#it was enough for it to be darker but not super obvious hence the being dumb and not fixing it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

xmagicxshopx · 5 years ago

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⏳ Chaos ⏳

Genre: Idol Life, Fantasy Adventure, Romance, Comedy Rating: PG-13 Warnings: mild language, Tae’s dad is a jerk Pairing: Taehyung x reader Notes: demigod!bts au but also idol!bts. Single quote marks ‘ ‘ are for thoughts and double “ “ are for talking. Additional Notes: I know a lot of the idols’ activities are not chronologically correct but just go with it. XD

Tagging: @temptaestions because she’s a cutie who requested something fun~

Summary: Kim Taehyung of BTS just wants someone to go with him to the Seoul Fashion Week event. But when everyone else is busy, he’s left with no choice but to hire an escort.

“Sorry, buddy. I’ve got a movie I’m just starting to film. But maybe try Tiffany? She always goes to those. Never misses a year.”

“Ooohhh. Sorry, TaeTae. But I’m actually in America right now on tour. Maybe next year? I’m super bummed I’m missing it, though!”

“Hey, Tae! Ah--- Sorry, my friend, but I just started promotions for my solo. You’ve listened to it, right?”

Call after call, friend after friend, it all had the poor boy coming up short. All Kim Taehyung wanted was for someone to go with him to the Seoul Fashion Week event so he wouldn’t have to go alone. Now.....One would think that living with six other guys and a contact list long enough to circle the globe three times......Surely someone was available?

Namjoon was too busy being Bangtan’s amazing leader. Jin claimed he’d rather watch paint dry. Yoongi was napping and you don’t dare wake Min Yoongi when he’s napping. Hoseok was already treating himself to a spa day.

Jimin would have gone but Jeon “The Brat” Jungkook snatched him up first. They were off doing lord knows what. That of course left the youngest out too which was fine because he had horrible fashion sense anyway. The kid’s closet had to be nothing but t-shirts three sizes too big and baggy pants to go with them. Oh.....and bucket hats.......

Since his six brothers were unavailable, Taehyung resorted to his long list of idol friends. This proved to be futile as he went down the list faster than he expected. Everyone was just so gosh darn busy. Whether it be acting, touring, solo promotions, and even military service! It never ended! However, when he was just about to give up while on the phone with his good friend from VIXX, Hakyeon, it was then that the darker skinned male spoke up.

“Try hiring an escort. You can’t go wrong there.”

“An escort?”

“Yeah! Basically you contact a company who specializes in that kind of stuff. You know, someone to keep you company for an event of your choice. You tell them what you’re looking for and they’ll hook you up with one of their employees.”

The young man sat there at the end of his bed as he thought about it. Sure, Taehyung knew of those types of companies but he had never ever considered using one before. Then again, he never really had a reason to. He had always been surrounded by either Bangtan or his other famous friends. There was never any need for a complete stranger.

“I’ll think about it. Thanks for the idea, hyung. Stay safe out there, okay?”

“Will do, Tae. Good luck with everything! Gotta go. Duty calls.”

Just like that, the young lad was left alone once more. He sat there fiddling with his phone in his hands as he contemplated on whether or not he should seriously consider the idea of hiring an escort. A complete stranger. Granted, Taehyung could be quite the social butterfly, but still. Given his extreme social status, would it be safe? What if he got stuck with some employee who was a crazy fan? There was so much that could go wrong here.

Then again......There was also a lot that could go right. Just like with anything else. He had to weigh the pros and cons and decide from there. Even though he could get stuck with someone crazy, he could also end up making a new friend. Perhaps the person would be pleasant and professional? Not to mention he really really didn’t want to go alone.

“Oh why the hell not? I won’t know till I try, right?”

That was how Taehyung found himself just a few days later standing in front of his full length mirror. He adjusted his tie as he tried to decide if it was the one he actually wanted. Did it go with the rest of his outfit? Did it complement his suit jacket? His hair? Should he go crazy and color it before the event?

While he bustled around making sure he was completely ready, he thought about his escort. Upon calling, he had been 100% up front with the receptionist and explained that he had no idea what he was doing. They simply asked him a few questions and mailed him various forms to fill out and sign and poof, instant companion for the event.

During the small questionnaire, Taehyung was asked if he had a preference of male or female for this event and he spoke up honestly that it didn’t matter. He just wanted polite company that he could gush about fashion with. So it was no surprise to him when he got an email confirmation from the company stating details that his escort was a female in her early 20s.

The plan sounded simple and looked simple on paper. Have a nice meal in a secluded place to help break the ice, go to the event, have a good time, and part ways. But Taehyung was smart enough to know that it wasn’t going to be quite that simple. Again.....So much could go wrong or it could go right. Only time would tell. Speaking of, it was time for him to head out.

“I can do this.”

To try and keep things as secret as possible for as long as possible, the plan was to have a BigHit Ent vehicle take him to the back of the agency building where he’d meet his companion for the day. He’d then hop in to join the escort company’s vehicle where they’d drive to the restaurant of his choosing.

He wasn’t a complete idiot. Taehyung knew the minute he arrived at the carpet with the escort that the media would go crazy. All he asked was for a nice, quiet meal with this stranger beforehand. Being sneaky and secretive like this was the only way he knew how. Sometimes being a idol was very exhausting in the sense of trying to enjoy simple things such as a nice meal with someone.

The closer he got to the agency building, the more anxious and nervous the poor boy was becoming. He figured his companion for the day would be pretty but would they match? Hence why he kept his outfit fairly neutral as far as colors go. He appreciated the company but this was a fashion event and he really didn’t want to arrive looking like a mismatched pair of socks.

This was it. They were here. Time to get out and face the music. Taking a deep breath to help center himself, Taehyung climbed out of his agency vehicle and made his way for the back of the limousine where he carefully opened the door and climbed inside.

“Greetings, Mr. Kim. I am your escort for today.”

Whoa. You were absolutely gorgeous. Everything from the shape of your face, eyes, nose, lips. Despite you sitting down, he could tell you had amazing curves. That was when he finally took in your attire for the event. Thank goodness! It would appear either yourself or the company he hired you from was knowledgeable in the fashion industry. Dare he say, the two of could end up being the best matched guests there today.

“He-Hello. It’s nice to meet you.”

You had to admit, when the company you worked for explained that you would be assigned to thee Kim Taehyung of BTS, you were a little surprised. Upon hearing that it was for the Seoul Fashion Week event, you did your research and was glad to see that it paid off. He seemed pretty impressed by the look on his face. You found it cute and endearing.

“It’s my understanding we’ll be eating first, Mr. Kim?”

“Ta-Taehyung is fine. There’s no need for being formal. But, yes, that’s right. I thought we could maybe take that time to smooth over any awkwardness.”

“You mean like right now?”

You smiled at him and couldn’t help how adorable he looked all flustered like that. It was more than obvious that it was his first time using such a thing as an escort company. Not that you were here to judge. The same warm smile still on your face, you decided to help break that ice cube of awkwardness and asked casually,

“Where to, Taehyung?”

That seemed to be enough to snap him back to reality. Blinking a couple times, he pulled himself together and with a soft cough to help clear his dry throat, he looked between you and the driver and said casually,

“Yes. There’s a nice place that’s secluded just down the road a few blocks from here.”

After stating the actual name of the restaurant, the driver instantly knew where the young man was referring to and so began driving from the back parking lot, out onto the streets. Trying not to seem as awkward as initially, Taehyung looked over at you and smiled a bit timidly.

“So how long have you been in the escorting business?”

It wasn’t till the words had already came flying out of his mouth that he considered the question might come across as being insensitive or rude. Just as he was about to backpedal and apologize, you perked up with a smile and replied casually,

“Not that long, actually. I’m in my early 20s and I applied as soon as I was of age. I still believe it was my looks that got me in and not my smarts.”

“Well----If I may say, you really are beautiful. Gorgeous even.”

You thought he was extremely cute with the way the tips of his ears were turning pink. After watching so many interviews and following BTS in the news and your free time, you never would have imagined that this young man would be nervous about anything. But then again......Even Kim Taehyung of BTS was human.

“Thank you, Taehyung. And you look handsome as always.”

The small talk ended sooner than the young man would have liked. Thankfully it wouldn’t be long before they could pick things back up as he was now carefully getting out of the vehicle and jogging around to help you out of the car but you had already beaten him to it; getting out yourself.

“What’s with the pout, Taehyung?”

“I was going to be a gentleman and open the door for you.”

You smiled warmly at him only to nudge your head towards the restaurant entrance; silently telling him to follow you. It was now more obvious than ever that the poor boy was a first time user. Still smiling, you explained casually but with a tone of endearment,

“I’m trying to keep you out of trouble, Mr. Kim. If you know what I mean.”

The gears were turning and you could practically hear them as the greeter out front passed along two menus to another employee and they had the two of you follow to somewhere further back in the restaurant. A place far more secluded to where no prying eyes could watch you.

Upon sitting down, the employee placed down the menus and politely explained who their server would be and was off in a flash. It wasn’t till he finally had a chance to sit down that he looked up at you sheepishly; understanding clearly hitting him now.

“Thanks for.......I never even thought about the media seeing us like that.”

“It’s okay, Taehyung. Your heart was in the right place and that means a lot. In my few years at the company, you’re the most sweetest client I’ve ever had.”

The way you worded things gave him a huge reality check. One that he probably needed. Client. That’s all he was. This wasn’t a date. This wasn’t a date. He had to keep reminding himself of that. It was his own fault, really. Choosing such a nice restaurant like this to have a nice meal before heading out. But.....did he want this to be a date??? Why was he even thinking about that right now? He knew darn well dating wasn’t plausible for him right now.

“I think I’m going to take the salad. It looks good.”

“Hmm. Sounds good. What else are you getting with it? Their steak looks good.”

“Oh I’ll be getting just the salad. Nothing else with it.”

For the first time since meeting, it was now your turn to become sheepish and nervous. Usually there wasn’t an issue. Mostly because your clients didn’t care. You were just a bag of flesh meant to look pretty on their arm for a number of random events. But this man right here......he was different. Kim Taehyung was definitely different.

He stared at you with furrowed eyebrows and a look that was the perfect mixture of worry and confusion. Sure he had said the salad sounded good but that was just him being polite. He had been here plenty of times and he’d seen the salad you were referring to. There was practically nothing to it. There was no way that was going to fill you up for the rest of the day.

“Wh----”

“I’m really not that hungry. So I’m going to eat light.”

As if higher power was against you today, your stomach growled an ungodly sound and you wanted nothing more than to fall through the floor and never see the light of day again. Oh how the tables have turned. There you sat with a huge pout on your face while he looked amused but was trying to remain cool about it.

“Look----It’s the company. I have to retain a strict diet and certain weight if I want to stay employed.”

It was highly unprofessional but the words just came flying out of your mouth before you could think it through. Not to mention Taehyung carried this aura about him that just made it so.......easy. He was so easy to talk to. He held a special warmth in his eyes that practically begged you to open up and spill all your worries and fears.

“Oh gosh---I’m so sorry, Tae. I should have never told you that. I----”

“Screw the company.”

“H-Huh?”

“I said......Screw the company.”

There the two of you sat. You in shock and him giving you a stern but......There was something else in his eyes that you couldn’t quite place. Regardless, you could tell he was serious about his words. Gosh were you blushing??? Kim Taehyung was definitely your most interesting client so far. That’s for sure.

“Eat what you want.”

“But----”

“No buts. Part of my request was that I have a nice meal with good company. You work for me today and I want to see you eating whatever you want.”

He had no idea where this sudden boldness was coming from, but he found himself leaning back into his chair with his hands clasped behind his head; cradling his skull and a smug smile on his face. Now this was the Kim Taehyung most people were used to seeing. In a warm but teasing tone, he asked softly,

“You wouldn’t want to disappoint your client now, would you?”

Oh he was good. You had to give him that. What a sly young man he was. Biting your bottom lip and glancing back down at the menu, Taehyung knew he had already won the battle. It was honestly ridiculous, though. What kind of......well.....who was he kidding? It was all about looking the prettiest and thinnest these days. It was sad but the harsh reality all the same.

“The steak does sound pretty delicious.”

“That’s what I was thinking. Good choice.”

With that, drinks were ordered and two steak meals were placed. You sat there in disbelief and it was evident all over your face. There was a split second where the poor boy thought maybe he had sent you into some kind of frozen state of shock. Blinking out of your stupor, you cleared your throat and spoke up softly, almost timidly.

“Thank you.....”

“For what?”

What exactly were you thanking him for? Even you yourself weren’t sure. But as you sat there and thought about it while sipping on your ice water, you cleared your throat once more and replied slowly as if still thinking about it,

“For treating me as a real person and not someone you hired to keep you company.”

The whole atmosphere seemed to soften as your words lingered in the air between you. Never before had you spoke such words during a job. Then again.....there was nothing normal or routine about this particular work order. No. Kim Taehyung made sure of that. Said male sported a soft and warm smile as he spoke just as much,

“That’s because you are a real person.”

The rest of the meal went by fairly well with no more awkward confessions about your job being less than perfect. Although Taehyung did learn that you actually went to school for cosmetology and that you’d one day like to try and get a job as either a hair or makeup stylist. The young man found you interesting and often found himself ignoring his meal just so his full and undivided attention was on you as you spoke.

The ice had definitely been broken and the two of you were on your way to the event. In fact, things were so chill between you two that you had actually started calling him Tae or even TaeTae. It was cute how his ears tried to turn pink every time you said it. Yep. Out of all the work orders how had ever fulfilled, this one was definitely your favorite. You could get used to being Taehyung’s escort.

“Wow......That’s the best meal I’ve had in.......”

“Since you became of age?”

The two of you looked at each other and soft laughter and chuckles filled the vehicle. Nodding, you sat there buckled up but gently patted and rubbed at your stomach. How long had it been since you felt so warm and full before? Gosh you could totally take a nap right here. However, sleeping would have to wait because you still had a job to fulfill.

“So are you into fashion? I hope this won’t be boring for you.”

You lightly waved your hand as if to swat at a fly while shaking your head. Wanting to further explain, you spoke up casually,

“I have specific tastes but I have no doubt that I’ll be able to appreciate the work we’re about to go see. Honestly I’ve always wanted to go to this event but I’ve always had to work.”

Relief internally flooded through the boy’s veins as he listened. Good. Good good. The last thing he wanted was to sit there next to someone who was incredibly bored with something that he found extremely interesting. Dare he say it but......It was almost like you were......perfect for him.

As he expected, the minute he arrived at the outdoor carpeted entrance, cameras were all over him. He wanted to give you a glance but fortunately one of the media employees was practically demanding that the two of you look at each other. Finally given the perfect excuse to check on you and see how you were holding up with his fame, he was surprised to see you doing very well.

Your smile was warm and bright and so.....natural. Was it a genuine smile or one that you reserved for work? If Taehyung was any kind of bold, he’d love to ask you the minute they got a moment alone but nope. Too chicken. Not gonna go there. The media kept asking who you were and how long you had known the idol but you kept things professional and just remained silent. You were good. Really good.

“Wow. Sorry about that. They were crazy out there.”

With soft laughter, you simply shook your head and leaned over to speak so that you could be heard over all the noise.

“You’re Kim Taehyung of BTS, it’s to be expected.”

The event went smoothly. Both of you just as adamant and into it as anyone else. The young man watched your eyes light up with the most beautiful kind of innocence he had ever seen. You were like a child as you watched model after model walk down the runway. Whenever Taehyung would explain a certain piece to you, he could tell you were listening with your full attention; genuinely interested in what he had to say.

Yep. You were perfect for him.

“Wow! That was so much fun, Tae! I had no idea fashion could be so exciting!”

You were giddy and it was one of the most adorable things Taehyung had ever witnessed. It was as if you were literally high on happiness. Your smile was brighter than the night sky as the two of you sat in the limousine driving back to the BigHit agency building. For some reason.....his heart was sinking the closer they got. It was then that he suddenly asked,

“You wanna go somewhere else? I........I’m not ready to......to say goodbye.....”

It was bold. He knew it. You knew it. You both knew it. Yet....You wanted it too. You weren’t ready to say goodbye either. This had been the most enjoyable day of your life in several months. Years even. It didn’t even feel like a job at this point and the young man certainly didn’t feel like a client. No. This.......This felt like a.......like a.......

Date.

And you were here for it. All of it. Shamelessly so. Even if you were playing with fire, it didn’t matter because clearly the young man wanted this too. Smiling widely, your eyes softened and you nodded gently before speaking up in an honest tone,

“I’m not ready either. Where do you wanna go, Tae?”

Call him crazy. Call him insane. But Taehyung knew exactly where he wanted to take you. It was gonna be a long shot but he was practically itching to show you. To show you a part of him that only few other people knew about. A part of him that sometimes.....He wasn’t always so proud of. But still. He wanted you to know.

“It’s something inside the agency building. But you’ve got to promise not to tell anyone, okay?”

Grinning widely and feeling more than adventurous, you held out your pinkie finger and the young idol immediately linked his with yours. It probably seemed silly but he held a lot of respect for the famous pinkie promise.

Before either of you knew it, the vehicle was stopping once again in the back of the agency building and this time you allowed the young man to open the door for you. Giggling like a schoolgirl, you allowed him to help you out and tugged down your dress to help keep it smooth against your skin. You had since then changed out of your expensive heels and into comfortable flats that still matched your dress.

“Come on. I can’t wait to show you. Under the impression that you’ll believe me, of course.”

“I don’t see you having a reason to lie so of course I’ll believe you, TaeTae.”

Oh you say that now but he couldn’t help but remain nervous. Thankfully his palm wasn’t sweaty as he held yours while guiding the two of you to the elevator located in the lobby. Your heart was pounding with excitement and anticipation. However, upon standing in front of the contraption, you watched him turn towards you and asked softly with the utmost sincerity,

“Do you trust me?”

For a slight moment, your mind went straight to the gutter. Despite his seriousness and sincerity, you couldn’t help but immediately picture the two of you making out and even going further in an elevator. But-----That was ridiculous! If he wanted to do that with you, it could have been anywhere far better than an elevator. Mentally shaking your head, you blinked up at him and nodded immediately.

“I trust you, Taehyung.”

His smile was bright and warm as he gave your hand a squeeze. It was meant to be reassuring but honestly you were still trying to get over the fact how.....comfortable, you were with the idea of making out with him. Where was your head? He was your client! Get your act together! Gripping his hand back in return, you watched him press the button and the doors immediately opened.

Walking in, still hand-in-hand, you watched him press a button that would have looked like a normal button.....Had it not looked like a pyramid. Hmm....That was interesting....and oddly familiar. You glanced up at him to see that he looked a bit nervous. As if he were second guessing his decision. But all he said was---

“Hang on tight.”

Still caught off guard, you ended up letting out a soft scream of surprise when the compartment suddenly jerked and started ascending at a much faster speed than a normal elevator should go. Not thinking anything of it, you latched onto the male and he gently encased you in his arms. If you weren’t so disoriented, you would have thoroughly enjoyed the embrace.

And suddenly-----It stopped. It stopped with a soft ding.

The doors opened and sand immediately started to blow into the compartment. There was a nice breeze and a warmth that encased you like a warm, fuzzy blanket on a cold winter’s day as you finally opened your eyes to look behind you. Whoa.

Sand. There was sand everywhere! And pyramids! Beautiful structures withstanding the test of time and all of them tipped with gold. Real, pure gold. The river flowed and the water looked crystal clear against the sun’s beautiful rays. Wow. Wow wow! You could hear people in the distance. Some trying to sell their merchandise while others were just having normal conversations about their day.

You were in Egypt.

“You’re a demigod?!”

“Wait----You believe in demigods???”

“Dude! I’m a demigod too!!”

“What?!”

Okay. Hold the phone. Stop the presses. Everything was happening way too fast and things were escalating quickly. The poor boy looked utterly lost and confused, perhaps even frozen with shock. Meanwhile, you were glowing. Glowing with happiness at this sudden realization. He was perfect for you. He was everything you wanted in a guy. Not only was he fun to hang out with, but he shared a secret same as yours. Well......almost.

“Yeah! I’m the daughter of Aphrodite! You know----The Greek Goddess. She’s my mom!”

Well dang. This was definitely not how the idol saw things going. Granted he wasn’t complaining. Heck, this was going to be way easier than he thought. But the whole idea that he was staring at someone who was just like him.....It was pretty surreal to say the least. Smiling a bit timidly, he spoke up with honesty.

“No wonder you’re so beautiful and pretty. It’s in your genetics.”

Despite having heard similar compliments, you still felt your face growing warm. It was just the way he said it. Or was it......the fact that it was him who said it? Either way, you enjoyed it and ended up smiling timidly. Turning around to face the view, you asked in an almost teasing manner,

“So----Gonna show me around?”

With that, he took your hand once more and this time you boldly laced your fingers together. This was definitely no longer an escort job and was a full blown date. Or at least that’s what you were calling it. Not that you’d tell him that. Thankfully he didn’t make a move to untangle your fingers. So perhaps he liked it too?

“Wow! This place is so cool! Look at all the pretty jewelry!”

“Kook???”

Taehyung had decided to take you through town first. Mostly to help buy him some time. The thing was.......while your Greek mother was something you could be proud of......The poor boy wasn’t exactly.....proud of his Egyptian bloodline. Of all the gods and goddesses that could have been his parent, he had to be the lucky guy who got stuck with the infamous god of chaos. Set. And he was not excited to tell you that.

Thankfully he found another distraction and it came in the form of one Jeon Jungkook.

The younger male turned around upon hearing his name and his doe eyes grew wider; clearly not expecting to see one of his band mates here. Let alone seeing him with someone else. Jogging over to the two of you, he sported a sheepish smile upon seeing you; clearly unsure of how to approach the situation.

“What are you doing here, Kook?”

“I um----Well I um........I’m here to see dad. I want to get my girlfriend a puppy for her birthday and I figured if anyone could help me pick the perfect pup, it’d be him.”

“Your dad is Anubis?!”

Before you could attract anymore attention than you already had, the two boys started to drag you off towards the palace entrance; both looking a bit embarrassed and maybe even a bit mortified. Oops. Well you couldn’t exactly help it. You were in shock. It was two for two now with both Bangtan boys being Egyptian demigods. What were the odds. Once inside the palace foyer, the two males turned to you and nodded with the youngest speaking first.

“Yes. Anubis is my father. But.....Who are you?”

“I’m a friend of Tae’s and also a demigod. My mother is Aphrodite.”

“Ah cool. Well it was nice to meet you. Have fun here in Egypt! I’m gonna track dad down. See you guys later!”

Taehyung stood there in surprise while you politely waved goodbye to the other boy. Why hadn’t you been more honest and explained that you were just a hired escort to keep him company? Furthermore, did you really consider the two of you friends? Why did that thought make his heart flutter? Gah. Too many questions.

“So---Who’s your Egyptian parent? You haven’t mentioned them yet.”

“Well I----”

“Ah! Nephew Kookie! Good to see you!”

Oh lord. Speak of the devil.

The voice came from just down the hall and it was the last voice Taehyung wanted to hear. And poor Kook. Glancing over at you only to see you wearing a confused expression on your face, he offered a sympathetic smile and stated softly,

“We should probably rescue him. Come on.”

Lightly jogging alongside each other, you were now more than grateful for switching into your flats. But your cocktail dress was definitely making you stand out among all the other town folk. Even in the palace. Actually, since when had Taehyung ditched his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves on his dress shirt? Wow......he looked really good that way.

Rounding the corner, you were met with a sight that you could only dream about. There stood small-looking Jungkook as not just one, but two Egyptian gods towered over him. It wasn’t that the youngest member of BTS was short. Heck no. He was one of the taller ones. It was just that the two gods were that tall.

There stood in all their sun-kissed glory, was the Egyptian gods Anubis and Set. Anubis, the god of embalming and determining who was worthy of the glorious afterlife. Head of a jackal. And then there was Set. Lord of chaos. Head of an anteater. You knew from your studies that these two gods had an.....interesting history. But it was the words that left the anteater’s mouth that rendered you speechless.

“Well, well, well. First I get a visit from my beloved nephew and now my own son graces me with his presence. To what do I owe this rare occasion?”

“Hello, Set.”

You should have kept your cool. But it was impossible now. Your initial reaction was to look over at the young man next to you. Oh poor Taehyung.....His father was Set? One of the most evil gods in Egyptian history??? Your heart immediately throbbed for him. It was true what they say, you can’t pick your family. Just as you were about to reach out for his hand, the mischievous god asked playfully,

“Are you here to tell me I’m going to be a grandfather? Hmm?”

Well that was a fine start to a father and son conversation. You were now extremely warm and it wasn’t from the sun’s rays. Next to you, Taehyung was on the verge of boiling over. But before either of you could say anything, the other god came to your rescue.....with the help of his godly staff in his hand. A staff made of pure gold with a jackal head as the topper.

“Ouch! What was that for?! It was a legit question!”

However, Anubis paid him no mind and Jungkook had to bit his lower lip to keep from snickering in amusement. While one god was gently rubbing at his head, the other was kneeling with his head bowed as he spoke with a grace that only a god could pull off.

“Daughter of Aphrodite. Allow me to welcome you to the glorious sands of Egypt. And furthermore, I would like to apologize for my......colleague’s inappropriate behavior.”

“Again---It was a legit question for a father to ask his son.”

You wanted to ask the jackal headed male how he knew you were the daughter of Greek decent but chalked it up to probably just being a god thing. Smiling sheepishly and subconsciously sticking closer to Taehyung, you nodded and spoke up a bit more timidly than you would have liked.

“It’s okay. I get it. A father’s curiosity.”

Just as the anteater shouted a thank you, the other three males in the room all said at the same time as if rehearsed,

“You’re being way too nice to him.”

“Oh come on! At least someone here likes me!”

“And now she’s leaving. Goodbye, Set.”

You could tell from the way the poor man’s jaw was clenched that now was not the best time to argue. With a sheepish smile, you gave everyone a wave and spoke timidly but politely,

“It was lovely to meet you all.”

Anubis had since then risen once more and was wrapping a fatherly arm around his son Jungkook who politely waved back at you. Meanwhile, Set just had to get one last jab in as he waved dramatically and shouted after your retreating forms,

“Likewise, daughter-in-law. Let me know if it’s a boy or girl! I love baby showers!”

While you were still a soft giggling mess and a blush to match, Taehyung waited till he was long out of ear shot and groaned with embarrassment. Now down a completely different hallway and even on a different floor of the palace, he pulled you to stand in front of him and you could see just how embarrassed he really was.

“I’m so sorry about him. I was really hoping we could avoid him.”

“TaeTae. It’s okay. He’s your father. The odds of us not running into him were going to be very slim to none.”

You could tell there was something else bothering him and your eyebrows subconsciously knitted together. Letting go of his hand only to gently rub at his upper arms in what you hoped was a soothing fashion, you asked with genuine concern,

“What’s the matter, Tae? Talk to me.”

“It’s just......You don’t think I’m like him, do you? That I’m like......Like my father?”

“What? No! Not at all! You’re nothing like him. What makes you say that?”

Rather than answer you right away, the young man instead decided to take your hand in his once more and started leading you both in a new direction. It was only until he reached a balcony that you realized the sun had settled and stars were starting to pop up in the night sky. Letting go of your hand so that he could lean on the railing, he finally answered your question.

“It’s just......demigods are supposed to harbor traits from their godly parents, right? You for example. You look absolutely gorgeous. And Kook? He has a way with dogs and I know it’s because of his dad. Me? What do I get? I get urges to create chaos. I want to cause trouble.”

He paused for breath before continuing.

“But I don’t want that. I don’t want to cause problems for others. I want to help people. That’s why I enjoy being an idol so much. Because I get to help people with my music. I sing and it soothes people. I don’t want to become a monster like my father.”

It was silent for what felt like minutes when really it was only a couple seconds. For a split moment, Taehyung felt that perhaps he had said too much.

“Oh Tae......”

The moment felt incredibly intimate for just being an escort but you could care less. Acting on pure instincts and emotions, you found yourself wrapping the poor man up in a hug. A hug that he returned immediately. There was something extremely comforting about being in each other’s arms like this. Again, probably too intimate for a client but it didn’t matter to either of you. This was what the both of you wanted. You wanted each other’s company. More than just professionally.

ONE MONTH LATER.....

“Kook----I swear. If you don’t sit still you’re going to end up looking like the bride of Frankenstein.”

“I can’t help it! It tickles!”

It had been one month since your day with Taehyung. You’d never forget how the two of you stood on that balcony in ancient Egypt and he asked you to quit your escorting job so that you could come work as a stylist for BigHit Ent. At first you played it off thinking he was just being silly but nope. He was dead serious.

There was a mutual attraction there and the two of you wanted to get to know each other better. Taehyung voiced his feelings about how he hated seeing you starve yourself just because of a job. Not to mention he had discovered earlier that day during the meal that you wanted to pursue a career in what you went to school for. So it only made sense for you to agree and take on a job at the very company he worked for.

Today your members were Jungkook and Yoongi. Out of the two, the elder was a piece of cake but the youngest always managed to squirm like a worm. Meanwhile, your boyfriend was smirking next to him as he watched you struggle. Catching his side glance, you whined and pouted while saying as you tried to apply more eyeliner,

“You hush over there. Or I’ll make you look ten times worse.”

With a sudden sigh of relief, you waved your hand that still had the brush and said with just as much relief,

“Okay, you’re finished, dog boy. Now go play with Tannie while I work on Yoongi.”

Just like a kid, the doe eyed male hopped out of the chair and started his search for his little distant cousin as he liked to often refer to the pupper as. While you watched for the cat eyed male to take a seat, you carefully leaned on your boyfriend who chuckled softly and rested a loving hand on your cheek.

“Being your guys’ stylist is exhausting. How do you all do this every day?”

“Eh. It’s not that bad really. It became a lot easier once you started working here.”

“You’re so cheesy. Shush it before I shove this eyeliner pencil up your nose.”

“That’s got to be the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me.”

The two of you laughed and you itched to kiss him. But then again there were plenty of cameras and not to mention you didn’t want to mess with his makeup. Your coworker and fellow stylist was amazing at what she did and had taught you way more than any class would have. So you could appreciate her hard work and didn’t want to ruin it.

Taehyung couldn’t have been happier. He’d have to ring up Hakyeon and thank him for the suggestion of hiring an escort.

Who would have thought, right?

#taehyung fanfic #bts fanfic #taehyung fanfiction #kim taehyung #bts taehyung #taehyung bts #taehyung scenario #taehyung #bts scenario #bts scenarios #bts fanfiction #demigod!taehyung #idol!taehyung

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mysticsparklewings · 5 years ago

Photo

ToonMe

Yeah, yeah, look at me super-late to the latest popular Art Challenge as usual. :P In my defense, this challenge came at like the worst possible time, just after the whole drawing tablet fiasco, and so at first that combined with me not liking posting pictures of myself that often because I am uber paranoid about turning into a True Crime documentary subject, I was pretty convinced I wasn't going to hop on this particular bandwagon. But I kept seeing other people posting there's, and I noticed that quite a few used a few tricks to hide or almost disguise the photo/face part. And after a little while, though still mildly frustrating, I did get more accustomed to the new set up I have for digital art, and well...after more time spent trying to get just the right photo of myself than I care to admit, here we are. The #ToonMe challenge is unique in that it challenged me to find the right balance between my usual style and something more realistic. My proportions are usually very cartoony, borrowing heavy inspiration from Winx Club and Anime. Sometimes my coloring is softer and slightly more realistic, and sometimes I go for hard, cartoony cell-shading. And this isn't the first time I've been challenged with drawing myself, either. The main things I wanted to do/accomplish with my take on the challenge included: • A seamless, almost hard to notice transition between the Toon Side and the Real Side (as I'd seen on others' and taken a liking to) • Capture my physical, real-world style but also not over-complicate what I'd have to draw • Capture my drawing style accurately but without compromising too much of the look of the photo • Make it unique to me. Naturally, a lot of how this process was going to go relied pretty heavily on me getting the base photo just right. I tried a few other looks and some different angles before finally getting the photo I used here out of the mix. And yes, I could've just used a photo I already had on hand like I'm sure many other artists did without hesitation, but I wanted this to be fun and just in general when I take photos of myself I like them to be just so. It's very rare that I take photos of myself, let alone ones where I'm not prepared for the world to see me. I wanted to do this right. Once I finally had a photo I was happy with, then came the real challenge of toon-ifying half of it. (Well, probably more than half, but you get the idea.) Naturally, my used-to-be-bangs didn't want to cooperate with me when I took the photo, so my solution to that was to use my hair part/line as part of the dividing point. This also works out because I feel like dividing the hair more towards the center would've made the overall diving line more obvious. Using the part as a base makes the two halves blend together better when viewed from far away/as a thumbnail. Other than that, I kept it pretty half-and-half, including leaving one cat ear on the photo side and one on the toon side. (And ironically the cat ear and the shirt are the two most realistic things on the toon side.) I found the easiest way to do the toon-ifying was to start by just tracing the real lines for the toon parts, then going back and stylizing/adjusting them as necessary. The biggest adjustments I made were the very noticeable stylization of the eye and bringing my neck and shoulder in to more closely match my usual drawing proportions. And, technically the hair, but as I said I knew going in I was going to have to deviate from the photo to get the look I wanted, stylization aside. (My hair does cooperate and look like this sometimes, it's just when I was taking photos for this it decided not to and I couldn't be bothered to put off taking photos until a day where it chose to behave. If I didn't think it was authentic to me, I wouldn't have done it.) I do wish I had reconsidered my jewelry choices because it was only after I started working on it that I realized the extra challenge I had added for myself in choosing the necklace that I did. Likewise, I know very well the chain is not super realistic, but I could not be bothered to draw all the individual little chain circles by hand. So I took a short cut in drawing two lines, one relatively straight (following the non-existent curve of the necklace in the photo), one wavy, and then erasing the second one as necessary to create the illusion of a chain instead. Also, I specifically wore those earrings because I thought they would be cute and relatively simple to draw. And while I'm very sure I could've made much more complicated choices, I was still a little overly optimistic in just how easy these would be. One of the trickier parts of the lines was actually the lips. A lot of the time I skip drawing lines for the lips, because I normally do full-body drawings where the face is relatively small and it's hard to get the lines to look right on such a small scale, but if I wanted the seamless look from toon to photo, it was necessary here. I must've re-drawn both the top and bottom lines like ten times each before finally getting something I could live with. Additionally, while I could've gone back and added weight to the lines in some places, it seemed more natural here to leave them pretty much as-is. Anyway. With the lines done, I could move on to coloring and shading. And I was actually surprised by how relatively smoothly that process went. It did take a few layers and some back-and-forth, but it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be to get the semi-realistic soft shading I needed so the two halves would blend together nicely. Sidenote: You can hopefully see here that I try my best to be fairly accurate with my color choices when I draw myself these days, right down to the grayish-blue of my eyes. The main things with coloring turned out to be 1. getting the shadows in the right places and 2. getting the line art to be dark enough you could tell it was there without it being too obnoxious. And while I don't normally do this, I found the best way to balance out the lines was to use an airbrush to make the lines lighter in some places and darker in others. I actually had the .png file saved twice, thinking I was finished, only to end up going back and making small alterations to the shadows (mostly on the face) and the lines later. Which, it's kind of a good thing I had to do that because it wasn't until the second time I was doing revisions that I noticed I'd totally forgotten the shadow the necklace was supposed to be casting on the skin. It's very subtle even in the photo, but it would've driven me crazy had I noticed it only after it had been uploaded/posted. I also made a very conscious decision to have the eyelash/brow semi-visible through the hair. The eye is a large part of my stylization, and even though in a normal drawing I would've covered it up, it didn't seem right to just cover it up here. But it also seemed very wrong to leave it at full-color, too. So this was my compromise. Speaking of which, the eyebrow I wasn't really sure what to do with, since normally I either just do thick lines for eyebrows or if I do fully outline them, like the lips, they're usually far away and pretty small, so there's usually not a lot to do with them. Hence why that is easily the biggest and most obvious giveaway on the toon side. I was equally surprised at how easy it was to do sunglasses. I was expecting them to be trickier, being a reflective surface and all with a few notable tiny areas to worry about. But I think in the end they were one of the easiest things to color and shade. And that was pretty much all I was absolutely required to do for the ToonMe challenge. Me being me, though, I wasn't quite satisfied with just that. From fairly early on I had converted the background for the toon side into a digital flat color of my usual "mystic hue," which in reality is what the wall behind me looks like even though it shows as more of a baby blue in the photo. One of the first additions beyond that that I made was a few carefully placed sparkles for a little extra pizzazz, but that wasn't quite enough. I cycled through a few different ideas; making the whole thing into a Polaroid or setting it into a phone frame, etc. Just something to make it a little more special. Still, I ended up coming back around to one of my initial ideas: Wings. I am, after all, MysticSparkleWings. I do have a digital pair of wings closer to the shape/style I tend to use for my signature, but those aren't quite high enough quality for something like this. So I defaulted to the same pair of wings I used to make my icon/avatar ages ago, which were originally made based on a pair of costume wings I actually have in real life. And had I thought this whole thing through a little more, I could have worn them and had one real wing, one digital one. But alas, I didn't plan that far ahead and by the time I had this realization, it was very too late to backtrack it. It's funny. I made that other digital pair from my signature, hoping to make a new Eclipse-friendly icon with them, but they're too high quality (300 pixels) for that (Eclipse icons are 100 pixels, where the old dA icons are 50) and yet too low-quality for stuff like this. They're just not very good for anything, are they? Even after I added the wings and a few extra sparkles, I toyed with the idea of doing more, but I really couldn't think of anything else that I felt really confident would enhance the art rather than take away from it. So, I stuck my signature on the glasses lens (that seemed like the best non-intrusive place for it), and left it at that. I'm sure it's not as spectacular as it could be, but I think considering I originally wasn't even going to attempt the challenge that it's more than enough. I just wish this challenge has cropped up at a better time. Somehow all the super popular art challenges seem to appear when it's the least convenient for me and thus if I want to join in I end up doing so usually after everyone else has moved on. Ah well. Maybe next time. This one's done and I think it turned out okay. Back to my regularly scheduled non-challenge related art. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

#toonme

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ncscope-blog · 6 years ago

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THEMES & PREFERENCES QUESTIONNAIRE !!

AKA, things i’ve always wanted to ask people / have people ask me. please remember to REPOST rather than reblog! HAPPY MUNDAY ~ !!

ANA AMARI

WHAT TYPES OF GENRES DO YOU GRAVITATE TOWARDS ? I think I do a bit of everything - I like to have variety so that I always have something to turn to depending on my mood, so angst, action, comedy, slice of life, there’s always space for everything. My favourite though are any thread that brings in a lot of character exploration and relationship development, hence my losing interest quite quickly in ‘pure’ 1-para slice of life for instance (it’s different when it’s about taking our time to explore our characters’ mentality that moment in mutiple paragraphs, I feel). I like to explore my characters changing or being shaken up in a dynamic environment and story, so I’ll always privilege consistent development between our characters to pure everyday moments. After all, I picked a muse from Overwatch for a reason - there’s always something happening and tons of space for radical developments and evolutions in all directions. I just need something to be happening - either extrenally or internally.

WHAT TYPES OF GENRES DO YOU GRAVITATE AWAY FROM ? Like I mentioned, I find myself doing less slice of life recently, even though it can be nice from time to time and especially with the right characters - especially people I’ve plotted extensively with, and Ana knows their characters enough for me to have more to write and reflect on. Then again, I didn’t pick an Overwatc muse to have her chill at the headquarters all the time. Ana was a Second-in-Command, she’s now a masked bounty hunter, everyone thinks she’s dead, there is a lot of fun to have with this configuration. I also stay away from writing AUs on my blogs, especially more domestic AUs like what most people call modern AU (which I’d refer to as domestic modern AU), or the one thing I’ll never really understand the appeal of: coffeeshop AU. I can indulge in imagining my characters having a relatively normal life in our modern days, but will more likely keep it strictly to plotting. Just a personal preference. Also, smut is something I tend to stay away from and which I’ll only try with particularly trusted rp partners.

WHAT TYPES OF CHARACTERS DO YOU MOST OFTEN PLAY / ENJOY ? I definitely play older muses, my youngest at the moment being 36, and the oldest 74. I try to have some variety in my characters so they don’t really have much in common in terms of tropes or style - except maybe they’re all somewhat eccentric characters who generally end up being outcasts at some point in their lives, for one reason or another, by choice or by accident. I like characters who have both lighter and darker sides that I can explore, that I can seriously explore in depth but without having to take them too seriously. I hope my characters have enough redeeming qualities and deep flaws to make them balanced and not Good or Bad - just somewhere in the middle. They also tend to be Very Tired people for some reason.

WHAT TYPES OF CHARACTERS DO YOU SELDOM PLAY ? Characters who are either 100% pure goodness or 100% pure evil. I also avoid playing sociopaths and other so-labelled psychopaths (I just really can’t play them, other people do it much better), characters who supposedly have no emotion, or are the epitome of edgy tortured character (this last one I just really dislike). Characters I cannot play also include politicians or highly tactical people, like… take any character of House of Cards, and I would be completely unable to play them.

!!! ANY PAIRING TROPES YOU PARTICULARLY ENJOY ? Me enjoying a romantic pairing is very largely dependent on the other mun and how much we get along - but generally speaking, the more a ship is plotted, the more I’m going to love it. I want to explore relationships in depth (and not just romance) and going from there, I’m going to dig any trope as long as both me and my rp partner are enthusiastic about it. With that being said, I’m a sucker for a good slow-burn romance building over the years, romances where two characters can’t be together due to their circumstances (convenient, as Ana is a supposedly dead person and also on the run) but still have feelings for each other, emotional reunions, ships where characters learn from each other... And as a bonus specifically for Ana, any ship that pushes her boundaries (a particularly intense relationship/crush, someone who somehow manages to have her wrapped around their little finger, a ship where she’s very much smitten and the epitome of help I’m panicking) which would probably take someone with a very strong personality to match hers. Also the great old trope of “they’re really annoying why do I like them so much” is never wasted on me.

!!! ANY PLATONIC TROPES YOU PARTICULARLY ENJOY ? All of them I love exploring platonic relationships at least as much as romantic ones, and there are so many possibilities with Ana! I’m a sucker for the mentor-student trope which she’s a great embodiment of and can include many variations (especially with her being a role model for so many of the young Overwatch heroes), family relationships (someone send me a Pharah please and thanks I need my daughter), very close friends who are radically opposed in personality but have unexpected common points and somehow get along when no one expected them to (I’m thinking maybe a Reyes on that?), and anything that invoves amazing chemistry - chemistry being, imo, just as important in platonic ships as it is in romantic ships. Also Ana adopting young people - not necessarily to be a motherly figure (as reducing her to the Mom trope would feel super wrong) but as a figure of guidance is something I live for.

!!! ANY ANTAGONISTIC TROPES YOU PARTICULARLY ENJOY ? Oh yes, also very easy with Ana especially since she became Shrike: of course there’s the “friends-turned-enemies” trope (hi Reaper) which is great, the constant game of cat-and-mouse (which she can definitely have with Widowmaker, now that they’re both out to finish the job). Also an antagonistic trope where they’re not set to kill each other but are definitely working on different sides (I’m thinking maybe Sombra who we know has gathered information about her and Shrike?). I also enjoy the forced truce trope, enemies being forced to work together towards a common goal.

WHAT ARE YOUR PREFERRED THREAD TYPES ? Definitey novella/long threads, especially if they have been plotted beforehands and contain character and relationship development. Shorter threads are cool too, improvisation is cool too, but I will forever prefer in-depth writing, even though I take forever to reply to things and may want a more light-hearted, easy-to-reply-to thing every now and then.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE TYPES OF INTERACTIONS ? See above and the question about genre, PLOTTING IS GREAT I LOVE PLOTTING but I love everything else too so that’s cool.

!!! WHAT’S ON YOUR WISHLIST ? WHAT SORTS OF THREADS / PLOTS / RELATIONSHIPS ARE YOU CRAVING RIGHT NOW ? See the questions about pairings and platonic pairings and antagonistic pairings. This blog has been very recently remade (like, 3 days ago) after an 8 months ‘hiatus’ so I’m having a fresh start and a lot of previous interactions and rp partners I had either got dropped or have left the community. Right now from the top of my head I would love to interact with a Pharah and a Reaper, and OW characters that are less obvious, for instance Doomfist (Talon enemy), Hanzo (fellow killer on the path of redemption), Winston (confirmed old friend), Sombra (who is apparently tracking her), Ashe (I don’t know it just sounds like a recipe for sass and disaster and I love it)... Any interaction involving Ana as Shrike, and literally any in-depth plotting with development at the end of the day.

TAGGED BY: stole it from another one of my blogs TAGGING: YOU.

#(wishlist)#(scoped out: ooc)#everybody should do this questionnaire tbh it's really cool to put your ideas on metaphorical paper and #can give other people detailed pointers at to what you're interested in and how you can be compatible

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scifigeneration · 7 years ago

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Super-intelligence and eternal life: transhumanism's faithful follow it blindly into a future for the elite

by Alexander Thomas

The rapid development of so-called NBIC technologies – nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science – are giving rise to possibilities that have long been the domain of science fiction. Disease, aging and even death are all human realities that these technologies seek to end.

They may enable us to enjoy greater “morphological freedom” – we could take on new forms through prosthetics or genetic engineering. Or advance our cognitive capacities. We could use brain-computer interfaces to link us to advanced artificial intelligence (AI).

Nanobots could roam our bloodstream to monitor our health and enhance our emotional propensities for joy, love or other emotions. Advances in one area often raise new possibilities in others, and this “convergence” may bring about radical changes to our world in the near-future.

“Transhumanism” is the idea that humans should transcend their current natural state and limitations through the use of technology – that we should embrace self-directed human evolution. If the history of technological progress can be seen as humankind’s attempt to tame nature to better serve its needs, transhumanism is the logical continuation: the revision of humankind’s nature to better serve its fantasies.

As David Pearce, a leading proponent of transhumanism and co-founder of Humanity+, says:

If we want to live in paradise, we will have to engineer it ourselves. If we want eternal life, then we’ll need to rewrite our bug-ridden genetic code and become god-like … only hi-tech solutions can ever eradicate suffering from the world. Compassion alone is not enough.

But there is a darker side to the naive faith that Pearce and other proponents have in transhumanism – one that is decidedly dystopian.

There is unlikely to be a clear moment when we emerge as transhuman. Rather technologies will become more intrusive and integrate seamlessly with the human body. Technology has long been thought of as an extension of the self. Many aspects of our social world, not least our financial systems, are already largely machine-based. There is much to learn from these evolving human/machine hybrid systems.

Yet the often Utopian language and expectations that surround and shape our understanding of these developments have been under-interrogated. The profound changes that lie ahead are often talked about in abstract ways, because evolutionary “advancements” are deemed so radical that they ignore the reality of current social conditions.

In this way, transhumanism becomes a kind of “techno-anthropocentrism”, in which transhumanists often underestimate the complexity of our relationship with technology. They see it as a controllable, malleable tool that, with the correct logic and scientific rigour, can be turned to any end. In fact, just as technological developments are dependent on and reflective of the environment in which they arise, they in turn feed back into the culture and create new dynamics – often imperceptibly.

Situating transhumanism, then, within the broader social, cultural, political, and economic contexts within which it emerges is vital to understanding how ethical it is.

Competitive environments

Max More and Natasha Vita-More, in their edited volume The Transhumanist Reader, claim the need in transhumanism “for inclusivity, plurality and continuous questioning of our knowledge”.

Yet these three principles are incompatible with developing transformative technologies within the prevailing system from which they are currently emerging: advanced capitalism.

Perpetual doper or evolutionary defunct? Shutterstock

One problem is that a highly competitive social environment doesn’t lend itself to diverse ways of being. Instead it demands increasingly efficient behaviour. Take students, for example. If some have access to pills that allow them to achieve better results, can other students afford not to follow? This is already a quandary. Increasing numbers of students reportedly pop performance-enhancing pills. And if pills become more powerful, or if the enhancements involve genetic engineering or intrusive nanotechnology that offer even stronger competitive advantages, what then? Rejecting an advanced technological orthodoxy could potentially render someone socially and economically moribund (perhaps evolutionarily so), while everyone with access is effectively forced to participate to keep up.

Going beyond everyday limits is suggestive of some kind of liberation. However, here it is an imprisoning compulsion to act a certain way. We literally have to transcend in order to conform (and survive). The more extreme the transcendence, the more profound the decision to conform and the imperative to do so.

The systemic forces cajoling the individual into being “upgraded” to remain competitive also play out on a geo-political level. One area where technology R&D has the greatest transhumanist potential is defence. DARPA (the US defence department responsible for developing military technologies), which is attempting to create “metabolically dominant soldiers”, is a clear example of how vested interests of a particular social system could determine the development of radically powerful transformative technologies that have destructive rather than Utopian applications.

Designing super-soldiers. Shutterstock

The rush to develop super-intelligent AI by globally competitive and mutually distrustful nation states could also become an arms race. In Radical Evolution, novelist Verner Vinge describes a scenario in which superhuman intelligence is the “ultimate weapon”. Ideally, mankind would proceed with the utmost care in developing such a powerful and transformative innovation.

There is quite rightly a huge amount of trepidation around the creation of super-intelligence and the emergence of “the singularity” – the idea that once AI reaches a certain level it will rapidly redesign itself, leading to an explosion of intelligence that will quickly surpass that of humans (something that will happen by 2029 according to futurist Ray Kurzweil). If the world takes the shape of whatever the most powerful AI is programmed (or reprograms itself) to desire, it even opens the possibility of evolution taking a turn for the entirely banal – could an AI destroy humankind from a desire to produce the most paperclips for example?

It’s also difficult to conceive of any aspect of humanity that could not be “improved” by being made more efficient at satisfying the demands of a competitive system. It is the system, then, that determines humanity’s evolution – without taking any view on what humans are or what they should be. One of the ways in which advanced capitalism proves extremely dynamic is in its ideology of moral and metaphysical neutrality. As philosopher Michael Sandel says: markets don’t wag fingers. In advanced capitalism, maximising one’s spending power maximises one’s ability to flourish – hence shopping could be said to be a primary moral imperative of the individual.

Philosopher Bob Doede rightly suggests it is this banal logic of the market that will dominate:

If biotech has rendered human nature entirely revisable, then it has no grain to direct or constrain our designs on it. And so whose designs will our successor post-human artefacts likely bear? I have little doubt that in our vastly consumerist, media-saturated capitalist economy, market forces will have their way. So – the commercial imperative would be the true architect of the future human.

System-led evolution. Shutterstock

Whether the evolutionary process is determined by a super-intelligent AI or advanced capitalism, we may be compelled to conform to a perpetual transcendence that only makes us more efficient at activities demanded by the most powerful system. The end point is predictably an entirely nonhuman – though very efficient – technological entity derived from humanity that doesn’t necessarily serve a purpose that a modern-day human would value in any way. The ability to serve the system effectively will be the driving force. This is also true of natural evolution – technology is not a simple tool that allows us to engineer ourselves out of this conundrum. But transhumanism could amplify the speed and least desirable aspects of the process.

Information authoritarianism

For bioethicist Julian Savulescu, the main reason humans must be enhanced is for our species to survive. He says we face a Bermuda Triangle of extinction: radical technological power, liberal democracy and our moral nature. As a transhumanist, Savulescu extols technological progress, also deeming it inevitable and unstoppable. It is liberal democracy – and particularly our moral nature – that should alter.

The failings of humankind to deal with global problems are increasingly obvious. But Savulescu neglects to situate our moral failings within their wider cultural, political and economic context, instead believing that solutions lie within our biological make up.

vimeo

Yet how would Savulescu’s morality-enhancing technologies be disseminated, prescribed and potentially enforced to address the moral failings they seek to “cure”? This would likely reside in the power structures that may well bear much of the responsibility for these failings in the first place. He’s also quickly drawn into revealing how relative and contestable the concept of “morality” is:

We will need to relax our commitment to maximum protection of privacy. We’re seeing an increase in the surveillance of individuals and that will be necessary if we are to avert the threats that those with antisocial personality disorder, fanaticism, represent through their access to radically enhanced technology.

Such surveillance allows corporations and governments to access and make use of extremely valuable information. In Who Owns the Future, internet pioneer Jaron Lanier explains:

Troves of dossiers on the private lives and inner beings of ordinary people, collected over digital networks, are packaged into a new private form of elite money … It is a new kind of security the rich trade in, and the value is naturally driven up. It becomes a giant-scale levee inaccessible to ordinary people.

Crucially, this levee is also invisible to most people. Its impacts extend beyond skewing the economic system towards elites to significantly altering the very conception of liberty, because the authority of power is both radically more effective and dispersed.

Foucault’s notion that we live in a panoptic society – one in which the sense of being perpetually watched instills discipline – is now stretched to the point where today’s incessant machinery has been called a “super-panopticon”. The knowledge and information that transhumanist technologies will tend to create could strengthen existing power structures that cement the inherent logic of the system in which the knowledge arises.

This is in part evident in the tendency of algorithms toward race and gender bias, which reflects our already existing social failings. Information technology tends to interpret the world in defined ways: it privileges information that is easily measurable, such as GDP, at the expense of unquantifiable information such as human happiness or well-being. As invasive technologies provide ever more granular data about us, this data may in a very real sense come to define the world – and intangible information may not maintain its rightful place in human affairs.

Systemic dehumanisation

Existing inequities will surely be magnified with the introduction of highly effective psycho-pharmaceuticals, genetic modification, super intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, nanotechnology, robotic prosthetics, and the possible development of life expansion. They are all fundamentally inegalitarian, based on a notion of limitlessness rather than a standard level of physical and mental well-being we’ve come to assume in healthcare. It’s not easy to conceive of a way in which these potentialities can be enjoyed by all.

Will they come along for the ride? Shutterstock

Sociologist Saskia Sassen talks of the “new logics of expulsion”, that capture “the pathologies of today’s global capitalism”. The expelled include the more than 60,000 migrants who have lost their lives on fatal journeys in the past 20 years, and the victims of the racially skewed profile of the increasing prison population.

Grenfell Tower, London, 2017. EPA/Will Oliver

In Britain, they include the 30,000 people whose deaths in 2015 were linked to health and social care cuts and the many who perished in the Grenfell Tower fire. Their deaths can be said to have resulted from systematic marginalization.

An unprecedented acute concentration of wealth happens alongside these expulsions. Advanced economic and technical achievements enable this wealth and the expulsion of surplus groups. At the same time, Sassen writes, they create a kind of nebulous centrelessness as the locus of power:

The oppressed have often risen against their masters. But today the oppressed have mostly been expelled and survive a great distance from their oppressors … The “oppressor” is increasingly a complex system that combines persons, networks, and machines with no obvious center.

Surplus populations removed from the productive aspects of the social world may rapidly increase in the near future as improvements in AI and robotics potentially result in significant automation unemployment. Large swaths of society may become productively and economically redundant. For historian Yuval Noah Harari “the most important question in 21st-century economics may well be: what should we do with all the superfluous people?”

We would be left with the scenario of a small elite that has an almost total concentration of wealth with access to the most powerfully transformative technologies in world history and a redundant mass of people, no longer suited to the evolutionary environment in which they find themselves and entirely dependent on the benevolence of that elite. The dehumanizing treatment of today’s expelled groups shows that prevailing liberal values in developed countries don’t always extend to those who don’t share the same privilege, race, culture or religion.

In an era of radical technological power, the masses may even represent a significant security threat to the elite, which could be used to justify aggressive and authoritarian actions (perhaps enabled further by a culture of surveillance).

In their transhumanist tract, The Proactionary Imperative, Steve Fuller and Veronika Lipinska argue that we are obliged to pursue techno-scientific progress relentlessly, until we achieve our god-like destiny or infinite power – effectively to serve God by becoming God. They unabashedly reveal the incipient violence and destruction such Promethean aims would require: “replacing the natural with the artificial is so key to proactionary strategy … at least as a serious possibility if not a likelihood [it will lead to] the long-term environmental degradation of the Earth.”

The extent of suffering they would be willing to gamble in their cosmic casino is only fully evident when analysing what their project would mean for individual human beings:

A proactionary world would not merely tolerate risk-taking but outright encourage it, as people are provided with legal incentives to speculate with their bio-economic assets. Living riskily would amount to an entrepreneurship of the self … [proactionaries] seek large long-term benefits for survivors of a revolutionary regime that would permit many harms along the way.

Progress on overdrive will require sacrifices.

God-like elites. Shutterstock

The economic fragility that humans may soon be faced with as a result of automation unemployment would likely prove extremely useful to proactionary goals. In a society where vast swaths of people are reliant on handouts for survival, market forces would determine that less social security means people will risk more for a lower reward, so “proactionaries would reinvent the welfare state as a vehicle for fostering securitised risk taking” while “the proactionary state would operate like a venture capitalist writ large”.

At the heart of this is the removal of basic rights for “Humanity 1.0”, Fuller’s term for modern, non-augmented human beings, replaced with duties towards the future augmented Humanity 2.0. Hence the very code of our being can and perhaps must be monetised: “personal autonomy should be seen as a politically licensed franchise whereby individuals understand their bodies as akin to plots of land in what might be called the ‘genetic commons’”.

The neoliberal preoccupation with privatisation would so extend to human beings. Indeed, the lifetime of debt that is the reality for most citizens in developed advanced capitalist nations, takes a further step when you are born into debt – simply by being alive “you are invested with capital on which a return is expected”.

Socially moribund masses may thus be forced to serve the technoscientific super-project of Humanity 2.0, which uses the ideology of market fundamentalism in its quest for perpetual progress and maximum productivity. The only significant difference is that the stated aim of godlike capabilities in Humanity 2.0 is overt, as opposed to the undefined end determined by the infinite “progress” of an ever more efficient market logic that we have now.

A new politics

Some transhumanists are beginning to understand that the most serious limitations to what humans can achieve are social and cultural – not technical. However, all too often their reframing of politics falls into the same trap as their techno-centric worldview. They commonly argue the new political poles are not left-right but techno-conservative or techno-progressive (and even techno-libertarian and techno-sceptic). Meanwhile Fuller and Lipinska argue that the new political poles will be up and down instead of left and right: those who want to dominate the skies and became all powerful, and those who want to preserve the Earth and its species-rich diversity. It is a false dichotomy. Preservation of the latter is likely to be necessary for any hope of achieving the former.

Transhumanism and advanced capitalism are two processes which value “progress” and “efficiency” above everything else. The former as a means to power and the latter as a means to profit. Humans become vessels to serve these values. Transhuman possibilities urgently call for a politics with more clearly delineated and explicit humane values to provide a safer environment in which to foster these profound changes. Where we stand on questions of social justice and environmental sustainability has never been more important. Technology doesn’t allow us to escape these questions – it doesn’t permit political neutrality. The contrary is true. It determines that our politics have never been important. Savulescu is right when he says radical technologies are coming. He is wrong in thinking they will fix our morality. They will reflect it.

Alexander Thomas is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of East London.

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

#transhumanism #technopolitics #artificial intelligence #technology

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holygalaxyreview · 5 years ago

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Things Every Woman Should Keep In Mind While Shopping For Her Lingerie

Even though lingerie shopping can ultimately be rewarding, it starts off with a lot of frustration and sometimes even body shaming. Being half-naked in a frigid dressing room with mirrors for walls, trying on lingerie is no one’s ideal situation. But it is a rite of passage that every woman must go through in order to find the perfect fit and feel of lingerie. After all your lingerie is what keeps your company 24/7, so you must own pieces that make you feel comfortable, sexy and good on the inside. But shopping for the perfect pieces of lingerie can be quite an exhausting ordeal that you should not have to go through. Keeping this in mind, we have curated a guide of the things that you need to keep in mind while hunting for the lingerie that is chic, sexy and super comfy.

1. Find what you feel good in:

When you look into that dressing room mirror, you should feel good, not only from the outside but also from inside. Your lingerie should make you feel comfortable relaxed and confident. This should be your top priority when shopping for lingerie. Lingerie that makes you feel sexy, bold and at the same time comfortable is not a myth. It is out there and you must find it. Underwear that makes you feel all these things should not poke you, create ugly red welts and make you look unflattering. After all, it is going to be on you for a better part of the day, so you must feel good in it. After you have found a collection of lingerie that makes you feel good, future shopping trips become much easier.

2. Know your size:

A lot of the problems that lead to lingerie being super uncomfortable, like red welts, weird lumps and straps that dig into you is because of not wearing the correct size of bras and the same can be said for underwears. Hence it is important to measure yourself before you step into the shop to buy your lingerie. If you are not sure of how to measure your bra size, then here is a helpful guide. Or you can even ask the personnel working in the lingerie shop for help. A useful tip is to also know your sister sizes as different brands have different size bras that might fit you better. Also, bra size can change depending on various things like weight loss and gain or pregnancy and it is important to measure your bra size every few months.

3. Ask for help:

If you are looking to add new lingerie pieces to your collection or think that you need a lingerie wardrobe makeover, but have no clue where to begin then asking for professional help is the answer. I know that asking for help when it comes to lingerie shopping might be a little awkward and make you feel embarrassed but you shouldn’t be. They are trained professionals in a boutique who have this exact skill set and knowledge to know what will look good on you. Plus they know all the different styles and designs that different brands offer so they can guide you through the vast and tantalising array of lingerie. This way you don’t get swayed by pieces that would not look good on you or would be uncomfortable on your body type.

4. Research the materials or fabrics:

Walking into a lingerie shop can be a feast for the eyes. There is shiny fabric everywhere with lace, silk and the colours are so gorgeous. You feel like buying everything. Big mistake. There are times when the pieces will look like it was just for you but does the material feel that good too? Sometimes these synthetic fabrics can be made anti-absorbent material and can irritate sensitive skin which can lead to itchiness and red patches. Hence it is crucial that you know what fabric has made that beautiful bra so that when you wear it, it does not cause you endless amounts of irritation. High-quality fabric like silk and lace will always make you feel good on the inside and look gorgeous on the outside.

5. Find your colour palette:

If the styles that lingerie comes in is not enough to make you dizzy then the enticing array colours definitely will. The combination of style and colours make each piece lingerie more stunning than the previous one. Eye-catchy pieces aside lingerie should also suit your skin tone. Hence it is important to find the colour palette that goes well with your skin colour. If your skin tone is darker then bright colours may appeal to you and look better on you as for lighter skin tones some neutral colours would look best. Also, you must own a lingerie set that closely matches your skin colour. This is because pairing a white outfit with a white bra is a huge mistake that most women make. Under natural or harsh lighting the white bra is glaringly obvious but a nude coloured bra can save you from the embarrassment.

6. Change lingerie as the seasons change:

This piece of advice is often overlooked even though this practice is extremely important. This is because most women never look past the design of the bra and often forget to take into account the material. For example, wearing a heavily embroidered bra in the summer can turn you into a sweating heap in minutes. It will make you hot but not in the way you want it to. In the same way, wearing light fabric underwear in the winters will chill you to your bone. Hence it is always a good idea to purchase light cooler pieces in the warmer months and heavier pieces in the cooler months.

7. Higher coverage:

For the first time shoppers of lingerie, it might be difficult to easily adapt to strung along lacy pieces. Hence it is always a good idea to first try out bras which provide higher coverage and are more comfortable. Then you can slowly ease into other styles and types of bras as you get more comfortable. Remember t always make comfort your top priority.

8. Get a friend along:

If you are conflicted about how a piece of lingerie looks on you, then the honest opinion of a friend might help you decide. A store clerk might tell you flattering things because they want you to buy those pieces but a trusted friend will offer you good advice and give their honest opinion on how that piece looks on you. Also sometimes it is difficult to objectively determine how good or bad lingerie looks on you. Again a friend might be able to help in this case with their valuable opinions. A friend can also ease the nervousness and if you are feeling bad about your body, make you feel extremely good about yourself. Bringing a friend along on a shopping spree is always a fun idea.

9. Keep in mind your body figure:

When shopping for lingerie you must keep in mind which style brings out your best assets and creates maximum appeal. There are different types and styles of lingerie depending on which asset you want to highlight. For example if you want to highlight your chest then shelf bras and corsets are always an option. On the other hand, if you want to accentuate your derriere then garter belts, cheeky panties and thongs will do the job. But in the pursuit of sexiness and boldness do not forget comfort. Buy lingerie in breathable and good quality material as you’ll only look as good on the outside as you will feel on the inside.

10. Lingerie for different occasions:

If you are just building up your lingerie collection then you must have at least a few pieces that pair well with different occasions. For example, you must have a few comfortable pieces for daily or work wear like a t-shirt or padded bras. Then a few pieces for party wear or pieces that go well with dresses like bralettes, push-up bras strapless and backless bras and thongs or seamless panties. If you love working out then you must own a sports bra. With a few of these pieces in your lingerie collection, you will be ready with the correct lingerie in absolutely any occasion. Then you can go and buy sexy and bold lingerie sets for special occasions like Valentine’s day.

This concludes the guide of things to remember when buying lingerie. For newbies, this might seem like a lot of hassle but trust me the payoff is worth it. After you have found your groove or routine all of this thinking becomes a reflex and you do it subconsciously. Also by then, you know what brands to buy and what styles and types suit you. All this grunt work leads to a lifetime of wearing lingerie that makes you feel and look absolutely stunning.

0 notes

batvish-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Things Every Woman Should Keep In Mind While Shopping For Her Lingerie

1. Find what you feel good in:

2. Know your size:

3. Ask for help:

4. Research the materials or fabrics:

5. Find your colour palette:

6. Change lingerie as the seasons change:

7. Higher coverage:

8. Get a friend along:

9. Keep in mind your body figure:

10. Lingerie for different occasions:

0 notes

batvish-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Things every woman should keep in mind while shopping for her lingerie

1. Find what you feel good in:

2. Know your size:

3. Ask for help:

4. Research the materials or fabrics:

5. Find your colour palette:

6. Change lingerie as the seasons change:

7. Higher coverage:

8. Get a friend along:

9. Keep in mind your body figure:

10. Lingerie for different occasions:

0 notes