text; un: taka

[retsuden]

[ There has been a great deal of things that Sasuke has learned about in the few weeks he's been here just from talking to new people. All of them have been extremely confusing concepts, like therapy and the idea that people take care of children when they don't have anyone else to take care of them.

Some of these conversations where he's learned things have ended in more questions than answers. He could ask for more clarification from the few he's already made contact with, but the more possible answers he can get, the better. He thinks.

He hopes.

This could be a mistake. ]

How would you suggest someone improve their communication skills?

If your go to response is "talk to people", spare me. I'm only interested in more thorough answers.

Comments

text | un: sharpshooter

[azurestar]

well, after just a couple talks with you i think the best advice i can give is tell you to do the exact opposite of whatever you're thinking of saying or doing

[retsuden]

[ God he can't even be mad about this, it's probably the most spot-on advice so far. But he's not about to say that :| ]

Provide an example.

[azurestar]

oh i dunno, maybe DON'T toss people into the freezing ocean!

[retsuden]

What if that's my idea of fun?

[azurestar]

[…]

did you just tell a joke?

[retsuden]

I happen to enjoy sarcasm, so yes.

[azurestar]

well you should keep doing that
people like jokes

[retsuden]

I don't know that that would actually work. People have often found my sarcasm offensive.

[ Probably because he uses it TO BE A DICK ]

[azurestar]

it's all about knowing when and when not to use it. like i said before, when you wanna do one thing, do the opposite, easy peasy

[retsuden]

Somehow I doubt it will be as easy as you claim.

[ This is going to end up with him using sarcasm in a moment that he's supposed to be being serious, probably. ]

[azurestar]

look, you just gotta know WHY you wanna be sarcastic and read the moment

[hopefully somehow they will eventually work their way around to something helpful]

[retsuden]

... You're terrible at giving advice that one can realistically follow.

[azurestar]

dude, it's not that hard to get! if you wanna be sarcastic to be a jerk to someone, don't. if you wanna be sarcastic because it's funny and they might laugh along with you, then do it.

[retsuden]

It IS that hard. Those are things you learn over time from interacting positively with people, from having a place that accepts you, from being AROUND people. Telling me to read the moment or to know why I'm saying something may be a concept you think comes naturally to people, but it doesn't.

I'm not like you.

[ He had absolutely in no way whatsoever intended to say any of that, but this fucking place is making him say all sorts of things he doesn't want to. He needs to stop knowing palebloods. ]

Just forget it.

[azurestar]

are you really gonna get all mad and ragequit just because it's harder for you because your life wasn't the best? you just answered your own question and you're too busy being emo to see it! if the reason you suck at this is because you didn't have all those things, then find them and don't push them away when it gets too hard.

and that's what i mean by do the opposite, man. you want me to just forget it and walk away because you're feeling all vulnerable. so do the opposite, don't walk away when you feel vulnerable, sit and let yourself be vulnerable. you can't figure out why you suck at talking to people if you keep running from your own feelings.

[retsuden]

[ Alright that was actually... extremely accurate and he can acknowledge that Lance is 100% right here. He doesn't know what "ragequit" necessarily means, but he can put two and two together to figure it out pretty easily. There's still that initial surge of anger at having his own flaws thrown back in his face, but it's not strong enough to make him stop reading, thankfully.

Don't push them away when it gets too hard.

If only he could hear that laugh that just escaped him. He rubs at his face and he's quiet long enough that it probably comes across like Sasuke is absolutely walking away from this and not coming back. But he's determined to not fuck this up! He said he wanted to learn, so this is a good chance for learning. ]

I thought "emo" meant "cool."

[ See, Sasuke, you know how to be humorous.

But not vulnerable. God dammit. Be real, BE HONEST. There's at least something inside of him pushing him to be more so than usual. ]

Allowing myself to give in to or sit in strong emotions has been dangerous. I don't know how to not walk away from it.

[azurestar]

[Man, this guy really gets on his nerves and hits all the wrong buttons! It's so familiar it drives him crazy sometimes.]

well to some people it does. in this case, it totally means you're being the opposite of cool.

but nice way to break the tension, you get points for that.

[…Well that's a statement he can relate to strongly and now feels extremely uncomfortable with the advice he just gave when he knows he often has his own reasons for struggling to follow it himself.]

define dangerous. like are we talking eating five tubs of ice cream danger or hurting people around you danger?

[retsuden]

Thank you.

[ He'd rather keep asking about emo than answer that second question, really he would. It takes him another solid minute to want to fully own up to it. ]

Hurting people. Badly. Sometimes killing them.

[azurestar]

[Oh boy… well, he'll just take a second to rub at his face. For him it's totally different, most likely. And he doesn't want to ask Sasuke probing questions about it because it's not like he's the best at regulating his own problem to begin with.]

i've been there. look, i know a guy who's helping me out with trying to control that stuff if you wanna come see what he has to say.

[retsuden]

I've spent the last two years learning tricks to try and keep myself together. [ But that doesn't mean he knows everything, does it? It would be arrogant to assume no one else could help.

Ugh. ] What's his name?

[azurestar]

well, i dunno exactly what the problem you're dealing with is, but if it's anything like mine maybe he's got some pointers.

[He only just recently started working with diluc on it, though so… jury's still out on whether the pointers work for him either, but he's not gonna say that…]

his name's diluc
he's got a last name but i've got no idea how to spell it

[retsuden]

I'll keep him in mind.

[ He's even writing down his name somewhere so he won't forget it, so maybe he actually means that. There's a pause before he remembers he should probably try and be polite here. ]

Thank you, Lance.

[azurestar]

[Well that wasn't expected.]

uh, yeah. any time, man.