Furry balls

Dear Auntie Anneka

Please help me. I have been in Second Life for a while now and have surrounded myself by a good group of friends. We have laugh, we joke, we explore, we take the mickey out of anyone who doesn’t conform to our particular social stereotype – all the usual stuff. However I have a secret that I am not sure they’ll be able to accept and I don’t know how to tell them.

It started a few months ago and all seemed quite innocent at first. Whenever I was getting dressed I felt I was not complete until I wrapped a particular big fluffy scarf around my neck. As the weeks progressed the scarf was no longer enough. I found myself drawn to fluffy ears and a tail. Whenever I was alone I would run across to my favourite seedy Neko shop and drool over the woolly boots and paws.

But now I find that even that is no longer sufficient to satisfy my craving. The other night I found myself drawn to a club called Sasquatch and after unpacking and wearing one of the freebie avatars available outside I wandered inside unsure of what I was doing and why.

I know I should be appalled by what I saw, and what I was wearing, but it just felt so natural and so comfortable. But how do I tell my friends? I desperately want my loved ones to know but I am scared of what they’ll think. How do I stand there and tell them that inside I am furry. How do I tell my best friends that I don’t want to hang out with them but instead I wanna go riff some doggy av I met down an alley the other night?

Yours in desperate need
Plushy McPuffballs


Dear Plushy

Firstly thank you for your letter, the first of my new blog.

Well, that certainly is a dilemma, and one that doesn’t have an easy answer. On face value it seems like the best advice would be come out of the toybox and tell your friends that you’re furry and proud. Any good friends would certainly recognise your freedom of choice and support you in your lifestyle decision.

However, I gather from the undercurrent of your letter that your friends are backwards-thinking rednecks who are threatened by anything different. As such the best you can expect from telling them is ostracization and the worst is them giving you the beating of your life leaving you battered and bloody in the corner of a sim, followed by ostracization.

Remember, my friend, this is Second Life we’re talking about. My advice to you is to be who your friends want you to be there around them and to riff your fellow furries within an inch of their lives whenever your friends are away. Live a lie. It’s what the rest of us do.

Blessings
Auntie Anneka