- 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

[grapeeater]

I'm just kind of... in a tough place right now. I don't really know what to do? A lot of things here are new for me and...

I guess since this is anonymous it's not so bad to admit it here. I was a member of Team Rocket until recently. And I never really was completely on my own before this, so I don't know what to do.

I mean alone aside from my Pokemon, but that's not the same.

[tearsofademon]

An ex-Roccket, huh. Good for you, getting out of there.

I definitely get where you're coming from, with a lot of stuff around here being new. Took a while for me to get used to it, myself. So that I'm clear, are you looking for help more with day to day stuff, or making friends?

[grapeeater]

There's still people I know in there, but I can't make them quit if they're not ready to.

Kind of both? The last close friend I made kind of... I admitted things to her - not the Rocket thing, something else - and stuff blew up in my face. I was just scared that I'd hurt her like I hurt people at home, and she freaked out which I guess I can understand.

And I grew up pretty wealthy so even things like making a campfire that doesn't fall over or how to set up a tent are really tough. I've learned to live with no maids or anything but I don't like camping out.

[tearsofademon]

Camping kind of sucks, yeah. If you get the gym badge from Falkner in Violet City, that lets your Pokemon use the move Fly outside of battle, which cuts down on travel time a lot. You'd want to ask around if you can borrow the HM for it, but it's unlimited uses, so someone out there is probably willing. Other than that, though, there are books around that'll teach you the basics of camping stuff. And I'd be willing to bet some of the locals would be willing to teach you.

As for your friend, have to say I've been there. Scared of hurting people, especially my friends... Have you talked to her since then? Even if she freaked out, there's a chance that she might not want nothing to do with you. Even if it's something everyone would be afraid of, there are people who would try to see past it.

[grapeeater]

I let her go for a time, but then... she left. She's not here anymore. So I guess I ruined that chance.

I think I'm registered as a Breeder? So I don't know that I really need a badge. But I've never done a gym battle. I don't battle my Pokemon against other Trainers a lot. I don't spend a lot of time with other people when I'm not working. I don't really know how to make friends anymore since the last group of friends I hung out with at home I kind of... stabbed in the back.

[tearsofademon]

I see. I guess she's from a different world than you, too? Otherwise I'd say 'next time you see her', but. That's not exactly likely then.

That's true, you don't need a badge if you're registered as a Breeder. I keep forgetting that. In that case, you could just ask around. Breeders ask to borrow people's Fly HMs quickly all the time, someone will be happy to help. Heck, if it wasn't for the anonymity thing, I'd offer that you could borrow mine. It doesn't see much use these days.

As for how to make friends... I guess I'm not the best person to say how to do that, because most of my friends kind of forced themselves into my life. What kind of hobbies do you have? You could ask around to see if there are other people who share them. Or see if there's anything around where you are to go visit, and openly offer if anybody wants to go with you.

[grapeeater]

Yeah, she is.

I'm kind of suspicious that an Unfezant can even carry me. It's big, but it seems like it's not big enough.

I... I dunno. I like music, I used to dance... I read some, but not really enough to be a hobby. I spend a bunch of time at the beach, which is nice... my town had a river, not an ocean.

[tearsofademon]

Believe me, if it knows Fly, it can do it. I gave up trying to figure out how a while ago.

You know, I've seen people in the past asking around to try and form music groups. No idea how successful they've been, but the interest is out there. You could try seeing if there's a group looking for someone new, or try organizing one yourself. They could even have something at the theater in Ecruteak, it's been a while since I've been there.

And if nothing else, a lot of people like the beach, so visiting there is a good place to meet people.

[grapeeater]

I'm not really a person who plays music, just dances or listens to it. Ecruteak might be nice, though. It looks really traditional.

It's been kind of hard to have enough energy to do anything but work, though. I've been sleeping kind of badly - my nightmares keep popping up and I wake up in the middle of the night.

[tearsofademon]

It is. Ecruteak's a nice city. Traditional, and not as loud as the bigger ones. It's also close enough to Goldenrod that if you fly, you can make it there and back in a day if you need to. Plus it's got one of the better libraries, even if Viridian's is bigger.

[priorities]

Nightmares, though... That sucks. I usually just force myself to sleep through them, but my sleeping habits aren't really for everyone, and actually I get yelled at for sleeping as much as I do more often than not, so that's probably not going to work. You could ask one of your Pokemon to help you get back to sleep, though? If you have one who knows something like Sing, anyway.

[grapeeater]

My Drowzee knows Hypnosis, but he's also a jerk who barely listens to me. But he's only a jerk to me, not the rest of my team.

I just... keep having dreams where everything's... gone. There's no one. Everyone's dead, and I know it's my fault, but...

[tearsofademon]

Ah. That kind. That kind's the worst.

I've never been good at forcing myself to dream a specific thing, otherwise I'd try and teach you how to dream about petting animals or something. And Dream Eater, from what I hear, makes the Pokemon sick when they eat nightmares, so that's probably out...

You're into dance, though, right? So maybe you could try physical activity, or something. Like if you were to exercise until you're worn out, so you'll fall asleep faster and with no dreams in the first place.

[grapeeater]

Yeah, I guess I could try that. It's just that in the dark I keep thinking of the people I killed and that invades my dreams. I've tried thinking of happier stuff, but it's kind of hard to distract my dumb brain sometimes.

Exercise isn't a bad plan. It's kind of hard to dance without thinking of them, though.

[tearsofademon]

You used to dance with them, I guess?

[grapeeater]

Yeah, I did. Dance teams were kind of a big thing where I was from. Before everything else happened at least.

[tearsofademon]

That must have been nice.

If the memory is too painful, you could pick something else. I spar with my Pokemon a lot. Admittedly because my starter insists, but it's good exercise for all of us, at least.

Or you could try finding a new group to dance with, if you're up to it.

[grapeeater]

I'm not really much of the fighting sort myself, anymore. I don't want to hurt anyone else, even by accident.

I could think about... I don't know. My bad decisions seem to make all of my old happy memories too painful. Maybe I should try picking something from here. This time is less... I don't know, tainted? I don't really know what to call it.