#“it doesn't affect reality!” so it shouldn't be a coping mechanism?

[pocketslook]

When I see Michelle marlon and Gallerian marlon together in an artwork or a video or anything I just HAVE to check the tags because people are fucking weird and Marloncest is normalized in the fandom

[mslovett]

okay so I'd like to make a case for why holden caulfield is actually a likable character

first and foremost is the fact that he's incredibly vulnerable, he doesn't have the narrative voice he does because he's annoying or just a bad person - he's a child who's traumatised. throughout the book it becomes very obvious that holden has no support system. and yes, to be fair, that is partially his fault because he is a self isolating and self alienating character, but that is a direct response to him not wanting to get hurt (will expand on later). i'd specifically like to point out the lack of support he has from his family. a quote that stuck with me quite seriously is from chapter chapter 20 when holden is at central park, imagining that he is going to die and how his family would react. he says "I felt sorry as hell for my mother and father. Especially my mother because she still isn't over my brother Allie yet." holden is extremely aware of the people around him, and whilst he may often come to dubious conclusions from his observations (he is the unreliable narrator, afterall), I'd argue that this time it's a reasonable and likely true observation. allie's death affected holden directly, but it also affected the rest of his family, thus affecting him indirectly as-well. to further this point, regardless of whether allie's death affected how emotionally available holden's parents could be for him, they have a rocky relationship regardless. (in reference to his mother) "She bought me the wrong kind of skates - I wanted racing skates and she bought hockey - but it made me sad anyway." (chapt. seven) now I get that this could seem insignificant at first, his mother got him the wrong skates, so what - he sounds ungrateful. but really this quote symbolises the miscommunication between holden and his mother. whilst his mother wants to understand holden, she's probably struggling to do so. this then stems outward, as throughout the book, holden feels as if no one understands him at all. holden's father doesn't come up as much, but from what is mentioned, they don't seem to connect a lot either. in reality, it seems that the only people in his family that holden feels connected to is his brother D.B. and his little sister, pheobe. but of course, holden still limits himself with D.B. because he assumes/perceives phoniness in him (+ there's the physical distance and practicality issues with them communicating). and whilst pheobe does have a positive impact on holden, she's still just a very young child and would realistically not be able to (and shouldn't be made to) help holden process his own struggles. so it is established that holden has no support system. this alone, paired with the fact that he is only sixteen and navigating an undeniably difficult transition into adulthood already makes him vulnerable, but what makes it worse? the fact that he has unprocessed trauma and grief surrounding the death of his younger brother, allie. personally, i'd argue that allie is what the whole book comes back to, constantly. holden idealised allie (and continues to throughout the present setting of the book) as innocence personified, and as this amazingly kind and intelligent person. and then he died. this was something incredibly unfair, and obviously there wouldn't be any reason for it, something that'd make it incredibly hard for a thirteen year old to process. basically, at thirteen, this was holden's first insight into the adult world, where things happen out of your control, even if they're unfair. this is also likely the first time holden took to isolating himself as a coping mechanism "I slept in the garage the night he died," (chapt. 5), inferring that holden's unhealthy self-isolation stems from this trauma, which I think is something we should have sympathy for.

however, despite being self isolating, holden does try and connect to people, it's just that he has a tendency to foil those relationships (usually because he is reaching out to people who are completely mismatched to him) e.g. carl luce and sally hayes. still, I think the relationships established at the start of the book are more significant. with stradlater, holden really tried to be friends with him. he defended him to ackley, even though he himself thought of stradlater as a vain womaniser, and he wrote a composition for him, despite not having to. it was only when stradlater was ungrateful in respect to the composition that holden wrote, not knowing that it was about his dead brother, in which holden reached his breaking point with stradlater. ackley is quite the contrast to stradlater, though. he's generally disliked/a loner, and holden doesn't sound very forgiving of him initially, but the way holden acts suggests sympathy towards ackley. yes, he's cold with him, but he does let him stick around (despite having many gripes about ackley's poor hygiene or lack of room-reading skills), because he wouldn't want ackley to be lonely - because holden himself is lonely, and there are more similarities between holden and ackley in that sense than holden would likely be willing to admit. jane gallagher also comes up whilst holden is still at pencey, and she's unique because she's the first person we're introduced to who holden feels positively about for the whole novel. but there are only two really significant reasons why holden likes her. the first is that she's someone whom holden can actually relate to, she's gaurded and won't be vulnerable with people she hasn't known for a long time; "Ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row" (chapt. 4) shows her reservation. the other reason why holden likes her so much is because he views her as innocent, and innocence is the one thing holden values and wants to protect. this becomes evident when holden recalls a time she cried infront of him, and he began to kiss her tears away, but wouldn't (and jane wouldn't let him, either) kiss her mouth. this theme becomes more prevalent throughout the book as holden is very nice to children, all the while resisting his transition into adulthood because he doesn't want to lose his own innocence (or, lose any more of it) and lose sight of what's important to him. I think a lot of people take issue with holden's incessant complaints about phoniness, but the truth is, he's only scared of becoming phony/an adult because he thinks he'll forget about allie if he does. his issue with phoniness isn't necessarily that people are being fake: [at a movie theatre] "She had this little kid with her that was bored as hell and had to go to the bathroom, but she wouldn't take him. She kept telling him to sit still and behave himself. She was about as kindhearted as a goddamn wolf." (chapt. 18) holden thinks movies are phony because he sees people get emotional over them whilst ignoring real issues. in this case, a mother is prioritising the movie over her son, and holden worries that if he engages in 'phony' activities such as movie-watching, that he'll no longer care about allie. and right now, he cares a lot. ultimately, the point i'm making is that holden has a lot of positive traits that are seldom acknowledged, but you have to look beyond the surface of his character to recognise them.

the other point i'd like to make about holden is that he's a tragic character. even if you ignore the fact that he's a child who was made to grieve his younger brother's death at the age of thirteen, life is repeatedly slapping him in the face. the entire book is him trying desperately to find meaning in life, and struggling. in school he's completely unable to connect to any of his class-mates, or the subject material. instead of anyone trying to understand and deal with this problem, his parents just constantly send him to school after school after school. holden's self-esteem is non-existent and he constantly thinks he'd be better off dead. he is constantly let down by adults in his life, a glaring example being mr. antolini, the one adult holden liked and thought he could trust. holden is so isolated and lonely that it eventually builds up to a mental health crisis that leaves him admitted to a sanatorium. sure, he's a rich kid who likes to complain, but he's also been dealt a really tragic deck of cards.

anyway, uhh... i think i'm done, though I probably missed a lot.

[sh1mmer-add1ct]

yall. @/dannysdreamgirl / @/studyandtamper (on discord) is a fucking proshipper and actually disgusting!! (I'm not blaming whoever invited her, because I'd assume whoever didn't know about this, just wanted to make this known ^_^)

Runs a mdni blog, that's fine, but then you join a server with SEVERAL minors?? Yes, most of us are 16-17 but are still legally minors, so that's irrelevant.

These are all from intros in the server from MINORS

Technically, nothing actually wrong with that..but it's still extremely fucking weird, yeah??

Then there's also this shit... about Nancy SAing Johnny and now it affected him or whatever. That's fucking disgusting, biologically her kid or not, and not something she would do.

That alone is genuinely gross and sickening, and then there's the repeatedly interacting with a KNOWN proshipper in the fandom.

They're deactivated because they actually got called out on their shit, as they should because that's nasty. Blood related or not, the family, shocker I know, SEES each other as FAMILY n guess what, incest isn't a normal thing. It's not cute, or funny, you're gross and actually need help.

"Proshipping's a coping mechanism" it shouldn't be. Yeah, cope with whatever however you see fit for yourself, no one can stop you, but this isn't a coping mechanism, you're just using it as an excuse to be fucking vile. Posting that publicly makes younger people think it's okay as well, and the cycle continues. "Fiction doesn't affect reality" except when it does, your brain can become conditioned to think something's okay when it's very clearly NOT.

This shit?? Why. Genuinely why?? Maybe let's not push our GROSS fetishes onto characters, especially not PUBLICLY.

There's other things too, I'm not going to continue to go through that disgusting blog to find it all though.. because then we'd be here forever.

[mistywitcher]

it shouldn't have affected me so much, it's just a book but I cried myself to sleep last night, I completely spiraled, and I woke up this morning and feel completely overwhelmed and started crying again. all because of a book.

I maladaptive daydream HARD, I've always done it, I do it for many hours every day. I escape somewhere else pretty much anytime I am not reading, or concentrating on something specific l.

walk to the toilet? daydream. wash hands? daydream. need to sleep? daydream. doing dishes? daydream.

I don't let myself think anything other than whatever my current hyperfixation is, because I have an unhealthy relationship with escapism, to the point I literally don't want to do anything in life, and have no goals anymore because I can't imagine being able to focus on reality enough to actually get anything done.

so finishing Wind and Truth hurt me. I'm grieving as if they are all real. I spent the last few months re reading and all of those characters are fully alive in my head, and I spent all my time daydreaming about them doing things. and then when there's an ending like that, my brain doesn't know what to do. it can't make the scenarios anymore because there's now a new time line to go off.

so autistically, that just throws me. I know I'll get over this, but I hope my friends and family understand that I'm not trying to be dramatic or over reacting. I genuinely fucking can't cope right now, and my mind is having to set up completely new coping mechanisms on the spot.

[supersoakerfullofblood]

Conflict and Genre; Hurting Our Characters in Ways That Matter

If you've even only skimmed my blog, you may have noticed that I preach the importance of character and conflict above all other elements of narrative. The qualities of these dictate the qualities of the story, and by and large, every other narrative element will in part develop from these. I've written a bit about what makes strong characters here and on random other posts, but now it's time to talk conflict: what it is and how we write it.

You'll read everywhere that there are two types of conflict: internal and external. This is true but misaligned. That's kind of like saying the two types of planets are Earth and all the other planets. In reality, most conflicts are a mix of both with varying ratios of one to the other, and "internal" does a lot of heavy lifting in this dichotomy. Is it emotional? Mental? Religious? Interpersonal? A lot of stuff goes on in the human brain!

I've used conflict a bit already without defining it, so let's do so. Conflict is anything in a narrative that negatively affects a character and that character's reaction. It's a broad concept! A duel with a dragon and a tough breakup are equally valid conflicts. You might hear people advise to "hurt your MC." This is true albeit quirky and cliche. Hurt your characters, yes, but the other half of conflict, your character's reaction, is necessary to crafting a strong story. If the duel the dragon, win, and return home victorious, case closed, that's not a very interesting story; if your character goes through the breakup with healthy coping mechanisms and emotional maturity, who cares? What gives? Unless it's the end of the story, the reader doesn't want the conflict to resolve! (Or, they don't want every conflict to resolve. Some can, but always keep one fire lit.)

Your goal as a writer should be to lead your character's decisions deeper into their conflicts. Of course, this shouldn't be obvious--if characters make bad, stupid decisions, the reader will catch on. But you can use your character's flaws and vulnerabilities to make them make poor decisions or otherwise get them in binds without the reader noticing.

One example from my own work: In one of my novels, The Ghosts of Glass Lake, one character focuses on her acting career so she won't have to focus on her mother's suicide. The suicide affected the character negatively, and the focus on acting was her reaction. Obviously, this focus wasn't the healthy thing to do, which gives me as a writer room to play with and grow this conflict. While she's rehearsing, she sees her mother's ghost from time to time. When she does try to resolve this trauma, she goes about it wrong by attempting to speak with her mother via spirit box instead of, y'know, going to therapy. Other characters try to help her cope by dubiously legitimate methods. By the end of the novel, she hasn't reconciled her acting career with the effects of her mother's death, and this tension hurts the people around her.

One example from classic literature: In Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, each character witnesses and thinks upon how other characters treat them and others. This novel has next to no external conflict. One character, Lily Briscoe, loves to paint and notices how the men around her talk about how women can't paint, and a second character mansplains some painting lingo to her. Most of her time in the novel is spent in these interactions or thinking about them and the greater societal shifts that caused them, and by the end of the novel, she accepts herself as a painter and completes the piece she'd been working on.

My and Woolf's examples have some commonalities and some differences. Woolf's is almost entirely internal where mine is almost entirely internal until late in the novel when it grows an external bent. In both cases, conflict is both something that negatively affects a character and that character's reaction to it. This reaction causes the conflict to deepen, which causes another reaction, and a cycle starts that will only resolve (if you want it to resolve) at the end of the narrative.

The type of conflict you write is a question of style, but certain genres historically lend themselves towards one or the other. You'll often hear "genre fiction" and "literary fiction" tossed around in literary discourse. These are two umbrella categories that if you ask me don't really exist anymore, but that's another topic for another time. So disclaimer, read below with a grain of salt, but not too big a grain, as there is truth here.

Genre fiction (fantasy, sci-fi, romance, mystery, thriller) trends towards external conflict: will they kill the dragon and save the princess? Will they win the space war? Find the culprit? Escape the killer? Literary fiction ("the classics," realistic fiction) trends towards internal conflict: how do we come of age? Recognize death? Understand love?

The dichotomy of genre/literary was created during a time when those labels weren't so liquid (here's a great article on the topic), but nowadays, great books blur these lines more than they ever had. Circe is a book with the popular conventions of Percy Jackson but is also a meditation on gender and family obligations. Station Eleven is a post-apocalyptic dystopia about how we find meaning in our everyday lives. American Gods has the trappings of any old adventure story but also questions past and present systems of belief.

And was this genre/literary conflict dichotomy ever real? I would argue no and that the strongest genre fiction also incorporates internal conflict. The Lord of the Rings is a story about Sauron and the Nazgul just as it is about the nature of power and responsibility, advancing technology, and the environment; The Left Hand of Darkness is an adventure across an ice planet but only through the lenses of gender and religion; Dune is about drugs and worms but also religious conflict, imperialism, indigenous culture, and much much more; Earthsea is an adventure through magical archipelagos and also a meditation on grief, gender norms, and reconciliation. You can say similar things as these to any great piece of genre fiction, but I don't personally think this works in reverse. Not every story needs external conflict, as Virginia Woolf shows, though even the most literary of stories will use some, even if only on accident. This is because the best stories always say something deeper about their characters than simply "they can kill the dragon"; the best stories get at what it means to kill a dragon.

So in anything you write, try adding this internal axis! If you're not used to it, try this exercise. Ask yourself what the external conflict is. Then ask yourself how your character feels about it. When you have even 5% of an answer, start writing it! Then when those feelings get that character into more or deeper trouble, ask how they feel about that, then write again. Conflict is what happens to your character as much as what your character's reaction says about them.

Asks are always open if you have any questions!

[glitter-skunk]

major tw for proshipping, abuse/rape mentions, + lots of other bad stuff//

i think having media talk about subjects like abuse, rape, and other stuff like that isn't bad. it's good to spread awareness about this stuff, and it does in fact need to be talked about because of how common it is. however, it should not be romanticized. we should not have movies of where a pedophile gets a teenage girl to love him and they live "happily ever after". we should not encourage stories that involve graphic descriptions of children being forcibly raped/assaulted for erotic purposes.

this is what proshippers defend. they do not preach "don't harass anyone over ships", that's just what they tell people. they romanticize media containing abuse, pedophillia, rape and other stuff of that nature. and it is almost always in erotica material when it's being romanticized.

i agree, we should not send death threats to children proshippers as they're most likely the vitcims of grooming. whether proshippers want to admit it or not, there are a lot of children in the community and it does have a grooming problem. go on any platform(tiktok, twitter, tumblr, ect) and find children proshippers, they will most likely have a post with an abusive relationship where they use to describe their partners.

i have seen dozens of posts where children proshippers make edits out of pedophiles because "it reminds them of their partners" and that is fucking terrifying. i have seen dozens of adult proshippers encourage children to go talk to older people they have a crush on, most of these kids being between the ages of 13-16 and these crushes being 17-22+.

this is incredibly dangerous for obvious reasons.

i also want to talk about the "fiction doesn't affect reality" talking point they use, and how that is not true at all.

fiction will always have some form of reality in its core. whether that be politics, the characters personalities, or its theme - fiction will always contain a bit of reality.

humans use fiction to cope, and when you actively consume media that displays abuse/pedophilia in erotic ways, you subconsciously start to train your brain that this material is good. you can still say pedophilia, and be attracted to erotic material containing pedophilia. that's what happens when you associate this stuff with positive reinforcement(example; defending it, reading it daily, ect).

and even if this didn't happen it is still very fucking weird to jack off to drawings of 4 year olds getting raped.

another thing is how proshippers say that they're not doing anything wrong, however they speak in secret code when trying to find one another. if you're not doing anything wrong, surely you don't have to hide it right? "oh but the antis harass us!!" and why do they harass you?

if you make material that romanticizes abuse/pedophilia, share it with your family. tell them you find these subjects entertaining and you actively enjoy them. i'm sure your family will accept you and have no problem with what you do, after all it is a harmless coping mechanism right? i'm sure if you sit down and explain to them that you're in a community with one of the biggest grooming problems on the internet that romanticizes abuse/pedophilia/rape, they'll be more than happy to accept you.

however, i know proshippers won't ever stop, no matter how hard i try to explain why it's morally wrong. i know your ways will not change and you won't develop healthier coping mechanisms, and you will continue being a complete weirdo that no one likes and who should live society.

however, that does not give you the right to spread your material where children are. you shouldn't spread it or make it at all for obvious reasons, but especially keep it away from kids. i agree, responsibility is on the parents, but it's also on adults on the internet. yes, children should not be online, and yes adults need to monitor them more; however children are on online unsupervised so it's our responsibility as responsible internet users to try and keep them safe.

if you're going to post your proshipper stuff, can you please for the love of god do it where kids have a lesser chance of seeing it. do it on twitter, or AO3 where they allow that stuff and put warnings on it. private your account, put warnings everywhere that you do this stuff. i understand it won't stop all kids from seeing it but it does lessen the numbers of kids who will see it.

and if you're a proshipper in a fandom that is filled with kids or is made for kids(example; mlp, invader zim, ect) then don't post your stuff on a public account. make it private.

that way kids can stay safe and you can choose who can enter your abuse loving safespace.

and speaking of kids, don't work with kids if you actively enjoy and constantly consume material that romanticizes abuse/pedophilia. and if you do, show your boss. i'm sure they'll have no issues with someone who gets off to stories of kids getting raped working with kids. i'm sure you won't be fired or investigated.

just because you won't go to prison for it doesn't make it morally okay. i wish that is something you idiotic pieces of shit would understand.

i wish you all a merry fuck you, and may you all rot.

[angelsarewatching]

Conflicting ideals: I don't understand/support writing sexual assault. Even if its a coping mechanism I don't like it because it's an unhealthy coping mechanism. (For writer and reader.) It also allows people easy access to the trigger, which they'll use for legitimate enjoyment or to harm themselves.

And I have an overall negative view of proshippers, due to how some people abuse the labeling. One bad apple and that.

(My approach is to avoid, hence the anon. Limiting contact as much as I can. This will be my last interaction with you for the foreseeable future. Hope I've covered everything necessary.)

Side note: I don't mean to imply you'd send people to them intentionally. (If that's something you're concerned about.) I've just seen how quickly people in fandom will jump to "protect" their faves, which can spiral if said fave has a following.

I don't really have much of a following of my tumblr account so you needn't worry if that's one of your issues with me. Though I'd much like for you to stay and talk to me on anon and explain your own ideals (since why not? i lack the sustenance of social interaction) I'll probably turn off anon in the future. Hopefully you aren't someone who I think you are, since the person I'm thinking of has really quirky comments on modernghostfare's posts.

I won't do the "not all men" with you w proshippers, but the thing is, if they do shit irl and harass people and do bad stuff in general? They aren't proship, and there's misusing the label. So you're right about that one.

And with your conflicting ideals, anon, look, it's a coping mechanism that doesn't involve drugs, alcohol and self harm. I'm pretty sure those are the holy trinity of unhealthy coping mechanisms. It's not my place, or yours, to judge anyone's coping mechanism if it isn't the main three which I had just said. Antis are big, big on censorship, I've only had sparse interactions with them (and being heavily qrted on twitter, lmao) but I assume they'll grow out of it and learn how to click off something they don't like because fiction is fictional. Sure, it affects reality, though not on a 1:1 ratio.

Have you ever wondered if an abuse survivor of SA could actually purposefully enjoy a good piece of taboo writing? There's some that use it to inflict your so called "harm" upon themselves but I have no idea on how that can happen, since, who would consume a form of media with an intention to be disgusted rather than enjoy the vile content? If it was properly tagged on AO3 and everything, and an anti still clicked on it, went on the comments and said "This is disgusting", whose fault is it? The writer of the story who just wanted to express themselves through their work, or the anti who has no business on enforcing what should and what shouldn't be written?

That's all of my thoughts.

[heinoushymns]

This fucking person is actually unhinged. Did some snooping and found that they participate in a lot of upsetting shit.

Such as:

•Attacking Actual Children Online

- A lot of this person's posts are just being hateful towards kids. Mainly kids who are into "shifting" and enjoy talking about their interests. They've expressed that they don't like "shifting" and it annoys them. But their replies are really irrationally angry? Yelling at kids to stop pretending, stop faking, and that everyone is lying to them? That's fucking weird. Stop attacking children since you claim to be so high on your holy horse about protecting them.

•Calling People Delusional

- The word "delusional" comes up frequently as an insult, as well as "mentally ill (in a different way)".

This is ableist, especially coming from someone who claims to have a psychology degree.

They also hate on paraphilias and encourage the demonization of them instead of the rehabilitation and understanding of them. (Part of that process is meeting other people with paraphilias and realizing that you're not alone and that there is hope and coping mechanisms for you.)

• Wishing Infertility On Someone

- They claim it was their "friend" who said "I hope your tentacle dildo makes you infertile". But you can clearly see it says their username. Also, if their friend said that, why would you still be friends with them, holy roller?

•Making Weird Comments About Trans People

- This one may be nitpicky, but they have a lot of trans-centered posts on their blog for someone who doesn't know a lot about transgender people. They've also been seen being transphobic by attacking someone's "em" pronouns.

•Overall Just Being A Sad Sack of Wrath

- Their posts are.. concerning. They obviously have a lot of mental anguish and built up anger to be acting out like this online. They talk about keeping coping mechanisms to oneself, however it really does seem like they're coping by attacking people they believe are "pedophiles" due to their own trauma. It's terrible that they've gone through such traumas, however it does not give them the right to lash out at people, especially children. They're being harmful to others because they don't feel good about themself. That's an awful way to "own" your life.

Fiction can affect reality, but not always on a 1:1 basis. People can separate fiction from reality and lead perfectly normal lives after consuming heinous fiction. No, children/people who could get triggered shouldn't be exposed to it, that's why there's a tagging system both here on Tumblr and on places like AO3.

Proship doesn't stand for "problematic ship". It stands for "Pro/For Shipping". And this can mean that you don't necessarily consume problematic fiction, but you still don't harass others for their tastes.

Problematic fiction is a great coping mechanism for those who can handle it and consume it in a healthy way that actively gives them control over the situation. Just like with BDSM, safe, sane, and consensual are the gold guidelines.

Only adults should be consuming pornographic dark fiction. Adults in the proship scene do not interact with children and encourage them to stay away from their accounts/media.

Children should be allowed to express themselves in dark fiction, but should not be exposed to pornography. Children who consume this type of material should be watched carefully by their parents and be given therapy to help sort out what coping mechanism works for them.

It's nobody's business what someone else does in the bedroom unless it is actively harming someone/something else. And no, fiction does not harm anyone and does not lead indefinitely to a real life action.

I know they won't be interested in "reading all that", but this isn't really for them, but rather to drag them for being unpleasant.

antis: media depicting illegal and/or reprehensible things shouldn’t be created, consumed, or readily available to the public. people who interact positively with these kinds of media either already want to/already do these things in reality, or the media itself will make them want to.

also antis (but it’s not the same, don’t get it twisted, this is the good kind of illegal and reprehensible):

[cassiedangerclouds]

King Of The Clouds {Platonic Krii7y}

Trigger Warning: This one shot deals with death and the side effects that go with it.

It deals with guilt and bad coping mechanisms.

If any of any of these things trigger you, please do not read this.

~

"Every morning I feel like I've died, but I lie watching my ceiling fan, spin reality. But I know I'm alive and I shouldn't be. I should've died that night. Not him. It should've been me. If it weren't for me, he wouldn't even know this stuff existed. Or how addictive it can be. I've become a better person since that day, I no longer smoke that crap. I vape now. I know he always hated the smoke. But it doesn't help. Just reminds me that my best friend is dead because of my bad decisions. I guess it's just a bad hobbit that I couldn't kick." John said, his discord chat open.

On the other side of the line, one of John's friends sat listening. They all took turns. Listening to John. A new day but the same story, over and over.

"John, you need to go and get help. Contact a therapist, we can only do so much." Craig said.

"Yeah dude. We understand that you're hurting, but it has been a year. Half of our friends won't even come and game if they see you're on. Maybe it's time to let it go. Go out, or even stay in. But do something productive. Meet some new people, game or something. What you're doing isn't healthy." Tyler stated.

"Alright guys. I guess I'll chat later." John said, sitting up.

"Get out of your house." Tyler said before his line went dead and his icon disappeared.

"Yeah. If you don't, I'll tell Smit everything. You know Luke isn't as dumb as you think. He's starting to piece everything together. He always asks why you won't talk to him." Craig explained, "But seriously, take it easy and get out of that house." The line cut, and Craig's icon disappeared, leaving John alone in the sever.

John let out a sigh, clicking the cross and closing Discord down.

"Go out John. It'll do you some good John. It's been a year John." John muttered, standing up. 'But you know they're right. You need to get out and keep living.' John rolled his eyes, "Shut up, stupid voice of moral."

He walked out of his room, 'They don't understand.' He walked into the kitchen, getting a glass, filling it with water, 'None of them ever made bad decisions that affected another this way.' He left the kitchen, standing between the doorway and the lounge room, his eyes dancing around the room, looking for his vape canister.

"Looking for something?"  familiar voice threw John off, he turned around to face the direction of the voice.

Sitting on the other side of the kitchen counter, John noticed his vape canister in his friend's hand.

"Fuck off arsehole, give it back." John demanded.

Lukas shook his head, "No John. I knew something was up a while ago." He said, "John this isn't healthy, I was invited to the funeral. I know that he's dead-"

"They both are." John interrupted, looking down.

"It's not your fault dude. YOU didn't tell them to go to that party. YOU didn't tell them to get drunk, to get high off their head. YOU didn't tell Cameron to get behind the wheel of that car. It's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself for something that was out of your control." Lukas sated.

"But Cam was always more responsible than Mason and I. If I hadn't shown him that shit, he wouldn't have been tempted to take it at the party." John explained.

Lukas got up, walking over to his friend, "Yes they would've. Both of them. Because drunk people do stupid shit. So what if you showed them what the fuck that shit was. It was still their choice to take it. They didn't have to, but they did. Stop blaming yourself. Toby or Ezra could've stopped them. But they didn't either." Lukas said.

John sighed, "Just give me the canister Smit." He said.

"No, this is no better than a real cigarette. They're just as addictive."  Lukas stated, keeping a tight hold on the small device.

John stopped trying to get the canister, then something came to mind, "How the fuck did you get into my house?" he asked, looking at the younger male.

Lukas laughed, "Did you seriously forget that we gave each other keys to our respective houses? Ya know, in case of surprise visits or problems with planned ones?" he asked.

John shrugged, "I guess I did. I mean..." he trailed off.

"John seriously? We got them done so long ago and you just forgot? I am offended." Lukas said, putting his hand over his heart.

John laughed, a genuine one, not forced, "You're so dramatic." He said.

"It is my speciality." Lukas stated.

John quickly snatched his canister out of Lukas' hand while the other male wasn't paying attention.

"Hey. I said no." Lukas said, crossing his arms.

John rolled his eyes, "You're not my mum." He stated.

"No. But I could be your-"

"Everyone knows you'd bottom in any relationship Ren." John said.

Lukas turned red, "Shut up." He muttered.

John chuckled, shaking his head, placing the canister to his mouth and sucking in the vapor.

He blew out the cloud above both of their heads.

"That gross." Lukas said, waving his hand in front of his face.

"Life's gross." John replied.

Lukas rolled his eyes, "You wanna go play some game?" he suggested, pointing towards my office.

John smirked, "What type of games?" he asked.

"Ew, John, no. You know what I mean." Lukas stated, his face bright red.

John snickered, "I know, I'm just playing with ya. Let's go play some games." He said, smiling for the first time in a year.

[heart-atlas]

First of all, I'd like to agree with you that people harassing others for the ships they like fucking sucks and that I in no way condone behaviour like that. Both sides are doing it. Both sides need to stop.

But I think you're being a bit reductive if you think we're mad just because the show negatively affected our mental health. Yes, people should put themselves first more often and take breaks/ avoid topics when they need to, but they shouldn't just be expected to turn the other cheek when they see something upsetting.

I am by no means Anti-Ship. I've got my own fair share of trauma that I deal with through fiction. It's a coping mechanism for many and I acknowledge that. But these things still need to be handled carefully. I wouldn't dream of showing any of the stuff I do to cope to children. And I think that's the root of the problem. Not that people ship Sessrin privately, but that it's being broadcast to kids, who might actually think it's a normal relationship.

I don't think that fiction affects reality a whole lot, but that's different for kids. Adults know that what they're looking at is just a show; it's not conveying any sort of morality to them because they have already formed one of their own. Children are at a much earlier state of (mental) development, so it's still difficult for them to distinguish between reality and fiction.

Also: Flowers in the Attic was published in 1979, and -again- is not read by children. Just because there is something worse out there doesn't mean we have to settle for the lesser evil.

If y'all knew there was a chance Rin was the mother, and y'all KNEW that fact would (understandably!!) upset or even trigger you if it was true...

Why did y'all still watch Yashahime from the get go, instead of waiting for the reveal?

Please learn to take care of your own mental health and stop expecting others to do it for you. Yashahime isn't the first piece of media to contain things like this, and it sure as hell won't be the last. Hell, if you need an example, just go read Flowers in the Attic. I promise you, that's much, much worse. Don't actually do that if you can't handle depictions of child abuse, underage sex, incestul relationships, and child death.

And for fuck's sake, STOP TELLING PEOPLE TO DIE AND HARASSING THE CREATORS FOR THIS. It's a fucking ANIME. None of it's real, and some things are bound to upset people. Life goes the fuck on!