(15:11:11) Chansey RN: Hi. This is Deja, Rikoshi's friend. Are you available right now or should I pester you later?
(15:14:40) Ranna: I'm available now.
(15:14:40) Chansey RN logged in.
(15:14:55) Chansey RN: All right then.
(15:15:13) Chansey RN: Thanks.
(15:15:21) Ranna: No problem :o)
(15:15:43) Chansey RN: Firstly, what do you define as a furry? I find that this is the hardest thing to explain to people.
(15:18:07) Ranna: Ah. Well.. of course, you're going to get a different answer from everyone, but for me.. hmm. I suppose it started out more spiritual for me than it is now - with a certain feeling of connection to foxes or whatever - but lately, in the past few years, it's turned into more of a community thing. It's something that my friends and I all have in common so, even when we're not talking or doing whatever online, we still have something to talk about just among ourselves in person.
(15:21:08) Chansey RN: I guess the next obvious question is the one someone asked Rikki, why a fox? Is there some quality about them that you identify with or that you hold as an ideal?
(15:23:05) Ranna: I think it started mostly as a means to get attention :o) I saw that foxes were popular.. oh.. six and some years ago, so that's what I chose in order to get attention. I guess it sort of stuck, though it seems widely agreed that people think I'm more of an otter. I don't know how they decided that...
(15:23:32) Chansey RN: So you were a part of the community before you had a particular fursona?
(15:24:54) Ranna: For a little bit, yeah. As soon as I found out about it, it was sort of a slippery slope and it didn't take long for me to get pretty deep into the whole thing.
(15:25:24) Chansey RN: What was it that attracted you to the furry subculture in the first place?
(15:27:37) Ranna: A couple of people and a website. At the time, I was a moderator on a bulletin board, and a few of the people there were furries. They got me intrigued, and after a search, I found the site yerf.com with a bunch of art on it, and I guess that's how it began.
(15:28:13) Chansey RN: Have you been to any of the conventions?
(15:32:06) Ranna: Yes, I went to Anthrocon this year, and I'm going to Further Confusion in Januar.
(15:32:07) Ranna: y
(15:32:42) Chansey RN: When you go, do you meet with a lot of new people or people you already know online?
(15:33:09) Ranna: Hmm.. at AC, I pretty much just stuck with Rikky and his housemates, along with a few others, but I met some new people..
(15:33:33) Chansey RN: Have you been to other cons? Like anime or gaming cons?
(15:34:21) Ranna: Nope..
(15:34:44) Chansey RN: OK.
(15:35:17) Chansey RN: How did dealing with the people in person change from how it was online?
(15:37:46) Ranna: It was a little strange at first because, like you suggested, everyone was very affectionate, but in a rather different context. People seemed used to, you know, swishing their tails and such which isn't too terribly possible in person :o)
(15:39:20) Chansey RN: Did it translate in to other shows of affection then?
(15:40:19) Ranna: For some people, yeah. For others - people with whom I'd been affectionate online - we never touched once, and in some cases, it was even a little awkward.
(15:41:08) Chansey RN: Because they weren't as affectionate? Were they more aloof or just more introverted in person do you think?
(15:42:30) Ranna: For the situations in which it was awkward, I think part of it had to do with the shock of meeting them in person - it's really easy to change how you are online from how you are in real life - but yeah, there were situations where one or the other of us was just not quite as extroverted as we might have seemed.
(15:43:03) Chansey RN: So I take it you're fairly new to the community or did you spend more time being part of it online before you went to the convention?
(15:43:30) Ranna: I spent more time online before making it to AC - about six years.
(15:45:44) Chansey RN: Wow. OK. Does this tendency towards affection translate out of community? Like, since becoming a part of it, have you found that you're more affectionate with non-furry friends and your family or does is this something that only gets expressed in the community.
(15:47:24) Ranna: I think that it has translated a little bit towards friends, but perhaps the opposite with parents and strangers, just because, with parents, I'm a little worried about their opinion on the matter, and with strangers (or, rather, new friends) I'm worried about weirding someone out.
(15:48:34) Chansey RN: Moving back into the furs, how does it get expressed publicly? Hugs and light touching mostly?
(15:49:19) Ranna: Yeah - leaning against, playful poking, and the like.
(15:50:05) Chansey RN: Is the culture as "sexually open" as most people think it is?
(15:52:23) Ranna: On the internet, it can be, but not as much in person. I think a much smaller percentage of furs are as "out there" as people think - at least in public. It is, however, a good deal more sexually open than non-furry culture - though some people on campus rival that image :oP
(15:52:50) Chansey RN: So it's no dorm. Or Dragon*Con. ^_^
(15:53:09) Ranna: Hehe, nope.
(15:54:29) Chansey RN: How do you feel about being a part of this community?
(15:56:44) Ranna: Comfortable, though increasingly less so. I'm starting to get feelings of "dug myself into a hole" with the whole online thing, though that's not restricted completely to furry. Also, a lot of strange new people joining from all of the media coverage.
(15:57:24) Chansey RN: Are they the FoxWolfie Galen type or the cat-fangirl type or just new folks?
(15:59:14) Ranna: Hehe, um.. hmm. There does seem to be an influx of cat-fangirl types, but, well.. the current trend seems to be really young AOLers who seem to be in the whole thing just to get a 'mate', which varies anywhere from someone you TS with every other night to someone you bitch about in public.
(15:59:31) Chansey RN: TS?
(15:59:52) Ranna: Tinysex - cybering, or.. er.. 'typefucking', as it's known c.c
(16:00:04) Chansey RN: Ah! I thought so. Never heard that term.
(16:00:49) Chansey RN: Well, I think that about covers it. If I find anything else, I'll probably pester you. Do you have any other comments or thoughts or just something you'd like to add?
(16:02:07) Ranna: Hmm.. not really, other than I'd be interested in seeing a draft or final version of what you've got, just to see what you found out - it's something I've wondered about for a while now.
(16:02:29) Chansey RN: I can get that to you tomorrow afternoon, if that's all right?
(16:02:59) Ranna: Oh.. er.. I have run into a few people - myself included - who seem to feel that they'd be intensely uncomfortable in a relationship with a non-fur.
(16:03:01) Ranna: Sure.
(16:03:18) Chansey RN: Hmm. Any particular reason why?
(16:03:21) Chansey RN: If I may ask.
(16:04:37) Ranna: Well.. I tried at the end of last semester, and it really didn't work out for me just because I felt like I would be hiding a large part of my life from whomever I was with, even though my partner was interested in learning about it.
(16:05:02) Chansey RN: OK. Thanks.
(16:05:22) Chansey RN: All right, I'll probably have the work done up by tomorrow evening and I'll send you off a copy.
