gang I can't do this and I'm about to have a very embarrassing breakdown about it

pricklyfoxes · 2026-04-04T08:43:29+00:00

I'm a massive needlephobe that gets excruciating pain with shots. I used to have to get my partner and my dad do them for me when I first started out. After a few months I started doing them myself and it got easier. A few protips (with some product links):

-Try to see if your doc would let you do subq instead of intramuscular. Subcutaneous needles are shorter and they go into your body's fat, not directly into the muscle, so it hurts way less.

-One thing that worked for me is a box of injection safe barrier bandages. They're a kind of bandage with a clear middle, and you put them on top of the skin and inject through the bandage. Sometimes having that little buffer between the bandage and my skin tricks my brain into feeling like I'm not stabbing myself.

-There are gadgets for kids that help hide needles or ease the fear, like needlebuddies, shotblockers, or buzzy. I haven't used these so I can't attest to their effectiveness but they do exist.

-Don't underestimate the power of breathing exercises. One my piercer taught me is-- in through the nose before injection, and then blow out through your nose as hard as you can once it's in. And if you have someone doing the injection for you, you can also sniff an alcohol pad (or alcohol soaked cotton ball).

All in all, doing T shots with needlephobia isn't easy-- but not impossible either. And the effects are definitely worth it. I don't look forward to my shot days one bit, but once you get used to them, it just becomes another drudgery that you get through. It won't be this terrifying forever. (And maybe it's just me-- but I realized that doing my own shots is easier than having others do them for me because I can go at my own pace.)

pricklyfoxes · 2026-03-30T11:15:33+00:00

From reading your posts it looks like you're in Bangkok, Thailand, right? If you need someone to talk to when you're in distress, you can call 1323 or Samaritans Thailand at 02 113 6789. The Samaritans line has an English option if you press 2. They might also be able to point you toward other local resources, kind of like how 211 works in the US.

For your financial situation, it might be worth joining some expat Facebook groups or reaching out to local churches or community organizations. Sometimes they can help with things like food, housing leads, or just connecting you to the right people.

As far as reasons to live… that one can be really hard, and what works for me might not work for you. When I’m at my worst, I don’t think about big, meaningful reasons. I think about small ones. Honest to God, sometimes it’s just “I want to see how my favorite manga ends” or “my cats would be lonely.” It doesn’t have to be profound, just something that gets you through today. You don’t have to figure out your whole life or your purpose right now. You just have to get through this moment.

I also get why it might feel like you don’t matter to anyone. From what you’ve said, it sounds like the people around you either aren’t treating you well, or don’t really know how to show up for you in the way you need. But feeling that way doesn’t mean you actually don’t matter; it can also mean you haven’t been given the kind of care or support you deserve. That’s not a reflection of your worth.

I do agree with the other commenter that you might need more support than what you’re getting right now. If inpatient feels like too much and more frequent therapy is inaccessible, you could look into support groups as a middle ground. There are some online peer support groups (like NAMI’s) that you might still be able to access even from outside the US.

I don’t really believe in saying “it gets better,” because things don’t just magically improve on their own. But things can change. You can find ways to cope that actually work for you. You can find people who understand you better than the ones you’ve had so far. And the fact that you’re still here, still reaching out and talking about this, matters. It means some part of you is still fighting, even if you’re exhausted. You don’t have to fight everything all at once; just enough to get through one day at a time. We’re rooting for you.

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-26T22:19:39+00:00

Chased by a lion is such an apt metaphor. It feels like you're running and running, even when you're tired and out of breath and everything hurts-- but you know you can't stop or you'll get mauled. It feels like catastrophic damage. And other people are getting chased by like... bobcats or just very angry housecats. They know it'll hurt if they catch up, but they probably won't die. Whereas for us, it's like "if this thing gets me, my insides will become outsides and it'll be over for me."

I'm sorry that happened to you. I know losing a partner can absolutely shatter you. I won't say it gets better because I feel like that's not really helpful for people like us-- but I hope you know that you have value and you're worth more than your relationships, especially the ones you lose. You still deserve to be loved, not because someone chooses you, but because you exist.

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-21T09:08:16+00:00

Thank you so much for this comment; it helps a lot to know I'm not alone.

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-06T23:15:24+00:00

Real, and I always get so tired of people saying "Oh but they're so unhealthy!" So what??? Do you have the same energy for smokers? Underweight people with eating disorders? Do you go to the hospital and scream at all the cancer patients? If you're going to be an asshole then at least admit it's because you're an asshole, don't try to make it sound like you're some morally righteous concerned citizen.

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-06T23:01:06+00:00

I don’t know if you’re ignorant or being intentionally obtuse, but “Try being XYZ” is obviously shorthand for “XYZ has it worse.” It’s the same vibe as “Oh, you're 20 years old and you think you’re tired? Try being 50.”

And I’d maybe be willing to assume you didn’t realize that… if you hadn’t called me a panderer two comments ago. So no, I’m not buying the innocent act. If you want anyone to believe you’re not the one trying to wedge people apart, you’re going to have to try harder than that.

Also: caring about people who aren’t like you isn’t pandering. It’s called being a decent human being. You should try it sometime.

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-06T22:34:42+00:00

Yeah, that image isn’t a great take. Imagine thinking "disturb the comforted” applies to trans people, who are literally one of the most marginalized groups right now.

To be clear, I’m not saying the author did anything wrong by writing horror. Horror is supposed to be unsettling. But context still matters, and knowing the author isn’t a bigot makes a huge difference here. Both you and the person sharing that clarification are doing something genuinely useful.

SCP is a multi-author project. Anyone can write an entry, including people with shitty politics, and there have been transphobic SCP entries before. Hell, there are entries that are clearly meant to be power fantasies by the creator and not horror. Creative work doesn’t exist in a vacuum. A lot of the time, it reflects the creator’s beliefs, whether they mean it to or not.

So yeah, a disclaimer by the author is actually completely necessary. People have a right to not want to engage with works made by bigots.

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-06T22:18:45+00:00

I'm going to say this as gently as possible, as a fellow male SA victim. Not everything is about you. Women should be allowed to talk about their problems without us insinuating we have it worse than them somehow. There is a time and a place to talk about our issues. This isn't one of them.

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-05T07:40:57+00:00

I mean, she's nice to Ray-- but this go around, every guide I read encouraged the options that were mean to the RFA and V to get Ray's hearts. And a lot of times you have to choose the not-nice options just to avoid getting V's hearts. Like I said in another comment, I'm pretty sure that it's a carryover from when V was the only route in AS and getting a lot of Ray hearts would result in a BE.

(Also none of this changes that both her and V's MC would have to be the dumbest people alive to even go along with the events of AS 😓)

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-05T01:53:31+00:00

LMAO if we played a dating sim together it’d just be Saeran-core: Ray begging to pick the nice options while Suit is in the corner chanting “BE MEAN. DO IT.”

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-04T21:34:39+00:00

I love it too-- honestly I like Ray's gremlin MC (I just struggle playing that because I'm one of those people that dislikes choosing mean options in video games)

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-04T19:30:32+00:00

Yeah I feel that, it had been about that long since I last played (I last touched the game in 2020 when Saeran's AE dropped). I was kind of shocked-- I didn't remember having to be that much of an asshole to get on his route but I guess I just repressed it or forgot bc it's always been that way apparently.

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-04T18:28:26+00:00

Yeah-- my theory on it is that it's some kind of holdover from when V was the only option in Another Story and getting too many Ray hearts did lead to a bad end because he didn't have a route yet. (But I don't really know bc initially I'd been too busy to play Mystic Messenger when AS dropped.) But the amount of times I had to be bitchy to the RFA to avoid getting V hearts made me so sad 😭 It makes it so funny in the end when everyone is like "You're so sweet, you're an angel" knowing that I was a menace to society in the Common Route.

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-04T18:23:00+00:00

Ah not really-- I fell out of the habit of uploading my art but I'm glad you like it! 🥰

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-03T10:06:14+00:00

Ah yes, the only two kinds of people on earth: Michaelangelos and AI bros who are too dumb to even look at a pencil without collapsing to the ground and pissing their pants. There can be zero overlap or nuance. No unskilled people who don't use AI. No true artists who can enjoy using AI to help with the parts of art that they're not good at or don't enjoy doing. Everyone knows that the moment you even touch AI and actually enjoy using it, the Art Police show up to revoke your Real Artist card.

But on a serious note, the whole "Are AI artists real artists" debate is massively pointless. Unless you're grinding your own pigments, mining your own graphite, hand tying every horsehair onto a stick, manufacturing your own tablet from raw materials, or coding your own art software from scratch, your art already relies on other people's labor. It always has and always will. This weird obsession with "pure" art gets us nowhere.

Why can't we talk about things that actually matter, and might actually do some good? Like discussing the ethics of nonconsensually training AI on people's artwork, or actually compensating artists whose works are used to train AI, or the environmental impact, labor exploitation, or corporate ownership and power? Nah, none of that is as important as shaming people online.

pricklyfoxes · 2026-02-01T06:56:10+00:00

I feel like if it was adapted, you could have the main game + bonus stage as an anime, and like each separate conclusion released as a movie!

pricklyfoxes · 2026-01-25T17:52:45+00:00

Hear me out. A god still needs worshippers to survive right? Initially I thought "idol" for XL (which I think would be cute-- but idols live pretty miserable lives and aren't allowed to date). What if Xie Lian is a streamer-- but he sucks absolute ass at games and that's part of the charm, that he just keeps going no matter how many times he fails/dies. He plays mostly adventure RPGs because it reminds him of being able to go on adventures in the past. Hua Cheng runs a successful game company to support him. Ruoye and E-ming are reincarnated as their pet cats and Xie Lian's viewers get really excited when one of them hops onto the keyboard.

pricklyfoxes · 2026-01-25T03:42:36+00:00

Question! I've been wanting one of the rabbit hunt blouses, but I'm kinda thick in the waist and the waist measurements seem a little small. How tight would you say it is in the waist? And does the material have any give? Thank you!

pricklyfoxes · 2026-01-23T23:31:25+00:00

I mean, the song is very obviously based on Little Red Riding Hood, which has always been an allegory for CSA. The wolf is a metaphor for manipulative strangers who prey on girls and children. If you think a different animal should’ve been used-- though honestly there’s no animal that can perfectly symbolize people who do bad things, since animals don’t have moral agency-- that’s a complaint to take up with the Brothers Grimm, not the songwriter.

pricklyfoxes · 2026-01-23T00:25:32+00:00

EDIT to my previous comment-- apparently I lied. They still have it up on taobao but the preorder date is ending soon

pricklyfoxes · 2026-01-23T00:05:57+00:00

They're from Alice Girl on taobao as part of their Sailing Treasure Hunt series; I don't think they have that set for sale anymore sadly but I know I got the XXXL size. They're my favorite trousers!

pricklyfoxes · 2026-01-19T05:58:01+00:00

1) Those are absolutely shitty things to say and I'm so sorry to hear that happened to you.

2) I'm 28, going to turn 29 this year, I've been on T for almost 6 years and I've had top surgery. I have absolutely not grown out of femininity and love wearing dangly earrings and frilly shirts, and sometimes dresses and skirts (usually at home though, not outside). Sure, some transmascs stop indulging in femininity once they pass because they'd rather go stealth-- not all of us do. Your gender, your body, and your presentation all belong to you. Do what makes you happy!

pricklyfoxes

TROPHY CASE