Therian here, writer - and furry by coincidence
I got involved with the furry fandom two years ago, right after Anthrocon 2015.
Prior to the event, I knew abolutely nothing about the furry fandom. I didn't even know the "furry" subculture existed.
Sure, I had seen fursuiters cosplaying at RPG cons, but I'd always assumed they were characters from videogames or cartoons, and didn't think much about it.
Then, at AC 2015 It was like having an epiphany when I was introduced to the concept of "fursona"
- and once again, I totally missed the point: I confused furries for therians.
I thought furries wore partials to make up for phantom limbs, and for days I lived a waking dream of being "among my own".
I bought a real fox tail and wore it for three days straight. Politically incorrect yes, but I just wanted to grow my damn tail back! (Sorry foxy.)
It wasn't close to how my own tail "used to feel" because I'm not a fox therian, but it was better than nothing
and man! I was at home with my fellow fuzzbutts.
Then, little by little I discovered how my new friends swooned all over drawings and cartoons of anthropomorphic animals, while I just couldn't get enthusiastic about the same.
I thought the whole furry art thing was...hey! pretty cool, but we clearly didn't express our interets in the same way.
They liked to explore the idea of human and non human in the same being, while it was a little more personal for me.
Well, two years have passed and I've made a lot of friends in the furry fandom.
I read their stories and they read mine. I attend furry conventions and I fursuit side-by-side with blue huskies and pink bronies, and we generally connect on many levels.
Just not all of them.