In this form, Kiefer is a red ferret. Sie stands at about five and a half feet tall, and hir body is lithe and trim while being neither too scrawny nor too muscular. You get the sense that sie's good at fitting into tight places. Hir soft, fuzzy fur is a deep reddish-brown, with contrasting white fur that starts at hir face and splashes down the front of hir body. Hir large, green eyes show evidence of hir intelligence and patience, while at the same time belying hir curiosity and hir playful nature. Hir short snout comes almost to a point, lined on either side by a few short whiskers and capped by hir little black nose that twitches occasionally. Hir large, round ears stick out slightly from hir head, a shock of short blonde hair cascading forward between them.

Kief's favorite outfit consists of a pair of loose-fitting blue jeans held up by a leather belt, a leather jacket that hangs open loosely, and a simple tube-top that sits snugly across hir moderate chest. If you look hard enough, you can see a little cleavage, but most of it is hidden from view, so you'll have to use your imagination. Sie wears a pair of white sneakers with socks that almost always bunch up near hir ankles, and hir short but expressive tail sprouts from a buttoned hole in the back of hir pants.

Being a ferret, Kiefer tends to be a little too curious for hir own good. Sie'll start picking things up and examining them at random, then move on to other pursuits at a whim. Sie'll appear to be distracted, but sie's always listening. Sie prefers the company of a close circle of friends and usually sticks to home, being a quiet and somewhat shy type. Once sie gets to know you, though, you might have to gently push hir away. Sie means well, of course, but sie tends to get a little clingy when it comes to hir friendships.

Many people who create herm characters do so because they don't know whether they want to be male or female online. The most common reason I hear when I ask people about it is "Hey, double the fun!" In my case, it was more to explore the concept of having shared traits of both sexes - I think deep down, every guy has a little bit of girl in their personality, and vice-versa. And ferrets are just plain cool, as are skunks, weasels, ermines, etc. Thus, Kiefer the Ferret was born.

For a while, this was my main form on FurryMUCK, and one of my favorite hangouts there used to be the Herm Haven. (This was before it became "Doug Winger Haven" - 'nuff said.) Nowadays, however, between having little time to spare for the mucks and a level of interest in mucking in general that tends to go up and down with the tides, Kiefer has seen less action there than sie used to. At one point, my ferret was mated with Shalune (pictured at right) - a relationship that was wonderful, but unfortunately began to peter out after a year or so, leading us to break up peacefully. Shalune was then free to spend her time more freely with her other friends, while I tended to my real-life matters.