What Are We In Fur?

Trusting Other Furries w/ Mr. Sherbert

Adobe and Ryuu Episode 45

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Trust can be complicating through our daily lives, but what is it like in the Furry Fandom?

Check out Mr. Sherbet at the links below!
Main Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MrSherbert/videos
Let's Play: https://www.youtube.com/@resherbished/videos
Boyfriend's EP: https://violetorchard.bandcamp.com/album/bloom

Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to give us a download and let us know what you think! You can follow the podcast or either of the hosts at the links below.
 
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/fkKexVH2k9
Twitter: https://x.com/whatareweinfur
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/whatareweinfur.bsky.social
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatareweinfur
Ryuu: https://x.com/RyuuDerg
Adobe: https://www.youtube.com/@adobetheretriever

SPEAKER_01

Hey everybody, welcome. Okay. You sorry. Sorry. I'm gonna redo. Hey everybody, welcome to the What Are We In for podcast. I'm hosting today, but this is usually hosted by uh Adobe and Ryu, where they talk about the furry fandom or just not enough about it. And they they talk no.

SPEAKER_03

Hey hey hey Sherbert, thank you, thank you, Sherpert, Sherbert, Sher, Sherbert, Sherbert Sherbert, Sherbert's the one that did the intro.

SPEAKER_00

Sherbert's here.

SPEAKER_03

Hey, Sherbert. Keep trying and if eventually you'll get it. Sherbert, thank you for doing an intro. Round of applause for Sherbert for doing the intro, dude.

SPEAKER_00

How's everyone doing? How's it? Let's do some catching up. How's everyone doing? Who wants to go first? Great, I'll go first.

SPEAKER_03

I have had an eventful week. Um I went to the hospital. Um I packed some stuff around the house. No, I didn't because I'm lazy. Um, we closed on our house, and that's pretty much it. But I've just kind of just been been chilling. Why'd you go to the hospital?

SPEAKER_00

Why were you hospitalized? I was at the aquarium. What? Did they put you in an aquarium?

SPEAKER_01

Aquarium, D's nuts. You racist bitch.

SPEAKER_00

You better be careful.

SPEAKER_01

Be careful with these nuts.

SPEAKER_03

What happened? I was at the dirt, I was at a dirt park and I had a pretty bad crash and I like crushed my hip. Oh. I was on crutches for a couple days. And now now I'm okay. I'm healed.

SPEAKER_00

Tell me, Dietz. I want to I want to hear the rundown. This is the bike bit, but wait, is this interesting injury inquiries?

SPEAKER_03

Interesting injury inquiries. This is this can be a mix with the bike bit if it needs to be.

SPEAKER_00

Do you need like a breakdown of like what happened? I want to hear exactly what happened so I can laugh at you in the future.

SPEAKER_01

Immense detail and say it in slow motion.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, so I really wish there was a video of this because it was a bit it would have been an insane video.

SPEAKER_00

I want to you also need to put asterisk I breathed every time you took a breath during the story, so it elongates it. It makes us a full hour episode.

SPEAKER_01

And Adobe, with every other word he says, pitch it down four octaves.

SPEAKER_00

It's gonna get really low, but okay. Future Adobe, you got this. You're definitely not crame editing this right now.

SPEAKER_03

We should probably let him tell the story. I crashed my bike and it hurt, and I'm okay now. Oh, we also went on a fishing trip this past weekend in Lake Texas Home, which was beautiful. Water was gorgeous, and um, we went tubing, we went fishing, we didn't catch a well, I didn't catch anything. Umda caught a fish, a little baby fish. She didn't even throw it back. Poor bastard. She just kept it.

SPEAKER_01

Well, what did the police say? The police? What about the police? That's illegal.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, depending on what kind of fish it is, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Or I mean it's well it has to be a certain size to keep it.

SPEAKER_03

I don't I don't I don't fucking care. There's no game wardens around.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, alright.

SPEAKER_03

That's fish trafficking though.

SPEAKER_01

Fish fish trafficking. You kidnapped a fish. I don't know what the fish alternative. Oh, it got eaten when you're not gonna die.

SPEAKER_00

No, it died, then it got eaten. Oh god. So okay, but what happened when you crashed?

SPEAKER_03

What's that story? Um, I crashed, and I was like, oh, oh, ow, geez.

SPEAKER_00

Sherpurt, how are you? What if how have you been? I can't get a fucking story out of this guy to save his life. How are you? Introduce yourself. Who are you?

SPEAKER_01

I've been doing relatively fun. Oh, wait, which do you want?

SPEAKER_00

All of it.

SPEAKER_01

Do you want do you want how I'm doing I can't give you that? Do you want how I'm doing or who I am?

SPEAKER_00

How are you? And then feel free to introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. I've been doing relatively fine. Uh three days ago I got fired, so that's been fun. That's been fun. RIP, dude. Uh I don't know. I haven't really been really doing been I haven't been really doing much aside from that.

SPEAKER_00

Xylophoning. It's a Glockenspiel.

SPEAKER_01

You ass glock and spieling. Yes. Uh I don't know. I think the only thing of note that happened recently, aside from that, was this morning I went to go get breakfast with my brother, and I was in the bathroom washing my hands, and even though the door was locked, an old man managed to open the bathroom door and just walked in. Bathroom. I was I looked at him, I was like, excuse me. And he looks at me and goes, excuse me, and then goes to the toilet.

SPEAKER_00

What the fuck? Is this like a small like cubby of a bathroom? Like, how big was that?

SPEAKER_01

It was a single-person bathroom. And he walks in.

SPEAKER_03

I'd go in there too with you.

SPEAKER_01

Shit. I'd pay bunny to be outside that just see your face when you walk out. He also absolutely reeked of cigarettes, by the way. Do you smoke cig with him in the bathroom? No, I don't smoke. There's only one thing that should go in your lungs, and that's music.

SPEAKER_03

Music into my lungs?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Music straight to the lungs. Glorious feeling.

SPEAKER_00

So, Sherbert, we appreciate you coming onto the show as our guest. Um, go feel free to introduce yourself, and then I'll I'll also put any links you want in the description just for you, Sherby. We don't do fan mail when we have a guest on because it's all about you. Oh. Anyway, introduce yourself. Who are you? What are you? Why are you?

SPEAKER_01

Where are you? I'm uh well, why I am is anyone's guess. Actually, I could tell you I was an accident, but my I'm actually Mr. Shervert. Oh. Which is my name. You can see it on Discord if you have a basic reading ability. I make videos also. Music. Yeah, you like you like music, right? Yeah, mus I mean I I'm I make music, but I don't I haven't put it out anywhere. What's what's stopping you from putting your music out there? It's not done. I'm making an album with my partner. Very nice.

SPEAKER_00

Fuck yeah, dude. That's cool. What kind of instruments do you guys use? Like what kind of like what's the music genre and all that jazz?

SPEAKER_01

Uh I think we're kind of doing like experimental, I believe, but it it'll mostly be like b comprised of bedroom rock. Oh the song I just well is almost done that I was recording. You used the clock and spiel. But like my main instruments are guitars, but my I'm I'm more of a bass man. I love the bass guitar. I don't know if anyone did I post a picture of it? I don't I don't know if anyone saw, but I recently did. I recently got my dream bass, which is a Rickenbacker 4001.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think you sent a picture of that. It was badass. You posted it in the what do we infer Discord server, the Discord server that's down below in the link.

SPEAKER_01

If you join the Discord server, you get uh a quarter of an inch added to your balls. I don't want my balls bigger. Not your penis, your balls. Quarter cubic inch.

SPEAKER_00

You heard it here first, folks, from Sherbert. If you guys want bigger balls, you gotta join the discord server, but down below, we do some pretty cool things.

SPEAKER_01

And that's that's talking from experience. Really? Yeah, that big there they keep getting bigger though. And it's I've been meaning to talk to you guys about that. Like, how did you how did you do that? I've been having like I think it's I think it's because monitor shrinking.

SPEAKER_00

So I'm going to we put elevator music in and we'll only talk about ball sex.

SPEAKER_01

You're like, so I've been like transferring your testicle energy. Yep, that was up. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00

So if you guys want to join the Discord link down below, you guys can join and see all the live recordings that we're doing, just like this episode alone. If you guys want to see guests, no, you guys keep talking. I'm just gonna put this over you guys. Okay, no, keep talking about balls. If you guys want to see live guests that we have on like this episode, you guys can feel free to click link down below. It's a free join. We do uh fan mail, we'll we'll announce things like fan mail, we'll do community nights and games, we'll do recordings, we have a bunch of different things you guys can check out and see. Feel free to click down below. You might regret it, that's okay. I'm getting so overstimulated. I can stimulate you. Sherbert, what do we infer today? Oh wait, no, Ryu, do you want to ask it? No. Wait, Sherbert, or no, Ryu, let's ask it together. One, two, two and a half. Take your time. Three. What are we in?

SPEAKER_03

What do we infer? Uh Sherbert. What? I'm getting to God. So the emotional support glockenspiel.

SPEAKER_01

It really is.

SPEAKER_00

Xylophone.

SPEAKER_01

It's a clock, it's part of the xylophone family. It's it, but it's called a Glockenspiel. The xylophone is like those little colored ones that you see in like the doctor's office that are for babies. Stop playing with those I need to do that. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00

Which road we infer?

SPEAKER_01

So my topic is one that's been on my mind for quite a while, is that I think as as like a general term or just thought, is I think people in the furry phantom are just a little too trusting of each other.

SPEAKER_00

I second that right there with you.

SPEAKER_01

I agree. And I and I wrote like little points in this little document, and I'm hoping that you guys will have more experiences to go off of because I haven't really indulged too much in the furry fandom. I've kind of just been lurking in the shadows in the cuck chair, if you will. Xylophoning. So I I just have my own little points here. Yeah, I have my own little xylophone corner. You're infecting me with the wrong terminology. Um and and now you just throw it out.

SPEAKER_00

This is how you felt. It'll happen a lot, don't worry.

SPEAKER_01

And now I'm self-conscious because I have an audience. I think this is the most people that we had in the audience.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, more people are joining to tune into your beautiful voice. You have a wonderful voice, by the way. Do you do any kind of like I I know I don't want to side tangent too much, but do you have you considered or have you done any kind of voice acting by any chance?

SPEAKER_01

I was auditioning for projects like just before we started this. Oh shit, really? What kind of projects are you trying to looking in looking into? Anything, like literally anything. Voice acting is is work for work that pays.

SPEAKER_00

If you do let me know if you do any projects, I'd love to hear it. Yeah, I'd like to hear that stuff as well, dude.

SPEAKER_01

I I can send you things that are already done, just know that they're really bad.

SPEAKER_00

Oh Adobe, play one of those sound sound bites right now.

unknown

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00

This is Olaf?

SPEAKER_02

Bro, looks like a therapy stress ball with health benefits.

SPEAKER_01

And you look like someone who button mashes through life. Now keep it orderly.

SPEAKER_02

How you talk tough looking like a pushy?

SPEAKER_01

Try touching me and I'll erase your kindergarten memories. Adobe, see, that was perfect. I I've been a part of like like community-made projects that are made by like some middle schooler who just learned how to use Windows Movie Maker. It's it's fun that they're making this, but like, dude, it there could there's so much that could be done.

SPEAKER_03

Anyway, we're we're getting uh Well yeah, let's get into some of those bullet points that you were talking about. I'm just gonna pick these at random.

SPEAKER_01

They're not in any specific order. Uh sure. I was always told that trust should be something that is earned over a long period of time rather than just given out immediately and freely.

SPEAKER_03

I can agree with that.

SPEAKER_00

I have a lot of experience with that from both sides, actually.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I mean it can it it really depends on the situation, I would say. But I'd say mm majority trust is uh definitely earned than just given out. Because I mean, I'm not gonna trust some random person on the street. But like if I get to know this person a little bit more, I'll start to and I see how they are as a person, I'll start to kind of gauge my trust off of that.

SPEAKER_01

What if they have a Glockenspiel? Well, I have a Glock.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, then 110% of the trust given right then and there. Yeah, emotional support glockenspiel, like that that is that's like finding I don't know game terminology. I was gonna find finding legendarian and Zelda, but I don't that's not a thing.

SPEAKER_01

A legendary in Zelda? That's probably not a thing. I would I was thinking like Heart Peace or one of the wallets.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I've definitely played Zelda. I know exactly what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_01

This guy doesn't know what Zelda is.

SPEAKER_00

So on the idea of trust in the furry fandom, I have at least I can say a few years back, have had a lot of issue trust issues because I have given out too much trust. I mean, this is kind of a blanket opinion, but I do feel like the idea of trust or um connecting with people very quickly in the furry fandom can be deceiving because a lot of people present themselves via their personas. And when you look at a you know, slimy blue and black salamander or a fluffy and cute red retriever, it often easier to trust something where it looks innocent, people act innocent a lot of times. Um, and this isn't a bad thing, but a lot of people act online might act closer to their characters. Uh VR chat's a good example of that. Um, so you're willing to give out trust a lot quicker because you're seeing more of a mask or a um uh a small portion of their personality, that's usually the best parts. Um, when I was getting into VR chat uh a few years ago or making friends locally in my furry fandom, I'm often seeing people's uh VR chat avatars, or I'm seeing people's IRL fursuits right off the bat. And making in the furry fandom, it's very, very easy to make connections from my perspective, because when you make a new friend in the fandom, you immediately have a connection because of that shared uh hobby of being a furry. You share these creative connections, you share these social connections, emotional connections, mental health connections. Um, I actually want to put a pin in mental health too, because I think that's something we could dive back into regarding trust. Um, but because people often give part of their personality outright as a furry, you see in the furry fandom a lot of people giving hugs. You see a lot of more um even physical connections, and that makes you feel I believe I I don't have the facts to provide this, but I do think psychologically, if you give someone a hug, right, and you continue on conversation, that's a lot different than talking to a normal person in a mall, just randomly passing by them. I feel like the connection there is almost immediate, and how that connection goes is based on person to person, but it leads to trust being given to whatever extent that might be per individual. And as those relationships continue, more parts of the bad and good of personalities come out, and I find that to it's it's a double-edged sword because you can make the closest friends in the fandom. I think Sherbert with you, um, whenever we became friends, I I my my ideology is I don't know if that's a correct term, but I I I give a lot of my trust people immediately because sometimes that leads me to create wonderful connections right off the rip. I was gonna mention that. Yeah, and I think that's you know, it it creates a benefit of like, hey, I I can create these friends right off the rip and you make these really good connections that last a lifetime. Hi, Ryu. Love you, buddy. I love you. But the double-edged sword of that is you're giving trust and parts of you to someone that can also just as easily take that part away. I don't remember what your immediate question or point was, but that's that's my experience when it comes to that like face-to-face immediate trust that gets given out. It it happens often and it happens very casually, where I think the um the the mask that furries wear, all albeit not being bad, can be deceiving at times. Not toxic, but it can be misleading.

SPEAKER_01

Wow. Yeah, yeah. All right, pack it up. You packed every you went over everything. Thank you for turning it into the What A Winfrey podcast.

SPEAKER_00

That's a short one today. I'm sorry. So okay, Sherbert. So you said you're newer into the fandom. What what's your experience when you meet when you meet someone for the first time, whether it's online or in person? What's what's your experience?

SPEAKER_03

Wait, first of all, how long has Sherbert how how long has Sherbert been in the fandom?

SPEAKER_01

That's a difficult question to answer because I I never considered myself like in the fandom at first, and then like at some point I was like, wait, I just have a fersona now. When did that happen? So I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

How long ago would you date that back to? Not the fursona part, but you just you just interacting with the fandom, maybe not necessarily giving yourself the the the the the the the the the title. But when when did you start interacting with the f when did you start interacting with the fandom? When like where were the when when were those moments?

SPEAKER_01

Uh probably like three, four years ago. Okay. Yeah, that that feels right.

SPEAKER_00

And how were how were your experiences when it comes to just you know, even though you might not identify with the furry, but how were those experiences talking to furries, at least for the first time? Like, did they feel like normal conversations as if you were passing by them in a mall, or did they feel more personal right off the rip?

SPEAKER_01

I think the first person that I talked to that I knew was a furry was like right around that time. Sure. Um and then I was like, oh, he's open about this, so I guess I'll be slightly more open about this to him. And now we're like we're almost we're really close friends now.

SPEAKER_00

Fuck yeah. I know with I know with Ryu and I, whenever him and I started talking, we mentioned this many times before of how we met on VR chat. Um, but we kind of just I I I mean I I could say this with Ryu. Um, I want you more expound on it, but but I uh you trusted me pretty quickly being like, oh shit, I'm gonna go to AnthroCon with you kind of ordeal. Well how what about you, Ryu? How how was your experience with I mean with that?

SPEAKER_03

At that point in my life, I really like didn't care if Adobe was just some murderer and he was gonna kill me because if that was the case, oh well. Oh, it's still on my mind.

SPEAKER_00

No, I I might do it. I might do it.

SPEAKER_01

The first time I met up with with people that I met online initially was like two years after having met them, and like we we made videos together, and like we just we we did all we'd all we did all the things. So I go up there, they're not too far from me. I go up there and I I bring a knife with me. I didn't tell them about this till like months later, but like just that that voice in the back of your head that's like it's a possibility, it's a possibility. You never know.

SPEAKER_00

You never fucking be fair. Like that that that's a human instinct to be like, I don't know this person, I need to be able to protect myself in whatever way that might be. Um, and then they're just degenerates and they're wonderful.

SPEAKER_01

It also doesn't help that I listen to a lot of true crime. I do too. Yeah, I do too.

SPEAKER_02

No, like Adobe, Adobe is just such a loving and happy and yes, shower me with compliments. I love him, and whenever he was like, hey, follow me. I was like, okay. And then and then let's go to Anthrocon. Whoa. Let's go to our first uh curve of a furry convention together. We don't even know each other.

SPEAKER_03

We barely met each other, and then we're like, fuck it. So we he picked me up from the airport, that and then we went and got lunch, and we kind of started from there.

SPEAKER_00

And that that level of trust that you and I created, it could have I mean I'm happy it didn't, but it could have very, very easily. I did have a knife on and oh I always have a knife on.

SPEAKER_01

Uh-huh. I have a knife. I there's a knife right here. I there I'm hold- this is a knife. Ooh, I can use the knife on this. This sounds way better. I was using a sharpie. This sounds way better.

SPEAKER_00

That does sound nice. Ryu, with you and I, like when when we had first met that airport, realistically, and I'm not I'm not I'm not going down the route of like murder or anything, but things really could have gone south or been a very, very bad experience. Luckily, uh happily, I'm someone that you can trust.

SPEAKER_03

I love you.

SPEAKER_00

Um, but we gave it out to each other very quickly and um loosely. Luckily, again, it it turned out great, but realistically, that doesn't always happen. Um, you see a lot of great fantastic stories in the fandom when people meet meet online friends for the first time or friends that they've just met. Doesn't always go the greatest. Sometimes those people aren't what they show online and everything like that. Gets handed out very easily. Uh, I don't want to keep talking, I I will keep ranting, so I will allow Sherbert to go over more bullet points if he if he would like to do that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, let me speak, dude. Fuck. Quit fucking yapping.

SPEAKER_01

You gotta put a muzzle on you. You're kinda hitting some of the other ones with with with just talking because they're all related closely.

SPEAKER_00

I can expound on everything, so I don't I don't want to take too much of the conversation. So I will let you uh then I will let you continue.

SPEAKER_01

Then I'll grab have you heard of the term radical acceptance?

SPEAKER_00

I can make context clues of what that means. I'm not currently searching it up.

SPEAKER_01

The thing that I like about the Furry Fandom is is the most accepting and uh expressive community that I've ever seen. Like I could make a drawing that's like the worst thing ever and be like, this is my first drawing, and then like 20 people will be like, This is this is so good, you should keep going.

SPEAKER_02

Keep you're gonna be an amazing artist.

SPEAKER_01

But the the the gates are just open to anyone. So like someone could intentionally uh make themselves look innocent, but they're not so bad uh oh, that's the word I was looking for. Bad actors. It there's a lot of room for bad actors when there are no locks on the doors. And I'm not talking about like Tommy Wazoe. I mean like someone who acts with ill intent. Can you can you repeat the can you repeat the question? It wasn't necessarily a question, more just like there's the gate is open and anyone can come through.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, as as as in as in the gate of the gates. Of the furry fandom is open and every and everyone can come through. Everybody's accepted in into the furry fandom as they are.

SPEAKER_01

Everybody's accepted, which is great, but it's also not great because everyone is accepted.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, ever and that problem with everyone. It's like, I mean, I don't know the statistics on it, but like what can I say? Everything has their pros and cons.

SPEAKER_00

But so the ability for people to come in and have positive feedback towards your example is like posting art online, right? That's just one of many. It goes back to what I mentioned uh briefly was people can put on this mask, and it's great. Like having that kind of support, um, you know, let's just let's just go down the road of being an artist or making a drawing or something creative where people can support it. It allows the individual who is looking for feedback or is looking for or just looking at their own comment section to feel uh welcome. And when you let your guard down, again, this is not a bad thing, but letting your guard down allows you to meet new people. And sometimes those those comments or sometimes those those friends that comment can become friends. As you mentioned, though, it leads to um I I I guess catfish is another word. I don't know the specific term of catfishing, but you know, putting on That's basically what it is. I I've I personally have experienced people who have my ex who said they were of one, you know, an age, and then they weren't seven months later when you go to buy their airplane tickets.

SPEAKER_03

I remember this.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm not gonna dive into it, that's just the seven months summed up into one sentence. Seven months? Hold on. I had it fucking.

SPEAKER_01

Take your time, take your time. Do you want me to rub your shoulders?

SPEAKER_00

Receiving positive feedback feels good. And say pause. People are in the people are in the fandom to connect. And you have a lot of people who go through a lot of life struggles to be in the fandom to connect with others. I wanted to talk about the idea of um uh like sharing mental health, right? When you are in a space, whether it's a you know, maybe public forum, like a Reddit, uh Reddit thread, Twitter post, or even like uh a YouTube video where a furry talks about something more emotional or deeper. Um, those people find a place to congregate and to share about themselves. And sometimes those conversations lead into DMs or lead into phone calls or gaming, uh and that's how you meet some people. Letting your guard down in the furry fandom, I feel is very, very common. And I know that can be a human instinct when people give that trust away.

SPEAKER_01

And it's great that we have a community where we can do that so easily.

SPEAKER_00

I've said it once, and I say it all the time is you can meet some of the best people in this fandom, but also unfortunately, as you mentioned, Sherbert, there are bad eggs, and unfortunately, you can meet some of the worst people in the fandom because people the people who are willing to give out that trust and provide it back to those are all there's the same amount of people like Ruby was saying that will take advantage of that, um, sometimes severely, and it can lead to disconnects between other friendships, drama will spread, and it just becomes this whole snowball effect of like this seems like the best thing to be in. I let my guard down one time, and now all of a sudden it kind of blows up. And this isn't saying, like, this isn't like a like a pity statement. This isn't like, oh, you know, that person did no wrong, but that level of trust, like, oh, you know, I I really appreciate like you know, be able to reach out to this one person who's really, really nice to me. I've met some friends. Sherbert, that's kind of how you and I met, literally, to some degree, is you know, you were in a comment section on our YouTube video and we just started chatting, so we were in the same Discord server, and then the things are great, you're not a bad egg yet. I don't think you're a 40-year-old who's out to get me, but we'll see.

SPEAKER_01

You've never seen my face, so you don't know yet.

SPEAKER_00

But it's human instinct to want to be around people that make you feel good, it's human instinct to be in a space where you feel comfortable. I I wish I knew a little more about psychology to like explain more on it, but like it people want to feel good emotionally, and like that Twitter post you're mentioning of just like putting out an art piece and receiving that really positive feedback.

SPEAKER_03

I have depression.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I do too.

SPEAKER_01

I am a depressant, I am a depressant.

SPEAKER_00

You know, you make some of the best relationships you can, but at the same time, it can just come back to bite you. And um I I know a lot of people, myself included, don't know where they would be without the free fandom, but fuck, it's a hard thing to fucking navigate because sometimes you you you hold you hold up your walls with one relationship and it might not be the right call, where then a handful of other friends you let your guard down and then it's it's a mixed bag. Um I don't have a conclusion to this, so someone stop me before I keep on ranting.

SPEAKER_03

The thing is, I don't I don't really I don't really have any much relevance to this because like I don't I didn't grow up with many friends and like I'd never really had friends that like do ill against me. Like and I'm not saying that to try to sound like better, but like I don't know, I'm grateful for for the friends that I've had in my life and ex Adobe, for example, like I'm glad that I I trusted him and he trusted me, and we've come so far together, and it's been fantastic.

SPEAKER_00

So, Sherbert, with your list, what um does do you have an did you end up writing anything down that involves like the mental health in the fandom by any chance, just out of curiosity or things that relate to it?

SPEAKER_01

Sure, sure, kind of yeah, relating.

SPEAKER_00

It doesn't have to steer that way. I was just I was just curious. So it could have been a transition point. That's all I was just curious about.

SPEAKER_01

We can transition because you mentioned Ryu mentioned we can transition. We can transition to uh Ryu mentioned that he he had didn't have many friends growing up, and I was gonna say Ryu has no friends. I had basically no friends.

SPEAKER_02

Listening in to this episode live today on our Discord, our Discord at What Are We In Fur.

SPEAKER_00

It's gonna be huge.

SPEAKER_02

It's gonna be huge.

SPEAKER_00

I'm just sitting back and let you all transition whatever the fuck that this to that one is.

SPEAKER_01

That's the trump position. Exactly. The trump. So it's the trump position. I've already felt like an outcast.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, don't feel that way, buddy.

SPEAKER_00

I'll get you a Viking boat, we'll get you a torch going. I'll also uh I'll get you a nice sail as well that has your persona raccoon on it.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, that'd be cool.

SPEAKER_01

Uh I don't like at least at least we'll send you off in style. I don't really like to mention it, but I am on the autism spectrum growing up. No one really uh I couldn't really figure out how to interact with people. I'm I'm a lot better at it now. Um I still struggle with like in-person social cues, but that's like the only really the only thing. But I had already felt like I'm just not part of what everything should be. And a community like this that's so accepting and and free to just do whatever the hell you want. I'm like, oh that's great. And there's already a bunch of other autistic people here. I don't find myself uh really connecting well with other autistic people. I it feels like I've I've often compared it to like um trying to add two the same side of the magnet together, you just can't. But that's just me. But it's still like seeing all those other people there, I'm like, oh I I can go there too. So it's it's a good safe uh place to be, to feel safe. It is which makes it a little heartbreaking when uh not only uh do I learn that uh it's not always safe, but that's generally how it's uh viewed in the in the public eye as not safe.

SPEAKER_00

And with you being newer to the fandom and your experiences um like with autism as a whole, do you like where where do you see yourself in the fandom moving forward? Do you see yourself getting closer into the fandom itself, or you do you are you looking to kind of keep it at bay or just kind of see where things go? I'm just kind of curious like where where your perspective is like moving forward with the fandom. Um there's no right answer. I'm just I guess I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_01

I see myself getting closer to my friends who are closer. Gotcha. So I'm just kind of like the leech that's just at the bottom corner of those giant pictures of everybody in their suit. I'm I'm in the cuck chair for first.

SPEAKER_00

But do you like the cock chair?

SPEAKER_01

It's comfy sometimes. I saw that at the was it Anthrocon? Was that the most recent big one? Yes. I saw that like they had like a talent show that people could go up and just do whatever else. I I when I saw that I was like, oh, I could have uh if I had gone, then I could probably could have played one of my songs.

SPEAKER_00

I I guess you're going next year.

SPEAKER_01

Maybe I can't really go anywhere.

SPEAKER_03

Sharp and performing, that'd be sick.

SPEAKER_00

Oh it's good you've been able to find this place out of space. I know that the idea of trust gets difficult. My my best advice to anyone who is in the fandom or maybe newer to the fandom is just treat treat it tread lightly, don't dive into things at first. I have done that and I've met the worst people in my life because I've given 100% of my trust people who I should not have.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, constant suspicion should never mean like just change how loving and caring uh the community itself is. You just need to be infinitely more careful with how you handle strangers. It's just stranger danger. This is the stranger danger episode.

SPEAKER_03

Stranger danger talk. Don't talk to strangers unless they're in a front.

SPEAKER_01

Unless they have a glock in spiel. This has been sitting on my lap the whole time.

SPEAKER_03

What if they have a Glock?

SPEAKER_01

If they have a Glock, ask them if they own it legally.

SPEAKER_00

That's what's important. I know. Um when I go to con centers, I actually I have to, even now, with the experience I've had.

SPEAKER_03

You still carry a gun? What? You still carry a gun in the con.

SPEAKER_00

I don't have a gun. I have to remind myself when I go to cons that to have my guard up to to a safe degree, a humane safe degree, not too much, obviously. But when I go to like when I go to cons and I socialize with a random group of fursuiters, sometimes on media, like, oh my god, I should get their telegram. Oh my god, I should have them to hang out that night. Oh my god, we should go to a party together. And it's like I have to remember that these are people I don't know. And although it's not bad to have a level of trust towards people that I could potentially be friends with, I can't just immediately give all that away. I I I don't know if you guys relate to it. I know it's probably more of an extroverted thing, is like when you just go to socialize, you just kind of want to be friends with everyone. It's not a bad thing, but I it it's a gentle reminder, is just keep like just keep your guard up in a safe manner where you know you're just don't set yourself up for failure. Don't set yourself up to be in a position where it's gonna cause turmoil or uh tension down the line.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I don't know if I'm an introvert or an extrovert. I just find whenever I'm in a crowd of people, I I find myself more interested in what a person is interested in more than them, like more than being friends with them.

SPEAKER_00

Carry on conversations about like hobbies and stuff like that, like what they're what what they're interested in. Have you had bad experiences in the fandom that like have rang any bells or things that like you kind of remember?

SPEAKER_01

I've been very fortunate enough to not have any bad experiences so far.

SPEAKER_00

Good. Good. Very good.

SPEAKER_01

I intend to keep it that way, but I I have no control in that.

SPEAKER_00

I would watch out for the salamander in this call, though.

SPEAKER_01

He can be yeah, you might this side of the couch of the report.

SPEAKER_00

Hey, I'm gonna get you. I'm gonna get you. Anyone who anyone who's tuning in um isn't in the audience. I I don't know if it's like this on your guys' end, but I'm in the middle. Ryu's on my right, Sherbert's on the left.

SPEAKER_01

Well, Adobe was in the green room, he kept trying to like get Jarvis to jerk me.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_03

I said I would say Jarvis. Jerk it a little.

SPEAKER_00

It's still on, it's activated.

SPEAKER_01

You it's voice activated. Tell it to stop. Adobe, tell it to stop. Stop it.

SPEAKER_03

He came.

SPEAKER_01

That was a small man while sending the floor.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah, because they grow once you join the Discord.

SPEAKER_01

Apparently. They're like uh oh, what are those?

SPEAKER_00

No, no, W we're not in person. No, no, no. We really are.

SPEAKER_01

He's touching my feet. I'm smelling them.

SPEAKER_00

Rhe you, what the fuck, dude?

SPEAKER_01

I have a boyfriend, you need to chill.

SPEAKER_00

W is just like perspective on like the the how we're in a uh a call, how it looks like we're in a next week.

SPEAKER_01

He's gonna listen to this. He's not gonna be happy with your advances towards me.

SPEAKER_00

What next ball points?

SPEAKER_01

Uh I I think I that's pr I think I covered everything. No, you didn't. Okay, let me look again. Yeah, we we kind of just covered all like everything that I have scattered around here.

SPEAKER_03

Sherbert, what is your favorite what is your favorite experience that you've had that you've had in the fandom to this day? I got to try on my friend's fursuit head.

SPEAKER_01

How was that? Uh it almost killed me. What? What? So I guess that could be a bad experience. How did it almost kill you? Expound! Because because okay, for those of you don't know, I'm a very large man, uh not like wide in length, um, but my head is still very big. And he is a very small man, and his head is not big. Not to say that he's dumb, he's smarter than me. But I I tried on his the measurements are different. I just watched you change your profile picture in real time. But er ever anytime one of his friends meets him for the first time, he has them it's a rite of passage, he has them wear his first suit head. So that's there's uh I can send you the picture. I'm I'm comfortable with that because it doesn't have my face. Hell yeah. But I I put it on for like just a second and then I realized I can't breathe. It's it was like squishing down on my head because his head is so small. It it was like putting on a bike helmet, a motorcycle helmet. Yeah, it was like I only had it on for just a few seconds. I took it off and he was like, Wow, your face is red. But I think that was the coolest thing.

SPEAKER_03

That's pretty cool. What kind of pursuit was it? Like what was his persona?

SPEAKER_01

He's uh a lynx, I believe.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, very cool. Shout out to the cats.

SPEAKER_01

Guys, if you if you join the discord server, if you join the discord server, you can see the pi the pi picture in the channel also.

SPEAKER_00

Why is it a link? Oh, because it it give it a minute. You're so impatient.

SPEAKER_03

God, Adobe, fuck. That's a really cool first.

SPEAKER_00

That is sick. That's really cute. Um, so with the uh as we're as we're ending out here today, um, I do understand that you know trust is a very big idea in the Furry fandom. Uh Sherbert, you have experience in VR chat?

SPEAKER_01

A little bit. Uh a few months ago I put up the base stations on my wall so I don't have to set them up. So if I wanted to play VR, I could just easily do it now. But I I don't have a custom model, it's just a weird-looking version of chat from Sonic and Lee.

SPEAKER_00

I feel like um I feel like this is probably more relevant in VR chat. And uh I'm not gonna go back into talking about like the sexual side of the fandom or anything. We got a whole episode topic on that if you guys want to go watch that.

SPEAKER_01

I don't have sex, so I don't have anything to say about that. It's a waste of time.

SPEAKER_00

Anyway, I feel furries often wear things um that are that relate to kink gear when it comes to like harnesses, leashes, uh more putt masks, more prominent femboy clothes, and all the all all although it's not all sexual or sexualized, at least when it comes person to person, um I feel like the experience of being around people who express themselves that way. I'm not necessarily saying it leads to level of it's not necessarily giving the level of trust, but you're you're in an environment where people's guards are down, where people are in trying trying to express themselves in an acceptance space. And I feel like it can at least relate to the idea of like, well, trusting that individual. I just want to know if you guys had experiences, whether it's VR chat or in person, because I I personally have, but like when you're in an environment with furries, you see people who are expressing themselves. I guess the best way I express determinator that might be. Um, do you guys have experiences with that? Uh again, I feel like I see that more often VR chat because I would say most VR avatars have some sort of like crop tops, you know, harnesses.

SPEAKER_03

I've seen I've seen many, many, many, many, many VR chat avatars with like harnesses and latex and I saw a naked avatar once. Shout out to the mama gens.

SPEAKER_01

Well, it wasn't even a furry, it was just like an old dude, it was an old man with like some this super long, but like realistic.

SPEAKER_00

Have you guys seen in VR chat where like you're in group instances or um again, this this relates directly to first season persons too, but just to be more relatable for VRChat's sake, um, you know, you you go into VR chat instance, you have people who are kind of I'm not gonna say being horny, but just have more of that passive, like flirty, yeah, passive nature of just like that passive flirty attitude. Yes, yeah, and you see people in the VR chat settings at the very least let their guard down and be around people, and these could be friends, or what I often see is just in public lobbies where people just meet others for the first time and immediately have these conversations that are pretty deep. And you know, if it's between person to person, that's not that's not necessarily a bad thing. But then I I have seen friendships kind of um what it implode because of you you find this one person, they have this this attitude, this flirtatious um kind of conversation towards you, and then things get very toxic or very bad because especially in VR chat, you don't know who that person is. I'm not gonna act like a mom and be like, oh, you need to watch who you talk to online. But the furry fandom is very prominent.

SPEAKER_01

We should never start a friendship on the basis of horkiness.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it happens. It happens, it happens more than you think, bud. Very, very, very often. And VR chat's a very good space for that because people can can mask themselves. And that's not saying that the person behind the VR V uh VR headset is a bad person. That's absolutely not the case. But the idea of letting your guard down is there much more prevalently because you know, if you're in VR chat, you're in a space being your own home, but then you can allow conversations and friendships to blossom outside of that from those instances.

SPEAKER_03

What if you have phantom oh my god phantom pain? I'm phantom! I can fit it!

SPEAKER_01

Don't throw the tomato at me, I'll get an allergic reaction.

SPEAKER_03

I'm allergic to tomatoes.

SPEAKER_01

Have you seen the the the meme? I've seen that British guy.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

There was a follow-up video where that guy found him again. Yep. And was like, I don't have fun to pay it, I was just really drunk.

SPEAKER_00

I I I do think that people who let their guard down in the fandom are you see that a lot in VR chat. You have it's just an easier setting to be more personal while still in theory being more safe. I'm not rolling off this plane examples, I just kind of want to express that from what I've personally seen in my time when I was in VR. I have about a thousand hours logged in VR chat. So that just says a lot about the people I've seen and have been around. Um, and again, it's not all bad, it's just expressing what I've seen.

SPEAKER_01

I have 30.

SPEAKER_00

That's well, that's 970 hours you saved of your life. So it's a lot of hours. Good. Yeah, I was on there a lot. How many do you know how many hours you have, Ryu? Did you mostly mostly play standalone?

SPEAKER_03

Um, I can actually check. 154.2 hours.

SPEAKER_00

You also have a life. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you. Yeah, I have um I haven't played in a while. Um, but when I was on and when I played VR chat a lot, I was often in public lobbies and I would form groups, we'd get some friends in, and we'd just be in public lobbies chatting with a bunch of people. Um, there was one time, many times, I've met people who were super nice. I've chatted with them outside Telegram or outside in a telegram chat or something, and oh my god, turned south so quick. I've had people um just dramaticize things or just say things that are just so fucking absurd. Um they just want to start. I mean, that's just that's just my experiences, experience when you're in a setting that's even easier to be a fursona than it is to be your own self. And again, you can express yourself however you want. It just leads to that trust kind of deviating quite a bit. Express yourself. I'm gonna check VR chat on my end here. I don't even know if I have it installed anymore. I have to double check.

SPEAKER_01

I think the the most amount of time I put into a game.

SPEAKER_00

Um 1080 hours.

SPEAKER_01

Holy shit. That I can check right now would be TF2. If there was a way to check your hours on on Minecraft, it it would probably be Minecraft, but I have no way to do that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it would be Minecraft for me.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, is that TF2? And then like, because like TF2 is sitting at like a thousand hours, I think. And then second place is like Dark Souls, and that's like 300 hours.

SPEAKER_00

God damn. Chronicle said, um, Adobe's so social. Yeah, I I have my moments. I have my especially like when I'm bogged down with like work or depression. But yeah, no, I would I would often hop in VR chat and just chat with that's literally how I met Ryu. Um, so I met a lot of my at least online friends, is um just chatting with a bunch of random people. When I go to cons, when I was at the waterfront from the one we were talking about last episode, just went down and hung out with a bunch of random people and had a really good time. A lot of those people I actually didn't continue conversations or or connections with. Um, but I I like to leave the door open to New people. But then those people like to say, You're a piece of shit, and I'm gonna talk to other people about that. And it's like, okay, well, that trust that I gave them, even if it was a small amount, bites you in the fucking ass.

SPEAKER_03

So I'm gonna bite you in the ass.

SPEAKER_00

In my opinion, there is such a thing as over-socialization.

SPEAKER_01

I agree. Because you'll meet a nice person, and then like the person next to that is like, Hi, nice to meet you for the first time. If you had to get rid of one of your toes in order to make your dad stop beating your mom, which toe would it be?

SPEAKER_03

Oh my god, that's some saw shit.

SPEAKER_01

I need an answer soon.

SPEAKER_03

My index toe.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. I'm not answering that one.

SPEAKER_03

On the left foot.

SPEAKER_00

Hold your breath.

SPEAKER_03

Bite down on this.

SPEAKER_00

Uh before we end it out today, anyone who's uh listening to the audience, do you guys have any like stories or any experiences with like fandom and like giving out trust, whether it was good or bad? If anyone wants to share, feel free. We can read off any stories if anyone has anything they like to share. I trust Kren because he's our server dad. Kren, we gave you server dad stats. Discord daddy.

SPEAKER_01

I hate that I just said that. I love that you just said that. I was gonna use it as a point earlier. Like when I I first when I when we first met, like I I barely knew anything about you, and then you just like immediately started socializing with me.

SPEAKER_00

Weffler said I'm glad you did. Oh, so you just cut off Sherbert. Okay, okay. Sorry, I'll just you wanted to just leave now. I'm sorry, but I mean, whenever we started talking, Sherbert, like yeah, you must start socializing, interacting. I mean it's been nothing but a great time, and you know, we gave a level of trust to each other, and then now now we're chatting and playing games and recording with each other, and it's a great time.

SPEAKER_01

But something like that that we have you on. If that was anyone else, who knows what could have happened.

SPEAKER_00

And sometimes you take chances and they it's sometimes you just never know. You just take take some chances and see what happens, and again, sometimes it blossoms and something awesome, but sometimes you also have to keep your guard up depending on what situation you're in. For you, if you want to read what you were reading, you can go for it. W says, I like to say that the furry community is like any other, it's a huge group of people with a common interest, and in any huge group of people, there's gonna be people of all kinds, including good people and including bad people. The furry community is a wonderful place, and that doesn't mean everyone you meet will make a good friend. I completely, completely agree to that. A lot of people come to the fandom to escape, a lot of people come to the fandom to meet people that they um want to connect with, and those connections sometimes click immediately, and sometimes not always with the right people. And at the end of the day, you never know people's motives, you never know people's intentions, and not not everyone is a bad guy, even though they might seem like it, depending on your perspective of um them as a as an individual. W also adds, additionally, I made a I made I made lotter I made lotter You want to try again? This was I made lotterily 20 times more I made literally 20 times more friends of the furry community than I did in school or in person. And I same perspective there. I I consider myself an extrovert, I consider my myself an extrovert in the fandom, but when it comes to just day-to-day, I would say I'm an ambivert.

SPEAKER_01

It's so crazy that he made the lottery though.

SPEAKER_00

Crazy making billions off that, I'm sure. That's just like reudio.

SPEAKER_01

His mic is broken. Unless he fixed it.

SPEAKER_00

Did he say that and I just ignored him?

SPEAKER_01

He said, Yeah, you ignore everything he does.

SPEAKER_00

Oh. Well, he makes fun of me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Do you want do you want me to read this next one since he's not here? Or did you just read the I kind of don't.

SPEAKER_00

There you are. Hi, buddy.

SPEAKER_03

Hi. I don't know what happened.

SPEAKER_00

Welcome back. We missed you.

SPEAKER_03

I missed you. Tech said just recently I had a friend that I made on Bark, and we were probably friends for about two months. Then he asked me out and we went and then we had a really good date. And then he ghosted me, and then he came back. We were gonna go to Comic-Con near him, and then he ghosted me. And again, I'm too trusting. Oh, dude. Well, that's yeah, that's just a shitty person that wants to manipulate you. Be glad that's where it ended. You feel bad. Yeah, be glad that's where it ended, and um I'm glad you don't talk to them anymore because you deserve much better than that, Tek.

SPEAKER_00

All they just said was their first ever date. Well, I appreciate you sharing though, Tech.

SPEAKER_03

I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_00

Like we'll be a we'll be we'll be your new family. We'll be here for you, Tech. Always.

SPEAKER_03

But together forever.

SPEAKER_00

There is no bright side to situation like that. Um, there is nothing that we could say, you know, things aren't just gonna actually be better. It just it's situations that suck and you do learn from them. I I I was mentioning that I there was a friendship in my life that I'm still getting over. But this person, I we became very close friends within a few months, hung out all the time. I went to functions that they invited me to that were very like personal and unique, and again, not no feelings attached, it was just a good friendship, and then they moved pretty quickly um without really giving me any heads up, and then just ghost to me and also just stop talking. And I've been in the fandom for uh nine nine years, and there's still shit that I experience that just sucks. Um it's a learning experience. How old are you again? Uh 64. Well, you still need me.

SPEAKER_01

Well, you still need me when I'm 64.

SPEAKER_00

I'm 24 years of age. Oh so um it I it's the idea of like wanting to meet people and wanting to socialize, and just the situations just turn south, and sometimes there sometimes there isn't a bad sometimes there's no reason to it, but like I think ghosting, ghosting I I think can also be its own thing as an episode topic, honestly. I think that'd be a fun topic to talk about, but not fun. I think it'd be an informative topic to to speak about, but it just happens. But I there really isn't anything more to bounce off of that. Um besides it just sucks. It really does suck. And I think when those situations occur, falling back to people you are genuinely and fully trust, people who you're genuinely close with is the best way to go about it. And just kind of just openly talking about it too. Adobe, put Adobe, what are you doing, man? Like put the music background. Oh, DW, stop Adobe, yeah. Stop with the fart sound effects. Oh, it's gone. Thank you guys all for tuning in to the What Do We Infer podcast. Sherbert, it was great having you on as a guest. We really appreciate you. If you ever want to come back on, just give us a little ring. We'll have you back on. You're you're our you're our third host.

SPEAKER_01

I'll get down on my hands and knees and say, please, I want to do improv with you, please.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, you want to do improv. Let us know. Let us know.

SPEAKER_01

I took improv for eight years.

SPEAKER_00

You might have to do that. Uh, Ryu, where can they find us?

SPEAKER_03

They can find us at what are wein' for on Twitter slash X. You can find me at Ryu Derg on Twitter slash X. You can also find us on Instagram at what are wein for You can find Sherbert! Yeah, you can find Sherbery. Where can they find Sherbert underscore mister?

SPEAKER_01

You can go through my Discord profile.

SPEAKER_03

No, I w I went I went to the fur I went to the first two picture that you sent from your Twitter. I rarely use my Sherbert underscore mister on Twitter slash X. And wherever else we have him in the link below.

SPEAKER_00

Sherbert where can they find you?

SPEAKER_01

YouTube is the one that I really do.

SPEAKER_00

Sherbert will have you down below if anyone wants to go follow Sherbert on the good old YouTube subscribe post posting along with my YouTube that follows me posting.

SPEAKER_01

It's that main one, which I don't post often, but it's it's called it's called ReShirt. It's the Let's Play channel. Tuesdays and Tuesdays.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you again, Sherbert, for tuning in with us this week. If you guys want to join the Discord, as we mentioned, there is a link down below. Um and we didn't do fan mail this week, uh, because we don't have any, but too because we got a guest on. If you guys do want to send us a fan mail, let us know what you think of an episode. Shout yourself out if you guys do anything in the fandom that you would like to share. You can link that in the fan mail down below, and we will be sure to shout that out on a following episode. Thank you guys all for tuning in this week. Thank you guys, everyone in the audience. Sherbert, thank you again for coming on. Ryu. Thank you as always, because I love you. I love you.

SPEAKER_03

I'm a dumb dog, I'm a dumb dirt, and Sherbert's a dumb raccoon.

SPEAKER_01

I'm glad she said raccoon and that was right.

SPEAKER_00

We will see you guys in the next one.

SPEAKER_01

Bye. Bye bye.

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