🖤🩶 for Deerpaw
🖤(Character specific)- When did this character realize their identity? How did they initially feel about that realization?
Deerpaw is aroace! But honestly, she didn't really realize that's what she was for a long time. When she heard stories as a kit about cats getting mates and having kits, she always found that to be so boring. Deerkit was a tattletale/strict rule follower type of child, EXCEPT when it came to the whole "mates" thing. Like, "Oh, it's normal for adult cats to get together and become mates and have kits." That just did not compute with her tiny mind because it just didn't make sense to her. Why did they need to become mates, that's stupid. When cats around her treated romance as a normal thing, she slowly got a bit more nervous about it - she didn't like the idea that she would HAVE to fall in love and have kits someday, especially not in these woods. She didn't understand how some mollies would WILLINGLY have kits.
Believe it or not, she actually realized she didn't have to through talking to Redstar. Redstar never really felt any kind of romantic or sexual inclination towards anyone - she wasn't opposed to it, but she would need to be with someone she trusted a lot. She never quite understood just "feeling romance" on its own. Redstar told her that she was not obligated to take a mate or have kits, ever, if that's what she wanted. And that's exactly what Deerpaw wanted. She was stoked that actually she was right all along so take that, dumb fairytale stories.
🩶(Character specific)- Did this character use any other labels or terms before finding the right one(s) that truly fit? How many?
Honestly, mostly by default she told herself she probably liked toms if she really had to force herself to make a choice. But that was thrown out the window immediately the second "hey you don't have to like anyone that way" became an option.
