[bunniey]

In 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first man to step on the moon. This was the pinnacle of human achievement, years of scientific advancement culminating in something though impossible just a year prior, at the peak of some of the most tenuous times in the history of the United States. That was the moment the world knew the United States was the peak of human civilization for the time. If you take all of those goods at their opposite, you get Damien. He is quick to anger, refuses to have conversations if it involves even the slightest bit of strain, and thinks his opinions are the end-all-be-all, despite being mostly sheltered. He is what you get when you throw a rock into a bucket of water. Nothing special.

    Our relationship started at the height of simping activities in Dinks, where everyone was overly invested in the charms of a Nari. At this time, he was a child, so his random petulance was understandable. Not quite warranted, but understandable. Then he grew up. I won’t say he didn’t have any negative influences, as there are some very obvious ones, our entire friend group at the time, plus a previous friend…but this isn’t an excuse. Growing up is supposed to entail growing up, but I still see him randomly flip a lid at the drop of a hat. Now, I am one who likes to poke and prod at people a bit, so I don’t help this, and tend to actively make it worse…but it still shouldn’t be as easy as it is.

    This wouldn’t be a problem if it was possible to open any dialogue with him. If he feels slighted at all, he uses his turtle talisman and retreats into a shell of “I’m right you’re wrong” in the most obnoxious way. You could be having the most calm conversation, but the second you have any amount of upper hand, even if you’re not trying to, you’ll trigger this mechanism and it becomes more productive to talk to a brick wall. No amount of trying to get him out of this will work, generally it takes him leaving and joining back a few hours later for this to fix itself, where like an episode of Johnny Test, everything will be reset back to normal.

    If you think you’re trying to avoid that, you’ll fail. He’s very opinionated, despite most of his opinions being grounded in nothing. It’s not like it’s well-researched, or even well-reasoned, but he’ll definitely make it feel like it is. There’s no way to get through this, you just have to stand your ground until he goes turtle mode, or just walk away. Be careful not to insinuate he’s wrong about anything, you’ll get with the classic “it can’t be wrong it’s an opinion” spiel that means nothing. Like yes, at the surface level, opinions can be wrong, but they can also be so dumb that a reasonable person couldn’t consider them right, so there really isn’t a difference between the two.

    At the end of the day, he’s not a bad guy or anything. Just like at the end of the day, fentanyl won’t necessarily kill you. But why risk it when you can just avoid it? You can learn to tolerate it, or learn to enjoy it even, but then it’s just Stockholm Syndrome, which is inarguably a bad thing. If prefer someone short-fused, you can buy a Mr. Potatohead. If you want someone who shuts down at the slightest bit of trouble, find someone with BPD. If you want someone overly opinionated to a fault, just go to Reddit. But if you really want someone that’s all three, find yourself a Damien, you’ll probably regret it.