Furr-sona or Personal Furry?
Apr. 21st, 2004 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoI am taking the liberty of lifting these questions from a friend, whose journal is not entirely public. The questions and their answers relate to the issue of furriness that I have delved into in earlier posts.
1. If you could be one of your characters, which one would you be and why? For those of us who may not know what species you are, please state character name and species, and if you like, attributes such as height. If you don't have a specific character (and why don't you?) say what species of creature (humanoid anthro animal - no taurs) you would physically manifest as.
On the surface, this doesn't seem too difficult for me. 'Tivo, as he appears on Furrymuck and Tapestries, is me. Gentle, a bit timid, intellectual and thoughtful, vegetarian by nature, friendly, loyal, committed (or was that "should be committed?") and slow to anger. Though he has a quad form that looks just like a normal Clydesdale, 'Tivo differs from my other equine characters in that he usually takes anthropomorphic shape, walking on two hooves with human-like hands and a more human flexibility of frame than a true horse has. Clydes are taller than most horses, heavier though by no means the heaviest, and very well-endowed with horse-hair in the form of long manes and feathered fetlocks. 'Tivo retains these attributes and in addition has kept his natural-length full tail, unlike many draft horses who are deprived of their beautiful tails shortly after birth in a cruel, wicked human practice that is based entirely upon "fashion". As an anthro-morphic, 'Tivo stands about 8 feet tall, more or less, in keeping with the height that would be normal for a Clydesdale. Unlike many characters (notably those on Tapestries) he makes a point of not displaying his genitals in his description. He considers that rather crude and uncouth.
2. As this creature, how would you act? Take note of how your character acts on the muck (or your prefurred online social environment). Would you act exactly as you do now, as a human, or would your character act in a significantly different fashion? Be aware that you would be an anthro critter in a world full of humans. You may want to have some sort of Somebody Else's Problem field around you - nobody can see you truly as you are, and therefore nobody freaks out. Or you might like people seeing a six foot tall fox wandering around and would either be afraid of you or be very curious about you.
This is not so simple to answer. 'Tivo is myself. Is that because I, the human, am horselike in some ways? I think so, rather than that I make 'Tivo a human. If a horse could speak and had a more flexible body, and was exposed to education and intellectual pursuits, such as reading and music, what would he be? Human or horse or some mixture of the two? I imagine 'Tivo as being rather like the native American, or Australian aboriginal if you will, who is plucked from his own culture and sent to be "educated" in European schools. Perhaps he does very well there, earns a couple of degrees and gains some renown as a cricketer or polo player or some similar not-quite-mainstream athletic prowess. Then he returns to his home. Does he become a missionary for European culture (usually what was intended by the educators) or does he pretend to forget everything and meld back into his own world? For 'Tivo, the answer is neither. He is a horse, wants to be a horse, has no intention of changing that. But now he brings to that equine nature an extra sophistication, if you will, that is drawn from his deep exposure to human cultural values and mores. One thing 'Tivo doesn't engage in is casual or mindless yiff, whether because of cultural values or simply because his human counterpart never could quite do that either remains unclear. Probably both reasons apply. If furriness is sexuality finding expression (and many seem to think it is so) then 'Tivo's sexuality is diffuse and gentle, rather than intense and greedy.
3. When you 'become' this character, would you want to leave your current human life behind, or continue on as you have been going? Do you have obligations that you would want to see fulfilled or are you happy to leave that and start afresh?
There was a time when I would have said I could abandon everything in my mundane life completely, and without regret. I was much younger then. Today I cannot say that. Like my native American in the analogy above, I would undoubtely try to meld all aspects of my life and friendships into a coherent whole. That is what I am always trying to do anyway. As a human, my totem is now the horse (not the Mustang known to the native American, but the calm, loyal, hard-working Clydesdale) and as a horse, my guiding spirit remains at least part human. Horses are herd animals, and they do not like being parted from their friends or forced to break their regular routine behaviors. So also with 'Tivo. He doesn't wear clothing in the human sense, though occasionally he may adopt some item as if were decorative or a symbol. He doesn't engage in the petty battles over territory or ownership that humans seem to love so much. He likes to eat, but lacks the undivided focus on food that characterizes a horse (who has to spend much of the day eating just in order to maintain body weight) and, from an equine point of view, might seem rather a picky gourmet. He pays more attention to grooming and appearance than a horse might, but lacks the obsession with appearances that often characterize the human. Above all, he seeks to share his own inner peace with others, not by preaching it but merely by letting it overflow into his surroundings.
1. If you could be one of your characters, which one would you be and why? For those of us who may not know what species you are, please state character name and species, and if you like, attributes such as height. If you don't have a specific character (and why don't you?) say what species of creature (humanoid anthro animal - no taurs) you would physically manifest as.
On the surface, this doesn't seem too difficult for me. 'Tivo, as he appears on Furrymuck and Tapestries, is me. Gentle, a bit timid, intellectual and thoughtful, vegetarian by nature, friendly, loyal, committed (or was that "should be committed?") and slow to anger. Though he has a quad form that looks just like a normal Clydesdale, 'Tivo differs from my other equine characters in that he usually takes anthropomorphic shape, walking on two hooves with human-like hands and a more human flexibility of frame than a true horse has. Clydes are taller than most horses, heavier though by no means the heaviest, and very well-endowed with horse-hair in the form of long manes and feathered fetlocks. 'Tivo retains these attributes and in addition has kept his natural-length full tail, unlike many draft horses who are deprived of their beautiful tails shortly after birth in a cruel, wicked human practice that is based entirely upon "fashion". As an anthro-morphic, 'Tivo stands about 8 feet tall, more or less, in keeping with the height that would be normal for a Clydesdale. Unlike many characters (notably those on Tapestries) he makes a point of not displaying his genitals in his description. He considers that rather crude and uncouth.
2. As this creature, how would you act? Take note of how your character acts on the muck (or your prefurred online social environment). Would you act exactly as you do now, as a human, or would your character act in a significantly different fashion? Be aware that you would be an anthro critter in a world full of humans. You may want to have some sort of Somebody Else's Problem field around you - nobody can see you truly as you are, and therefore nobody freaks out. Or you might like people seeing a six foot tall fox wandering around and would either be afraid of you or be very curious about you.
This is not so simple to answer. 'Tivo is myself. Is that because I, the human, am horselike in some ways? I think so, rather than that I make 'Tivo a human. If a horse could speak and had a more flexible body, and was exposed to education and intellectual pursuits, such as reading and music, what would he be? Human or horse or some mixture of the two? I imagine 'Tivo as being rather like the native American, or Australian aboriginal if you will, who is plucked from his own culture and sent to be "educated" in European schools. Perhaps he does very well there, earns a couple of degrees and gains some renown as a cricketer or polo player or some similar not-quite-mainstream athletic prowess. Then he returns to his home. Does he become a missionary for European culture (usually what was intended by the educators) or does he pretend to forget everything and meld back into his own world? For 'Tivo, the answer is neither. He is a horse, wants to be a horse, has no intention of changing that. But now he brings to that equine nature an extra sophistication, if you will, that is drawn from his deep exposure to human cultural values and mores. One thing 'Tivo doesn't engage in is casual or mindless yiff, whether because of cultural values or simply because his human counterpart never could quite do that either remains unclear. Probably both reasons apply. If furriness is sexuality finding expression (and many seem to think it is so) then 'Tivo's sexuality is diffuse and gentle, rather than intense and greedy.
3. When you 'become' this character, would you want to leave your current human life behind, or continue on as you have been going? Do you have obligations that you would want to see fulfilled or are you happy to leave that and start afresh?
There was a time when I would have said I could abandon everything in my mundane life completely, and without regret. I was much younger then. Today I cannot say that. Like my native American in the analogy above, I would undoubtely try to meld all aspects of my life and friendships into a coherent whole. That is what I am always trying to do anyway. As a human, my totem is now the horse (not the Mustang known to the native American, but the calm, loyal, hard-working Clydesdale) and as a horse, my guiding spirit remains at least part human. Horses are herd animals, and they do not like being parted from their friends or forced to break their regular routine behaviors. So also with 'Tivo. He doesn't wear clothing in the human sense, though occasionally he may adopt some item as if were decorative or a symbol. He doesn't engage in the petty battles over territory or ownership that humans seem to love so much. He likes to eat, but lacks the undivided focus on food that characterizes a horse (who has to spend much of the day eating just in order to maintain body weight) and, from an equine point of view, might seem rather a picky gourmet. He pays more attention to grooming and appearance than a horse might, but lacks the obsession with appearances that often characterize the human. Above all, he seeks to share his own inner peace with others, not by preaching it but merely by letting it overflow into his surroundings.
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Date: 2004-05-05 11:19 am (UTC)