Polykin shifting?

[Alke]

I’m not polykin, so I’m wondering— how exactly do those shifts work? Do your kintypes overlap sometimes with mental/astral shifting and what does that feel like? Or are your kin shifts always separate?

 

[Velvet]

My shifts overlap.

I don't really notice any issues with my non-human mentality. Cat is a constant and argonian seems to be working it's way up there. Both are quite different yet there are certain similarities but I don't tend to find this as odd as my phantoms. All of the thoughts and instincts and such run through my mind, some I may recognise as being more human, more feline or more argonian. But I don't find conflict between them, sure they may differ at times but it's just like looking at things from different angles.

For feline my phantoms are always there so any other shifts always overlap them. Quite an odd feeling but I guess I'm used to it.
Sometimes I find my other phantoms will try and morph themselves to fit over the feline base, I suppose to make things seem more... 'normal' and less like I have two separate mouths or similar. That tends to end up with me feeling like some strange lizard cat hybrid creature.
Other times it's more like an overlay of one layered over the other which can be an odd feeling as it is like having two different jaws (well, three I suppose counting human) or clawed hands and paws all trying to occupy the same space.
It can get pretty weird, especially when my cameo shifts pop up to join the party as well.

 

[Anomaly]

I'm in a state of half one thing half another thing most of the time, sometimes three of four at once. In our subsystem (all of which are polykin with certain shared 'types) we usually experience being polykin a as sate of shifting being where sometimes some are stronger than others, but none fades out entirely. In a addition to what's shared we also have "base kintypes" which are almost always present, which in my case would be demigod, but note this doesn't mean we experience the others any less just in a different way. 

For what a combined phantom and astral shift is like (they tend to combine for us) for the most part it's like traits from one kintype merge with another. Most of the time they look like fairly neat hybrids unless the two that are together are very different physically. The ones that result in the later are more from kintypes we aren't open about publicly so I don't want to give specific examples. In my case my base kintype usually presents as whatever I  am has wings, meanwhile subsystem members like Max might have them appear more reptilian and Icarus with more ant/insectoid traits. 

For mental shifts we don't exactly experience those. As previously stated we do experience our multiple kintypes is a shifting state but I wouldn't call those shifts, more so just how it's usually experienced. For mental shifts the most I can think is sometimes we might act slightly more like our kintype but that's usually not noticeable or significant, and we don't experience mental shifts to the extent others might. 

-{Iros}(Demigod, Polykin) 

 

[Charias]

Hmm... for me it's like, hard to explain? Especially between my wolf and leopard theriotypes, because I'm constantly mentally both of them to some degree (which is why it took me so long to distinguish the leopard parts from the wolf parts - it all mushes together in my head). I'll get feelings and instincts from both species, but the basic feeling associated with them is the same; there's no clearly "wolf instincts" or "leopard instincts", but I can figure out where a particular instinct is coming from with a little logic. Wanting to run with a pack is clearly a wolf thing, while wanting to stalk and ambush is more of a leopard thing. Wanting to hiss at cats I see around is certainly a leopard thing, whereas my wolf instincts are either "ignore the cat" or "oh look it's a weird puppy, new friend!" depending on my mood.  :Raspberry:  

I don't get astral shifts, I don't think, but my phantom shifts have a similar level of fluidity and "mushiness" to my mental ones - I always have wolf ears, but I might use those ears in a feline way sometimes. Or I might have wolf ears and a leopard tail. Or a wolf face but leopard paws. It doesn't feel weird to me. Both theriotypes are equally me, and I'm one person, so my theriotypes are both the same me... just. In different ways, I suppose? It's hard to explain.

It's funny, I remember when I only knew about my wolf theriotype and didn't understand how anyone could be more than one thing! Welp, turns out the answer, for me, is that I'm not "more than one thing". I'm just three completely different things mushed and tangled together, with no clear division between them.

 

[Velvet]

It's funny, I remember when I only knew about my wolf theriotype and didn't understand how anyone could be more than one thing! Welp, turns out the answer, for me, is that I'm not "more than one thing". I'm just three completely different things mushed and tangled together, with no clear division between them.

This is very much how I view myself as well.

 

[Alke]

Hmm... for me it's like, hard to explain? Especially between my wolf and leopard theriotypes, because I'm constantly mentally both of them to some degree (which is why it took me so long to distinguish the leopard parts from the wolf parts - it all mushes together in my head). I'll get feelings and instincts from both species, but the basic feeling associated with them is the same; there's no clearly "wolf instincts" or "leopard instincts", but I can figure out where a particular instinct is coming from with a little logic. Wanting to run with a pack is clearly a wolf thing, while wanting to stalk and ambush is more of a leopard thing. Wanting to hiss at cats I see around is certainly a leopard thing, whereas my wolf instincts are either "ignore the cat" or "oh look it's a weird puppy, new friend!" depending on my mood.  :Raspberry:  

I don't get astral shifts, I don't think, but my phantom shifts have a similar level of fluidity and "mushiness" to my mental ones - I always have wolf ears, but I might use those ears in a feline way sometimes. Or I might have wolf ears and a leopard tail. Or a wolf face but leopard paws. It doesn't feel weird to me. Both theriotypes are equally me, and I'm one person, so my theriotypes are both the same me... just. In different ways, I suppose? It's hard to explain.

It's funny, I remember when I only knew about my wolf theriotype and didn't understand how anyone could be more than one thing! Welp, turns out the answer, for me, is that I'm not "more than one thing". I'm just three completely different things mushed and tangled together, with no clear division between them.

aaah that actually makes a lot of sense. Thanks ^^