#you taught me a lot

[utahwizardxxx]

It's always darkest before the dawn

Well I am glad that chapter is over. It felt like eternity, the destructive path that lay before some people is mind boggling. And I really feel like some of them just need to watch the world burn. And that's not what living is about.

I've had to learn that what someone says if not matched by actions are just words. And unfortunately after watching too much Dr Jordan Peterson for my own good I realized my faults and failures that I was blinded to. But no matter how we try sometimes, the end is all some want. And especially when we start giving away pieces of ourselves away and start compromising our character to allow others to operate around us. Never again will someone be in a position to force me to negatively change and alter my character and morals to insure that person has a seat at my table.

No more, never again......... No apologies.

[monotone-artist]

hello please click images for better quality oh my god tumblr whyy

[id in alt]

maria shows shadow how to play dress-up (she's always wanted to do it with someone else)

thank u @fly-sky-high-09 for the request, i had a lot of fun with this hehe

[intriga-hounds]

someone i cared about died recently and i really had hoped she’d visit me in a dream so we could talk one last time. but i hoped too hard so that when she came, just hours after she died, she couldn’t speak to me bc i knew i was dreaming, and the lucidity of the dream chased her away.

[ratfest]

[eddis-not-eeddis]

How To Stop Killing Conversations

Talking is hard. People are confusing. Making friends is difficult, and interacting with coworkers is tortuous.

You want to make friends, you want to reach out, but it's hard and every time you start a conversation it dies, or limps along until both you and the person you're talking to are looking for excuses to kill it and put it out of it's misery so you can both escape the increasingly awkward situation.

As an introvert who has suffered a lot of social anxiety in my time, let me share a few tricks I've learned over the years going through hundreds and thousands of excruciatingly painful conversations until I found something that works. I've kind of distilled the process.

ALWAYS ASK A QUESTION!!!

The first thing is to always leave your partner an opening. You need to let each other talk for a conversation to get off the ground, but it's more than that, really. You need to actively encourage each other to talk. The best way to do that is to ask questions.

Here are two examples of an introduction: Example A

You: Hello.

Them: Hello.

You: Nice to meet you.

Them: Nice to meet you too.

Example B

Y: Hello, nice to meet you, how are you? T: I’m doing well, yourself?

Y: I've been really well. How are you liking the weather?

T: I'm so happy the weather's finally getting cooler, I'm looking forward to pumpkin spice season. Do you like lattes?

Do you see how in Example A the conversation wasn’t going anywhere? It just kinda died, because there weren’t any openings for new topics, whereas in Example B, there were openings to keep the conversation going.

But what do you do if your conversation partner is as socially inept as you were two minutes ago and doesn't play along? All is not lost.

Example C

Y: Hello, so nice to meet you, how have you been doing?

T: I'm doing well.

Y: That's great, are you enjoying the nice weather, then?

T: Yeah. I'm glad it's finally fall, I'm looking forward to pumpkin spice lattes.

Y: I love pumpkin spice lattes! Pumpkin spice anything, really. I recently got the best pumpkin spice candle at the shop down the road, have you been there?

Even if they don't leave you an opening, you can usually make one. It may be difficult, especially when they don't give you much to work with. This is where having a go-to script is a life-saver--me, I always default to talking about the weather, so when in doubt, you can do that.* The important thing right now is to keep fostering the conversation, so once you bring up the weather, segue into a question. When they answer the question, make a brief comment or observation from your own experience and build off of that comment or observation to ask another question.

"But I don't want to make it about me. Doing that's bad, right?"

This is why that questions are important. If you haven't been asked a question, you kinda have to make it about you, you don't have a choice. But to keep from being an attention hog, follow up your shared experience or anecdote with another question.

Example D

T: I love pumpkin spice lattes

Y: Me too. I had the best pumpkin spice latte the other day at the cafe down the road, have you ever been there?

Now you've circled the conversation back around to them again, and you aren't taking the limelight. Sharing an experience is so important, you're trying to show that you understand, that you sympathize, that you relate.**

This really is the most important element of being a good conversationalist. You have to keep asking questions.

The one other thing I will touch on is introductions. DO NOT get into turn based combat.

Example E

Y: Hello

T: Hello

Y: Nice to meet you

T: Nice to meet you too.

Y: How are you doing?

T: I'm fine. You?

Y: Me too.

This will kill any possibility of continuing a conversation. Instead, get it all out of the way all at once, if at all possible.

Example F

Y: Hi, it's nice to meet you, how are you doing?

This is good, but this is better

Example G

Y: Hi, nice to meet you, how are you liking the weather?

Don't ask how they are doing, or if you do, before they can answer, follow it up with your placeholder (weather etc.) so they have to say some thing like

Example H

T: I'm fine, and I'm really liking the weather.

or

T: Not so great, the weather sucks.

Either of those options are much easier to work with than your basic "I'm fine."

Usually, if you can get past the introduction, you can get a conversation going. And then, even if you don't end up hitting it off with the person you're talking with, you at least don't leave the conversation feeling like you've died a thousand tiny deaths.

In fact, if you get past that introduction, you may have just made yourself a friend.

Remember folks, basically everyone around you is more afraid of you than you are of them, and in this benighted age no one has been taught conversation skills, so we are all pretty much in the same boat. (Unless you were born an extrovert, in which case we are all deeply envious and would probably kill you if we didn't need you in our sad and lonely lives so much.)

Have grace for one another, and for yourselves because talking with people is difficult.

Go forth, and stop killing conversations.

*If you are one of those awful people who likes to brag about how you hate small talk and only want to talk about important and meaningful things, I have one question: Do you ever have a conversation that lasts long enough to become meaningful? I thought not. Small talk is an important skill. Develop it.

**This is how you deal with sad or difficult situations too. When you want to show you sympathize with someone going through a hard time.

Example:

Y: How are you doing?

T: Not very well. My dog died last week.

Y: Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. My own dog died last year and I still miss her a lot. How are you handling it?

Now you've circled the conversation back around to them again. You aren't making it about you.

If y'all want, next time I can share how to extricate yourself from a conversation.

[valtsv]

i just think she would've enjoyed listening to them fight

[hellsite-junior-detective]

I've been putting this off for a while, but

@hellsite-detective, hi!

I am a gimmick blog inspired by you, here to help the people of tumblr find posts!

I am still learning, but I feel confident enough in my skills to actually let you/your followers know I exist.

Hope you're having a fantastic day!

[prismaticsaltedink]

Scoria and Sakura are best friends! It's so cute when I see the things they do together, and it makes me so beyond happy that they both came to live with me so that they could share their lives with each other. They absolutely insist on it, and does so much good for the other.

I can't imagine how else they could have found happiness if things hadn't worked out exactly as they did. Scoria has basically been Sakura's "emotional support snake" while she worked through things from her past I'll never fully know that caused her a lot of issues with panic and fear. Sakura knows this too, and looks out for her sister, the only one she truly trusts and feels completely safe with.

The moment they wake up they both want each other to snuggle and play with. Scoria loves to be affectionate with both me and her sister who seems to have not had this earlier in her life- but Scoria is showing her how nice it is not only directly but demonstrating with me and Sakura also trying, copying what she has seen her sister do.

Sometimes when one goes to check on the other they'll join in on... I'm not even sure what they were doing. But they had a good time while taking a mandated union break from digging tunnels for the isopods.

So happy I get to share in the adventures of these two best friends! It makes me so happy to see them living their best lives together, and being beyond content snuggled together with their found family.

[michelle-jacksons-art-blog]

To be loved is to be changed.

[howtowhumpyourhiccup]

Concept: Hiccup starting to overshare when he unconsciously realizes he has close human friends and accidentally sharing some very depressing facts about his life that he doesn't realize are actually depressing because he is so used to them and the Dragon Riders are just 😶

[suja-janee]

I love Lucy Maclean, she’s such a sweetheart

[aphel1on]

another thing i love about laios:

HE IS GENUINELY A REALLY GOOD LEADER!!

despite struggling with the finer points of socializing, he has all the qualities necessary to be a good leader.

(i refer to the manga a lot in this post as someone who's read most of the manga at this point, but i avoided any specific spoilers)

He cares about all his teammates' well-being

He is extremely level-headed in a crisis

He is excellent at strategizing (within his areas of expertise; in the manga someone eventually points out he's pretty much useless at fighting other humans, lol)

If a plan fails, he is immediately thinking up a fallback plan - he doesn't give up

He is acutely aware of his teammates' strength and weaknesses, and accurately assigns them tasks suited to them in times of need.

He is perhaps not innately a 'leader-type'; he's fine deferring to the rest of the party most of the time, even when he doesn't understand why. (Just going along with the blindfold in the sauna for example, lol.) He was ready to head back into the dungeon by himself before Chilchuck and Marcille volunteered to come along. He doesn't think of himself as particularly smart or special. And when the party meets others (such as the old gnome couple) they don't tend to assume Laios is the leader.

But he has an unwavering vision (during the story it's rescuing Falin), and, you see it again and again: when they enter difficult combat, or any time things fall apart and everyone is panicking, Laios steps up and takes charge. His calmness helps everyone else calm down, and they generally follow his lead. They intuitively look to him in a crisis, to the point they're shocked the few times he doesn't have any ideas.

It kind of ties into another thought I have; he is repeatedly seen as "having no interest in other people" by other characters, but this isn't really true! He struggles to understand people and he is aware that they struggle to understand him. This leads to him mostly focusing on the things he IS good at understanding, such as monsters. But he genuinely makes a big effort to understand the people he cares about. In the manga, there are times you see him think deeply about his friends' struggles and motivations. For much of the early arcs, he understands Chilchuck better than Marcille or Senshi do. He and Marcille don't get each other that well at the start of the story, but by the end they have a very strong reciprocal friendship.

I could go on about it honestly but this post is already very long. Tl;dr laios one of the characters of all time to me and i think people should appreciate his leadership skills more!!

[joonebugg]

Ink would have an art style like this I think

This artstyle is kinda epic imo

Anyways I yap in the tags if you wanna read that

New post

[qcoded]

some genderbend art I've been meaning to post :P empress belari and the collector!!

these can double as art for that canon divergent, teen girl!philip i was talking about lol

[a-star-that-burns-brightly]

(x) Mahiru: I just normally loved someone. I don't think I've done anything wrong. And besides, I... can't live without love.

I hope Mahiru's T2 forgiven vote makes her worse. I hope she becomes the T2 Muu of Trial 3. I want to see her in full "I didn't do anything wrong" mode. I want her to get an It's Not My Fault-adjacent song I support women's wrongs.

[consumeroflemoans]

I don’t think people talk about the fact Aha knows they’re in a game enough

Like. They and their followers have been shown breaking the fourth wall. Specifically in the Simulated Universe and with Sampo after Belobog.

The simulated universe is meant to, well, mimic the real universe so the genius society can learn about aeons and past events by simulating them. Which is why it’s so fitting that the simulated Aha realized they’re in a false universe so quickly. The real Aha has already climbed the world tree and witnessed the truth of their existence.

I’ve joked about them ascending to aeonhood because they watched a baby fall before, which is true. But a large part of their true elation comes from knowing they’re in a game. Nothing matters so they can truly do whatever they want. Why not just have fun? They can sow plenty of discord. They can turn a worm into an emanator. They can witness wars and just laugh and laugh. They know it’s all meaningless. That’s why watching everyone else try so hard to keep their fake universe alive is so funny to them.

And this is even shown through the Masked Fools. Sampo speaks directly to the camera and both he and Sparkle have referred to themselves as supporting characters. Their purpose is to put on a show and make the game more entertaining. Would Belobog been as fun without Sampo coming in and making us collectively groan at him obviously trying to scam people? Would Penacony’s events or ending be as mysterious or shocking without Sparkle’s meddling behind the scenes? Penacony would have ended with a pretty boring party if not for Sparkle’s antics.

Honkai star rail needs characters you can laugh at, groan at, and poke fun at. The elation is delighted to be the game’s jester, poking fun at their false universe and the ones outside witnessing it.