#Essential Oil Shots

[seventh-district]

CW: talkin’ about my scars and the experience of having blood drawn

oh, the tension between me and the poor urgent care staff member that’s been assigned the arduous task of trying to find one of my tiny escape artist veins so they can draw my blood whilst doing their absolute best to be polite and not say anything about the fucked up and concerning amount of scars on my arms, wrists, and hands

[transformhim]

Pose

“We good here?”

The model’s question caught him off guard as Raul looked up from from his camera, adjusting the frame and focus for his next shot while his assistant, Damien, moved onto the set to adjust the light and prop placements. The deep bass background music played throughout the apartment in the awkward silence.

The fuck does he mean, are we done?? We’ve hardly started! Raul thought with an annoyed scratch at the back of his head. The model had been a terrible subject to begin with, giving poses and taking heavy sighs at each direction Raul tried to give him, and essentially treated the shoot as though it was something he was bored doing. His payment was way more than modest and the shoot wasn’t supposed to take more than an hour, but he looked like he was ready to leave just 20 minutes in.

Raul cleared his throat, “Uhh, actually we still need a couple more shots. The client is looking for a pretty varied spread to choose from. So if we could j—..”

“Come on, man, you’re really gonna make me do this for another 40 minutes? I’m sure what you got is fine.”

Raul breathed in heavily, “Look, it’ll just take a bit more, the contract said that it wouldn’t be—..”

“Well, you can take it up with my agent, man, I got places I gotta be,” the model started stepping off the set, turning his back to Raul to start packing his things.

Raul turned his eyes towards Damien, lifting his palms up in a disbelieving gesture and shaking his head. Damien just rolled his eyes and shrugged with a dejected smirk. They’ve dealt with these kinds of divas numerous times before. Almost too many to count, actually.

But money had been tight at the studio since the pandemic hit, and even all these years later it still hadn’t recovered. they couldn’t afford to keep getting these types of dismissive twats leave shoots before they were supposed to. Clients were always very specific about what they wanted and could cut pay if they weren’t satisfied.

But Raul and Damien had their own means of dealing with these kinds of rude bastards. As they exchanged wordless looks expressing their annoyance and frustration, Damien’s eyes began to slowly drift towards the model off set, gathering his belongings. His dejected look changed to one of curiosity as he bit his lip. He looked towards Raul and narrowed his eyes with a cheeky grin.

‘Should I?’ Damien mouthed silently towards Raul.

A sly grin spread across Raul’s face as he considered Damien’s proposal. He looked back at the model—turned away from them as he texted to his agent or slam piece or gym family or whatever—and back at Damien, biting his lip mischievously and nodding.

Damien smiled wider and stretched. He took off his tank top and tossed it aside, his toned hairy torso now bare. His fingers hooked under his waistband, and his basketball shorts and boxers drop silently to the floor as he kicked them over on top of his tank top. Now naked and hardening quickly, he arched his back in a stretch, rolled his neck, and rubbed his palms together as he stepped towards Raul. He leaned in for a quick kiss with his partner as he took the bottle body oil next to Raul that the model had used and squirted a massive helping into his hand, slathering it over his chest, arms, and face. Quickly, he moved towards the model gathering his things, ducking down lower as he approached.

“When you get to it, make sure my payment goes t—UUUHHHNNGGG!!” The model was interrupted in the middle of his sentence as Damien, in one fluid motion, pulled the model’s speedo down and plunged his face between his globular asscheeks. The model groaning and grunting in mindless pain and confusion, gripping the sides of the table where his things were sitting, as Damien popped his oily face and head into model’s tight hole, sending a loud squelching *SCHLORP* echoing through the apartment.

Damien’s slick body then began to suck up into the model’s hole, his muscular tan form thinning and contorting as he slithered deeper and deeper into the model’s guts, the entire process emitting a familiar meaty, slimy, slurping sound Raul knew and loved so well. Raul licked his lips, pawing his swelling package, as he watched the model’s sculpted ass distend slightly as his tight hole widen more and more as it hungrily slurped Damien inside him, his tattooed, lubricated form and limbs compressing in on themselves as he plunged deeper. Raul couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of the model—he knew full well how ecstatic and orgasmic it felt to have Damien slither up inside him… and what came next.

Just as Damien’s ass and throbbing rod sank into the model’s guts, his thighs and legs shot up into the hole at a much faster speed, whipping into the model’s hole noisily. Raul had shoved his hands into his shorts and was stroking eagerly as the Damien's feet slurped inside while the model groaned and contorted, arching his neck and back and standing on the tips of his toes, cringing at the pain and pleasure racking through his body.

Damien was gleefully readjusting his out-of-proportion frame within the squeezing, slimy, meaty confines of the model’s body, feeling different parts of the model’s sides, abs, and back twitch, flex, and contort, as his body tried to adjust to its invader. He could hear the muffled sounds of Raul’s horny, drunken laughter from the outside, thinking he for sure must have been making the model appear to have a substantially pregnant beer gut as Damien’s body centralized in his torso. After using a stretched out hand to brush his lubricated, wet hair out of his face, Damien went to work shoving his limbs into the model’s extremities.

Damien loudly moaned from within the body as he felt his arms and legs come to new life with increased strength and size while his limbs shoved through slick meat like a tight sleeve into the model’s beefy appendages. He smirked, feeling cocky and horny as he felt his arms burst into massive cannons and his heart fluttered as he felt the rest of him come to life. Damien arched in exhilarated bliss as he felt his chest, torso, and back first compress under the weight of the model’s squeezing body and then surge outward in new sensations of power and mass as Damien’s senses merged with the model’s, enticing him to give his big chest a flex to feel it bounce with new weight.

Raul nearly blew his load from an observer’s perspective. The model’s head was lolled backwards and his eyes rolled back while his body underwent what looked to be an instant pump, his muscles standing out more prominently under his skin, bit by bit, as his boyfriend filled him up like a balloon. Raul gasped as he stroked himself, watching Damien fill up the model’s lower half, making his already impressive thighs and glutes swell larger still. The thong he was wearing for the shoot looked somehow more risqué than earlier, hugging the model’s sweaty skin more tightly and accentuating his now-larger parts. The model was no longer the shredded twunk he was when he came into the apartment, but a swaggering thicc muscle stud with his and Damien’s combined mass.

Finally, Raul could see a sizable lump appear from near the model’s collarbone, stretching the model’s gold chain to its limit, as Damien began to shove his own head upwards into the model’s. He began to elicit deeper, gurgling groans as Damien wiggled and stretched his head up into the neck. Raul felt himself nearing completion as the model’s head suddenly jolted upwards with a dull crack, the lump in the model’s throat now gone. It wasn’t until Raul heard Damien utter his first satisfied groan in the model’s low voice that he blew his pent up load all over the floor in front of him.

Damien rolled his head around in his new body, stretched his shoulders and panted a few more breaths. He touched the foreign curves and angles in his face for a moment, turned on by his own handsome, sharp, smooth face. He felt sweat dripping off him from his exertion and huffed a big whiff of the new musk he emitted. Not bad!

“Alright!” He rubbed his hands off his face and down his pillowy chest.

“Let’s take some pictures.”

Damien turned to see that Raul had blown a sizable load all over the floor, some even on the set, and giggled as Raul chuckled, panting, coaxing the last of his load out of his shaft, letting it dribble down his fingers and onto the puddle below.

“Already?! Come on, man,” Damien chastised playfully.

“Sorry, babe, I just love the way you filled him out, dude. Fuck!”

“Oh? Y’like?” Damien teased walking towards him, saucily lolling his tongue out while he flexing his arms hard and tensing his pec muscles several times. He was being corny like always, but Raul was kicked into 5th gear again, instantly ready to blow another load.

“Yeah, dude, I fuckin’ do,” Raul took the liberty of feeling up Damien’s slick muscle gut, running his hands over his protruding abs. Damien could see how into this his boyfriend was and decided to move things forward a bit.

He grabbed Raul’s hand and shoved it into his thong, feeling his new hardening 7 incher steel against his boyfriend’s palm. He humped and gyrated his mammoth cock against Raul’s hand and asked, “What about the shoot?”

“Shoot can wait,” Raul moaned as he gripped onto Damien’s slick dick and stroked, lifting up Damien’s huge arm with his other hand and burying his face into Damien’s sweaty pits, licking and lapping at the moist surface while inhaling deeply.

Damien lifted up his other arm for Raul to let his boyfriend worship his other pit, bouncing his pecs a bit as Raul slathered his greedy face across his sweaty jugs on his way to the next pit. Damien grinned as he felt Raul continue to lovingly work his shaft. He was looking forward to a hedonistic, indulgent weekend with his boyfriend—he just hoped they eventually remember to finish the shoot.

[theambitiouswoman]

Ways to Add Luxury to Your Life

1. Stop saying “you can’t afford it”

2. Walk through or stop for a drink at a luxurious hotel

3. Create your own luxurious evening routine

4. Create your own luxurious morning routine

5. Schedule in something fancy

6. Wear your favorite handbag and shoes

7. Find your signature scent

8. Do your hair and make up

9. Shop your wardrobe

10. Choose your top 3 must do things everything

11. Cook from scratch

12. Drink champagne

13. Buy silk linens for your bed

14. Celebrate your wins

15. Personalized stationary

16. Visit museums and art galleries

17. Shop at farmers markets

18. Eat organic and fresh foods

19. Go on hikes

20. Play uplifting music

21. Plant a vegetable garden

22. Use lavender pouches in your drawers

23. Exercise daily

24. Only drink quality tea and coffee

25. Wear pretty/silk lingerie and cute lounge wear

26. Have a creative hobby

27. Visit the spa and get facials regularly

28. Buy fresh flowers

29. Use quality skincare and makeup

30. Take hot baths

31. Buy essential oils

32. Treat yourself

33. Add lemon to your water

34. Go to a high end gym or Lounge

35. Read a book before bed

36. Stop saving your nice things for later. Use them now

37. Use an exfoliator for your body

38. Stretching and yoga

39. Go to an artisan cafe for fresh croissants

40. Make your own dressings for your foods

41. Clean your house and your car

42. Take a detox shot in the morning

43. Treat yourself to a professional blow dry

44. Nails always done

45. Bake fresh cookies

46. Watch a classic and elegant film like Breakfast at Tiffany’s

47. Have a full feminine luxurious shower routine

48. Clean your makeup brushes and arrange them like a beauty counter for the next time you use them

49. Learn about art and wines

50. Decorate your home like a 5 star hotel

51. Use a pillow spray

52. Host a dinner party

53. If possible, hire a chef or cleaner to help you

[p3ndeja6]

₊ ⊹🪻 ✧ ˚. ᵎᵎ 🔮

n.amaro x reader

summary: you were younger then nick by a couple of years, and sometimes he’d come over to your apartment after late nights at the precinct, he’d come over to just enjoy peace and serenity

content: fluff, reader is in school (2nd or 3rd year of college) suggestive acts (nothing extreme), age gap!, mentions of sexual abuse due to svu cases, nothing too triggering, just a fluffy one shot overall

super short

✧ ✧

it was late at night, you were working on an essay that was due by the end of the week.. you were getting strained and decided to take a break and call it a day.

You made yourself a quick meal, spicy buldak noodles, a sandwich and your favorite drink that was saved in the fridge. You prepared your meal as you were watching your favorite show. you were almost done preparing your late-night snack when you heard the doorknob shake.

You lived a pretty safe vicinity so the chances of a burgler were slim, but you still were vigilant about your safety, you quickly grabbed your broom and held it tight.

Upon your discovery, the door opened and you saw your boyfriend… nick.

You sighed of relief, and he looked at you worried

“Jesus Nick, you scared me!” “geez sorry, i thought this neighbor was safe?”

you put the broom down, “I mean it is but you never know” “yeah.. tell me about it”

he walked to you as you went back in finishing preparing your ramen, he went behind you and grabbed you hips and nuzzled his head in between your neck, kissing you, making you giggle due to his stubble

he continued and you moved your head slightly to give him more access, he took this as a sign to continue. You tried not to get distracted but you let a soft moan escape.

he laughed,and started moving up your body; cupping your boobs. You laughed and finally pushed him away

“stop Nick” you laughed “I want to eat, I’ve been working on an assignment for the past 5 hours.” he let go and laughed “my hard working girl, okay okay I’ll let you eat but next time, you’re all mine!”

you shook your head in sarcasm, he took of his jacket and unbuttoned his white shirt a couple of buttons down, and took off his shoes. He adjusted himself on your couch, and laid there with his eyes closed taking in the aroma therapy essential oils diffuser thats going around your room.

you look at him, now realizing that he’s here strangely. Nick stops by late nights most weekends or if it’s a weekday he’ll let you know earlier in the day if he’s stopping by, but it’s currently a Tuesday at 12:36 am.

“hey Nick?”

he hummed in response, most likely getting sleepy

“not to sound rude or anything.. but why are you here? It’s late on a Tuesday night, shouldn’t you be at your place?”

He opened one eye and looked over at you

“do you not want me here?” He said a bit suspicious

“oh god, no like yeah I do, but I just realized what day it was and you know you usually let me know when you’re coming over and it’s usually weekends you spend the night with me, I just found it odd you came to visit me tonight” “I love it when you’re here really”

you finally finished your ramen and took it towards the couch where Nick was, and started eating as you waited for a response.

he was hesitant in his answer, he seemed stressed and frustrated.

“today we had a tough case.. a rape case..”

you look at him attentively, making sure you are hearing him and that he has your fullest attention.

you nod in continuous

“and well… it’s about a 8 year old girl who’s after school teacher has been acting inappropriately with her.. you know like touching her where she shouldn’t be touched”

“oh my god” was what you let out

“yeah, and her home life isn’t easy, this one was a bit tough to work on dude to how young and bright this little girl is. I hate to see anyone take it away from her”

you put your ramen down and get close to him, caressing his hand.

“and being here.. with you just brings me peace. All is perfect here, so sorry i came unexpected but i really needed to see you”

you smiled at him

“awe baby, you know you are always welcomed here, I love having you here, never goes a day where I don’t miss you”

you make him look at you and caress his cheek, looking so attentively at his eyes, leaning in and kissing him so gracefully.

he takes you in, and guides a hand on your neck. You move to his lap and continue to kiss him, sucking on each others lips, and you slightly grinding on him

he groans a bit and you continue to bit his lip. You pull away with his lip in between your teeth and stare at him and run a finger across his now plumped lips

“thank you for coming over”

“thank you for having me”

[eaudera]

eaudera's detailed tutorial for skin rendering

okay loves i've put together a tutorial in text form detailing my step by step process of shading darker skin + the brushes and techniques I use and why I use them. you will be following along as we shade a piece together, you can find the lineart to the piece here. *turn off your true tone and night shift displays for the most objective viewing.

i wrote a lot on the preview pictures, if you find spelling errors (which you def will) or are unable to read my handwriting, you'll find the typed out version of the writing in the alt text feature.

disclaimer: i'm not an art professor nor am i academically/classically trained in art. a lot of the verbiage and techniques i'm using to teach you all here are from my current self taught and observed understanding of art, light, and anatomy

support me: kofi / ig / twt / commissions

firstly, here are my two staple brushes. you can find the second brush here, i modified it by making it larger.

the lineart brush is very good for easy sketching and simultaneously cleaning up that sketch to produce the final lineart you'll be using in your piece. the diffusion from the erased parts/the diffusion created by lowering the pressure of your pen creates a light graphite effect which i enjoy! give it a shot.

you'll notice quickly that there are lighter strokes throughout this lineart, these are simply acting as rendering guides for me in order to remember certain placements. i erase/draw over these lines a lot.

i initially learned to shade skin on a completely grey background with very slight orange undertones, and for a while this was very helpful in providing the most objective view of the base colors you're using (objective as in free of being effected by colors of different values). as you might know, using a white background for dark skin will seemingly darken the value and dim the vibrancy of your base colors, and using a black background will do the opposite. if you're using a darker skin tone, you want your canvas shade to be of a value that is proportional to your skin tone to avoid the same problems created by colors with too light or dark of a value. now if you're using a screened device to draw, you have the extra burden of screen reflections/wavering color output on different screens, so you're never really sure if the exact color you're using will be consistent across the board. priming your canvas with neutral colors will help with that. whereas priming with more vibrant colors will slightly change the undertone of your skintone (especially if you're using a low opacity brush), but it makes for a funner canvas and more creativity with your color palette imo. if you're a beginner i recommend you stay below the wavy line to avoid too light of a canvas shade.

for these same reasons i avoid keeping my lineart jet black. when you lay down the base colors under a black lineart it can look very unfavorable.

here are some skin tone variants that i tend to use the most, peep how i never wander off too far to the left of the spectrum where the reds are. i definitely favor red-oranges as compared to green-oranges for my skin tones, however, because i stay primarily on the left side of the color spectrum for my rendering, red can quickly become too much too fast. so i make sure to use a skin tone that can work very well with green-orange shadows. for this specific piece i will use the third shade (#2d1606).

heres where the gouache brush comes in handy. i use it very loosely to "prime" the canvas almost. if you've ever done oil painting you'll realize very few artists draw directly onto a completely white canvas, though i've already primed my canvas essentially by changing the background color, i loosely shade over it with the skin tone color using the gouache brush. i find this gives me a better grasp on the composition of the piece due to increased harmony between the canvas and the skin color. it also looks really cool to me and resembles a real canvas almost.

as stated before, priming your canvas with neutral colors (grey) can help give you a more consistent view of your base colors, when you get the hang of understanding the colors you most often use (i.e, how they interact with other colors), you can start using more vibrant and fun colors to color your canvas with! the gouache brush changes opacity depending on the pressure exerted by the pen, if you zoom in you'll notice patchy areas where the canvas color bleeds through the layer more prominently than it does in other areas. for some people this might throw off the consistency of the shadows, but you should be fine as long as you're using a consistently opaque brush (which we will be doing)

i know i recommended beginners use a grey canvas like i did, but since this tutorial is using my techniques i figured i'd also teach you guys how to use variantly opaque brushes to your advantage. we will be drawing on the pink canvas from here on out.

a reference is so helpful, i still rely on references to guide my shadows/lights. i'm past the point of relying on references for exact coordinates for rendering or lineart, but they are still incredibly helpful. in most references of darker skintones you come across, color dropping directly from the picture will give you very grey colors! we want to prioritize vibrancy in this case, so attempt to formulate your own colors or colordrop and increase the vibrancy :)! keep in mind i'm now using the lineart brush to shade. the diffuse/soft corners of this brush allows fewer pixels to be scattered wherever you lessen the pressure, this is perfect for color dropping medium colors to blend two colors together. you'll see how i blend colors later on.

as mentioned previously, red can become too much too fast- so i avoid monochrome rendering as much as possible by using shadows of different undertones. my most frequent combination is using a red-orange skin tone and then using a green-orange shadow.

the value spectrum will be your best friend in mixing values and undertones, i use it all the time to formulate the best less saturated darker shadow that is proportional (not too dark, not too grey) to my skintone value. if the shadow is too green simply increase the magenta, if you're looking for a "reflective" shadow, increase the blue.

when i begin shading, i always slide the curser to a truer orange color on the spectrum and increase the saturation (slide towards the right) while i decrease the brightness (slide down). heres how it looks when i'm jumping between shadows and highlights while trying to keep my colors proportional (but not identical) to whats happening in the reference ^. i most often times will rely on the value tool, however.

you will notice that a lot of darker skin tones have patches of orange vibrancy, these areas are most common on the nose and cheeks. this is only a detail to pay attention to if you're going for more of a realism rendering style :)

now onto how i prefer to bridge/blend colors together by utilizing the blend tool.

i do not like simply blurring colors in order to blend colors together, it can lead to overblending which can make your portrait look heavily gaussian blurred (think 2010 deviantart art... yea that). the brilliant thing about procreate is you can utilize brushes really efficiently, which include changing the brushes you use for blending. so in reality, artists who use the blending tool on its own can still have portraits that don't look it! there also exists plenty of brushes that have properties allowing it to blend into its surrounding colors are you draw. but in my case, the above photo is 99% of the times how i will bridge two colors together. doing this allows me to keep pretty consistent brushstrokes across the whole portrait, which i enjoy. it also gives me better control of the shapes i use in my rendering, an aspect that is pretty easy to lose when you're using the blending tool directly and solely.

in case the blending process is a bit hard too see, heres that same process recreated with different more visible colors:

now once you've placed your shadows where they generally tend to be (according to the reference photo), let's make those shapes a bit more specific and pick up on smaller details to make your rendering look more complete.

your base colors will never be as dark or as light as you need them to be when you begin rendering, making sure you have a decent contrast between your lightsource highlights and the shadows is key to capturing the essence of a light being cast on your character. it's much easier to keep building upon your shadows before rendering the highlights, i laid down the highlights only to create a guide/help me map my shadows better. do not darken the entirety of the areas affected by shadow, you'll find that shadows are rarely ever the same value, it's a gradual process affected by things like position, height, etc. so make sure the darkest of your shadow colors are preserved only in areas where the shadows are the or should be the darkest.

you'll notice i labeled some areas as "detail", adding very specific shadow placements is a detail. in the reference, the model has a pretty prominent brow bone, creating a shadow over where his eyelid creases just above his lash line, paying attention to feature details like this help enhance the rendering and its realism.

now that i've mapped my shadows i'm going to move onto to rendering my highlights and the region of the face where the lightsource is most prominent.

i described shadows as a gradual process earlier, this is because of the lightsource. light tends to spread when its further from the affected surface, creating a larger area affected by the light. of course, this varies depending on how intense and how close/far the light source is. in this case, the light is being casted above him further to the other side of his face, but again, remember that the face is not 2d and more prominent areas are affected more by light. it's due to this that there still exists a, albeit very minimal, shadow beneath his cheekbone. i exaggerate the shadow here for stylistic purposes, but it also helps in keeping me uphold that contrast between the highlight and shadow once again. so i refrain from blending the light into this area like i did in other areas.

midtones are the areas most unaffected by the light source, they're neither shadows nor highlights. and because light spreads, it is brighter in certain areas and darker in others. it is most easiest to blend the darker ends of the highights into the midtones of your portrait. you can emulate this by once again using your blend tool. blend the outer areas of the light and colordrop this color and use it as the darker light more proportional to the midtones. note that before i add even lighter shades to the areas where light is most concentrated, i blend what highlight placements i currently have there.

we're going to switch gears now and focus on the reflective shadow occurring on the darker half of his face.

this shadow is a reflection from the lighter background the model is up against, the light being casted above him is allowing for some bounce back from his surroundings, leading to very faint light visible in areas primarily affected by shadows. hence why i'm referring to these colors as "reflective shadows".

in this case, the reflective shadows are blue, or appear to our eyes as blue. on darker skin, "true" blues (blue-purple) are not often times present. what is present rather, is a very grey tone with cool undertones/a grey tone on the blue side of the spectrum, which creates a blue that is much more proportional to the value of the skintone than a true blue. in this case i used a deeper grey on the pink color spectrum, which is more purple. this was intentional, and was done in order to create some sort of color harmony between the contrasted deep oranges im using for the bordering shadows and the blue-grey i'm attempting to emulate.

while i utilize this blue-grey, out've a purely stylistic choice, i still introduce true blues to my rendering. in fact i love using blue/purple reflective shadows in my art, it creates a stunning and colorful render. in this case, i used the blue-grey as a stepping stool to introduce that trueer blue more naturally. you'll see this happening in the second picture above, where i used a slightly more vibrant and slightly more brighter blue, and used it on areas where this reflection was more prominent (and therefore brighter).

you'll notice how the shadows that border on these reflective colors are less saturated and darker than the shadows on his chin. introduce a darker and less saturated (more green) shadow to that area on his cheek and the darkest shadow of this photo, the sunken area near his nose bridge and inner eye corner. i emphasize this line in the lineart so you can follow this shadow more accurately:

this is also a detail in my opinion and can make your portrait more realistic if you include.

we're going to pivot to his neck area before continuing. you'll find the area of his neck with the most light is also the least vibrant, i laid down a grey base color to emphasize this detail in the portrait. afterwards i added key details. i wanted to stay at least somewhat true to the color dynamics occurring in the reference hence why i used the grey, but i'm not a very big fan of using blatant grey directly on the skin, so i made it more blue.

moving forward, the outer eye and the nose can be some of the most "detail focused" areas of the face when it comes to rendering. due to their more "bulbous" anatomy, light tends to curve around them in more complex ways than the flatter parameters of the face.

when it comes to the many creases that surround the eye, the skin folding over itself creates a very thin shadow from between the folds. the key to rendering this crease is to concentrate the blending to a very small scale, do not overblend the area because the hill created by the crease very easily captures light, creating an area where the shadow and highlight meet in very close proximity. slight blending is needed for this area, you can deepen the shadows in both horizontal corners of the eye for more accuracy. the midsection of the total eye area (eyeball and socket) tends to capture the most light, remember this is due to how bulbous rounder shapes tend to capture light from whichever direction its coming from.

this is of course the case for the nose as well. highlights are typically placed as a dot on the outermost part of the nose by artists, but highlights also spread on either side of the tip of the nose. the nose tends to collect a lot of oil, creating a sort of sheen on the upper parts of the nostril. when rendering a portrait where the position of the head is more cast to the side, the highlight of the nose changes from the bulb of the nose, to the upper nostril. in this case, the highlight spreads, causing a "half tone", or the remnants of the light on the bulb of the nose. this is the easiest place to blend highlights and shadows together. now for the shadow detailing on the nose, i'm actually drawing on top of the lineart on a separate layer. which i'll go into detail about in the next part. you want to focus the shadow on where your lineart is, the outermost part of the nose.

now were going to really detail your portrait by introducing a new layer, the detail layer! this isn't technically apart of the skin rendering, so i'm gonna keep it very brief. this is the layer you're going to render the lips, eyeballs, and eyebrows. more specifically, the purpose of this layer is to reduce the reliance on lineart. in terms of order, it goes above the lineart layer. we're going to soften and even erase the lineart in certain aspects. i use bolder/thicker lines when creating my lineart, but this can become a nuisance/hinderance when rendering.

starting out with the lips:

people w brown skin tend to have two toned lips, with the top lip resembling the same skin tone as the face and the bottom lip being redder/pinker and lighter than the upper lip. in my case, i prefer a more vibrant red for the bottom lip. once i lay down these base colors, i begin shading on the second layer.

i personally enjoy the look of a poutier lip shape, this includes emphasizing the middles of the lips as opposed to the ends. i've highlighted the shapes that this lip shape often entails. the small circles on the corner of the lip line are just pockets that occur when the mouth is closed and become emphasized by the fat around the mouth. the parameters of the lip lines do not often meet these round corners, theres often times a "double lip line", that exists around these areas. i love including that in the art, its very easy to emphasize by simply drawing a highlight from the corner of the lips along the curvature of the bottom lip towards the middle.

shadow mapping on the lips tend to go: highlight, shadow, highlight, shadow. the top lip going inward creates a highlight on the most outward part: the top of the lip. and the bottom lip curving outward thus creates a shadow on the bottom of the lip.

when it comes to the eyeball, i don't draw the white parts as solid white, nor do i make them too bright most of the time. they're most often times an orange grey, i also dont spread this color out if you can notice the uncolored white part of the eye. i do this intentionally to keep some of the shadows that are naturally present on the eye. very specifically right where the upper eyelid sits on the eyeball, it tends to create a small shadow that follows the curvature of the eye. this shadow is crucial, if you can see the first and second picture do not have this shadow, making the iris look more exposed and the eye appears to be held wider.

when it comes to the iris, i do very little. if i'm drawing a dark colored eye i will cover the entire iris brown, before darkening it with an almost black color. i leave the brown sides of the iris exposed to aid in bridging the values between the whiter parts of the eye and the very dark iris. this blended ring also appears on all eyes in real life. lastly, dark eyes tend to show light reflections much easier than lighter eyes. these reflections can be any color in art, in this case i kept it blue-green. i bend these reflections around where the pupil would most likely be depending on the drawing.

next, the eyebrow. i find it tedious to draw individual eyebrow strands when it comes to rendering, i actually prefer to blend the parameters of the eyebrows to create cohesiveness. sparse and fine eyebrow hairs are penetrated by light and shadows more than what you'd find on the scalp. it's harder to see light on someones scalp due to the bulk of hair crowding the scalp, whereas as its easier to see such light on the eyebrow. to introduce this concept to my art, i will initially draw the entire shape of the brow. then when rendering, i erase the parameters, leaving the darkest part of the brow. then i blend. the lower brow bone will be blended the least, whereas the area of the eyebrow connected to the T zone will be the most blended thanks to the shadow following the nose bridge. the far end of the brow by the hairline tends to be the lightest given the light source.

and lastly, i loosely draw a white border around the portrait for stylistic purposes. then i combine the layers (group together your layers, then duplicate and compress the duplicate group so that you still retain your individual layers) to edit. i typically add noise and play with the curve setting. and heres the finished image:

i hope you enjoyed!!

[fluffy-dixon]

Title: Rose🌹

Summary: Reader Suffers from anxiety and struggles with a bad attack. Daryl comforts them.

Pairings: Daryl x Reader

Era: Prison

Word count: Approx 940 I wrote this on my iPad.

Warnings: extreme anxiety attack? It’s supposed to be fluff but apparently it’s also angst.

This was my first ever one shot which I have re-written – I wrote this for Valentines Day.

--

You awoke to a crushing weight on your chest, panic surging as you struggled for breath. Another episode was upon you.

The cell’s darkness was absolute, save for a sliver of light that outlined the door’s draped sheet. It was just enough to search for your blankets—the ones Daryl had gathered for you, knowing they eased your distress. Though not essential, he’d always find a way to bring one back, hiding it for you to discover later.

Desperately, you searched the cot’s emptiness for any sign of the comforting fabric.

But there was nothing, and time was slipping away.

Tears streamed down your face, each one scalding like molten rock. Your throat constricted, a vice tightening and choking off your breath. You screamed silently within.

Air. You needed air.

Swinging your legs out, you hauled yourself into a sitting position, hands bracing on your knees. You adopted the tripod stance Daryl had shown you—tripoding. Gasping, you tried to steady your breathing, passing out was not an option.

Inhale through your nose, count to four, exhale. Again, inhale, count to three but relief eluded you; none of the learned techniques were working.

You needed air.

The tingling in your hands spread, a fiery sensation engulfing your arms, neck, and face.

Reaching for the oil lamp you kept for emergencies, you overextended, expelling the last of your breath as the lamp crashed to the floor, shattering.

The noise was sure to draw attention, giving the council yet another reason to cast you out. You were already a burden; this was the last thing you needed.

Defeated, you collapsed back onto the bed, the cell spinning around you. Your body convulsed, each tremor a jolt of electricity coursing through you.

Then, his voice.

“Y/N? Y’kay in there?!”

The Archer. Your archer. Best friend. Soul mate.

Sweat drenched you, blurring your vision, but his silhouette was unmistakable against the door’s curtain.

A groan of panic escaped you, but it was enough. In an instant, Daryl was there, his arms enveloping you in a protective embrace.

“C’mere, it’s okay,” he murmured, his voice a deep, gravelly comfort. You clung to the resonance of his words, a cry of relief breaking free as you felt the tension begin to dissipate.

“The blankets n’working?” You shook your head vigorously, pressing it into the crook of his neck, seeking refuge in his sturdy embrace. The scent of smoke and musk from his skin enveloped you, a comforting aroma you’ve always cherished.

“I can’t—find—” Your words faltered, but he hushed you gently. The dizzying whirl of the room gave way to a soothing rocking motion, cradling you towards calmness.

“Breathe w’me. You can do this, just as I taught ya.”

Inhale through your nose, count to four, then exhale.

A sob escaped your lips, your throat raw and aching with each laboured breath. Daryl’s rough yet tender hands glided over your arms, across your shoulders, and into your damp, dishevelled hair. His touch was a mirror to your disarray. As you looked up, Daryl brushed away the stray hairs from your face, tucking them behind your ears with a gentle precision, his gaze never leaving yours. His deep blue eyes held you captive, mesmerizing you, while the dim light cast shadows that accentuated the contours of his face.

More sobs wracked your body, and you squeezed your eyes shut, trying to stem the flow of tears. The imaginary shackles around your chest seemed to dissolve, allowing you to breathe freely once more. His method was effective.

“You’re doin’it, girl, I’m proud of ya,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to your clammy forehead, undeterred by the dampness. The kiss lingered, grounding you back to the present. When he pulled away, the absence of his warmth left your skin exposed to the chilly air, sealing the moisture from his lips onto your skin. This was a first—a tender, romantic gesture from him. The blush that crept over his cheeks and ears was mirrored by your own shaky, yet genuine smile. You yearned to voice your gratitude to the archer, but all you could manage was to nestle your head against his chest once more, closing your eyes and syncing your breaths with his. Your hand rested on his side, anchoring you as the room’s spin subsided.

Daryl’s free hand began to trace letters on your back. Instead of pain, the path of his fingertip left a trail of goosebumps, pulling you back to reality.

H-A-P-P-Y V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E-S.

He released one arm from around your waist and reached into his shirt pocket, pausing as he spoke.

“I carved something for you.” Daryl’s words were always sparse but laden with meaning. You were the only one privy to this side of him, a treasure you held dear. Each rare glimpse of his vulnerability was cherished, knowing the bravery it took for him to reveal himself.

Sitting up a bit more, you watched as Daryl retrieved a small object from his pocket, placing it in his palm and shifting it into the light for you to see. A gasp slipped through your lips, and you covered your mouth, a silent tear tracing your cheek at the sight of his gift.

An oak rose head, intricately carved.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” he said softly.

[ivonhart]

migraine relief | nanami x fem!reader

oneshot

masterlist

cross posted on ao3

gif credit: @chososleftboot

summary: Nanami comes home to find you immobilized from a migraine and tends to you.

a/n: This is a short self indulgent one shot *throws and runs*

The moment Nanami entered his shared apartment he knew something was amiss. It wasn’t often that he was held up at work, but it did happen and every time you would sit on the couch to wait for him when it did. Either watching a show or reading a book…but when he opened the door he saw that not even the warm lights that normally illuminate the living room were on. As he closed and locked the door behind him, Nanami called out your name. He knew you were home due to the fact your car was parked in your assigned garage spot.

Your lack of response caused his brows to pull together in concern as he made his way further into the apartment. That’s when he saw the bathroom light on from within the bedroom and as he grew closer, the sounds of dry-heaving and soft cries became louder. And that’s where your husband found you; hunched over the toilet with your forehead resting on your arm you had draped over the toilet seat, allowing your neck some comfort as you hung your mouth over the bowl. Just from your state alone, Nanami knew you were there for a considerable amount of time.

The soft call of your name caused you to snap your head up, relieving your tear stained cheeks and mouth dripping with spit and stomach acid. “Oh…my love.” The blond man was quick to discard the tie he wore and put his glasses aside before making his way over to you. “A migraine?” Your choked groan in response was all Nanami needed to hear to know he was right. You were prone to migraines and despite Nanami getting a headache here and there he knew the ones you were afflicted with were much worse. Resulting in a situation he found you in now.

The next few minutes passed by in a pained blur as the throbbing in your head ceased to break. You could sense Nanami scurrying around, see that he dimmed the lights, and hear that he began filling the tub…but it was all blurred together in a way that left you dazed. It wasn’t until his large hand touched your cheek did you snap back into reality to stare into his hazel eyes. Oh how you loved his eyes. “I ran us a bath…” He began saying as he brought a washcloth towards your mouth to wipe it clean.

“...think you can stand for me? We got to get you out of those clothes and into something more comfortable after our bath.” Slowly you began to get up, with Nanami’s help, before stripping your work clothes off yourself. Your mind was already beginning to clear as you smelt the essential oils Nanami added to the water. “I-I’m sorry…” No matter how many times Nanami reassured you that he wanted nothing more than to help you, you still felt a pang of guilt with the way you became immobilized from the pain.

The man softly shook his head as he helped you step into the tub. “There is nothing to be sorry for, my love.” And the next thing you know a long sigh of relief passes your lips as you lower yourself into the water. Nanami smiled softly at the sound before slipping in behind you before pulling you into his chest. “Thank you.” You softly whispered as you turned your face into his neck. The pain you once felt in your head slowly dissipating as you relaxed into the arms of the man you loved. 

[libraincarnate]

astrology notes: 10 🌈✨🦄🍭

quick note: i'm absolutely not an astrologer. these are just a collection of some observations, thoughts, theories, and personal experiences. with that being said, i'm still learning along the way & i may come back to edit this post to make corrections. above all this is just for fun. lastly, keep in mind that i’m not reading your birth chart and i know nothing about you. these are just some possibilities that may or may not apply to you. enjoy!

🫧 taurus in the 6th house: may prefer to refrain from modern medicine most of the time. for example, they may not like to take pharmaceutical drugs such as ibuprofen or tylenol (pain relieving drugs). if they have a headache they may turn to herbs, essential oils, or they just endure the pain if they can.

🫧 lilith in the 9th house: may experience religious trauma. they may have religious parents who forced them to accept their religious beliefs. if they believe in God they may feel disappointed or hurt by Him. going to church may have been a stressful or unpleasant experience. these experiences may be even more likely if moon is at 1° 13°, 25°, or 22°.

🫧 moon trine neptune: people with this aspect tend to be slow to anger & quite forgiving, usually they’re not the type of people who hold grudges.

🫧 mars square sun (synastry): these two people typically clash. the mars person finds the sun person annoying, could be one of the most annoying people they know. mars person may not like the sun person’s personality and character, and they probably don’t care for a relationship with the sun person.

the sun person may be more open to having a relationship with the mars person but they consider the mars person irritable or a bit mean, someone serious & aggressive, someone to be careful with.

it’s hard for the two to get along.

🫧 pisces: not to be stereotypical, but these people are always looking at someone’s shoes. for some, if you have a bad shoe collection that may be a turn off or give them ick.

🫧 sag in the 7th house: a popular placement. loved by many and probably always receiving gifts & compliments. but they may be flighty in relationships, quick to ghost people, & they also have high standards. if you get them to stick around whether it be in a platonic or romantic relationship, they must really like something about you and your company.

🫧 geminis & leos are often described as energetic and lively but aries too. aries have a lot of physical energy. gemini & aries lowkey remind me of cats when they get the zoomies. aries may direct that energy into sports, dancing, exercising, sex, but they also have tons of mental energy which contributes to their drive and ambition.

🫧 sag, libra, gemini, leo, & 5th house stelliums: the life of the party. people probably come up to them, asking for their name/number, wanting to chat with them, trying to flirt with them, dance with them, or simply be around them. they bring the fun and entertainment. funny, animated, dramatic, friendly, and people gravitate towards them in social settings. the types to encourage more shots or to keep the night going even though it’s already 3am.

🫧 leo/sun dominants: when it comes to their hair, it’s not always thick and voluminous, it can be thin but they have a lot of it and so it appears big.

^ and yes, i know the signs aren’t the same as the planets but the planets do rule the signs and i’ve noticed that you may get some personality and physical traits associated with the sign that your dominant planet rules.

for example, if you have no pisces placements but you’re neptune dominant, you may feel like you have some pisces traits or your feet may attract a lot of attention in your life (compliments, health problems, etc)

🫧 while capricorns may be pessimistic, they aren’t debbie downers in the sense that they won’t vocalize their negative thoughts around others or dampen the mood. they may complain a lot but they’ll keep it to themselves.

🫧 virgo is another natural beauty and they may not want to get tattoos. they may prefer to remain natural with clear skin, so they avoid something so permanent on their body. if they do get tattoos they may be small, neat, and inconspicuous. unless they’re mars, pluto, uranus, or 8th house dominant or they have those planets in their 1st house or something.

🫧 having 2nd & 8th house placements like mercury or mars: these natives are naturally good with financial matters. tend to be well versed in business, finance, math, and just handling money. may be into stocks, crypto, or possibly have their own business. finance and sales may be something that interests them, something they put a lot of energy and productivity towards.

🫧 pay attention to the houses where your dominant planets fall, there’s a lot of focus/energy there and it’ll probably be an important and prominent area of life for you.

🫧 cancer: they naturally make people feel comfortable and welcomed. they probably have good hospitality and take pride in it. cancer is quite private and so they may not feel comfortable opening their house up to just anyone but they would do so well has hosts. they may have a flair for planning home dinners, parties, holiday gatherings, etc. the way they decorate their space & the attention they show their guests creates such a chill and inviting atmosphere.

if you read this until the end i hope you enjoyed it & thank you so much for reading. ♥︎♥︎♥︎, those hearts are for you.

[sroop]

chain of command

Through you, he could play at being knight, except he wore a sniper hood for silver armor and had a humvee for a horse.

Pairing: König x you!reader

Warnings: not much but there's vague descriptions of the reader as having long dark hair.

Summary: König and his pampered medic one shot

{}{}{}{}

König hates weakness, in almost all its forms no matter what. He detests pickiness and delicacy. Disdains the people who whimper getting stitches or can't stomach the sight of blood. Once, he'd even sneered under his mask when his commanding officer complained of being unable to sleep on a hard mattress. Frankly, he thinks they need to grow up.

He'd hated weakness until he met it in this form, all wet eyes and parted lips. It was strange to him too. You came, supine, as though there was no place more natural to you than under him; but you were the one in charge. Always.

You'd refused to stay the night once, and the next day he'd made a special trip to get nicer sheets and a proper bed frame. Just to see you a little longer. The first time the two of you ate out together, you'd pushed at your food hesitantly and it was the first time he'd demanded a dish be sent back. When he'd lacerated the entire length of his forearm on an errant blade, he let you stroke and soothe him, even though he'd been notorious for being gruff with medics who babied him. He just liked it when it was you. You didn't feel weak. You just felt... vulnerable.

Maybe he liked that because you had long, dark hair like his first school crush. Maybe he liked it because you had such delicate, fast hands that bid the word fairy unprompted to him. Maybe it was because you always came to him, batting your lashes and winding your arm around his, when you needed supplies smuggled in.

You made him feel powerful. Invincible even. Through you, he could play at being knight, except he wore a sniper hood for silver armor and had a humvee for a horse.

"Turn around." You tug at the back of his shirt. "Please? It's cold."

Of course you're cold, he sighs to himself. Even with all my blankets, and my sweater. But he doesn't really mind. He's even a little pleased by the way you try to wriggle under him when you think he's taking too long to put his arms around you. Besides, he always does as you ask. You command him, even if you were always tucked under his arm or mouthing at his neck and jaw like a puppy.

You slip your head under his chin, sighing. König catches the slight shiver in your arms, rubs away the remaining chill until you're curled comfortably around him. He needs that. He needs to know you're here because you want him, need him, and not because of everything else. Not because you like the brand new mattress, the sheets with an impossibly high thread count, the essential oil diffuser, and whatnot.

He waits for confirmation.

At midnight, you open your eyes again and reach for his face. He can see your expression by the moonlight through the open window, just the way you like, that there's something close to worship in there. Wet eyes, parted lips. Dark hair and fast hands. It's all for him.

You're smiling while it spills out of you. It was nothing if not your love confession, and even König would admit that nothing made him quite so weak as that.

{}{}{}{}

Thanks for reading!

[sk-lumen]

How to declutter for a fresh New Year 🫧

The very first time I got into the spirit of minimalism and decluttering physically, mentally and emotionally, it was challenging as I still had a lot of resistance and attachment to things.

I started this during winter many years back, and it's becoming easier and easier. Not just as a great practice before the new year, but also as a habit throughout the year or whenever I feel like it.

When I started seeing how the mental load, the brain fog and distraction and worry... shifted into peace, relief, joy and mental clarity every time I let go of things, I understood why it's important to not be a hoarder. Physically or otherwise. (Of course this has nuance to it and it can be a privilege to be able to do it, but that's for a different topic.)

Here are ways you can start the new year fresh (or just clear the energy any time you need):

Online / social media

delete old files or photos you don't need from your devices or cloud

unfollow accounts on social media that don't inspire/uplift you

delete old messages

archive or delete conversations you no longer want to see

block or delete numbers that are affecting your mental health

Home

throw away things that are broken or falling apart (clothes, items, lingerie, etc)

donate or sell clothes you no longer use or want

sell items you don't use anymore but which are perfectly functional (hair straightener, lamp, etc)

throw away or repurpose gift bags, bags, cards

put away items you still need but are not using in this particular season - ie. put away into storage any winter clothing during summer, it's just cluttering your hangers

reorganize your home, your room, your bathroom, move furniture around or replace decor to give it a fresh exciting new feel and remove any stale energies

Physically

salt bath with essential oils to release any tension or toxins

lemon water, ginger and turmeric shots for cleansing

drink plenty of water or green tea or mint tea for improved digestion

Mentally

dedicate a journal to write down tasks, lists, to vent any negativity, or just thought-dump at the end of the day in order to feel lighter and clear-headed

have a calendar or agenda to note any important things, to lighten the mental load

say things that keep bothering you for days/weeks, do things you've been antsy to get done for days/weeks

Emotionally

journaling is an amazing way to offload emotionally

going to therapy

talking to a friend or family

cultivating healthy boundaries and communicating your needs

Spiritually

do a guided meditation to clear your head

spend time in nature, in the forest, by the sea, away from noise and crowds to clear your energy

you can also use crystals like crystal quartz to cleanse your aura

[incorrectbatfam]

Biggest pet peeves of the Batfam

Dick: when his siblings take his clothes fresh from the dryer instead of wearing what they already have

Jason: people who call Shakespearean English "Old English"

Tim: "when I was your age I walked 5 miles uphill both ways to the alleyway where my parents got shot"

Damian: "chai tea"

Duke: sci-fi movies that have sound in the vacuum of space

Cullen: when everyone is unnecessarily secretive about their hero business

Stephanie: Jason's death jokes ("you're not special")

Cassandra: villains who spent more time on their monologue than their actual plan

Barbara: when she has to mine through 8 layers of settings just to unsubscribe from a mailing list that she never asked to be on

Harper: "have you tried essential oils?"

Carrie: waiters that fill her cup with ice and like an ounce of the actual drink

Kate: people who spell her name with a C

Alfred: the fact that his nearest Nando's is 200 miles away in Maryland

Selina: when she writes out a whole novella and the other person just responds with "k"

Bruce: when his kids make Bruce Wayne is Batman jokes in public

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 42)

The next few days were spent filling out paperwork, taking a few cognitive tests, and answering questions N was sure Khan already knew. Despite that, Khan had assured him multiple times that this was purely procedure, and he essentially had the job.

It was also spent worrying… each time he came home he'd been drawn to his girlfriend like a moth to a particularly purple flame, as soon as he was in range to hear her core, that warm haze would overtake him, and when he came back to his senses, he was already holding her no matter where she was, a chair, the couch, taking a nap, it did not matter.

It made sense… he loved her. He wanted to be close and it wasn't the closeness that worried him. It was the fact he wouldn't even remember how he ended up there that was the problem, he was walking through the doorway one moment, and curled up tightly against her the next.

He wasn't sure she remembered either, she would often seem to jolt “awake” around the same time as he did, then they'd look at each other, confused.

It was like a mandated cuddle session, and he didn't exactly mind, but some control over when and where would be great, thank you.

“So everything seems to be in order, last thing we need to do is put you through our basic training.” Khan’s voice finally cut through the TV static that was N's thoughts, all of his eyes suddenly focused on the man, which seemed to immediately trip Khan up, even if he wasn't consciously aware of the fact N had seven eyes.

“Basic Training?” He asked, quirking up an eyebrow, wasn't that reserved for stuff like the military?

“Yes! The WDF does more than watch over doors! We're the defacto police force for the colony, we keep an eye on everything! And we need to make sure you're in tip-top physical condition.”

Khan looked N up and down.

“And I tried to tell everyone it was functionally pointless… considering, but everyone wants to see you put through your paces, so thats what were going to do today!”

“Well, okay! I love doing anything?” N agreed, much like he did most of everything in his life, but he wasn't confident, wasn't this normally pretty hard?

“Great!”

Ten Minutes Later…

N was actually… kinda impressed at the obstacle course the WDF had for training, it had a climbing wall, a barbed wire crawl, tire steps, and a rope shimmy. Everything all about enhancing motor control and maneuverability, since strength and speed can't really be improved when you're made out of steel and hydraulic.

The room he'd been lead to was huge, the ceiling curving in a dome shape above them. A group of 20 or so people were on benches not too far away, all wearing WDF badges on different parts of their clothing. Khan led him to the starting line with a clipboard and a timer, looking excited himself.

“Alright! There is a benchmark of three minutes that you have to beat. But that should be no problem for you.”

“Ah… I have wings, should I…?”

“Oh! Yes it's probably best if you… refrain. Just to make it fair.”

Alright, no wings then.

He was nervous, genuinely. He'd never been through actual training before strangly enough. He'd just been… pre-programmed. Or re-programmed, with combat protocols innately.

While he was hunting, combat came naturally almost on autopilot, every sense heightened, reflex sharpened. He'd never enjoyed it, but he'd never had to think about it very hard either.

So, when it came to actually navigating through the course, he wasn't sure if he could without putting himself in ‘hunting mode’.

“Are you ready, son-in-law?”

He rolled his eyes before nodding, he got in a sprinters stance, surely this wouldn't be too hard right?

“Go!”

He shot off, legs beating underneath him as he came up to the tire steps, it felt strange, being bound to the ground instead of flying, and he felt way more clumsy this way then normal… oh well.

His systems charted the path for him, and his legs moved without putting in much conscious effort, then it was on to the barbed wire.

What once was a silent room seemed to fill with murmurs as he went, he threw himself onto his belly and scrambled underneath, he could feel the wire digging into the back of his coat, but he didn't slow down even as he started to sink into the mud.

He emerged out the other side filthy, but now came time to scale the wall, he had to will away the instinctual way his wings wanted to come out, he took a moment to pause, it was a sheer wooden wall, sanded down to remove any grooves or notches to climb up.

This was for workers.

How would a worker get over this?

How would Uzi get over this?

He took several steps backwards, taking a deep breath as his systems calculated his jump.

He got a running start as he pounced on the wall, and kept running, every servo in her legs keeping him upright as he ran up the wall and grabbed the top of it, before hoisting himself up. Murmurs turned to a few tentative cheers.

The final challenge, was a rope shimmy from the top of the wall to the finish line, he could jump down from this height no problem, but at this point, a part of him wanted to prove himself to both Khan and the rest of the WDF that he didn't need his “upgrades” to do this.

He wrapped himself around the rope, tail included, his weight had the rope sag and bend more then intended, which was an extra challenge as he climbed down, turned upside down.

At this point, he heard several whoops from the benches, making him smile despite the fact that his joints were getting a little sore from how quickly he'd been moving, he quickly shimmied down until he hit the final sprint to the finish line, where once again he put every once of power into his legs as he took off in a dead sprint, before he reached the finish line, where he had to dig his claws into the ground to slow down.

He panted, feeling his vents take in air so hard it was producing a low whine, his hands gripped his knees, he was muddy and gross and sweaty (why do robots sweat?!) And his breath was ragged, but he felt a hand slap his back.

“A minute fifteen! New record!” Khan said happily, looking like he had stars in his eyes, N smiled, his hair falling into his visor.

It was abundantly clear that his body had not been designed for anything but ambushing and flying, a more “death from above” then a persistence predator, because his joints were currently screaming “what the heck did you just do?!” at him. He wanted to sit down now…

“Great! U-uggh.” Khan led him over to a chair where he instantly collapsed in it, throwing his head back and not quite caring he was still covered in mud.

“Wow, that was kinda impressive.” A voice said, they were young whoever they were, a masculine voice that sounded like your typical dude-bro at the beach.

“Mm. Thanks.” N didn't have the energy to say anything else, thankfully he was quickly recovering.

Although he might recover faster if he could get a little bit of oil… he had brought it with him.

He put a hand in his pocket and fumbled with the container hidden there, the guy next to him continued speaking.

“N right? I'm Guy, I was the newest recruit before you. My time was 2:15.”

“Doesn't sound bad!” N replied, this guy was friendly at least, he could always get behind that.

He quickly took out his container and took a long gulp, the oil hitting his systems, immediately he felt better, his joints relaxing and his core settling, he sighed as he brought it away from his mouth, his long tongue coming to lick his lips from the access.

Huh… Guy had fallen real quiet all of the sudden

N looked back at the drone who'd been speaking to him, who's red eyes had gone hollow and his mouth slightly agape, N lifted an eyebrow before realizing why, he looked down at his container, slightly stained with oil, being quite obvious what was in it.

“Oh uh. Sorry… just started getting a little warm.” N tried to explain with a smile on his face, trying to be friendly but also succeeding in flashing his now oil-covered fangs.

Guy gulped.

“I-um yeah dude. N-no problem, guess you gotta kick the craving s-somehow.’

N looked confused for a moment.

“It's not really a craving, I just need it so I don't overheat.” He laughed nervously, sensing how tense the air had gotten. “Boiling in your own shell’s not fun.”

Guy was switching between curiosity and fear, tentatively, he seemed to choose between the two.

“What- what does it taste like?” He asked, still stammering but clearly not nearly as put off by it as before.

“The oil? Uh, sweet, this batch is a little earthy I guess, but that depends on where I get it from.”

The stuff in his container right now was actually from the nursery, it didn't taste nearly as metallic as oil from already living (or dead, he guessed) drones, instead having a more earthy, rounded taste.

He kinda preferred it honestly, plus, no one died for it.

“This is from the nursery, my girlfriend picked it up for me when she went for our daughter.”

Guy seemed to relax further.

“Oh, so it's not… you know?”

“N-no, I haven't killed anyone in… months.” He probably didn't need to add that last part, but he felt the need to defend himself, he really wished that people would stop looking at him and seeing… a monster. Even if he couldn't really blame them.

“Cool. Cool.” Guy replied awkwardly, before it seemed he had another question on his mind.

“How's that work?”

“How does what work?”

“You and a worker drone, is she like… pfft, okay?”

N… suddenly didn't like where this was going.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, I mean, she's a worker drone right? Don't you have like… murdery instincts? Damn, if she can handle you, she's gotta be a freak in the sheets.”

N felt something white hot broil inside him until it's vitriol was bubbling in his throat, his hand twitched, and he just barely kept a feral growl from escaping his mouth.

“I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about Uzi that way.” He said, dripping with politeness even as his tail was slowly coiling like a snake, ready to sting the nosy drone if he didn't leave soon.

“Oh shit! Doorman? Damn I knew she was a freak, just didn't know it went that deep!” Guy laughed, N's eye twitched.

Kill him!Kill him! He's a threat! Kill him!

No. No. Don't kill him, do not kill him, you don't like killing, he's not being threatening, he's just being gross.

You must protect them! He speaks of her like she is not yours, kill him! Before he becomes a threat to the kit, to Uzi!

He closed his eyes, clenching his fist before letting his anger roll out of his mouth. Even so he still vibrated with it, unable to truly let it all wash over him.

He'd never felt more angry in his life.

“Guy. Do not talk about her like that.” He was far more firm the second time, his tail was fully coiled, pointed directly at the drones jugular although he didn't seem to notice.

“Ah right. Sorry, sorry, shouldn't talk about another dude's girl like that. My bad.” Guy lifted both his hands, clearly trying to appease him, N would feel more appeased if the man left him alone, preferably on another planet it possible.

“Guy! Get your ass over here before the new guy snaps your neck!” Another member of the WDF called him over, before the man in a yellow hard hat and pink eyelights made his way over to him.

“Sorry, Guy doesn't know when to shut his servo. I'm Hal, what did he say to you that got you looking like murder?”

“I'd… rather not repeat it. He insulted my girlfriend.”

“Oooh, he's lucky it wasn't me, if he'da insulted Reida I woulda rung his scrawny neck.” The drone had a fake, but beautiful beard attached to his face, it was brown, along with is decently long hair.

“Reida?”

“My wife.”

“Ah.”

“Your names N right? or is that a nickname for something?” He asked, he was rather blunt, but nothing about the drone was threatening, he was a boxier, thicker worker model, betraying his age to be closer of that to Khan’s.

“It's Serial Designation N, technically, but just N please.”

“Righto! Glad to have ya! Khan’s talked a lot about you!” His hand came to slap roughly on N's back, it was strong enough to rock him forward slightly and send mud flying in all directions.

“Really?”

“Aye, er well, he's talked nonstop about his grandaughter, and you come up too.”

“That… makes more sense.”

“That means you're with his daughter right? Uzi?”

“That's her.”

“Guy better watch it then, if Khan hears that he's gonna blow a gasket. An so will I to be frank, that girl don't need anymore grief.”

N liked Hal more the longer he talked, he also sounded like a dwarf from one of those movies he and Uzi watched… Lord of the Rings?

“Thank you. I didn't actually want to hurt him.” N said, sighing, he wanted to cover his visor with his hands; but then he'd just get his visor smudgy.

“Yeah ya did.”

“Uh-”

“Don't sweat it kid. We've all been there. Though…”

“Hmm?”

“My Reida woulda kicked his ass first! Hah!”

Next ->

[babacontainsmultitudes]

Listen I know people are rightfully gonna be focused on that fucking ending for a hot minute but I just need to say. Heh, Lincoln was so fucking cool this episode. SORRY I NEED TO HAVE THIS THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD EPISODE FOR HIM. Faking out Schmegan!? THE CALLBACK TO WHAT HE SAID IN THE FBI EPISODE!? 😭 Using the essential oils to cure poor fucking Normal and just kind of being the only remotely competent person this episode? NODDING AT HIS DAD (Grant was also cool this episode lol) TO TAKE THE SHOT idk to me that part was sick as hell anyways dhdjksks listen I just love my boy okay.

[caelisblade]

finally, us | marius von hagen

synopsis: after giving birth to your little princess, marius gave you space and time to recover. he slowly started growing tired of feeling so lonely and finally confronted you about your insecurities and made sure you remembered how good he could make you feel.

cw: insecure fem!reader in postpartum (ik this is not everyone's cup of tea, i just wanted to write gentle & sweet husband!marius, so give it a shot? there are NO details on the birth part), fingering & oral (fem receiving), marius is feeling really lonely, praises, mirror sex (briefly)

marius wasn‘t pissed. 

it was the most natural thing that your entire focus was on that little wonder you had in your arms. your focus was on your baby, after all. he only had started to feel lonely. so, no, he wasn’t pissed. he was lonely. 

his tiny princess in your arms was cooing, making you giggle as she grabbed your pinky finger in a tight grip and he finally got over his stupid head and sat down next to you on the couch in the main room.

marius really wasn‘t pissed that you had stopped paying attention to him. okay, perhaps he was slightly pissed. though he totally understood why your focus shifted — his did, too, that‘s totally out of question. he just wished he could have one night again with you and you alone. without a screaming, crying baby. marius knew how selfish that sounded but he couldn’t help himself. 

"baby?", he mumbled softly, leaning in to plant a gentle kiss on your neck. you didn’t respond. 

he had given you space and as much care as it was possible for you to heal and adjust to the changes in your life. of course, you still slept in the same bed, talked, acted like husband and wife but it felt like you unintentionally shifted your entire focus on the baby and forgot about his existence in a way as well. 

he didn’t blame you for that, how could he possibly blame you for this? you let your body go through so many changes when you gave birth and he was so proud of you. 

he helped you as much as he could while still working from home as pax‘ ceo. but of course, he couldn’t force you to leave her if you didn’t feel ready for it. it was still a little frustrating from time to time, with how distant you had gotten to him. 

"do you want to rest a little? i‘ll take care of her for a bit, how does that sound?", he asked carefully, brushing your hair out of the way gently. 

"nuh-uh", you replied, shaking your head  "i‘m okay. don’t worry."

"baby, come on, you haven‘t slept properly the past few days. you look exhausted. i got you a bath ready, go in there, please? for me? i‘ll take care of her." his tone had gotten more stern, slowly getting pent up with your behavior. he did his best to make sure you and your daughter were cared for. but you not taking care of yourself anymore was frustrating him as well. 

you sighed, nodding finally in defeat; the exhaustion hitting you like a truck as you carefully placed your daughter in marius‘ arms. 

you smiled softly at him before you went to the bathroom, taking off your clothes and sinking into the comfortably warm water. the scents from the essential oils he had purchased for this very occasion were coming up to your nose and you could feel all your muscles relax and your eyes were closing. 

just a couple of minutes later you heard a knock on the bathroom door and marius entered. "can i join? i want to spend some time with you", he mumbled, cheeks reddening. "i just missed you so much, baby."

"where is—"

"i called luke and asked if he could watch her for an hour or two earlier”, he interrupted you. “he just arrived a few minutes ago and went out for a long walk with her. don’t worry, she was quite excited to see her uncle luke and i clothed her warm enough for the weather. please, baby? can i join?", he asked again. 

your body relaxed again and you nodded. "of course."

marius stripped off his clothes, sinking into the bath behind you and wrapping his arms around you, softly massaging your tense muscles. "i‘m sorry", you suddenly sniffled, tears burning in your eyes as you realized how much you had neglected your husband. it had never been your intention to neglect him but you did. and it made you feel so horrible. 

"for what, baby? for taking care of our little princess? for being the most amazing mother anyone could wish for? i don‘t care if you don’t spend time with me, as long as you’re by my side. of course, i‘d like a little kiss here and there, and maybe a hug, hm? maybe you’ll let me take you out for a date night once in a while as well. all i ask of you is to not forget about taking care of yourself, baby. i miss you. and you can leave her with me once in a while, too, if you need to rest. that is totally okay, baby, and i wish you’d do that more often", he spoke softly, turning your head around so you could face him and kissed you, so soft and gentle, and you practically melted. 

it had been too long — way too long — since he last kissed you like this. you couldn’t remember when you last kissed at all. you couldn’t even remember the last time you had an intimate moment like this with him. it felt like your entire body lit on fire and suddenly, everything else was all forgotten. all you could think of was him. 

the innocent, gentle kiss quickly turned into something way more intense — he sighed against your lips as his body was relaxing, remembering the way you made him feel and you turned around to face him. 

his eyes were lidded, watching your every move, god, those gorgeous purple eyes of his. 

“i missed this so much. i missed you so much”, he whispered, giving you a gentle, comforting smile. “believe me, baby, i don’t blame you that you focus on our little princess right now, okay? our tiny princess is more important than me. i just really felt lonely lately, alright? don’t blame yourself for this.”

you could only nod, words were unable to come out and you leaned down to kiss him again, his arms wrapping around you as you seemed to melt into each other. 

“marius”, you sighed softly as you felt his hands wander up your body. “i… need you.”

“oh, baby, i need you, too. more than you could possibly imagine. i don’t want to force you into anything, though. don’t think you have to do anything you’re not feeling ready to do”, he replied. “i won’t be mad or anything if that’s what you’re worried about.” 

you smiled, his care and worry for you to be rushing into things was so endearing. “i know, baby. i just missed you so much. my doctor cleared me for sex weeks ago but i… don’t know. my priorities were with our baby girl. i wasn’t thinking about it. taking this break with you today reminded me that i need to prioritize myself as well. and it reminded me of how much i needed you.” 

“come on then, baby, let’s get out of the bath. i need to pamper you properly, hm?”, marius said, smiling sweetly and you nodded with a giggle, carefully standing up and grabbing your towel, quickly drying yourself off as marius watched you and followed your steps a few moments later. he saw you inspecting your body on the mirror in your bedroom with those stretch marks on your hips, comparing the differences of your body after being pregnant and giving birth. 

marius gently placed his hands on your hips, his hands slowly wandering up your body. “you look so beautiful, baby. i love you, so much”, he mumbled gently, placing kisses over your neck and you couldn’t help the shudder that went through your body. 

“even with these marks and changes my body went through?”, you asked, voice quiet and careful. 

“especially with those marks and changes”, marius replied, lips wandering down your neck to your shoulder and you were just watching yourself and marius behind you, still self-conscious about your body and simultaneously distracted by his gentle kisses – you couldn’t even process that you were both still very naked. 

he turned you around again so you could face him. leaning down to kiss you but this time, it was so intense you felt dizzy for a moment when he let go. “let me bring you to bed and show you how much i missed you in my arms, yeah?” 

“mhm”, you smiled, and it was the most beautiful sight in his eyes because this was the first time in a while you smiled so genuinely at him. he missed this sight so much. 

he lifted you up with ease, carrying you to the bedroom and laughed when you squealed. once he was on top of you on your massive bed, he was making sure you felt as comfortable as possible. you were feeling so overwhelmed with his kisses, his praises for how beautiful you were, his soft, shaky breaths against your neck as he, too, was slowly getting worked up with his need for you. 

“please, baby, can i taste you? missed your pretty pussy so much”, he whispered against your tummy, looking up at you, before planting a gentle kiss right over some little stretch marks on your tummy. you nodded as a reply, but he was not satisfied with that. 

“use your words, baby. need to hear you talk to me. you haven’t been doing that in a while now. i need your words.”

“yes, marius, please”, you sighed, eyes rolling back as you felt his tongue on your folds, the first time in months that he was eating you out and you felt like just a couple more strokes with his tongue and you’d cum. 

his arms were spreading your legs apart as he played with your clit, moaning against your pussy at the taste. marius almost forgot that this was about you and you alone, about making you feel comfortable with your body again. “such a good girl for me, baby”, he grunted, “such a good fucking girl for me, let me make you feel so good.” 

his one hand was grabbing towards your hand, wanting to intertwine your fingers as the other hand slowly moved to your glistening pussy, his thumb playing with your clit and shortly after his middle finger was easing into you. 

you shuddered, legs starting to twitch around his head as you cried out his name, the first orgasm of the night washing over you like a tidal wave as you squeezed his hand tightly. “marius, baby”, you whispered breathlessly, slowly coming back to your senses. “need you inside. please, fuck me.”

“shh, relax, baby. i won‘t fuck you”, he said, pausing for a second. he saw your face drop, before he proceeded with a gentle smile, “i’ll make love to you like my queen deserves, hm? need to make sure you’re prepared for my cock, alright?”

marius turned you both around on the bed that you were leaning against his chest and he was seated against the headboard. “look at us, baby”, he pointed at the mirror right in front of you both, smiling. “look how pretty you look in my arms, so, so beautiful.”

his hands slowly wandered down your chest to carefully play with your sensitive nipples, before his fingers tippled down lower your body, slowly reaching your clit. he started rubbing the sensitive nub, holding your legs apart with his own as you twitched. the stimulation was quite a lot to handle – considering you hadn’t let him touch you in months (he wasn’t initiating anything in fear of hurting you before the birth). 

“baby, plea–”

“watch. us. watch yourself as i play with your pretty cunt, baby”, he interrupted you. “i need you to feel this, baby, because i want you to remember how beautiful you are. i want you to remember how fucking proud you make me feel whenever i see you fall apart on my fingers or my mouth.”

he slowly slipped a finger inside of you, letting out gentle shushes as you squirm and moan, kissing over your cheeks, face, down to your neck. as he was carefully moving his finger in and out of your warmth, he watched your every reaction. it wasn’t long until he slipped in another finger, holding you in your place as he whispered in your ear: “look at yourself in the mirror and come for me, princess. you deserve it.” 

you practically exploded, the cry of his name was so satisfying for him to listen to. you couldn’t remember the last time you felt this fucking good, so full of pleasure and so satisfyingly spent. 

“good girl, such a good fucking girl for me, princess”, he praised you, causing goosebumps to cover your body. he removed his fingers and licked them clean. “you’re so beautiful, god, i love you.” 

“i love you”, you replied breathlessly. 

marius smiled as you lost all your strength were laying against him powerlessly. 

“that felt so good, marius, fuck”, you sighed. 

you squealed when he suddenly turned you both around so you were underneath him again. “can’t tell you enough how much i missed being so playful with you”, he whispered gently, kissing underneath your earlobe. “so, how do you feel about… me fucking you?”, he asked carefully. you nodded. 

“yes, please, marius, i need you inside of me”, you replied. 

he leaned over towards the nightstand’s drawer, grabbing the lube inside of it and letting some of the liquid drip into his hand. he knew you were wet enough to take him raw, but he wanted to make sure that you didn’t struggle to take him in after so long. he jerked his cock off a little, covering his length with the liquid and dribbled some on your pussy as well, before he aligned his tip with your hole and slowly thrusted inside. just the tip inside of your warm walls had him groan out and the more he thrusted into you, the more he lost his mind. 

“fuck, baby, you’re so fucking tight”, he groaned, “so fucking good, you feel so fucking good.”

he started to name vegetables in his mind, trying to distract himself so that he wouldn’t cum from just thrusting into you for the first time in over four months. 

that made him realize that he hadn’t asked if you were okay with going raw – fuck, it completely slipped his mind. “baby? i forgot to ask, i’m so sorry, did you want me to use a condom?”

you looked at him like he lost his damn mind. 

“do you think i wouldn’t have stopped you if i did?”, you asked, laughing and kissing him gently. “it’s alright baby. i wanted to feel you. also, come on, we haven’t used a condom in forever. you really think you would like to use one?” you joked around, shaking your head. 

marius visibly relaxed, nodding before he returned the kiss, smiling. “you okay? feels good, baby? can i?”

you nodded: “yes, i’m okay. feels good, baby, please, move.”

you didn’t have to ask twice, marius pulled out before he thrusted back inside, face buried against your neck as he was about to lose his mind. “fuck, baby, gonna make you feel so good, make us both feel so good, hm? you want that? you wanna cum for your husband again?” 

his thrusts were sloppy, the grunts and groans he let out were music to your ears and you couldn’t believe how much you missed this. 

just feeling your warmth around his cock had him babbling nonsense, kissing you messily to distract himself but at one point, everything was becoming too much and his hips stilled as he came, cum buried deep inside of you. 

“fuck, fuck, fuck”, he let out a string of curses as he pulled out, watching his cum drip out of you as you clenched around nothing. “gonna make you come for me again, baby. need to see you lose your mind because fuck me, if i am not right now.” 

before you could reply or say anything, he slipped his cock back inside of you, biting into your shoulder to distract himself and you whined, nails scratching up his back fully as his pace got faster. “fuck, marius, don’t stop, don’t you dare stop”, you cried out, tears running down your cheeks as your body went on sensory overload, feeling too much at once – pleasure, love, passion… it was overwhelming. 

“shh, baby, don’t cry. it’s okay”, he comforted you gently, slowing down with his pace to make sure you were okay. “i’m sorry, i lost my patience there. did i hurt you?” 

you immediately shook your head. “no, no, i’m okay. i was just… feeling so much at once. i’m okay. i promise”, you replied, smiling at him. “you’re so perfect, marius. i love you, so much.” 

“i love you, too”, he kissed you softly before he proceeded with his movements, watching your face scrunch as you got closer to the edge and watched your lips part as pure bliss coursed through your body, the cry of his name sounding like music to him. 

once you were all cleaned up and tuck inside the blankets next to him, looked up at him. you were practically glowing and he loved seeing you back to your old self. 

“fuck, that felt so good. why again did i stop myself from this?”, you giggled, still in a post-orgasmic haze. 

“because you were taking care of our baby girl, remember? the one luke is bringing back any moment now so we should probably get dressed. you can sleep, though. i know i tired you out fully, didn't i? i’ll watch her, alright?”, he said. “you just rest. you deserve this, baby.”

“mhm. i love you”, you nodded before you were already asleep, smiling in your sleep as he planted a soft kiss on your forehead before getting up and getting dressed again to call luke that he can bring his daughter back home anytime he wants.

[cozage]

Hiii, I recently discovered your blog and I am obsessed with your writing style! This is my first ask ever lol so hopefully I do it right. Can I request the reader doing small acts of service (ie. frequently baking sweets for him, gives him hand massages, and etc) for Sanji because our love cook is so attentive to everyone and I just want to pamper him sometimes! He deserves it.

A/N: Hi!! Thank you so much for the ask, I’m honored to be your first one! You did it perfectly :)  I absolutely must plug my other one shot I just wrote, Made for Two, if you want some sweet Sanji fluffiness and haven’t read it yet!!! But here’s a sweet little head canon list for him

Characters: gn reader x Sanji

Cw:  Just sweet sweet fluff

Total word count: 500

Pampering the Prince

First off, it’s HARD to pamper him. Sanji is the kind of guy who refuses any kind of acts of service because he doesn’t want you to inconvenience yourself. 

Hand massages are a must (just like you said), but Sanji only lets you do it when he’s super super tired and when you're both in bed. Very very rarely, he’ll even lay on his stomach and let you massage his shoulders and back, allowing you to work the knots out of his tense muscles. 

You love to put essential oils in the diffuser for your room. Lavender is his favorite, so you always put it in about an hour before you know he’s coming to bed so he can fall asleep easily.

When you know he has an early morning, you’ll get the coffee pot ready the night before so all he has to do is turn the switch on. He doesn’t drink coffee normally, but on the long days he’ll usually have a cup. You’ll get up with him in the morning and drink coffee with him just so you guys have a bit of quiet time to yourselves before he sends you back to bed while he starts the long day. 

Whenever the Sunny is in port, Sanji is pretty focused on stocking up on food for the crew, so you always do the essential shopping for him. Shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste. You always throw in a new shirt or some sunglasses you think he’d like too. He’s really particular about his hair products, but you always get it right. 

Sanji is definitely a quality time kind of guy as well, so the best thing you can do is just sit with him in the kitchen while he cooks. You talk about your life and offer up your hopes and dreams to him, and he listens every day, no matter how long you talk. He loves the sound of your voice, it’s like a melody to him.

You know how particular he is about his kitchen, so you don’t really cook alone in the kitchen, BUT you always ask to cook with him. Sometimes it's helping him cook dinner for everyone, but you both really like the times where you just make a small little dessert and then hide away in the kitchen, sharing it quietly without telling anyone what you’ve made. 

You love to make little drawings for him and leave little notes around the kitchen for him. He’ll open the fridge to find “I love you!” on the milk carton. He’ll pull out a pan and find a sticky note that says “All blue? No, I’m all for you!” Just silly quirky notes that make him smile. He saves every single one that he finds.

[mikimakiboo]

Wheels of misfortune (a Nightmare angst fic)

Based on these two posts by @unknownchoatic :)

I don't know ANYTHING about disability as I am not disabled myself, so please excuse the inaccuracies and misinterpretations :')

Also English isn't my first language so there might be grammatical errors :')

I'll proof read later

Tw: paralysis (???), mention of bullying, self hatred

It was late, the moon was high in the sky and everyone in the castle was sleeping. Everyone but Nightmare. He was wide awake, laying on his bed looking at the ceiling. He had been feeling quite unwell these past few days, he wasn't sick, but he could feel his body being heavy, especially his legs. There had been a fight with his brother recently, but he didn't recall being hurt, he came back tired because of the positivity, sure, but he wasn't hurt, so why was he feeling that way ?

He sat on the edge of his bed, sighing, and pushed on his arms to get up, feeling his legs shake under his weight. He looked at his private bathroom door at the back of his room, for a moment it seemed to be so far away from him that he thought of getting back on the bed. He shook his head, what was he thinking ? It was barely a few meters away.

He made a step forward, grabbed the wall for support when he tripped on the rug, it was the first time he ever tripped on this rug, and slowly made his way to the bathroom. He was exhausted, his back hurt, it had always hurt since he acquired his tentacles, but recently the pain had became a lot more overwhelming, and even when he didn't summon them, like now, it still hurt, even if the tentacles weren't there. He never summoned them when he was at home, he didn't want to bump into things. He knelt in front of the bathtub and opened the faucet, watching the warm water run for a while before starting to get undressed, sitting on the floor. He looked at himself in the mirror, inspecting his bones in search for any cracks, maybe he had been hurt after all, maybe he just didn't notice, but everything was fine, there was no injuries.

When the tub was full he closed the faucet, grabbed some essential oils bottle to put some drops in the bath, and finally got in, sighing in relief as he felt the warm water sooth the pain away. He closed his eye, relaxing a bit, he focused on the different emotions in the castle and only felt peace and contentment. Good. That meant his boys weren't having any bad dreams, they were sleeping peacefully. He would always make sure they were okay, they were all that he had, they were his family, he would always protect them, no matter what.

He relaxed in the tub for a good hour before getting up, the water was cold now. He grabbed a towel to wrap himself in and got out of the tub, letting the water drain in the pipes. After only two steps he grabbed the sink for support, his legs were shaking badly. He muttered a curse under his breath, bending over to grab a short and a t-shirt for the night which he struggled to put on before getting out of the bathroom.

He flopped on his bed and crawled under the covers, maybe tomorrow he will feel better, he just needed to sleep a little...

When the sun shone through the curtains Nightmare let out an annoyed growl, he was still feeling so heavy, his back still hurt and his legs... weren't hurting... he didn't feel anything in his legs... His eye shot open as he sat up straight, throwing the covers aside. His legs were still there. Of course his legs were still there, how stupid could he be, thinking they would have disappeared ? He tried to sit on the edge of his bed, but nothing happened, he didn't move...

- What the f#ck... ?

He muttered, stress starting to settle in his soul as he tried in vain to move his legs. His breath fastened slightly, he brushed his hand against his tibia, he could barely feel it, he tried again on the other leg, rubbed his feet, his femur, his knees, but he didn't feel the touch, he was just... numb.

He grabbed the nightstand in a hurry pulling himself out of bed by force, his soul was beating too fast for him to remain calm. He fell, taking a lamp with him in his fall, it shattered on impact, he tried to get up again, to hold onto the nightstand and push on his arms to get up, to stand on his legs, but they didn't move and he fell again, his breath was erratic. What was happening ? What was happening to him ? Why couldn't he move his legs ? Why couldn't he get up ? Was that a nightmare ? Was he gonna wake up soon ? His arms hurt, it wasn't a nightmare.

- HORROR !!!

He yelled on the top of his magic lungs without thinking about it, feeling tears forming in his eye. Was he going to die ?

His door shot open, a very panicked Horror hasted in his room, for his boss to scream like that, something bad surely happened. His red eye quickly scanned the room before he spot Nightmare on the ground next to a broken lamp.

- I can't move them.. ! I can't.. !

Nightmare struggled to say, shocking on his tears, he couldn't form any coherent sentence, clearly having a panic attack. Horror rushed to him, he had never seen Nightmare in such a state...

- It's okay boss, I'll carry you to your bed.. ! Don't move.. !

He tried to reassure him as he gently but rapidly took him in his arms to lift him off the ground, sitting him on the bed and sitting next to him. Nightmare clung onto his henchman's jacket, burying his face against his chest, praying that it was in fact a bad dream. Horror held him in his arms, not understanding what was going on, all he knew was that his boss needed comfort so he would give him that. He gently rubbed his back, letting Nightmare cry against him.

- It's okay boss.. I'm here..

He gently soothed, feeling the little body of the black skeleton shaking like a leaf against him. When Nightmare finally managed to catch his breath and cease his crying, which took a few minutes, he looked up, still shaking slightly, only to see that his two remaining henchmen were in his room too, worried by all the noise, Dust looked like he just woke up, still in his pajamas. He didn't like that. He didn't like worrying his teammates, he was supposed to protect them, not make them worry. Killer was the first to speak.

- What happened ?

Nightmare took a few seconds to answer, he still didn't want to believe it himself, but the proof was that he was still trying to make his legs move without success.

- I can't feel my legs...

He answered with a weak voice, a voice he hated more than anything, a voice that reminded him of just how pathetic he could be, just like when he was a kid.

- What do you mean you can't feel your legs ?

Dust asked, a little confused.

- I can't feel them.. ! I can't feel any touch, I can't move them, I can't stand up, I.. !

- Shhht, calm down, take a deep breath..

Horror cut him, feeling him tense again. Nightmare pressed himself against the bigger skeleton, as much as he hated showing such vulnerability, he really needed comfort right now...

Killer frowned, looking at him almost accusingly.

- I told you to get a check up, you were hurting too much for it to be normal.

- You're not helping.

Dust scolded him. Nightmare was already in a bad state, no need to point at what he should have done, he already knew it.

- Horror, go make him something to eat, I'll help him get dressed, Killer try to see if you can find something in an AU to help him walk.

Dust commanded, he was the most responsible out of the three, he was kinda the second in command when Nightmare couldn't assume his leader role, like now. Killer scowled, he didn't like receiving orders from someone other than Nightmare, but for now he clearly couldn't think straight and they needed to help him, so he obliged and teleported in an AU to steal something.

Nightmare first tightened his grip on Horror's jacket when he felt him move but quickly let him go when Dust took his place. He watched as the big skeleton left his room.

- You feel like going to the bathroom or you want me to bring you your clothes here ?

Nightmare looked at Dust, he almost expected mockery, but Dust was genuine, he sincerely wanted to help. The goopy skeleton shook his head.

- Bring it please..

Dust nodded and went to the bathroom looking for his boss's clothes. Nightmare looked at him go, confused, he trusted them of course, but deep inside he was always so scared that they might leave him if he became too weak, that they might laugh at him for showing vulnerability like they laughed at him. The villagers. They would always mock him, make him feel weak and pathetic, he hated that, he hated that feeling, he wanted to be strong, to fight back, but he just couldn't, they were stronger than him, always.

Dust came back, clothes in hand.

- You need help ?

Nightmare was cut in his sad memories. He looked up at him.

- No, thank you..

- I'll turn around while you change, if you need help just ask.

Nightmare nodded, grabbing the clothes. He waited for Dust to turn his back before taking off his t-shirt, putting on a sweater and his jacket, then he stopped, looking at his legs. He tried to move them. Nothing happened. How was he going to take off his short and put on his sweatpants ? He looked up at Dust again, maybe he could ask him... ? No. No he wouldn't ask him. Dust wasn't a nurse, he was his henchman, it wasn't his job to get him dressed. He could do it himself, no need to bother him. He crawled on the middle of his bed and tried to push on his arms just enough to lift his pelvis off the mattress and slide off his short.

- You sure you don't need help ?

Dust asked, hearing the noise of the bedsheets.

- Yes.

Nightmare blushed, he was in his underwear, Dust couldn't turn around now ! He sat up again, tried to move his legs, failed, and manually lifted his knees in front of his ribcage to slide his feet in the leg holes of the sweatpants. He didn't even feel the cotton of the pants against his legs, it was like he was dressing the air and not himself, it didn't feel right. He then did the same thing he did to take off his short: lifted his pelvis as much as he could to pull the pants up. All that just for a pair of pants... what a waste of time. If only he had listened to Killer when he told him that it wasn't normal for his back to hurt this much, but he was just too stubborn to admit that the pain was barely bearable. To admit being weak.

- I'm done...

- Yeah ?

Dust turned around again, pleased to see that the goopy skeleton managed to dress himself alone, not that he wouldn't have helped, but it would have been awkward for both of them. He got closer to him and knelt in front of the bed, turning his back again.

- Put your arms around my shoulders, I'll carry you to the kitchen.

Nightmare looked at him, hesitantly getting closer to the edge of the bed.

- You're sure... ?

- You still can't move your legs, can you ?

No, he couldn't. He tried again and he still couldn't.

- Come one, you know Horror doesn't like it when we make the food wait.

Horror had strict rules with food, such as: no waste, two meals a day minimum, everyone eats together, and when the food is ready no one should be late or else it would be cold. Nightmare didn't want to upset the bigger skeleton so he reluctantly wrapped his arms around Dust's shoulders and watched him grab his legs to wrap them around his waist. Good thing he didn't have his tentacles summoned, he was much lighter and easy to carry without them.

It felt wrong. It felt so wrong to be carried like that, like a baby who couldn't move by himself. It was pathetic. He was pathetic. He just wanted to dissappear right now, to go to sleep and not wake up until all of his problems were gone.

Dust sat him on a chair, in front of the kitchen table. Horror had already put a plate in front of him: pancakes, he also had a cup of hot cocoa.

- Thanks...

Sometimes he felt like he didn't deserve them, he didn't deserve their love, their kindness, he deserved nothing... but he was so damn glad he had them because he loved them oh so dearly...

Killer teleported back in the kitchen, a wheelchair next to him. Nightmare looked at it. He didn't like it. He didn't want to sit in a wheelchair. He didn't want that, it was too... too much, too drastic, he didn't want that, he didn't want to just give up on his legs just yet. He felt his eye tingle. He didn't want to cry either, not again. He blinked to chase the tingling sensation away.

- I don't want that thing.

- It's the most suitable for you right now.

Killer countered. Nightmare frowned, blinking again.

- Why didn't you bring a cane ? Or at least crutches ?

- Because you need to at least be able to stand up to use those and you obviously can't.

Killer didn't have any filters when he talked, that was one of the side effects of not being able to feel fully, he was brutally honest because he didn't care if he hurt someone with the truth, it was always better than lying.

Nightmare blinked. One time. Two times. When he spoke his voice was shaking.

- I don't want a wheelchair.

- You don't really have another option right now.

- Killer.

Horror stopped him, seeing how Nightmare's hands had begun to shake.

- It will be temporary, just the time we find another solution.

He tried to reassure him. Nightmare looked at him, he doubted there would be another solution.

- You won't have to go outside with it, no one has to see you.

Nightmare didn't want anyone else to see him like that anyway.

- I'm gonna put you on it, okay ?

Horror said as he got closer to him. His breath fastened when the bigger skeleton lifted him from the chair to help him settle on the wheelchair. He felt his soul clench, his ribcage burn and his cheeks tingle again. He tried to move his legs, to show he didn't need this wheelchair, that he could still walk... nothing happened.

Dust left the kitchen to get dressed.

Horror took the empty plate and cup to wash them.

Killer went to the living room, feeling he wouldn't be of any help in the kitchen.

Nightmare didn't move.

He tried to move his legs.

Nothing happened.

He looked down.

A tear fell on his hand.

Was this going to be his life now ? Was he gonna spend the rest of eternity on a f#cking wheelchair ? It was ridiculous. He was the king of nightmares, the guardian of negativity ! And he just couldn't walk ? He could alter the balance of the whole multiverse but he couldn't move his legs ? The villagers would have loved to hear that. He felt so useless right now.

He stayed in the kitchen all morning, unable to bring himself to push on the wheels.

The week passed slowly, it was like he was in a fog all day, trying to move his legs, failing, trying again, failing again. His boys helped him as much as they could, grabbing things that were to high for him to reach, helping him with the stairs... he felt numb. All over. He couldn't bring himself to face the mirror, he didn't want to see his reflection, he didn't want to see these wheels.

He was in the library, he wanted to clear his thoughts, think of something else. He looked at the books, the one he wanted was on a shelf, a little high, he couldn't reach it when sitting down. He didn't want to call. He wanted to grab his book himself. He didn't want to be dependant.

He sat on the edge of the wheelchair, grabbing the shelf in front of him and pulling on his arms to lift his body, using the shelves as a sort of climbing hold. He stretched his free arm to the maximum and managed to grab the book. The wheelchair rolled back. He lost his grip on the shelf.

Horror heard a loud noise coming from the library, and he knew that the only ones to go to that room were Dust and Nightmare, and Dust was currently in the living room. He rushed, worried. What had Nightmare done ? Did he hurt himself ? When he entered it didn't take long for him to spot Nightmare on the ground, a book in hand and the wheelchair two meters away. The pieces assembled quickly. He sighed, coming to his side to help him sit on the chair again.

- Why didn't you call us ?

- I can do it myself.

- Was falling part of the plan ?

Nightmare's grip tightened on his book, he was looking at the ground. He felt so dumb. He felt like such a burden everyday, he wanted to do something himself, but of course he failed to do that too.

- Nightmare...

He looked up, Horror rarely called him by his name.

- Don't be scared to ask for help, we're here for you...

He knew he was being genuine when he said that.

- I don't want to bother you...

His voice was barely a whisper. He didn't like always calling for help, always monopolizing them, being so dependent on them, it just didn't feel right to him...

- You don't bother us. You never bothered us and you will never bother us. Okay ? We care about you, we're happy to help. You're not a burden to us. Don't forget that.

Nightmare felt his eye tingle again, but this time, he only felt warmth in his soul, hearing these words felt good... really good...

- You want me to make a pie for tonight ?

Horror changed the subject. Nightmare looked at him a little longer before nodding, making Horror smile.

- Okay, and if you need help, call us, will you ?

He nodded again. Horror gently pat his skull before leaving the library.

Nightmare was lucky to have them, he knew that, and as much as he hated his condition, at least, he wasn't alone...

- end -