Being An Artist Is Having Both A Superiority And Inferiority Complex

being an artist is having both a superiority and inferiority complex

Headcanon Time!!!

When Nightmare reads, if he’s not turning the pages, he will fidget with/scratch the closest thing to him. The little wooden paperweight duck that Dust carved for him has been worn down with how much Nightmare will twirl it in his hands while he’s distracted. Grooves from him drumming and picking at the desk are deep and old.

However, if you happen to catch Nightmare sitting on the couch in the living room, you will find yourself sat beside him while he rubs/scratches your back. To the other skeletons in the castle, those who lack muscles and thus muscle soreness, the scratching is very uncomfortable and they tend to avoid Nightmare while he reads.

But for a human, it’s heaven. It’s even better if you’re Nightmare’s love interest.

Nightmare, after noticing the positivity coming off you while he rubs your back, will search you out whenever he has time to read and just plop you down beside him and disassociate. He doesn’t even hold you there like he would the others. Just lets you melt into the back rubs while he reads. If you’re lucky, he might even read aloud.

Marine Biologist

A Mermay Prompt

(Note: please forgive me if I incorrectly write diving. I’ve never gone diving before so you’ll have to bare with me)

Masterlist

Next

Weightlessness. Peace.

You drifted lazily between the boulders riddled with coral and a few fish darted between the colorful plant life. You hummed out a couple bubbles, imitating the deep breath you couldn’t take while submerged. No oxygen tank this time, just a snorkel, you weren’t going that deep anyways.

The current pushed gently at you, trying to coax you out into deeper waters. You would not be fooled. The ocean was a terrifyingly dangerous place, one wrong stroke and you’d be swept out into the middle of the ocean with nothing but a snorkel. Bad idea. You could go deeper when you had the right equipment and company. For now, you were studying how the coral was adapting to its environment.

Something… big moved.

In all your years in the water, you prided yourself on being the most observant when it came to water pressure and currents. You could locate most of your fellow coworkers when you all would briefly spit up. Something about the awkward way they shifted the water always tipped you off. Fish, being naturally adapted to the water, were far harder to locate. Which made sense. They had to hide, whether predator or prey. It just came natural to them.

However, sometimes, something big enough would move too quickly and you’d notice it. This helped you warn your team of sharks and barracudas in the past.

And there was something big.

Behind you.

You spun around as fast as you could without startling an attack, which was much slower than you would like. Your eyes fell on… nothing. Just a few anemones and a school of fish quickly darting out of sight. Maybe the school set off your senses?

Something white vanished behind a boulder.

White? There weren’t any white aquatic creatures in your area. Your brows knit. It could be trash. Ugh. Why couldn’t people clean up after themselves?

A few gentle kicks sent you over the rock to find the stray bit of trash when a muffled scream and a flurry of bubbles blinded you. You yelped out a few bubbles yourself as you desperately tried to backpedal in water. Whatever it was, and it was huge, darted around you and went for your back. There wasn’t much you could do but try to spin to defend yourself before your arms were wrapped up in a hug from behind.

What in the drunken stars?!

You thrashed in the hold of this creature. What was it? A person? A fish? Some sketchy internet cryptid come to life here to take yours? Or worse… a giant cuttlefish? You shuddered. Hopefully, whatever it was would at least leave you alive. Not that that outcome was looking too likely.

Water pushed your snorkel to the side as you slowly realized you were moving. It was taking you somewhere. Where, you couldn’t tell. Every time you tried to look forward or up, something hard would push your head from behind so you couldn’t see.

You tried to growl out a warning and noticed just how much air you had left. Your eyes widened. You needed air. Fast.

Your useless flippered feet tried to kick behind you but you could barely move them at this speed. Your captor was a far better swimmer than you.

Light glanced off your goggles and into your eyes moments before a loud splash drenched you in air. You gasped and drank in the air before turning you attention back to escaping your captor.

You started thrashing again and screamed.

A skeletal hand clamped down on your mouth.

“Shh! You’re gonna get us both killed!” Whisper-snapped a breathless, masculine voice in your ear. His chest heaved gently as he tried to calm himself and you at the same time. He’d taken you to a cliff side shallow beach that would be completely submerged come tide. Not many people knew this little alcove beside you and you’d hoped to keep it that way.

“Mph!” You retorted. If he wanted you calm he shouldn’t have kidnapped you across the reef! You were… half a mile from your car!

“Ah. I’m sorry. I’m not used to… people….” His grip loosened. “I… Please don’t scream. I don’t want to see you hurt.”

…That wasn’t threatening or ominous at all.

You nodded.

With a heavy sigh, the hand over your mouth slowly let go, obviously ready to silence you without a moment’s hesitation but giving you a chance to speak.

You tried to push away from him but he held you still against his chest, not letting you see him. You growled. “What do you want from me? I don’t have any valuables on me. And I’m not worth much to anyone.”

“Woah. Uh, stars. No, I don’t- stars, are you okay?” Actual concern laced his voice.

You thrashed again but stilled when his arm came forward to cup your mouth. “I am not confiding in my kidnapper! You can go meet a sharks third layer of teeth first!”

“Heh, already have. Listen, I’m not here to hurt you, and I’m sorry for scaring you. If you really want me to leave, I’ll leave.” There was a… serious tone in his voice. Like a soldier awaiting a command.

“Yes! Go! I don’t want to be kidnapped today!” You snapped.

“Yessir.” His arms grabbed yours and pushed you away from his chest. “Little tip, get out of the water as soon as I let go. There are… sharks nearby. Very aggressive sharks. Stay safe.” He released you.

Taking your chance to see your captor, you spun around to see…ripples. He was gone. A nervous glance at the secretive waves had you taking the stranger’s advice and swimming to shore. You rode a wave onto the pebbly beach and heaved yourself into an upright position.

You could have sworn you saw something red flash across the water at you but nothing was there when you looked.

Flippers came off and you ran. Barefoot or not, you were not going back in the water.

Not today.

Ayo???

Omg…

I even caught it on the exact mark…

100 followers…

I… I’m flabbergasted*…

Thank you guys.

It’s been a long ride, and there have been many bumps along the way, but y’all stuck around through it and we made it to the other side.

Y’all have changed my life for the better and for that, I thank you.

I want to do something special for hitting this mark but I’m not sure what…

Again, if you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for 100 followers! I could not have done it on my own, and you all made my day!

Thank you!

*flabbergasted is brought to you by viewers like you

Carnivorous

A Mermay Prompt

Masterlist

Prev / Next

You came back to the water alone. You hadn’t told anyone about the suspicious skeleton in the water that apparently saved you from sharks. Honestly, who would believe you? He swam unbelievably faster than anyone you’d ever seen, you never actually saw him, and there was no evidence of him ever being there. Not even a bruise from him grabbing you, he’d been so gentle.

It was hard for you to believe it even happened.

So here you were, oxygen tanks at the ready, attempting to find the monster in the water from yesterday. He seemed pretty cordial and knew his way around in the water so you figured your chances of seeing him again would increase in the water. Well, seeing him for the first time. Not again.

You waddled your way out into the water, your flippers doing you no favors on land, and went diving. Since it was the first place you technically met him, you swam for the same coral reef from yesterday. Nothing new. Just another school of fish, a few garden eels that shrank into their holes when you approached, and a stingray gliding across the sand between boulders.

Nothing.

He wasn’t here.

You blew out a couple bubbles in frustration. Not that you expected to find him immediately, just… it’d be easier if you did. Whatever. You could check on the reef in the meantime.

You carefully swayed with the currents as you floated from one patch of coral to the next. Checking on the health of the environment, avoiding any obvious dens, and picking up the occasional bit of trash that immediately got zipped into your fanny pack with a glittery zipper to dispose of later. Seriously, people didn’t understand cleanliness.

Something moved.

Shocked from your business and anticipating your mystery skeleton, you spun to look. Somewhat disappointingly, it wasn’t your skeleton. However, you still froze.

A barracuda stared you down.

Shhhhhit.

You gently tread water and leaned back, trying to slowly get away. It followed you, eyeing your fanny pack. You weren’t getting away easily. What could you possibly do? It was already after you. You covered the fanny pack with your hand.

It lunged.

You barely had time to register the attack when something huge darted at the barracuda and snatched it. The speed at which this creature moved shoved you backwards making your arms flail to stay steady. A large black tail filled your vision as you regained focus. It swished and twitched in place as the front seemed busy. As your mind actually cleared, the colors of the beast registered.

An orca.

You carefully and slowly kicked to back up. Orca’s were remarkably friendly in the area but you weren’t about to risk it. Your flipper paddled just a bit too hard and the orca noticed. It’s front twisted around to look at you, barracuda still in its mouth.

You both froze at the sight of each other.

That wasn’t an orca. It was an orca siren. With skeletal features and blood still drifting off its jaws from the barracuda it gently took from its open mouth. You could help but think you were next on its menu. However, it looked just as shocked to see you as you did.

“Uhhh… hi?” Came a familiar muffled voice from its toothy maw. It waved sheepishly at you.

Startled from your shock, you squeaked and spun on a dime, swimming away as fast as you could. An orca siren?? This close to land?? You thought there weren’t any sirens in these waters! Didn’t sirens tend to live near more crowded areas?

“Hey! Wait!”

Shhhhhiiiiittttt!

A hand around your ankle earned a scream of bubbles from you as you turned to defend yourself, kicking and flailing. It made sense now why he was so fast. Being part fish(well, mammal, but aquatic) would help with that.

“Hey! Hey! It’s okay! I’m not gonna hurt you.” He assured as his hands grabbed your arms. You kicked at him but the combination of water, flippers, and thick hide made your attacks useless.

More bubbles escaped you as you screamed. “Mmh!”

“Oh, stars, you can’t hear me can you? Uh….” He gave you a weak smile and looked up. “Don’t worry, we’ll be at the surface in no time. Hang on.” He pulled you close, prompting you to thrash again, but when his tail moved into action you clung desperately to his arms. He was too fast. How had you thought you could out swim this beast of speed? It was insane.

It was only a few seconds before you broke the surface for the second time in 24 hours. This time about a mile from the beach.

“Let go!” You snapped in the air, trying to shake his hold off your arms.

“I will! Just listen to me. Okay?” He pleaded. When you didn’t snap back he continued. “I’m not gonna hurt you. You just can’t tell anyone that we’re here.”

“We?!?” That did make sense, orca’s swam in pods, but still! The thought of more killers in the water had you shivering. “How many are you??”

He grimaced. (Should have kept my mouth shut) “That’s not important right now. What’s important is that you listen. There are very dangerous people that will hurt you if you tell anyone you saw me.”

You growled. “Hard to hurt me if I never come back to the water.”

His grip tightened on your arms. “First of all, don’t ever say that until you’re in the clear. I could kill you right now if I wanted and not have to deal with this problem ever again. You already said there isn’t anyone that would care to pay ransom for you. So who would notice if you went missing?” He glared down at you.

You froze. You and your stupid mouth. He was right. Even if you did have someone that would fight tooth and nail for you, he could still kill you and you wouldn’t be able to tell anyone that he was there.

“Second,” He interrupted your thoughts. “I wasn’t talking about in the water. There are land dwellers, scientists, that will torture every last detail of information from you just to find me. They have before for less.” His expression turned sad and he broke eye contact with you. “…This is more for your own safety.”

“…You said ‘we’ before, but now you’re only saying ‘me,’ like, just you.”

“Yeah, they don’t know about my pod and I plan to keep it that way. Please.” He pleaded.

Your resolve shook at his explanation. You… You couldn’t not tell people that there were sirens in the area, could you? He seemed so desperate. Maybe…

“If you promise something as well, sure.”

His eyes lit up. “What is it?”

You swallowed. He better hold up his end of this deal. “You can’t attack or eat people.”

He smiled gently and placed a hand on his chest. “I promise I won’t hunt, stalk, attack, injure, or eat any monster or human person for as long as you keep my secret. No loopholes. No strings attached. Your turn.” He looked at you expectantly.

Oh right. “I promise not to tell anyone about you or your pod as long as you don’t do any of that you just promised. Happy?”

“Mmmm.” He tipped his head, smirking. “…You missed a part.”

“What? What did I possibly miss?”

“No loopholes~?”

“Fine! No loopholes. No strings attached. Now are you happy?” You glared.

He whistle-laughed at you. “More than. Do you want me to take you to the shore again?” He offered.

Right. You still had no idea how you’d get back to the beach with those swirling currents between you and your destination. “Mm, fine. But only because I don’t want to swim all the way back.”

“Of course.” He hugged you to his chest. “Deep breath.”

You stuck the nozzle in your mouth.

“Oh. Okay. Here we go.”

Mermay prompts

1. Marine Biologist

2. Carnivorous

3. Dwelling/House

4. Healer

5. Revenge

6. Midnight

7. Breakfast

8. Market

9. Semi Aquatic

10. Recycle

11. Repaired

12. Glass

13. Crying

14. Kelp

15. Siren

16. Sharp Teeth

17. Communication/Language

18. Migration

19. Literature

20. Begrudging

21. Plankton

22. Hideout

23. Colors

24. Game

25. Cave

26. Discover

27. Security

28. Passenger

29. Message

30. Reconciliation

31. Pod