Jul 29, 2022
To:Armorien
Feels like I should respond to this, since you and Abra seem a little confused about the whole cortisol thing.
First, I’d like to thank y’all for your comments. Really helps to know what I can do better, and I’ll certainly add more description in any future drafts (and/or retcon it later).
When I wrote the thing about cortisol, I wasn’t really thinking about the physical description. I have a knack for science-y stuff, so I just imagined it as a surge of stress chemicals in the brain and didn’t quite elaborate. Since cortisol is a real thing, I didn’t consider the possibility that it’d need more vivid description— this was an oversight.
Basically, a rush of cortisol is that feeling when your friend asks you if you did the homework, and you didn’t know there was homework, then they tell you it was for a grade. Magnified significantly, of course, but the analogy applies. Just imagine a really significant amount of stress, causing many of your muscles to tense up and your heart rate to increase.
Funky brain chemicals go brrr. :)
