Furries

Lucifera is an old friend. Very helpful with details of SL. Builds stuff. Has a  barn full of avis. This is a chat on furry philosophy ...

[2021/01/25 13:02:49] Lucifera Heartsong: There is a range of sizes across my avatars, for those. Believe it or not. :D

[2021/01/25 13:03:15] Lucifera Heartsong: This one's smaller than the two before, slider-wise, for example.

[2021/01/25 13:04:20] Lucifera Heartsong: And the goal was to create something that was in theme for the club, while not looking repulsive, and retaining some kind of professional elegance.

[2021/01/25 13:04:33] BetttyVerdant: works for me

[2021/01/25 13:05:57] Lucifera Heartsong: The next one didn't have a tremendously deep concept to start with...someone at a store was talking to someone else and said in local, "What would happen if the genie from Disney's animated "Aladdin" was female, or had a sister?" And that got me wondering...

In SL the journey from "wondering" to "real" can be very short ...

[07:12:31] (You): 

[07:12:40] (You): but FOR second life friends

Showing video

[07:15:30] Lucifera Heartsong: That was over the Blake Sea?

[07:15:46] (You): yes yesterday

[07:16:31] (You): just zooming around with a friend

....

[07:30:39] Lucifera Heartsong: And yes, the grizzly bear is the newest avatar, which has the added benefit of discouraging male attention. I could do clothing layers, since this body has the same add-on layers that maitreya has, but I had stopped buying appliers years ago, for the most part.

[07:31:35] (You): showing furry video

[07:32:19] (You): I don't go hunting for art in "real life" or second life but my camera is ready when I see it

[07:33:08] Lucifera Heartsong: Ah, I stumbled on that very spot a while ago.

[07:33:32] (You): Naked is full of them

[07:34:31] Lucifera Heartsong: I'll admit some surprise about your dance partner, though, given what you've said in the past about furry avatars.

[07:34:46] (You): he's just another horny guy

[07:35:33] (You): Shows naughty video

[07:35:57] (You): interesting but not a real turn-on for me :0

[07:36:08] (You): not a long term interest

[07:39:35] (You): so now you are caught up ...

[07:39:48] Lucifera Heartsong: Well, I mean, if you at least had a good time, right?

[07:40:00] (You): I operated the camera

[07:40:08] (You): for me not actual sex

[07:40:13] (You): for him, a good time

[07:41:23] (You): he doesn't have the sense of humour to pull off being a horny wolf

[07:41:54] Lucifera Heartsong: I guess it also depends on how he defines himself, if he is presenting as a horny "wolf" or not.

[07:42:26] (You): presentation is art

[07:42:37] (You): some people suck as artists

[07:42:54] (You): we all do our best (or should)

[07:43:42] Lucifera Heartsong: I kinda get that. When I create an avatar, whether it's for a roleplay character or not, It's an exercise in creative expression.

EXACTLY

[07:44:36] Lucifera Heartsong: But all the fuzzy ones are created under the same basic overarching concept, regardless whether it's for a character or not.

[07:45:13] (You): explain pls

[07:45:20] (You): and may I blog this?

[07:46:19] Lucifera Heartsong: If you like.

[07:46:32] (You): thank you very much

[07:46:39] (You): so what is the concept of furries

[07:46:58] Lucifera Heartsong: I can only speak about my own, though I know some others that agree.

[07:47:18] (You): yes of course

[07:49:56] Lucifera Heartsong: The first point actually does apply to all furries, though: None of them are animals, from the scientific perspective. If we look at the word "sentient," it's often misused by folks to mean "thinking beings," like humans. "Sentient" *actually* means creatures with senses, emotions, and self-awareness. A cat is sentient, as is a dog, a horse, a human. But "sapient" is the one that means thinking creature, on or near the human level. (See "Homo Sapiens," or "Thinking Man," as a reference). A sapient creature is not an animal, even if it's not human.

[07:50:28] Lucifera Heartsong: A quick reference for the two terms: 

[07:50:40] (You): I agree, go on

[07:53:34] Lucifera Heartsong: From my own direct, more personal perspective, most of my fuzzy avatars are for characters with backstories and such. But even the ones not created as such are still based on a common concept - they are all actually and genetically HUMAN, with a collection of genetic mutations and deformities that individually might be disfiguring or debilitating, but as a collected whole create a non-human and visually coherent appearance. The horse-like ones do not have horse-breath; they eat regular people food, and brush their teeth, and so their breath smells like yours or mine. The "fur" is fine, dense, short human hair. They smell like humans, not barnyards or "wet dog" or such.

[07:56:03] Lucifera Heartsong: The concept was actually inspired by something in a vintage sci-fi novel called "Babel-17," where people could get cosmetic surgery on a scale and level of detail that could turn them into just about anything. One of the protagonists had himself re-constructed to resemble a humanoid lion. His "fur," however, was created through stimulating growth of human hair over his body.

[07:56:40] (You): I often think of being re-born as an eagle

[07:56:45] (You): but not fond of the diet :)

[07:57:38] Lucifera Heartsong: My equines, felines, one canine and the bears all prefer normal human cuisine like you or me: steak, fish, fresh fruit and vegetables...I'd rather have McDonalds than eat raw meat or fish.

[07:58:56] (You): (total non-sequator - humming birds attacked my drone last night)

[07:59:36] Lucifera Heartsong: This explanation actually turned out to be a big relief for a friend of mine; she had been imagining the smell of barns and horse-breath, and found that imagining instead the scent of toothpaste on breath and hair conditioner elsewhere to be MUCH more pleasant.

[08:00:07] (You): I see

[08:00:57] Lucifera Heartsong: I do have to deal with others in the furry population not understanding that though...explaining that no, I don't have a "mating season," no, I don't make animal noises in normal conversation...

[08:01:55] (You): I have a lovely dog furry - gets old fast - not sure what to *do*

[08:02:09] Lucifera Heartsong: The only time I use references to my appearance tends to be self-deprecating humor, or puns.☺

[08:03:35] Lucifera Heartsong: What to do? I mean, you really don't change avatars on a regular basis like I do. And you don't really feel like being a furry for much of the time. Otherwise...well, I just do what I do. Whatever avatar I happen to be wearing. I go dancing, or lounging at the tub, or flying, or playing a game of Skipee, or building...

[08:03:35] (You): the wolf did that

[08:04:33] Lucifera Heartsong: Puns?

[08:05:00] (You): well just generally a guy who happened to be a wolf

[08:05:10] (You): as I said not much creativity

[08:05:24] (You): I wanted him as a prop for a scene I had in mind

[08:05:30] (You): or a creative friend ...

[08:05:39] (You): second part did not work out

[08:07:09] Lucifera Heartsong: Well, here's the other aspect of that...I could say, "be" the character a given avatar was made for. I run then into a problem: the overwhelming majority of people in SL are not into RP at any level, and some even get offended if you RP at them without consent. People tend to be much more comfortable with what I tell them: you're getting me, not a character. I'm not RPing with you, I'm being me, another fellow human, regardless of what I look like.

[08:08:42] (You): god-to-god conversation above the world

[08:09:10] (You): I need to descend to a universe to really have fun :)

[08:09:43] (You): but avatar is a prop  lots of the time - furry or not

[08:10:10] Lucifera Heartsong: And yes, I will act differently depending on avatar, because each avatar brings out a different aspect of me. This is actually a recent bit of self-discovery.

[08:10:27] (You): no kidding

[08:10:43] (You): I think a woman changes her hair to become a slightly different person

[08:10:55] (You): we are shape shifters starting as little girls

[08:11:15] (You): men get it

[08:11:31] (You): hubby extra frisky when I have new hair or just a haircut

[08:12:51] Lucifera Heartsong: For a long time I had been treating my list of avatars (now at 57 total) like outfits, wearing one every day. I decided to change that at the beginning of the year, down now to only 10.

[08:13:39] Lucifera Heartsong: The idea is to perhaps be less disorienting to people, but also to focus on the smaller number so I can make clothing outfits for them.

[08:13:45] (You): I do think consistency adds to the "feel" of being here - for others too

[08:14:47] Lucifera Heartsong: Yes. So I cut down drastically, and of those that are left, they're both favorites of mine and ones people associate strongly as a "typical Luci avatar." And fully half of them are human.

[08:16:02] (You): I have 4 fairly decent alts but don't run them often

[08:16:13] (You): I really enjoy Betty

[08:16:19] Lucifera Heartsong: I remember when you did the makeover on one of them.

[08:16:27] (You): yes

[08:16:36] (You): CM01 I think - Catwa head

[08:16:42] (You): she's cute

[08:16:46] Lucifera Heartsong: I could never afford to do what I do across multiple alts...that would cost a not-so-small fortune.

[08:16:49] (You): I do like Catwa

[08:16:58] (You): right

[08:17:13] (You): I have maitreya in 3 - new classic in 1

[08:17:50] Lucifera Heartsong: I do have everything from here mirrored exactly on my one alt, but two is my limit, I think.

[08:20:43] Lucifera Heartsong: I have...five heads by Catwa, two by Lelutka, one by LAQ, seven by GA.EG, and then the assorted ones for the various fuzzy avatars.

[08:21:32] (You): are we getting distracted from the WHY of fuzzes?

[08:22:07] Lucifera Heartsong: Actually, there's a very, very long history of them in human culture, dating as far back as the Egyptian gods, if not farther.

[08:22:50] Lucifera Heartsong: They have very, very expressive faces, and in the right hands such characters can be used to tell powerful stories that reflect on human nature and touch us deeply.

[08:24:42] Lucifera Heartsong: They also work fairly well as representations of alien races (I think it's somewhat arrogant to assume they'd all be simian-seeming like humans.)

[08:27:03] Lucifera Heartsong: Something else I've found that surprised me (but in retrospect maybe I should have seen coming) is how ridiculously popular this grizzly bear has been compared to my other avatars...

More later ... Lucifera is always up for a philosophical chat ...