#thcvillain

Elderwood Yasuo, his hair is full of cherry blossoms

                    @thcvillain  //  wow.

Hey lemme love you! || accepting

It wasn't very often that Hope went into a Grocery store instead of going to an open-air market or some similar location for food, but today she was wanting something different. Her eyes had settled on a box of Animal Crackers sitting on the top shelf, high above her head. Thankfully there was a taller man in the aisle, and she was quick to go and request his help.

With the box now in her hands she tucked it under one arm, thanking the stranger as her free hand dug into her pocket, retrieving a fistful of change. About four dollars in quarters and a mix of nickels and dimes. Should be enough, she thought, before the man's question made her look up.

"My what? ...Oh!" She seemed genuinely confused for a moment as she processed his question, shuffling nervously and readjusting her grip on the box of crackers.

“Coward.” Lyra paced angrily, much like a caged tiger aching to return to their jungle. There were heavy claws marks along the walls and floor where she’d either A) attempted to make an escape or B) simply had to take her rage out on something. After her first attack on the poor guard who was now down a hand, it seemed she was being given more of a wide berth than before, or at the very least, no one approached without a high powered taser to subdue her.

Let’s talk about anxiety disorders!

The term “anxiety disorder” is a bit broad, since there’s no one set way to experience it or way to totally pinpoint it. The feeling and symptoms are identifiable, but the reasoning isn’t always as clear-cut. Some people experience certain phobias such as being unable to drive on bridges over bodies of water, or heights in general, or be in closed-in spaces like elevators. Many of these sorts of things a modern person would be expected to have to go through but either have a really hard time doing or can’t at all because the anxiety reaches extremely unhealthy or even debilitating levels. Anxiety disorders often get in the way of a person’s life, sometimes daily, sometimes only under certain circumstances (phone anxiety for example, where someone is totally fine talking to people in person but can’t bring themselves to speak to people over the phone or gets really agitated while doing it).

As an aside, anxiety-based mutism is also a thing! Where a person is so physically tense they’re mostly non-verbal but physically have the ability to speak (so they may scream or grunt but can’t form words and communicate).

So TL;DR anxiety disorders have myriad causes and can be a difficult invisible disability to deal with - mostly because A) it’s... invisible, and B) it’s hard to explain them sometimes in ways others can both understand and relate to.

For example, you assume Sona would be uncomfortable wearing a skin-tight suit because she’s an anxious person. But that’s a generalization. She’s not ashamed or shy about her body in any way, that’s not the source of her anxiety. The source is her difficulty in connecting with people and the nervousness she feels when trying to make those connections. Like I said in the headcanons, her online personality flourishes. It’s extremely easy for her to chat with people and be social. But in person it’s much harder for her. She’s physically mute, and when you’re face-to-face with someone who doesn’t know sign language it can get a little awkward when communicating.

There are many examples of people who cosplay who feel “free” when doing so because they get to play out and experience a different persona. This is especially true for some people who wear fursuits or mascot costumes or some other sort of costume that covers their entire body and hides their real identity. A person who experiences social anxiety may actually feel extremely social and happy and eager to interact with others when they’re in that fantasy headspace - but once they take it all off they’re back to the ‘real world’ as it were.

The DJ persona is like that for her. The costume with the helmet and her job to play music puts Sona in a comfortable place where no one expects her to talk but they all still have her attention and can experience what she’s trying to convey through her music. It’s very freeing. It’s hard work too, but her anxiety is super low when she’s working like that.