#especially w the way the modeling industry is ???

[saetoru]

bella hadid trying to be relatable and quirky and say she has pizza every day as a snack will never not be funny to me sorry

[jaylaxies]

so i’ve been thinking about photographer!hoon who arranges a photoshoot for a with a new rising model portfolio’s and sunghoon instantly becomes infatuated with her, only making him grow an obsession as she became one of the highest paid models

u can never get enough of yandere hoon!!

photographer!sunghoon who selects you, a new model, despite having thousands of successful models on his speed dial for his new photoshoot. he doesn’t know what it is that drove him to you but the second he saw your portfolio, he knew it had to be you. you were scared at first, but fierce when you got into your element and started posing without having to be directed every few minutes and he knew he was obsessed by the time he was done w you, saving all your pictures to his laptop.

he watched you grow in the industry, from being a scared newbie to becoming the highest paid model and that’s when he started hating everything, because everyone wanted you but you belonged to sunghoon, you just didn’t know it. the way his eyes followed you, in fact he followed you back home at times to ensure you reached there safely, smirking whenever he saw you reject offers from other companies and selecting him over and over again.

until he decides to pay you double of what you usually get, only to have a private photoshoot with you, which gets you excited for some reason. the fact that park sunghoon pays attention to you is overwhelming already, but this? it was beyond your imagination, especially when he came closer to you, guiding you by gentle touches, making you wear soft, silky little dresses which didn’t do much to hide your body, when his lips touched your ear as he asked you to look into the camera, it made your heart beat out of your chest.

he couldn’t handle the tension anymore, kissing your neck was the first thing on his mind, your little gasp only making him chuckle and dig his fangs into your flesh, your mewl resonating the room. he touched you, everywhere, and you knew it was being recorded yet you couldn’t pay much attention to it, your mind was elsewhere, your legs spread open as to give him your taste. as if he wasn’t addicted already, you cunt got him going crazier by the second, especially when he pushed his cock inside your tight pussy, claiming it once and for all. he wasn’t gonna let you go anymore, not after filling you up with his cum.

[ipegchangbin]

— smudgeproof

sub!model!felix x dom!makeup artist!reader

There’s a new lipstick that claims to be make-out-proof. You, with your makeup expertise, naturally decide to test it on your model boyfriend, Felix: except he’s the one that gets to wear it. 

🏷 gender neutral afab reader (they/them pronouns, no specifics), smut, fluff, some humor, established relationship, porn with barely any plot. 

🏷 petnames “mommy” and “baby girl,” unprotected sex, feminization kink, slight oral and hand fixation, marking, butt plug (felix using), thigh riding, fingering (felix receiving), overstimulation, male squirting, lots of teasing, voyeurism mention, no specifics about y/n’s physique. 

w/c: 8.8k

a/n: happy (hopefully not late) valentine’s day! to celebrate, i finally present to you the long overdue felix-gets-fucked fic! based on my thought piece, this concept has been on my mind ever since. i kept rewriting this fic but i drew the header art so fast LMAO icb i finished it!! otherwise, enjoy!

18+ only. minors do not interact.

On slow days, you would often find yourself bored in the makeup store. Your boyfriend, Lee Felix, would probably be just as bored, sitting in the chair of his set. Your notifications were as empty as the barren shop.

After two aimless scrolls down your Instagram feed, you realized that you hadn’t posted anything recently and hadn’t texted Felix that day.

The afternoon sun brought in waves of humid air throughout the city, setting everyone back from a trip around the shops. You peered over at the conversation with your boyfriend as you thought about ways to kill time.

It wasn’t uncommon to go for a while without contacting each other. It had been years since you two became official, after all, and comfortable silence had become a given that you both simply indulged in. That didn’t take your mind off of the boredom, though, and your fingers itched to do something. They found Felix’s contact on your phone, bedazzled with an embarrassing nickname and profile picture. 

It stung to think that if you weren’t looking at his endearing profile, you would instead settle for some sort of creeping guilt of not posting anything on your social media page after a while. Either way, you shot him a message.

you: lix, wya? you: im bored as hell

Considering Felix’s work as a professional model, he would probably reply in less than ten minutes. You thought to turn your phone off and play with the freshly-cleaned makeup brushes on the makeup store’s vanity counter while waiting.

But this is Lee Felix, the sunshine of your days, and you didn’t have to wait any longer than two seconds.

lixie: Am at the shoot I told u about lixie: Bored too tbh LOL

Even if he typed in a silly way, you couldn’t help but love him.

He’d always been your go-to person to unwind and be yourself around. Starting as best friends gave you both a jumpstart to be comfortable around the other. People would say it worked a little too well especially since you two had become the most seriously unserious couple in the creative industry.

That fact made him understand you more than anyone else: you were both creatives. Your heart belonged to the artistic liberties of makeup and beauty, while his heart belonged to the ethereal realm of modeling and fashion. Your two hearts found each other, which was almost perfect for the adjacent businesses. He collaborated with you on makeup challenges. You came to his sets as his “preferred makeup artist.” He understood you whenever you ranted about stupid trends and declining engagement in your channels.

With that, could tell him about your uneventful day and equally uneventful social media pages, but you refrained from complaining more than dropping a passing mention.

you: idrk what to do there are no customers you: and i havent posted anything new you: but its not like theres much to do lixie: Well you’re the genius one here! lixie: Got art block or something?

The prompt response caught you off guard. Almost as if you have forgotten, this was Felix, and he always sensed whenever something was wrong.

As if he had some sort of radar or emotion detector, he always just knew how you were. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he had always been in the proximity of your face, observing your concentration as you put eyeliner on him before shooting. Maybe that connection stuck with him after years of being together, and it had remained strong to the point that he could feel it from miles away, staring emptily into the face of some other random MUA. 

Alas, you found yourself overthinking again. You would rather overthink about your relationship than your semi-abandoned creative efforts, though.

you: well i guess you can call it that. im just conscious since i havent really posted you: idk what to do next. ive done everything lixie: How about, “Boyfriend does my makeup drunk edition”? :D you: boring ! lixie: “Makeup tut but bf does my voiceover”? :D you: just because it got views doesnt mean its worth doing a fifth time >:(( lixie: I’m kidding LOL 

The scowl on your face reflected on the mirror sitting in front of you. You knew that if only Felix saw it right now, he would have lost his mind trying to turn it upside down.

You were right though. You two did everything.

My boyfriend does my makeup? Done, and he did an okay job at it. “The boy beat” makeup tutorial featuring Felix? Damn right he did. Boyfriend does my voiceover? It was so good that you guys did it four times and everyone fell in love with the deep timbre of his voice contrasted with his surprising amount of knowledge. Even if it was easy to collaborate with him, it was hard to create something new and unique. On the contrary, your audience fell in love with you two. It’s nice to watch a model and a stylist practice their art together.

Lost for ideas, you decided just to tease him instead.

lixie: So? No ideas in that pretty head? you: i got one thing in mind lixie: And what might that be? you: having you here you: in my arms you: to kiss up and call pretty :>

It was a thing that you usually did since you loved how he always reacted so pricelessly. He didn’t disappoint with his response, the notifications popping up not even half a minute after your last message.

lixie: HNDNSABNNDJS lixie: Don’t tease me unprompted!! lixie: ;__;

You’re so grateful that he’s always up to play with you.

You thought deeply — too deeply for a situation like this — and scanned the store shelves and storage room for ideas.

You wondered what he would be up to right now.

Felix was stunned.

Done-up in the most expensive face and hairstyle he’s rocked to date, adorned with an unbuttoned suit jacket that one could only dream to wear, he was supposed to look like the stunner. His pecs were only barely hidden and the midsection of his upper body was almost entirely exposed.

Instead, he was the speechless one. He wasn’t shocked by the cold air seeping through his revealing outfit, but his hair raised at your messages.

Your teasing usually should not affect him this much, but today, it was something different. The whole day, all he could think about was you. His mind went to your first meeting. Earlier, he got deja vu as one of the stylists applied lipstick on him. It felt familiar, the feeling of a senior stylist’s hand resting on his face as a brush glided along the perimeter of his mouth. All it lacked was the stunning view of your face in particular. It reminded him of the first time you ever laid eyes on him, and it was to check on his eyeshadow. You stared at each other for too long, exchanged numbers after the shoot, and the rest was history.

He was pissed, to say the least, that you weren’t the assigned stylist for the shoot this time. Nothing could ever compare to the focused look you gave him as you fixed the corners of his mouth with the smooth swipe of your pinky finger.

He craved that touch again.

“Yo,” a dragged-out sigh whisked through the air. “You’ll catch a fly in your mouth if you keep that jaw open.”

Felix looked up from his phone to find Hyunjin, his best friend and one of the junior photographers on set, eyeing his reflection in the mirror. He had his bleached blond hair half-up, tied messily to complete his so-called “intern look.” Most of the senior directors and photographers on set confused him for a model.

“Am I interrupting some kinda internal monologue sesh?” Hyunjin smiled, leaning behind Felix’s chair, raising a brow at him through the reflection. 

“No, I just—”

“He’s thinking about Y/N again.” Jeongin, their other best friend, popped from behind the vanity, carrying Hyunjin’s abandoned camera. 

The two were interns at the studio. Both were very bored art students looking for a job to pass the time by. Jeongin was there to work as a personal assistant and was mistaken for a stylist considering his fashion sense. His behavior around set proved otherwise, though, since he spent the entire day prodding at everyone’s business.

Felix was no exception as a victim.

“Imagine flirting online,” Hyunjin chuckled while reaching for the camera. Jeongin handed it out to him, only to swing his arm back, teasing the older.

Jeongin dismissed the frown on Hyunjin’s face and fiddled with the camera. “Yeah, cut your significant other some slack, they must be busy at the store or something,” he added.

“Nah, they aren’t.”

Hyunjin snagged the camera back. “Editing a Youtube video?”

“That’s exactly why they messaged me. They asked for ideas for a new video.” Felix sat back and redirected his eyes back to the conversation on his phone. The other two slowly turned their heads to each other.

“Wow! Did you hear that, Innie? They messaged him!” Hyunjin yelped.

“Lix didn’t message first? Unheard of!” Jeongin gasped.

“Cut it out, overdramatic cunts.” The accent made the last word roll off Felix’s tongue in a heavy and aggressive accent. “I want to help them this once. Shoo. Leave me be.”

“Oh, why are you getting all worked up, man?” The younger placed his hands on Felix’s shoulders and wiggled them.

Actually — why was he getting all worked up? Everything seemed off: he wasn’t the type to get annoyed easily like that.

He would have defended himself, but he thought it over. Not only had he been unusually sentimental while getting ready, but even as the day started, he was already rolling off to a rough start. He barely got out of bed, reaching out to you from the side and asking for longer morning cuddles specifically from you. He had been so clingy all day that the silence and afternoon heat killed him from looking forward to anything else but you.

A discussion brewed between the menaces as Felix thought about it. “Innie, you know, he couldn’t even hit the poses right. The director felt bad because our bro didn’t seem into it.”

Felix’s cheeks flushed upon hearing that. “No way, Hyune,” the other replied.

Oh god, Felix thought.

He swatted embarrassing thoughts away from his head to not get teased any further by his own friends. His thoughts — and something else — were hindering him from doing anything physically. The poor boy couldn’t even shift in his seat from embarrassment. It’s not that he didn’t want to physically fidget, he just couldn’t. His entire body froze, but he also just could not move by any means. It would be uncomfortable for him, and it wasn’t just because the clothes restricted him.

Something underneath his clothes would shift too and pierce his body with shockwaves. Before that could, though, his phone vibrated before he did.

you: babe! you: had a breakthrough so big i said eureka out loud in the store [you sent a photo]

Felix immediately opened the notifications and observed the sent messages. He opened the photo even before it loaded. When it did, he nearly melted in his seat.

You supposedly sent him a picture of a product that you found. By the looks of it, you probably thought of doing a product review of it, but that wasn’t the first impression he got from the picture. The first thing he saw was your face, winking with a toothy grin, your beautiful hand holding the product up next to your cheek.

God, you were all sorts of stunning to him.

lixie: OMHJYGOD YOUre so pretty you: dont look at me, silly! you: look at this lipstick. its so funny

For a moment, he didn’t listen. His eyes were still fixated on everything from your expression, to your features, to the nails that you just got done holding up the product. As if he had gone stupid, he had to blink and shake his head before formulating a reply that made sense.

lixie: LMFAOOOO THE NAME you: its not the name baby lixie: WHAT SHADE COLOR IS THAT LMAOOO  you: the shade looks fine, look at the label! lixie: What’s it say you: the label claims its make-out proof lixie: ??!!! LOL

Of course, he didn’t make any sort of sense whatsoever. His two friends watched him frantically type away, barely being able to process anything from the mere sight of you.

“Bro’s deluded,” Jeongin whispered.

“Bro’s fucking horny,” Hyunjin commented, squinting at his friend.

you: you sound so funny baby you: anyway i was thinking i should review it you: but can you join me? i wanna try something

It felt like something broke inside of him. A shot of excitement ran through his system, hitting down until his core — oh shit that hurt.

He tried to twist his lower half again, fidgeting in his seat, but it grew harder for him to do so. With tears in his eyes, he jolted up, attempting to focus on the conversation.

lixie: Sure, what do you want me to do? lixie: Won’t you just do an application and wear test thing? you: mmm i guess u can say that you: but im making it a lil different lixie: How so?

The intrigue bit his tongue and Felix attempted to swallow it. The staff around him were wrapping up the shoot, pushing equipment back in their places, and some started to leave as soon as the director announced the last “cut.” He, however, was glued to the vanity chair, shaking in anticipation.

you: im gonna put it on you baby <3

Felix’s eyes widened.

It didn’t matter how many times you placed makeup on him, nor did it matter how many times he joined you in your antics. There were too many things going on in his head that toyed with his thought process and everything that came with it. He didn’t exactly know why, but a knot formed in his stomach. He grew nervous and just knew that you were up to something sinister.

lixie: But how are we gonna do the wear test? I already got my face done and half the day has passed, I’m even done w my part of the shoot you: you dont get it ??? lixie: I don’t get it!! you: ill put it on you when you get here. and were not just testing how long it wears regularly, were testing what the label says you: ill be there in 10mins love you baby

He sat back, looked up from his phone, and his gaze zeroed in on his reflection, attempting to focus on the thought. How would you conduct a different kind of wear test? In terms of makeup, a wear test would simply be to spend a full day with the product on and to see if it still holds its place at the end of it. It had already been well past afternoon by that time and it wasn’t like there were many other things to do that could budge the lipstick aside from dinner. He always trusted your genius, but he knew that there was more to this.

Felix blinked, once, twice, and then stared.

Were you…going to test if it was really make-out proof?

The world around him seemed to dim — it did, since the studio lights were turning off and the senior stylists urged Jeongin to wake the model up from his short-circuiting brain to change out of the clothes.

That is if Felix could still respond before the horniness consumed him.

lixie: Wait lixie: Don’t tell me lixie: DON’T TELL ME lixie: You’ll test it by putting it on me lixie: AND THEN MAKE OUT WITH ME?????? [Read 2:50 PM] lixie: Y/N!!! Answer me!!! [Delivered, unread 2:51 PM]

The cogs in his head accelerated before banging to a full stop, clinks and clanks ringing through his ears at his very slow realization.

“Congrats, smartypants, you figured it out.” Hyunjin scoffed from behind him.

“Dude—wait, hey! Have you been watching me the whole time?!”

“You should be more secretive,” Jeongin giggled. “Get those privacy screen protectors or something. Now we know what poor Y/N has to deal with every day.”

“And stop getting your thoughts tangled in horny next time you text,” Hyunjin elbowed the poor model boy, fiddling with his camera as if nothing happened. “Don’t worry. Your secrets and online PDA are safe with us.” 

Felix’s face was washed without color. His jaw hung open both at his friends’ antics and your devilish plans.

“I’m looking forward to that review,” Jeongin added before walking away, teasingly pushing Felix’s shoulder on the way out. “Not that I’ll use it or anything.”

The two friends left the set side-eyeing and giggling at Felix.

—

It wasn’t long before you pulled up to the studio to pick your boyfriend up.

“Hi, darling.” Felix’s greeting and nervous smile lit up the quiet air and darkness of your car. He got in the passenger seat and immediately leaned in to kiss your cheek.

He was trembling. 

You had to laugh. “Hey, babe. What’s got you shaken up?”

“Long day.”

“That’s it?” You raised an eyebrow.

“Long because of you,” he said, scrunching his nose. “Kept teasing me.”

“Aw, don’t sulk, silly.” You cooed at him, “Save the pout for later, baby. We’re going home.”

Maybe it was the combination of inhaling your expensive signature scent and hearing the sound of your voice again that made him tingle all over. Maybe it had to do with the curling corners of your mouth that gave Felix all the information he needed in the world. Maybe it was the fact that you held the back of his seat as the car reversed, and the action looked undeniably sexy. 

Felix lifted a leg to cross over the other, but it only ever made him look more uncomfortable throughout the entire car ride home. Though concerned, you didn’t point it out, and instead continued to drive.

His chest was heaving and he internally scolded himself for acting like a bitch in heat.

The both of you arrived home sooner than expected.

The tunes that you played earlier in the car ride home stuck in Felix’s head. He wondered if the song choice of a sultry voice singing about “wants and needs” was deliberate. It was your playlist, and if you intended to include subliminal messaging, then it worked like a charm on him.

He had been worked out to the point he couldn’t face you. The moment he laid eyes on you again in your apartment’s living room, he shied away almost immediately.

You caught his averting gaze, though, and disallowed him from living it down. “Is there something on my face, baby?”

Baby. He could spend a lifetime just listening to you calling him that name. The way it sounded so natural coming from you made him melt. 

He also could not stop staring at your lips. You always wore a certain gloss no matter the occasion. Even if it was your signature, Felix couldn’t help but stare, and it didn’t make his situation any better. In fact, it got worse, and it felt like the straining in his pants could explode.

“Mm, ‘s nothing, Y/N.”

“You sure?” You prodded. “Your friends kept waving at me and they looked back at you earlier.”

“Ah, please don’t mind them.” He scoffed. “They were being cheeky cunts.”

“That’s a funny way to put it.”

“Anyway, how are we gonna do th-the…uh, the thing…?” Felix stammered, playing with his fingers instead of looking you in the eye.

“Oh, glad you mentioned it!” You hurriedly grabbed the three tiny boxes in your bag. “I got a bit excited over it. Look at this!”

There was nothing too remarkable about the boxes. They looked like basic products, but the huge bolded font on the product labels caught his eye. “It’s more of a stain or something. The label says it can survive five consecutive make-out sessions before a singular budge.”

“It’s…interesting, yeah.” Felix blinked. You chuckled, nodding at his reasonable reaction. “So…y-you’ll put that on me.”

“Yep.”

“And then we kiss.”

“Make-out,” you corrected. Your voice was clear and slightly stern, but the smile that formed on your face sent him in shivers.

The familiarity in your features contrasted with whatever stunts you were going to pull on him sent his head into a haze.

“Anything wrong with it?”

“No,” he shook his head.

“Lix, baby, just be clear with me.” You inched closer to him, bringing your hands to his plump freckle-spotted cheeks. “You don’t mind that I’ll record this and post it?”

“Of course, I don’t mind. I just…” Felix sighed.

“…Just curious, what are you planning to show in the video?”

“I’m gonna show the application, I’ll start by putting it on you.”

The heat rushed to Felix’s face as numerous thoughts clouded his mind as he visualized everything in his mind.

“We’re gonna kiss for a brief moment in the video, probably make out and do…whatever,” you winked shyly. “It’s only gonna be brief. Gotta keep it within community guidelines.”

One of your hands made its way down to his hip. You pulled him closer. His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat from gulping back an otherwise embarrassing sound.

You had to wonder if he was hiding anything causing him discomfort there.

“You’re sure you’re okay?”

Felix bit his lip. “A hundred percent sure.”

“If you don’t want—”

“I want…it,” he whispered under his breath. “I want you.”

He flashed a weak smile. He was incredibly excited, but he was losing composure and he didn’t exactly know why.

He was about to melt in your hands but you held him up and adjusted your set-up for the video with an equally beautiful smile.

—

Three, two, one, action.

The camera rolled and you felt the familiar rush of adrenaline surge through you. Impressively, you thought you would have lost your spark at content creation, but posing in front of the ring light felt refreshing.

“It’s been a long time coming y’all,” you waved, “but I’m back! And guess who I’m with!”

Felix stared at the camera for a moment, his eyes flicking back to you for a split second. It was his cue to wave as well.

“Ah, hi, everyone!”

“Still handsome and meek as always,” you teased. “He still has a bit of makeup on since he came from a shoot.”

Your hand ran down the side of his neck. You felt the goosebumps rise from his skin.

“Anyway, today I’ll be starting a series of videos covering weird products and their weird claims. We’re starting strong with this funky new liquid lipstick from…B.Me Cosmetics.”

Taking the tube out of its package, you examined it and showed it to the phone camera. You swatched a shade on the back of your hand. Differing from a bullet lip, it had a liquid formula that boasted a unique, pseudo-gloss satin finish. 

“It claims to be smudge-proof, make-out-proof, everything-proof. Can last five rounds of kissin’ and smoochin’ I assume.” You said many things that Felix didn’t even dare to process.

Felix simply watched your hands delicately hold the product. His gaze was fixated on your nails, fingers, and everything about you that wasn’t the lipstick.

“But oh no no, I’m not testing it on myself. Well, kinda, but Lixie over here is gonna be my test subject.” You swung an arm over Felix, dragging him down to the height of the phone, showing everyone his nervous yet precious face. He eyed up at you with what seemed to be hearts in his pupils.

“Let’s first see how this goes on, hmm?”

You walked a bit away to grab two chairs: one was velvety and comfortable, while the other was taller and had regular cushions. The first was the same chair your clients usually sat on, and the second was your working chair. You urged him to sit down, patting the seat as a signal.

The moment he sat down, Felix started trembling. His knees looked like they were about to give in and his thighs took a moment to settle onto the velvet.

“Everything alright?” You whispered.

He wordlessly nodded back at you. Unknown to you, though, he bit back a noise. He didn’t mind the sharp pulsing pain when he finally got the courage to look up fully, of course with the guidance of your thumb and index finger propping up his chin.

It felt like handling a little kitten in your hands.

“Which shade, which shade…” You took the other bottles out of the bold box packaging and waved them out in front of Felix’s lips. It either would have been a rosy nude color, a deep red, or a bright cherry pinkish-red.

You tapped the tube of the last color against your boyfriend’s bottom lip, watching his cheeks pout slightly at the action. You quietly settled on the cherry color, to Felix’s apparent delight.

“Would you look at that?” You cupped his face with one hand, holding the lipstick on your free one. You faced him towards the camera, relishing in the sight of his cheeks puffing up in your palm. “Call me biased or whatever, but his lips are some of the prettiest I’d ever seen.”

Before he could indulge in the praise though, you urged him to open his mouth. He didn’t prepare for any of this and not your next course of action.

You slotted the bottle in between Felix’s teeth and kept it in place even after unscrewing the applicator off. He bit slightly and carefully to keep the bottle in place without damaging it. If he were a nervous wreck then, he became overly anxious now. You, however, in full focus, took the applicator of the liquid lipstick and slid it along his top lip. The cold sensation of the new foreign product on his mouth made him squirm slightly, though you held him firmly in place with your hand.

“So fitting that his lips are shaped like a heart. He’s so kissable.” You smooched the air while cleaning up the perimeter of his lips, teasing him.

Wished I kissed you right now, huh? Felix could hear that in your voice and he let it echo in his pretty little head. Alas, he couldn’t retaliate nor speak back at all. He couldn’t even dip his head in embarrassment. Your eyes were trained on the brush you flicked, almost dismissive of your own flirting and it mismatched the smirk that adorned your mouth after teasing.

It was the exact kind of look he’s seen many times before. The exact look he fell in love with when you first met.

It’s the look he would get off to almost every night.

You finished off applying the lipstick and it was impressively smooth. You took the bottle from his teeth and sighed. The color made his mouth look irresistibly edible. It would take you three marathons and a trip to the moon to admit that you were starting to feel just as affected as Felix by the sight of his pouty mouth.

“Rub those pretty lips for me, baby.”

Only you could say those words to him the way that you do. Felix felt multiple urges rummaging through his system at once. He could almost cry from wanting to say something, to call out your name, to moan it, to whine and whimper, and melt in your arms as if nobody were watching. 

The eyes of the world were on him, though, and all he could do was comply. He rubbed his lips together and pouted them out with a smack.

“Good job, baby.” You rubbed his chin with your thumb. He felt fire surging within his heart.

He knew that you knew what you were doing. It was only you, after all, who knew how to push his buttons in the right places. Unlike Hyunjin nor Jeongin, it took you no effort and no risks to leave him a mentally jumbled mess; not agitated, but certainly needy.

You were still sticking to a mental script, though. “How does it feel? Chalky? Rough? Sticky…?”

“I-It’s smooth. Feels thin.” He felt his tongue almost twist in his mouth from trying to speak when he was physically weakening over you.

“Seems like a good formula,” you giggled.

He watched as you turned your back on him, explaining bits of beauty jargon that he couldn’t even begin to comprehend. His vision seemed to blur as a need to satisfy the growing discomfort in his pants overwhelmed him. It all snapped away for a second when you switched the angle of your phone and pulled him up by his arms, leading him in front of the couch.

All of a sudden, you rubbed a circle around the base of his wrist. You looked up at him with eyes that demanded something from him. It was dark yet inviting as if he had just eyed down a wolf threatening to eat him whole.

The gesture was your signal that you wanted to fuck him then and there.

Felix finally didn’t have to keep to himself.

“Time to test how good it wears,” you smirked at him.

Felix’s eyes were focused on yours. He didn’t move an inch as your fingers crawled from his jaw to his cheek. You glanced at your phone, propped up on the countertop, to check if it was recording. When you looked back, your eyes met Felix’s red lips.

You were so glad that you picked that shade. The makeup line released a ton of colors and your mind folded into itself when you realized how many there were. It was almost overwhelming to choose a shade for your boyfriend: you wanted to see him with a pinky nude on his lips, but you also thought the dark berry shade looked pretty.

As a trained makeup artist, you had a knack for figuring out which hues elevated which skin tones. Of all people, you knew Felix’s skin would match the slightly muted, pinkish cherry satin stain.

You should know this. You’ve seen his skin flush many times before, that would be more than enough to be familiar with the hues of his delicious skin.

You were the reason why he would constantly blush, after all. His skin would burn under your slightest touch, but it would flare up until his freckles darkened each time you held him down on your hips and called him pretty. His cheeks would turn as red as the tip of his cock every time you squeezed it lightly. 

Before you could think of any more, you tapped your boyfriend’s cheek. His face burned into a shade not far from the color of his lipstick.

“Are you sure you want to record this with me?” You asked, eyes scanning his face for second thoughts.

Felix almost forgot that you needed a clip of the both of you briefly kissing. He nodded after a second, confusion snapping into realization as you smiled at him. He seemed to be lost in thought, too: maybe he was nervous, maybe he was thinking of the same things you thought about. Either way, he simply answered with a smirk and the faintest giggle.

“Yeah. I’m game.”

You were on a mission to prove that this lip product could not budge after an intense make-out session. Now, you — and maybe Felix — wanted to see if it could survive intense sex, too.

All it took were two inches forward: you grabbed his hands dangling in front of you and closed in. Your noses touched each other, the skin bumping softly before your lips slotted against his in the smoothest kiss possible. To his surprise, you started gently. He expected you to crash against his mouth. He expected you to rummage through the product sitting on his mouth right away, to test its strength as a long-lasting piece of makeup, but you didn’t.

Maybe he wanted you to be rough. He wanted it.

You could tell by the whimper he choked up behind the kiss. That, and his hands roamed around your arms and sides, pulling you closer.

“Getting a little excited now, are we?” You purred, pulling your face away from his. He hesitated to break the kiss, inching his lips closer to yours even as you talked.

“Sorry, s-sorry. Got a little carried away.”

You wondered what got him to be so clingy and affectionate. You’re well aware of him being loving and tender, but it’s another thing to have him smitten while you’re doing nothing special.

Little did you know that to him, everything involving you is special. Even the texts you sent earlier and the ones you sent before. He couldn’t stop thinking about them; who wouldn’t, especially when you were being such a tease?

He finally pulled his head back. “Smooth,” he whispered.

You thought to tease him. “The lipstick?” 

“No,” Felix chuckled, “I meant you.”

Your hands traveled from up to his toned arms until one of them met the nape of his neck — his sensitive spot. You often called him a little kitten for enjoying being petted on that spot a little too much.

“So, did it rub off yet?” Your boyfriend managed to squeak, still affected by your antics.

His face was impossibly close to yours and you could feel the heat in his cheeks growing the more that he smiled at you. You stepped back to observe his face: apart from the blush on his cheeks, the lipstick was seemingly left unscathed. By the look on his face, he observed your lips, and there were no signs of product transferring. 

He also just wanted to kiss it again.

You raised an eyebrow at the camera and shrugged. “I guess it survived round one.”

“That was round one?” Felix mirrored the look you gave your phone. “I thought we call that first base.”

Your head whipped back to him. He simply smirked back, feigning an angel’s smile.

You’ve dated him for a long while, and while he had always been silly, he had never been this way in front of the camera. You wondered if the shoot he did — or the staff he was with — earlier had anything to do with a sudden ego boost.

“Now you’re bold, baby.”

The nickname caused Felix’s smirking eyes into wide ones, the excitement writing itself everywhere on his face.

“Just wanna do more with you,” he teased back. “Do more rounds, test how much removes.”

He puckered his lips and pouted. It was a juicy invitation that you couldn’t turn down. Instead, you took it with a kiss — a deep kiss, one that made you inhale and caught him off guard.

It was still gentle and velvety. It felt like you both tasted clouds and nothing was in between. The hand on the nape of his neck ran up to his hair and back down almost instinctively, making Felix shake. Unable to focus on both the sensation of a passionate kiss, an overwhelming urge to breathe and process the suddenness, and the general feeling of being petted, his hands swung to your chest and squeezed.

“Ah! Felix!” You whispered loudly against his mouth, almost moaning at the sensation.

“Sorry! Force of habit,” he said.

“Gotta keep it PG, baby, I’m posting this.” He nodded assuringly at your words but his hands were crucially still on your chest, threatening to squeeze again.

After realizing this, he immediately attempted to pull his hands back, an apology dripping on the tip of his tongue. Instead, you surprisingly threw your hands on his wrists, caging his hands in place.

If that didn’t surprise him enough, you leaned in close to his face and kissed him once more. It was fiery this time; he felt your tongue darting at him while your teeth nipped slightly at his bottom lip before you pulled away. He gasped louder than he should have.

You giggled at his shock and nuzzled your face on his neck. “Sorry. Reflex.”

“But mommy—” Felix froze, realizing what he had just said. He didn’t mean to say that.

All the cockiness he displayed earlier fizzled out into thin air. You could feel the heartbeat in his neck thumping against your lips. From his eyes fluttered shut to wide open ones, you could see the embarrassment wash over him.

Sure, you two were doing something intimate, kissing and groping in front of the camera. He knew and trusted you enough to edit it out, but the idea that footage would have existed of him calling you that nickname…scared him. The camera watched him, the microphone picked up his low voice, and on the off-chance that this moment makes the cut, thousands of people would have seen it. 

He’d gotten used to the idea that millions of people could pass by his face and body, but it’s different when he’s exposing a bit of himself that he only reserved for you — his “mommy.”

“Y/N… Shit, I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t—”

“Oh baby, it’s okay.” You gave a reassuring look and a warm smile, shifting your position to hide his face away from the phone camera.

The pet name was his suggestion. The idea that you could hold this title as his dominant partner was something he never thought of telling you at first, but the moment he mentioned it, you indulged immediately. It was something so dear, so sweet, and soft, definitely making you less of an ominous presence to him in bed and more like a warm home he can return to. You loved it even if he didn’t expect you to.

Even while he’s embarrassed and fully vulnerable, he felt so safe, entrusted to the only one in his life that could take the title without judgment. 

“Call me that as much as you want. I won’t show it,” you whispered. Felix nodded but you didn’t miss the tears threatening to form in his eyes.

“Mommy…” He inevitably gave up and dipped his head in the crook of your neck. You petted the back of his head again and kissed the side of his head, calming him with hushes and soft hums.

Before he could melt at your warm embrace, you took a few steps back. Felix whined and hoped to hug you for longer, only to watch you press the button on your phone to stop the recording. You shut the phone off, looked back at him, and smiled with your eyes.

He always valued your respect for his boundaries and the fact that you always made his comfort your top priority.

“We’re not done,” you inched closer, “the lipstick’s still on there.”

Because if you two were going to fuck comfortably, you two were still going to fuck.

Taking his arms and pulling them towards you, you prompted him to wrap himself around you as your lips crashed against his. You held him by his waist — it was remarkably small, toned, and muscled but definitely made for your hands to take it.

With force, you hugged his waist and carried him slightly, pushing you both on the couch. You sat on it while he was essentially hovering over your figure, his hips just above your lap.

“Mommy—g-god,” Felix gasped, muffled by another nudge of your mouth.

As if your brain switched off, your hands started going on their own. One was trained on his hip and the other snaked up his side and cupped his face, making him tremble at the sudden yet soft movements.

You were focused on the kiss but you just knew he looked gorgeous.

Of all the clients you put makeup on, your boyfriend always turned out the prettiest. Maybe it’s because his eyes seemed to shine with certain shadows on them. Maybe it’s the way his freckles peek through the base products. In this case, maybe it was the plumpness of his lips that you loved, covered in a flattering shade of red. Maybe that’s what was doing it for you.

“You’re so cute, baby,” you said, pausing the kiss.

Felix pouted. The pigment on his lips accentuated the curves of his mouth. “Not as cute as mommy.”

“Hm, thank you. But you’re my cute baby.”

Sometimes, you wonder how you got this to be so vulnerable, so whipped for you. It didn’t take him that long to warm up to you with this side of him, a side he so dearly hid from the rest of the world. It’s like this doll was made for you.

“Mommy,” Felix dragged out a whimper as he called you by the title. “Making me needy.”

“Don’t get impatient baby boy,” you whispered, a kiss on his temple following your sweet words.

While rolling your hips onto his, you thought about it what you said. You thought back to the last night he fell into this extremely submissive role. He’d always been the one under you and you’ve always been the one in control, but during that one night — similar to this one — he shyly asked you to call him a certain pet name. You loved it, probably more than he did, and you figured he might want to hear you say it again.

“Or are you my baby girl for tonight?”

“Mommy!” Felix scolded. If his cheeks were already flushed, his entire face heated up with a warmth that you simply indulged in. His ears and the corners of his eyes lit up with a blush tone that complimented and accentuated the cherry color that lined his shy smile.

He enjoyed the pet name too much, and he seemed to be threatened with memories of the same night the moment you said it.

“What? Don’t want to be my baby girl? It’s okay if you—”

“I’m mommy’s girl! Yeah, I’m their baby girl!”

Almost all traces of bass in Felix’s voice left the moment he squealed his response to you. 

His eyebrows were slanting upwards like a needy puppy, his eyes sparkled as beads of tears sat on his eyelashes, and he wiggled his hips onto yours with a neediness you’ve seen many times before. He briefly whimpered again in a high pitch. 

Being called that for the first time was as special to him as it was to you. It still landed him punches to the gut every time you said it. You would wonder why he loved it even if he was incredibly comfortable in his masculinity.

Maybe it made sense like that, considering he was wearing makeup while sitting on your lap.

You kissed him again and praised him until he gave into the burning sensations he felt from your overwhelmingly smooth graces around his body. With fast swipes, you pulled his plain shirt over his head, only to clothe him again with nothing but the warm embrace of your arms.

He moaned, writhed, and whined, adjusting his position on your lap until his legs were slotted against one of your thighs. Once he found his balance, he rutted against your leg, letting out a sound that he couldn’t resist.

“Didn’t even undress you yet, I still have pants on, and you’re already riding me?” You smiled widely at him. Felix huffed, unable to think, inhaling so that he wouldn’t drool on your shirt.

Or your chest, now that you abandoned your top in a flash, leaving it even harder for him to contain himself.

You took his lips into yours again, this time licking and biting his sweet mouth, allowing his tongue to slide against yours. It was messy and sloppy, just the way he needed it. You wondered if he had been craving this for so long and just couldn’t tell you.

Nevertheless, the next step was to take the bottoms off of your lower half and his own, but he paused your hands from reaching onto his crotch.

“W-Want mommy’s off first,” he sighed. It sounded more like a question now that his voice was so high and his tone was so soft. He was far from the boy whose mouth went foul over his own best friends at work.

His head was far gone, you figured.

Felix helped you pull your pants down, careful not to disrupt the current position that you were both in, only slightly lifting yourself off the couch. He sighed once he saw you, bare and beautiful, rid of anything that kept him from being horny the entire day.

He wanted you so bad.

“Baby girl, tell me,” it was your turn to pause his hands from reaching you.

“Is something bothering you?”

“No…not really a-a bother…” He pursed his lips.

He figured to rip the bandaid off and just show you the source of his discomfort—or, as it seems, the source of his pleasure.

“Baby girl, you…”

He revealed a pastel pink lacy fabric covering his private area. He was wearing panties.

“I…I got them from a PR package…from th-that one underwear company…” Felix justified, stuttering from both extreme embarrassment and arousal.

“It was supposed to be yours b-but I…liked it so much…a-and I wanted to…”

You couldn’t help but notice the drool threatening to fall from his tongue, glossing his lips. Distracted, you didn’t kiss him. You licked his mouth and bit his bottom lip again. The blood under his skin rushed to color his lips, emphasizing the pink-colored stain.

As you bit his lip, your fingers found the band of his panties, toying with the pink lace before slipping under it. The flesh — rather, his cock — was hard and pulsing. Felix moaned. His chest heaved from being unable to process everything at once.

“Baby girl’s clit is so hard for me already.” You pecked his cheek and let him whine. “You’ve been needy since earlier?”

“Y-Yeah, but, ‘m…not finished.” He mumbled under his breath. “Got more…to show you.”

He pulled his panties fully down, allowing his cock to bounce up. You couldn’t help but notice something at the base, but your suspicions were confirmed when he led one of your hands to touch his ass.

“You wore a butt plug the whole day?”

Felix’s face flushed into a shade similar, if not deeper than the cherry red he wore on his lips. At your words, he felt like crumpling into himself. 

“It’s just for you. Thought y-you’d like it.”

All you could do in response was kiss him deeply and thrust your thigh up, hitting the plug deeper into his ass.

He moaned deliciously into the kiss and almost cried at the contact. It fucked with him — literally — the entire day and you made it all the better. Only that he had so little time to adjust before you gave him a dark look again.

“Mommy, what are you—”

He was shut up by you licking his mouth and your fingers filling up his hole.

“Your cunt’s so fucking wet, baby girl.” Your words left your system through gritted teeth, filtering your animalistic desire to ruin him even more than ever. “This pussy is mine and only mine.”

You bit his lip once more, sucking on the plump flesh before abandoning it. “Bet your toys can’t satisfy you as I do.”

“They d-don’t, mommy!” Felix was on the verge of tears, choking back sobs as your teeth found his jaw, peppering it with love bites lining his natural contour.

You started pumping your fingers up and down his ass, hitting his prostate with your fingertips over and over. “Can only take me inside your cunt.”

“Ah, god—fuck, mommy!” The delirious sounds escaping him as he scrambled to hold onto your body kept you going.

As if he noticed, he started grinding into the air next to your entrance. You took this as his usual sign that he wanted to please you too. Felix valued mutual pleasure and craved it as much as he craved the sloppy crashing of mouths on a couch.

“Take me like a good girl.” Your voice softened as you cooed. “Can you do it? Ride mommy’s fingers while fucking into me?”

He could only nod frantically, allowing the drool in his mouth to drop onto his cock. 

The lipstick probably looked so messy by now.

You held his cock, lengthy and hard, and squeezed it in your free hand. “This is mommy’s to play with.” 

Shoving it into your entrance, you curled your fingers deep onto Felix’s prostate, eliciting loud moans from either of you. Felix could scream from the sudden warmth enveloping his cock.

“Rub your clit against me,” you demanded, urging him to thrust his cock immediately. He complied only to start whining and crying out from the stimulation.

You leaned your head to the side and exposed your neck. With a subtle nod of your head, you invited him to bite your neck before his next thrust. Lightning bolts entered you when his teeth sunk into your skin for some semblance of comfort.

In turn, you kissed and sucked a spot on Felix’s shoulder. The biting sensation made him squirm away from you, but his noises only amplified when you latched onto a more sensitive spot above his freckled collarbone. It didn’t help that your fingers were practically exiting and entering his hole completely, filling and emptying him at a speed he almost couldn’t take.

The stimulation from all ends of his body caught up to him, release rumbling from his core up to his cock. He begged and pleaded and called your name multiple times as you did too. Felix readied for release but shocked himself when it came suddenly, almost without warning.

He started gushing just outside your entrance, the relief surging through his hips in waves: it had never happened to him before, but the slight amusement on his fucked-out face sent you over the edge too.

You came at the same time, your wetness coating the sides of your thighs and the cushions of the couch, the pool of both your juices mixing right under you.

It had to take you both several minutes to an hour of downtime before you both got up to clean. During that time, Felix held you close, trapping you in a warm cuddle.

“Y/N, I love you,” he whispered, his deep voice returning, calming you from your high.

You pressed one more kiss on his lips. “I love you too, Felix.”

Aftercare had to be a non-negotiable after the scene you guys painted all over the living room.

You made sure to offer Felix the softest bubble bath, massaging and soothing every inch of his skin, scrubbing away at the residue of the new lipstick.

You both found out, just before the bath, that it barely survived at all. It still stained his lips a shade of red, and the stains of love bites that he left on you stuck for a long while, but the actual product budged possibly within the third round of kisses. It barely held on when you started biting him.

The bedroom was full of giggles and the shuffling of your bodies cuddling close to calm yourselves down. Felix shared how he couldn’t believe his horniness that day, and you teased that he was being a hormonal girl.

He whined at that, kissed you good night, and fell asleep while huddled close to your chest. You calmly played with your phone, quickly editing the footage and clipping out the moment that he slipped into submission.

That was for your eyes only.

You posted the video and muted the notifications, kissed his forehead good night, and fell asleep.

—

“Baby, baby girl…” Your voice, although hoarse and deep from the blissful sleep, woke your boyfriend up. The clock on your bedside table flashed 9:00 AM in bright red, but the light from your phone shone brighter. “Look at this!”

“Holy…Y/N, oh my god!” Every trace of sleepiness left Felix as he jumped out of bed. “The video blew up?!”

You sat up next to him, chuckling in disbelief. “Let’s see what people are saying.”

“Why does the suggested search bar have…”

Men marked up. Men with hickeys. Men whining. It was clear that the video affected your audience in more ways than one.

“Silly,” you giggled, sinking into your boyfriend’s embrace. “Wonder how this thing got through community guidelines.”

Felix pointed at a comment. “Help. Someone’s asking about washing the stains off.”

The both of you cuddled closer. As the sunlight shone through your curtains and hit your figures, it highlighted Felix’s honey skin and the cherry stains that failed to wash off in the shower.

You turned your head to his and smirked. “Should we film an update video? What about a part 2?”

taglist: @toastyseungmo @hobihearteu @biddes-enthusiast @snow-pegasus @subby-kpop @myrandomthoughtsandhobbies @eggielix @hanniecheesecake @chrisbahng @laylasbunbunny @ppiri-bahng @he-they-heathen @chriscentric @svintsandghosts @sstarryoong

+ @imrllytootiredforthis @imsolovelylovely @beefis @sorikkung @lix-ables figured to tag since yall showed interest!

special thanks to @meivida, my ride or die, the big brain that inspired me to write this in the first place! they also took time out of their day to proofread it ^_^

thank you for reading ! consider reblogging and leaving feedback if you loved my work 💗 artwork and writing © ipegchangbin. no reposts and translations.

[aricr]

My thoughts on TED (the planet) and its people (just headcanons)

I had some thoughts/headcanons about TED (the planet + its people).  (Slight spoilers for s2 of Midnight Burger?)

It’s been established that:

An algorithm rules the TEDs. They trust it, and (allegedly) have no real leaders.

They worked on this algorithm for a long time until it learned to improve itself

The education system is geared toward people’s strengths, and the algorithm and presumably authority figures steer kids in the direction of a fitting career, and that will help push the Empire forward.

There used to be rainforests like the ones on earth

THEREFORE (and this is where my headcanons come in)

I think maybe industrialization took hold. They were the Earth before Earth in that way.

The difference is that because they’re a much more advanced civilization, it looks cleaner. They clean up nice and decorate their cities with artificial (and maybe electric/mechanical) trees, plants, etc.  This helps keep the younger population's morale up, while the workforce works to find a solution for their rapidly depleting resources. The algorithm works to train the younger generation and push them toward what they do best individually in a way that helps the workforce continue.

NOW we get into the good stuff

The TEDs got desperate and started looking for....more questionable solutions. 

Eventually, someone gets an idea. It's drastic, and they do some small tests. But it works. 

They start working on a larger model immediately and announce their success to the population; a way to connect their planet to others like it. An age for diplomacy and cultural exchange. Of planets helping each other. A bridge of sorts. My guess is that they were very open about their system of scanning for life on different systems because the corruption hadn’t taken hold yet, at least not completely. Everything would be okay if they followed protocol. If they stuck to the plan. 

A team had already departed to get a head start on construction.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE TEDs AS A PEOPLE/SPECIES (based on my Ted (singular) design and my inspirations behind it)

Building and tech have always been a lot easier for TEDs. Evolutionarily speaking, they can transfer small shocks of electricity from one place to another simply through touch. They're an electric bunch, like electric eels.

My good friend @mostdeviouswizard asked if the shocks are affected by emotions, and the answer is YES! So in my Ted design, his scales/freckles light up, along with sparks from the ends of his antennae. This also applies to other strong emotions and is a defense mechanism (evolutionarily speaking, against prey and such).  

Becoming an Earth expert was a great way for the TEDs to use his expertise to help find resources. He always loved the forests of his planet (or what was left of them). When he realized humans were chopping down their forests and burning through their natural resources, he could see them going the same way they were headed--only they didn't have the advancements of the TEDs. They would doom themselves, and those beautiful resources on their planet. That would explain why he has such strong feelings about life on other planets, especially their forests & other flora. 

I was just drawing and had the cute idea of possible small electric shocks bc I made his little scales/freckles glow blue and then went "......Why do they do that tho."

So naturally, I IMMEDIATELY came up w this lore.

[frodothefair]

Modern Eothiriel! The Rancher and the Model

The plot bunnies are multiplying, aren't they? Today, I got an idea for a modern AU. I don't know if I'll ever actually write this -- and my personal opinion is that a modern AU may as well be an original fiction nine times out of ten -- but here goes. My favorite thing about modern fiction is that I can easily draw on personal experience.

Lothíriel is a young fashion model who lives and works between Italy, France, and occasionally New York. On the surface, she has a glamorous, fast-paced lifestyle, but originally, she is from a mid-sized city in an Eastern European country, and her family is various levels of problematized, so she helps them financially whenever she can. (For instance, her father, Imrahil, is elderly and disabled -- and also a patriarch who runs the family with an iron fist; her brother Amrothos is an on and off unemployed alcoholic, Erchirion is a put-upon small business owner, and Elphir is a doctor, but institutional medicine in that country is notoriously underpaid, so he spends his time juggling his work at the hospital with private-pay clients, as well as pulling strings to get his brother into treatment).

Éomer and Éowyn are siblings who run a horse farm in the upper Midwest (a region of the United States), raising horses for show and for racing. Their uncle Theoden, who bequeathed them the farm, passed away in a tragic accident some years ago, and Éomer and Éowyn are finally taking a vacation, for the first time since his passing. They rent a property in the South of France, in a picturesque historic beach town called Eze, and they aim to stay and soak up the sun for at least a week or two.

Little do they know that the picturesque location is the site of a modeling shoot, and that's how Éomer meets Lothíriel. (The idiot probably wanders into the modeling shoot by accident, because he's too overawed by the scenery, and his head is all but literally in the clouds).

Their connection is instant, and they continue to meet at local restaurants and cafes, and explore the coast and nearby Nice on her days off. When they part ways, they continue to talk online, and over the coming months and years, they make time to meet between their respective commitments, in a different European city every time, where they spend their days lounging around rented lofts talking and making love, with occasional forays out into the world to attend cultural venues and find sustenance and libations.

But in the end, every long distance relationship is fated to end -- either by calling it quits or becoming short-distance. As a model, Lothiriel's days are numbered: most models do not stay in the industry past their mid-twenties, and modeling is increasingly less of a career, and more of a way to pay for whatever will happen next.

As such, eventually Lothíriel and Éomer do get married, and have a beautiful wedding that transcends time and space, celebrating by turns in her home country, then in one of Lothiriel's erstwhile "home bases" (Paris or Milan), and then on the horse farm. But after the dust settles and reality sets in... what then?

Inevitably, a life on a horse ranch is less glamorous when it's a day to day endeavor rather than a getaway. What is spiritually healing, relaxing, and exotic for a week or two can become spectacularly dull, especially when one's husband is often gone, the business side of running the farm is hopelessly opaque, and the nearest city with an airport and any modicum of "culture" as Lothíriel understands it is a two hour drive away. To make matters worse, the nearby small town, beneath its quaint veneer, has a drug and unemployment problem, and the local women of her social class are seemingly from another planet: they enjoy hearing her stories but see her an outsider, and their predominant interests are gardening, church potlucks, and perhaps bookclubs where they consume more wine than words.

Fairly soon, Lothíriel is at loose ends and even depressed, wondering if she has made a mistake, and if she and her husband have anything in common. After all, it's one thing to live jet setting lifestyle, meeting only from time to time, but quite another to live together when one is used to rising early and the other is a confirmed night owl.

Can Lothíriel find a place for herself in middle America? Can she find a way to be useful and bring her experience to bear? And most importantly, can she be a support and a partner to her husband as opposed to a listless and unhappy weight? Only one way to find out!

What do you think? @emmanuellececchi @konartiste @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras @celeluwhenfics

[horseslur]

Things that are horrendously and embarassingly bad about sse/sso:

Game code and glitches and bugs

Weekly update schedule

Community management

This kind of falls under all three but generally Every part of the game feels unfinished and detached from the rest. Quests don't match up. Basic visual objects (clothing, tack) glitch through each other. Added content is frequently blatantly untested.

I'm not even diving into the dynamics within the company itself.

Or its horrendous marketing.

Also in game items have big inflation problems. Largely caused by the fact that the max amount of js a player can carry at any given time is capped at an amount you can max out in a day or two, which is automatically also a Very Low maximum that you can price an item.

The half-hearted retrofitting whenever they update a part of the game. Horse speed breaking quests. Retrofitting new tack to basic horses. This kind of ties back into point number one.

Things that I Genuinely Like about SSO/are done really well/have no better alternative in the games industry:

Sound design? I feel like people don't talk about this enough. Not just the music but also atmospheric elements are really well done, even if the game struggles with sound triggers sometimes. I especially like the horse-related sounds, as stupid as it sounds. If i can ride a horse in a video game I'm judging it by the noises the horse's hooves make. SSO is like right below tears of the kingdom in that for me.

Map design: It's frankly very impressive how every spot in Jorvik has really good views, and the balance between feeling like places are miles away and giving you excellent traveltime, while still being dense with locations and quest opportunities. Epona feels like three days of travel away, and yet from the right spot you can simply see the castle on the other side of the water!

Individual visual design: I like the look of the new player models (put your nostalgia goggles away. the old shit looks like it belongs in 2005 with oldschool runescape and you know it), same goes with horses, tack, even things like trees and environmental objects. The main problem is the janky mismatch between objects, which traces back to the lack of cohesive long-term vision and planning when it comes to developing the game as a whole, instead of individual parts and pieces.

The thing that actually inspired this post: as troublesome as the js economy is in the game, they've Genuinely hit the mark with starcoins. The goal of a premium currency is the delicate balance between getting as much real-life benefits from your players (whether that be ad revenue or simple direct payment for it) while giving them enough new goodies through it that it makes it worth it for players to put in that extra effort. No company in the industry gives away premium currency on a whim. The 100sc per week, which translates to 5 new horses per year and the occasional bonus if you've saved up more over time, is an excellent structure. You get to buy horses for free if you just wait long enough. You don't need to pay beyond your standard star rider price (and if you haven't bought the permanent version. what are you doing. paying for the pay once option pays itself back in 11 months over the monthly option, and 12 months for the quarterly option. Not even counting the bonus sc you get to begin with). Free weekly sc that are enough for a magic horse 4 times a year, plus a bonus horse or several pets, is an Amazing community service they're frankly doing. And from a company perspective? They are never going to change this in a way that is more beneficial to you. Because the goal of premium currency is not to buy horses, it's to earn the company money. It is the Main way the company earns money. And the 100sc works excellent because it's doing exactly what it needs to do: It's keeping you coming back to buy their new horses, and then makes you go "man I wish I had even more sc", thus tempting you into buying sc. Any increase in starcoins will be the opposite of an incentive to spend money on the game. If management is really stupid and desperate for cash, they will, if anything, decrease the amount of sc you earn, or more subtly increase the price of the things you can buy with it. Because that's what gets you going "Well if I spend just 20 euros, I can buy both new magic horses, and the Dutch Warmblood when it releases in a month."

Starcoins hits a really fucking good sweet spot between earning the company money, and doing a genuine community service by making it accessible on the basic paid version.

[askagamedev]

Are there specific reasons that the mobile platform isn't approached by the industry as a platform for more "serious"/full fledged gaming experiences? Most (all?) major publishers that stepped into the mobile space usually end up with some sort of gacha (ie Galaxy of Heroes) or freemium (Diablo Immortal) experience. Was it determined the general consumer is averse to a fully paid full game w/ live service style monetization model but on mobile?

It's really really hard to change a well-established expectation from a huge audience once it's been set, especially if it feels like we're taking something away from the user. Because the vast majority of apps on mobile are free (and a huge percentage of paid apps have prices less than $5 USD), the expectation among the user base is already set. A huge amount of the target audience will simply move on to the next thing because there are so many other alternate options available for free, rather than pay up front to give our game a chance.

Any experience on mobile, premium or no, is still expected to be free to play. At the same time, every premium experience needs to earn back the premium budget spent to create and market it. If the game must be free in order to capture a sufficient audience and it needs to earn money somehow, then freemium (or gacha) is basically locked in as a business model since there's no other way to make back that development and marketing cost. That is the unfortunate tragedy of the mobile platform. We do see games that are a more premium experience like Genshin Impact, Diablo Immortal, and the like, but they are also the same kind of freemium/gacha games but with better production values because too many players on the platform won't pay for a game up front.

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[roo-bastmoon]

Let's talk about Yoongi and Taeyang

My thoughts and impressions of this episode are below the cut to avoid spoilers for folks.

Okay so first of all, let's all agree that our Lil Meow Meow was going THROUGH IT. He started fanboying before he could even get to the introduction and he was consistently twitterpated throughout the entire show. Adorbs.

I won't recap everything, but a few things stood out to me as significant insights into character.

Taeyang mentioned he used to eat only one meal a day. (As someone recovering from disordered eating, I have VIEWS about this but let me hush up and stay on topic.) Then he said when he served in the military, he had to eat three meals a day and do physical labor, so he gained 10kgs (22lbs). Which by the way is still a healthy weight. And he said he had to "work hard" to lose it again. I hate this. I hope all our boys come back from their time in the military used to regular meals, regular sleeping hours, a regular BMI and stick to it. They will have the power to reshape the standards of the industry if they refuse to make themselves fit into a smaller space. Just my opinion and I doubt I'll be changing it any time ever.

Taeyang said Jimin re-recorded their song 15 times. As far as I know based on the documentaries and Masterclasses I've watched from other famous musicians, singers, and songwriters, studio time is precious, even if you own the studio. Recording is expensive. A great deal of time is spent after recording on mixing the best takes to get to one master track. But our Jimin seems to have wanted to get it perfect all in one. He really does hold himself to a standard higher than most Grammy winners; I'm not kidding.

Yoongi then of course praises Jimin for his work ethic. The praise, THE PRAISE, Y'ALL. I LIVE. Jimin keeps working even when he cramps up in pain, our dear artist... Remember when he couldn't go to Jin's birthday party because he was recovering from muscle cramps? We called it; it was because of choreo.

Interesting how in the same breath, Yoongi compared Jungkook's organic genius to Jimin's effortful genius. I'm a huge Jikook fan but I don't want to make this out to be a shipping moment, because honestly it's just about styles of approach to work. And this isn't the first time we've heard this about Jikook as a unit. We hear it from members, producers, friends, choreographers, collaborators...

Yoongi also is sure to rat Jimin out about how much he mimicked and idolized Taeyang as a teen and it's like... you're saying this while admitting to doing the exact same thing and knowing all his songs, but still, it's super sweet. It reminds me of when Yoongi admitted to writing fanfic, lol. Even better is how Taeyang mentions several times he knows all of BTS' work. That's a discography of 200+, my friends.

But seeing Yoongi praise both Jimin and Taeyang so highly makes me wish that this episode came out before VIBE released. Maybe his trusted perspective would have softened the resistance many people felt toward supporting the project.

Especially because Taeyang really comes across as a good guy. He seems humble, considerate, grounded, a team-player, sensible, deep-thinking, and kind. He also seems to be focused on being a family man, making good music, and becoming a role model for the next generation. Now yes, both times I've seen him this way, he's appearing on TV to promote his single. But as far as we can know a celebrity while they are in front of a hot camera, I feel like his character is genuine enough, and I trust the tannies when they say they ALL admire and respect him deeply.

BTS has been around in the industry long enough to know when people are full of shit. And yeah, there are some seriously problematic assholes in Big Bang. There were legit scandals involving drugs and sex trafficking. I won't be rushing out to consume their products. But they did play a part in shaping BTS and Taeyang shouldn't be painted with the same brush just because he landed in the same group. He seems like someone who might have matured out of a lot of mistakes, like appropriating hairstyles or speaking on subjects outside his lived experience. I'm willing to give him a chance, here, in 2023, to get it right.

I also appreciate how honest and vulnerable Yoongi was and continues to be the moment he gets a few drinks in him. Talking about being so nervous without his members for That, That that he wanted to throw up. Mentioning the fear and disappointment when news of their hiatus caused all hell to break loose. Stating openly and without any qualifiers that he loves his members. To me, this is healing.

Yoongi was also adorable as fuck, let's face it. Giggly, blushing, toe-tapping, squirming, gushing, flirting Min Yoongi managed to ask Taeyang if he could produce a song for him (as if anyone in the world would say no thanks). And Taeyang is like "come over to my house and eat dinner with Jimin, I'll cook kimchi jiggae for you guys."

Oh and by the way, Taeyang and Joon apparently go to dinner and hang out and go to museums? AND WE WOULD NEVER KNOW. Do you know why? Because unless they choose to share aspects of their personal lives with us, WE DON'T ACTUALLY SEE THE MAJORITY OF THEIR PERSONAL LIVES. So just because you don't see evidence of members hanging out doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Everyone needs to chill about this with regards to Jikook. They went to ground around the same time that bullshit insurance premiums "scandal" broke and they've been to ground since. That's all.

Side note: Considering the shitstorm online earlier this week because Taehyung followed T-Top for a few hours on Instagram, I'm wondering if 2023 is the year most of the tannies stick to work-only promotions for their social media. You get burned enough, there's no payoff in sharing your vulnerable sides with strangers. It's such a shame, because we had a window to their inner landscapes, a glimpse at their real personalities and their real lives, but ruiners ruin everything. So a special Fuck You to people sending them hate for following or working with people you don't like. Know your place as a fan. Feel free to protest with your pocketbook but don't you dare talk shit and spread hate.

I digress. Back to Suchwita.

Taeyang advised Yoongi to surround himself with good people (members, staff, friends)... people who can tell him no. They had a great talk about staying realistic and humble, reminding themselves all things come to an end, being normal and grounded.

THIS is what makes BTS so easy to champion. They are uniquely talented, clearly the most hardworking, and even have streaks of artistic genius. But they forever remain set in a beginner's mind. They are the top dogs in their industry with an underdog mindset. I love this about them enough to set alarms to vote for awards and buy multiple copies of their work so they chart. I, Roo, who has never been to a popular music concert in all her 43 years; never been a groupie of anyone; never owned a piece of merch--I want them to succeed because I know they will never take it for granted.

And they keep it simple, even when it comes to how they work. Now, as someone who writes for a living and does bullet journaling every day as part of my therapy, I cannot tell you how delighted I was to learn that Yoongi writes with a pen and Taeyang with a typewriter. I am exactly the same. There's something intimate about it. I type more than 95 words a minute for work but it's not the same when crafting something personal. I also write original works better away from a designated work space--it's too much pressure to sit in a sterile environment and try to create. Real, meaningful words come from real, messy, organic moments in life. I just loved this level of detail in their conversation.

All in all, this was just such a great episode. I feel like I got to know both men better, was shown real insight into their mindsets, learned about their lives and work, and so I felt excited about VIBE.

Speaking of VIBE, we still need lots more sales to help Jimin get to Hot 100. Please contact accounts on twitter to get a gift card, make another itunes or amazon account, and buy it again, if you cannot persuade others to buy-in. Jimin worked so hard and wanted this so badly. I'm deeply troubled that ARMY couldn't cough up a buck-twenty-nine for him. It's like With You all over again. Unacceptable.

We are up against Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and Sam Smith. We need the sales to get the points. We have a day and a half to get it right. PLEASE buy it.

We also only need 1.2 million more views on YouTube to get it to 50 million in its first week, so please stream today and tomorrow!

Consider it practice for next month, when PJM1 drops. Because by all accounts--from everyone who has ever worked with Jimin--he deserves it.

If you got this far, thanks for reading. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

Yours,

Roo

[jmdbjk]

A sleeping giant.

The months of Jimin’s absence are finally revealing what he’s been up to.

From the W Korea article: 

"Jimin begins to leap in the air on a sizable mattress surrounded by flowers, bouncing up and falling backwards countless times; every movement he makes recalls his graceful performance onstage; Jimin, who studied dance at an arts high school, doesn’t simply jump. Instead, he rises and appears to float in the air for an instant. The camera captures the fleeting seconds of his flight...

...Jimin casts a giant’s shadow on a large backdrop."

The hoi polloi (actually most were people who are more wealthy than we are and were invited to this fashion shindig) were getting pushed out of the way so Jimin could enter the building. MOVE OUT OF THE WAY PEASANTS, ROYALTY IS COMING THROUGH!

Commanding without even being conscious of it. 

As I was browsing Getty Images, I noticed a lot of the other guests posing for the cameras as they arrived...trying to get their moment in the flashing cameras... and there were a lot of special guests from the fashion and entertainment industries. And all Jimin wanted to do is get the heck inside the building ...fuck posing, where’s my Hobi-ah?

I could talk about the actual fashion show but I'm not sure if anyone is interested. All eyes are on Jimin. 

I should probably know who that shaggy white guy is sitting behind them but I could care less... but he sure was trying to figure out who those two young men in front of him were...

If I may, a few of my thoughts on this particular Dior menswear collection is that the silhouettes were so voluminous... shapeless really... especially the pants. They were like that in the Louis Vuitton show as well. Not a fan of billowy, wide-leg pants on men (you know how I feel about tight pants...I’m sure I’ve mentioned it a time or two). There were a lot of skirt/skort/kilt pleated type bottoms. Lots of tweed. Beautifully draping fabrics as usual. Flowy thingy details. And those rubber boots. The sounds those had to have made as the models strode around the backdrop to the narration of whatever that was ... The vibe was outdoorsy (which is what we know the summer collection was inspired by) and the ambience was... well... British country? Hoity toity quail hunting? With a dash of impracticality? Those flowy thingys are sure to get all muddy as you drag them behind you walking through that bog. 

However, there were a few pieces that stood out for me because of the texture and silhouette:

That ribbed sweatery texture looks very cozy and luxurious.

The tweed (or pattern) is classic and that jacket and pants look like something that could be tailored well for Jimin. I could see Jimin wearing either of those pieces. The bucket hats were sort of oversized (Jungkook would love them).

I love that Hobi attended the Dior show and was able to be a familiar face for Jimin. It made me feel better that he was there.

I can imagine Hobi oohing and aahing as the models went by... and Jimin trying not to giggle at him (being at his core ‘my goofy friend in sweatpants who loves soju…’) and Hobi is decked out head to toe in Dior as well.

Between the Dior show coverage and the WKorea magazine article, my poor brain is overwhelmed.

I wonder if Dior is aware of the unicorn it scored at its Menswear Fall ‘23 show... the presence of Jimin AND Hobi.... no other fashion house may ever get that lucky. 

And now the Vibe making-of video.

I commented not too long ago about when I thought the Vibe MV had been filmed and my guess was late August...and I was WRONG WRONG WRONG! Lo and behold! in the Vibe making video! Jimin's hair is blonde! under that beanie! when he and Taeyang are prepping for the video! The only time we've seen a hint of blonde Jimin was Jin's enlistment day DECEMBER 13!. Look closely, blonde hair peeking out from under Jimin’s beanie:

This little Vibe making video also showed me the friendship between Jimin and Taeyang and knowing that Jimin was influenced in his youth by Taeyang makes me understand more clearly why Jimin is not afraid and wants to be naked for us:

So I am here to thank Taeyang for that. 

[venicemermaids]

i'm back w more au stuff!! this time, centering around a pop duo. to tell you the truth, i kind of built this au around them.

anyway, if you have any questions about the au or anything.. i'm always happy to answer. <3 now... hcs under the cut!

♡ trish is the only daughter of model donatella una and fashion photographer aceto doppio. doppio signs his work as 'solido naso' so he can keep his private life separate from his professional life. diavolo is trish's uncle, who often spoils her when he sees her.

♡ growing up, trish had a rather normal life. donatella and doppio wanted to make sure that trish didn't have to deal with invasive questions and paparazzi hounding her, but she's always been interested in the glitz and glamour of her parents' work. instead of modeling, she wanted to write music and eventually become a popstar. she started with a small youtube channel doing covers, and eventually started doing her own original songs.

♡ lucy is the daughter of steven steel, who is a famous director. she's homeschooled so the paparazzi or any fans can't bother her while she's trying to learn, and she's rather well-versed in navigating the industry thanks to her attending many social events with steven, his former protegé funny valentine, and funny's wife scarlet.

♡ when lucy was ten, she decided to become an actress because she enjoyed cameoing in steven's movies growing up. she did commercials and small tv roles until steven eventually put her in his most recent film, a silent way, when she was 13. it was her breakout role. she appeared on a few tv shows after and people still talk about her even now since they're interested in what she'll do next. honestly, she was considering going into music.

♡ shortly before lucy's fifteenth birthday, she met trish through a public performance that trish was putting on. lucy was impressed. when she went home that night, she found trish's youtube channel. with this, her mind was made up. she'd take a break from acting, and focus her energy on singing.

♡ for her birthday present, she had only one wish; to record music, but only if she could record it with trish. 

♡ steven gets into contact with trish and her parents, and they schedule a meeting with each other shortly after. trish isn't totally onboard with the idea initially because she always thought of herself as a solo act. after thinking on it for about a day or two, she comes back and agrees to perform alongside lucy.

♡ they call their act diva riot!! their main sound is glam pop. trish writes a vast majority of their songs, but lucy pitches in with her own ideas as well. their debut album is called roll out the red carpet.

♡ to help them gain some publicity, diavolo invites them to take some photos at passione and offers to put them in the latest issue. they accept, of course. the rest is history

okay!! time for some more miscellaneous thoughts about them together and apart!

♡ lucy helps trish navigate her first few celebrity events, especially since trish isn't the type to suck up to other people. plus, lucy's well aware of who to steer clear of lest their reputations get completely tanked or they get dragged into extremely awkward situations.

♡ in turn, trish helps lucy improve her singing voice. there's a noticeable improvement as they record more albums together, and lucy's grateful for the advice.

♡ one day as a show of friendship, lucy dyes a strip of her hair pink to match trish. in response, trish begins to wear yellow star-themed accessories as a reference to lucy.

♡ lucy idolizes the joestars to an extent, so she gravitates towards star-themed memorabilia. she cameoed in a movie starring johnny once as a kid, and they developed a close friendship with each other since she always hung around set. she hasn't been able to see much of him after his accident.

♡ even before she became famous, trish often hung around passione's studio for fun when her parents were busy. she's friends with bucciarati and the models that picked him to be their agent (abbacchio, mista, narancia, and fugo), but she's still getting used to giorno's presence because he's new.

♡ eventually, lucy begins to hang around passione as well. trish invited her, and she sticks around for someone else as well. who that is a secret between herself and that person.

♡ one time for a concert, trish convinced lucy to perform with actual animals. diavolo secretly paid for it. trish came in on a lioness, while lucy had a snake draped across her shoulders. (britney spears reference? you already know.)

♡ donatello and aceto eventually come to see lucy as a part of the family, while steven does the same for trish. lucy and trish call each other the sisters they never had.

if i had to describe diva riot's overall aesthetic, i'd say it's very bratz inspired. i literally looked up lines i could use for inspo 😭 anyway!! when they're performing, trish's main color is pink while lucy's is orange.

[focsle]

Hi there! I’ve been doing a little project on the carbon impacts of the whaling industry and decided to read the current entirety of Going To Weather in one sitting as inspiration… honestly, all you do fascinates me but I am particularly impressed with how many fully rigged ships you willingly illustrated for all that! I’m curious if there was a specific way you studied them in order to draw them or if it’s more just a culmination of knowledge? I wish I understood all those intricacies better myself but it’s hard to figure out where to start…

Oh this is very kind of you to say haha! That’s a fascinating project—I’d love to see it when you’re done if you’d like to share it!

The secret is…they are absolutely not correct hahaha. If a tall ship sailor looked at my ships they’d be like ��that’s wrong’ which is always why I’m like ‘shhhhh don’t look too closely’. But ultimately my aim is to tell a narrative, not draw a sailing guide. Regarding all the intricacies, I’m absolutely not drawing every line because there are dozens of them and I don’t consider it that important in the grand scope of telling a story. Same goes for tv and movies set on ships—often times their rigging is very much reduced for the sake of the readability of a set. Still, I try to get things vaguely correct looking, as far as the general structure of things so here’s where that helped:

The best way to understand how a boat works is to actually go sailing. But that is certainly not accessible for people in general, especially when it comes to square rigged tall ships (though opportunities DO exist). I’ve never been on a square rigger! No idea how they work! Would like to dabble someday. I’ve only worked on a fore-and-aft rigged vessel which is quite different, but it still gave me more of an understanding of how the sails actually work and what the lines actually do. Reading and watching things paled to being able to stand there and follow the lines to see where they went, and haul on them to see how they actually functioned. So if you ever get the opportunity to do any kind of sailing, that’s the best way to learn about how a ship works. I’m not a sailor by any means, but in my first venture into this I did start to learn a lot that I couldn’t really get from reading about it.

Watching videos helps too, though it’s sometimes hard to find ones that aren’t about operating contemporary sailboats. I found this series helpful just to get a basic understanding of how a square rig works.

Looking up diagrams can help too. I sometimes find diagrams of all the rigging challenging to parse in a 2d space, but when it’s broken down into smaller pieces I find that quite helpful. The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor by Darcy Lever has a lot of granular diagrams that are very well illustrated that I found helpful.

Finding a good model ship is also a decent way of starting to understand it. It’s in a 3d space in miniature so you can see the full scope of it at different angles, which I think is more helpful than drawings. It might not be completely accurate or have every single line represented, but it’s helpful to see how the lines lead to get the basic shape of them. I have a dream one day to have a model of the Charles W. Morgan. But good ones run for….thousands of dollars. So I’ve got a little wooden one that was my grandfather’s, but it’s still helpful to have on hand.

I also like looking at the illustrations of ships that my Whalers of Olde drew in their journals. It’s, again, not an accurate diagram, but they lived on that ship and in that life day in and day out, so when they draw them they tend to get to the spirit of the thing. I use their drawings to get a sense of what parts they felt most important to render, to inform how I render my own ships to get the point across even if they aren’t a perfect reflection of how a ship works.

I’m sure other folks have a wide net of resources beyond this, but these were some of the things that were helpful to me! But I certainly don’t have a vast accumulation of knowledge about sailing and it’s very much ‘that’s good enough to get the idea across in a comic panel someone will look at for 5 seconds’ ha!

[mister13eyond]

i want to infodump hcs about vin, asphodel & their world so i AM below the cut!

so asphodel is very capable and informed on a lot of skills that have since become obsolete- they're an experienced garment maker, tailor, cook, and know a lot of very traditional handwork skills, but they can't use a smart phone to save their life. meanwhile vin is a twitch streamer and uses the internet for everything, but has absolutely no idea about the offline world (especially since he stays inside as often as he does) and is easily baffled by, like. driving. or cooking. or navigating w/o google maps. (also his sense of direction is Awful)

i think vin has only RECENTLY come to the human world; he remained in Hell for the majority of time and worked there and scarcely interacted with humans & wound up summoned by accident & bound to the human world like... within the last couple years. meanwhile i think asphodel is like, way more knowledgeable but also Not; they're kind of stuck in an archaic mindset and have not kept up well with the progress of technology, but Vin knows like, NOTHING about human history or worldly happenings yet adapted to technology VERY fast.

they both have extremely large blind spots in their human knowledge that make them very fun, especially since they're both kind of contrary to the perspective you'd expect them to have as a demon and an angel. like, vin generally thinks people are neat, and fun, and enjoys them even if it's in kind of a theoretical way. while asphodel is generally disillusioned with people and finds them simultaneously worth learning from but also generally lacking and not worth personal interactions with.

also tbh my views of this universe's "heaven" and "hell" are largely inspired by things like kuroshitsuji and hades, because i LOVE the afterlife being a big bureaucracy

IMO they're like... ok so my idea for the afterlife in this universe is 90% "every religion and lack thereof is simultaneously right, and what happens to you after death is a matter of belief and personal conviction, so careful record-keeping is the main duty of all celestial beings". so like, christian heaven & hell are just one of several Large Bureaucracies and their jobs are to keep track of believers, record their lives & then moderate where they should go once that life ends. Everyone gets a Trial at the end of their life where they have a defense lawyer (angel) and prosecutor (demon) who argue which outcome they should get. permanent sentences in hell are actually pretty rare and hell has adopted more of a greco-roman "serve time for your crimes & then get to go to heaven when your sentence ends" system (with the permanent sentences being Notable Punishments a'la sisyphus, tantalus etc who break Big Fundamental Rules in the Most Egregious Ways). and those who go to hell are essentially doing community service to help the company and/or act as Human Batteries (demons feed on human energy monsters inc style, and collect said energy from sinners) until they've served their sentence and are allowed to go to heaven, which is pretty much, like, just an endless existence where all needs and struggles are no more & people can just Vibe Forever)

mostly because the idea of hell just being dry capitalism & the prison-industrial complex is very funny to me & also i can't think of anything Worse than being forced to endure Capitalism for a little longer

anyways it means that asphodel's outlook is kind of moralistic & judgemental- they were a celestial defense lawyer & therefore are predisposed to judging people based on their actions & hypocracies- while vin's is very neutral, like. well bad people are just more people who need to get their shit together & serve their sentence & then they'll be fine. (and/or they're just Food Sources so no hard feelings.) so he's generally pretty friendly & amenable while asphodel has a very moral judgement model of thinking & cares deeply about Humanity Overall & heavily judges those who act against the good of Humanity, Collectively.

It's part of why they're so anti-technology & why Vin is so chill w/it- they believe much of the progress made in the 21st century is against the Good of Humanity, while Vin generally views it as "some people are cool some people suck but mostly it's just what it is". also ALSO! demons and angels are both beings made of just, like, pure energy. the main difference between them is essentially whether they have a positive or negative charge, basically. angels are tapped into the Universal Source Of All Energy (think lifestream a la final fantasy; this is also the outcome for those who don't believe in an afterlife- their life force becomes one with the universal energy source & melds with all other energy) & can endlessly Produce it, needing no source of energy to maintain life; "tiers" of angels are basically determined by the strength of that connection & how easily they can draw from it; archangels can draw more than angels, etc. while demons are NOT connected to that source and must draw from alternate sources such as humans.

this is why they use sinners as batteries in hell, & also why concepts like incubus/succubus exist- demons who go draw life directly from the living. that 'life' can be collected via strong emotions & strong feelings- they don't have to be negative a la torture BUT that is a very quick & easy way to collect; incubi/succubi generally use seduction to evoke strong emotions; some demons do even use things like comedy to collect. vin has an interest in horror media & horror games BECAUSE he can harvest fear from an audience that way; it's a safe haunted house way of collecting a lot of small snacks instead of one big meal. and the strength of demons is largely determined by how big their stockpile of energy is; higher tier demons have larger stockpiles, while lower tiers like vin usually just collect enough to sustain themselves & don't have much Extra. ANYWAYS I HAVE TO WORK BUT THANK U FOR COMING TO MY OC TED TALK, I THINK THEY'RE FUN

[samejimamitsunari]

Hi! its anon again :,D I'm thinking about J&A again... as much as I hope for more material for them I wonder what they can really do story-wise... I've been pretty sad about them from jins birthday up until the cover song annoucement and while im deliriously happy that they're getting a cover song but it feels like everything we get about them is just out of pity or small font last minuite stuff, idk even the cards they use in the promo art is turning 5 yrs old this year.. sometimes i just think to myself "what can they really do with them storywise?" they've done the whole revival event thing and while i feel like theres a million and one things I want to learn about them I still cant help but feel a bit doomed about the future of their characters

hey anon! thank you for your ask!

i totally get you. all of your concerns have been mine as well for a pretty long time! and it’s so true that most of the things done for them are out of pity lol (they only got shinsekai cards because happyele didnt want sora to be the only 3* card). ever since es2 era, genuine relevancy has been scarce but there were Some good things that came out of this era.

personally, i believe theres still so much they can explore with jin and akiomi as characters and their past. some might argue that we already know so much about them, but really. i feel like thats only in the case of jin. and even then, there’s a lot we don’t know about what happens behind the scenes (see: good-for-nothing son and bad teacher 2).

there’s potential, especially with akiomi. portrait has provided so much insight of how she operated within the modeling industry, her perception of the entertainment industry as a whole, and her initial goals. as well as giving explicit information about her family and showing how she took care of model trio. but as far as the intricacies of akiomi’s idol career, we only have pretty vague information about it. yes, we know that akiomi’s career flopped horribly due to super idol sagami jin’s reign. we know that she wanted to stand by his side, but was swept away by the new unit system the idol industry adapted to. akiomi worked substantially hard to be where jin was at, but realized hard work was not the only factor that took into account of success.

but i think there’s more meat on the bones! what can we say about akiomi’s unit? what kind of unit were they? how did they treat each other? can we speculate that akiomi’s cold behavior towards her previous unit due to not only just it getting in the way of grasping the super idol status, but also because the other members outcasted her? resented her? that’s what i’ve been curious about the most. she also mentions a “friend” she has in the beginning of guilty of perjury. it’s most likely a detail that should be overlooked since it’s minor, but i wonder about akiomi’s social life or if she even has one that she has to balance with work.

i mean. they could still come up with some other shit for jin and akiomi, i believe they can. but, i’m focusing more on what’s been lacking for a while.

one thing i would like to point out though, before i talk about the next part, is regarding jin & akiomi as a unit. officially, jin & akiomi is listed as an unofficial unit. and this is easily notable that they have never performed with each other. “but what about in rainbow?” within project saga, jin and akiomi performed within rain-bows and ba-barrier, not as jin & akiomi. there were no mentions of the unit. and even though rainbow stairway IS the song associated with that event, sure we can assume that they performed it during project saga, but we all know that it’s merely for happyele’s real life marketing purposes. speaking of that, yeah. jin & akiomi is meant for real life marketing purposes considering they are the only adult characters with singing voices. therefore, happyele wants to capitalize off of what little fans they have. very… rarely i guess. anyways

here’s what i could imagine them doing if they wanted to do an event with jin and akiomi. firstly, i believe it would be extremely ideal to put them in a tour event. there wouldnt be a song happyele would have to worry about. this would also clear up anything about jin and akiomi not being an official unit within the canon enstars storyline. and typically, bloomed card illustrations for events show the characters in their idol outfits performing on stage right? they dont Have to make the bloomed illustration a current era jin/akiomi card. they Could use their younger selves. for instance maybe an illustration of young idol akiomi performing alone but the unbloomed is her current self. just like how the guilty of perjury cards are set up. it’s honestly not impossible. and not all tour events have to have paid mv outfits (ie. obbligato). they Could bring up things about their past still and give more commentary of how the previous system operated and how the transition affected hard-working idols like akiomi in more detail.

this is very akiomi-centric since its objectively fair for her to receive more content in this era. (i’m jinP) but in terms of uncovering more of jin’s story i mean. same would apply. don’t have too many thoughts about it. mainly because jin already has a 5*.

but in terms of a song event. actually. even if we have all these plot holes such as jin&akiomi unit inconsistencies, anything could happen. a song event theoretically could happen whether it be their current selves or younger selves. how? SSVRS. it’s a virtual reality system that was created by switch i believe. they used it in the SS story, shinsekai with valkyrie. in which young jin and akiomi showed up. but, it was only their avatar models and it wasn’t jin and akiomi operating it themselves. natsume speculated that jin was the one that gave permission to some strangers to use his old super idol sagami jin model, but only under the condition that idol era akiomi would perform alongside his avatar as well. he concluded that jin wanted to see them perform as their younger selves since they were never able to and found solace through the VR system.

a pretty OP system within the story would be good news for us senseiPs, but happyele obviously isnt that great with implementing the senseis in anything, aren’t they? and this isnt even the last time they used SSVRS because the mv for believe 4 leaves takes place in SSVRS. so obviously, they are capable of making something like that for jin and akiomi. given maybe they want to make models for their younger selves or new outfits for their current 3d models.

there was one last thing that was the most important factor for me that left me delusional for so long and it’s the main reason why i still believe an event could happen. i’ve mentioned this many times on twitter (though i feel like i’ve mentioned these things in general a lot on that site), but it’s the lack of accessibility to jin and akiomi’s homescreen winter outfits. these outfits were officially shown in antique legend around the end of january 2021. normally, if they werent going to have cards to unlock these outfits, homescreen outfits like these would be unlockable through the ES coin shop easily. however, after almost 2 years, we still can’t unlock them. this is why i believe that eventually, they’ll get cards within an event so we can unlock them through their idol roads. a former delusion was also the fact that fusionic stars and surprising thanks official unit covers were typically released with new unit song album cds. and i assumed that jin and akiomi would eventually get one so their official mixes would come out (like the ensemble taisou album). but it’s been 2 years. i don’t know. but yeah. it’s these outfits that have been dictating it all for me.

“it could be the fact that happyele could’ve forgot!” sure, they forget the senseis sometimes. but you have to remember that when jin and akiomi’s old es1 teacher outfits were displayed in a story, they were immediately released in the ES coin shop. when the shinsekai cards came out, only their idol era outfits were unlockable. when portrait akiomi was released, only middle school akiomi outfit was unlockable. therefore, what makes the winter outfits an exception? we even have birthday editions for their winter outfits (bc they were born in winter) but not even the original ones? it’s strange. it drives me nuts. but its one of the shreds of hope i have for anything jin and akiomi related.

anyways, yeah. these are crazy mental gymnastics i go through on a daily. i am somehow hopeful for this year though. for sure, we are getting a new jin card so i’m looking forward to that. and i don’t think this will happen but i hope jin and akiomi get their own personalized outfits and mv for their new cover song. did you see that the song they’re covering is a gay pride song? i cried

here’s to 2023 being the year we could probably get something as good as portrait again

[kriptoradar]

Why Kidsenomics Matters: Preparing Your Children for the Future of Work 🌐💰

🚀 Why Kidsenomics is the Key to Your Child's Future Success! 🌟 In today’s rapidly evolving job market, the traditional college degree is no longer the sole key to a stable career. The rise of ed-tech, AI, and new economic paradigms are reshaping how we think about education and employment. This transformation opens up exciting career paths for our children, especially in the realm of blockchain and cryptocurrency. 🚀 The Emerging Landscape of Opportunities Just as early adopters of the internet paved the way for tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, those who grasp the principles of cryptocurrency and blockchain will find themselves in a vast sea of opportunities. The skills your kids acquire in this domain may very well surpass the value of a traditional degree. Here’s why kidsenomics—understanding the economic implications of these technologies—should be at the forefront of your child’s education. High Demand for Blockchain Skills As the demand for blockchain expertise surges, new job roles are emerging, such as: - Blockchain Developer - Smart Contract Engineer - Crypto Analyst - NFT Designer - DeFi Strategist - Crypto Marketing Specialist These positions often offer high salaries but typically do not require a formal degree. Instead, hands-on experience and knowledge gained from self-directed learning and online resources are what employers are seeking. 🌍 Revolutionizing Education The traditional educational model is changing, with decentralized platforms offering crypto and blockchain courses at a fraction of the cost of college. Websites like BitDegree, CryptoZombies, and Moralis Academy provide affordable, up-to-date courses that equip students with essential skills while allowing them to earn tokens and rewards along the way. 🎓✨ In contrast, many colleges lag in preparing students for a future that is increasingly dominated by technology and finance. Instead of focusing on real-world skills, some institutions prioritize ideologies that may not resonate with the skills needed in today’s workforce. This can lead to graduates entering a job market unprepared and with outdated knowledge. 📉 A Future Built on Blockchain The potential of blockchain technology is immense. From DeFi disrupting traditional banking to Web3 revolutionizing app development and community engagement, the applications are limitless. Industries such as healthcare, gaming, and supply chain management are already being transformed by this technology. As businesses integrate blockchain into their operations, the demand for knowledgeable young professionals will soar. Unlike traditional career paths, which can stagnate, the crypto industry requires continual learning and adaptability. By fostering a mindset of flexibility and independent thinking, your children will be well-equipped to tackle the unpredictable economic landscape of the future. 🌈 Shifting Perspectives on Education The value of a college degree is dwindling. Employers are increasingly prioritizing practical experience and specific skills over diplomas. With many graduates facing substantial debt and limited job prospects, the faster, cheaper, and more valuable alternative of learning blockchain skills becomes clear. Your child’s portfolio, GitHub profile, and public contributions may soon outweigh the significance of any degree. Practical experience in the field is becoming the new standard, while traditional college courses often leave students with theoretical knowledge that doesn’t translate into real-world skills. 💼 Start Early: Empowering Your Children with Crypto Knowledge As parents, it’s crucial to introduce your children to concepts like Bitcoin and decentralized finance as early as possible. Just as we instill the value of good grades and savings, teaching them about cryptocurrency can set them on a path to financial literacy and independence. Here are some steps to get started: - Explain What Money Is: Help them understand currency, its value, and its role in society. - Give Them Some Bitcoin: Let them own a small amount, fostering a sense of investment. - Introduce Them to Bitcoin: Teach them how it works and why it’s different. - Diversify Their Knowledge: Explore the broader world of cryptocurrencies and DeFi together. The sooner your children learn to navigate the world of crypto, the better prepared they’ll be for the exciting future ahead. With kidsenomics at the forefront, we can ensure they thrive in a world that is constantly changing. 🌟 In conclusion, embracing the revolution of blockchain and cryptocurrency isn’t just an educational choice; it’s a proactive step towards securing your child’s financial future in an ever-evolving economy. The future is bright for those who are ready! 🌞✨ - Follow US on LinkedIN Read the full article

[andivmg]

what are some pros and cons of esthi school?? I’m heavily thinking about it after dropping out of college (my biology degree was NOT it) and I’d love to hear some of your first hand experience 🤗

pros:

there are so many career options w an esthi license like you would be shocked.

depending on where you go, it’s a relatively short amount of time where you learn so much and can get a job pretty much right after you get your license (some places don’t even require a license).

you learn so so so much about the skin and different ingredients and ways to take care of it like you can’t even imagine.

it’s fun!! like u get to do all kinds of stuff not just facial but body treatments, nails, etc.

cons:

i notice every little wrinkle and spot and pimple on my face. like. every single one. going to esthi school made me even more hyper-aware of my appearance than i already was, which is saying a LOT.

you need a big social circle for when they ask you to bring models in. that was like an unexpected thing and school made me realize i have like two friends that i can hit up for stuff like that and nobody else bc i get really shy and i hate asking people for favors lmfao. anyway i ended up having to ask friends of friends and my social anxiety went crazy.

education is expensive!! just bc you graduate doesn’t mean you stop learning, especially in the beauty industry, where there’s new shit coming out every other business day. you have to go to seminars, conventions, get educated on latest treatments like you never stop learning

[gebergerc545]

Blog #4: Final Project

This lesson is built for a 10th-12th grade band classroom with a 50 minute class period. This lesson would serve as an introduction to the topic of jazz improvisation in a jazz-focused unit. While the lesson exposes students to the topic for the first time, its also meant to be a precursor to activities that apply its concepts through physical practice and application by students on their own instruments.

This lesson focuses on the musician Gary Burton, a renowned vibraphonist in the industry and a course instructor/author for Berklee Online. The article that I chose offers his insight and expertise in jazz music, and gives practice strategies for the material that he covers. While it seems like an article that is just there to dole out lots of information, their is an attached video that aligns with the article and breaks down the material and provides more insight in a different medium. This allows the viewer to better process the information than if the article was a stand-alone source.

The importance of having the students read this article from Gary Burton is to immerse themselves in new vocabulary straight away while having time to properly process it through the lesson activities. Jazz as a form of music can be hard to grasp onto conceptually due to its structure and terminology. This article is meant to ease the understanding of it while providing insight from a reputable source. While this lesson provides a good baseline for jazz theory and application, it can lead into a lesson pertaining more to jazz history and its cultural impact, which gives students time to process each different aspect of the topic (like chunking lessons in a sense).

The text complexity of the article is meant for a slightly lower level grade level with an average of 9.0 and a Flesch-Kincaid level of 8.3. The qualitative components of the article are rather straight forward with the information approach, and purpose is pretty heavily implied and noted. Language in the article is a little tricky in terms of vocabulary, but manageable otherwise. While the article is relatively easily for my class in this scenario to comprehend, it serves as a good way to introduce a concept that most of them may be unfamiliar with. For the reader and task, the students would learn about some baseline elements of jazz theory and use that information to inform their own musicianship when playing their instrument.

By engaging in this lesson, students will be able to comprehend baseline jazz theory concepts through individual and group activities. Students will then be able to take their new understanding and apply it to their instrumental technique in a variety of given examples and for future use.

When it came to choosing pre-reading strategies, I really wanted the vocabulary aspect to be at the forefront. In order to do this, I wanted to do a superficial glance over or "skim" of the article so the students could have a chance to isolate words right off the bat. It was intended to be a quick activity since it was supposed to be pre-reading and not a during reading exercise, so I thought this would work as a good compromise. Once this was done, I thought a small group breakout would be a good idea for tying up loose ends and allowing students to bounce ideas of each other. Especially when diving into a relatively new topic where uncertainty can be common, having a group activity like this in the beginning can be very helpful for comprehension. This also helps to kickstart the during reading portion of my lesson.

For starters, I wanted the students to transition from the group setting to an individual one by constructing their own K-W-L chart on a piece of paper (I'd provide a model template) and then reading the article while filling out the chart on their own for about 15 minutes. In addition, I'd also want students to highlight musical concepts that are familiar to them once reading the article closely unlike before.

After reading is completed, I wanted to have the class reconvene together as a whole (for the first time) and have each group share their top 3 vocab terms from their T-charts. This would be a collaborative effort so we could create a class summary of our T-charts. We'd then do a similar activity with each person's K-W-L charts in order to create a class summary for that as well. However, we'd only take 1 note from each section in each person's chart for time purposes and narrowing our list.

After this lesson, my following class would shift a focus to both the application of what we covered in a rehearsal setting, and to jazz history and its cultural identity/impact over time. The charts and article would both serve as a resources for students to refer back to, and I could post the T-charts on the wall as well to present them. While its only the first step into the topic, its an important one that needs to be approached with the utmost care if students hope to comprehend its concepts adequately.

In conclusion, this is a lesson that I'd like to model when introducing new topics during a unit to my students in the future. It would work to ease my students into topics that are dense with new vocabulary and concepts, and give them multiple ways to engage with them as well. The key takeaways for my students would be in not just realizing new musical ideas from the idiom of jazz music, but also how previously known concepts intersect with the genre in more ways than one. It would serve as a way to spark their interest and get them excited to explore the topic more as we continued to cover it in future lessons and class periods.

Works Cited

Berklee Online - “Jazz Improv Tips & Tricks With Gary Burton: Starting Out With Improvisation” (2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU4knusCntY

Gary Burton - “Jazz Scales You Need to Know for Improvisation” (2016) https://online.berklee.edu/takenote/jazz-improvisation-10-scales/

Heather Lattimer - “Focusing the Reader” (2010)

Heather Lattimer - “Supporting Comprehension” (2010)

Rebecca Alber - “Six Scaffolding Strategies to Use with Your Students” (2011)

Robert J. Marzano - “Academic Vocabulary Building Activities” (2005)