Feelin Real Green.

So I have this bit, right? It's been a while since I've done it, but if I bring it up with my friends, they can still easily understand or remember the joke.

It's called the Dan Rules. It's often comedically egotistical and vain and was made because out of our little group, it was a joke that I am (as an act) an eccetric (maybe enigmatic if I'm feeling fancy) person who does whatever the hell I want.

If people thought to question my behavior, it was often quickly followed with a "that's just Dan" from my friends and easily dismissed. Sure, some of my boldness was probably left over from my middle school years, where I felt I had to lean into my weirdness completely so people would see me more as a joke than a freak.

But then I found myself in a safe, accepting environment, one where the need to bite and snarl and run away never came. I waited a while for it to arrive for me to feel the need to play the part of the fool for my newfound companions entertainment. It shocked me when I was left with genuine love and compassion. I leaned out of self-deprecating humor and completely into the (very obviously joking and fake) role of an egotistical short and angry ruler. For fucks sake we still have the name of the group chat as "Dantopia". I still did the bit to entertain my friends, to keep them laughing at my antics. But this time, it was accompanied by my own laughter. I enjoyed a new sense of freedom it brought.

The Dan Rules came out of when we were messing around, and I'd lean into this foolish king role, and I would proclaim something insane or childish. A popular one was, "Dan is never wrong." Often followed by a warranted scoff.

But the second rule is a good one, I think, one that really shone through as a reminder that I am not now who I was before.

"I do what I want."

I hadn't had much freedom before I met my current group of friends. I was quiet and kept quiet at times. I felt muzzled and chained, and as if I was a dog because someone forced a collar around my throat and pulled me on a leash.

It wasn't only that I didn't have the choice of self-expression, though. I'd also seen what happened to people who gave too much into reckless. I grew up with the weight of their actions carried on my shoulders, and while I have always been bold in my identity and beliefs, I was quiet and still when presented the opportunities to escape from situations where people kicked me down for who I was. I feared what would happen if I left my old group. Ironically, this fear led me to be isolated.

I found myself almost completely alone in the pandemic, and my only saving grace was a new school with new people. New people who didn't tell me to shut up or that I was ugly or that I needed to stop acting like an animal or they'd treat me like one. Instead, I met friends who handled me gently and taught me it was okay to hug just as it's okay to bark, and they welcomed me. I felt at home. I felt as if I knew myself completely.

So, with the second rule, which I still follow to this day, I added a private note.

"I do what I want. Because I can trust myself to."

Know thyself

I can trust myself to bark or scowl or growl just as much as I can to love and kiss and hug. I can stay aware of what is and isn't good and how much or how little I can trust someone. I can be bold and loving all at once and welcome others with open arms and flashing fangs.

I am in complete control over myself, and even when I am doing something so I can see my friends laugh, I am also doing it because I can, and I do what I want.

This looked fun.

1. I don't mind being called any of the things listed. I'd also add on shapeshifter. Not because I actually believe I can shape shift ( :[ ) but just that my form changes so much and my relation to my types is so fluid it really just feels like sometimes I sneeze and grow ears haha. It also plays into my interpretation of shape shifters.

2. I have a couple! A radioactive mutt (closely resembling the chernobyl dogs), a common raccoon, southeastern coyote, wolf (I've never been able to fully narrow this down to a specific kind, so I just say wolf.), and a livestock guardian dog (I haven't been able to narrow down which specifically, I think maybe a šarplaninac).

I'm kinsidering the chestnut wolf from Minecraft and one of my own characters as some kind of fictionkin, though I'm hesitant on claiming it :/

3. Probably the radioactive mutt.

4. For the mutt, sour candy. Anything that turns my tongue a different color. As for the rest, comfort foods and meat like chicken fried steak, brisket, potato soup, mac n cheese.

5. Green. Bright, bright green. Also, muted earthy tones.

6. I own lots of gear! I have a whole list about what I consider gear on my blog. I like to make masks and have made 4 for myself so far. I have a few collars, a pair of ears, tails, and gloves. I also consider all of my clothes and a lot of my jewelry gear. Even the way I dye my hair, I consider gear, haha.

7. It has made me more comfortable in my skin, and having a label and a community has helped ease a lot of the loneliness and yearning I felt before I considered myself nonhuman.

8. I'll never really be perceived by others the way I want to be, I can't change certain characteristics of myself to fit how I feel. It's harder for me to communicate with others at times because of how much of my communication is nonverbal.

9. I love hiking, camping, listening to certain types of music, dressing in clothes I feel fit my types, DIYing, and interacting with my friends and community. I get to act like a canine around my loved ones, and they don't mind.

10. I have several! Most of my types tend to revolve around the seasons, so I have different playlists for each. In the colder months, I experience more wolf and livestock dog shifts, so I listen to my winter woods playlist more. In the warmer months, I experience more raccoon and coyote shifts, so I play my summer woods playlist. My radioactive mutt type is present all year round, and I have a playlist dedicated to it called Apocalypse Dog Radio (lots of Gorillaz and other funky jams). Music is a huge part of my identity!

11. Outside of stuff I wear, I also have a ton of trinkets and such that remind me of my types and my hearthomes. I have a bunch of minecraft and some fallout 4 merch, journals I write in, sticks, rocks and shells, bells, and other little various things.

12. Yup. Lots of comfy clothes and layers. Either in warm tones or muted earthy ones. I love clothes I can go on adventures in. I also love Converse because they keep my feet close to the ground and feel like paws.

13. I used to when I was younger, and I had a fursona. I don't so much anymore, seeing as my types aren't characters. They're me. I think furries are really cool, though :]

14. I don't draw animals a whole lot but here's one of my radioactive mutt type:

:]

nonhuman asks

what term(s) do you prefer to be referred to as (otherkin, therian, nonhuman, etc.)?

what are you(r kintypes/theriotypes)?

most niche/obscure 'type?

what foods do you associate with your 'type(s)?

what colors do you associate with your 'type(s)?

do you own any gear? if so, what is it?

best/favorite thing about being nonhuman?

worst/least favorite thing about being nonhuman?

what activities help you connect with your 'type(s)?

do you associate any music with your 'type(s)? do you have a playlist?

do you collect anything besides wearable gear that you associate with your 'type(s), such as plushies or merch?

do your 'type(s) influence your sense of style or the way you dress?

would you consider yourself a furry? if so, do you have a fursona? is your fursona based on one of your 'type(s)?

draw or share your artwork of your 'type(s)?

this isnt a question but a request that you drink some water!

authors note: feel free to reblog! other beings can ask you questions from this list, or you can simply answer them all yourself.

Mask updateeeee!!! 🐕☢️

I touched up the paint a bit and gave myself some more fluff >:]

I'd like to own my own house someday. In my dream scenario, I'd own a few acres of land, and I'd build a guest house for my pack to come and go as they please.

Me and my mate would build a cob house specifically and model it after earthship homes. We'd have a conversation pit and a sun room, and we'd make everything nice and cozy. We'd have kids, and we'd raise them in a strong and loving community of friends who treat each other like family. I'd get to sit on my front porch like any other old southern folk, and I'd watch my pack run around happily in the safe haven we have cultivated for ourselves.

I'd like to foster, if I'm able, and provide others with a safe space to live for a while while on their journeys. Maybe I'd also rescue animals.

I'd learn how to farm and work towards being more and more self sustainable (which is already a real goal of mine). I'd repair old clothes and harvest my own food, and I'd give back to my community the same way they give back to me.

Nonhumans of Tumblr, what is your dream as “human”, if you have one?

Personally, I wanna move somewhere north (probably Sweden), own a cabin in the woods with my own garden and a dog, and a partner. Embrace my nonhumanity. Make music but also home-baked goods in my free time. Ideally no job, but since that’s not how the world works, I’d wanna do something with canines, other northern animals, or something out in nature in general.

I agree. I'm not really one to get into discourse often, but they're kids on a platform with a lot of information being thrown at them. I think it's only fair that the ones that do come here to seek out their community should feel welcomed. They're still learning, it's okay.

I understand the frustrations of older members of the community who have been here longer and are caught off guard hearing stuff like "therians don't actually think they're animals," but I also remember not being able to properly articulate my thoughts at 14, and let alone to a bunch of trolls on the internet saying death threats because I wanted to wear some cool accessories. They're trying to figure themselves out. They're going to get some terms mixed up and feed off the information being fed to them from others on the platform. Plus, a lot of people still think Tumblr, for the most part, is dead. I did! They might not think there's anywhere else they can go to find community! That would suck!!! So for some of them, tiktok is all they've got.

The older folks I might be a little firmer with. Some of them do know better to do their research before just yelling into the void. However, some of them don't, and when they show up, they might learn that they should.

I will also add that some of these adults are also just finding out what they are through tiktok and that some big-time creators might not want to educate others on their community over and over again. There are different cases for everyone as to why they're not well informed about some aspects of the community when others think they should be, as well as why they aren't correcting their audiences as quickly and efficiently as we may want them to.

It's so easy to press record and say a bunch of stuff and post it to the masses. It takes more time to actually type out your thoughts for a closer knit community like on here (that isn't to say any people who make tiktoks don't work hard on them, just that your thoughts come out a lot faster when you say them rather than when you write them.)

Give them some time to gather their thoughts and explain their identities. The last thing I'd want is for someone to feel like they aren't welcome when they're just innocently looking for answers.

with tiktok getting banned soon, kinblr might see an uptick in ex-tiktokers coming here to seek out the 'kin community

because of that i just think we should be a little nicer ? ? i saw a post saying that "Tiktok Therians tainted the word Therian with hate" n like. i get disliking kintok for the misinfo and the harassment and the hate of beings with more complex 'kin identities but TAINTED??? to say they ( a community made up if mostly teenagers ) TAINTED therianthropy is actually insane to me

i am not a kintok defender in any way but can you all take like a few chill pills and go have an apple or something ?? holy shit i feel your frustration but your anger is misguided we should not be biting each other

we should be holding paws ( or claws fins hooves idk whatever u use to grab shit ) and like. singing kumbaya

I think one of my favorite feelings is whenever the season starts to change and I can slowly feel myself being pulled more and more towards my coyote and raccoon theriotype with all of the sun and berries and greenery growing. I know I'll still feel my wolf and that it will return a lot stronger once the earth grows cold again, but for the time being there are snacks to eat and dirt to paw at and sunny patches of grass and clover to be slept in.

Hey! Heeeeyyy! The 2000s called >:D

I answered. It felt nice to hear the memories of my childhood echoing through the receiver. I heard the ocean, back when the 30 minutes it took to drive to the beach felt like an eternity. You were there too, mumbling something over the waves and the cars engine.

I've been thinking about my hearthomes today, specifically my post apocalypse one, so I made a playlist for it.

It's very green and overgrown and has a lot of places to explore and I miss it.

I wear this collar because it's STYLISH! AND MY GIRLFRIEND GAVE IT TO ME >:[

It makes me feel NICE and I LOVE HER

Dear wild canine alterhumans, you’re allowed to use and enjoy domesticated canine esc gear. Collars and chew toys and dog beds. You’re still wild.

Me when I look at pictures of cryptic messages on old TVs, and suddenly I remember strange staticky laughter and some adrenaline inducing feeling that isn't mine but still familiar. WHO ARE YOU!??? WHO ARE YOU STRANGE TV MAN AND WHY ARE YOU IN MY HEAD!?!??!

Overactive imagination? Weird fake memory??? Idfk