There isn't a word for every single experience and there doesn't need to be

But I feel like there is a particular dichotomy that I strongly associate with in an undeniably alterhuman way: the dragon and the phoenix. In any form they're portrayed; sometimes a dragon is a wild beast and a phoenix is a bird of golden fire, but sometimes a dragon is a storm and a phoenix is the sun, sometimes a dragon is a solar eclipse and a phoenix is the totality—in any manifestation, it feels like me. But it's not anywhere close to dragonkin or phoenixkin or mythological therianthropy at all, because I am not a dragon nor a phoenix. I know by now, having questioned, confirmed, and even 'linked both multiple times throughout my life. It's the symbol. The symbolism is what I am, the illustration, that contrast. The dichotomy is what represents me. Maybe I actually am something of a diptych!

I don't think every experience or identity under the alterhuman umbrella needs to have a word for it. If I can explain myself and how I feel, then it's real. A deep dive into Latin roots isn't going to help me get myself across any easier to most people because whatever word I come up with isn't going to be something anyone else already knows and understands, like therian or archetrope. I'm starting to feel the same way about our horror-genre experience, though I'm not sure if I'm even the one it applies to, so I'm not sure if I get to make a call about whether it gets a label or not... but the dragon/phoenix thing seems to just be me, and I say it doesn't need one. More discussion of unnameable identities is healthy for the ecosystem. It gives more people the space to have experiences that aren't named in the first place.

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Going back through my blog's old posts

Something we've been doing to note who may have made certain posts and tag accordingly, or just add old posts to newer tags for fun. It's interesting though to recognize where patterns develop and who may have been present for when and for how long. And how it influenced our interests (or were influenced by)! For example, scrolling through spring of 2022, we see a LOT of Vestige, Fishke, Sender, and Fenn, a little bit of Ben, and Alias closer to the summer, but not much NOCH, Quasar, Levi or Stranger to speak of. Understanding why for a lot of those is just the tip of the iceberg. (I mean, Sender is just obvious, spring 2022 lol (that context is just for me and 3 of my closest friends)... and Ben started to be more active with the release of Prehistoric Planet, same with Alias and Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe.) Other patterns are also interesting. So much of our posting during that time was this deep fictionkin thought which tracks well enough for a Vestige and Fenn combo deal. Well. Mostly Vestige. The months in between January (when we'd have "the recurring Knight flicker") and March–April (when we'd have "the recurring Snufkin flicker") was always a hotbed of fictotype questioning so of course spring is when Vestige would be running around in our head knocking over pots and slaying higher beings and whatnot. It always has been.

See also: that's when we started questioning bugs for the first time, hence me and Sender. You gotta wonder which was the chicken and which was the egg though. Either way it's fun to go down memory lane and remember that the first arthropod we ever questioned was a damn beetle.

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