* 𝚂𝙷𝙸𝚅𝙴𝚁!

1.      Don’t rub at the delicate skin underneath your eyes while frantically trying to clean the dregs of last night’s maddened house party make-up out of your skin before going out into the world. This will cause the infinitesimal fibres of your body to tear, releasing the inexpressible self-loathing that is the unnecessary but gross counter-balance to the wild egotism of your drunken self, causing you to age faster than your teetotaller best friend.

2.      Stretch every night in a dark room. This releases the tensions of the day and relaxes your sinews for the troubled sleep and worrisome dreams to come, so that you can wake springing, without physical soreness, and amaze friends and colleagues with your youthful, swinging stride. The effect is almost more psychological than physical, and comes from knowing that even if your mind could not truly be at rest, at least your hamstrings slept in peace.

3.      Once a month, after midnight, restless: spend hours meditatively examining every inch of your body on the bathroom floor, and trialling the strength of your ability to do no harm. Consider, then refrain from pressing down with the weight of the universe on blocked pores, read the stories of missed opportunities and sliding door moments in the split ends of your hair, see the faded lightning bolts of your growth into your place in the world in the stretch marks and scars, smell the uneasy brine of your hidden parts, and layer cream upon cream on top of yourself, as if you are the ocean crashing white and fresh at the high tide mark. Wake up, and wonder where your time has gone.

4.      Get new sunglasses. Stare.

5.      You know how your skin always looks perfectly airbrushed in your early morning blurry bathroom visit (before your eyes have adjusted into the daytime and the realities of the day ahead have set in, accompanied with the dread and knowledge that you will be constantly observed, analysed and responsible for an array of unnatural and finicky tasks, while always maintaining a presentable surface impression despite a roaring need to run under your cool surface)? To fix this, let yourself roll heavy with sleep back into bed, alone all day, periodically going to the bathroom as needed. Within weeks, you will see all the damage of years in the sun and human company magically reverse.

6.      Go and see a doctor about what’s bothering you, even if you feel stupid or like it’s such a tiny thing. Worlds of relief and solutions open when you ask for scientific, rather than propagandised, help about those little bumps on your arms, these terrible recurring pains in your gut that nobody will speak of, or tell them how much trouble you are having with acne.

7.      When you have a big party to go to, or even a small one, or even a date in a bar, reserve half your Saturday to prep time. When I say that, I don’t mean reserve it for the motions of styling your hair, your eyes, your body, your lips and your fighting teeth and nails, though these acts may be integrated. Reserve half your day to become slow and seductive in anticipation, drawing yourself baths, or lighting up conversations in with your friends, reading half a chapter of that book you always mean to read, then five chapters of an online story you are addicted to, play beats on as loud as they will go and fling open all the doors while you roam like a wild creature from the last millennia around the rooms of your house. Prepare your own soul for the face you want to wear tonight.

8.      If you are having trouble with your sensitive, skin, particularly in gross sensitive places, try going commando for a while. Start with just in bed if this makes you uncomfortable, then if it’s working, graduate to day time. This may mean learning the art of the midi, the long camisole or the flowing pant. As a bonus, you learn how so much of what took for granted is not even necessary at all. The resulting look in your eyes will scare old friends and attract strangers with new ideas.

9.      Exfoliate with a scrap of muslin cloth and the sense of scrappy, sloughing peace that you found in the garden of a woman who is either your mother, or who you wish were your mother. Tell her you love her, even though maybe you don’t particularly feel the truth of love in that moment, because you will eventually feel it at a time when it is impossible to say out loud. The sense of security from having expressed love in this future-oriented way will give you a glow the following night. Replace the dead skin cells with a muddy mixture of expensive dirt and chemicals marketed by a company founded by a woman you are moderately sure is actually a hedge witch from 1605 in disguise. When you start looking, you will soon realise there are many such companies. Don’t let this stress you out. Choose the one you can afford best, with the smell that best lines up with that one time you fell in love with your best friend, and the packaging that looks best in your bathroom trash.

10.   Realise that when someone gives you a physical compliment, this is a fairly rude thing to do, and is usually a reflection of that person’s surprise at something about you that does not line up with their pre-conceived idea about you. In fact, many times the person is using the compliment as a Trojan horse to comment on the change, and does not even mean that new lipstick looks particularly nice, just that it is different from the nude lips you wear every other day. As a result, learn to style yourself in the way that you have road-tested through the process of catching your reflection in shop windows and realising how good you look, or noticing someone copying a particular element of your style, or the amount of pleasure looking at a particular Instagram post of yourself gives you. These are much better indicators of what physical choices suit you. Note that this type of road-testing usually requires refreshing when either you experience a change in climate, city, career or level of irony about being a warm body in an exploding universe where the only truth is entropy.

words echoed as she walked back from the woods. meeting that demonic imp shed not a single lick of light upon the fog that had settled on her mind. had not told her where this COMPULSION originated from - although it confirmed there were answers somewhere. to be shed at some time. just how patient can she be ?? nearing the tents , there’s a part of her that wants to just curl up and sleep until morning. to try and forget this in hopes that it’d go away. fade the longer she closed her eyes to it. but that was the thing. every time her eyes closed she saw the poor tiefling… BRUTALIZED by her hand.

             to the naked eye, the stars are like shimmering maggots in the cold flesh of the void, fading in & out of brilliance as their ancient light continues to travel over the eons. they blink, like billions upon billions of eyes. the universe is watching. she is always watching. everywhere & nowhere, all at once across the infinite & grand sweep of existence. hand settles at the piece where the seeing lens of telescope begins with ever so slight intent. index finger, pushing it on its hinges to face downward.

the other's presence is unmistakable ; a shimmer of gold medallions glitter off of chain links hanging from curled, ram-like horns growing from a skull so red. & terrible. & red. hair black as the eternal hunger of a supermassive blackhole. the tiefling who poses as much a mystery as she does. so much has happened that direct words had never been properly exchanged up until this very moment. & those strange eyes observe her, like scalpels cutting into soft grey matter, looking for something. ( the frostbearer always looks for data, to dissect it to its tiniest components with each & every interaction! ) & when the woman speaks, she digests it all before choosing to respond to such an inquiry.

winter's chill settles so strangely in her part of camp. yet the air is still like they'd solidify & shatter into solid ice any moment. & what the frost wyvern is prefaced with is a polite, gracious bow of the head to emphasize a sagelike acknowledgement of her presence.

❝ yes, ❞ comes her contralto tone, moves several paces toward a silver pail, grabs for a slick, black bottle with a cork embedded in it. & with unnatural ease, works it off without the aid of a knife. the instant it's open, vapor emanates from the now sweating glass. pours for two & extends a silver goblet toward her. ❝ riesling. ❞

the liquid bears a pallid color, & a sweet & floral with oaken notes should she taste for herself.  & most importantly, cold.

she thrives in extremely cold environments & in much warmer or arid ones have to make charms & cast spells so that she isn't entirely weakened by it.

A  TUFT  OF  BLOOMS  has been made into a beautifully colorful flower crown with azure blue  ,  snowy  white  ,  and some beautiful pinks in between.  "  your highness  !  "  she giggles sweetly  ,  slow to adjust the crown upon the other's head with ease.  then  ,  she takes a step back to look at her creation.  "  there we go.  gotta say  ,  this REALLY suits you  !  "

              a wondrously colored crown of flora is suddenly set atop her snowy white crown. ( the other would feel winter's chill the moment she gets near ; a gelid draft that penetrates the bone as intense as the coldest night in the arctic! ) & her undivided attention is offered as the sweet smells of freshly-cut flowers & its petals spill into her senses. the gesture is harmless, it is in...good faith. one of such purity.  the glance she gives her is observant, quiet, as though she is dissecting & peeling the layers of her skin to find something...& she finds warmth. a beautiful vibrant light & a oneness with nature. 

& a talent that many druids would envy.

after it is set, the frostbearer straightens, with an ever-so-slight look of acceptance.  she raises her hands —— gloveless & bony —— to gently touch & feel the velvety petals between the pads of fingertips.