Dash's Anxiety NSFW · 11:35pm Mar 28th, 2017
Nope, that's not a story, but this blog is brought to you because a story got my subconscious thinking, which can be dangerous... Or very interesting.
This was triggered by a comment on one of Damaged's stories, either Stripe's Loyalty or its sequel, Softy's Kindness. A reader said they just couldn't see Dash as a submissive pet, which is understandable, if you take her as she presents herself on the show. If however you look at her different, through a different lens, then it becomes not so hard to believe.
The lens I look at this through requires you to know a bit about m'self, specifically that I'm professionally diagnosed as bi-polar high, and self diagnosed as suffering from general anxiety on the OCD side (along with sensory overload). Because of this, my subconcious looked at Dash with the question of 'Does she suffer from anxiety disorder?'
You might say no, after all, on the show she's boisterous, outgoing, headstrong, brave, and so on. But considering how someone with anxiety acts when they feel safe, suddenly it doesn't seem crazy. Think about it, does she ever promise something she can't deliver? Occasionally, but only with her friends, people she feels safe with as she knows they won't look down at her for it. Even her dislike for fru-fru girly things makes sense, she can't picture herself being a girl, at least not the way she thinks people expect.
So lets look at the idea of her being a pet, even going out in public bound and leashed, is it believable? While I can criticize Stripe's Loyalty for rushing the development of their relationship, I think that her behavior is quite believable in a relationship like this. Both because she has a strong master to rely on to protect her, but also because he's given her a mask in the form of the Stripes personality.
For me, work is my safe place, they tell me who I'm supposed to be, and what I'm supposed to do. In a similar vein, when Dash puts on her mask, when she becomes Stripes, she can do whatever she's told, and still feel safe, its not her doing it, its Stripes. It doesn't matter what people think of her behavior, its Stripes behavior, not hers.
So, I think that the whole Dash being a pet thing is really rather believable, but I'd like to hear other opinions about it... and about the possibility of her suffering from anxiety disorder.
