- EXCH△NGE -

[ratherbelocky]

INTRO
EXCH△NGE is an anonymous, text-based peer-to-peer support network created as a space for those seeking help, but who are unwilling to reveal their identities, to have safe, understanding conversations from likewise anonymous volunteers. The idea is to provide a listening ear and coping tips from other transplants to Kanto and Johto who may have gone through similar experiences, come from similar worlds, or share other common ground, so that no one feels that they have to deal with their burdens alone.

Please note that the members of EXCH△NGE are not professionals, nor are any of us paid for our work here. We are only qualified to talk things out with you and offer advice from our own lives. We're not replacements for certified therapists.

First time users, please contact Nathaniel HERE to be matched with a conversation partner. Questions, technical issues, and feedback should also be directed to Nathaniel. If you would like to volunteer as a listener, please submit the following questionnaire to Nathaniel's inbox:

<b>1. Name</b> <b>2. Age</b> <b>3. Do you have your own support network here?</b> <b>4. What sorts of things are you cool talking about?</b> (For example: war, change of species, coming back to life.) <b>5. What sorts of things are you NOT cool talking about?</b> (See above examples.)

HOW IT WORKS

Anonymous users will contact Nathaniel and answer as many of the following questions as they are comfortable with:

<b>Age Range:</b> (Give a handful of years, i.e. 16-19. We're not trying to guess your identity through this, just your general stage of life.) <b>Type of world:</b> (i.e. magical, futuristic, human-populated, etc. You can compare it to this world as a baseline.) <b>Issue(s) you'd like to discuss:</b> (i.e. trauma, death, bad day, relationships, etc.)

Nathaniel will then match each user to an EXCH△NGE member based on the submitted information and member availability. He will provide the matched EXCH△NGE member with the information received and ask them if they're willing to speak with the user in question; if yes, he will contact that user and give them the EXCH△NGE member's pseudonym and contact number. The user has the freedom to choose when or if to contact the EXCH△NGE member the first time. After that, if both parties feel that the match is a good one, they should set another time to talk.

If a user's first match chooses not to take them on, Nathaniel will find another match until the user has a conversation partner. If a user's first match doesn't seem to click well, either the user or the EXCH△NGE member may contact Nathaniel to let him know, and he will find another match.

OOC INFO
((Hi! Asher here. Hopefully the above paragraphs explain what's going on well enough, but if you'd like to check out the original IC post where York was hashing this project out, you can see that here.

EXCH△NGE members may choose to track their toplevel comment below, or direct threads to their character's inbox, if that's easier to track. Hopefully this is obvious, but each thread here is automatically private! So you can't see anybody else's threads.

The directory below is not available ICly, it is just there for the players' convenience.))

DIRECTORY

δ Nathaniel
δ Anabiel
δ Chris
δ Izuchi
δ Koma-san
δ Sunny

Comments

[dancermai]

[...all in the name of love! Not just friendship. True love!]

Neither of us try to really change ths subject. We kind of try to talk it out a little bit and then he gets upset ...then I get upset. And he keeps telling me that he cares a lot about me so he wants to protect me. By..not getting close to me. I don't really understand. If you're friends with someone, I thought you'd want to be with them.

[awesmazings]

Yeah. I can get where that'd be frustrating. It sounds like maybe your friend is trying to make sure he does the right thing by you, but...maybe he's trying a little too hard? If that makes sense. Cause it's not fair to you to just stay away to "protect" you, you know? And I'm sure you can take care of yourself just fine.

Maybe, next time this kind of thing comes up, you can tell him that staying apart isn't really gonna solve any problems. It just makes things stay the same...and it sounds like you both would be better off trying to communicate as much as possible.

[dancermai]

[She knew this message was right. She would have to face him head on and talk about things in a way that may be he would understand but the message may have hit a little close to home so she tries to divert it.]

You're right. I'll need to try again and maybe the next time I talk to him, it'll make more sense to him. I'll try as many times as it takes. But...I can't always talk about sad things with you! What's your favourite pokemon?

[awesmazings]

[The shift in topic catches Jimmy a little off guard- after all, he's here to help!- but he decides to answer either way.]

Electrike and Manectric are my favorite! What about you?

[dancermai]

[Mai does hesitate for a moment. She should have realized this would have been asked and her answer may give herself away but she couldn't bring herself to answer any differently.]

Aipom! The cute little face and the long tail that can reach places. It's really nice to talk to you. Even though I don't know who you are. You're really nice to listen to me when all I've done is be sad at you.

[awesmazings]

Aw, Aipom is cute! Awesome choice.

And it's fine, really! That's what I'm here for, yeah? You can talk to me anytime you want, I don't mind.

[quadrangle]

Age Range: 16-19
Type of world: Alien. Comparatively futuristic? The technology on this world doesn't make any sense.
Issue(s) you'd like to discuss: Relationships.

[ratherbelocky]

Age Range: 16-19
Type of world: Alien. Comparatively futuristic? The technology on this world doesn't make any sense.
Issue(s) you'd like to discuss: Relationships.

Hey hot stuff. I know this wasn't on your form, but you're the first guy I thought of. How's this sound?

[usedlightscreen]

You sure I'm not a little old? If they're alright with it by all means.

[ratherbelocky]

In this case I'm focusing more on their type of world and the topic du jour than their age. Not sure who else would match up more. Besides, you're good with kids, right?

[usedlightscreen]

You know the answer to that, Nathaniel.
A kid looking for relationship advice is probably going to get better help from somebody more experienced, right?

[ratherbelocky]

Exactly, Chris. .) Okay, let me see what they say.

[ratherbelocky]

I'd like to match you with Chris, if that's cool with you. You can contact them here.

If something comes up or you need to ask me something, let me know.

- Nathaniel

[quadrangle]

Ok. Thanks.

anon for daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaays

[quadrangle]

Hey. This is Chris, right?

Likewise permanon

[usedlightscreen]

Yep, this is Chris. How are you doing?

[quadrangle]

Uh. Fine? Fuck, I don't know.
Ok look I'm going to just say right now that this anonymous advice-dispensing horseshit is really fucking awkward for a lot of reason I'm not going to explain and I'm just
Can you just tell me what to fucking do here? I don't know what to do.

[usedlightscreen]

I can do my best. What seems to be the problem?

[quadrangle]

Right. Ok so
I've had this really long and complicated relationship with my best friend. Like we weren't even friends at first and I was sure I fucking hated him
But then we got over our respective shit and became friends and I mean REALLY FUCKING CLOSE friends. It's hard to explain without going into too many specifics.
But by human standards it's a platonic relationship. And
God it's so fucking obvious where I'm going with this. I'm in love with him and I don't know if I can tell him without compromising everything we have now and I CAN'T
I can't fucking lose him. And I don't want him to be uncomfortable around me or feel like he can't tell me things, which this would definitely fucking do?
So. That's the problem.

[usedlightscreen]

[Don't do what I did.]

This may sound like an obvious question, but. Are you sure there's no way he could reciprocate?
I ask because believe it or not, I was in a similar situation myself for a while, and I just want to double-check before I start giving advice that I would have given myself.

[quadrangle]

How could he? I'm the worst potential boyfriend anyone could ask for.
Besides I think he's interested in someone else on top of not being interested in dudes so what's the fucking point.

[usedlightscreen]

[...Yup this sure sounds pretty familiar.]

What makes you think that you would be a bad boyfriend?

[quadrangle]

BECAUSE I'M

[fuck fuck fucadlkjsf caps lock off, even if this ignorant goddamn nook whiffer needs his think pan checked just—]

I would
demand too much from him? I already want too much from him, I'm
Look, there are some cultural differences here it's hard to explain, but he's. He deserves better.

[I'm not good enough for him. I'm not what he needs.

Yeah, no. Let's not tell the kind stranger this.]

I'm already such a goddamn mess, and I barely know how to help him with his problems as it is. How can I do more?

[usedlightscreen]

[...Oh, honey. North is sure he's never met this boy before, but his heart goes out to him.]

You can't do more. You can never do more, but you can always do better. Does that make sense?

I can tell that you care about your friend more than anything. I know that sometimes it'll feel like it's killing you to see him chase someone else, but when I was in a position similar to yours, I wanted to do anything I could to stay close to him. Even if that meant just being his best friend forever, I wanted to be the best friend that I could be.

I wish I could say it was easy, or that I had a simple fix. If you need space, take the space that you need. If you want to be close to him, if you think he deserves better, then be the best friend that you can be for him.

If you feel like your feelings are getting in the way of your friendship, tell him. It may seem easy to just pull away, to convince yourself that he'll be happy with someone else. But it sounds to me like you mean as much to him as he means to you, even if the feelings are a little different. Even if you tell him, even if you make it clear that you don't expect anything, that you just want to be honest with him, it will hurt him less than just trying to pull away.

...I'm sorry, that was a lot of words.

[quadrangle]

Kind of yeah.

[Kind of a lot of words. More than enough to stoke his guilt over using this whole "service" into something unbearable again, but that isn't... this person is just another human, probably. It's stupid to think about anyway.

Still, it takes him a little while longer to respond.]

So I should... tell him? Just so he knows why I'm
why it's hard for me. Or why I'm being a douchebag over stupid things or
Fuck. Do you think it's going to scare him? I still don't understand why humans have a problem with relationships between two males but
I don't see how I can keep it a secret from him for much longer. And I don't see how he can keep from freaking out about it at all.