If an alternate version of me was… forced.. to identify as character, does that still make present me ‘kin of that character?
I would say if you still do ID as that character, then yes. If you don’t still ID as them, then no, probably not.
it certainly affect my identity, at least. A good number of traits from then have carried over into this life and have been present for years even before my awakening as them. like I said in my tags, I have identified as them for close to two years now, I was just suddenly curious about the semantics of it all.
My rule of thumb is just that if you’re not sure, check the definition. The why’s and how’s don’t matter as much as actually following the definition, and it looks like you do so you’re good.
But semantics are still fun sometimes. 😮
The wording here is a tiny bit off I think (unless I misunderstood you @shadowfae!)
Understanding your identity is infinitely more important than the term you choose to use for it, and no one should ever try and form their sense of self around preexisting terminology with the goal of fitting into a label. However, what often gets lost or forgotten (especially on Tumblr) is that you also shouldn’t ever use a word for yourself simply because you want it to fit you or you like the idea of belonging to a certain community.
That said, though, semantics are definitely an interesting part of nonhuman identities. @tsugamori Personally I think in a case like this, it depends a lot on how it currently affects you. It doesn’t necessarily sound like a kin thing to me, since it was something adopted (albeit forcefully) rather than something inherent, so is it possible that it’s a hearttype or something similar?
In this case, I don’t think you misunderstood so much as I forgot not everyone uses the definition I do. :p Victim also let me know that my wording wasn’t the greatest.
The definition I use for otherkin is roughly ‘someone who identifies partially or entirely as a nonhuman (or fictional, in the case of fictionkin) entity on a nonphysical, profound, and involuntary level’. In this case, if Tsuga still IDs as the character, they’re good in my book as fictionkin. If they don’t, then the label doesn’t fit, simple as that.
I don’t really consider labels to be all that important for much other than building a community (catch me putting my c’links, otherlinks, and kintypes all together) so to me it doesn’t matter exactly how someone came to identify that way – if it’s nonphysical, involuntary, profound, and they identify as the thing, they’re good in my book. The hows and whys get super diverse, so there’s no way to say someone’s in or out based on that, that’d be silly.
I don’t too much forget about wishkin, but I know pretty well Tsuga’s not one of those people, so I did gloss over some nuance that I figured didn’t need to be mentioned. I probably should make that a little clearer next time.
Thanks. 😮
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