#occasional crude oil sweets

[onmyyan]

Hiii I would like to say I like your writing and everything you do please make sure to get lots of rest and drink lots of water also I like a Caspian a lot and would like to hear more about him but, I am also interested in Ricky as when you said he was the smartest out of the brothers can we get more head canons about him. What is he like? What type of darling does he like and what are his dislikes also can his s/o be a oil painter( a really good one at that) when you get the chance

Also sorry if this is really long thank you 😊

A/N: Sweet anon i love ya and i hope your staying well fed and rested!! I was hoping someone would ask about Ricky!!! If u can't tell I have a crush oh him (EDITED 12/16/22)

T/W'S: Yandere shenanigans, manipulation, Virgo man,

Richard 'Ricky' Delmont

Coming in at a whopping 6'3, this brooding bastard isn't the biggest of his siblings, but he is the most cunning.

He has ADHD, his brain is reaching conclusions and other viable options while everyone else is still processing the question.

He keeps his hair long, the red really shines through in the sun, the ends touched his lower back, his canines are sharper than most when he's deep in thought his tongue constantly flickered over them.

His birthmark looks like a crudely drawn smiley face, his family nickname is- you guessed it, 'Smiley.' I know, so creative, this gets used a lot more ironically now since he almost always looks irritated.

His face is usually twisted into this 'irate at it all look' but when he'd occasionally unclench and relax, he had the prettiest features.

His eyes are captivating in the same way cats are.

But when he gets blackout mad they go black like a shark, his pupil gets so blown that all the red in his iris disappears.

Smells like old books and has some stupid expensive cologne that smells like a guy no other way to describe it.

The Brooklyn is strong in this one, very much sounds like the "settle down" guy from TikTok.

Secretly soft, so secret even he doesn't realize it.

Obsessed with his Fathers approval, like its a problem LMAO

Super into anything creative, particularly music, he used it as a tool to both understand and be understood, all genes appealed to him. Still, secretly, pop was his favorite, the only people who know that are his Mother and his Darling.

Had a scene phase- don't ask him about it unless you want him to lock himself in his room and blast MCR for a few hours

Holds you so tenderly, it's never a quick thing with him, he just wraps himself around you like a security blanket.

He's their Fathers favorite and it's obvious, once he began to show initiative, Carlos, their Father, quickly took him under his wing, sure Gabe had the muscle to do the job right but Ricky had the brain.

In that favoritism he has a lot of pressure to succeed, sure he'd get a proud look or a pat on the back whenever he did, but that consuming fear of failure weighed on him heavily.

Was forced to grow up wayyy faster than he should have. This shows in the way he treats people and himself.

Love languages are physical touch, words of affirmation, and quality time.

Has a sixth sense about shit, like he knows when something is about to go down and the best way to handle it.

Scarily good at reading people, and knows when someone is lying so don't bother.

His one nickname for you is 'Love', while simple, he thinks it's absolutely perfect for you, it's what you brought into his life.

Despite the hardass mask he had up 99% of the time, he was truly himself with you.

He can let down his walls in a way he was never fully able to with his family.

Cherishes you wholeheartedly, has several notebooks filled to the brim with anything and everything you.

Huge stalker

The kinda guy who is careful in every aspect of his life, especially when it came to you.

He stalked you for a full year before officially claiming you as his Darling. He had to be certain you were the one because he didn't like making mistakes.

At least that's what he tells himself, but between you and me he was building up the confidence to ask you out.

The first time you two 'meet', only one of you notices the other.

You'd been browsing the oil paints intensely, so focused you didn't notice the massive man thumbing through the section on your right but he sure noticed you.

The tender way you inspected each tube caught his eye, particularly the fact that you bothered to put everything back where it belonged, it showed a certain kindness he only ever saw in his Mother.

He lingers, not so close you'd catch on, and pretends to look something up on his phone, then subtly takes a picture of your card when you pull it out to pay. He watches you until you leave.

The second the bell of the door signals your departure he's gone, typing your full name into the search bar with such fever his fingers trembled. The jolt of excitement turned into a constant hum as he searched.

He enjoys gathering research, even more so when it involves you.

He finds your art accounts first and spends hours staring at each piece you've created like a historian. If you do commissions he'll immediately ask for something, anything, as long as it comes from you he wants it- no, he needs it.

Of course, he'd use an anonymous account of his, one of many, and the second you agree he's sent over the full amount with the small message "Take your time, whatever you come up with will blow me away- R."

It's the start of your relationship, even if you don't realize it yet. He commissions you as often as you'd allow, using it as a way to communicate his love.

"Phenomenal work. You never cease to amaze me, I'm forever grateful for the chance to experience such wonder."

The notes he left grew more and more poetic, to you he was a mysterious, eloquently spoken fan who was very passionate about Art, he was, of course, talking about you whenever he wrote.

Speaking of, if given the chance to start over, he'd be an author, or a songwriter, anything where he gets to tap into the darkness inside and create from it.

A huge cuddle bug.

It's the one action you can lure him away from work with.

He is a Virgo man so you know, run

Has a bad habit of not eating when he's in 'work' mode, something you'll have to look out for.

The kinda person who can burn water, for the love of everything good keep him away from the kitchen.

Tried to make you breakfast once and nearly poisoned you both.

He sees the way their father looks at Caspian and does everything he can to escape that fate, meaning this book-loving, metal beltin' sweetheart learned to hide himself to fit in.

He can DANCE but never does it around anyone but you or his mirror.

Insecure about his "softer" features, his persona was built around hiding those parts of himself, thankfully loving you began to uncover those hidden pieces of him, while it wouldn't happen overnight, the light he had shined bright whenever he'd let it.

Would cry cum and combust if you ever painted him, literally gets it framed and has a very serious debate with himself if it should go in his home office or his work one, it comes down to the idea of having a shit day at work and looking up to see the physical representation of your love for him, that seals the deal.

He shows his love with every action and every word.

Possessive of your time, if he's perfectly satisfied only having you in his life why wouldn't you feel the same??

Openly hates your friends, well not so open you'd notice and call him out, but open in a way that has your friends complaining about him, he works you so well that he has you thinking it's better to stay in than go out with your friends, and who is he to deny you?

While he'd never make you mad on purpose, he did get all tingly when you got pissed at someone else, your brows would furrow and your gaze would turn to ice, oh would you look at that he's hard now.

#yandere #yandere x reader #yananswers #anon submission #yandere x y/n #yandere ocs #yandere oc ricky #ricky delmont #ricky delmont x reader #yandere oc x reader

[mercymaker]

hi hi i am asking about mal :3 can i have a headcanon on hygiene please? does mal make sure her nails are always clean? does she wash her hair daily? does she wear perfumes? does she avoid people who smell bad? would she be up for bathing with someone? etc etc!!!

Aaaa, this is such a wonderful ask, thank you! ♥

So! Mal grew up out in the woods, so naturally she knew nothing of the perfumed and powdered ways of the city-dwelling folk, especially the nobility. However, while her mother did defect and abandon the ways of the Lolth-sworn society, she did carry over a lot of their beliefs and cultural norms. That, of course, included being a little obsessed with beauty, so even while living in less than ideal conditions, A'sherra made sure to always look her best, painstakingly washing her hair and putting it in an oiled braid, cleaning her fingernails, etc. etc.

She did instill some of those habits in Mal, however, the girl also learned from her father and the dude would be rolling around in mud and whatnot on his hunts and outdoor trips that he'd take Maleane on as well (about the only way he could endure living with A'sherra at times).

While living alone in the woods, Mal would wash her face every morning, but that's about as far as her daily hygiene rituals go. She would get sweaty and warm while busy on her daily chores, at times long treks out of the woods and she didn't mind having a bit of a sweaty smell to her, dirt between her toes, etc. However, if there's one thing that Mal absolutely loves is swimming. Ponds, rivers, lakes, you name it. One of her top things to do is just get naked and float in the water, eyes closed, listening to the sounds brewing under the surface.

At times, while washing her clothes, she'd grab some of the crude soap made from wood ash and grease, and wash herself and her hair, per her mother's instructions, but that wasn't as common as people nowadays are expected to do. It does help that she's likes collecting herbs so her little hut is full of dried mint, lavender, and other sweet-smelling odors that cling to her clothes making them smell a little better.

After venturing out into the "civilized world" she did start making more of an effort to look a certain way (all about the way you're perceived making it easier to manipulate the situation), her messy hair soon got an upgrade. + fighting groups of people/creatures would inevitably leave them all covered in all sorts of fluids and textures. So yeah, more washing!

I don't think she minds smelly people too much, because her nose had so many encounters with smelly stuffs of the woods AND one thing she does eventually discover about herself is that some people have a, uh, stink to them that's quite enjoyable (ye ye ye after battle they were all sweaty in camp and she found herself blushing at the way some of the sights and smells of her companions made her feel sdfsdgadg)!

Mal would like to bathe with someone! My lil HC is that in Mal's little forest house (poooooooost game), she'd have a big wooden tub out in the back that she'd occasionally fill with warm water and just sit there, taking in all the sounds of the forest. And she'd definitely share it with whoever's visiting! That one time Shadowheart did her hair? Well, they both were washing their stuff in the river and got a little nakey and, uh... the touch?? ? From someone else? So tender and soft? It took Mal's breath away and the girl got flustered but had to keep it cool! So, I think for her it's quite intimate, getting all nakey, close, being careful, gentle... *nod nod*

#asks #the bg3 adventures #userfray #bg3 #oc: maleane #she's dirty and sweaty out in the woods but then you see her buying lemons out in the city #hair clean clothes nice #and you start to wonder if mal has a twin or something #(don't get me started on the brain stuffs on mal's sibling/s) #but yet again thank you so much for this ask #i loved thinking about it and writing it down #hope it's not too long sdgdaf

[redskybeach]

Legends endure for a reason. Sometimes they survive to impel our cultural hubris. Occasionally they endure because they instil a sense of focus on what was and perhaps a vision of what will be. They are always a reminder. When they come back to haunt us, things start to get interesting.

A couple in Iceland, very much in love, visit a historic site and suddenly he throws himself into a volcano, burning to a crisp in front of her eyes, and thereafter, it is always raining.

The dwindling North Sea Oil supply is suddenly rejuvenated with a new discovery, a huge oil field of light, sweet, crude worth billions. Exploration, drilling and pumping begin to breathe life into a faltering industry and just as things seem to be going well, the oil is polluted with radioactive thorium.

US Army Special Forces operators in Iceland on an exercise are drawn into a crisis and as NASA withdraws, they boldly face the challenge. All but one are rendered insane and the memory of Red Mist turns into a quest for answers – that the CIA already has.

In Texas, a political fixer is called on to deal with a situation and finds himself completely out of his depth.

In England, a psychologist’s life is turned upside down as a skald makes a disturbing prophecy.

In China, aggressive experiments into neutrino research create a completely unforeseen disaster and portend a global cataclysm of Biblical proportions.

Just when you’re sure that you have all the answers and are confident that the science is settled, it isn’t.

Red Mist, a novel.

[cloudhayato]

The nicest thing Byakuran has ever done is run a YouTube channel with Spanner where they cook really nice sweets.

Then Tsuna kills Byakuran and the channel stops uploading. Up until two years later where Spanner uploads a 1 second clip of his face and the description says “yeah this channel stopped uploading because my husband got murdered lol”

#khr #khr byakuran #byakuran millefiore #khr spanner #katekyo hitman reborn #cooking #youtube #sweets #gay love #men in love #men making sweets #occasional crude oil sweets #crude oil mention #t #angst #crying #sad #death #tragedy #unhappy ending #sorry for hte many tas #I just htink htis is thte funniest hting ion earht #itts wthtat tbyakuran would have waned #help #97 20 1 12 11 19 #thttanks to my assistttant for yping out ags for tme tmyt keytbtoard is brtoken #tttt #tttttttttttttttttttt #tttttt #ttt

[final-servamp-banter]

White Day: Ildio

Pure of Heart. Dumb of Ass.

Ildio: Hey, it’s me.

Ildio: Ahh, this is about last month. I heard that when you took me to that curry place, it was for Valentine’s Day.

Ildio: I just ate curry and went home like normal. Did you put the chocolate into my curry? I don’t notice stuff like that, so tell me next time.

Ildio: Well, anyway. Tomorrow’s the day you give thanks for that, right? Come to the station at 2 PM. Let’s go eat. I’ll treat you.

Ildio: …? You’re asking if my Eve’s coming, too? No, he won’t. He’d get in the way. Huh? Even if you wanna meet him, I don’t wanna bring him.

Ildio: Alright, see ya.

(He hangs up)

You: (I wonder if he has money…?)

~ 3/14 ~

Ildio: What, you’re worried about the money? I got enough for today, so it’s fine.

Ildio: I picked a place where you can eat as much as you want, too.

You: (This is…)

Player Choice:

1. A hotel’s……!

2.  Sweets Baking!

[Both lead to the same dialog]

Ildio: Yeah. I thought if you’re gonna eat a lot, it’d be better to go somewhere that’s not just sweets, but…

Ildio: The others kept pestering me “If you’re going with a girl, go there!”. I don’t really care as long as it’s a place to eat.

You: (Could it be…)

Player Choices:

1. Quantity over Quality?

2. Do you… have almost no sense of taste?

Option 1:

Ildio: You won’t know the quality if you don’t have the quantity, right? Can’t tell whether it’s good or bad if you can only take a little bite.

Option 2:

Ildio: Huh? I get told that occasionally, but I think it’s normal. Everyone’d think that something good is better than something bad.

Ildio: Well, I guess it’s crude if you compare it to Lawless’. That guy’s like, “How salty is it?”, “What kind of oil do you use?”, asking about every little thing.

[Rest is the same]

Ildio: Well, whatever. Let’s eat already. For now, let’s put everything on our plates…

Ildio: … Huh, what? I shouldn’t pile it up? I’m gonna eat it anyway, so it doesn’t matter… Still no? I’m telling you, I definitely won’t have any leftovers…… Still no? Alright, then I’ll leave it at this for now.

You: (It’s a special occasion, so…)

Player Choices:

1. Say “aah”!

2. Should I say “aah”?

Option 1:

Ildio: Huh? You’re a weird one, aren’t you? That’s what you wanna do? Don’t complain if I eat your hand, too.

Ildio: *nom*

Option 2:

Ildio: Huh? You’re a weird one, aren’t you? Do you want me to test it before feeding you? I can’t tell poison from medicine, so there’s no point in that.

Ildio: *Nom* Mh, it’s good. Don’t think there’s poison in it. Here, open your mouth.

[End]

-----------------------

T/N: The word he uses to refer to Nicco can mean (among other things) “employer”, “master”... Or husband. Like that’s obviously not the intended meaning but I find it funny lmao.

“You won’t know if it’s good or bad if you can only take one little bite” was a really funny sentence to me bc the word for “taste test” is also the word for “lick”. And “taking/testing one bite” in this case is “hitonameru”, which could, in theory, also be taken to mean “licking a person”. Like that’s not what’s meant but the fact that it’s theoretically possible to interpret that way... ashdaksldhjasld (Ildio:”I licked it now it’s mine!”)

welp I’m hungry now but I wanted to get food after translating this anyway

#Servamp #Servamp Ildio #Ildio Servamp #WorldEnd Servamp #Servamp WorldEnd #Tanaka Box #Translation #Servamp White Day Event #White Day Event #pspspspsps buddy. it's your idiot. pspspspsps

[moonlights-inkwell]

And Me Wearing Your Clothes

  Jaskier x Reader  

Word Count: 5,992  

Summary: A creature in the woods is killing village girls in the woods, but to keep you safe Jaskier volunteers himself, and one of your dresses as bait instead.  

A/N: This one probably needs some level of explanation. So, Joey wears a dress on the cover of The Horror and The Wild, and it has lived rent free in my mind since I first saw it so I had to get around to writing Jaskier in a dress eventually. Also, I know I’ve used Little Miss as a pet name for the reader in fics before, but don’t know if I’ve mentioned that it’s because of the song Little Miss Why So, which the title is also taken from- Just in case anyone was wondering where the fuck I pulled that from.  

There’s some mild smutty elements in this too. No explicit smut in this chapter, but this is gonna wind up being a two-parter anyway, so you’ll get the explicit stuff later. It’s worth noting that this is chronologically the first part of my whole series with Jaskier, at least so far- so sorry for any confusion.  

When Geralt had informed you that there was a job in a village not far from where you had set up camp, you had been more grateful of it than you would admit out loud. Villages mean inns, taverns and a chance to sleep on something that isn’t dirt, but the way the white-haired man looks at you lets you know this won’t be as easy a job as you could hope for. 

“Small village, no inns or taverns, less than a hundred and fifty or so people- less by the day.” He sighs and heaves himself off of Roach to sit on a felled tree by the fire.  

“Less by the day?” You raise an eyebrow. Little places such as these tend to have smaller problems, thieving little creatures, the occasional Doppler; but Geralt’s words make it all too obvious to you that the diminishing population isn’t just because people are leaving for somewhere that actually has a place to drink.  

“They say there's something in the woods.” He says, as if that’s all the explanation that you require. It takes a second of looking at him pointedly for him to realise you need more information than just that. “Sounded like an Aswang from what they said. Been snatching up local girls, sucking them dry and leaving the bodies to be found come morning.”  

Talking to The White Wolf is a Sisyphean struggle; so often it's like drawing blood from a stone, but on the days he decides to speak you can barely understand what he's saying. Not for the first time, you consider simply pretending to know what he means, to act sage and wise, but think better of it all too quickly.  

“The bloody hell is an Aswang?” A fair question in your eyes, but the man sighs. You think, on occasion, Geralt forgets that just a few years ago you were just a barmaid with a love of brawling, not some monster hunter with dreams of Glory. Not that there’s much glory in your hunts, just bruises and wounds, limps that last too long and perpetually sore back, even if the occasional song comes from it.  

“A type of vampire.” He clarifies. “Dangerous. Normally have a taste for pregnant women and baby blood, seems this one has a taste for any woman it can get its hands on.” That makes your blood run cold. Travelling with the Witcher and his Bard has been the first time in your life where you’ve been free from the limitations of your sex, but the way those amber eyes are watching you now has you suddenly all too aware of yourself.  

“A taste for women? Why, Geralt, that’s a very tasteful way of describing yourself in a brothel.” A voice pipes up from behind you, causing you to jump. Jaskier. You thought him still asleep, he'd slept poorly the night before, but if the tiredness lacing his voice is any indication, he's only recently been roused.  

“Not now, Bard.” Geralt growls out, but the bard just chuckles and gets to his feet, leaves crunching underfoot as he walks up behind you and settles at your side, a hand pressed to your lower back. Warm, especially through the thin material of your blouse.  

“Oh, Geralt, a smile won’t kill you.” He trills and in spite of how serious you know the situation to be, your lips turn up in a far too easy smile. It does just as quickly though, when you realise that Geralt is still looking at you.  

“...You want me as bait.” It comes out less as a question and more as a statement as your own eyes meet amber. Geralt doesn’t say a word and you look down. It’s not meant as an insult, and you know that, but it stings none the less; hurts to be asked to be less useful on account of having a cunt. He's asking you to make yourself weak, it’s a request that should be seen as an honour, a few minutes of acting like something you aren't to spare the lives of those girls in the village, but instead it leaves a sour taste in your mouth- like talking a gulp of milk only to discover it's curdled on your tongue.  

The hand at the base of your spine rises quickly and rests on the curve of your back as Jaskier seems to realise what you just said.  

“Bait?” He sounds as incredulous as you feel. “For what?”  

“Vampire.” Geralt says crudely, “It's it targeting women.”  

“And you want to send Little Miss in there as bait?” Jaskier snaps back at him, fingers curling into the fabric of your shirt as if you'll be plucked away without a second’s notice. This, this concern is all too welcome, and you glance at Jaskier from the corner of your eye. His clothes are still crumpled from sleep, but he's pushing himself up to his full height as if he expects that to intimidate a Witcher. It’s a foolish endeavour, but gods how you appreciate it.  

“She can handle it,” is all the response that is given, which only sends the man beside you into further ramblings.  

“She can handle it? She could fucking die, Geralt!” His voice raises, and you're quite sure he’s forcibly making his voice lower to try and sound less emotional about this. “You want to send her in, I’m betting almost completely unharmed, to act as a lure for a blood sucking creature of the night!”  

You should feel insulted, to be talked about as if you aren’t there, but now you’re far too focused on the hand resting on you to focus on much else. Early spring's chill is still in the air, making the bard seem warmer than be likely is; and which is the cause of the goosepimpling of your skin is a mystery. Since the bard and yourself started your... entanglement, even the lightest most mundane touch has seemed like lightning crackling through your body. Entanglement is one way of describing it. Really, all that has happened has been kissing- the sort that start as barely more than a brush of lips and don't stop until it turns to heavy breathing and you removing yourself from the situation before you can do something you may regret.  

He's always been a mother hen, flapping about to stitch whatever wounds he can and forcing you to seek out healers when he feels it more extreme than a simple slice, but you've no doubt that this concern is coming from a more selfish place than simply wanting you safe. The grip of your shirt is all the confirmation you need.  

“It only attacks women, Jaskier.” Geralt growls out slowly, as if teaching an especially slow child. “And unless you’ve a secret to share, Little Miss is the only woman we have.” The pet name comes out in a patronisingly saccharine tone that makes you turn your eyes to the ground.  

“I would sooner go out there in a dress myself than let you put her in harm's way for no good reason!” Jaskier shouts back at him, sending your eyes up to meet the Witcher's, when you catch sight of something rare. A smile.  

This is a bad idea.  

Awful idea. Terrible. Quite possibly the worst idea that the three of you could have come up with, and the fact that Geralt is allowing it to go forward is a mystery.  

Well. Not a mystery. Geralt, for all his attempts at stoicism and claims of emotionlessness, has a sick sense of humour: and a chance to humiliate the Bard who interrupts his silence with every passing second must have been more tempting to him than you ever could have anticipated. You, on the other hand, were less keen. Especially when informed by Geralt that Jaskier would need to borrow your only dress for this humiliation tactic. It had taken an hour and a half for it to be taken from you, and it was only really able to be taken because Jaskier had pulled you into a kiss unexpectedly, causing you to drop the dress to wind your arms about his neck. A genius manipulation, really. Should have seen it coming.  

It'll never succeed though  

Jaskier is perhaps more attuned to his feminine side than many men; His love of scented bathing oils and ointments for his hands, fine clothes and penchant for the dramatics spring to mind, but there's no way that he could be mistaken for a woman unless this Aswang has incredibly poor eyesight. Sweet smells and minor theatrics do not a woman make, even in a borrowed dress. You sit by the fire pit, poking, poking, poking at the burning logs with a long enough stick that you don’t risk your hands with each jab.  

Geralt won’t even let you help him set up the trap, and all at once you’re reminded of your girlhood; how the boys in your little home town had allowed you to play knights and dragons with them, only to have you act as Princess. You had always hated it, sat stock still and aloft chairs stacked like a tower for hours while the boys would tumble around fighting each other, roaring and crawling, stabbing and calling in their presence until it was finally time to rescue you- always long after you had grown resentful of your place waiting. You wanted to nothing more than to pick up one of those wooden swords and take part properly, but every time you had asked you had been told that there are no female knights, only princesses. You would always run home to your mother to complain only to be tapped lightly on the nose and told what an honour it is to be picked as a Princess, and given a bowl of peas to de-shell for supper. It didn’t feel like an honour then to sit around feeling useless, and it doesn’t feel any better now. The only respite that comes is from the jabbing and stabbing of the logs.  

“I think they’re dead, Little Miss.” Jaskier speaks in your ear, sending you to the ground in shock. The self-pitying had ensured that you hadn’t heard him coming, and he laughs. Chuckles that drip honey have you look up at the bard, ready to curse him for frightening you, but the words wither away on your tongue. Your lip trembles and you drink him in.  

With you on the ground, he looks so much bigger than he already is but that isn’t what has you tongue tied, no, not at all; it’s the dress. It’s white, and you always thought it made you look sickly, but on him it’s almost otherworldly, like something you might see on a god, flowing in a wind you hadn't felt before he reappeared. It’s beautiful. He's beautiful. The fabric clings to his pectorals and tapers in at his waist and you realise something that has never struck you before: Jaskier is muscular. Not to the extent of Geralt, but muscular none the less, the muscles of his arms thickening as he crosses his arms across his chest, which only accentuated the sculpture of his pectorals and the dark thatch of hair visible from the plunging neckline of the gown. Tanned skin all but glows in the light of the flames, given richer colour by the stark and almost holy white gown, giving him the illusion of something more than just your bard; some manifestation of Apollo, youthful and beautiful, still grinning that boyish grin, looking for all the world both like he has spent his whole life lounging about and spent it in fields to develop those muscles. Logically, you know he must be muscular, spends his days walking across the continent, carrying bags and bedrolls and whatever can’t, or won’t, be carried by Roach but it catches you off guard. You've always considered him a dainty flower of a man, always singing, always strumming, but now you're confronted with the reality of the situation, Jaskier is all sinewy muscle and dark hair and truly, you’ve no idea how patterned doublets and a lute have kept this reality a mystery to you. He’s beautiful, always beautiful, but this is something else entirely. Beauty implies something entirely understandable. This is otherworldly, incomprehensible in how it makes both so much and so little sense all at once. Your throat is dry and you take a deep gulp of air and struggle to find the words to say and settle on a soft little,  

“Oh.”  

“Oh?” He smirks, eyebrow raising as he offers out a hand to you. “Does it not look nice? Do I not look like a delicate lady in need of protection?” He teases, skin around his eyes crinkling with his grin.  

“You look better in it than I do.” Your voice comes out weak, and he smiles and tugs you to your feet once you take his hand. “Though you are perhaps the hairiest delicate maiden around here.”  

“Don’t do yourself a disservice, Dear Heart.” He says tenderly and cups your cheek, leaning down to press a kiss to the corner of your mouth. He calls that space Your Kiss, as if a kiss is a part of your body rather than something people give each other. “You look beautiful in everything and anything- and nothing.” You raise an eyebrow at that, smirking slightly at the comment. “Not that I know what you look like naked! Not that I haven’t thought about you like that, unless that makes you uncomfortable-" He rambles, cheeks flushed a pretty sort of pink, so you lean in and peck his lips.  

“It looks much better on you, Dandelion.” You say decidedly, settling on the balls of your feet. “Though I rather think it isn’t complete.”  

“Is that so?” Jaskier asks and watches you as you scramble through your bag and pull free two small pencils before settling yourself on the ground and tapping on the log. It takes a second, but he does sit, eyeing the pencils like they might be weapons. “Are you going to stab those into my feet, so I walk in a womanlier way?”  

“...Is womanlier even a word, Bard?” You tease, trying desperately to avoid the hand attempting to swat at your head for questioning his obviously superior understanding of language. “And no. Not at all, they’re cosmetics.”  

“Cosmetics?” He repeats and watches you as you grab one of the pencils and a dagger, carving at the wood until it is sharp enough for you.  

“You do understand women put products on their faces to look prettier, don’t you?”

“You don’t,” He snaps back at you, indignant that you would even question his understanding of the fairer sex. “You’re all bare and natural, and look all the prettier for it, like a rose.” A hand moves forward and cups your cheek, you can feel every callous and scar that riddles his skin. He’s trying to avoid you putting the makeup on him, but just for now, you allow yourself the indulgence. It’s only dusk. Geralt said that the plan won’t need to be enacted until close to midnight and he has yet to even return from his setting of the trap; a little time to take pleasure from something as simple as the man who kisses you having a hand on your cheek. “Beautiful, fresh like a daisy and lovelier than the month of May...” He continues, hand shifting a little forward so that his fingers bury themselves in your hair, causing you to lean towards him, head shifting into the touch- reminding you all too much of the little cat who used to come begging for scraps when your mother and you would eat outside in the warmer months. It’s a strange thing to catch your attention so, but now that the thought has entered your mind, you cannot help but wonder if your mother has been feeding the tiny little beast in your absence-  

“Little One?” Jaskier says gently, snapping you free of your thoughts, you’ve no idea how long you’ve been thinking, but it was clearly long enough that the man before you has noticed it.  

“...Yes?”  

“I asked if I could kiss you.” Can I kiss you? Although you’ve never been someone with much interest in the romantics, you’ve never so much as kissed a man before you met Jaskier, you’re quite sure that men don’t normally ask if they can kiss you. Most that you’ve seen interacting with women simply crash their mouths on their partner’s, breeching their mouths with their tongues like they’re stabbing a creature that means them harm. But Jaskier asks. He means to ensure that you are always completely comfortable with his touching you, to make sure you know that if you have no interest in this contact that it will stop. He won’t push. It’s enough to make your lips turn up in a tiny little smile and you nod, leaning towards him and resting hands on his knees, lips puckered tight and eyes falling shut, and he chuckles. “Melitele, Dear Heart, relax your lips, you aren’t trying to pierce my lips with yours.” He lets his thumb glide across your lower lip, causing you, quite instinctively to relax your lips. “There we are.” A rush of pleasure overtakes you, making you shiver and heading straight to your core. Simple praise is all it takes from him to make you unsure of yourself, and want to do anything to please him, so when he pulls you up gently and settles you on his knees, you do so without complaint, and as if as a means of rewarding you, kisses you softly.  

In the months since the two of you have begun this not-quite courtship you’ve grown more accustomed to kissing him than you ever would have anticipated. It happens so often that it’s almost strange to you. He kisses you as a means of waking you, kisses the back of your hand to reassure you, kisses the back of your neck when he passes you, hell; you’re more than a little sure he kisses you sometimes just to annoy Geralt. It feels so natural to you now, to have his mouth on yours, moving languidly like the rest of the world does not exist. He kisses like he’s afraid he might hurt you, all gentle touches and reassuring rubs of thumb against flesh. He knows that you’ve never so much as kissed a man before him and seems to take some pleasure in that- not in the kind of way that the boys at home seemed to when talking about deflowering some virginal girl, but in a way that he seems to enjoy teaching you something about intimacy, or at least this version of it. He acts for all the world like some sort of teacher, gently reassuring you when you go wrong and guiding you back on track, and you preen under the attention. He never pushes, never asks you to do anything you don’t want to do, and it’s far more appreciated than you will ever say, even if in the last few weeks you have found yourself wanting... more.  

His lips are wind-chapped but somehow soft, and press into yours so softly, hand curved around your cheek and guiding you to tilt your head slightly, so you follow his lead, reciprocating the kiss as sweetly as you can, winding fingers around his wrist to hold it in place. The kiss is chaste, with no sign of moving beyond just the plush push of lips on lips but still, this position makes it feel more intimate than it has any right to; sat on his legs, your own parted and on either side, and the dress makes it more intimate still. In his doublet and trousers, the only warmth you feel from him while kissing comes from his hands and face, but now with so much skin exposed it’s seemingly coming from all around you, seeping through the fabric beneath you, from the arms extended in front of you, from a heart beating so close but so out of reach. The fire roaring just behind you is hardly helping the situation. Jaskier hums softly against your lips, little more than a vibration, but it makes you smile. Even when kissing he makes noise; he cannot bare to be silent, relish in the sounds of nature, no, he simply must make noise. It’s lovely really, such consistency is hard to find, especially on the road, but Jaskier is consistent. It takes a little more bravery than it should to swipe the tip of your tongue across the seam of his lips and the movement seems to shock the bard, who ceases his kissing for just a second before opening his mouth slightly and dragging his tongue across your own. Normally you would wait for him to deepen a kiss but with him looking the way he does, and the overwhelming need developing between your legs, you cannot continue this lazy sort of kiss as you normally might. No. Now, you need something more than this innocence. So, you shuffle closer to him, legs tightening around his and both hands moving to wind around his neck, fingers curling into the soft hair at the nape of his neck. Your own bravery seems to have inspired some in Jaskier too, so he wraps his arms about your waist and pulls you even closer still, tongue lathering over your own before his teeth drag across it and then bites gently. It makes you shiver, letting out a quiet moan which brings a moan out of him too. Not too long after that he pulls back and heaves a deep breath while you pant, head tilting back.  

“That was new.” He laughs, fingers tracing circles into your back.  

“What can I say? That dress really does look good on you.” You respond with a chuckle before leaning forward again, this time to mouth at his throat. You feel Jaskier gasp before you hear it, the skin of his neck going taut beneath your lips.  

“Dear Heart,” He starts, and the pet name does nothing but make your heart race, “If you don’t stop soon, we’re going to have a... well, an issue.” He stammers out, and you pull back immediately, eyes wide with worry. Had you been too intense in taking your own pleasure from this situation that you had missed some clear hint of his that he was uninterested in going further? He goes to such painstaking lengths to ensure your comfort and you feel like you’ve encroached on his.  

“An issue?” The words come out shaky, and you try to shift yourself back from him, but he holds you still. “I’m sorry! I wasn’t trying to upset you-”  

“You haven’t. Gods, Dear Heart, I think you could stab me, and I would still thank you.” He says, still rubbing those reassuring circles into your back. “You’re just. You’re...” Jaskier stops and seems to deliberate his next few words, “You’re exciting me, that’s all.” That makes you blink. He doesn’t look all that excited to you, if anything he just seems to be riding the same high he always is after kissing turns a little more passionate, pupils blown wide and lips pink and plush from kissing, but he doesn’t look excited. Your confusion must be visible because Jaskier sighs, muttering something under his breath before his hand creeps higher toward your shoulder blades. “You’re making me hard.” He says, the words said carefully as if afraid he might upset you.  

“Har- Oh. Oh!” Realisation hits you all at once and your eyes dart down to his lap, suddenly seeing the tent in the dress that certainly hadn’t been there when you first settled on him. It was mere centimetres away from your core when you were kissing him, and you hadn’t even noticed. It’s the first time you think you’ve ever seen someone be hard, even if it is completely covered up, and the knowledge that it was you who has done this to him fills you with pride. You’ve never really considered yourself the kind of person to have that kind of power over a person, you only ever really feel powerful in a fight, but the feeling overtaking you now feels like power. With nothing more than a mouth and tongue, you’ve affected him in this way.  "I wouldn’t call that an issue.”  

He blinks at you, lips slightly parted and he looks you up and down. For the first time, you wonder if he’s thinking of other trysts, where it was him in shirt and trousers on top of some woman in a dress who is falling apart at next to nothing. It should leave a sour taste in your mouth, but the feeling of power is more overwhelming than any insecurity.  

“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, Little Miss.”

“I’m not uncomfortable.”  

“You’ve never seemed interested in... progressing.” He’s being careful not to say anything he thinks might offend you. Jaskier is never one to mince words, but your virginity seems to have him somewhat uncomfortable when it comes to what language to approach sex with. You aren’t a child, and used to work in a tavern, you’ve heard all too many terms for sex; shagging, fucking, making the beast with two backs, a labour for Venus, but Jaskier calls it Progressing. Like it’s travelling, moving from one destination to another, from kissing to something else entirely. It’s quaint coming from a man who you’ve heard sing songs about receiving hand-jobs. “I don’t want to push you into anything you might not be comfortable doing, Little Miss, I don’t want you to feel pressured by me or this or anything-”

“I’m interested in progressing.” You cut him off, a little too eagerly. “Truly, I am. I just. Haven’t done anything like this before. So, I wasn’t sure how to go about it, you know. I couldn’t just... I don’t know. Ask you to take my virginity.” Jaskier chokes a little at the words.

“I wouldn’t be taking anything.”  

“But I do want you to.”  

“I don’t mean in terms of... not wanting to. I do. Melitele’s tits, I’d crawl over shards of glass just to put my mouth on you, Darling. I just mean, I wouldn’t be taking anything from you. There’s nothing to take. You would just be someone who has been intimate instead of someone who hasn’t. You don’t lose anything.”  

Your heart, something in the back of your mind says coyly, you’ll lose your heart to him if you allow yourself to be breeched by him, he’ll take it unknowingly and not be able to give it back to you. Each step, each breath, each blink and each song, he will have your heart entirely and there will be nothing you can do to have it returned. He’s had so many lovers before, it’s unlikely he’ll give his heart to you in return for you giving him your own- and it won’t be because he’s cruel or unfeeling, it will be because Bards give their heart to anyone who hears their song, and there isn’t enough of it left for you. He’s entirely enough for you, but you will never be entirely enough for him.  

“If I lose nothing by it then why are we discussing it instead of... progressing?” You have to bite down on your tongue to keep from saying shagging. Fucking. Anything but this dance around what it is that the two of you clearly want.  

“Because I want you to understand.” He says, and it sounds like a plea. “I want you to know that you don’t lose a thing, and I want you to be doing this because you want to do it, not because you feel like you ought because I’m hard or because you feel you owe it to me. I want you to do this because you want this, and because you want me.”  

Because you want me. It makes you falter for a second. Of course, you want him, you wouldn’t kiss him if you didn’t. Your heart aches at the thought of someone kissing or sleeping with him and not wanting him, using him and discarding him afterwards.  

“Of course, I want you, Jask.” Your voice is little more than a whisper.  

“I mean it, Little Miss. If I do this, I won’t want for another person in my life, I won’t be able to not think of you, and if you’re doing this out of obligation and not because you want me, it will kill me.” He continues, the hand on your back moving up still until it’s buried entirely in your hair, twisting and feeling about your scalp like the answer to every question he will ever ask is written in your hair. “If this is only for once, I cannot do it. It would kill me to know how it feels to be inside you, to feel at one with you, and know you don’t ever intend to do it again. I care far too much for you to do a thing like that.”  

“Jaskier...”

“I admit, I have a... reputation for leaving a string of not-quite-crying lovers behind me, but I cannot add you to that list. I won’t. And I refuse to spend the rest of our days together writing melancholic songs about how I want you, desire you, crave you, only to know you only have eyes for others, I would sooner-”  

You can see by the impassioned look in his eyes that he has so much more to say, but can’t bear to hear anymore, for fear of fooling yourself that the beautiful man in front of you loves you. So instead, you reach down and wind your fingers around his member and relish in how his words choke to a halt and he lets out a sweet sigh.

“I don’t want to sleep with you once either, and your former lovers and I have nothing in common. For one, I’m not married, and two, I want you Jaskier. Not reprieve from some small pricked husband. I want to have sex with you because I want you, I care about you.” I love you; your mind screams the words you don’t dare say. It’s enough though. Enough for Jaskier to smile and move both hands around your waist once more and gently lay you on the floor beside the fire, hair fanning out like a halo among leaves and grass.  

“I. I had intended this to have a more romantic location.” He admits to you as he parts your legs and settles on his knees in the space he has made. “Some inn, where I could strew some petals about, draw you a bath, sing a song.”  

“I don’t need petals or poetry or baths.” You smile at him, but he shakes his head with an affectionate smile,  

“It’s not about need, Darling, it’s about what you deserve. And you deserve to be treated like a princess.”  

“In that dress I rather think you’re more the princess out of the two of us.” Out of the dress too. You’re rougher than any woman should be, and if your mother could see you now, you’d be pulled by your ear off to be told how good and proper ladies dress and behave- you find yourself covered in monster gore more often than you would like to, and have taken to wearing darker colours so that the dirt on them doesn’t show quite as much, but Jaskier with his sweet voice and fineries? He’s a crown away from being a prince, the sort who appear in every story you were told as a child who could fix any maiden’s problems with a kiss that would end in happily ever after.  

A cough draws the both of you from each other and you turn your head to see Geralt and realise the light purple sky of dusk has been replaced with the near pitch of somewhere closer to when your plan needs to take place. He looks as uncomfortable at finding you as you feel at being caught. You feel like a child whose mother has caught you doing something they expressly told you not to do, and the fear of whatever comment he shall make keeps you from laughing at the mental image of Geralt dressed as some mother, in a drab old dress and dirtied up apron, flour dusted about his face, still world weary and with his swords strapped to his back.  

“...Aswang will be here soon.” The Witcher says, and you’re grateful he’s decided not to address what he had walked in on. “We need our... beautiful woman to be wandering in the woods.” He gestures with a movement of his head to Jaskier to come towards you, and the bard does, albeit slowly, remove himself from the spot between your thighs. Geralt’s stoic face might be enough to fool most people who don’t know him, but you can see the mirth in his eyes. He’s glad he called Jaskier’s bluff on the dress, this story will never make its way into a song for the sake of Jaskier’s ego but will be brought out by Geralt at any and every ball that he is dragged to from now on. His fictional tale of the Bard being castrated by an unfortunate kick to the bollocks by an Ox as a child will now be replaced with an honest account of the esteemed bard Jaskier having volunteered himself- seemingly at random- to serve as bait in a dress for a very dangerous beast. You think he’s never looked more beautiful than he does in the dress, but Geralt very clearly sees it as funny. Men are strange. It’s just a dress, and a dress that makes him look far more attractive than any fine suit or set of armour ever could, so what is so funny about it. The Witcher says your name and you look up at him and nod. “Stay here.”  

“But-”

“Hopefully the ‘fair maiden’ is enough to get the Aswang. If it sees an actual woman, it’ll attack it and not try to attack him. I’d prefer not to have to carry your corpse back to your village. It would be a long journey.” He’s being facetious, at least you hope, but you nod anyway. “We shouldn’t be too long.”  

“Stay here, it’ll all be over soon.” Jaskier tells you, smiling that disarming smile he uses to try and charm more coin from locals.  

“But the memory of you in a dress will live on.” Geralt says, unable to keep the smirk from his face, which makes Jaskier’s face morph between anger and confusion quickly before settling on incredulousness.  

“No one is to hear of this Geralt. Geralt! Do you hear me? No. One. Geralt!” His protests increase as the White Wolf begins to trek back into the thicket of trees, Jaskier following behind him and shouting all the while.  

“Jaskier!” You call to him, and the complaints die as he turns to face you. “Please, please be careful.”  

“I promise, Dear Heart. I will be fine.”  

Somehow, you don’t quite believe him as he disappears into the trees to join Geralt at his trap, leaving you alone with only the fire and the moon for company. Eyes turn up towards the full, round beacon of light, the only break in the darkness overhead with no stars to join her. You aren’t religious, and don’t believe in worship or prayer but now, tonight, you close your eyes and breathe deeply. You trust in the moon more than you trust Geralt and Jaskier not to take any unnecessary risks,            

“Please keep him safe for me. Please.”  

#jaskier imagine #jaskier x reader #jaskier x you #jaskier smut #the witcher imagine

[deceptichubs]

I just found your Bulkhead/Breakdown fanfic - you're doing the Lord's work, giving Bulky more love and making a big bot like him even bigger. If it's not trouble, can I ask if you have any general eating/weight gain HCs for the big Wrecker?

Bulk/head rarely gets to indulge his appetite: they're in the middle of a war, after all. Though his tank's always full enough, and he's barely lost a pound since coming to Earth--Rat/chet makes sure of that--he's never quite sated. His unhappy belly gurgles loudly and regularly.

Still, the weight he gained in happier days sticks around. His belly sways slightly as he walks, throwing off his gait; his gut leads him around, heavy even by his standards. When he moves his head, a pad of metallic fat bunches up under his chin-guard, threatening to become a plump second chin. He's almost, but not quite, grown used to the extra bulk, even after thousands of Terran years. Every few days, he turns around too quickly, and his fat aft knocks into something--

--as if he still hasn't quite processed how fat he really is.

As the war on Earth continues, and the Bots capture mine after mine, Bulk/head makes do: he's never been much of a cook, but he improvises, dunking Ener/gon chunks into barrels of crude oil. The result's finger-licking good. So are the Terran wheelnuts he experimentally covers in chocolate. Bulk/head's taste for human culture extends farther than monster movies and Ukrainian shriek-metal...

The chocolate gives him a belly-ache. The crude oil goes down sweet and smooth, his tanks burbling contentedly for the first time in Terran years. He downs barrel after barrel. It's a small price to pay, his government handlers decide, for keeping the big bot on the field. They think of him as experimental military technology; Fow/ler, more jaded than his military superiors, just sees a big, fat glutton of a Bot.

Bulk/head's belly swells, the crude oil turning to layers of mesh. His underbelly sags just a bit more, immensely soft without the pressure of his armor to shape it. His aft, too, juts out a bit farther, growing as round and prominent as his gut. (A new development. He's taken aback by how much his aft jiggles. Wheel/jack gives it the occasional flirty slap, chuckling to himself.) His chin-guard expands under the pressure of a double chin, his face now even rounder and friendlier.

He's sheepish about his increasing weight: they're in a shortage, after all. Ratchet clicks his vocoder a bit, in a chiding way; but when Bulk/head drops a few kilos after their most reliable mine collapses, Rat/chet is the first to tell him that he needs to eat.

When the war ends, Bulk/head retires to construction. His work's not particularly taxing for a mech who's survived a millennia-long war, and Bulk/head finds the weight piling on: he widens quickly, growing thick love handles over his pelvic girdle. His belly stretches his armor, huge and almost perfectly round at first; as he gains, the new chub hangs lower and softer, wobbling against his fat thighs. As he grows fatter and fatter, he finds himself settling, puffing, against walls and giving his crew directions. (This leaves him plenty of time to snack.)

He gives great hugs, enveloping people in tons upon tons of warm, yielding metal fat.

#the laborer #chubformers #glad you enjoyed!

[tortillastar]

Ribs

She drags the shoe across the linoleum tendu à la second. The offending stockinged leg stares back from the mirror. The creased turnout - just shy of 180 - the lemon-peel crease at the crook of her knee, the tumor bulge of her kneecap, and the limp left toes, hung out to dry like Sunday laundry. Slight, like a pimple dotting one’s brow, yet enough to give it the look of a crooked branch.

She shifts her gaze to the leg and gazes detachedly as the flesh constricts, pulling and stretching into the same strange crests and valleys traced by shadow. A heaviness presses upon her knee, a directive to point is lost in translation, and only then did she realize her feet were numb.

A few streaks of light claw the studio floor, slicing her leg like a loaf of brioche. She nudges her phone with the frayed corner of her pointe shoe. 8:10. Two hours she’d been in the empty studio tucked at the end of the hall, only the hawk-eyes and bitter laugh of the mirror for company.

For the past month, she’d taken to running the exam combinations in some pretense of preparing for the winter final. In ballet, no amount of midnight cramming would shuffle the pecking order. Anna would top the list, Svetlana and Maria eating at her heels a few miles removed. She would powder the bottom, placidly hanging on the brink of expulsion as only one who’d lived bare-necked beneath the guillotine for five years and four months could.

She hadn’t gotten past the first set of pas de bourrées, engaged in a staring contest with the knee she’d hammer straight, the bones she’d melt and remold, the feet she’d shape into the neck of a goose.

She peers at the face in the mirror, fixed with a melted and molded smile, like a wax mask worn in the sun. The janitor would be making his rounds soon. He was a stubby hunchback who reeked of greasy bacon and cottage cheese and picked his teeth with the rusted keys on his belt-sized keyring - one she preferred not to cross.

She wobbles over to her bags and collapses by them, a boney addition to the hobo pile. Practiced hands dig out the knot and unravel the ribbons. They leave red tracks crisscrossing her calves - she’d tied them too tight. Her nails absent-mindedly trace the straw-like veins, some purple, some blue along her feet, peeling off millimeter by millimeter each patch and piece of toe-tape. They pull at her skin and reveal the scabs, the welts, the splotches of red. She slips out the studio, leaving a foot-width slit as the teachers did, a silent dusting of her tracks.

The two-minute trek back to the dorms was enough to stain her exposed cheeks crimson and numb the fingertips poking out of holes in her winter gloves. The knob gives too easily.

No Anna, but the heap of dress and stockings, shed like a lizard's skin at the foot of the bed, confirmed her lurking presence.

Stealing food again.

At this, the girl allows herself a haughty flick of the lead eyebrows smeared to the crown of her forehead. The fading desk lamp huffs out a sickly-yellow glow on the knots of hair, specks of dust, bits of paper, and the torn sole of an unwashed stocking poking forth from beneath the bed. They invaded the edges of her vision, rubbing a crude line around the corners.

The girl picks up a corner of the lilac leotard, the sheer purple skirt would clumsily about the waist and noted with a bitter cornrow twist of the lip the xs tag, the letters faded and cracked, but the jeer no quieter. Hers was two sizes bigger - two sizes too big. A fist-sized patch of sweat bloomed at the chest. She smells in its sticky sweetness, browned toast, and poached eggs. Hands bring the damp clothing closer to her hankering nose. She stumbles at the rusty stutter of the doorknob and flings the dress back atop the pile with a flinch.

Anna slips in, lithe as a cat. She flips the lock shut with a blind hand, balancing in the other a plate piled with the usual - tattered cheese squares and soggy folded between slices of flaking bread heels.

“Back already?” The words are puffy and thick. Two folded sandwiches balloon from her cherry-petal lips; a scrap of ham flags the corner of her mouth. The lilt fills in the rest - given up already?

The girl hums, letting the implication roll off her like a raindrop caught on an umbrella.

Anna flops on her bed, sidestepping the strewn clothes and bunched skirts on impossibly high relevé. A few sandwiches flop open, but no creak of the headboards. A few sticky stabs of the remote control and a projection flickers to life on the far wall, bathing her form in a hazy-blue hue. It flecks her hair, mud brown and unbrushed, but pretty in that careless way only those who didn’t care their appearance seemed capable of. A white collarbone peaks out the collar of her nightshirt, paper-strip legs from the mouth of flared pajama pants. A flat chest and masculine frame suspended her at that blissful age where the body seemed an insatiable black hole, vanishing the food she ate without a trace. The girl stares at the way her kneecaps vanished into the line of her leg, and the natural doming of her foot, even unpointed, and subconsciously shoved her numb toes and bruised legs further beneath her bed.

She was the same once - wolfing down oil-crisp fries and cheese-dripping burgers at the KFC beneath her ballet class, shoving a bag of chips to the tail of the conveyor belt, being chased around the house by her grandmother, begging her to down the last gulp of soup.

It had come about gradually, imperceptibly, like the callouses about her big toe. A few arched eyebrows, a few frowns, and a simple “Katia switch with Sofya” relegated her to the spot by the exit door. The ones who occupied it never stayed long - dismissed, or crushed under the pressure of digging themselves out.

Her fork lingered over the beefsteak, wound an uneasy pirouette, and stabbed into the neighboring mound of greens. That had been easy. The academy canteen didn’t serve much red meat in the first place. Fish was harder, especially the cuts of smoked salmon she slapped on everything from burnt toast to insipid spinach leaves. Eggs went because she forgot to grab one breakfast. Then milk, because the skim milk pitcher had run dry one morning, and if she wasn’t drinking milk anymore why keep up with the yogurt.

She forced down finger-sized carrots, bitter brussels sprouts, and broccoli florets that sunk into her teeth. First with leftover dribbles of salad dressing, then fruit, then nothing at all. She gazed at the squares of beef steak wedged in others’ mouths, trying to taste the greasy, crumbly juices in her raw cucumber slices.

She took to keeping food and water on her person at all times - an orange bulging like a tumor in her clutch, a thermos tucked in the rooster pouch of a holey jumper. It was to avoid starvation, the dull cramp in her stomach that tugged down the corners of her lips and inevitably followed by overeating. She never ate the food but kept bringing it along anyway - on the two-minute walk from her dorm to the academy, the few hundred-step walk from cafeteria to class.

Partly, she derived some warped pride from the fact that she could eat, but would not. Partly, she came to enjoy voicing with a breathy, bogged-down sigh, “I’m too full, anyone want this?” when she spotted a teacher turning the corner, and answering calls of “I’m starving, anyone got a snack?” with granola bars, and too-large apples shoved in her classmates’ faces, smiling an evasive smirk when they accepted.

She scanned barcodes and tallied up the calories, grinning in triumph when she dragged herself through the day at under a thousand - net, of course, she was careful.

“Want one?” She realizes she’d been staring, and by the arch of Anna’s single crow-bar brow, for too long. Without shame, the girl raises her eyes to meet Anna’s pitch-black orbs, poised before an eye-roll she would probably share with her bed lamp.

“No thank you.” Creaks the automatic reply. “I don’t eat bread.” She adds to strengthen her conviction, though nobody would spare a glance at her plate at lunch to check if she’d kept her word.

“Your loss.”

A buoyant, techno tune draws her gaze to the projection. For the night, Anna had passed up the flabby American rom-coms she inhaled under the pretext of learning English. Instead, flappy, armless sleeves, squirming tuber dresses, and pendulum purses paraded down coffee-stained roads, easily avoiding the few puddling gulps dotting the curbs. Towering lampposts, shop signs, wobbly curbstones, each leaf bleached grey. A flap of bat’s wings and the occasional lilting bird whine completes a pretend eeriness ruined by the too-matte paint, the too-smooth roads, the too-new metal benches.

The camera whirled about, favoring a bottom-to-top shot that lent full view to jutting, crooked knees, and bowed legs. The girl frowns at their pastry-thin shoulders, chicken-wing spatula, and pigeon-toed walk. She sees in bed-sheet expressions not aristocratic coolness, but contemptible misery - a silent plea on weighted lips.

“You can become a model if you’re dismissed.” Her smacking lips pork chop the words, her mouth brimmed like her suitcase, its zippered mouth perpetually open in half-hearted surprise. She tears open the final sandwich, nails pressing crescent-moons into the holey bread pockets. The girl lifts a corner of her lip in a wan smile.

The words pick at hardened scabs, no more than a tickle. She’d been suspended on the chopping block from the moment she was accepted, and the sense of urgency had long since worn thin. The studio hours after class was fulfilled out of habit, not any imminent fear of dismissal.

The girl thought it was Anna’s brand of helping - disaster prevention through repeated exposure. They walked the no-man’s-land between friend and stranger on a scaffolding of convenience and pity.

“They have it easy. Just starve themselves, look miserable, parade around clothes slapped with some expensive brand name. And people shower them with praise.” She sucks the tips of her fingers with a pop.

“We have to starve ourselves and look happy doing it.” She stands up with the empty plate. A few dark specks had already seized on the leftover crumbs.

“You’re showering first.” A phrase stranded between question and demand.

The door croaks shut, and her wobbly “Yeah” sinks in the empty room. The bed groans as she stands. She wants to peel off the bark and tear the baseboards but glares dully woodgrains for a few beats before grabbing her shower duffel from the doorway.

The shared bathroom is conspicuously empty. The others had showered after class, she assumed. She twists off her jumper and lets the cold prick at her bare arms, observing each pimpling goosebump. Slowly, she peels off the lilac leotard and rejoices at the wrinkle of fabric bunched beneath the armpits. Cold fingers trace along the ribs, revealed one by one, pressing a chill to each angled, protruding bone. In the mirror - lustrous despite the grimy tiles and cracked sinks, copper wire lips bend into a smile.

#ballet #writing #short story #fiction

[homedermremedy]

10 Best Food For Dry Skin

Diet for dry skin: Like some other organ, the skin needs supplements to remain sound. Here are a few supplements and food varieties you should remember for the eating routine. Healthy Fats: Without fat weight control plans don’t work for a solid hydrated skin. Fundamental unsaturated fats are a piece of the cell layer and eating satisfactory solid fats is significant for a sound skin.1. Eat Nuts and seeds:📷Rich in sound monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, they additionally contain phytonutrients that ensure us against the unfavorable impacts of oxidative pressure. They are calorie thick, so one ounce, otherwise known as a small bunch are sufficient for a day.2. Coconut Oil:📷It is phenomenal for effective application. It contains dynamic mixtures that work on diminishing irritation and upgrades the skin’s defensive layer by aiding trap dampness. Eating coconut oil may not be solid as it is a soaked fat, which we know might prompt other medical problems. Proteins: Proteins are comprised of amino acids. When assimilated from our food, these are utilized as building blocks for the 10,000 odd proteins that our body needs. Every cell and tissue of our body needs protein as a primary component. The skin structure is comprised of Collagen and Keratin proteins. A sound skin needs quality proteins.3. Eggs:📷Best quality proteins and an extra inventory of Sulfur and Lutein – the two of which help the skin lock in the dampness while saving its flexibility.4. Milk and Yogurt:📷When ingested, milk and yogurt add quality proteins to your every day diet. Also, yogurt is extraordinary for a sound stomach related framework, which implies a perfect gut and a solid skin. Our home cure of crude milk or yogurt as a face pack is additionally extremely helpful. The lactic corrosive present in yogurt is related with shutting fine pores and forestalling wrinkles to having shedding properties that will leave your skin feeling gentler and glowy. Vit A: It is basic for aiding the collagen hold its shape. It is additionally a solid cancer prevention agent for our body, killing free revolutionaries that play destruction with our skin.5. Tomatoes :📷make an incredible face pack. At the point when eaten they give Vitamin C, yet additionally Lycopene, a cell reinforcement which helps keep the skin new and secures against maturing. Tomatoes are best eaten pureed and cooked with a little oil – so tank up on those sauces!6. Guavas :📷are likewise occasionally accessible which fill in as rich wellsprings of Vitamin C. Furthermore, they additionally contain iron, ensuring against paleness and weak looking skin. Vit C: Skin is a layered organ, and both the upper and lower layers need Vitamin A to keep up with their honesty. Nutrient A might be related with halting the breakdown of collagen because of the hurtful impacts of the sun. It additionally helps the oil organs in the skin, around the hair follicles. Further, it invigorates the creation of fibroblasts-cells that foster tissues keeping the skin graceful.7. Carrots:📷are perhaps the best wellspring of Beta carotene and nutrient A. Both these nutrients rummage free revolutionaries, assisting with an even complexion and forestalling maturing,8. Yam or Sweet potatoes:📷particularly the one with red skin and cooked, is one of the great wellsprings of beta carotene which is changed over to Vitamin An in our body. They additionally contain Vitamin A. This colder time of year amicable food helps keep dry, flaky skin under control. Hydration: Hydration is foremost to a sound flexible, sans wrinkle, shining skin. Winters causes us not to feel parched, but rather being in air-warmed workplaces and utilizing radiators implies we lose water. Likewise, our body needs sufficient hydration for working in excellent condition, so drink up! Waterish likely the best liquid to hydrate the skin. It forestalls flaky and dry skin. In the event that you think that it is difficult to burn-through plain water add some organic product cuts or flavors to season it. 9. Green tea:📷is one more acceptable strategy for adding

to your everyday sans calorie liquid admission. Notwithstanding hydration, it adds cell reinforcements and calming intensifies that assist with mending harmed skin and forestall imperfections. 10. Vegetable juices:📷assist with giving you without calorie hydration while adding every one of the advantages of the nutrients and minerals and cancer prevention agents. Practicing good eating habits includes devouring food sources in their freshest and normal structure. Taking enhancements doesn’t add similar advantages as food, so to get your fantasy skin, eat.BY: Zainab T.

#health #dry skin #beauty #health & fitness #vegetables #milk and honey

[vannahfanfics]

Once There Were Dragons

Category: Hurt and Comfort, Romantic Fluff

Fandom: How To Train Your Dragon

Characters: Hiccup, Astrid

Hey, guys! I wrote this up for an upcoming HTTYD zine application, but I thought you guys might want to see it too! Hope you enjoy :) 

The wind breezed over the cliffside, ruffling the emerald green carpet of grass. The wildflowers bobbed in the steady gale; as they writhed, the wind plucked away their loose petals to whisk them away into the wild blue yonder. As the soft little buds floated past Hiccup’s nose, he inhaled deep, flooding his nose with the honey-sweet scent of the pollen, dew, and earth lingering on their surfaces. Hiccup relished the aroma- the aroma of the wilderness. 

A heavy sigh fell past his lips as he eased himself into a sitting position. He was only twenty-two, but the cares of an entire village weighed heavy on a man. It felt like the toil and stress oozed down into his bones, gunking up his joints like oil and making them stiff and uncooperative. He rubbed at the scruffy hairs at the base of his neck. Despite the dull aching of his much too young body, he smiled wanly as the breeze tickled the little braids Astrid had tied into his wiry brown hair. Out in the cliffsides, staring into the great unknown, Hiccup could physically feel his worries and cares melting away. 

“Ahhh,” he exhaled contentedly and leaned back on his hands. He stretched his legs out in front of him, and the sole of his boot and metal foot hung barely over the edge of the bluff. The grass blades playfully brushed the leathers of his pants and his iron greaves, and the dandelions nearby deposited their fluffy seeds on his clothes. Beyond the cliffside, the ocean stretched on forever in endless glimmering sapphire. Above the horizon line, the pale blue sky expanded into the atmosphere; wispy white clouds blotted the vastness in long, thin sheets. Beyond the fluffy barrier, the sun tried its best to shine, pushing its warm yellow rays through the cottony surfaces to alight the earth. Hiccup smiled as he felt the streams wash over him, filling him with pleasant warmth. 

It wasn’t enough. Hiccup longed for more. Hiccup yearned for elder days, when he’d coasted among the clouds with water vapor exploding on his face as he dove down into them. He craved the heat of the burning sun, stretching his arms wide like Icarus to bask in the full brilliance of the bright rays as he climbed closer and closer to the bubbling yellow-white disc. He ached for the sensation of salt spray peppering his cheeks as he danced over thrashing waves and writhing white sea foam. He hungered for the touch of the wilds and the spirit of the unknown-

because once there were dragons, and Hiccup missed them terribly. 

With a forlorn sigh, he flopped back into the carpet of green. Pollen spores and flower petals clouded the air in yellowy bursts with his movement to coast on the breeze. In the hazy wisps, Hiccup imagined the lumpy winged forms of dragons gliding on trade winds. They flapped their wings and occasionally dove down with gleeful growls. His lips curled upward in a wistful smile, and on reflex, he reached out. The pollen scattered at his touch, and the visions of the reptiles dissolved into nothingness. They existed only in his memory, not unlike his present reality. 

He groaned angrily and flopped his arm back against the ground- the ground which held him prisoner. No matter how much that Hiccup longed to fly, he no longer had wings to bear him. A few bitter tears prickled at the corners of his eyes as he gazed agonizedly up at the endless blue. 

“I miss you, bud,” he whispered to the wind. The breeze grasped the words and carried them away, bearing them across the wide, wide sea. Could Toothless hear them, he wondered? Hiccup liked to think so. He wondered if his best friend was perched on the slick rocks ringing the entrance to the Hidden World, contemplating the same sky and same sorrows. Hiccup closed his eyes and savored the feeling of the air swirling over his limbs and face. Momentarily, he could envision that he was astride Toothless’ broad, saddled back and sailing across the clouds. His heart ached, because a phantasm fell so, so short of the real thing. 

As Hiccup opened his eyes halfway to stare miserably at the world from which he was forever barred, the gentle shuffling of footsteps caught his attention. His eyes widened as he rolled his head to the side to see his very pregnant wife huffing and puffing as she tried to scale the steep path to the clifftop. Crying out, Hiccup rolled onto his belly and scrambling halfway through the grass on all fours before he managed to jump up and run to her. 

“Astrid! You shouldn’t exert yourself!” he scolded worryingly when he reached her. He immediately grabbed her elbow to steady her as her swollen body wobbled precariously. She used her free hand to sweep the straggling strands of her blonde bangs from her eyes and flashed him a gracious smile. 

“Thanks, honey,” she chirped and leaned in to peck him lightly on the cheek. They’d been together for years now, but even still, a bashful blush rose to paint Hiccup’s cheeks pink. With gentle nudges, he guided Astrid the rest of the way up the crudely carved steps until they reached the flat grasses of the clifftop. Astrid sighed contentedly and sunk in the center of the ridge to catch her breath. Hiccup squatted down beside her, lovingly combing his fingers through her pale blonde hair. “So, what’s on your mind?” 

Hiccup narrowed his eyes and flashed her a sardonic grin. 

“What makes you think anything is on my mind?” Astrid giggled as she tucked her legs under herself, leaning back at an angle so that her protruding belly didn’t unbalance her. With a crooning hum, she reached up to quickly tie a new braid into the threads of his long hair. As her fingertips glided through the wiry strands, she quipped matter-of-factly, “You only ever come up here when you have something on your mind.” Hiccup smiled wanly, caught red-handed, and flopped down beside her. 

“Ah, you caught me, you caught me,” he admitted with a small chuckle. Squinting, he cast his gaze back to the heavens. “When it all gets too much… I come up here and think about how things used to be.” Astrid hummed knowingly and began rubbing soothing circles into the small of his back. “It’s not that I regret what happened… It was what was best for all of us…” He sighed forlornly, imagining Toothless’ silhouette circling the fluffy cloud directly above them. “But, I still miss him, and I still miss being up there.” 

“I know,” Astrid cooed. She cuddled into him and nestled her head into the crook of his neck; Hiccup responded by resting his cheek against her scalp. “I know.” She reached out to link their hands and entwine their fingers, gripping him tight in reassurance. Her body was tense, and for a second, Hiccup began to feel guilty. 

“Astrid, I’m sorry. I probably sound so ungrateful-”

“No,” she interjected. Her free hand snapped up to cup his cheek, thumb lovingly tracing over the stubble beginning to line his jawline. “Don’t ever think that. I know that there’s a hole in your heart that I can never fill, and I don’t resent that,” she told him firmly. She smiled lovingly and pressed a lingering kiss to the joint of his jaw. “I know that you’ll miss him forever, and that’s okay.” She caressed his cheek with endearing touches as she squeezed his hand tightly again. “Every once in a while, it’s all right to let your head wander up into the clouds.” 

He hummed thoughtfully, for his mind had already drifted heavenward once more. He relived it for a while, the time where there were dragons, before he finally fell back down to earth. Astrid was now reclined against him, snoozing peacefully in the warm summer afternoon. Smiling, Hiccup pressed a kiss to her temple and rubbed the belly swollen with their first child. She exhaled with a hum, and fluttered her eyes open to peer sleepily at him. “What’s on your mind now?” she asked blearily as she stretched against him. Hiccup chuckled and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. 

“Oh, you know, just how amazing I am and whatnot,” he started sarcastically, making Astrid giggle and slap him playfully in the cheek. Hiccup snickered and buried his nose into her hair, inhaling her scent like honeysuckle and fresh bread. “Kidding… I was thinking of how amazing you are,” he corrected. “You’re always here waiting for me when I come down from the sky,” he purred lovingly. Astrid laughed mirthfully and nuzzled further into him. 

“Of course, love. Always.” 

Hiccup wrapped his arms around his wife and held her close. He looked over the cliffside and out into the wide sea. Somewhere beyond the horizon, dragons roamed, free forever from pain and torment to flit playfully through white cotton-candy clouds and splashing waves. Once there were dragons in Hiccup’s world, but they were no longer there to carry him across the wind and into the sky. But, that was okay, because Hiccup had plenty there for him on the ground, too.

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

Tag List: @deliathedork​

#hicstrid #hiccup x astrid #astrid x hiccup #how to train your dragon #httyd #httyd 3 #how to train your dragon 3 #httyd fanfic #httyd fanfiction #hicstrid fanfic #hicstrid fanfiction

[disgraced-doctor-junkenstein]

💭+ 💋 💭 +  🍆 (@APrimeSpecimen Roo and Hog)

Send me  💭+ 🍆/  💭+ 💋 for sinday

@aprimespecimen

💭+ 💋  

for a romantic thought my muse has about your’s

💭 +  🍆

 a sexual thought my muse has had about your’s

Roo-mance:

Roo is such a beautiful hot mess. He’s impulsive, childish, loud, all over the place- And scared, still learning, and trying so hard to fit in. Junkenstein doubts Roo will ever verbally acknowledge any of this but the more he is around him the more the good doctor feels the need to hold him. 

Junkenstein finds himself thinking of resting in the nook of his couch with Roo curled up on his lap. His head resting just under Junkenstein’s whiskery chin and occasionally reaching up to stroke his scruff as if making sure he did not somehow leave him in spite of being under him the entire time. 

Doc wants to show him everything he believe a child should have experienced growing up. The basics of love, support, and understanding- patience.

He also wants to take him exploring like his own father did back when he was a boy. To trudge through streams in the day and look for animal tracks, though not here in the Outback, Doc was sure they did not want to meet whatever animals were hidden away and changed by the effects of radiation.. 

At night to show him fireflies and real stars for once! Then map them out and explain them like his mother would.

Roo deserved to know what it should have been like and Doc wants to be the one to give it to him. One day Roo was going to feel loved and know just what it meant to trust again. 

Lusty thoughts for Roo:

There was some guilt to these thoughts. As much as Doc wanted to comfort and give Roo everything he believed he needed, Doc also had the strong desire to pin him down to the floor and grind against him. To let his hands explore the wiry frame and map out the one part he never got to see yet. 

But above all he wanted to tease the little shit. To feel Roo up and make him squirm, cheeks reddening as he grew more and more flustered. 

He wanted to feel Roo hook his legs around him and trap him in between. To know he was really wanted and should not even dare think of leaving until Doc finished what he started. 

Junkenstein wanted to kiss every freckle that littered the junker’s body and if it took hours he would gladly spend them there. He wanted to fake lose count when he would trail his way around bony shoulders and ‘have to start over’. To hear Roo whine and beg for more with greed. 

The thought of pinning him to a wall and slowly fucking him against it being the newest addition. Surely Roo was light enough to keep up against it and if Roo really wanted him like he did in these daydreams he would hold onto him tight and pull at Doc’s frazzled white hair. Both desperately interlocked and wanting everything the other was willing to give.

—-

Hog romance:Was there anything Doc did not want to do with Mako? He had been taken back by their first crossing though there had been the initial fear he was going to be mugged. The more they crossed paths the more Doc was enamored by the big lug. Junkenstein wanted to write sonnets about him. Not regular poetry, but sonnets that could be sung in awe and praise of the man and for why- why he could not place for the life of himself. There was just something remarkably captivating about Mako that was so on brand with his type that even though he was human- he felt perfect. Junkenstein longs to be close in every manner. He wants to hold hands, steal chaste kisses, to wrap his arm around Mako as far as they can go and just share one another’s warmth. Doc stares off just thinking of getting to sit beside him and stare off over the ocean or even better- to kiss Mako in the rain! The cold water spurring them ever closer as he hooks his arms around that thick neck to keep him down for lingering, messy kisses. That silver mane of hair pulled down and growing damp but they just quietly laugh and smile while looking one another in the eyes. Lightning flashes from behind, because it’s his perfect little dream world and Doc just wants it there for the ambiance. He wants Mako to know he is important and that he is seen and he hope Mako can see him too. That they can just be happy together a while longer in the pouring rain.Hog-wild Lust:It’s almost embarrassing how these thoughts came so quickly. Mako was a prime specimen, a prized hog, he was already wonderful just as he was. But he probably looked even better undressing. Junkenstein titters just at the thought of it but he dreams of being more bold and outspoken with the other. To be able to just tell him to get on his hands and knees as Doc undoes his pants and just has him suck him off. Those tusks still ever prominent while Mako moans deeply as if Doc were a sweet snack. His mismatched hands pulling free the hair tie so he can run his digits through the soft locks and pull on them as he gets closer to his climax. Doc isn’t sure if he wants Mako to swallow him all or if he would allow him to climax on his face. Both are appealing but perhaps the latter is too crude? He hasn’t fully decided but occasionally his thoughts have Mako only half swallow. The rest pooling down his chin to the floor with a heavy mix of saliva as he looks dazedly up at him. Those ocean eyes like a siren’s call, wanting more from him. So he lets his thoughts keep adding and evolving each time he has them.He knows how to tie a few knots. It might be fun to bind Mako’s arms up over his head. Make the bed more sturdy and tie him to it though if he is as strong as Doc suspects him to be, there isn’t a whole lot he can really do to restrain Mako unless he is allowed to use the thick kind of straps he used on Hoggie. Either way, Mako is bound and almost smug looking. It’s as if he is challenging Doc to do his worst. He doesn’t know when he got a riding crop but Junkenstien quickly finds out he actually enjoys the sound it makes when it strikes against Mako’s thigh. The cracking noise sweet but the painful moan it pulled from the other’s throat has him at a grinding halt. “More~” He imagined Mako saying. His voice is gruff but there is something sultry about it that Doc knows he can’t say no to. It isn’t long until Mako’s flesh is streaked with hot pink markings and that mighty cock of his fully erect. It’s far too big for Doc to even pretend that the thought of riding it ever once crossed his mind. He much rather stroke it with his hands for a while to ensure Mako is really as hot and bothered as he can get before moving himself between those thick legs and oiling him up. He knows he will most likely have to wear a condom for this part but it’s just a dream right? He’s allowed to indulge himself in taking Roadhog without it. It feels good and just even thinking about it has Junkenstein flustered in reality. He will need some time to recover.On rarest occasion though he treats himself with the idea of a threesome. One that surely won’t ever stand of chance of becoming anything more than fabrication. But… He likes the concept of Mako watching him kiss Tick for a bit before the junker parts to reassure Mako he’s his number one and nothing will change. Eventually Mako is on his hands and knees as Tick places a collar around his neck. The black leather very prominent as are the spikes that adorn it but it’s suiting. Tick clips on a leash but hands it over to Doc who is already behind Mako and waiting for the signal-That thought rarely lasts long because of the improbability of it to him but it does occasionally pop up and more gets added to it. Doc’s not entirely certain what direction it goes off to fully but there is something bizarrely alluring about this ham sandwich concept.

#Sinday #Goggles down! #I'm still dying at Roo-mance lmao #Anonymous #aprimespecimen #Tickled pink #Hogtied

[redskybeach]

Red Mist

There's nothing like a fresh science fiction novel (where nobody wields a sword) to improve your summer reading.

Legends endure for a reason. Sometimes they survive to impel our cultural hubris. Occasionally they endure because they instill a sense of focus on what was and perhaps a vision of what will be. They are always a reminder. When they come back to haunt us, things start to get interesting.

A couple in Iceland, very much in love, visit a historic site and suddenly he throws himself into a volcano, burning to a crisp in front of her eyes, and thereafter, it is always raining.

The dwindling North Sea Oil supply is suddenly rejuvenated with a new discovery, a huge oil field of light, sweet, crude worth billions. Exploration, drilling, and pumping begin to breathe life into a faltering industry and just as things seem to be going well, the oil is polluted with radioactive thorium.

US Army Special Forces operators in Iceland on an exercise are drawn into a crisis and as NASA withdraws, they boldly face the challenge. All but one are rendered insane and the memory of Red Mist turns into a quest for answers – that the CIA already has.

In Texas, a political fixer is called on to deal with a situation and finds himself completely out of his depth.

In England, a psychologist’s life is turned upside down as a skald makes a disturbing prophecy.

In China, aggressive experiments into neutrino research create a completely unforeseen disaster and portend a global cataclysm of Biblical proportions.

Just when you’re sure that you have all the answers and are confident that the science is settled, it isn’t.

Published this week, available in hard copy and all electronic platforms.

#red mist #science fiction #espionage thriller

[scribbledwriting]

“Show, Don’t Tell!”: Using the Five Senses in Writing

This is an extended piece to my ‘Show, Don’t tell’ post. When writing the senses, I like to imagine the scene as if I were watching a movie. It’s the simplest way for me to picture and write when it comes to descriptions. You don’t want to overload the reader, but you do want to paint the picture instead of telling them. Staying aware of the five senses in your writing will dramatically improve your skill. It not only helps the reader be a part of the story but helps the writer set important scenes, without having to outright state what is happening. In this post, I will explain how I use the five senses in my writing. As always, my advice is subjective and only to show what I personally do. Whether you keep the senses in mind as you write, or you edit them in later, making sure you pay attention to keywords will help eliminate the stress of going back later to figure out what (maybe!) went wrong. 

SEE: On Sight

One of the easiest ways to go about elaborating sight is to eliminate words related to vision (look, saw, gazed, peek, etc). It also helps to stay aware of items, colors, sizes, etc. Do the same thing you’d do with words related to sight, eliminate them. Of course, don’t erase every word or phrase, but being proactive, keeping them in mind, and avoiding them will help you avoid overloading your reader with too much purple prose. (Granted, I would die for purple prose, but I understand that’s not everyone’s thing). 

Examples:

Jill saw Jack running. He carried a silver pail. He tripped and fell down the hill. 

 There are a lot of sight-words in this example. As the writer, it is your decision to choose what you want to elaborate on, whether it is one thing, or all of them. How much of the story you want to paint is up to you—

Jack’s feet blurred against the green grass as his toe caught his ankle. He rolled on his side, his silver pail flying into the air and reaching Jill first.

Jill craned her neck to find Jack staggering down the hill. Water sloshed from the sides of the bucket, swinging and glistening in the sunlight. He stumbled and grabbed for the handle with his second hand as the pail threatened to leave his grasp, and then he slipped, toppling down the hill.

In both of these scenarios, the reader can “see” that Jack is running and tripped without specifically stating that Jill saw it. They also “see” he had a silver pail and dropped it. 

Being more visually descriptive is also very important for facial expressions. It takes a simple mood and elevates it. Describing the expression also gives the reader the chance to “feel” that way too, almost like a mimic, which helps them visualize and empathize with the character.

Example:

Maxine made a disgusted face.

Think of what a disgusted reaction looks like; usually, it involves frowning, pinching your nose, sticking out your tongue, etc. Sometimes, it can help to look in a mirror and write what you’re seeing, too.

Maxine flared her nostrils and stuck out her tongue.

In the latter example, the reader is able to infer that Maxine is disgusted by how the writer described her reaction.

HEAR: On Sound

Describing sound can be tricky. It’s also hard to remember when to use it. We tend to think of sound in terms of music or voices—okay, okay, sometimes we sprinkle in animals howling or the wind blowing, too!—but sound can be incredibly important in setting a scene and is often under-utilized. Sounds let the reader know their surroundings without pulling from what is going on and adds intensity!

Examples:

Manuel sat nervously at the coffee table.

Again, as the writer, you can decide where to incorporate the use of sound. Here are a couple of suggestions, based on the above example:

Manuel’s fingers drummed against the table and drowned out the low whistle escaping from between his teeth as he exhaled. All around him, there was cheerful chatter, through which the barista’s loud voice occasionally sliced.

Manuel’s thoughts whirred and hummed, a dull grinding and the clinking of glass broke through the constant thump of his knee against the underside of the table.

In both of these examples, the reader was able to gather that Manuel was nervous (tapping knee, drumming fingers, low whistle). They are also able to gather he is in a coffee shop (or a restaurant of sorts) without explicitly saying so.

TOUCH: On Sensation

The best way to handle touch is by imagining whatever it is you are describing and what it feels like. If you don’t know how something feels, google it. Don’t describe a snake as slimy just because its scales are shiny and gives it a slime-like effect. That said, touch doesn’t just deal with what your character is physically touching. It can also deal with emotions and help to express them without saying outright how your character feels. 

Example:

Opal touched the silk blanket. She felt sleepy and closed her eyes.

Here we can elaborate on what the blanket feels like when Opal touches it and how she feels to indicate she is tired: 

The supple fabric slid between Opal’s fingers like water. Her tired muscles sagged and sharp, tiny pinpricks pressed against her heavy eyelids as she lay back.

The reader knows the blanket was very soft and also that she is tired without specifically stating she was sleepy. 

TASTE: On Flavor

Taste is a fun sense to mess with. It can show the reader so much more than how delicious the bread is (or how gross dirt is). I like to play around with taste in the weather/air, the taste of fear, the taste of cat hair in your mouth because there is always cat hair in your mouth… all right, maybe that’s a personal thing.

Example: 

The sun rose over the city.

What do you use for taste here? A city can’t taste, the sun doesn’t taste, but your character does!

Yellow light spilled over the streets, soaking the grit from the rainbow puddles into the air. The bitter grease lingered and settled in his mouth, strengthening every time he scraped his teeth against his tongue. 

Experiment with taste in your writing. Describe things you wouldn’t normally think to taste, like crude oil*. The internet is a good resource when it’s something you don’t want to try yourself, like crude oil**. Chances are, someone out there has already tried it and explained what it tastes like online.

SCENT: On Smell

Ahhh, smell. Smell lets the reader know so much: they can figure out where a character is, what they’re doing, where they are, etc., just from a few scent-related descriptors thrown around. Smell is also useful in triggering memories or past events.

Danny walked through the forest.

You can use so many of the five senses here! But since we’re focusing on scent, let’s zero in on that:

A crisp hint of pine lingered in the air and blended with the pungent decay of the brown needles underfoot.

Without stating anything about a forest, the reader has an idea of where Danny is. You can also use smell to show emotion! 

Danny was in love.

How do you smell love, K? Well, you’ve got me there: you can’t. But as a writer, you can think of what love means to you and of things you associate with love, and work from there. Personally, I imagine it would have a sweet smell, maybe too sweet.

A rush of flowery sweetness filled his nostrils as the handsome young man walked by.

There you have it. Of course, there’s a lot more to writing the five senses, as there is with anything, but this is to give you a basic idea of what I do when I’m writing. Being proactive and keeping the senses in mind while writing can be tough and exhausting, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes. And you don’t leave it all for editing! Remember: the most important thing is to keep practicing. 

Happy writing!

* Please do not taste crude oil. I can’t believe I have to type this, but some people want to eat Tide Pods, so here I am.

** Do not taste crude oil. You will die.

#scribbledwriting's writing advice #thank you vicki for the help #writing #writer #write #writing tip #writing tips #writing advice #writing help #writing reference #writer help #writer things #writing things #writing blog #writing blogger #writeblr #writblr #the 5 senses #the five senses #show don't tell

[shadowytreewizard]

10 tips for a healthy lifestyle for adults

Good health is more than healthy eating and exercise, it’s about having a healthy lifestyle. Over 70 percent of American adults and 20 percent of our kids are obese or overweight. Taking good care of your body is necessary to prevent health problems from starting and from getting worse.

To live a healthy lifestyle, you need to make a healthy drink and food choices, exercise regularly, get quality sleep, stay hydrated, manage stress,  think happy thoughts, laugh, quit or stop smoking and get regular medical check-ups.  Tips to help you move toward a healthier life include: eating more vegetables, drinking water, not sugary drinks, meditating to reduce stress, and making exercise fun or working out with a friend.

1. Eat a variety of foods

To be healthy, we need more than 40 different nutrients, and no single food can provide all of them. It’s not just one diet, it’s about choosing a balanced diet over time that will make a difference!

A high-fat lunch can be followed by a low-fat dinner. After a large portion of meat at dinner, perhaps the fish should be the decision for the next day?

2. Put your diet in a high-carbohydrate diet

About half of our calories should come from foods rich in carbohydrates, such as cereals, rice, pasta, potatoes, and bread. It is a good idea to include at least one of these in each meal. Wholegrain foods, such as wholegrain bread, pasta, and whole grains, will increase our fiber intake.

3. Replace crude oil

Fats are essential for good health and well-being. However, too much of it can adversely affect our weight and cardiovascular health. Different types of oils have different health effects, and some of these tips can help us keep our balance:

We should limit the use of whole and saturated fats (usually derived from animal foods), and avoid altogether fats; reading labels helps identify sources. Eating fish 2-3 times a week, with at least one portion of fatty fish, will contribute to our recovery of unsaturated fatty acids. When cooking, we should boil, pour or bake, instead of frying, removing the fatty part of the meat, use vegetable oil.

4. Enjoy plenty of fruits and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are among the most important foods to give us enough vitamins, minerals and fiber. We should try to eat at least 5 times a day. For example, a glass of fresh fruit juice for breakfast, perhaps an apple and a slice of watermelon as a snack, and a good portion of different vegetables at each meal.

5. Reduce salt and sugar intake

Eating too much salt can cause high blood pressure, and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. There are different ways to reduce salt in the diet:

When shopping, we may choose products that have a low sodium content. When cooking, salt can be replaced with spices, enhancing a variety of flavors and tastes. When eating, it is helpful to have no salt on the table, or at least do not add salt before tasting. Sugar gives it an attractive taste and flavor, but sugary foods and beverages are rich in energy and are enjoyed in moderation, as are occasional meals. Instead, we can use fruit, even making sweets in our food and beverages.

6. Eat regularly, control portion portion

Eating a variety of foods, regularly, and in moderation is the best way to eat healthily.

Skipping meals, especially in the morning, can lead to uncontrolled hunger, which often results in an unhealthy diet. A light snack between meals can help control hunger, but snacks should not replace proper nutrition. For snacks, we can choose yogurt, fresh or dried fruit or vegetables (such as carrot sticks), unsalted nuts, or perhaps cheese with cheese.

Paying attention to the size of the portion will help us not to eat too many calories, and it will allow us to eat all the food we enjoy, without giving up any.

Cooking the right amount makes it easier not to overeat. Some sensible feed sizes are 100 g of meat; one fruit in the middle; half a cup of raw pasta. Using smaller plates helps with smaller feeds. Packed foods, with low-calorie intake, can help control portion. If we eat at a restaurant, we can share a portion with a friend.

7. Drink plenty of fluids

Adults need to drink at least 1.5 liters of fluid a day! Or more if they are too hot or busy. Water is the best source, of course, and we can use tap water or minerals, glossy or non-glossy, empty or tasteless. Fruit drinks, tea, cold drinks, milk, and other beverages, all can be fine – from time to time.

8. Maintain a healthy weight

The ideal weight for each individual depends on factors such as gender, height, age, and genetics. Obesity and overweight increase the risk of many diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Too much fat in the body comes from food more than we need. Extra calories can come from any caloric structure – protein, fat, carbohydrates, or alcohol, but fat is a very focused energy source. Exercise helps us to use energy, and it also makes us feel good. The message is simple: if we are overweight, we need to eat less and be more active!

9. Go, make it a habit!

Physical activity is important for people of all weight types and health conditions. It helps us burn more calories, is good for the heart and circulatory system, maintains or increases our muscles, helps us focus, and improves overall health. We don’t have to be top athletes to move forward! It is recommended 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise, and it can easily be part of our daily routine. We can all:

use the stairs instead of the elevator, go for a walk during the lunch break (then stretch out to our offices in the middle) give yourself time for family weekend work

10. Get started now! And keep changing gradually.

Slow changes in our lifestyle are easier to maintain than major changes introduced simultaneously. For three days, we can write down the foods and drinks we consume throughout the day, and record the number of movements we make. It will not be difficult to see where we can improve:

Skipping breakfast? A small bowl of muesli, a slice of bread or fruit, can help to gradually introduce you to our routine. Very few fruits and vegetables? First, we can introduce one additional piece per day. Your favorite fatty foods? Sudden withdrawal may cause us to relapse, and it may cause us to return to our old habits. We can choose lower-fat options, eat less, and in smaller portions. Too little work? Using the

#health #healthtips #healthcare #healthylife #healthyliving #nutrition #wellness #healthylifestyle #health tips

[pet4food]

Top 10 Best Kitten Foods in US for 2020 Guide & Reviews For Dry & Wet

Why is Nulo a good choice for your happy healthy kitten? The Austin-based company is a well-known and well-respected brand that makes dog foods and cat foods for pets of all stages of life and they excel at both dry foods and wet foods. Their products are guaranteed all-natural ingredients and free of artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives that may make your kitty sick. They’re also free of corn, soy, white potatoes, tapioca, and wheat—which, as an obligate carnivore, your growing kitten definitely doesn’t need in her diet. As for what Nulo wet and dry food does contain, you’ll find wholesome natural ingredients like chicken, turkey, salmon, and trout. Nulo’s dry and wet foods are specifically crafted to be grain-free, low-carb, and high in quality protein, antioxidants, and vitamins and minerals. This is important for adult cats and kittens, but especially young kitties who rely on good nutrition to help them build strong immune systems, joints, bones, eyes, and more. But wait… There is a lot more info on this page on how to choose the best kitten food, things like Nutritional Needs for Kittens or what foods you should NEVER give to your kitty. Make sure to read these carefully since you need to read it only once and your cat deserves quality food for a lifetime. 7. AvoDerm Natural Canned Kitten Food AvoDerm is a unique canned food option as the food for your kitten. It provides high-quality ingredients, with the top four ingredients being quality protein sources. It of course also incorporates many other needed nutrients, including antioxidants and healthy sources of fatty acids and omegas for your healthy kitten. What makes it so unique is its use of avocado oil (where the brand takes at least part of its name). It is the avocado oil that provides a truly healthy source of fats and omegas. Besides helping provide the energy your little one will need, it also ensures that she will have a healthy coat and skin. If you choose AvoDerm, you can also rest assured knowing that it meets all of the nutritional levels required by the AAFCO. They also guarantee that there will be no corn, wheat or artificial colors in any of their foods.

AvoDerm Salmon Formula Canned Wet Cat FoodHealthy Skin & Coat: Made With Omega Rich California Avocados And Avocado OilAll Natural: Contains Only Premium All Natural Ingredients, No By-Products Meals, No Artificial...Complete Health: Premium Proteins Are The First Ingredients In All Our Recipes. All Formulas Provide...Healthy Immune System: Avoderm Natural Pet Foods Have Vitamins, Minerals, And Antioxidant Nutrients... Pros: The top four ingredients are protein sources (salmon, salmon broth, chicken liver).It doesn’t contain any corn, soy, artificial colors, preservatives or by-products Cons: Some cats can get bored with the food so you should switch it up occasionally 6. Earthborn Holistic Wet Kitten Food Next on the list of amazing wet food options for your new fuzz bucket is Earthborn Holistic. Using a facility up to human-grade standards, Earthbound makes all of their foods with the highest quality protein and an array of vegetables and fruits. All of their foods contain no grain ingredients. In addition to the whole foods, they also add important vitamins and minerals to help create exceedingly healthy yet tasty formulas. They offer their wet in both cans and pouches with a variety of meat sources, such as chicken, fish and beef. Offering the promise of a guaranteed analysis and the assurance of meeting the AAFCO standards for pet food, Earthborn is a sturdy brand to choose from. While they do not have kittens’ formulas, their wet food has undergone testing to support the claim that it is appropriate for all stages of growth. The company also provides separate feeding instructions appropriate for your kitten.

Earthborn Holistic Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, 5.5 Oz. CanMade With High-Quality Skipjack Tuna And Grilled Mackerel ProteinsIncludes Potatoes For An Exceptional Source Of Vitamins, Minerals And Beta-CaroteneProduced In A Human Grade Facility100% Guaranteed For Taste And Nutrition Pros: Human grade standards in food productionFormula without grains, with the top three ingredients being protein sources Cons: Sometimes you will have to mince the big food pieces depending on the can. 5. Tiki Cat Gourmet Whole Canned Food Tiki Cat gourmet wet food will ensure that your sweet kitten gets the very best. Whole Food Certified, it is one of the only cat diets that is certified for human consumption! Tiki Cat’s focus is on creating food for your kitten that is most natural for the carnivore inside your kitten. All of their lines are high-quality protein, without grains, with no corn, rice, wheat or even potatoes, and use only recognizable, whole-food ingredients. They offer their wet cat foods in many different lines, some canned some in pouches. Chicken and fish are the primary meat sources, and they also offer a line for kitties with sensitive tummies. When you open up a can of Tiki, you know you got what they claim. You can see the chicken and fish chunks and fruit and veggies right before your eyes. You’ll have no doubt about what your little cat is eating.

Tiki Cat Gourmet GRAIN-FREE NUTRITION – Cats are carnivores, so give your cat the meat and seafood she craves with...HIGH MOISTURE CANNED FOOD – Count on the high moisture content of each can of Luau to give you...NUTRIENT RICH CAT FOOD - Real salmon is the first ingredient, giving your cat the nutrition she...BALANCED WET CAT FOOD – Give your favorite feline the ideal nutrition in each bite of our food,...REAL FISH, REAL MEAT, REAL PROTEIN – Our protein-rich cat food offers delicious seafood and... Pros: Certified for human consumptionGrain-free and also free from any other filler ingredients like rice or potatoes.Very high in protein with 18.5% of minimum crude protein Cons: Some picky cats may not like the taste 4. Instinct Original Natural Wet Canned Kitten Food If you’re looking for canned kitten food, this grain-free product may be the right choice for your feline. Like many of the other foods on our list, this low-ingredient wet food is also free of artificial preservatives and fillers that could otherwise trigger a food sensitivity in your young kitty’s tummy. It’s rich in healthy fats from things like salmon and eggs, providing essential fatty acids including DHA for optimal brain and eye development. It’s also a great source of vitamins, minerals, and other macronutrients from whole ingredients like artichokes, pumpkin, blueberries, broccoli, and kale.

Instinct Original Natural KITTEN GRAIN FREE CAT FOOD WITH CAGE FREE CHICKEN: Instinct Original is made with real cage-free...CANNED CAT FOOD WITH NO FILLERS: Instinct Original wet cat food is grain-free cat food. Made without...NATURAL CAT FOOD: Made from real meat & whole food ingredients, our grain-free wet cat food is...RAW INSPIRED WET CAT FOOD: Our canned cat food offers complete & balanced nutrition from real...INSTINCT, THE RAW BRAND: We craft wet & dry cat food from real ingredients. Compare Instinct to Blue... Pros: High protein (12.0% minimum crude protein analysis)Contains no grain, potato, wheat, corn, soy, carrageenan, by-product meals, artificial colors or preservatives Cons: Some cats don’t like the pate textureOther reviewers note their animals got bored with it (but it is easy to switch out or use as a topper on other food) 3. Kitten Food Wellness Core Wet Canned Kitten Wellness brand dry food impressed us already, but this canned cat food for kittens is also worthy of a mention. Their line contains high-quality ingredients like chicken and turkey, chicken broth and turkey broth, turkey liver, and fish oil for a jam-packed meal of nutrients that growing kittens will thrive on. The company recently redesigned its cans and some users have expressed concerns that the new formula isn’t the same. But for a canned food it contains a good amount of protein in addition to an impressive 78.0% moisture.

Kitten Food Wellness Protein-Rich: Deboned Turkey, Whitefish Meal & Deboned ChickenDHA Supports Healthy Brain & Eye DevelopmentAntioxidant-Rich To Support Immune HealthNo Wheat, Meat By-Products, Or Artificial Colors, Flavors Or Preservatives.No corn and no soy Pros: Grain-free kitten food made with high-quality ingredientsHigh moisture and protein content, without including any meat by-products Cons: Many complaints about the newly updated formula, including kittens falling ill and even finding spoiled food insideExpensive 2. Weruva Grain-Free Natural Wet Cat Food This high quality grain-free canned food for kittens is made by a family-owned company that pledges to adhere to high manufacturing standards. You’ll be surprised to open the can and see real identifiable chicken meat inside. There are also lots of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, and a great moisture content to promote overall health and development. With 10% crude protein and 85% moisture, growing kittens who like this wet food will definitely get the nutrients they need.

Weruva Grain-Free Natural Featuring Cage-Free Boneless, Skinless White Breast Meat ChickenThinly Shredded Cage-Free Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast Is The Primary Ingredient In These...Minimally Processed And Free Of Grain, Gluten, GMOs, Msgs, Carrageenan, And Any Other Bad Stuff. That...Complete And Balanced Diet For Adult Maintenance With Added Vitamins, Minerals, And Antioxidants....Weruva Is A Family Owned Company, Wholly Owned And Operated By Pet Parents David And Stacie Forman Pros: Contains thinly-shredded and cage-free chicken meatPreservative-free, gluten-free, carrageenan-free, gluten-free, grain-free kitten food Cons: Contains potato starchAnother product that has a “new formula” which seems to have turned off a lot of former fans (kitten and human) 1. Nulo Adult & Kitten Grain-Free Canned Wet Cat Food Nulo brand prides itself on promoting healthy pets, healthy pet owners, and healthy human/animal bonding. Here’s what they have to say about their wet canned cat food and other products on their website: “Animal-based proteins to build muscle. Low carbs and low-glycemic ingredients to maintain a healthy weight. And probiotics to boost immunity. Just a few of the wholesome benefits our recipes provide to help your dogs and cats fuel their inner athlete.” This canned wet cat food has a palatable minced texture that kittens love to eat. Their recipe is protein-rich and is also moisture-rich to ensure your kitty stays well hydrated. And because it’s 100% free of soy, corn, wheat, and even carrageenan and other additives, it may help reduce food allergies or sensitivities.

Nulo Adult & Kitten Grain-Free 24-PACK of our 3 oz cans. Based in Austin, TX and proudly made in the USA, Nulo Wet Cat Food is...GRAIN-FREE & HIGH MEAT/LOW CARB recipe contains 5 animal protein sources. This supports healthier...GREATER NUTRITIONAL PUNCH because its proteins and animal fats have a beneficial mix of vitamins,...PROMOTES WEIGHT MANAGEMENT through reduced carbohydrate intake. Your cat remains lithe and agile...MAY REDUCE food sensitivities or allergies. Nulo Grain-Free Cat Food is nutritionally balanced for... Pros: US-based companyMade with high-quality ingredientsLow carb to prevent weight gainFormulated for adult cats and kittens Cons: Not all cats are fans, especially pickier eatersSome users are concerned that it makes their kittens’ poop watery and loose

Cat Food FAQ

1. Why is it important to buy my cat different food according to her current life stage? Like humans, animals have different nutritional needs depending on their age. As an example, kittens need diets rich in protein and calories in order to support fast-paced growth and development. Older cats may need low-calorie food or one with specific nutrients to minimize the risk of weight-gain and age-related issues. “All life stage” option is not advisable for certain animals and may have unintended adverse effects. Many dry cat foods are specifically made for the elder cats, but…Your best bet is to consult with your veterinarian so he or she can help you make a more informed decision. 2. Should I use the feeding recommendations on the food label? While helpful as general guidelines, feeding recommendations on the bag labels may not be the right fit for your feline depending on her age, overall health status, and lifestyle, so consult with your vet. 3. Is my pet overweight? There are a few ways to tell: Run your hands along her flank—you should be able to easily feel but not see her ribs.Look down at your feline from above—there should be a clear narrowing at the waist.Look at your kitty from the side—you should see a narrowing from this angle, too. 4. Can my kitty have “people” food? Avoid the temptation to slip her scraps from your plate. Aside from the risk of accidentally giving her something toxic, giving your feline small treats can easily lead to weight gain and nutrient imbalances. 5. Can Cat food go Bad? This depends on the food and the way it’s stored: All feline food should be used before the expiration date on the label.If your kitty is “free feed,” you can leave her dry granules out as long as it isn’t moist or exposed to high heat.Canned food should be thrown away after it’s been left out for 4+ hours, and opened cans can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.Wash and refill your pet’s food and water dishes at least weekly. 6. How much should I feed my cat? As mentioned, the amount you feed your pet depends on its age, health status, activity level, and a few other factors. Your vet can help you determine how much is right for your animal. A typical 10-lb kitty needs only around 250 calories per day to maintain an appropriate lean body mass. P S. These adult dry foods with real chicken meats (and other poultry) are great for your adult cat. You can serve her this popular chicken meal without the fear of gaining extra pounds. 7. How much water should I give her? Always have fresh water available for your animal! Proper hydration helps her digest her nutrients and avoid health problems like dehydration and urinary tract infections. Important to note that proper hydration is even more important when the cat is eating only dry cat food. 8. Why does my cat eat only from the middle of her bowl? If your cat’s dish is too deep and narrow, then she may struggle eating out of it because the sides of the dish can cause pain if her sensitive whiskers bump up against them. To compensate, she may try to eat out of the center only. 9. Should I change up my cat’s food from time to time, or keep it the same? This is highly individual and depends on the unique preferences and health needs of your furry friend. If you want to change your pet’s food, do it slowly and introduce new things to her diet in small amounts. 10. When should I transition my cat from kitten to adult cat food? Expect to change over your kitten’s food around age one. Transition slowly and be sure to monitor her response to ensure she’s adjusting well.

What is the best cat food recommended by vets?

All of the products we review are recommended by vets for their quality.  Out of all the vet-approved cat foods, we recommend Nalo Adult & Kitten Grain-Free Dry Cat Food and Wellness Natural Grain Free Wet Canned Cat Food.

What is the best brand of cat food?

Based on our research we recommend Nalo and Wellness brands of cat food.  However different cats have different needs, so it’s important to thoroughly read through the reviews and then decide what’s best for your cat.

What is the best cat food for cats?

Every cat is unique and all of the products we reviewed are considered the best in terms of ingredients quality.  Our top pick for dry cat food is Nulo Adult & Kitten Grain-Free Dry Cat Food.  Our top pick for wet cat food is Wellness Natural Grain Free Wet Canned Cat Food.

What is the best cat food 2020?

We have done the research and so far in 2020 we recommend Nulo Adult & Kitten Grain-Free Dry Cat Food as well as Wellness Natural Grain Free Wet Canned Cat Food. Read the full article

#cats #catsfood #top10best #top10bestcatsfood #top10bestfood