it happens if we're not careful about it!! xD
The first is less clear cut, so it'll start with the second:
Liaison
Before he truly existed with us as he does now, the idea of him was a little complicated. Bunches of random story stuff relating to another person and the result was a shadow cat that looked exactly like it and found autonomy, drifting away from their creator but still maintaining a relationship with them (He intends to uphold that even now, too)
At first, he was a sort of "character"; we've never had "characters" other than ourselves that we've identified with to any extent (Let's ignore the fact that Li is still remarkably similar to it; the differences are notable enough for us). However, there was a certain point where that clearly changed. Slowly, in his representation, he became a stand-in for it, which applies now, too. There was a certain point where this became critical both in his creation, and his development
On the side of development, we ended up writing him more; he was more present, had more interactions, and wasn't simply at our side (Or more typically in our shadow) at all times, so the idea of him was less ephemeral. Speaking of, fun little tidbit: he really enjoys being less distinct anyway, either in terms of presence, identity, or otherwise. He likes being "on the fringe of existence" For the moment of his creation, well, it was a whole situation
There came a moment where we felt the need to have a persona: someone that was not it, but similar enough that it could still identify with and even be embodied by. Liaison's of course the perfect fit, as it's sort of an integral part of his identity in the first place. The reason for this is 'cause it had to use a service we simply weren't comfortable with trying to represent ourselves on, and just didn't want to deal with the complications and anxieties of trying anyway
During our use of that service, it was dealing with a particularly stressful situation, and multiple things like stress, the need to distance ourselves from the situation, and the act of proxying through him resulted in just him being there, and we remember the exact moment it happened. It's odd, because that's about the only thing about him that's been clear as day, in contrast to his nature (He and it are a median, so switches are non-possessive, typically gradual, and our distinctness can get really fuzzy)
It was, weird, quite honestly. It was the clearest any of us had ever come into existence, and the most immediately we'd ever known. Even with Kal, who we somewhat recognized the signs with, and quickly identified was still "slow" by comparison, even though it would consider it to be quick regardless. Looking back on it now, despite how natural it felt and still feels, observing it from a different perspective really just makes it realize how strange it is, for all intents and purposes. Mind you, there's nothing wrong with that -- frankly, it's kind of cool -- but it's still wild to think about
Sebastian
Okay, onto the first. To be fair, Li's story might be the more complicated one now that we've thought about it; we didn't expect the explanation to be so long-winded.
Seth was the second of us, making him the oldest mentally aside from it. He and it have kind of a special relationship because of that, since some of his identity was drawn from its own experimentation with its, especially when it realized parts of its identity that it was assigned just didn't line up with what it actually is. Things like being a cat, having its name, et cetera. This was during a period of both extreme unrest, and also lots of self discovery
During that time, it identified more with the name Seth, and went by it in several places. It was derived from its username at the time: "Sythe(god)", which has its own silly history we like. Honestly, quite a few of our names come from aliases or other simple concepts or things we identify with; maybe we should make a post about all of them. As is evident though, that name is now his, not its, and another part of his identity stemmed from a similar place
During that time, it also officially realized it's just a cat! Its first form was far different than now, being a sandy tan tabby, ironically with some similar markings to now because at some point Seth and it wanted both of our coats to be represented in it, and it identifies with it for reasons other than that, too. That form ended up being his in the end as well, when it found it identified more with being a tuxedo cat, and this was all before it even truly understood him and his existence
So... Maybe he doesn't exist because of what makes up his identity now, but it thinks they played a part in how he developed, and our relationship, too. Maybe that doesn't apply as much as Li's origin, but it's still an interesting thing it wanted to get out, also somewhat because it's just gotten in a flow of writing about us, and a general desire to do it more and leave this around for more than just answering this question alone
...It's really in a mood to write that post it talked about doing earlier; it guesses it'll get on it!
