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didderd · 5 months

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i had a sleep paralysis nightmare this morning.

so i decided to make content out of it 👍

but really, sometimes if i'm not feeling well, i daydream about one of the characters i simp really like helping/comforting me.

n this time i started daydreaming about Nightmare comforting me. bc this was the worst sleep paralysis i ever had, and it left me feeling on edge for a bit after waking up. (i don't usually get nightmare-ish sleep paralysis)

n so i decided to make it into a little Nightmare x reader drabble where reader has a sleep paralysis nightmare, based on the one i had this morning.

this goes from horror to fluff real quick lmao. hope yall like it! :>

if you want to skip the sleep paralysis, go straight to the pink sentence!

(tw: sleep paralysis. sleep paralysis demon.)

_________

You're laying in bed, with half of your vision blocked by the hood of your jacket. All you can see is your bed.

You go to lift your hood.

But you can't move.

But you feel your arms move.

You feel yourself move to grab your hood. As heavy as it may feel, you're sure you did it.

But your hood is still there.

You don't see your hand.

Panic wells up in your stomach. You can't move. You can't see.

Gathering the little strength you have in your groggy state, you try to push yourself into a sitting position.

Again, you feel yourself scoot up the wall behind you.

But you don't see anything change.

Your vision feels frozen.

Closing your eyes, you try again to push your hood up.

When you open them, you can see your hand grabbing your hood.

But your hood is still there. and your hand is frozen in place. even though you feel it at your side again.

It's like your vision is broken.

But closing your eyes helped?

You close your eyes, and attempt to push yourself up again.

Opening your eyes, you think you're sitting up now. at least a little bit.

You close your eyes again and attempt once more to push your hood off your head.

It's off your head. You feel it on your neck.

When you open your eyes, you're laying down and your hood is blocking half your vision.

You try again.

You're sitting up. You can see your room.

You can see your window.

Something passes by your window. A shadowy figure. It looked humanoid, but were those antlers?

You're scared.

It happens again.

Your mother is in the room now. You're trying to ask for help, but she seems confused, and you can't get the words out.

She's standing near the window. Not too close, but you're scared.

Something. someone. appears at the window. but not outside it. They're inside.

Their eyes are wide, and they have an unsettling smile. Something about them seems deeply wrong.

You try to scream, and point at them to alert your mother.

Nothing but air comes out.

When your mother turns around, she only seems more confused. She doesn't see them.

Are you hallucinating?

You see something else in the corner of your eye. A dark figure.

You turn your head to look at it.

... Nightmare?

It's Nightmare. He's standing at the foot of your bed. Looking at you with a calm, yet concerned expression.

You remember you'd been living in his castle for a while now. This is your room in the castle... So why is your mother here?

Looking back, your mother and the unsettling person is gone.

Everything seems clearer. You feel like you can move better.

You look back at Nightmare as he walks closer. "Nightmare?" You spoke. You can speak again.

He stops next to you and places a hand on your head, comfortingly petting your hair. "You are safe. It is only sleep paralysis." His tone is soft, made to comfort you, and it works. You feel some of the fear melt away. You feel protected.

"Sleep paralysis?" You remember what it is, and it makes sense, but you ask anyways.

"Yes." He leans down and places the hand not petting your hair on your chest, just below your collar bones. "You should wake up now."

Everything fades out.

And you open your eyes.

Nightmare is sitting in a chair next to your bed, with a hand on your forehead. He'd pushed the hood off your eyes while you were asleep.

He opens his eye a second after you, and smiles warmly. "There you are."

You blink up at him, but immediately decide not to do that again, as the fear of falling back in runs through you. Instead, you decide to sit up, and Nightmare retreats his hand as you do, looking slightly more concerned, as he likely noticed your fear.

He places the same hand on your back to rub soothingly, and leans a bit closer, using the other to gently guide your chin to look at him. "Don't worry. You are safe.. I'm here." His words are firm, but so gentle.

Your face is warm at how intimate his hand on your chin feels, and his very smooth and handsome voice in your ears, yet it also helps so much to relax you and make you feel safe.

Half to distract from the warmth in your face, even though he's definitely noticed, judging by how his expression turns more smug than concerned, and half out of genuine curiosity, you finally speak. "Um... was that- was that really you in my dream?"

It seems to work to distract him as he answers. Moving his hand from your chin to tuck some hair out of your face as he does so.

"Darling, that wasn't a dream, that was a nightmare." His expression regains a bit of concern for a moment as he pauses, but it's gone before he speaks again. "But yes, that was me. I'd felt your fear as I was passing by your room, and when I came in, I saw that you were having a nightmare, so I decided to lend my aid." His hand had moved from your hair once he was done righting it, and is now resting on the bed, next to your thigh.

"I'm sure you know of my ability to enter and control dreams and nightmares. Sleep paralysis is no different. I was happy to help you out of yours, little shadow." His smile is fond as he raises his hand once more to cup your cheek, and rub his thumb over it, leaning a little closer as he does.

Your cheeks feel warm again, at how close he is, and how gentle his hand is on your cheek. You can't help the urge to lean into his touch, and so you don't even try to fight it, placing your hand over his as you lean into it.

Even though you know you weren't in any real danger, you still feel like he saved you. You're grateful to him. You're not sure how to repay him, but you do know what you so badly want to do in this moment.

Placing your free hand over his collar bone and lightly grip at his sweater, you lean a bit closer to his face, and look down at his mouth. but you stop there and look to the side.

You retreat that bit you'd just leaned in, your face feeling much warmer now. You don't know what you're doing. Maybe your lack of good sleep gave you too much confidence. As if The Guardian of Negativity would want to kiss you. What were you thinkin-

Nightmare chuckles. You look back at him with widened eyes.

His smug expression is mixed with that of fondness... You sometimes forget that he can basically read your mind... Fuck.

You look away again. Your face feels like it's burning.

But you quickly look back when he gets much. much closer. His hand moving from your cheek to the side of your neck, and brushing into the hair on the back of your head, while his other hand slides down your back to the lower half.

He chuckles again, no doubt at how red your face is, and your shocked expression. "Darling, if you thought I wouldn't want to kiss you just as bad as you want to kiss me right now, you'd be sorely mistaken.~" He just about purrs, inches from your mouth.

The hairs on your neck and arms stand as he speaks, and both your hands ball into his sweater over his chest. You didn't think you could get warmer, but you do.

His cheeks are looking a little flushed too as the lid over his socket lowers, and he looks down at your lips, before slowly, and gently closing the gap.

It's a very tender and loving kiss. Not what you were expecting coming from him, but it's amazing.

You lean into it the moment the shock melts away. You feel like you're melting in his arms.

After another long, blissful moment, he pulls away, before picking you up to move you over and make room for him on your bed, and climbs in next to you.

Once he's laid down, he pulls you close again, and combs through your hair, nuzzling your face, before sighing into your cheek, and then kissing it. "You make me soft..."

You're so full of warm feelings right now, it's almost overwhelming, and you hope it's not overwhelming for him. It's all so hard to believe, but seems so genuine. More genuine than you'd ever seen Nightmare. To think he'd let his guard down so much with you.

You almost let out a giddy giggle as you bury your warm face in his sweater, just under his chin, and he wraps his arm tighter around you, using one of his tentacles to pull your blanket over both of you.

As you lay comfortable and warm in his arms, feeling his chest rise and fall against you with his breath, you start to feel yourself falling back to sleep. You forget you even had that nightmare before all this.

The last thing you hear and feel before you're asleep again is Nightmare placing a kiss on the top of your head and speaking, almost in a whisper.

"Goodnight, little shadow."

#had to hold myself back from turning this suggestive lmao #wanted it to jus b fluff so ppl who don't like suggestive can enjoy it to :>#nightmare feels a bit out of character here #but that could just be bc out of context. him being super soft to someone seems vry out of character lmao #reader makes him feel soft and mushy inside #n he's finally letting that out wif cuddles :3 #i thought abt making it rice bc this feels more in character for him #but yall barley know rice lmao if at all #don't even have his design out. so ye #nightmare x reader #i rly like the 'little shadow' nickname for nightmare's reader -v-)#nightmare sans #dreamtale #undertale #undertale au #sleep paralysis #didderd writes #the person in the nightmare with the unsettling smile actually looked kinda like chucky the doll but with like. an adults body #i was gonna kinda describe that. but this felt like it kept the pacing better :p

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unproduciblesmackdown · 1 year

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also to go "wow this is just like in pentiment" about absolutely anything and/or "wow this is just like iphigenia crash land falls on the neon shell that was once her heart (a rave fable)" about absolutely anything further:

the Narratives within crash land falls where like, in the end iphigenia being Given the story of both "this is going to happen anyways" and "so why don't you see it as a noble sacrifice to accept." the situation happening to Create a story that she was killed, so her father must be tragic, and sympathetic. that iphigenia does take on that Narrative of taking on the Noble Willing Sacrifice, and it kills her, but she also would have been killed anyways, as everyone also knows. that we even get a bit of pentimentesque [other characters observe & assess things] like, the fresa girls as a chorus, and one at the end like yeah She Was No Saint, i saw everything, but being cut off by The News that's like yeah looks like iphigenia was killed, that seguing into her father saying yeah she was killed, god's will was done, She's A Saint now. seguing to the emcee who introduced the play, but that superceded by achilles, and that superceded with iphigenia's extasis monologue as the end of the play. that whether iphigenia's a saint or not, she dies. that [the whole play] tells us as much, like, this isn't a What If kind of retelling where she escapes her fate, this is a retelling examining itself like, she Will die because the story's preset, so what to do with this as the story that has to take her there, what to do with this as iphigenia who has to go there

that iphigenia takes on another narrative in addition to the one offered by like, violeta as guide and oracle telling her she has to die (As A Noble Sacrifice), that again (as per iphigenia in aulis being like uh hey daughter. let's go to aulis so you can uh marry achilles (it is to be sacrificed)) achilles is this bait, but it's only in the ending that there's any Story about being with achilles, and when iphigenia goes to the mercenary soldier who she knows will kill her, she's the one telling him what to tell her about where she's going and why, i want you to tell me achilles is waiting for me....and she still dies, because This Is The Story. as also applied to the reality, iphigenia as another dead and missing girl following & preceding many; any disappeared deaths when consumed as disposable & replaceable, not given part of any narrative about it. while also iphigenia only gets a chorus of fresa girls from there being crosses put on the factory wall with their names, with one girl even remarking like hey they spelled my name right for once. but at the same time they're also like, both mere Apparitions but also like standins for people who are simply alive. real [shades]esque kind of, i suppose, but like they're not Sanctified for dying either, they'll comment on iphigenia but not with any like, divine knowledge, just as this out of place rich girl. whether iphigenia's A Saint or Not A Saint, she's still dead either way. she wants to be a fresa girl, they maybe want to be her, but everyone's doomed anyways thanks to way larger forces and the Stories that have been told and will be told again

but there's also the moment right before the final section wherein, before she's having to say what she wants within the bounds of [she has to die], there's achilles asking "you still want me" and iphigenia answering with "i want everything" and her vision for, like, getting to be alive actually, i'm on the gulf where the sea is gray, and no one wants a piece of me....the whole inciting event here where iphigenia wants to evade her fate however she can, exiting the bounds of her life, the physical bounds and the family unit and walking away from the rank of status / class / wealth, trying for [have her body for herself] and what the body wants, the sensuous indulgences of (a rave fable), let's hear some more about the roman state like "we don't like the examination and challenge and upending of class and convention in a bacchanalia, so only do the official versions we permit;" the Threat of people's desires for themselves, when that's going to be counter to those in power who'd want these people to be resources at their disposal; the burden on the disempowered to suffer [the only way out is through] with the Additional pain & loss that has to be taken on in pursuit of their autonomy, while also of course suffering for the autonomy they lack, that restricted and controlled and mitigated versions of what you might want are deigned to be provided or permitted so that you have Something, but that everyone's actual undeniable personhood will always be spilling past those bounds, the potential power of transgressive pleasure when one's wellbeing and autonomous choices are counter to the power structures that have to constantly try to suppress and preclude this. achilles just as bait, doomed to die like iphigenia is also still doomed, sex was never going to save everyone and the [recognizing connection as these two parallel people / We're The Same] with your lover here is not going to save everyone but it still makes more things possible for them both; iphigenia does know what she wants, and gets some of it because she wants it, same with achilles in turn, while it can't save anyone from their fates still. but it can mean something even if it doesn't transcend, like even a fleeting night of insignificant dancing that doesn't change anything can mean something, and we all die, but that doesn't mean it's Nothing to be killed any more than it's Nothing to have your desires or choices one way or another to be wrung out of your life before you are

anyways, the stories. the Looking and Presenting here. achilles and iphigenia first encountering each other as images put together and presented by someone else for their own purposes. the presence of what's seen through film/camera/recording versus in person; the potential power relations and even violence in framing, presenting, and the intended looking and assessing. repeated language about eyes/looks that burn, while also that connection between iphigenia and achilles, and their finding the least room in what they do have of their lives for more of their own wants and selves and something genuine and not predetermined, is also connected to eyes and looking and being seen and light and burning. while they're also connected to the protection and possibility of night and darkness, getting to exist and be Without being lit up or seen; that with the power that's still in play, it's never like, well then you should have nothing / no reason to hide; the penultimate moment in the play with achilles being one that's in person and fades into darkness, rather than coming in from the light of a projection / video onscreen as the introduction....iphigenia needing to be guided through a crossroads to even get to achilles in person; violeta giving the Advice and Story and Tradition to pray to eleggua, as iphigenia does before getting to encounter achilles for real, who also doesn't get to break out of a role or a fate in full in any way, but their tragedies are like, pointing towards [autonomy, imagine it] in both the ways they manage to find a little bit of it for themselves, in no small part for simply recognizing each other as in the same boat here, and in the ways they still don't have it and still can't get it

and anyways it's also inevitably saying like, telling a story?? this Play is a told story!! looking? assessing? interpreting? you're doing that in the course of experiencing it! and it's really so fucking true.

#reading the whole of it like okay well i'm different forever now then #tearing a wall down about it like yeah it's extremely chill thanks #iphigenia crash land falls on the neon shell that was once her heart (a rave fable)#what a Narrative can change; what it can't....#those already with the power to do whatever they felt like in the first place just able to create whatever story of events supports that #those whose lives are restricted by that power having to struggle to find any narratives that provide some comfort maybe #whilest perhaps it's the stories that provide an accurate reflection on the pain & suffering in one's reality that are more threatening Lol #like hey i hope that that bacchanalia isn't satiriz....paused to look up ''if satire is based on satyr i'll mclose it lmfao''#Apparently it's not Really; but the latin form was indeed influenced by the greek satyr (for the theatre of it all) on the Mistaken notion #that that Was an influence. so; anyways i hope that bacchanalia isn't satirizing norms & conventions & providing a space to transgress #wherein we can see the Constructed and Enforced nature of things like class such that it can be deconstructed & deenforced #you'd Better not be questioning these conventions by commenting on them even indirectly; playfully; or via imitation....#that achilles can only have this genuine final closeness with iphigenia after voicing & sharing ''i'm dying soon too btw (:''#while iphigenia able to voice what she wants from life is only happening with the context that she'll die & she won't have this #she knows she wants [and nobody wants a piece of me] b/c of knowing that they do; and they'll take it....#their navigating their connection via also rejecting / superseding Their Image(tm). i want to kill the tabloid girl that envelops your skin #i will sink & get rid of every inch of me. that at the end of their scenes of actually interacting it's iphigenia reassuring achilles #who's like [but you wouldn't want Me] [everyone only wants a piece of me] [you'll forget me] vs i will destroy your celebrity; there will #be no one left to adore but me....unmaking oneself in the face of being defined & doomed Already; by the past....#breaking into pieces crash land falling. if you existed once ever that exists forever. the pieces all around & as the foundation #making one's way back around to ''wow just like in pentiment'' again lol....endless things to say all around #as well as when anytime you have something to say you have about a trillion words in the effort to do so #the narrative that matters to you but doesn't save your life still giving you More life while you still have it....#and what gives a little more life than that. and a little more than that

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