Cia

What, you mean people with functioning brains can differentiate between real and make-believe? *gasps* I never would have figured! After all, watching something--especially if you choose to watch it--means you think it's okay to act the same way in person, right? Like all those racing movies. Or the fight/war ones. Even a porn movie, hours and hours full of all sorts of 'deviant' behavior? And, of course, everyone who's played a first person shooter game and lives in a house with guns is going to go on a shooting spree. Anyone who's ever been abused or lived with an abuser becomes one too. Everyone who grew up with a drug user becomes a drug user. After all, they don't have a mind that can understand the difference between what is right and wrong when given that information, you know, over the basic course of life and exposure to the wider world.

You know, I've been repeating myself A LOT in response to your questions, so here we go again, one last time, to see if you can comprehend. I do not pass judgment on simulated events that may or may not arouse other people, even if I find them morally or sexually distasteful. What is abusive for one person can be arousing for another. If, for any reason, you believe you've seen a real act of physical abuse such as a beating and/or rape or murder being bandied about as porn, then report it. Let the authorities, whose job it is to judge such acts as legal or illegal, decide. But I will not sit here and say that 'paddling a person' or 'choking someone unconscious' or 'pissing on someone' is abuse, therefore evil. If someone were to smack me in the face and call me a slut, I'd probably slug them in return. Someone else might get aroused by that, which would make it 'good'. Whoopie for them, if both they, and their partner, are into that kind of thing. You seem to want me to pass a statement of what is good or evil when it comes to some types of porn that mimic real world violence or abuse, and I just can't do that. One, there are so many different sexual acts out there I'd be writing forever. Two, what I find arousing or do in my sex life is personal and private. Three, what is 'right' for me and my partner is not always right for anyone else and their partner. Life does not always fall into absolutes. There is not always a black and white answer. In this case, for me, there is a whole world of gray, so I guess 'none of the above' fits. Context matters.

You don't seem to be understanding me on this one element. I really don't think I've been unclear. As I've said before and am saying again, children CANNOT consent, so that is not kink. A real child, or 3D/graphic porn depicting a child is wrong and in most places, illegal. If I knew someone had kiddie porn I'd report them in a heartbeat, but I'm not going to go looking for it. If I thought someone had a snuff film, or I came across one, I'd report it to have it analyzed, but again... I'm not going searching for it. They're not to my taste, so why would I look for those? My line regarding legitimate porn is fluid, however. I believe all sorts of porn kinks are not for me, so I don't watch those, but I don't care if someone else gets off on them. I will not judge someone else for their private preferences, especially if you slap the word 'abuse' on it. What one person would be offended and harmed by, another gets off on. That's why I leave the policing of things such as that to the professionals.

I can and do. It is not my job to monitor the viewing habits of other people. Do I think 'oh, it's not me or mine so I don't care if they watch illegal acts', no, and if you're taking it that way you're reading that single line out of the very clear context I put it in. I specifically said IF the content not crossing the line. If it's porn featuring children, or a live act of abuse or a 'real' snuff film, then it's wrong to watch and should be reported if you see it or know someone has it. But I will not stick my nose where it does not belong and judge the content of another person's porn library just as I would expect that common courtesy extended to me. There are legal agencies like the cops whose job it is to ferret out illegal activity like I mention, and I'm not part of them. Too many people in this world think it's okay to push their moral judgments on others, and that is something I won't take part in.

Dude, I grew up in a 3 bedroom place and at one point we had 11 people living there. 11. At no point in my entire life did I have my own room, in fact from 9-17 I shared with, at a minimum, my 4 year younger/smaller stepbrother. You know what they say about context, right? Just remember, this too shall pass. You won't live there forever.

Thanks Percy! I was really wondering what readers would think, and I'm so happy everyone is telling me. I wanted to arc the story to give it action and a plotline without dragging or info dumping anything--yet still give enough info to share what the shifters were. It was hard in 9.5k, lol! I'm glad it went over well though. Thanks for the review.

My comments are relevant to the discussion though. There are those who decry the entire existence of porn, and there are those who accept the vanilla but not the kink based movies. Abuse elements do exist within porn. There are scenes where the man/top controls the woman/bottom--through humiliation, dubious consent/coercion, and physical force even to faux rape and even snuff. Some, especially when it comes to the more extreme, view that as abuse even if it's fake. They believe a staged depiction on a real life event is as bad as the event itself. Pedophilia porn is not 'porn', to that I agree. That's abuse because it takes advantage of those who cannot consent. Yet, what about all the school-girl/boy, or barely 18 porn out there that directly plays to the appearance of youth? It toes the line within that angle without crossing it. A lot of these elements arouse expressly from toeing that line. The line of force, the line of fear, the line of the forbidden or socially unaccepted behavior... it just does it for a lot of people. What that all means, in the end, is that people should be responsible for their own viewing when it comes to any type of porn. My moral compass is not their moral compass, and as I don't want to have anyone's imposed on me, I endeavor to not impose mine on anyone else. So, if they enjoy kink-based porn, more power to them--as long as it doesn't cross the line it encroaches upon.

Thanks, Sanguine! First person is often only one viewpoint, though I've been known to change that up from time to time. I appreciate you reading my chapter, and thanks so much for the review!

Turnabout's fair play! I don't read HP fanfic, either. Just yours! Thanks for reading, hun.

I know a lot about abuse, Zombie. Abuse is about control and the exercise of power over another person or situation through that control. It's about seeing someone, a adult or child, forced to endure/do something for their abuser's pleasure, whatever their twisted purpose and the method that comes out in. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, and murder--the ultimate way to control a person--is not disconnected. There are exceptions, crimes of passion or by someone who is mentally unfit... but the classic and all to common abuser fits exactly into those parameters. A man who hits his wife to ensure control over her actions so she does what he wants when he wants, a father who beats his kid under the guise of discipline until they are afraid to move or breathe for fear of doing anything 'wrong', a mother who mentally berates and blackmails a child until they are sick to their stomach when they're alone with her, the family friend who is all too willing to babysit so he can spend alone time with young kids unsupervised, to the wife who catches her husband cheating so she devises a way to slowly kill him... these are abusers. These are people who are hurting someone else, for their own reasons/pleasure/satisfaction. These are far different elements than you find in a lot of kink porn 'movies'. They might hold similar elements, the dark connotations and the control/fear/abuse of another person... but those aren't real. They can't be viewed in the same context and lumped all together.

Lisco is definitely dirtier, LOL! Hmm... I think I might need to write Moshe, just to dispel that Lenny vibe, then! Hidden depths, and all that. Simple speech and transparent intentions doesn't always indicate the depth of thought and consideration from a person. Miah's POV would be interesting too, simply because the next two weeks in the story will be such a revelation for him. I like the idea of showing that without telling from his POV too, though. It'd be a great challenge. Thanks so much for your review, Puppilull!

Well a first line hook is very important! I'm glad you enjoyed the story. I always try all sorts of styles and plots, but I've had a real shifter and alien kick lately. Miah is a complex being. Shy, lonely, but not a pushover. I think he, like many men, want to be pursued instead of being the pursuer. Society looks down on that though, and he's not exactly the usual man of the city. So many places to go, but I can explore his dynamics from any point of view--though his internal thoughts would be interesting. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the POV too!

Thanks! I really like Moshe too. Gotta have my gentle giants. Thanks so much for the review, Valkyrie.

The trouble with having a shifter POV is that shifters know their culture and history. Making it natural to share with the reader is set up from that angle, though, by the way I ensured Miah knew next to nothing 'real' about them. So the reader can learn alongside him, even if I don't continue in his POV. I'm really glad the chase scene didn't come off too drawn out, boring, or just not make sense. It was a challenge! Thanks so much for the review, Cole.

LOL, who knows? Yet another contemporary plot bunny that could be fun to expand. I can just 'see' the dye exploding and Mal's reaction.

One never knows! Prompts are great places for plot bunnies. I have so many in my head, they often end up here.

Uh huh! Be careful what you wish for, right? I don't know if the doctor could tell what they were, more like they'd have had to tell them what happened to Miah when they brought him in to be treated. My goal with shifters is always to bring them into a story where it feels real, even if they aren't. Sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, contemporary... that's always the goal. Thanks so much for reading, even if it isn't your genre, Jo Ann!

Oh, aliens that transform into human shapes? SOOOO many places I can go with that, right? LOL. I do try to make each world I create new and distinct, though there are so damn many I'm always fighting to keep the lines from blurring. I'm glad you enjoyed the story to share Miah's journey. He was the first one who came to me, with his quiet shock and hidden needs, but I have really strong character views for Moshe and Lisco too, enough that I can tell the story from any of their eyes. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me, hun!

Thank you ateneact! I really like shifter stories, and alien stories, so I thought I'd combine them. Obviously I didn't get far into the various elements of the culture, but it was already 9.5k, lol! Thanks for your preference on POV, though you don't really seem to have too much of one.

*IF* the situation is taking advantage of a person against their consent, or happens to someone incapable of consent, then it's wrong. Snuff, pedophilia, abuse--that's about power and control. Some people get off on the illusion of force, in porn and in person... and it's usually easy to tell what is and isn't staged. If you believe you watch a porn that includes any real criminal activity that falls along those lines, it should be reported. Otherwise, enjoy what you enjoy and don't worry about what someone else enjoys watching or making for people watch.

Interesting story. I like hurt/comfort so this trope is a good element to hook me. I had the hardest time figuring out WHY David's friends had such a hard time with Robert, though. It felt like you were hinting at something, like Robert dressed as a leather Dom or something paranormal. The first person POV with such formal, stilted language could have hinted at Robert being from an earlier time because it did not fit with the scenes in the story or the written dialogue. If he thought flowery, his speech should have followed the same pattern because we think how we speak. Flowery or descriptive language can work in a story, but it should be consistently used and relevant to the character's 'character' so to speak. For me, the writing got in the way of the story, which I actually really liked. The slow relationship build up was great because a person should never rush into a relationship with someone they know was abused--so that felt realistic and well thought out.

LOL! I love the weaving of all the little myths and legends into the story. I love those little quirks and they make for such an interesting tale when you think of all the possible mystical events passed off and ignored that could be the fury of the nature beings. Not quite sure how the bruises, dip in the lake, and poisonous fungi would lead to the tests the brother needed, but I'm glad we know they're mostly okay in the hospital from the beginning of your story. This was fun!

Interesting, and very much a story in retrospect. We got a single scene, but within that scene you shared an entire relationship in summary. I liked the reality of the storm. I could nearly hear and feel the wind and the crash of the tree. Great job!

The way the friendship grew between TJ and Stephan seemed natural. The reality of the storm, and dealing with living in it with the cold/radiator, fire, etc... was realistic enough to feel, but not come across as too much detail. I must echo Suvitar though. I found the idea of the teens vandalizing the car contrived to bring about that moment of realization. It didn't make sense. What were they doing all the way by his cabin? How did they get there? Where was their vehicle? Why would the kids confront two grown men with guns? Teens might be stupid, and bigoted, but not that stupid. Most would try to take off. Also, why would they pistol whip the kid and treat it like business as usual? That's pretty excessive force, plus with him unconscious they'd have to address his injury and the possibility of a concussion when they called the cops. Then, when they showed up, where was the reaction from the cops? It seemed like they didn't know either TJ or Stephan, but they should have--TJ because he grew up there part-time and Stephan because he's transferring to their department, right? The town mechanic knew TJ by name, so the cops definitely should've known him at least. Knowledge that TJ and Stephan were cops would explain the deputies calm arrival and lack of 'hands up, weapons down' take on the situation, if you'd gone that route. Overall, though, there was a lack of realism to the entire scene that takes away from the really great relationship and bonding between the guys in the beginning of the story that felt very realistic. I especially like that you didn't have them fall into bed with each other either.

Or start at the end and work your way up! Sometimes I read one at the top, one at the bottom... make it fair, lol! Most people go straight for the top, but I'm equal opportunity.