#complaining is literally always the answer

[mumblingsage]

#does hyperbole always weaken the meaning of words

Honestly, I can't speak for anyone else, but I think hyperbole is a lot less risky when the true meaning is clear. I can say a book "gutted" me without anyone worrying I was literally disemboweled, and without fear that if I was actually severely injured in a freak accident, people wouldn't rush to get help for me because "eh, it's no worse than that book did to her." Speaking of mental/emotional injury instead of physical, it's less clear if I'm being hyperbolic (and if I blame the book or author for actually hurting me) and can lead to people being less certain what a discussion of trauma is actually about. I hope this is a temporary step in society as trauma becomes more widely known and understood (and as this wave of censorship crests and, knock on wood, passes). I can conceive of a utopia where mental health is nourished and "traumatized" is a mostly harmless way to praise a book that evoked strong emotion because everyone knows it's meant ironically -- but that's not the situation I'm complaining of.

So I guess my answer is, rather than weakening words, I think hyperbole is only dangerous when the word is already weak -- meaning, it's not yet widely understood. "Strong" words/concepts we already have a clear shared definition of (gutted by books, starving for lunch, blinded by a gaudy room) probably aren't strained by being used hyperbolically. Whether the hyperbole might be offensive for other reasons is a separate issue that probably differs from situation to situation.

I'm wondering if, as a society who cares about vulnerable people, we could stop saying "traumatize" when we truly mean "upset"?

I am sick of hearing sad books or movies "traumatize" their readers. I simply do not believe that happens. A traumatic experience might be adjacent to books (I have vivid memories of books I was reading around certain experiences and even how the contents of those books affected my processing of the experiences). But it's not caused by the book. And, y'know. The weather is Christofascist Censorship Attempts outside.

Meanwhile from the other side I continue to be surprised at just how badly people fail to understand trauma and traumatic experiences in general. Watering down the term isn't helping. Find other hyperbole to express that The Bridge to Terebithia gutted you, chewed on your heartstrings, and made you cry your first pair of contact lenses right out of your preteen eyes.

[misswynters]

Seb complaining to you after a days worth of work

short drabble

requested. by anon

Seb’s broad shoulders sagged as he shuffled inside, his gills flaring faintly with every irritated breath. Door creaking as he stepped inside still in his uniform, which carried a lingering dent of zauns smog and dust. He muttered something under his breath, probably about the day he’d had, as he unbuckled his utility belt and tossed it onto a nearby chair with a loud clunk.

You watched from the kitchen, leaning against the counter with a glass of water in hand, already bracing yourself for the incoming storm of complaints. Which he always does. He sure does love to complain about his job as enforcer.

“Long day?” you asked, breaking the silence.

Seb turned his wide, fish-like eyes toward you, his lower lip jutting out in an exaggerated pout. “You have no idea,” he groaned, flopping down onto the couch like a deflated balloon. His fin-like ears twitched as he rubbed at his temple, his webbed fingers dragging down his face dramatically. “I swear, if one more rookie enforcer tells me, ‘It’s just shimmer addicts, Seb,’ I’m gonna lose it. Like, yeah, Brad, shimmer addicts who could gut you with a rusty knife in two seconds flat. But sure, act tough.” (idk who’s brad lol, just a rando)

You bit back a laugh, crossing the room to sit beside him. “Brad again, huh?”

“Brad always,” Seb whined, throwing his head back against the couch and staring at the ceiling like it held all the answers. “It’s like babysitting with a badge.” He gestured wildly as he spoke, his fins flicking in irritation. “And don’t get me started on the paperwork. Hours of chasing down some punk, and then I have to sit there and write about it. I didn’t sign up for this. Well, okay, I did, but still.”

You leaned closer, resting your chin on your hand as you watched him rant. There was something endearing about the way he vented, his deep voice rising and falling with every exaggerated complaint.

“And then,” Seb continued, throwing his hands in the air for emphasis, “this shimmerhead threw a bottle at me. Me! Do I look like the kind of guy you throw a bottle at?”

You raised an eyebrow, pretending to think. “Well, you are pretty intimidating.”

Seb scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Oh, come on. I’m a catch.” He paused, his lips twitching upward as he caught the unintended pun. “Literally.”

You snorted, nudging him with your elbow. “A very dramatic catch.”

“Hey, someone’s gotta keep things interesting,” he said, finally cracking a small smile. He turned his gaze to you, his big eyes softening. “You’re lucky you’re cute, or I’d really start whining.”

“Start whining?” you teased, earning a half-hearted glare.

Seb sighed, leaning back into the couch and letting his head loll toward you. “You know,” he murmured, his tone quieter now, “it’s not all bad. Coming home to you? Best part of the day.”

Your cheeks warmed at his sudden sincerity, and you reached out to take his hand. “Glad I can make it better,” you said softly.

He squeezed your hand, his usual dramatics replaced by a rare moment of tenderness. The two of you sat there in silence, his complaints forgotten for now. Seb might be a whirlwind of grumbling and theatrics, but you wouldn’t trade him for anything.

taglist. @diffusebread @xxblairslairxx

banner. @anitalenia

[blasphemousclaw]

What are ur thoughts on Romina in relation to the Hornsent? I went to look at the cinematic and the woman who I think is Romina is dressed in very basic garments and nearly looks human. She probably had little horns then under that hood scarf? I don’t see many people saying this but flowers were a thing at her church before the rot. I wonder if it had something to do with the Miranda flowers in Rauh (crucible) or some culture concept reference that’s going over my head. Anyway it kinda just shows how diverse Hornsent culture was.

funny you ask because I just answered another ask about this haha! yeah, I think Romina was at the very least culturally aligned with the hornsent.

I love the idea that the Church of the Bud was dedicated to Crucible worship since yes, flowers are an aspect of the Crucible!

and I ABSOLUTELY agree that it shows how diverse hornsent culture was! the Crucible is such a huge spiritual concept and there are so many ways that different characters worship it or use its power… I actually complained on that post that people always treat the hornsent as a monolith who all have the exact same religious beliefs and practices, when there are SO MANY different hornsent factions with different beliefs that we literally encounter in the game!!!

[belostoma]

kind of frustrating to be sitting there with an idea for a KILLER fic that's a scenario that could be absolutely filled with jokes but to not have any idea what those jokes should actually... be

[themostefficientwaywithwater]

people who hate on nemona because she's "too yandere" and "doesn't take a no for an answer" make me wonder if they actually payed attention to her dialogues or only read those joke comics about her being obsessed with the player and always craving violence and said "yeah this is her personality now". or just hate women.

[nemo-in-wonderland]

Gods, I want to draw Mephisto and Aranea's first kiss, Mephisto and Aranea's first time making love to one another, the whole seduction of it fml fml fml.

I want to imagine that the first time they kissed was EXACTLY like when he asked her to marry him: unexpected, unplanned, without any sort of scheme of second goal to that.

A kiss that happened because feelings are getting harder to keep under control, because he wants her so much, it makes him look stupid almost.

The type of kiss that just take away your soul and breath; the ones that leave you yearning for more and more; the ones that just make your whole body literally go blazing.

The sort of "shut up and kiss me" kind of kiss.

Gods, I need to find a way to translate all of this on paper.

Someone send me the muses and also a package of skills, because I am seriously lacking in that department.

[six-of-ravens]

Errant PM update of the day:

yesterday she met with a client and got revisions for their site that needed to be done for today since the client has to use this new stuff in another meeting

she did them herself instead of assigning them to the proper team (something that sounds nice but is actually a huge problem bc she spends too much time doing other people's work instead of her own, and also she's not very good at it.)

she did not communicate this with anyone. also did not immediately email the client and inform them she has done their work.

my boss, who is also involved with that account since Errant was fucking it up majorly, decides to email them, receives a reply saying "when will our revisions be done" and starts panicking after hearing the team doesn't know about them

(classic Errant move is to get a task and not assign it, so he thought it was rotting in her inbox)

Errant decides this is a great time to not reply to anyone on skype for several hours

Errant finally gets a hold of the boss, explains everything, but by now it's been so long he's royally pissed and gives her a lecture about communicating

She then complains to Lead Dev (who she thinks is her friend but actually files the most complaints to HR Boss about her lmao) about how he isn't praising her for doing WORK THAT IS NOT HER JOB ~just because~ she didn't communicate with him quickly or email the client, and how he's such a micromanager (extremely false, he's a pain sometimes but overall fairly chill) and overreacted horribly because uuggghhh why is any of this his business like she did the stuff right who caaaaares? not like he had to sideline her on this account for several weeks because she spent Literally One Hundred Hours bullying the designer (until she cried) and making her redo things for no reason, and then refused to assign the site for 3 weeks (until there was only THREE DAYS left before the due date) because she wanted specifically Lead Dev to do it (again, she thinks he's her buddy), while the client grew increasingly frustrated with the delays! noooo, it's not like she's lost the right to keep this client to herself at all!! not like over the past few months she's managed many accounts so badly they've put her on probation!

Lead Dev cannot find a way to explain to her that she's living in a really bizarre alternate dimension and like, of course everyone is upset geez, so he's just trying to ignore her. she then decided to start sending him a bunch of ig posts about bad management which he thinks is funny, because there's only one bad manager here and it ain't our boss.

[starpros-sunshine]

You know. I'm part of the fraction "to each their own and let people handle their lives however they see best fit". But I do feel the need to say that I have seldom seen such an idiotic assumption as that breaking up with someone four days before someone's birthday when you also want that someone to do something for their birthday even though you know you and your soon-to-be-ex will both have to be there won't end with that person just not doing anything with anyone for their birthday. Partially because nobody wants that kind of awkwardness after a fresh breakup and also because the soon-to-be-ex has the lovely habit of wallowing in self pity and making everything about how they have it so bad. You know I just think in such cases you should've waited a week with the breakup. I don't care how much you want to fuck that other guy but I really think you should've waited a week.

[rocksalt-and-pie]

im going to berlin on thursday to see the welcome to nightvale live show and I just found out that our universally beloved and admirably reliable public transit system has once again decided to go on a nationwide strike on THAT EXACT FUCKING DAY and I had to find out via some fucking pseudo destiel meme on tumblr of all places 🤡

[aroaceofthesea]

Sometimes playing the trumpet just feels so good and i remember. ah. this is why i still play it

[binders-and-beanies]

.

[frobby]

boy son and girl daughter are the only characters who matter in kaiju no.8

[scarletfasinera]

The way grown adults in their twenties still talk about how they didn't learn about x historical event or y horrific thing the US did back when they were in highschool as if it's any excuse for their willful ignorance is like actually so pathetic. It's four years of schooling that you had a decade ago of course you didn't learn every single thing in the world, no one does in any school in any country. You're not special. It's time to grow up and make the effort to learn things for yourself, You're Not In Highschool Anymore

[sanstropfremir]

Hi! Have you seen that nct jaehyun, dooyoung and jungwoo made a sub-unit? Their song is called perfume and it is just SO FUN! The song itself reminds me of some of the old suju songs because the beat is so fun and makes you wanna dance, but the choreography is also ridiculously fun! You should check it out) I was reading your posts about the lack of fun in kpop, and this was honestly very refreshing to see. The mini-album is also quite good, and they even did a live-band cover of their songs. As always, nct guys are incredibly talented musically, good job

i actually really did not like their release....or their subunit.....or the album............

[medicinemane]

All I'll say, is that college professor who bitch about "professionalism" in students forgets that it cuts both ways

You're a professor, this is a student. You are in theory at least and educator, and so when someone behaves in a way you find unbecoming it's your duty to say "in future please do ___ because that's the polite way to do things" rather than just tearing into them and complaining... to do other wise... well it lacks professionalism

Because it's never a reaction to the student being like "Yo what up skank?", it's always something minor that's not even a universal faux pas

Which cuts to to the core of what it's really about, it's never the language used, or that handing in an assignment only x minutes before the due date is an issue, it's a pure power trip

I don't know about you, but I find power tripping pretty unprofessional

These professors will act like the sun shines out their ass while throwing bigger tantrum over nothing than a toddler would, while citing that the student isn't behaving properly and it's just... you're a disgrace to education, you make academia worse with your presence, you have the emotional stability of a child, and for all your pomp and airs you lack even basic manners which is the foundation of being a professional

Just get tired of that kind of professor and wanted to complain about them

(Bonus complaint, professors who brag that only a small % of students pass their class. Oh... so you're a bad teacher... you're not good at your job. You fail at the one thing you're paid to do with a large % of your students)

[seeminglyseph]

"Ask for the Slow Arrow, and I will help.

-- Felassan"

Hmm. Great. Great. Something I cannot be insane about to my normal level Dragon Age friends. Perfect.

Love not being able to be insane about Felassan to people. How do I not be insane about the Slow Arrow? I'm like. Playing this game slowly because, like. I'm Not Okay about this series, and part of it is like. Felassan's coming up so often in the codices, and if you didn't read The Masked Empire, probably that's damn meaningless but like. I did read The Masked Empire.

I haven't read all the books. I feel like I still desperately need to sit down and read Tevinter Nights, but I was hoping it would come out on audiobook, and then I got distracted.

But then the characters from Tevunter Nights showed up in Veilgaurd. And Felassan's notes are all over the Lighthouse, and my heart is breaking into a million billion pieces.