u/my_girl_flower

My theriotype is canine mutt... raised by cats. I have behaviors that stem from both species, but don't feel as though I'm a cat at all. Recently I realized that I connect deeply with those dogs who were raised in homes with cats, and end up mimicking feline behaviors! I don't think I've ever met another therian with this kind of oddly specific theriotype but maybe posting this will reach someone who identifies with something similar!!

Please help me. I need stimulation all the time or else I legitimately can't function. It's out of hand. Boredom kills me. I want to be able to live without constantly needing music or my phone or something to have in the background while I work, or do things I dont enjoy. It's ruining my relationships. Please help me

I have a character, Victor, who runs away from an abusive home situation at sixteen to move in with his older brother Vi (mid-twenties) and his husband (also mid-twenties). He writes a note to his father informing him of his choice before he leaves. Note, his father is a good man, it's his mother that abused him.

​

He proceeds to locate Vi, who didn't know he had a younger brother at all, as he was placed into foster care at nine years old. Despite not knowing about Victor's existence, Vi welcomes him, and raises him for the remaining years of teenhood until he moves out at nineteen by himself.

​

Victor is absent from school for around a week while he travels the city to find his brother, but then returns to the same school afterwards. He lives full time with Vi and his husband. His father doesn't attempt to find him, believing that Victor is happier where he is now. His mother is infuriated that he's left, and attempts to find him, but his father stops her and divorces her for her behavior and treatment of their sons.

​

Now....how much of a hot mess is this legally? In terms of custody, divorce proceedings, etc...? I wrote this backstory when I was around sixteen. I am twenty now, and I care a lot more about the logistics and whether this would be possible realistically.

I was having a lovely, slow day at work with no more than 2 customers in the store. A lady comes to my counter and buys maybe a few things, and decides to pay in cash. So I do what I usually do: take her money, count it, count her change, and give it to her. The entire interaction has gone swimmingly so far! I was being polite, she was smiling, We were making small talk... but when I hand her her change, she suddenly becomes irate?

​

She accused me of throwing it carelessly into her hand. I apologized, because I tend to move fast while I work, so I might have dropped them into her hand a bit quickly. That's my mistake, of course. But instead of accepting my apology, she proceeds to rant loudly. At the end, she says, "You must not have been born in America because that's not how we do things here".

​

Immediately I'm upset. All I say is "Excuse me?" and she just talks over me and continues to rant. More racist bullshit, going on and on about how I need to go through training again because clearly I wasn't taught well enough. This was the first time I've ever had an encounter with a racist person in my life. At the time, I was 18, had just moved from Florida to South Carolina alone, and was dealing with a lot mentally. I just snapped at her. We argued at the counter.

​

I told her to GET OUT. Racism is not tolerated in this store. She refused, continuing to yell at me. I kept asking her why she was being racist, telling her I was born and raised in the USA and she has no right to speak to me in that way even if I wasn't. She demanded my manager so I called for him.

​

He came up to us with a grin on his face, no sense of urgency. She told him that I threw her money at her, while I told him that she was being racist. She told him to hold his hand out, and demonstrated how I handed her her change... She threw it much more violently. She then told him to had it to her "properly", told ME to watch, and he handed it to her gently with a smile. She yelled at me that THAT'S how it would be done. He told her to have a good day and she stormed out.

​

My manager just smiled at me, shrugged, and walked away. The adrenaline from the interaction wore off for me and I started sobbing inconsolably. While crying, an old woman came up to buy her things, looking at me awkwardly as I apologized for crying, wiping away tears with my sleeve and struggling to breathe. She said nothing and left. I felt more embarrassed than I ever have in my entire life.

​

The next day, I was pulled into the office by a higher-up manager who asked me what happened. I told her, and she watched the footage. She treated me with kindness and told me she was sorry it happened, and to get a manager ASAP if I ever feel unsafe.

​

Side note... I'm latino, and the racist lady was black. It made me so confused. Don't POC as a whole experience racism? You must understand how terrible it is, so why are you being racist towards me? Ugh. I just needed to rant. Thank you all for your time.