need to upset those lot, too—because my life is hexed enough as is...I don’t need y’all coming for me. :p

Anyway, onto this undoubtedly confusing post that is the longest ‘fuck you and your shitty discriminative opinion’ to some woman who will never see this post; this woman believes that true and traditional witches are Pagan—but does anyone notice that the synonyms for Pagan & Witch are missing each other? This all falls back to the usual info that we all hand to new witches or pagans: you don’t have to be Pagan to be a witch, and the same info goes vice versa. So no, traditional witches don’t have to be Pagan; it all comes down to choice. Witches can be whoever the fuck they want; and whilst the most popular choice is to follow the Wiccan path, that doesn’t cut out the possibility of other choices. So! Christian Witches are very much possible, and are very much allowed; they aren’t some stain that you can wash out with elbow grease and discrimination.

In my opinion, as long as everyone is respectful & not shoving opinions down everyone else’s throats about their beliefs and such; I don’t really give a fuck. However, this woman (and her merry lil’ group of admins who are close-minded AF; yet claim to be the opposite) caught my attention, because she is not only spiteful towards those who are Christian Witches; but towards those who are attempting to be open-minded and supportive of Christian Witches. Honestly, if she was stating her opinions in a more mature way; rather than behaving as though she has the power to dictate and control, I wouldn’t really give a damn. However, since she isn’t; the woman is getting a tumblr post made about her. 😊

Props to Lena & Inannas for attempting to communicate their thoughts, and defend those who aren’t allowed to defend themselves without having a shit storm brought onto them by people like this, in a mature & informative way. Y’all have my respect, especially because you didn’t fall into her baiting. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[everysea-everystar-blog]

Otherkin Challenge

I got this challenge from the blog @justanotherkin and thought it would be a good thing to fill out on my new tumblr! I’ve made very minor changes to some questions. 

1. What name do you go by? What is the significance of it to you? 

The name I go by usually isn't something I’m very comfortable with sharing here, but that has a lot of importance to me because I’m transgender and choosing my name has made me a lot happier. Online, I tend to go by Bumble, which is just a silly nickname but cheers me up. I believe my selkie-self is called Sìoda but I don’t call myself that. 

2. How old are you? What is the gender you identify as? (human) 

I’m 18 and I’m a nonbinary trans guy. 

3. What are your kintype(s)? 

Selkiekin, alienkin, spiritkin, felinekin, and I’m questioning monsterkin. 

4. How long have you known that you are otherkin? How old were you when you awakened? 

I think I’ve pretty much always seen myself as nonhuman and had connections to certain species and such, from a very young age. However, I didn’t know about the existence of otherkin or therians until much later, and was actually against the communities for many years. I think I was just in denial and wanted to join in with everyone else making fun of otherkin. I only started getting involved with the community about a week ago. 

5. How did you find the otherkin community? 

At first through tumblr, and then just searching around for forums and group chats. 

6. How does being otherkin affect your life? 

It doesn’t really affect me much daily, though I definitely feel a disconnect from humanity almost all the time. I do experience “species dysphoria” but I wouldn’t compare it to the level of discomfort that gender dysphoria brings me. I also have some paranoia about friends/family finding out about my identity. I’m homesick most of the time, too. 

7. Are you “out of the metaphysical closet”? If so, to whom? 

The only people I’m really “out” to are those on otherkin group chats or forums, and that’s very anonymous to be honest. I spoke briefly about my worries with my best friend a little while before joining the community, but didn’t want to press the issue further because she clearly doesn’t get it. She wasn’t mean about it though. 

8. How did/would your family react to you being otherkin? 

They would either laugh at me, ignore me, or think I’m crazy. Probably all three. (Sidenote: I am actually mentally ill, so I think my parents would believe that me being otherkin is a symptom of this. I know that isn’t the case, but there you go.) 

9. What does being otherkin mean to you? 

It simply means that I am aware of my nonhuman identity and my nonhuman selves, in whatever form that might take. It’s just a part of my daily life that I’ve recently come to terms with and makes me understand myself better. 

10. How do you believe you came to be otherkin? Is it a psychological connection? Were you reincarnated? Explain. 

This depends on which kintype we’re talking about, so I’ll give it a go: 

Selkie: I’m living a parallel life with my selkie self 

Alien: I was “reincarnated” into my human body from an alien life, and my soul is still alien 

Spirit: As a being, I’ve always been a guardian spirit 

Feline: I have a feline soul alongside mine 

11. What do you hope the otherkin community will be like in ten years? Are you for public awareness or against it? Why or why not? 

I hope that the community is even bigger in ten years time, and hopefully viewed with less contempt from the outside world. However, I’m not really for public awareness, because I think it will only bring us more hatred. Also, I don’t view us kin as an oppressed group, and would therefore like to focus more on the support of genuinely oppressed groups such as POC and LGBTQ+. 

12. Do you have phantom/astral limbs? What are they and how do you feel them? 

While not so much a phantom/astral limb, I often feel the texture of my seal’s tail as a selkie on my legs, as well as other sensory experiences like seaweed and cold ocean water around me. I also have nose and mouth twitches that I believe are related to my cat’s whiskers. 

13. Do you mental shift? Have you ever harmed yourself or someone else during one? 

I do mental shift sometimes, but it’s never been dangerous. The only possible danger is that I might try to do things that my human body can’t really do (e.g. swim in very dangerous waters, go on very long forest walks - I have a disability so this is impossible). 

14. Have you ever mental shifted at a time when it could be considered inappropriate? 

I think some of the times that I go nonverbal (I’m autistic) are triggered by mental shifts, and that’s always “inappropriate” or at least inconvenient. 

15. Do you astral project or practise any occult crafts? 

 I’m a witch currently trying to get back into his practise. 

16. Do you feel you are any sort of danger to society? 

Not at all! I might have some “weird” beliefs and be nonhuman but I’m generally very peaceful. I wouldn’t hurt anyone unless they hurt me or someone I loved. 

17. Does your nonhuman identity complicate everyday life for you? If so, how? 

As aforementioned, the only real impact being nonhuman has on my daily life is feeling disconnected from humanity. This does cause a decent amount of social and emotional issues, as well as “species dysphoria” interfering with my moods. 

18. Why do you believe are here as a human? 

I’m not really sure about this one to be honest, but it could be linked to me being spiritkin: maybe I’ve been sent to specifically protect the nature on earth for the time being. Still unsure, though. 

19. Are you active among the otherkin community? 

Recently, yes! I’d love to be more active on the tumblr kin community too, but I’m scared about all the anti//kin things that I might end up seeing. 

20. Are you religious? What faith do you follow? Does it contradict your otherkin identity or do you feel that the two are synonymous somehow? 

I don’t follow any sort of organised religion; I like to think of myself as a semi-theistic Pagan. I believe in Mother Earth and have thoughts of a great Universal Spirit, but I don’t “worship” them as such. This does’t contradict with me being otherkin at all - in fact I think it might explain my spiritkin identity. 

21. Have you ever been emotionally, verbally, or physically harrassed simply for being otherkin? 

I haven’t experienced this directly, but the fear of it happening is why I’m very private and secretive about being otherkin. I’ve witnessed a lot of online bullying and mockery of us, and for a long time I was one of those people being mean to otherkin/therians because I just wanted to fit with what I saw people saying. 

22. Do you efel you are oppressed because you are otherkin? 

No, not really. Oppression is based in societal systems and ingrained belief, and to be honest it makes complete sense that humans wouldn’t understand people claiming to be nonhuman to any extent. I do think that the bullying and mockery is unnecessary and cruel, but I wouldn’t call it oppression. 

23. What is your take on fictionkin/mediakin/factkin? What about machinekin and appliancekin? 

I’m not sure I really understand fictionkin, but I’m not really against it. However, anyone who gets angry at a writer or other person involved with fiction because they aren’t adhering to their kin canon is just rude, and threatening to harm yourself over this is incredibly disturbing. I would consider myself fictionhearted with multiple characters, and have no problem interacting with fictionkin as long as they aren’t rude like I said before. I definitely have a problem with factkin, as I just see that as identity theft. I really can’t get my head around machinekin and anything else that isn’t living or spiritual, because I don’t believe that a non-living thing can exist in a human body, but I don’t think those people are inherently bad. 

24. Did the awakening process seem relatively easy or difficult to you? Why? 

If I refer to the process of accepting my nonhuman identity as my “awakening” then it was definitely difficult. Like I said, I spent years making fun of otherkin - not actively or online, but with friends, and I would sometimes look at the tags on tumblr - which I know realise was me trying to cope with being nonhuman. Making the transition to acceptance was scary. 

25. What do you think of the information provided online about otherkin - is it relevant or not? 

Most of the things I’ve found have been relevant, but a lot of articles written by non-kin just don’t have a very good understanding. 

26. How has your otherkin/therian identity defined you as a person? Do you feel as if it has given you morals that you didn’t have before? 

I think that coming to terms with my nonhuman identity has helped me be more accepting of other people’s identities as long as they don’t harm themselves or others. I think my general confusion surrounding vegetarians/vegans comes from me being selkiekin and felinekin, but I have nothing against those people. 

27. Have you learned any life-long lessons due to your otherkin identity? 

Nothing is what it seems. 

28. What do you want to do with your life? 

I’d like to go into animal care as a career (e.g. pet rehoming shelters, conservation, ethical farming, animal sanctuaries, etc.) as well as being a writer and musician on the side. I’m willing to do any job in the meantime that doesn’t involve too much social interaction. 

29. Do you have any tips or advice for young and/or newly awakened otherkin? 

Get the “tumblr savior” browser extension (or any alternative you prefer, I think xkit is quite popular, do your research) and blacklist any anti//kin tags you can think of. This will bring you a lot of mental peace, trust me. Surround yourself with positivity but remember to keep a critical eye. Find ways to live in balance with your kintype(s) as opposed to having a jarring double existence. You may have to accept the fact that “coming out” as kin in your public life will likely cause more harm than good. Make online friends. 

30. Anything else you’d like to share with us? 

I’m so glad I’ve finally joined this community - I’d been scared for years.