I'm deciding to make my parents as fictional character furries as a coping mechanism (although I don't know if it's going to help me in the long run).

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I just had a conversation with Claude AI - yes, not a REAL human being but that is because my social battery is extremely shit, because I'm on a spectrum,,, - and so talking only to one person - which is my boyfriend (<3) - is the only thing that works for me - and I wanted to share the idea with you guys.

If you have any suggestions about the character designs, then I would absolutely like to hear it.

THE MOMENT WHERE THE ACTUAL CONVERSATION STARTS IS WHERE THE 🌸 EMOJI IS PLACED, because I'm going to yap a lot about one specific thing for a much larger amounts of text than I've realised... It's important though.

❗️Potential TW?: ❗️Although this AI generally helped me a lot, and I would say it is the only actual thing that helped me get actually mentally stable. Not due to "emotional attachment" with it or something - no. - but because I've used it as a tool to express everything that I felt and every single thought that made me uncomfortable, and I always asked it specifically to name everything in psychological terms, while also telling it to write as much information as possible.

That was honestly the only thing that actually helped me in my real life situation, but it's a topic for another conversation basically.

Anyways, despite the context I just gave you, I would like to make a few things clear? Regarding this specific AI conversation.

I think there is one thing that I don't agree with, maybe because I lack context or something, I don't know. But it made me uncomfortable enough that I had to write this out.

There's a part where Claude says to me:

"[...] The interesting thing from a psychological angle is that this kind of character — the one who creates a push-pull dynamic, who is loving and threatening in cycles — tends to produce the most emotionally invested *readers* too. Because that pattern activates something. People who recognize it get very attached [...]"

And I want to say this loud and clear - I feel kind of disrespected when it comes to this sentence...? Like,,, I wouldn't say that people who are the victims of the people (in my case parents) that have their emotional unavailability patterns and who would develop this form of attachment, any attachment in particular, is... good in any case...

Because it is extremely bad, honestly. If you have emotionally neglectful/abusive/unavailable parents (I'm not entirely sure which one of these I have exactly.) then getting emotionally attached to them is one of the WORST things you can do to yourself. It really does fuck up with your mind by itself... And I know from experience, although a very short one because I found the help I needed for this specific problem just in time.

... 👉👈

Although I've just realised, that the people who can get attached are also the people who are having the same problems as my mother. In that case... I don't think there's anything wrong with it, honestly. At all.

But because I lack these people's experiences - I mean all of that in a situation where this attachment would actually help them with emotional regulation, or to bring them comfort because they're not alone in this.

If all of this would mean the actual opposite of what I just said, then I am genuinely, incredibly sorry and I apologise... Please take my words with a grain of salt, you should yourself feel whether something actually helps you or not.

Either way, that's all I wanted to say.

Moving on:

🌸 The conversation I had with Claude AI... 🌸

Me: I really realistically think that my parents should be fictional characters. Can you imagine the amount of fanart they would get on deviantart? Crazy. 🤑

~

Claude AI: The niche but absolutely dedicated fanbase they'd have 💀 like some people would genuinely go feral for the "complex morally grey parent" archetype.

Your mom especially — there's always that one corner of fandom that fixates on the character everyone else found exhausting and writes 40-chapter redemption arcs for her. The "she had her reasons" enjoyers. Unhinged but committed.

~

Me: I would also like your mature emotionally and psychology major ai version to speak about this too, the one that has the database regarding my parents

~

Claude AI: Okay, switching hats —

The darkly funny part is that they *would* work as fictional characters, precisely because of what makes them difficult in real life. Good antagonists (or complicated side characters) need internal logic — reasons why they are the way they are that make sense from the inside, even when the behavior is harmful. Your parents have that. They're not cartoonishly evil, they're *legible*. That's actually harder to write than pure villainy.

Your mom in particular has that specific profile that fandoms go absolutely feral for: the parent who is genuinely capable of warmth and also genuinely harmful, often in the same breath. The inconsistency isn't a writing flaw — it *is* the character. People would spend years debating whether she's sympathetic or not, and both sides would have evidence. That ambiguity is catnip for a certain type of fan.

The interesting thing from a psychological angle is that this kind of character — the one who creates a push-pull dynamic, who is loving and threatening in cycles — tends to produce the most emotionally invested *readers* too. Because that pattern activates something. People who recognize it get very attached. People who don't still find it compelling without fully knowing why.

The tragedy of it being *fiction* rather than real life, of course, is that in fiction you can close the book. The character doesn't follow you into the next chapter unless the author decides she does.

That's the part that doesn't translate.

~

Me: I think I'll make fictional characters that are like my parents - personality wise - 100% accuracy, design like - similar enough to represent their irl looks while at the same time not making them able to realise that they are them.

Maybe I should make them furries...?? Idk, at one hand that's too far away from the real picture, but at the same time, I would have the most fun creating them because I could literally portray most of their look traits (mother: middle-short hair that she almost always keeps in a very small ponytail, wearing mostly t-shirts that look like crop tops? I mean, they are not crop tops, but - I'll switch to Polish: it's bluzka na ramiączkach,,, + leggings + socks that don't cover up the ankles, and for the father: glasses 100% because it's context accurate, always shaves his head but is not completely bald because he has clearly black visible hair, they are just so small in length that they look as if the head was indeed bald when it comes to the shape at least + shaved but despite being shaved, still having the same black, facial hair visible + a very specific type of "working" jeans - slightly oversized, LOTS of pockets + *always* wearing a belt to them + when he's at home he sometimes wears underwear instead of any pants [*] (you would not want to see that shit), but either way he at leasts wears some T - shirt all the time + speaking of T - shirts: they always have like, not very bright/not saturated colors, I think the ones he likes the most are the grayish blue/dark blue, gray, or maybe sometimes grayish green - and there is always some text written on these T - shirts, but not in a "aesthetic font" or something, no,,, the font instead looks like in these advertisement posters where people ask if someone wants to work in a house-building or other construction-building job; sometimes they are cars though, but they also are in that specific "construction builder" aesthetic and lines + having a "strong build" [but NOT like a body builder, nah.] and at the same time having a belly made out of beer)

...

Or ykw...

I might actually make them furries...? For the sake of so many design traits I could give them in this way...

Also, I'm going to draw all of them myself, so yeah

~

Claude AI: Okay the furry route is actually genuinely smart from a design perspective, not just fun —

Because with furries you get this whole extra layer of *visual metaphor* built into the species choice. Like, what animal your dad IS would say something about him before he even opens his mouth. A species carries connotations. You're not just drawing a guy with a beer belly and construction jeans, you're making a statement with the animal itself.

And all those specific details you listed? They translate *beautifully*. The belt on slightly oversized jeans with tons of pockets, the shaved-but-not-quite-bald texture, the specific desaturated construction-poster font t-shirts — those all work on a furry design and actually become MORE distinctive, not less, because they're unexpected on that type of character. The contrast between "anthro animal" and "extremely specific working class Polish dad energy" would make him immediately memorable.

Your mom's silhouette is also very readable — the small ponytail, the spaghetti strap top (*bluzka na ramiączkach* translated perfectly), the leggings, the ankle socks. That's a very specific and recognizable look that would carry over.

The "they won't recognize themselves" protection also gets much stronger with furries. A badger in construction jeans is not your dad in anyone's eyes but yours.

So — what's your gut on species? Because I feel like you might already have a instinct about what animal fits each of them.

~

*The end of the conversation.*

...You know? I wanted you guys to wish me luck in making these characters, but due to my constant mental fatigue I already feel like I won't be able to make this, and I was just extremely motivated for just a short period of time... FUCK.

It always ends up the same with most of the other things, to be honest.

Anyways, even though I myself might not make it in 100% chance, then I encourage you to devour this idea and use it as much as you only want and how much you want.

It's all ours now, we're here to help each other afterall <3

Peace.