Tiffany

28 | She/Her

Tiffany is a freelance illustrator, making money from home off of commissions and monthly donations. She usually makes enough to cover the cost of her rent, but every so often her parents step in to cover the rest if she's not able to make enough for the month. Does a lot of work in furry circles -- Changeling regularly commissions art of its fursona from her.

She's a big fan of the Robot metaphor; Tiffany is not a robot in the same way that Changeling is a wolfdog, but it's not too dissimilar either. She is not "a robot" and doesn't exactly "wish she was one", but does use the Robot Lens as a metaphor and viewpoint towards her perception of self and experience of the world. She doesn't usually bother explaining it to other people.

She has a massive collection of Littlest Pet Shop animals, as well as dolls. A decent portion of her followers are from the work she does making One of a Kind custom dolls, but she maintains a dedicated collection of unaltered originals as well. She is also a dedicated lover of spiders in all their varying shapes and sizes. She hopes to one day have a pet tarantula, but doesn't think she can afford one any time soon. For now, she contents herself with watching over the spiders that set up shop in the corners of her bathroom.

Tiffany has a relatively high-pitched voice and tends to have trouble with tone -- either coming across a little singsong Or what would colloquially be called "bitchy". She's tried her best to modulate it better, but hasn't had much success. People often tend to interpret her as snarky or sarcastic, but she is usually quite earnest. Really makes an effort to fit in socially, and largely succeeds -- she doesn't have many Friends, but was well-liked in high school, and does her best to Mask in public. Self-conscious of a lot of her behaviors and doesn't feel comfortable being out in public unless she's very carefully modulating them -- will not stim in public, rehearses small talk and interactions to try to get them 'right' the first time, and tends to avoid talking about her interests because she doesn't want to get too excited about them and forget to watch herself. She doesn't resent her autism, and doesn't force things to the point of exhaustion/burnout, but is just very aware of how she's perceived and tries her best to be in control of it at all times.

Essentially, would rather be perceived as "Quirky" than "Autistic". She does have a genuine fondness for decorative fashion and alt-styles, but does lean in to it at least a little because if people are focused on what she's wearing, they're less likely to notice other 'odd' mannerisms. Usually wears headphones when she goes out in public to cut down on noise, and to avoid the potential for conversations she hasn't pre-prepared for. A lot of her clothes are subtly weighted to be more soothing while she's out and about; likes wearing pink-tinted heart-shaped glasses to cut down on bright lights while just looking like a cute fashion accessory. Usually wearing a cross-body messenger bag outside of the house so that she can hold onto the strap and keep her hands from wandering too noticeably.

Has a fair amount of dietary restrictions, not for sensory reasons, but GI reasons. Has a lot of stomach issues -- chronic nausea, IBS, etc. -- and has a hard time defining her food triggers, so tends to eat pretty repetitively just to try to keep her stomach under control. Won't go out to a restaurant unless she's looked up the menu beforehand and already knows what would be safe to order.

More prone to shutdowns than meltdowns when overloaded. The constant modulation of her mannerisms can get kind of exhausting, so she'll usually round off every excursion outside with a nap -- though, she does leave her house and spend time outside/with others more often than Changeling does. Will 'take off the mask' and self-regulate inside her own home, and when she's hanging out with Changeling and/or Augustus.

The one mannerism she can never quite shake is her preoccupation with control and her perception of the Right Way To Do Things. Tends to get worked up if things don't go the way She's expecting -- has a really hard time 'going with the flow'.

Tiffany doesn't live with her parents, but they do help her with her finances, since she can be quite bad with budgeting. She earns her own money with the work she does online, but needs help managing it, and occasionally needs her parents to help fill in gaps when they arise. Her and her parents get along pretty well -- they usually call her once or twice a week to check up on her, and will come down to visit her in person whenever she needs the extra help.

Tiffany and Changeling went to the same schools for most of their lives, although Tiffany tended to get along with her peers better than Changeling did. They weren't really friends in high school, but after Changeling dropped out, Tiffany wound up seeking it out again out of a strange combination of guilt for being a bystander/occasional participant in the gossip/bullying that Changeling faced, as well as a regret for not getting to know it better while she had the chance. They did wind up becoming actual friends, and Tiffany has continued visiting its house on the regular so that they can hang out together. They don't share a lot of interests, but Changeling is one of the only people that Tiffany is fully comfortable being Herself with, and that's a really valuable connection to her. Parallel play for the win <3 Since moving into her own apartment outside of the neighborhood, she doesn't stop by as often as she used to, but will usually visit at least twice a week and keeps up with Changeling via text messaging outside of that.

She met Augustus when they both happened to be at Changeling's house at the same time one afternoon. They really enjoy keeping each other up to date on their respective collections and trading bug facts with each other. Tiffany will often help Augustus with her hair -- since Augustus doesn't like to brush it herself very often. They occasionally have a tendency to butt heads, since Augustus is very laid back about things that Tiffany thinks should be more important, but it's an argument that has mellowed out some the longer they've known each other.