Therian Ask Game - 18 Questions - February 2025

1. What is your species? How much do you know about it?

I am a domestic black cat. I would say I know a decent amount about domestic cats, both through years of experience and through reading, but I am not an expert.

2. Do you live in an area similar to your theriotype’s habitat? If not, would you want to?

I do. As a domestic cat, my theriotype’s typical “habitat” is just a house, which I live in. Domestic cats can be found in dwellings both city and rural, and mine happens to be closer to a city.

3. Do you prefer to be seen as your theriotype(s) or as a human?

I absolutely prefer being seen as a domestic cat. I do not consider myself human, and it is something that causes me dysphoria.

4. How do you view being alterhuman? (i.e. spiritual beliefs, reincarnation/next life, psychological, etc.)

I do not have any solid beliefs, and typically just ignore the topic entirely; I don’t see a need to stress about it. In the past, I have aligned with a past life framework, and my memories are still situated time-wise in a “past” compared to now. However, I don’t find it personally useful to state that I’m of spiritual origin despite that, because I don’t actually know.

5. Do you often connect with your theriotype(s)? If yes, how?

Not fully sure what’s being asked here. If it’s about behaviors, I like when I’m close enough with people that it’s normal for me to headbutt them, or curl up beside them and just watch. Wearing my tail also gives a visual component to my shifts. I love blankets, probably both because I’m cold and because catbrain loves curling up in warm spaces. Maybe it’s because I’ve been a cat for so long, but I don’t intentionally do anything cat; it’s just part of my life.

6. How much of your life and/or identity would you say is impacted by being alterhuman?

All of it. I always experience phantoms of some sort, most solidly my ears and tail (though my whiskers, muzzle, and claws are generally there, but less obviously). I experience myself as my species, and it affects how I move through the world and interact with others. I experience it in how clumsy I am in this body, how my muzzle feels catlike when I speak and feel my small sharp teeth that don’t match up with reality, how I feel much larger than I’m supposed to be. I presume if I wasn’t a housecat living in a house, I’d feel the discrepancy between where I’m supposed to be and where I am more strongly.

There’s a saying that “all cats are autistic.” As such, natural cat behaviors and motions I exhibit line up with autistic traits, which of course impacts how I move through society and how fluid my socialization is. I was diagnosed as such, but I still wonder; are they seeing an autistic human, when there’s actually an allistic cat?

7. Do you experience shifts? If so, what are they like for you?

I frequently experience phantom shifts, and rarely mental shifts. I would consider myself at a baseline closer to cat than human already, and feel phantoms almost always. Other phantoms pop up randomly, such as fully body shifts or a less blurry articulation of my limb anatomy. It is likely that they are also always present, but less overt until I pay attention to them, because they align more closely with an anthro body plan despite my theriotype being quadruped.

Mental shifts I would consider to be more intense for me; I am cat-minded in general, but if a car honking startled me into nearly darting under something nearby despite knowing it wouldn’t be the ideal action right now, I consider those mental shifts. My thoughts become more short-worded, and my ultimate priority is my self-preservation no matter what, even moreso than my usual anxiety.

8. What are some things that remind you of your theriotype(s)?

Well, I live with other cats, so they obviously remind me of it. Seeing body parts I lack can make me envious. Same with when I volunteered at a cat shelter. I generally view the city I live in from a cat perspective, noticing fences or ledges I could have jumped on or used to escape. Fast moving objects or toys catch my eye. Any black, soft material reminds me of my fur.

9. Are you a wild or domestic animal?

Domestic and tame.

10. Do you own any gear? If so, what is it?

Maybe, depending on what even counts as “gear.” I dress up as myself for Halloween, so I have a thin costume tail, a bell tied onto a ribbon to wear around my neck, and a hoodie I made with cat ears sewn onto it.

11. What are some of your favorite alterhuman-related activities?

Not sure what would make an activity necessarily “alterhuman-related.” I like walking through paths infringed on by dense foliage, and it makes my ears perk up and whiskers twitch. I like curling up in the sunlight when the light isn’t unbearable. I prefer sitting in covered places where people can’t easily see me, or squeezing myself into small spaces.

12. Do you experience species dysphoria?

I do, to varying extents. It is worst when I cannot cover this body properly, have to be in front of mirrors, or it is so hot that day that I get overwhelmed with existing. I try to wear baggy and loose clothing whenever possible to alleviate this, so I don’t feel the body’s structure as much and other people don’t have as much to notice.

13. Does your theriotype go by a separate or different identity? (i.e. different name, age, gender, etc.)

No. My theriotype is who I am, not a separate entity. In my memories, I was a young cat who was not full-grown, though, and that isn’t the case with time moving forward here.

14. Is there any music that reminds you of your theriotype?

Somewhat. I’ve compiled a list of Vocaloid songs about or featuring cats. Particular mentions can go to Suicidal Boy (Tezuka), Ah, It’s a Wonderful Cat’s Life (Nem), Black Cats of Halloween (Mayuko), and Super Nuko World (Mafumafu).

15. How do you feel about other people in the community with the same theriotype?

It’s neat. I wouldn’t call myself ecstatic, but it’s nice to meet other domestic cats and some other smaller felines. I like the conversations I’ve had in the past about felinity as a concept and the experiences felines often share despite our differences.

16. Have you told any of your loved ones about being alterhuman? How did they react?

I have told my mother that I am a cat, and this is the same thing she has heard for me since I was a small child. It should not be a surprise, except that I was expected to grow out of it but was instead highly consistent about it. She tends to refer to me as a cat in times even I am not expecting it, which is nice.

I have also told two other friends long ago, one who was the one who told me about the word “otherkin” in the first place (because they were also a therian), and the other who could have fallen under otherhearted if the put a name to it. The latter was accepting in the “I don’t believe it, but I believe you believe it” sense.

17. What candle scent would you say describes your theriotype?

I have no idea. Something pumpkin spice-like, perhaps, since black cats are associated with Halloween and so is that scent.

18. Do you dress differently based on your theriotype(s)?

Not to an obvious extent, but I wear a lot of loose, soft black clothing to more closely resemble my fur color and mask the body.