Chirp! Bark! Hey!
Funny plural system made of a murder chicken, a murder dog, and just some guy talk about their life.
Funny plural system made of a murder chicken, a murder dog, and just some guy talk about their life.
Written by Jude Rook-Machina on August 14th, 2025. Originally posted to the Conceptfolk Dreamwidth discussion group.
Hi, this is Jude! We JUST got out of the impromptu post-Othercon conceptfolk discussion hour a bit ago and it was GREAT, kudos to you Julian for facilitating the conversation! I typed out some of my answers to the discussion questions in chat, and I thought it'd be helpful to repost them more publicly here for other people to check out! Generate some conversation, maybe!
What elements make up your conceptuality? How did you first come to understand it?
So there's many different elements to my conceptuality - but altogether, humanity is my keystone!
Humanity is the lens through which my conceptuality presents itself! It colors my interpretation of being a dog, being (like) an angel, being an android, and being a person - if I weren't connected to being human, maybe I'd be a dog in a therian way, being a dog who barks and wags their tail and longs for perky dog ears and a snoot, but I'm not: I'm a dog as the human interpretation of dogs!
How does conceptuality feel compared to non-conceptual identities?
My conceptuality is VERY different from my nonconceptual identities - it's about Themes and Narrative and Story, as opposed to how I'm an android and a human being. I have a very concrete life as an android, and as a human! I'm not the idea of an android, I don't feel any connection to android stereotypes or symbolism (and in fact, I don't relate to them at all!) - I'm a literal android!
And on the other hand, I'm a metaphorical dog - I DO feel like I relate heavily to the themes and narrative and symbolism surrounding dogs, specifically the narrative of being abused then biting the hand that hurt you, being a bit too loyal to people who don't care about you, learning to be open to the love you deserved as unconditional rather than given as a reward for good behavior. I'm so connected to being a dog in a metaphorical way that I AM a dog, kinda like how I AM an android (rather than relating a lot to androids!), so I'm a pretty good example of how a metaphorical alterhuman lens can Also be a literal one at the same time! I am a dog (idea), while not being a dog (species) in the same way I'm an android (species)!
My fallen angel archetrope is another good metaphorical example! But this time around, I Don't identify as an angel. I haven't ever been a literal angel and I'm not one now! And again, I really really relate to their narrative arcs whenever they come up, specifically the part where god decides to punt them from heaven for being sinful so now they're stuck on earth and sad about it, except I didn't get sad (after the initial wailing), I Got Better because I flipped my god off and killed her, because I Like Humans more than her conditional bullshit love! I'm not a literal fallen angel because every time i think about Literally Being one it feels Wrong and Incorrect, but I am someone who vibes with the ideas of them!
How do you embody your concepttype in day to day life, in small ways?
Honestly I don't know? I am human right now, in body and in species identity (I'm transspecies! I transitioned to humanity! It's great!) - so I think basically everything I do touches my humanity and my conceptual keystone in that way. It's really nice!
Getting into the specifics of my 'types, I like to think I embody doghood whenever I accept the love I'm given, rather than doubting it and fearing it's going to be gone too soon. It's not gonna vanish, my people are sticking around this time, they care about me because I'm lovable even if I'm going through a hard time. I sync up with my fallen angel 'type by defying perfectionism and just trying to get things done the way they work for me, and by connecting to my own desires even when other people might call them unsavory. (I'm enjoying things for myself and I don't need to give the time of day to anyone who judges me for my tastes!)
How does your conceptuality interact, impact, and influence your identity in general, not just your alterhumanity?
First off I really like hearing "we're all human" as a way of saying "we all make mistakes," because that includes me in humanity in a nice way and you'd be surprised at how rarely that happens when you hang out in alterhuman spaces and are open about being a headmate!
And I really like stories that resonate with me on a narrative level - stories about someone who's overemotional and gets in with the wrong crowd, someone who lashes out and hurts others and ruins lives and learns eventually that they can stop, they're safe to stop, they're safe to breathe here. People aren't obligated to forgive them, but anyone who hurts them for being imperfect can shut up. I like a lot of hurt/comfort fics for this reason!
And for a third thing, it's given me a lot of friends! I didn't meet my friends because I'm conceptfolk, but I like my concepttypes for giving me an idea of what sort of narrative I want to chase for myself - I want to love and be loved and live without shame getting in my way, and I'm not all the way there yet, but it's something to strive for! And by embracing that, I'm being brave and reaching out to people and being loved by them. And that's really nice!