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#um advice?
allieebobo · 9 months
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Hi there! Sorry if this is kind of a weird question but do you have any advice for...introducing your IF to the community? I've been working on mine for a few months now, and while the demo isn't *quite* ready yet - I'm planning for it to be the full prologue which is completely outlined and ~66% written - I feel like it's probably a good idea to make a blog and build up to it at least a little bit before it's ready to go. I just have...no idea how to do that 😅 Any advice would be much appreciated!
Oohh!! Exciting!! :D
First off I'll caveat to say that of all the IF writers out there I'm probably the one who's least qualified to talk about publicity hahaha I just rely on word of mouth/you guys 😄
But alright I'll give it a go under the cut.
1. Pinned intro post
Make sure to have a catchy, representative intro post that tells readers what they're gonna get in the game, plus RO descriptions are always good, if you have ROs. Also bonus points if the post looks nice (I think @evertidings has one of the prettiest intro posts and blogs in general haha).
2. Detailed character post (optional)
A detailed post on characters (e.g. here you can flesh out the characters' backstory, personality/tease the possible dynamics between MC and the character). Images could be useful too and I know a lot of IF writers, including myself, who use Art breeder for that.
3. A demo (optional)
I know the community's split on this one but personally I have a terrible memory so if I get to play a demo immediately after I see an intro post I like, the IF sticks with me a lot more so I generally think waiting to have a demo before launching the IF is my personal path of action! I feel it sets things up nicely and gives a sense of what to expect, your writing style, 1-2 key characters, and the main stakes of the game.
4. And after the launch?
Just write, and interact with the community, support other IF creators, and watch your IF grow :) honestly, I was really lucky to have insanely awesome creators like @bouncyballcitadel and @milaswriting and @doriana-gray-games say hi and bring me into the fold, and dang it was like having Nadal or Janja Garnbret say "yo, cool IF bro". I'll always be so grateful :))
I guess you could do other things along the way (like I know people do announcement posts and cool stuff when they hit follower milestones but I keep procrastinating mine till it is nowhere near a round number anymore) but yeah... I tend to just... focus on writing and answering asks and reading other IFs when i have free time--and not sweat the rest, because that's what I enjoy doing most!
All the best, anon!!
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bogkeep · 5 months
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idk why there's so much discussion around the ~*morality of traumadumping*~ when it's a VERY solvable social conundrum. all you need to do is ask something like "hey is it ok if i talk about this thing? it's kind of heavy" and respect the answer
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m1d-45 · 1 year
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i gobbled and devoured the post imposter things. scrumptious!! but what if poor little xiao man feels guilty for hunting or scarring us in the hunt? and please don’t feel obligated to answer, i know you’re busy
burden to bear
word count: 2.7k
-> warnings: spoilers for liyue archon quest, canon typical violence…. minor body horror? blood mention.
-> gn reader (you/yours)
taglist: @samarill || @thenyxsky || @valeriele3 || @shizunxie || @boba-is-a-soup || @yum1x || @esthelily || @turningfrogsgay
< masterlist >
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during the hunt itself, xiao is driven by a need to prove himself, pushing past his instinct and the way his karma flares around the one on the throne. he sees it as a way to redeem himself, to finally scrape some of the sin off his hands. it’s a way to prove himself, and one he takes eagerly.
it’s not correct to say he’s blinded by faith, but it’s not exactly wrong either. he definitely feels, subconsciously, that something’s… off, maybe, about his god. perhaps it’s the way his vision always seems to flutter and flare, or the ice in his veins when the command to hunt is given. he feels uneasy, unsettled, finding himself rolling his shoulders and wondering if he needed to add more stretches into his routines. and yet, despite the tension in his shoulders and the twist in his stomach, he kneels, bowing his head with a swear of fealty that goes unanswered.
unacknowledged.
perhaps he had delivered it wrong?
he doesn’t think much of it, quickly dissolving from the throne room and appearing besides the statue of the seven on the west edge of liyue. looking out over jueyun karst, he knows it’s a bit fruitless to start his search there due to the vicinity to the other adepti, but the spires there are tall, filled with wiry bushes and crags of rock that are easier to hide in than may seem at first glance.
he draws his pole arm, spinning it once over his hand before tapping the end to the stone beneath him. he’s not sure why he’s so nervous—is it the fact that this is technically the first order he’s been given? is it the idea of slaughtering somebody so identical to his creator that it nearly fooled morax, who’s been alive longer than he could fathom?
or is it simply the prospect of failure?
xiao grits his teeth and steps off the edge of the floating stone, halting his fall with anemo at nearly the last possible moment.
his feelings meant nothing. orders were given, and he had to follow them.
why else was he there, if he couldn’t?
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it takes him longer than he expected to find you. he’s almost impressed, really, that you managed to evade his searching eyes, that you dodged not only him but the other adepti as well, all without taking refuge in any villages or otherwise civilized areas due to the orders the millelith put out. you hid well, he could attest to that, and though he was the one to find you, it was only on accident.
he was clearing out a group of hilichurls north of the inn. he was surprised so many had settled so close to the statue of the seven, as hilichurls usually avoided concentrated elemental energy, but didn’t think too hard about it. he simply unhooked his mask from his belt, noticing the difference in strength between these hilichurls and the average, and teleported into the middle of the camp.
the first thing he heard was a spotter’s cry. the second was the mitachurls’—archons, there were three—roar as they hefted their weapons. the final one was the intricate chanting of the abyss, but not any incantation he recognized.
he kept himself half in smoke as he danced around the edge of the camp, taking out the archers while he tried to find the abyss mage. he could catch glimpses of hydro bubbles through the walls of the hut, but the steps were covered in frost-
he barely ducked under the swing of a mitachurl’s axe, slashing his spear along its side as he slipped away, darting across the path of one charging with a large stone shield. it clipped his shoulder despite his efforts, pain spiking down his arm, but he didn’t pay attention to the injurh. normally he wouldn’t be this distracted, but two abyss mages and three mitachurls in one camp could only spell bad news. the best he could likely do was to leave and grab back-up, but who? the millelith were busy, morax and the adepti were on their own search…
xiao quickly climbed onto the roof of the hut, jamming his spear between two of the logs to keep grip on the woven roofing. the grass was damp, squishing uber this feet, likely from whatever hydro magic the mage was busy with within it. it likely wasn’t the smartest idea to stand on the roof, but this area of liyue was mostly plains, with little cover from the charging mitachurls. he needed a moment, if only a short one, to hash out a plan to deal with the camp.
the three mitachurls were standing besides the hut, two with shields and one with a crackling axe, electro dancing along the blade. xiao shifted, pivoting around the peak of the hut to move away from that one, the grass roof squishing below his feet.
the mitachurl’s ear twitched.
he shoved himself off the roof just as the mitachurl slammed the flat of its blade onto the roof, the whole shack shaking. electricity swarmed across the waterlogged roofing, reaching the opposite edge just as xiao dropped off it, landing between the other two mitachurls. they didn’t charge, nor attack, their motivations only made clear when the hiss of cryo froze out the lingering moisture in the air in front of him, effectively boxing him in.
the abyss mage swayed in its circle, staff glowing a sharp blue from within its bubble of frost.
“leave, adeptus,” it hissed, waving its staff in a circle. “you have no place here.”
xiao didn’t reply, instead picking apart his options. he couldn’t do significant damage to the shield mitachurls without utilizing his burst to destroy their shields, but that didn’t cover the mage at all… and he was still wet from the roof, so the mage would be able to freeze him within the time he had drawn in enough anemo energy to wield his mask with any level of efficiency…
he flexed his hand around his polearm. how had he gotten into this situation? his only options were to get lucky or teleport away, but even the latter of those relied on the first.
luck. how useless was he, to rely on luck-?
“‘adeptus’?”
the abyss mage startled at the voice, the cryo it had been swirling dissipating. both he and it turned to the side, to the entrance to the hut, where a figure could be seen just beyond the mitachurl.
his first instinct was that it was his god, and he briefly relaxed under the knowledge that he’d get out of this in mostly one piece.
his second was to recognize the torn clothing and dirt-smeared skin, and realize that you could never be his god.
xiao’s eyes narrowed, his spear twisting towards you faster than the distracted mage could react. you, his target, the one he had been seeking out, were hiding behind the abyss. he should have expected it, in truth, figured out the one known for going against the rules of nature would side with the most unnatural force, but that was not for now.
not now, when he was launched forward by the power of anemo, his spear driving him forward, barely skimming the mitachurl in favor of his true target: you.
your eyes barely had the chance to dart in his direction.
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xiao was, in truth, not the first one to see you.
many villagers had glimpsed you running around the outskirts of their villages, plucking apples and sunsettias off trees and taking mint from their gardens and leaving bundles of sweet flowers behind instead. they’d seen you, face half-covered in a poor mask made of scraps, your clothes that of the haphazard stitches of the hilichurls, which helped you blend into teyvat a bit more at the price of comfort. many had seen you and assumed you were a run of the mill thief, perhaps one taking advantage of the current hunt since the millelith were occupied. they wryly called you clever, warning the traveling merchants about you, the one they glimpsed at inane hours of night.
he wasn’t the first to see you, by far. he was, however, the first to recognize you.
he was the first to lay eyes upon your form and realize the truth, to realize that the blood seeping into your clothes was the color of stars and galaxies, to recognize that your heart beat blue.
the argument could be made that the hilichurls were the first, or perhaps the mages that had taken you in and brought you food, but it was not them that gathered you into their arms and whisked you away in a flash of teal, uncaring of the spike of cryo that drove into their side at the last minute. the hilichurls did not walk with frosted-over limbs, the abyss did not cry with a throat full of ice, calling for assistance in undoing their own crime.
xiao couldn’t decide whether it was lucky or not that baizhu was in the pharmacy, speaking with herbalist gui over the front desk. on one hand, it was best to have the most experienced healer in liyue at your side, but on the other..
“adeptus xiao, what is-…..”
confusion, then anger, then realization, all flashing over his face in an instant before he tilted his head and walked quickly to a back room, xiao following.
he busied himself with picking the ice off his body and clothes, ignoring the shake of his hands and the stench of blood in the room. the mage had pulled you from the point of his spear, but he still hit the side of your stomach, and he could tell it was messy.
knocks sounded at the door but baizhu turned them away sharply, only allowing qiqi to pass him a bowl of lotus seeds. he was focused, changsheng slithering off his shoulders to grab supplies as needed. time seemed to slow to a crawl, like xiao had entered a domain without an exit, filled with the iron smell of blood and the never ending chips of ice he peeled from his skin. it left behind stinging wounds and red marks, but he couldn’t find it in him to care.
what was his brief moment of injury compared to a scar upon his god?
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the moment that baizhu had stopped, all but collapsing into a chair and wiping off his hands with a tired call of ‘it’s done. the foundation will be okay.’ xiao had stood and left, biting his tongue through the protests of both his own body and the doctor.
he’d given changsheng his confession, but he did not wish to stick around and hear his verdict.
weeks later, morax came and visited him at the inn, carrying with him a plate of almond tofu and an apology. xiao leaned against the furthest edge of the balcony, curled around the plate, staying as far as he could from the one with your aura imprinted upon him.
he felt it, when zhongli had first come up the stairs. the shock, then the warmth, the all-encompassing comfort that soothed the pain from the bruising on his shoulder. he felt it, and knew that he did not deserve it.
“it’s not your fault,” zhongli insisted, baritone words colored with unreturned sympathy. “the fake… had fooled us all. even me. i cannot hold your actions against you when i myself would have done the same.”
and maybe that was true. maybe he would have drawn his own weapon, pierced your skin himself, acting on the orders of one who dared to take the place of the divine, but that was irrelevant.
xiao was the one who had hurt you. and it was entirely his fault.
almond tofu, his favorite dish, tasted bitter and sour on his tongue, almost akin to the pain medication that zhongli had made him drink after noticing how cautious he was with his injured arm. he’d made him take the first dose in front of him and swear to take the rest, with a long monologue about taking care of himself tacked on afterwards, but it was for nothing. aside from the first night he had it, xiao hadn’t touched the bottle. it sat on his nightstand, beside a bed he hardly used, taunting him when he returned earlier than usual.
he could take it. there was nothing stopping him from doing so, and he probably should if he wanted to return to his duties quicker. but every time he picked up the glass, thumb tracing over the engravings as he undid the top, he hesitated.
he could take it. he probably should. but did he deserve to?
you were still recovering, possibly still bedridden weeks later. your blood still stained his spear, dripping down to his palms, pale and scarred skin marked further with the blue and purple swirls of his sin. you were still in pain, still healing from a spear to your side, and he was here, reaching for medicine for a sore shoulder?
(it was worse than that. bone had knocked against bone, bruising beneath where muscle could reach. it ached even when he sat as still as possible, dragging him out of every attempt to meditate. the dark purple splotches stretched beyond his clothing, reaching across his back and up his neck, making nearly any action flare the wound. it was far beyond an over-exerted muscle or a particularly tiring day, and yet even the worst nights of his pain were staved off by the memory of having to wash blue off his blade. even as the latch on the bottle was undone, the lip pressed to his, he could never bring himself to drink it)
(even the small droplet of it on the rim, tasting of qingxin extract and violet grass, threatened to make him sick. how dare he?)
yes, it would likely only get him into more trouble were he found out, but he was careful not to be. whenever the wind brought him the heavy presence of geo, zhongli’s familiar footsteps climbing the stairs, he snatched the bottle and emptied it into the stone carving on the balcony, letting the medicine soak into the soil beneath it. it splashed when he was sloppy, the deep purple medicine appearing blue on the stone, sparking a memory that weighed harder on the pit in his stomach.
even as he handed the bottle over to zhongli, his jaw clenched from the strain on his shoulder. the action was stiff, jerky, but evidently smooth enough that it had passed his assessment.
zhongli tucked the bottle away, surprisingly not drawing out a new one.
“i am proud of you, and of the progress you have made,” he said, golden eyes softening in the light of dusk. “well done, xiao.”
how strange, he thought, watching him leave, that the very action that made his vision swim with unshed tears was one that was praised.
he wouldn’t complain, of course. he never would. this pain was his to bear, just as the burden of your bloodshed was his to shoulder. he was well aware his pain could never take back yours—though he wished, desperately, that he could move your injury to him. he wanted to be able to take on the physical reminder of his defect, to take the hit of his own spear to spare you from his lapse in judgement. he would take it, take ten times the pain you endured, if only it meant that your skin was free of his scars.
it would be an honor to assist the divine, even at the price of his own life.
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kicktwine · 5 months
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hey, any advice for ppl just getting into ffxiv? there's so much happening I'm a Little intimidated lmao
yes! actually! ok ok
Slow down. Don’t worry too much about terms and mechanics. The very beginning of FFXIV is very good at teaching you how to fight and how to do things, so long as you pay attention (and read your tooltips! Hover over your skills to read what they do)
if you’re getting lost in the lore, Jesse Cox has a very in depth and spoiler free video on Hydealyn’s history. I would argue you don’t need it, because you can coast by and learn everything you need by osmosis, but if you’re one of those ppl who wants a solid background before going forward it’s a great video!
The very beginning is a little overwhelming because you’re doing job AND main story quests at the same time right off the bat. You can do them at the same time and you’ll be fine, but the stories can get tangled, so you can choose to do blue job quests (they will teach you moves and buttons and stuff!! And unlock moves and buttons!) until you can’t do them anymore then use MSQ to get the experience in between. After you’re around 25-35 you can get a hang of spacing those out and just go ham on MSQ
you’re also learning the map which I can’t help you with i got lost in the shroud and ul’dah so often. click the blue text under the quest name to bring up where it is on the map
and it’s throwing new terms at you a lot. If you need them, it’ll come up again. If they’re not 100% necessary, like crafting and materia melding and stuff, it’ll be there for you to figure out whenever you want to.
If you miss a line of dialogue in a cutscene, which I did sometimes because I was speeding and then something important happened, hit / and then click “event” in your chat log. A log of dialogue will appear!
if you miss a cutscene entirely, go into any inn and click on the unending journey book.
when doing your outfits, go into character and then click the button near the top of your outfit display that says recommended gear. Always wear that. You can glamor over pretty looking outfits later
if you go into system -> HUD layout, you can move hud items around. It’s a little complicated, but I had to move a bunch of stuff to get comfortable!
spending your Gil is fine. you’ll earn it back, just save some for aetheryte teleporting fees for now
i swear you can ignore leves. you can. you can
and fates
you can sell any items (like beastkin blood or animal leather) you get from combat at any vendor by dragging it from your inventory into theirs. Keep food (to eat!), and clothes until they’re far too low level. animal parts you are not going to need ever unless you’re into crafting
hall of the novice is good for getting your grips but dungeons at level 15 are way more effective for learning how to play your class in the actual game
don’t be afraid of being a beginner in the beginning dungeons!!! You are either queuing with other beginners or people who know they’re going to be in an arr dungeon with new players. You have a sprout you’re safe people will 90% of the time be super nice. Let people know you’re new and they’ll help! You got this!!!!!!
once you get your chocobo go find “my feisty little chocobo” it will let the bird fight with you AND OR HEAL YOU (HELPFUL <-BLACK MAGE)
say hi to merlwyb for me-
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sundewa · 8 months
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(slaps him) this guy has so much lore
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icarusapotheosis · 5 months
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How does one come up with fantasy names and titles???
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mechagender · 8 days
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do you have tips on drawing robots/mecha?
augh I really do wish i could have like a really good and thought out tutorial but honestly I don't even know how I learned WAUUHH ummm I think if I had any tips that I personally had to share which isnt a lot 1. try focusing on bolder geometric shapes!! it REALLY helps to sell the mechanical look. organic things tend to have a lot of soft irregular shapes, so deviating from that helps makes things look inorganic. also, try and picture things as a 3d model in your mind if you can! (if you can't, that's alright! people's imaginations work differently, some people can picture things, some people can't. that's just what I personally do)
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2. exaggerate your parts and proportions to your hearts content!! robots and mecha are an excuse to really go crazy with things!! while something like drawing humans would typically have sort of a 'set' anatomy and proportions (varying on art style of course) mecha isn't really bound by any set of 'rules' especially if you don't care about being realistic!! (which i dont HEHE) 3. study and try and learn from some of the details of other mecha art. watch/play/consume media that focuses on mecha/robots like gundam or things like transformers, etc. other things that are good to study is real machinery, dolls, and real organic anatomy in general. i'd probably recommend searching some terms like "how to draw mecha/robots" on here and seeing what other tips more experienced artists have 4. PRACTICE!!!!!!! this should be like the tip ever for anything at all. im only able to draw like i am now because i spent a good few years drawing almost nothing but transformers which sort of forced me to learn. don't stop trying even when things look 'wrong' because fucking up is how you get better at Not fucking up
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here's a snippet of like some of the first mecha art i can find in my files from back in 2021, you can tell i wasnt really confident in my shapes at all at the time, but keeping at it gave me the ability to improve (obviously none of these are concrete rules pls dont take them as such!!! i also HEAVILY encourage finding lessons elsewhere because beyond generic primary/middle school art classes i have never taken any sort of art education ever and I have no idea what im talking about. i'm entirely self taught, and i've also rarely done serious studies on my own. bad, i know WAUUUGH.)
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maigetheplatypus57 · 2 months
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The way he fucking WENT OFF on spiff was glorious
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Does anyone know of any decent homeless shelters in Alabama? I’m being kicked out of the house once in officially in college and until I get my beating together imma need one.
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cannibalismyuri · 1 year
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mike just always blames himself. i was the asshole. i didn't try hard enough. i was the one in the wrong. sure, he wrote a couple of letters. sure he called a few times. but it was all his fault in his eyes. why the letters were so short. why the phone calls became awkward and stilted. why sometimes he lay in bed at night and thought about will and his smile and his forgiveness that mike didn't deserve and he cries. thinking about how he lost will's unwavering friendship and trust because he was a jerk, and couldn't accept that will went away. sending letters would make it too real. the fact that he had to send letters to talk to will. and mike cries and cries because he was the one who didn't try hard enough.
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trainingdummyrabbit · 1 month
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Probably a silly question but idk much about it so which pokemon mystery dungeon do I start with
oh! any youd prefer! theyre all disconnected from each other as stories so Technically theres no Real Proper Order, buuuuuut. im hard fixated on this series so ill vouch for em individually via the differences i know :]
red/blue rescue team: red is on gba, blue is a ds port. im not sure th proper difference there? theyre just a really good time, nod nods. only caveat is that its the first in the series, and there were some Serious QoL fixes in th next few games ''> > like significantly more inventory space, better movesets, better recruit mechanics... which is to say, start here if you dont wanna backtrack and experience The Horrors like i did. being a gen3 game it does Not hold back on u imo.. has a lot of fun postgame stuff if you really love the gameplay.
explorers of sky: typical fan favorite iirc! (technically the successor to time/darkness, but it has More Stuff and More QoL. the mildly adjusted one.) my personal favorite also. surprise surprise. has an entire games worth of postgame AND sidestories featuring the npcs. it is so full of love ok. a very good place to start if you just want a good taste of the series as a whole imo. also FOOTPRINT MINIGAAAMEEEEEE ‼‼‼‼🎉🎉🎉🎉
gates to infinity: divisive. i personally loved it, but its gameplay Is a bit different from th previous ones. iirc a bit shorter too? it also almost solely features unovan pokemon in terms of Actual Recruits n such, so its a much smaller roster. still made me deeply emotional tho, i do not stand for gti slander in this house. just a sliiight bit of a toneshift, for lack of a better descriptor.
super mystery dungeon: ok so i havent actually. played this one yet... ''> > but! its the second up there in terms of Dearly Beloved By Fans asfar as i know, BUT. id recc playing this one after any others tbh, just bc it seems like itd hit a bit harder that way. but thats just personal (uneducated) opinion, and you can certainly just beeline here if u want. nothing stopping ya. o7
as a little tip for all of these, uh. 1) reviver seeds are your friend, 2) you mostly cant evolve till endgame, so dont pick purely on final evo if youre intent on Picking your starter rather than taking the quiz result, 3) bring room control moves/items for the love of god monster houses dont PLAY.
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holyluvr · 1 month
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Anorexic bloggers: “🩰 Please don’t report me!! 🥺 I have a MENTAL ILLNESS.💔✨only VENTING! ⭐️ I should have a space to vent about my illness the same as someone with depression! 🌸💫😣”
Then you look at the blog, and it’s encouraging others to kill themselves with glitter edits of dying women and girls with at least 10 tags. Yeah, your place for venting if that’s what you consider venting should either be a locked diary or eating disorder IOP.
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sweetcobaltblue · 9 months
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um....thoughts
// I really don't make ooc posts much because shyness but does anyone remember various-events blog? it was me asking for anyone who'd be interested in a discord group / or events within the ygo rpc again - and i forgot about it until now because i got a person asking if their will be a discord... asvavds anyways
Would anyone be interested in a yugioh rp discord hangout? a safe place that will be as inculsive as i can make it.. you can simply like this post ( or comment thoughts / concerns ) if it's something you want to see happen and would join?
might reblog onto my other blogs.
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ratcandy · 1 month
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unforeseen predicament number 2: Never written dancing before, am gonna have to do that . more than once
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mainfaggot · 2 months
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none of u regularly talk to me on here except for wren and sami and ana and sometimes others. I miss u oomfs WHERE R U HOW R U
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