honestly, i have to say i think that's the risk in creating characters that aren't nice and are likely to cause fights. if you're worried about her not having any friends, maybe you could ask to prearrange acquaintances with other deer? or you could try to find like-minded or more tolerant characters for her to be friends with? c:

I ran into the same problem when I brought Fusion into the forest. She was naturally violent, but I didn't want to cause strife or make people upset because of it. It's not real easy to explain who your character is and what they do while running around in-forest.
I ended up changing her, really, making her stay away from other deer. I don't like it much, but I don't want people to be mad at me. If you find a good solution to your issue, I'd like to know it too, please.

My Zahava, as you've probably noticed, is pretty violent and stoic.. And to show for it, she doesn't have really any close relations and there are quite a few who dislike her. I do think it is just what comes with more violent characters; you can't really just expect others to like her if she reacts certain ways to them.
I think a very important thing to do is make sure you look up the character and make sure it's IC before having any kind of interaction involving anything unpleasant though.

Thank you all! These are really helpful C8
And yea-she normally won`t immediately attack something. She seems to do more of a "bluff" charge to intimidate or scare the other thing off. She doesn`t really react out of "oh look something`s over there let`s go beat on it." She acts out of a certain mentality because her past was violent-she was raised in a warlike environment, where she and others had to be constantly on guard. So while she doesn`t attack right away, when she does attack it`s normally because she`s in an unfamiliar situation and feels as if she`s threatened.

What I`m probably also forgetting is the fact that she just entered the forest. I don`t know that if in time the forest-which is a generally calmer place than the one she came from-will in turn mellow her a bit. I know that she`ll potentially have characters that dislike her-but that`s a risk that comes with every character created.

Once again, thank you all! ♥

Thank you, Seed! Yeah-right now, she`s mostly trying to figure everything out. She isn`t always sure what means what. For example, if she sees deer playing fighting, she might get confused and wonder if they`re trying to attack each other.

And while her "feral" instinct might be to intimidate or scare off the other creature, she does have sense. She probably won`t attack something that she knows is bigger than her. I think that by using the word "feral", I`m confusing myself a bit. It`s more like her species is naturally intelligent, but warlike and chooses to run on more feral, or animal like characteristics. Her reactions to some things are more a result of her violent past and the way she was brought up in a rather warlike society. She was raised surrounded by violence, so she reacts to unfamiliar situations with violence. She might not always do this-since her species is capable of intelligence, she might try to assess the situation before reacting first.

So, it`s kind of like this: She chooses consciously to react with her instinct because that is the way she was caught. Her "conscious" decision is more like a habit because of the way she was brought up. She can consciously change her decision, but currently, she is on guard and actually a bit scared because she`s in an unfamiliar environment.

She`s still in development, though; it`ll be interesting to see how she develops!

I didn't say they were dirty, offensive, or mocking. I meant that, like with certain types of jokes, you don't just fling them around in all circumstances equally, because when the other person isn't in on it, it can come across the wrong way and hurt feelings. But when the other person is in on it, it's good times and people can enjoy.

I might be repeating some of the things that have been said but, I agree completely with everyone who's said, "it's your character, you should play it how you want." If you want her to have certain tendencies / traits / behaviours, go for it. Shape her how you want to, she's your character, have fun with her.

On the note of aggression towards other characters, it's really not so unrealistic; even to predators, a lot of prey will bluff and try to make themselves appear bigger, or show off their strength and fitness to try and deter an attack from something they feel uncomfortable around. It's still a fear response, but it's shown in a completely different way. If your character's uncomfortable around someone or something, I think it's totally fine to show it off in this way. Of course if she were to go charging headfirst into a crowd from a mile away that'd be a little crazy but.. you know... :'D

Dunno if that helps or is just a wall of derp OTL I tried

I'm glad to see you're giving this some thought! I took a few minutes to think about stuff that might help and so I hope a bit of a list is ok. Bellow are some alternatives to outright violence that would still be seen as feral and not friendly without being outright violent, as well as some behaviors I've see past well executed characters like this utilize:

- Moving away, not letting others approach. Feral animals of most species would rather keep their distance vs. enter a violent conflict.
- Keeping an eye on, staring at deer nearby. In Game it can be quite unnerving to have a deer stare down your own, you can use this to indicate your deer is attentive/wary.
- A feral character would likely not sit or lay down unless they were alone/in a comfortable environment. Most of the unfortunate IC/OCC incidents I've seen result from someone, either playing a friendly character or playing OOC, approaching someone playing an unfriendly character while that character is sitting down. The friendly deer joins them (a perfectly acceptable TEF act) and are instantly rebuffed for it when the deer (acting completely IC) attacks or flees. This can be avoided by you playing attentively, as your character would be, and not allowing others to approach in the first place.

- Try only entering into open conflict if another character charges/attacks yours first, or if they have pursued and cornered your character. That way you can safely assume the other is IC and is looking for a fight.

I might think of more later, and sorry if this is a little scrambled my brain is rather crispy at the moment. xI


edit:
Missed something important I wanted to ask. Why do you fear people not liking her if she's not a nice person? Do you mean other players not liking her, or other characters? Just curious and I think this might help suss out how we can tailor her to be comfortable for you to play/others to play with.

Oh good! The sniffing reaction you came up with seems like a great way to express her discomfort.

Well one of the great things about characters is that they do encourage a process of development and change. Nobody can say you are wrong for changing her, or for keeping her the same. Do what you want in terms of where her character goes. For now play her as you originally wanted and see if it's enjoyable for you. If not, you can tweek whatever doesn't suit your style of play. No character needs to be locked in stone, especially not a new one. Have fun with her and see what works.