Scion | Kyoto 🌻 · @KyotoSSB
1st Jul 2020 from TwitLonger
The situation with Scruff.
Somewhere around summer 2018 I met an individual who goes by the tag Scruff. He was working in a local mall at one of the little kiosks that you see in the middle of the aisles. His business was to sell anime merchandise (this is important because the story is relevant) I, being an employee in a mall store at the time, would frequently pass by going for lunch runs, and the merchandise would interest me; I’d stop and take a look at the shop.
I took great pleasure in conversing with Scruff. He was a funny, kind gentleman and usually would give me great deals on his products. I bought from him frequently and as time went on, we exchanged numbers. I found out a short time later that he was a smash player, something that I was ironically getting back into at the time due to ultimate’s coming release.
We’d text a bit here and there. He would playfully flirt a little bit here and there to which I had no problem with; I was single at the time mind you so this really didn’t bother me and while I was not interested in a relationship with Scruff, it also did not offend me. I’ve heard from many others that he’s genuinely just a very ‘’flirty’ person, so I didn’t really think much of it. Maybe I’m incredibly naive but I didn’t feel uncomfortable until a certain point; that being him asking me more than once to send him nude photos of myself.
When he did this, at first, I sort of joked back and didn’t really see it as too serious. But the more time went on, and the more he kept asking me, the more uncomfortable I’d became. I would text him things like “hey, how are you?” and he’d respond with “horny lol” completely unprovoked. Eventually Scruff had sent me a nude to “break the ice”, implying something afterwards like “now it’s your turn!” He wouldn’t stop persisting no matter how many times I’d blow him off.

So I did it. I sent him the nudes, as uncomfortable as it made me. I wanted him to leave me alone. I cannot tell you how ashamed I felt when I did; he was a prominent member of the community and I was afraid of him. I was at rock-bottom mentally and I didn’t feel like I had any other choice. I couldn’t tell you why I didn’t block him. I should have and I will forever be so angry and disgusted with myself for not. I hate myself for it.
I tried to continue to play things off after that and move on and forget about it, and I did what I could to put a bit of space in between us. But he was the main TO in Lake Charles and it was essentially impossible to not have to interact with him at tournaments. I tried to be as kind and polite as I could despite my discomfort, and did everything in my power to shrug it off. Was this something I should have done? Absolutely not. I will hate myself forever for it
But it would continue to be little things even after that, things that others witnessed for themselves and pointed out to me; constantly making comments on my cleavage, standing behind me when I’d bend over and making innuendo jokes that I would nervously laugh off. I just didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. He was an authority figure in our small community. But i interacted as little as I could besides just being polite and speaking when spoken to unless it was to report a score or about a match with him.
A few months passed by and I had quietly told a couple of trusted friends about the situation and how dreadfully uncomfortable it had made me. While this is not for me to say, as it is not my story, I have been told by multiple other accounts that Scruff is overly touchy with others and has made them uncomfortable. He was with myself, as well. Some of them you even know right here on Twitter. It was nice to know that I wasn’t alone or overthinking it.
I still don’t know who but one of these ‘trusted friends’ told Scruff that I’d expressed my concern to them. He confronted me in an extremely manipulative way and then blocked me. I was shaken but glad it was over. This happened May of 2019.
I finally started telling TO’s after this, after much pressure from other members of the community and close friends to do so. I spoke up as much as I could without going public and with asking to please keep me anonymous in fear of what would happen. I told other members of Louisiana in other regions. I had a very long conversation with several of them one night at an event that lead to me crying and having a nervous breakdown. A few of them did believe me. Others did not. I was told by a couple of members of my local community that if I didn’t want him to interact with me this way, I shouldn’t have led him on. I shouldn’t have sent him the picture. I felt forced to, I felt pressured. I was scared. I was called a slut behind my back, and a liar.
Right before moving home to Texas, I was approached by several other people telling me that not one, but TWO OTHER GIRLS had come forward about Scruff doing similar things with them. I was not surprised, as I already knew about one of these girls and another friend of mine shared her own interactions with him. I will not post these here, as her story is not mine to tell, but if you need further info you can DM me. This resulted in a statewide year long ban from the scene, but that is not enough. Lake Charles itself fought me on whether or not his ban should have even happened to begin with.
I’m only making this statement so that everyone is to an understanding of what exactly happened. I did not handle it as best as I could have by any means, and I shouldn’t have complied with him just because I was afraid of making him upset. I shouldn’t have joked back to the point that I did where I realized how serious this all was. I will not deny that I am in the wrong and it hurts my credibility. For that I am so sorry, I will never forgive myself for this.
I didn’t feel the need to bring this all to the public eye as he has been issued a permanent ban in the state, however the man still hosts his own events in LC and other girls coming out have given me courage to tell my story. Please do not harass or attack the man; this is over and done with and it is my request that you leave it alone. Thanks for listening to me