#when companies make a high quality expensive thing

[what-even-is-thiss]

Hello I am crawling out of the woodwork again to explain an American political thing in too much detail.

So. Basics. What is a tariff? In short it��s a tax that people pay when they import things.

In long, imagine you want a thing. Say, a really nice baseball bat. You want to buy it from a company that makes them in, let’s say, Japan. You’d likely buy them from a store in the US that bought that baseball bat from the Japanese manufacturer.

Let’s say for simplicity’s sake that the store bought it for $50 and they charge you $100 for it. This margin is enough for the baseball supply store to pay their employees, pay their rent, buy more stock, buy some advertising, etc.

Now imagine the government decides that Americans aren’t buying enough baseball bats locally. Or perhaps they have some sort of issue with Japanese baseball. I dunno. For whatever reason though they put a 20% import tax, known as a tariff, on Japanese baseball products.

Now that store in the US in addition to paying $50 to the manufacturer in Japan is also paying $10 in tax to the US government. That baseball bat now essentially costs them $60. And since they need more money to buy stock now and they needed that markup to run their business anyways your $100 Japanese baseball bat will now cost you $120.

In an ideal world (if you like tariffs) this would cause only the targeted product to cost more while locally manufactured goods cost the same. So maybe you’d be encouraged to buy an American made baseball bat because those still only cost $100 while imported ones now cost $20 more.

In the past and in our modern day Congress, and in some circumstances where Congress has allowed it, the president have put tariffs on specific products do discourage people from importing them or buying them. For example, during the Biden administration they determined that Chinese electric cars, with their incredibly cheap cost, could become a real threat to the American automotive industry so a 100% tariff was put on Chinese made electric vehicles which made them way more expensive. This tariff has worked. People don’t really import Chinese electric vehicles and generally buy American or European ones instead.

So in short again, it’s a tax that a business pays on imported goods to discourage people from buying those goods because the business will be forced to charge their customers more to buy it in order to cover their own costs.

So what’s going on with tariffs right now?

Well, most people don’t know what tariffs are exactly. A lot of people are also rightfully pissed that the US doesn’t have a lot of good jobs right now. I mean there’s jobs, but not very good ones. Not ones that’ll give you a nice quality of life and a comfortable retirement.

During the time when there were a lot of jobs like this in the 40s-60s, the US was a manufacturing hub. After the labor movement, working in a factory could give you a stable working class job with benefits. It might not have been a high paying job, but it was enough for a family to live on one income in a small house or apartment and to have healthcare and an okay retirement.

After the 1970s however, manufacturing started moving overseas to countries where the cost of living is lower and/or they have less workers rights like in China or Vietnam. Right after this was also the era of Reagan. Deregulation of banks and the media, cutting government services, anti-union activism. This set the stage for the 2008 recession and the current economy we have now in the US where more people are contractors, there’s less unions, more service jobs, and in many cases it’s nearly impossible to have a decent living and retirement on one income.

Many people in the US, especially in areas where manufacturing used to be huge, have a cultural memory of when life was better but instead of contributing this to government policy and corporate anti-union efforts, they contribute this to the loss of manufacturing jobs.

In fact, unemployment is fairly low right now. The problem is that jobs that are available don’t pay people enough or aren’t full time. I’m technically not unemployed for example because I occasionally get contracted by disabled relatives to do chores and errands for them through a state agency that provides those services but I still make less than $400 a month doing that. I don’t need to tell you that that’s not enough to pay rent and a lot of people in this country are in similar situations.

A lot of people don’t know all that though. They think that the problem is manufacturing leaving the US for foreign countries they don’t know much about and might not have a very good opinion of.

So, enter Donald Trump. Again.

What Donald Trump has been doing is blaming other countries for our economic problems. He points out that the US imports more than it exports. Which is true, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We don’t have every natural resource in the world. Our climate means we can’t grow certain things. Our manufacturing capacity is lower than it used to be. We produce oil but not every part of the country is in a convenient spot to get that oil to so in some regions it makes more sense to import it by sea. Also, international trade isn’t supposed to be a 1:1 exchange. It’s business. It’s an ecosystem. Not some sort of debt based system.

However, again, most people don’t know all that. So some of them hear Donald Trump say that these countries owe us for having a trade deficit. They stole our manufacturing jobs. The kind of jobs we had when living was easier. If we could bring manufacturing back to the US we could be prosperous again.

He also calls tariffs “taxing the other countries” which is just… a lie. That’s not what tariffs are. Tariffs are a tax on local businesses importing things, not foreign businesses making those things. Again though, most people don’t know this.

So the general idea with his tariffs is to bring manufacturing back to the US. Which isn’t going to happen.

Here’s the thing. Let’s return to that baseball bat. Okay, your imported baseball bat from Japan is $120 now. Will that American made baseball bat actually be cheaper? No, actually. Because we live in a globalized economy. That baseball bat factory in the US buys its wood from Canada. It buys its beeswax wood polish from a manufacturer in the UK. It buys the stamps for its logo from a factory in Vietnam and the paint used on that stamp was made in Germany. The machines themselves that they use to shape their baseball bats have parts that were made in several countries from materials imported from other countries. The manufacturer has to pay a tariff on all of those things. So, your American baseball bat also ends up costing $120.

Not to mention that we simply don’t have the manufacturing capacity that we used to and it takes years to set up the supply chains and build the facilities necessary to build things at scale.

And even with tariffs in place, it’s still cheaper to manufacture a lot of things overseas because of the low cost of living in those countries. So those jobs just aren’t coming back. Also, a lot of those jobs that used to exist have been automated. A massive large scale brewery and canning facility for example no longer requires you to have people to manually stir the vats and count things and stamp labels. You might only need three guys monitoring data on screens and a manager to run an entire factory these days because of automation.

So, Trump has started putting tariffs in place hoping it’ll bring back manufacturing (it won’t) and it’s bringing up prices which he also said he’d bring down.

Here’s the other thing though. Some manufacturing and resource mining could potentially come back to the US. Not most, but some. If these tariffs were a sure thing it would still ruin us for no reason but people could adjust to the new terrible normal over time and some investors could bring back some manufacturing and resource processing and over time a few things would get a bit less expensive.

However, these tariffs have proved to be WILDLY unpopular once people actually realized what they were. Especially since he decided to tariff Canada and Mexico which… makes no goddamn sense. They’re our neighbors, a couple of our closest friends, the countries we trade with the most, where we get a lot of our food and natural resources, and there’s a trade deal that Trump himself negotiated in his last term that says there can’t be tariffs between our three countries.

So he keeps taking them away, putting them back, putting them on pause, putting them back. Saying they’ll be 10%, saying they’ll be 20%, putting a 125% tariff on China, lowering it, raising it again. Nobody knows what the fuck is going on so why would investors put all that time and money in to setting up factories and processing plants in the US if they don’t know what tariffs might or might not be in place tomorrow?

Also. The president legally can’t do that. Congress hasn’t officially given him the authority to do that. In fact, they’ve already blocked him from putting tariffs on Canada and various people are taking him to court over it.

Also also, most economists agree that tariffs are generally a bad thing and they usually don’t work anyways unless they’re specific and targeted like the Chinese electric car thing I mentioned earlier.

So tariffs don’t bring back manufacturing jobs, they bring prices up, the way they’re being implemented is really unstable in a way that makes them hard to recover from, and Trump legally can’t be doing that anyways.

So in short, your coffee and baseball bats and everything else is gonna be more expensive if they end up sticking around or maybe not if they don’t go into effect but either way this has done some mega damage to the economy.

[20dollarlolita]

Review: First Stop Cosplay's Lolita Patterns

So a while back I saw some patterns from a company called First Stop Cosplay. I asked them if I could review their patterns (since the last time I reviewed a small pattern company they did not appreciate it) and they actually sent me some patterns for free.

I had a lot of fun making these. Unlike when I reviewed Cut/Sew, I ended up with actual lolita garments, didn't get confused by any steps, and actually had a lot of fun. And at no point did I have to make this face:

So, here's our reviews.

First Stop Cosplay isn't a EGL fashion company or even a fashion company at all. They're a cosplay pattern company that happened to make five different lolita fashion patterns. Their lolita options consist of a petticoat, some short bloomers, a capelet, and the blouse and skirt that I'm reviewing. I don't have any evidence that anyone in their team wears lolita regularly or outside of comic conventions, although that isn't inherently a negative thing.

First Stop Cosplay's entire goal is to make handmade cosplay inclusive and accessible to everyone. They do this by making patterns that are very simple, and that have instructions that are so detailed and easy that new sewists can follow along without a problem. Their normal women's size catalog includes 14 different size options. We're going to stick a pin in "inclusive for new sewists" and "inclusive for all sizes" because I'm going to come back to those points in a minute. The patterns are sold as a single size, and are a bit on the expensive side relative to their market. Printed versions of both the patterns I received would run $50, though they do have a lolita bundle option. They are currently discontinuing their paper patterns and going fully digital, and there is a slight discount for buying the digitial download instead. Unlike most digital download patterns, there is a sizeable gap time between when you buy the pattern and when you receive it. I bought some digital patterns from them yesterday afternoon, put in the activation codes, and am still waiting to actually receive my patterns. For comparison, I bought some digital patterns off Etsy yesterday and had them within minutes. They have an elaborate and non-automated anti-piracy system to make sure their patterns and instructions are protected from people who didn't buy them. I don't think they have quite the right balance of intellectual property protection vs customer convenience, but that's maybe just my opinion.

I do think that First Stop's prices are justified by how high quality their instructions are. They really do walk through every step, and I think that most people whose sewing knowledge is how to thread their sewing machine and sew a pillow would have enough prerequisite knowledge to make their skirt pattern. I think anyone who successfully made their skirt pattern could follow the blouse pattern and have at least most success. Basically, with a First Stop Cosplay pattern, you're not buying a sewing pattern. You're buying a how-to-sew tutorial that's tailored to make the item you want to make. They are offering genuinely the best indie patterns I've found on the market. I do respect that they want to keep these pattern instructions secure, and I do think I'd have been a little bit annoyed if I spent $50 on some patterns and then found out that all the expensive instructions that I bought the pattern for were just available for free online. However, I don't love that there's several days between when you receive the product and when you're allowed to actually use the product.

When you buy their pattern, you get a single size. This is an absolutely horrible idea that I know for a fact is costing them a lot of business and also is building up a reputation that their garments won't fit and therefore aren't safe to invest in and it's also actively working against their pledge to be size inclusive and inclusive to new sewists, but we'll go into that later. We don't need to lead with me going over the worst decision they've made and why it sucks.

(But, while we're on the subject of bad inclusivity, y'all need to fix the pop ups on your site. I'm over there grabbing screenshots and data and I'm also in hell because I have one pop up go OVER the second pop up every single time that I tab between different pages. There's a whole chunk of disabilities for whom this is an absolute accessibility nightmare. Also if both pop ups happen at the same time, the page can get scroll-locked and you have to refresh the page. I want to give you money so please don't make it hard for me to buy your product. I only need to X out of your newsletter pop up one time, I won't change my mind the 12th time I'm shown it)

Let's review the actual patterns now.

0024 Customizable Lolita Skirt:

This is a fun, basic rectangle skirt. It's got an interfaced, non-shirred waistband, with non-removable waist ties inserted at the side seams. I loved that the instructions included how to do the kind of tasks that most patterns just assume you would automatically do. Instead of, "transfer all markings," it will show you each marking and how to transfer it. Instead of "press seams as you sew," it will stop the instructions and tell you what to press and how to press it. In addition to helping out new people who don't have someone to teach them how to do these things, it's helpful for lazy sewists like me who tend to want to skip these steps.

This pattern comes with three PDF instruction files. The first is for how to cut the pattern, fuse the interfacing, and transfer all the markings. The second is all of the sewing instructions. The third one is the "bonus content," and is where the skirt gets its "customizable" name. Sadly, there's not as much bonus content for these skirts as I would really like. The instructions include different ways to sew on trim, like sewing the trim under the hem, sewing it on top of the hem, applying it to the skirt body, or applying it to the waistband. There's not any actual direction for how to select good lace or trim or how to apply it to make it look the most lolita. Again, they're cosplayers, so I won't fault them for not knowing lolita fashion the way that a lifestyler lolita would, but it did feel like a bit of a let-down. For a product with "customizable" in the name, I wanted some more options.

In terms of actual design, though, it's a pretty solid skirt. if I was to throw you RhodyGunn's lolita skirt tutorial and say, "just interface the waist band!" and you didn't feel confident making that with no help, this would be a really good skirt for you. I have three problems with it, which is actually a pretty small number of problems by my standards.

My skirt did not fit me, but that was my fault. I just ordered totally the wrong size, and didn't realize it until it was too late. I made it work just by using the waist ties to cinch it in tighter. I wanted to make the skirt again, and if I'd had multiple size options with my purchase then that wouldn't have been a problem. Instead, when I remade my skirt, I had to use my sewing patterning skills to fix it. That's not a huge problem for me, but it would be a huge problem for First Stop Cosplay's target audience.

I added a ruffle and a few lines of lace onto my skirt, because I don't want to put a lot of work into a skirt and then have it not be an actual lolita skirt. This is what it looked like before my customizations. Please note that my skirt is extra long due to me ordering like 2 sizes too large, as their longer sizes are longer than their smaller sizes.

My other critiques sum up to, "lolita isn't patterned like that" in a couple of cases. While skirts with suspenders are definitely a thing, I couldn't find any that tie at the shoulders. I know that this is probably a way to make sure that the straps will fit everyone, but I'd love to see a piece manufactured by any brand that would give inspiration about how to wear it. The other thing that's just not patterned like lolita garments is the waist ties.. It would be possible to replace the pattern piece with one that's actually lolita-shaped without modifying the instructions at all. If no one at First Stop wants to do a re-drawn waist tie, I'll do it and post it here, since I think the info would benefit the handmade community at large.

Lolita waist ties are very flared, which is how we get the cute waist bow, so pattern them like this next time and it'll be correct. I'm not saying this as a preference or a style choice, lolita waist ties are just shaped like this 85+% of the time.

As previously mentioned, I made each garment twice. On the second one, I re-patterned the waist tie, and then I just slapped a bunch of lace on the hem. It made a perfectly acceptable lolita skirt, in my opinion. Please note that, if I was a new sewist, I wouldn't have been able to make this skirt a second time, since I wouldn't have the skills to resize the waistband to fit me. In order to make this pattern for myself a second time, I would have needed to receive multiple sizes when I bought my pattern.

Blouse time.

FSCO Whimsical Lolita Blouse:

Button front, puff sleeve, peter pan collar blouse, two sleeve variations. I did not make the long sleeves because I live in Sacramento, which is one windy day apart from being in an air fryer.

I want to start by saying that I've officially made this blouse my favorite handmade lolita blouse pattern, and I'm going to make it in more colors and fabrics. I love how fast it comes together, and I love that a lot of really time-consuming techniques have a more simple technique instead. I like sewing fast and this feels good to sew fast.

However, this blouse suffers pretty badly from "close, but not quite," in the same way the waist ties are. Yes, lolita blouses can have flat roll peter pan collars, but they're usually not this size, or this shape, or sit this close to the neck. Yes, lolita blouses usually have puff sleeves, but they're shorter and puffier. These were super easy modifications for me to make, but again, it's not an easy modification for a new sewist to make. But these are adjustments that First Stop COULD make. They could adjust 2 pieces and one line of text in their instructions and have what would actually be the only good lolita blouse pattern aimed at the absolute beginner. These patterns are so close to being so good. Two pattern pieces and one line of text away from having THE lolita blouse pattern that we recommend to all the new kids.

To anyone making this blouse: if you don't want to make adjustments to the pattern, the collar more or less isn't going to read as lolita at the size it is at. I got around it by using some 3.5" gathered lace. That ended up being a pretty big lace, but you will need to put a ruffle or some wide gathered lace on the collar if you want to wear this as a lolita blouse. It would be nice for there to be instructions for that.

Just if anyone is curious, here's the changes the pattern needs to really read as lolita. Sleeve shorter and more volume at the hem, collar wider especially at the shoulders, neckline farther away from the actual neck. Change that and you're golden. The picture on the right is the collar in the pattern laid over the collar that I redrew.

My original blue blouse up there didn't fit me, and that was actually not my fault this time. I bought the right blouse for my bust size, as I was recommended to do. However, relative to their sizing, I have a smaller bust and a larger waist. This meant that a fitted blouse like this was too small in my waist. When I made my purple blouse, I just added 3/4 of an inch to each side seam and re-patterned the bust dart, but again, First Stop Cosplay's target audience does not know how to do that.

When you're selling a product, not posting a tutorial online or giving comments on a forum, but are actually selling a product for real money, it's your responsibility to give your customers the things that they need to succeed. That includes making sure that they have the info needed to make their pattern fit.

First Stop Cosplay is a really promising company, and I really enjoyed most of the process of their patterns. This is why I'm going to spend some time talking about the thing that's stopping people from buying and successfully completing their products, which is the thing that I think is going to kill this company and make them go out of business. First Stop, I really don't want. you to die, so I need you to listen:

The single size pattern thing is a problem. it stops new customers from choosing your product. it stops existing customers from being successful with your product. It stops you from completing your mission to be both ability-inclusive and size-inclusive. It's working against you to such an extreme that I'm stunned that no one in the company with the power to change this can see it.

In the 2.5 months that I've been working on this project, I've talked to a lot of people about your company. "I would buy from them, but I'm afraid I'm going to get the wrong size," was a common sentiment I got. "I won't buy from that company, because they're charging a lot of money for just one size," was another. It stopped ME from trying your company; if I had to buy these patterns out of pocket then I would not have reviewed them. This is because I, a very experienced sewist, didn't want to get the wrong pattern size--and i STILL GOT THE WRONG PATTERN SIZE, twice, even after being PERSONALLY GUIDED by an FSCO employee. How are other companies dealing with the problem of customers buying the wrong size of pattern? They're giving people multiple pattern sizes when they sell the pattern.

I will admit that it's beginner-friendly to not confuse your customer with nested pattern sizes. However, y'all are going digital, and it will cost you no more money or and more paper to just give separate PDFs for each size. You already have the PDFs. You're selling them separately. Just put them in a group. Then, you're still fulfilling your goal of not confusing your customer with multiple sizes, but you're also not trapping a beginner into a single size with no chance of correcting that mistake. When you're asking a beginner to pick their size before they're allowed to look at the pattern, you're potentially dooming their project before it starts. In my market research, I encountered two people who bought First Stop Cosplay patterns, followed them all the way to the end, used their limited time and their expensive fabric. They made cosplays that they were happy with and proud of...until they put them on, and then they didn't fit. That's a story that should not happen. And I get it, it's not super easy to help a beginner pick a size when you're not present to help and they don't totally know what they're doing. But you know what is a thing you can expect a beginner to do, that will make their finished product better and make their garment reflect positively on your company? Telling them to make a mockup before they use their expensive fabric. You don't need to know how to resize a pattern. You just need to know how to follow the basic mockup instructions and then try it on. Just like shopping at Walmart, if your mockup garment is too small, you make the size larger. If it's too big, you make the size smaller. This is also very newbie-inclusive because it introduces them to the steps they're going to follow so that they're more familiar with them. The fact that even one person did everything right and still wasn't able to get their working garment is a fact that you should be trying to figure out how to fix. When you're a small pattern company, your reputation of, "I made their stuff and it doesn't fit," is a very dangerous reputation.

Your product, as it is, is inclusive to all body sizes, but it's not at all inclusive to all body shapes. You offer one shape in all sizes, and then don't provide the information necessary to help people who are not that shape choose between sizes. The information provided for body measurement and for finished garment sizes are not complete enough to confidently choose what size will fit my shape. I understand that more information is confusing to newer people with less experience, but less information is denying people the opportunity to make things that fits. I can see two options for solutions for this, both of which will cost y'all no money. One is to have a supplementary page that has ALL the body measurements for each size. If you're making patterns 14 different sizes, someone in the company has a chart that shows inseam length and shoulder width for those sizes. Your main audience probably doesn't know what to do with that, but if that information isn't posted then no one can ask a more experiences sewist for how to use that info. The other solution is, wait for it, just give people more sizes when they buy the pattern. This means that, if I bought my blouse pattern based on my bust measurement like I thought I should, and then I see that waist measurement is more important for my specific shape, I am not stuck trying to modify a blouse pattern that won't fit me. Y'all already have all the sizes. Just put three of them in each download. Give people the tools they need to make your company look good. Because, right now, "we're inclusive of all sizes as long as you don't have an apron belly or narrow shoulders," is not a look that lines up with the values and mission that you posted on your site.

First Stop Cosplay recently had to downsize. You got rid of some of their staff. You closed their Discord. You're going to sell through their current stack of paper patterns and then go digital only. You're not currently producing new patterns. Who in your company is so tied up in the single size thing that they're willing to throw away new customers when you're already struggling? When you're selling a digital pattern, it doesn't cost you any more money or labor to include multiple patterns. You can sell multiple sizes of digital patterns without selling nested patterns. I don't know if it'd somehow have an additional cost associated with selling multiple patterns at once, but if it is, I recommend that you do whatever every successful pattern company selling multiple sizes of digital patterns is doing to stop that from costing money, because First Stop Cosplay is the only company I know of that seems to have that problem.

I don't know. It's not my company. I'm just one girl who made their patterns four times and did a couple of months of casual market research. Take my stuff with a grain of salt.

Anyway, here's how my full lolita set turned out. Took a total of three days and a $8 bedsheet set from Goodwill, lace was all from Cheeptrims so it was less than $1 per yard. Even with $50 worth of patterns, this is still cheaper than buying it anywhere, and I got the fun of making it. I had a really good time and I want to have a good time with this company in the future.

So please use the resources you have to solve your problems.

Good night.long post

[sampilled]

I can defend Taylor for a lot but I cannot!!! Defend her merch

[senpazzi]

Maintenance

pairing: ceo!Jeong Jaehyun x afab!Fem Reader

synopsis: You worked at an extremely successful Marketing company in the big city of Chicago. Fresh out of college, you were able to land such a high paying job, just for it to not be enough for you. You valued the more expensive things in life, and there was only one man who could provide that for you, Jeong Jaehyun.

warnings: smut, (18+ content mdni), smoking, corruption kink(?), reader is a bit bratty.

word count: 8.7k (;-;)

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

You wanted a promotion. Scratch that. You needed this promotion. Anyone else would’ve been satisfied with the amount of money that you make. You’re only 25, working as a marketing consultant almost fresh out of college.

Simply put, you were very skilled in university and had amazing internship experience. It’s only been about two years of you at this South Korean-based company, its branches have finally reached the States, landing you a great opportunity to work in the big city of Chicago and be grateful enough to live alone.

But, even with the amazing pay and benefits the job comes with, you want more. You’re one to spoil yourself and live a luxurious life as a 25-year-old woman making more than the nation's average. You never came to work with your nails undone, a hair out of place. Instead, you came in the sleekest heels with the highest quality blouses and skirts. You catch eyes from all around when you step into the office. The men and women in every quarter acknowledge you daily.

“Y/N, I love your suit today.”

“Y/N, your purse is so beautiful, I wish my husband could afford that.”

“Your hair is always so beautiful, send me your stylist”.

Just several things you hear daily. However, your maintenance is becoming a bit too high. Your budgeting is shifting, and you’re beginning to realize that your maintenance can only be upheld with a higher salary. And what better way to do that? A raise simply wouldn’t cut it.

But, why not head for a position that offers 6 figures after the first year? Yes. You decided you were going to run for Vice President of Marketing Consulting at your company, that way with a little bit of the extra money, you can sit back and monitor everyone else in your company. You’ve always been one to express your opinion on anything going on, so why not get paid more for your input?

Applications were to have been submitted earlier this month, and of course, you were one of the first to get that done. Your boss, Jeong Jaehyun, has always praised that aspect of you. You never slacked or procrastinated, you’ve always shown that you were serious about your job and put in your best effort.

Earlier this month, you knocked on the door to his office, all the way on the 17th floor of the sky-rise building he owned. “Come in please.” you heard the assuring tone through the thick wooden doors. You pushed the golden handle and walked into the office, lit with beautiful warm lights, the room was filled with huge windows, cleaned twice a week per his request. Filing cabinets galore, the smell of coffee, and soft jazz music playing off his Alexa speaker. He acknowledged your presence once he heard the clacking of your heels approach further.

“Ah, Ms. Y/N, I almost forgot you were coming today. Is this your application?” He asked, motioning towards the portfolio in your hands. “Yes sir, I know we had about a week left to submit it, so I just needed to get this out the way.” You smiled softly, placing the portfolio in his hands. He nodded agreeing with your state, and gazed over the portfolio.

“You know, Y/N, you’re very brave for going after a position like this at such a young age, the competition won’t be light. What’s influencing you to go this route?” He asked like it was a simple question, setting your portfolio into a cabinet next to him, leaning back into his chair, cocking his head to the side.

He folded his hands over his lap, after motioning you to sit in the soft office chair across his desk. You cleared your throat, smoothing your skirt, sitting on the chair, and sitting up as straight as you could.

“Well, you see, I want to explore my expertise and bring everything I have to offer this job, Sir. I admire everything that goes on here and I would love to play a bigger role.” You said, in your soft but assuring voice. Even though what you said was truthful, you wanted it to sound more convincing than the tone that was coming out.

Jaehyun giggled slightly and put his head down facing his hands. Almost in disbelief. You cocked your head and furrowed your brows, genuinely trying to follow the actions of your supervisor. “Ms. Y/N, your answer sounds so rehearsed, it’s almost like you’re playing this out to be the interview,” he says calmly after regaining his breath from the laughter. “You’re young, you’re single, what business would somebody like you want going out to be the boss of a bunch of egotistical men? You’ll drain yourself by the time you’re 30.”

You furrow your lips into a tight line and try to suppress a sigh. He was right. These men don’t want to be bossed around by a woman like you. At least not in this setting. Will you even be taken seriously? Will people acknowledge you as a higher-up? You’re as old as some of these men’s daughters. Would it be selfish to take this opportunity from another person who might need this money?

“I need the money Mr. Jeong.” you finally caved in. It sounded almost disappointing that you were admitting to such a thing. Jaehyun’s eyes dropped as well as his smile. He looked down a bit awkwardly, almost like he said something offensive, and realized the severity of the situation.

A few moments pass, and he inhales a breath before leaning in closer over the table. “Excuse my ignorance Ms. Y/N, but every day you come into the office looking like a model. It sounds a little cliche and inappropriate coming from your boss, but your documents tell me you’re single and live comfortably, your salary pay is above average, your hair is never out of place, and you drive a 2024 Hyundai outside, if I didn’t know any better, I would say you’re doing perfectly fine.” It sounded like a lecture in all honesty.

He was right, you were doing amazing on your own, and you could afford almost anything comfortably. You’re being greedy, at least that’s what you felt Jaehyun was portraying. You shook your head in acknowledgment of his words. “Yes sir, my mistake. I’ll withdraw my application.” you caved in, too afraid to look him in the eyes. You slowly began to rise from the chair, noticing your vision began to get a little blurry from the tears threatening to fall.

“Ms. Y/N.” his voice came out sharp, but not harsh, as he also arose from his chair. He looked at you with the same soft gaze as before, you blinked a few tears back and met his eyes. “Yes sir?”

“Do you have any plans tonight?” You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. Why could he possibly need to know that? Your eyes told it all, but he still wanted to hear you.

“Uh. Well, no sir I’m not. May I ask why? Do you need me to stay after today?” you asked with a confused pitch in your voice. It almost came off as a bit rude some may argue, but with Jaehyun being your higher-up, the idea of him seeing his past work hours is as rare as a blue moon.

It’s understandable why your mind is racing accordingly. “I want to see your apartment,” he said ever so bluntly. “I want to see how you live, I want to make sure the assumptions I’m dropping on you are correct.” he continues, crossing his arms. Is he trying to intimidate you? Because if he is, it’s working.

You cleared your throat once again and shook your head in approval. You stood straight up, raising your head higher and forcing a small smile, to distract him from your nervousness. “Oh. Well, I guess that’s okay. I’ll have to clean a bit, but I could see you for company tonight around maybe 8?” your voice was as convincing as a 5-year-old who broke something and pretended to be oblivious.

“Great. It’s a date. See you tonight Ms. Y/N.” he smiled again finally since his laughing fit, of course, his dimples on display for your eyes. “Yeah, a date.” you blushed like an idiot, before collecting yourself, clacking your heels as you almost sped walk to his door. The sigh of relief that left you after closing his door was almost as loud for anyone passing to hear.

“Fuck.” you cursed to yourself.

8:33 PM

A sudden knock approached the door of your apartment. You arose from your on the couch, wearing a matching lounge set with your Ugg slippers, going to the door. You gazed out the peephole to be met with the familiar face of your boss. You took a deep breath, wiping your hands on your top, alleviating the sweat that was building, opening the door. On the other side, Jaehyun stood in all his glory. Black slacks, a loose white button-up, and his hair a bit more ruffled than how he usually maintains it.

“Good evening Ms. Y/n.” he smiled.

“Good evening Mr. Jeong”. You responded breathlessly. He looked handsome, no denying that. Even though it's obvious he's just gotten through with the workday, he seems more relaxed and approachable.

“May I come in?” he asked, hand motioning towards the door frame. “It’s getting kind of cold out here, I left my blazer in the car,” he explained with a shy smile, dimples coming to display.

“Oh, of course. I’m sorry.” you nodded stepping to the side and allowing the man to enter. He slipped off his work loafers and laid them neatly down by the front door. His eyes browsed around the living space with a grin creeping.

Your apartment was warm, with beige walls, paintings gracing the walls, vases filled with plants, a nice big rug, and even some figurines of your favorite niches laid around the hard surfaces.

“Your apartment smells nice.” Jaehyun acknowledged before having a seat on your cremé colored couch. “It’s almost exactly how I could've imagined it to be Ms. Y/N.”

You bit back on your lip nervously, before walking to finally sit on the opposite end of your couch. Your eyes were too shy to meet your boss’s gaze. Of course, you've had men over, even though it wasn't a lot of men, you're not a stranger to having the presence near you.

But, your handsome, respectful, polite boss, who seemed to never have a social life outside of his job? In your humble abode? Wow. It’s like having a first date all over again. Your train of thought was gone before he ever stepped in, barely being able to focus on anything that was not his looks. Reality snapped back at you when you felt a piercing gaze hit the right side of your body. It’s only then you remember that he bestowed a compliment upon you.

“Oh, right yes thank you. Sorry, I just blanked out for a minute.” you rambled out quickly before turning your body to face his direction. “Uhm, I’m sorry I’m so rude. Would you like anything to drink or eat? I have fruit and uhm alcohol, maybe a glass of wine I…”

“Just a bottle of water if you have it Ms. Y/N”. he interrupted with a soft giggle. He glanced over again to your kitchen area filled with a neat array of decor and fine china peering through the glass cabinets. “You know, even I don’t have any dishes that fancy in my house. Do you ever have guests over?” he questioned.

You stood up from your seat keeping your head down as you walked into your kitchen, opening the fridge and retrieving a bottle of water. “Oh, I don’t have many guests over at all, I just like to keep pretty things you know,” you admitted in an assuring tone before walking back to hand the bottle to him. “Also, outside of work, you don’t have to call me ‘Ms.’” you told him a bit quietly, you made sure your tone wasn’t coming off in a rude manner of course. “Just Y/N will suffice now.”

Jaehyun’s smile grew right before your eyes, his hand lightly grasping the bottles as his fingers hovered over yours for a brief moment. “Okay Y/N, well then maybe with this new comfortability we’re coming to, it'll be easier to talk to you about this situation I had in mind.” Jaehyun opened the bottle and took a quick swig of the water before placing it down on the coffee table in front of him.

You blushed like a fucking fool at the slight touch the man laid on you, staring at him a bit too hard watching him drink the water. How did he make such a simple action look so erotic?

You gulped slightly before going back to your original position on the couch to face him. “Uhm, okay well what did you want to talk to me about sir?” you cocked your head to the side laying your curious expression on him.

Jaehyun took one last slip of the water again, before letting out a sigh of satisfaction. He shifted his body towards you while he cleared his throat. “To put it simply, I think it would be extremely ignorant and difficult for me to give you that promotion.”

“Some people have been with the company longer and have more experience in that field than you do Y/N. It wouldn’t be fair for them, and I don’t want to damage my credibility”. He simply spewed out the statements as if it wasn’t one of the worst things you could’ve heard.

Your head naturally fell at his words. He was right. No need to argue, plead, or beg. Nothing. It was the undoubtable truth. Facts that have been proven time and time again. Still, the tears in your eyes welled and your expression fell. God, can a girl just get a little fucking help? You don’t ask for much, all you want to do is just spend the money you make as lavishly as you can.

You work like a dog and spend like a queen, it’s not like you expect all this to just be handed to you. You deserve more and you always tell yourself that. The frustration was becoming too much for you. Tears fell slowly but silently.

“Y/N, I understand how difficult this is for you. As your higher-up, I want to offer you another solution to your problem.” Jaehyun said barely above a whisper leaning closer to you, laying a soft hand on your thigh.

The sudden motion caught you off guard looking at his hand. You wiped your face with the back of your hand before looking up to meet his eyes. You stared at him with a small sense of hope wondering before you what his solution could be. “Maybe, I could sponsor you Y/N,” he suggested softly.

The stare on your face was as blank as a damn white sheet of paper. What? What does he mean by sponsoring you? “Like, a sugar baby?” you asked dumbfounded. He sighed softly before closing the gap between you two even more.

“I don’t like that term, I don’t expect the sex or forcing you into doing anything like that. I just, you’re very pretty Y/N. Simply, I’m drawn to how you present yourself. I can’t express to you how good it would feel to be the man who bought all the things you wore.”

He whispered gently interlacing his hands into yours. His thumb graced the back of your hand as he looked into your expression. “You would look so pretty in the clothes that I buy you and the jewelry I pick out for you. You’d look so pretty just for me.” he continued out trying to get a read on your face.

You blinked back the rest of the tears and held his hand a little tighter. Your lips curved slightly to give him a weak smile and meet his eyes finally. “Well, what would you like in return Mr. Jeong?” you asked softly. To be honest, as handsome as your boss is, you’ve never been the type to see him in such a romantic aspect, at least not yet.

You don’t know exactly how far you’re willing to go in your agreement. Jaehyun’s head turned to the side to stare at you with his attentive eyes. “That’s up to you really Y/N. Just show me that you’re appreciative of what I’m doing for you. Give me your attention. It’ll be enough for me.” he told you in all his honesty.

Jaehyun was like most men in his field. Lonely. Whether they were married in loveless relationships, or divorced and used for others' advantages, Jeong Jaehyun had nobody outside of work. Other than his other extremely rich male friends, they’re always boasting about having sugar babies or models that they spoil.

Some say it’s pathetic, but for Jaehyun, it’s perfect for him. He’s not asking for devotion or a relationship. Just some time. Just some affection. And in return, he’d do what he could to keep you as happy as you made him. Is that so bad?

You nodded understandably. Giving off a small smile you tugged gently on Jaehyun’s hand, squeezing it before meeting his gaze. “I think this is something I’d be interested in Mr. Jeong,” you assured him. Your tone was soft and gentle, but warm and assuring. This is what you want. Money. Spoiling. Gifts. And best of all, the price was your choice. Be respectful and kind, and he’ll do whatever you wish for. This is a dream coming true for you.

Jaehyun’s smile was bright and tender. He acknowledged your words, taking your cheek and cupping it in his hand gently. “I appreciate you so much Ms. Y/N. We can discuss any rules or suggestions you have at any time. You have my number, I’ll be in touch with you.” he stated.

He stood up gently, dusting himself off and grabbing the water bottle you issued to him earlier. “I better get going, I do have a pretty lady to work with early tomorrow morning and I wouldn’t miss that for anything in the world.” he teased jokingly, obviously the pretty lady in question being you.

You stood up as well, shaking your head. “Your flirting is crazy Mr. Jeong.” you softly chuckled, leading him towards the door to your apartment and opening it. “I’ll see you tomorrow sir, please be safe.” you issued your farewell respectfully. Jaehyun made his way towards the door, stopping in the frame to lay a soft kiss on your forehead.

“Like I said Ms. Y/N, I’ll be in touch. Goodnight,” he whispered before heading out the door of your apartment.

You closed the door softly. You sighed to yourself and began to think about everything happening. Your heart was fluttering and your head spun with all the possibilities that could take place with you and your boss. Letting your imagination run free, the rest of the night went by swiftly as you went to bed for your nightly rest.

9:14 AM

The following morning, you enter your cubicle in the office building like usual. Your hair in its signature style, wearing your favorite perfume, and a soft gloss complimenting your complexion. You began the day with a hot caramel-flavored coffee at your side as you typed away at your computer, answering emails and looking at logs and dates for the future. A ring on your cellphone shortly came after some time into your work. The contact was labeled no other than “Mr. Jeong.”

You smiled and took a soft breath before answering it, voice quiet as you didn’t want to distract any of your colleagues. “Hello?”

“Ms. Y/N, could you drop by my office today? I wanted to discuss something regarding our agreement,” he responded softly into the phone. His voice was warm, as per usual. However, hearing it over the phone now with your new arrangement exudes a new feeling in you. Something sudden and seductive.

You slid out of your chair and walked quickly to the office of Jaehyun’s, knocking a few times before you heard his voice telling you to come in. You walked into the office with a bright smile on your face before sitting in front of him in the guest chair. “Good morning Mr. Jeong.” you beamed.

Jaehyun’s dimples were on display, smiling at your presence. He looked at your outfit, your blouse a soft pink shade today with a black pencil skirt. “Good morning Ms. Y/N, you look beautiful today. As you always do.” he complimented casually. “I called you in because I wanted you to read over this, Tell me what you think.” his hands went to his printer, and a few sheets of paper came out.

He grabbed the warm stack of papers and stapled them together before placing them in front of you. The title of the documents is labeled as “contract.” You cocked your head to the side before skimming through the items.

Contract

This document reads the legal terms allowed between the pair of Y/N L/N and Jeong Jaehyun. In regards to the limits, expectations, and direct references of their relationship….

As you read on, a few things caught your attention. “Details of our relationship will not be discussed with colleagues or anyone in our team.” Understandable. “If either factor in the pair decides to leave the agreement, the contract will still uphold any rules regarding discussion of the relationship.” Okay, so basically an NDA right? But the major rule highlighted caught your attention.

“This pair will not conduct any exclusive activities of a relationship, including but not limited to being officially boyfriend and girlfriend, marriage, or sex.”

Your eyes opened widely. Jaehyun took notice of the action, leaning into your gaze. “Anything wrong?” he asked, furrowing his brows. You blinked a few times before clearing your throat and meeting his gaze. “No! Nothing's wrong at all sir. It’s perfect how well thought out this is.” you perked giving an awkward smile. Everything in the agreement was understandable.

You memorized everything that stood out and narrowed your options. “So, everything here is just for legal purposes I assume?” you ask tilting back up to acknowledge Jaehyun.

He nodded accordingly. “Just in case we have any issues since we’re in a work setting, I don’t want to risk being sued or ridiculed in case something happens. Not that it will, but I’m just being smart,” he assured. He rummaged in a cup, hanging you a black pen. “I’ve already signed here, sign down here on the line. You can keep that copy, I’ll just have to copy it in the machine before you go.” he motioned towards the red line. Above, was his signature acknowledging he agreed to all terms of the contract.

You took the pen from his grasp, wrote your signature on the line, and handed him the sheet to copy. He smiled softly, slipping the paper into the copier machine, and faxing out more sheets. He handed you the original copy with your signature. “Thank you. Here’s your pen.” you handed the item back to him with a soft grin, awaiting his response.

He smiled, softly removing the pen from your grasp and setting it back. “Now, Y/N I wanted to show you a bit of my appreciation for signing up to do this.” he began gently, he dipped down under his desk revealing a sleek black shoebox. Your eyes widened and your mouth dropped, covering your lips before a gasp could escape. The box read “YSL.” You shook your head and extended your hand out. “Mr. Jeong, I can’t accept this, I don’t even buy this for myself.” you began protesting politely.

His eyebrows furrowed as he shrugged his shoulders. “That’s the point Ms. Y/N. Allow me to buy these things for you.” He extended his arms over the desk, hinting for you to open the box. You reluctantly slipped your hands over the item, lifting the black lid. Inside the box held the sleekest kitten heel with gold YSL embellishment on the center.

You looked up to him with the brightest smile you’ve ever worn in that office. “Mr. Jeong, I appreciate this so much. I can’t believe you did this, I’m so thankful,” you repeated. Your voice was laced with excitement and gratitude and it exuded something Jaehyun, something that he knew he needed to see more of.

“Try them on love.” he insisted, his tone sultry as his voice barely became above a whisper. He lifted from his seat walking over to you. He spun you lightly in the chair to face him. He took the box and got down on one knee in front of you. You weren’t wearing your stockings today, as you had on a long pencil skirt. His hand gently caressed your bare leg lifting to his chest. He gently slipped the black flat off your foot, replacing it with the heel, repeating the same step for the other leg.

His touch was gentle, warm, and seductive. It was enough to spark that rare feeling of excitement and lust in you. This contract would be dreadful if he continued these actions with you. How could he ever expect that you wouldn’t want to have sex with him? Jaehyun looked as if he was constructed to be God’s favorite. His skin was clear and bright. His hair is thick and full of body. The dimples balanced his masculine appearance so well, that his body was toned perfectly. Everything was perfect about him. Sexually endearing.

Jaehyun gazed upon you carefully eyeing every ounce of you. How your hair was always neatly styled. How your makeup was soft and warm, your lips always a perfect shade of nude or glossed. Your eyes are soft and endearing. He knew exactly what he was doing when he was writing that contract. He knew exactly why he had to emphasize a no-sex clause. He wouldn’t be able to get enough of you.

You stood up from the chair taking a few steps in the heel. They were surprisingly very comfortable, even though you were good at walking in heels, you weren’t a stranger to the occasional pain they caused. Jaehyun lifted off the floor, tossing your black flats into the box before he bestowed it under his desk. He took you by the waist encouraging you to face him.

“I saw these in the store months ago and they did remind me of you.” he began as he inched closer to your face. His gaze trailed from your beautiful bright eyes down to your slightly exposed collarbone. “I couldn’t help myself from getting these for you once I found out you wanted to partake in this sponsorship,” he whispered.

You met his gaze shyly before giggling a bit to yourself subconsciously. “Thank you, Mr. Jeong. I’ll wear them as often as I can.” you continued. His gaze on you was dangerous. He was locked in, to say the least. The space between you two was slim to none, not that either of you mind. Your chest was to his as his lower body pressed closer against you.

“I want to see you in everything I get you more often,” he explained with a soft smile. His breath hitched gently as he felt the erotic feeling growing in his pants. Once he noticed it he politely turned away, pulling his touch away from you. He walked back over to the seat on his desk.

“You should get going Ms. Y/N, I’m sure your colleagues are wondering about your whereabouts.” he insisted with his regular tone of voice once again. You were caught off guard, but you decided not to overstep. You nodded your head shyly before walking to the door to exit. “Thank you, Mr. Jeong. I’ll see you soon.” you kindly bid your farewell before you are caught off guard once again by him saying your name.

“Yes sir?” you asked while your body stood in the door frame. “Please lock the door on your way out,” he answered as steadily as his voice allowed him to. Your eyes widened slightly but you didn’t refrain from doing what he said. Exiting the door, you made sure to twit the lock to the left heading back to your seat.

After the door locked, Jaehyun unbuckled his pants grabbing out his hard length. He wrapped his large rough hand around his dick and began pumping slowly and tightly. Only one thing on his mind. You.

“Mm… fuck Y/N.” escaped his lips countless amounts of times. For the record, no one saw him for the rest of that morning.

A few weeks pass of Jaehyun texting you and calling you every few days of the week. Usually, these conversations consisted of asking about each other's day, asking you about your favorite colors and sizes in clothes, and occasionally venting from both parties. When you came to your cubicle in the office, breakfast, and coffee would be waiting there for you. When you came home from work, a package from designer brands or flowers wrapped outside would be awaiting at your door frame. Messages would be attached to each gift from none other than Jaehyun of course.

“Saw this and it reminded me of you love.”

“Show me how this fits today Y/N.”

“You look so pretty in this love.”

All signed by J.JH. When it was time for a fill-in for your nails, Jaehyun would pick which color and design he would want you to wear, which you didn’t mind because coincidentally you both had similar tastes. When you wanted to go to the salon for a treatment or new style, he always sent double the amount that was needed. He loved spoiling you. He loved seeing you dolled up for him. And all you did in return was send him photos of you in everything he put you in.

When he bought you that new blazer for work, you wore it the next day. Every salon appointment, you flooded his messages with pictures of results. Even when you got your toes done, you sent him pictures of everything. The flowers he sent were watered daily in your apartment. You were truthfully grateful and appreciative of the life he was providing for you.

What did Jaehyun think of all this? It turned him on. Every picture flooded and his phone was immediately saved to his camera roll. He scrolled through your chats every night before bed, and every morning when he woke up. The smile on your face, the glow on your skin, and the perfume you wore were all caused by him. You were his. His muse, his doll, everything he needed. You were so kind and willing to show how much he was appreciated. The fact that he easily made you feel so loved and cared for was heaven to him.

9:59 PM

It was a Saturday night, you had the whole weekend off. You were sat in a red satin robe and some fuzzy slippers Jaehyun bought you a few weeks ago, in the living room of your apartment eating dinner while watching your favorite Netflix series. You were awaiting a package that Jaehyun alerted you about earlier in the week. It was supposed to have arrived last night but got delayed due to the weather. A message pinged your phone, checking the notification it was from Jaehyun.

Mr. Jeong❤️: hey beautiful girl, check outside your door now.

Mr. Jeong❤️: your package said it arrived about 5 minutes ago, send me pictures whenever you try it on <3.

You texted back an “okay❤️,” before jumping out of your seat to your front door. You opened the door and grabbed the package that was set directly outside. Bringing it into the house, you cut open the box to see that a pink and white striped box was inside. Victoria Secret. Your eyes widened. Jaehyun never bought you lingerie. Nothing even close. Your hands trailed over the box lifting the lid to see exactly what was graced inside.

White and lacy bra and panties set with laced socks to match. The bra was embroidered with gold clips adjustment straps and a bow directly between your cleavage. It was undoubtedly the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen. You checked the back of the panties, it was a cheeky style. You took the item with you into your bedroom slipping it onto your body.

You went to the mirror and stared at yourself. You decided to keep your hair down and not put on any makeup since you were just going to send him a picture of your body. The lingerie hugged your curves perfectly and the white and gold contrast brought out your skin tone beautifully. You laid back in the bed and began posing seductively taking a plethora of photos to send to Jaehyun.

You: [sent 6 attachments]

You: wow, I can’t believe how pretty this is, thank you❤️.

10:23 PM

Jaehyun’s phone dinged. He was sitting on his balcony in a relaxed white tee and sweatpants smoking a cigarette while listening to his playlist off his speaker. He checked the phone and saw the pictures you blessed his phone with. His breath hitched as his heartbeat grew faster. He examined each picture slowly analyzing every inch of your body. He examined how your breasts sat perked in the bra. How glowy the white lace made your skin pop. How the thin lace barely covered your nipples.

Mr. Jeong❤️: I’m otw.

It sounded like a threat in all honesty. Jaehyun hadn’t been to your apartment since the day he proposed the sponsorship idea. Your mind was foggy. What do you do? What was he going to do to you? Would he finally break what’s in the contract? After pondering for a few moments, you hopped out of the bed and went into your bathroom. You graced a soft amount of makeup enhancing your features just in case he planned to fuck you. Finally.

Your mind raced vigorously taking in all the possibilities of what he could do to you. Would he be big? Would he tease you? The possibilities were endless. After popping a few dabs of blush and lipstick on, you grabbed your robe and pulled it around your skin. You headed towards your mirror taking more seductive pictures to send to him. If he was already feeling the pressure of wanting to fuck you, you wanted to grow that desire as much as you could before he got there.

You: [sent 4 attachments]

You: I hope u like these too :)

As Jaehyun was rushing out of his home, he checked the mirror pictures you sent him. His pants were tightening every second as he stared at you. You were enticing to him. There wasn’t a part of you that he didn’t feel enamored by, physically and emotionally. Your personality was sweet and polite. But your body was the sexiest thing he could ever lay his eyes on.

Mr. Jeong❤️: fuck the contract.

He jumped into his car and sped to your apartment. He knew your addresses by heart now making the 20-minute drive into 10 minute one. He arrived shortly knocking at your door.

You jumped up from your space in the bed strolling over to the door. As you opened it, Jaehyun’s presence filled the door frame eyeing you. His eyes were dark and hooded, his chest heaved up and down like he was out of breath. “Hello Mr. Jeong!” you greeted innocently with a smile. He smiled softly sizing you up and down. The way your body was out almost completely on display for him caught him in a trance. “Hello Y/N. May I come in?” he asked calmly. You moved to the side allowing him to step into your space, closing and locking the door behind you.

“What brings you here so late?” you asked curiously walking over closer to engulf his frame. He held you closely by your naked waist staring at your frame. “I had to see how beautiful my baby looked tonight,” he whispered inching dangerously close to your lips. Your eyes fluttered allowing him to grow closer, lips barely touching his. Your breath hitched at the contact.

“I look this beautiful just for you sir,” you whispered seductively against his lips. Jaehyun closed his eyes and crashed his lips against yours passionately. His grip on your waist tightened, causing him to pull you against his lower half. The friction between his body and yours created a hot sensation between you too. The tension in the room thickens. The sound of each other's lips smacking against each other filled the room.

You melted into the kiss yearning more for his touch. You wrapped your arms around his neck moaning gently at the friction he was creating by grinding your hips onto his erection. “M-Mr. Jeong,” you gasped between kisses trying to catch your breath. He ignored you. He completely took over your body, engulfing you in a deeper and longer kiss.

“Your bedroom, now,” he commanded. His voice was hoarse and breathing heavy. He only released you enough to have you lead him towards your room. He kept his hands close to your waist as you led the way. “Mr. Jeong, the contract what’ll happen if we break it?” you questioned stopping in your tracks as you stood in your doorframe. His eyes were still filled with lust, but his touch was reassuring and warm.

“We can worry about that later, we both want this. Don’t you Y/N?” he asked gently. His hands interlocked his fingers into yours, rubbing warm circles with his thumbs. “I do, but I just wanted to make sure everything was okay.” you continued quietly. He nodded pulling you into your bedroom and having you both stand adjacent to your bed. He finally let go of your waist staring down at your frame.

“Get down,” he commanded with a low and stern voice. You looked up with eyes widened in shock. You slowly got down onto your knees keeping direct eye contact with him. You kept your head tilted up as Jaehyun brought his hand to cup your cheek. He softly stroked your face with his thumb examining your soft features.

“You’re so pretty baby,” he whispered daringly. He pressed his thumb to your lips pulling them slightly ajar. “Open your mouth,” Jaehyun smirked watching as you obeyed him instantly. You maintained eye contact surprisingly not breaking at the dominance he reigned over you. He leaned down slowly spitting into your mouth catching you off guard. He watched as you reluctantly swallowed the drop he laid into your mouth, smirking at your reaction. “Such a good girl for me,” he cooed strumming your face.

You blushed at his actions feeling slightly embarrassed by how you could easily succumb to his wants. But, you couldn’t deny how much his dominance turned you on. The wetness pooling from your core was more than enough evidence. You slowly raised your hand up to his bulge poking through his sweats, palming everything Jaehyun had to offer.

He hissed loudly at the abrupt touch, grabbing your wrist. “Not yet baby,” he warned sternly jerking your hand away from his length. You whined annoyed at his actions. “Why not?” you questioned cocking your head up to him. He smirked at your whining, amused by how much audacity you had. “Because baby, we’ve established already who’s in control here haven’t we?” he asked rhetorically. He simultaneously pulled his sweatpants and black boxers down to his ankles, letting his erect length spring into the air.

It took everything in you not to gasp his size. You didn’t expect him to be so thick, his tip red and leaking with pre-cum. He stilled his hand under your chin, using his other hand to pump his length in front of you. Jaehyun moaned softly as he noticed you staring at him masturbating. It was hot. How infatuated you were with his body. How enticing it was for him to see you so needy and weak for him. He barely touched you, yet he knew how much of a hold he had on you. “Do you see what you do to me baby?” he hissed stroking himself faster.

“Seeing you get so pretty for me, how you always smell so good. How do I get to spoil you and nobody else? How you listen to me and be so good to me, it turns me on so much having a good pretty girl like you,” he praised breathing heavily in between each stroke. Jaehyun was covered already in a thin coat of sweat and his deep baritone voice laced your ears with pleasure. You wanted nothing more but to show him your appreciation thoroughly, how wonderful he made you feel.

You slowly grabbed his wrist, pulling his arm that cuffed his length directly into your mouth. He moaned hazily at the contact of your wet and warm mouth around his cock. He threw his head back instantly. Jaehyun watched as you took him all the way engulfing his length. He struggled to keep a steady breath or a calm face. Only shaky moans escaped his lips and the furrowing of his brows took over.

He scrunched his face in pleasure, taking the back of our head and bucking his hips roughly into your mouth. Gagging and humming filled the air as saliva drooled over your chin. He rutted against your mouth at a faster pace as you struggled trying to keep up with his desires. “Fuck baby,” he hissed lowly. “I’m gonna cum, I’m gonna cum in this pretty mouth of yours,” he warned cupping the back of your head with both strong hands now.

Your eyes were welling with tears as the back of your throat became tense and sore. He was being so rough with you. Like you were just a toy he could fool with and use for his sole pleasure. But essentially that’s what you were to him. A beautiful, loving, fuck toy. Just his. Only his. You hummed gently around his dick causing vibrations to hit around his entire length.

His eyes shut tightly before you felt a trickle of warm salty liquid fill your mouth. You struggled to swallow it, as his length was still fully engulfed into your mouth. He gently pulled away from your lips, wiping your soaking mouth dry with the back of his hand. “I’m sorry I was so rough Y/N,” he whispered timidly strumming your warm cheeks. “Are you okay?”

You nodded assuringly giving a small smile. “I’m okay Mr. Jeong, I promise.” You slowly rose from your knees making your way to sit on your bed. Your robe was slipping, your knees aching from sitting on the floor. Jaehyun eyed you, looking at how gorgeously the sweat from your head caused your hair to stick to your skin. Your shoulder and torso are exposed from the poorly secured robe you adorned.

“Baby,” he whispered walking to sit on the bed adjacent to you. You cocked your head up, noticing how closely he was inching towards your face. He slipped your robe off your shoulders, gently wrapping his arms around you again. You giggled noticing he still had on his shirt. Tugging at it gently you looked into his eyes. “Take this off for me Mr. Jeong,” you politely asked with a kind smile and pleading eyes.

He immediately obeyed doing just as you asked, removing his shirt in one swift motion. He pushed you gently having your back laid against the bed, as she hovered over you. He placed his knee gently before your wet clothed core. “You drive me so crazy Y/N,” he confessed as he placed open wet kisses across your neck.

You moaned softly at the sensation. His lips were soft yet filled with so much passion and force. His fingers laced around your throat squeezing lightly at the sides of your neck. His knee slowly dragged between your legs feeling how soaked your pussy is. “Wow baby, you’re this wet for me already? Were you thinking about how well I was going to fuck you, my love?” he rhetorically asked grinding his knee deeper between your clit.

You nodded your head obeying his words. You gasped as his grip tightened. “Yes, yes sir! I’ve been thinking about you fucking me for weeks. I want you so bad Mr. Jeong sir,” you screamed out each word as he deliberately kissed your rougher down between your cleavage. Jaehyun chuckled in amusement at your confession, placing your legs over his hips. He slipped your white panties to them staring at your seeping core.

“Yeah, baby? You thought about me taking care of you like this?” he questioned before slipping one of his long slender fingers inside of you, curling it feeling the inside of your walls. You arched your back in pleasure as your thighs shook at the feeling. He was already setting you off the edge, hardly even touching you.

Jaehyun watched as you squirmed beneath his touch, the feeling of wanting to completely ruin you was taking over him. Corrupting your perfect body, fucking you like the spoiled slut you were for him. His eyes were fluttering from the intense feeling building inside him. He sat on his knees pulling his finger out of you harshly, causing a whine of ache to escape from you.

“You’re such a good girl. Always showin' off for me,” he whispered looking dead into your eyes as he pumped his cock once again. “You’re so beautiful in this lingerie I bought you,” he continued. “Take your panties off for me darling,” he commanded quietly. You nodded profusely as you slipped the material off your thighs. He took the panties from your hand and swiftly threw them into the pile of clothes that he left on your floor.

You laid there half-naked just for him to explicitly see you. “Spread your legs and lift them for me.”

The command was so vulgar and dirty. He knew he had so much control over you. You’d do anything he said, anything he could ever ask for. You were obligated to. You were his.

You did as he commanded, legs up having your heat out for display. Jaehyun stared down at your wet cunt, dripping in arousal just for him. His gaze made his way back to your doe eyes. He hovered gently over you to lay a soft kiss on your beautiful lipstick-smudged lips before he rammed into you.

Your back arched instantaneously at the abrupt contact, you screamed out a long pleasure-filled moan as your arms flew to cling onto Jaehyun’s broad back. “Mr. Jeong please!” you begged. Jaehyun began to ram into you at a steady and deep pace, kissing down your neck in an attempt to calm you down.

You were anything but calm. The pleasure was immense. The speed was perfect. He stretched you out so well and filled you perfectly. The pleasure overthrew the pain by miles, it was incomparable to anything you’ve ever felt before.

Jaehyun himself was struggling to keep his composure as well. He was extremely vocal about how good you felt, groaning at every clench your body made. He thrusted deeply into your core causing waves of pleasure to take over him. “Mr. Jeong,” you breathed out weakly, “I-i can’t take it sir,” you complained out. He gripped his strong hand around your neck once more forcing your lips to meet his.

He kissed you deeply muffling your moans and your comments. “You can take whatever I give you baby,” he replied between your sunken wet kisses. He trusted faster into you, causing your face to scrunch up. “See baby? You’re taking it so well, you’re doing so good. Such a good girl for me. My pretty baby…” Jaehyun praised you every single moment he could. This was no exception.

You clenched around him so tightly, that he felt every inch of you. You didn’t run away from the love he was making for you, you were perfect for him. A warm and tight knot formed in your stomach. The sensation caused you to dig deeper, scratching red lines deep into your boss’s back. “Mr. Jeong, I think I’m going to cum, it feels too good!” you exclaimed again, your voice cracking and toes curled in the sensation he was causing you.

Jaehyun grabbed your hips holding you down as he somehow was able to ram into you faster, causing screams from the both of you. His body was covered in sweat. His abs glisten before your eyes, his head thrown back as every inch of his manhood disappears deep into your core. “Take it, baby, take it so well, I’m gonna cum with you,” he praised his voice deep and laced with passion.

After a few more deep thrusts, you felt your cum drip down your thighs. Your cheeks were red and flush, sweat covered your entire body. Curses fled from your mouth as you chased your high. Jaehyun was far from composed. He was a sweaty mess. He managed to pull out just in time before exploding over your abdomen.

He collapsed next to your body, breathing heavily. Jaehyun ran his fingers through his drenched and sweat-filled hair, turning to face you. You managed to cool off enough to meet his gaze and chuckle softly at him. “What was all that for Mr. Jeong?” you teased eyeing the tired man. He chuckled softly blinking a few times at you. “You deserved it silly,” he replied simply.

You shook your head not following what he meant. “I don’t know what you mean sir?”You propped your body up enough to rest your head on the palm of your hand. Jaehyun stared at you in silence for a few moments, taking in everything about you thinking to himself. “My job is to take care of you every way I can. You’re a bit high maintenance you know that Y/N?” he retorted softly engaging his attention on you.

“Ouch.” you fake winced at his words. Jaehyun smiled cheekily kissing your forehead and wrapping his arm around your torso. “You know what I mean baby. Allow me to treat you to the life you deserve.”

It wasn’t an option, he was going to. And he did.

For the next few months, Jaehyun continued doing exactly that. But recently, he treated you to rooftop dinners, movie nights, to wine tastings. Your sponsorship became more exclusive, he invited you over to his house. Sleepovers and dinners became a regular thing on the weekends for you too, and the no sex clause? Consider that good as done.

8:53 AM

It was another Monday morning in the office, in your decorated cubicle, you received an email notification from none other than Jeong Jaehyun, issuing to alert to his office immediately.

You stood up and made your way to his room, knocking politely on the door. “Come in!” he rang from the other side of the door.

You made your way into the office, shutting the door behind you as you sat in your usual spot with a smile plastered on your face. “Good morning Mr. Jeong! You needed to see me?” you cocked your head to the side noticing the blank expression on his face.

Jaehyun faced you and held out a familiar stack of papers, your contract from when you first started being his sugar baby. He cleared his throat before looking into your eyes emotionless. “Ms. Y/N, I think it’s safe to say that I would like to end our contract,” he blankly stated.

Your heart dropped. Why? He was tired of you already? You were so willing and devoted to him. You loved how everything played out for you too, you were even willing to take things further and be more than just a girl he chose to spend his money on. “M-may I ask why?” you stuttered meekly.

Jaehyun’s face somehow did a complete 180, he lowered his body underneath his desk revealing a bouquet of roses. His dimples were on display and his eyes were sparkling.

“Because I want to be with you.”

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Authors Note:

I’m so sorry this took so long! I was very shy about uploading my first Longshot, so any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated if you guys liked this! Please tell me what you want in the future and send requests!🩷

If you’re feeling generous, you should buy me a coffee☕️.

Love, Mei!

[thatlittlered]

rings of power men | love languages

warning(s): i am going to cry, i need to marry (at least!) one of them

author's note: these are once again based on this post

-.-.-

Elrond

words of affirmation, physical touch, quality time, acts of service, gifts - everything

This Barbie man can and will do it all. If you ever asked him, he could not possibly pick what his favorite way of showing you affection is. He wants to write poems about your beauty, to touch your soft skin, to spend eons in your delightful company under the shining stars, to gather every lovely flower to adorn your hair and shower you in gold and gems that match your brilliance, all at the same time. He will probably manage to do it too.

Gil-galad

quality time, physical touch

Quality time spent in complete privacy is a rare gift given his position, so the High King treasures it above all, especially whilst in your company. Even in silence, he finds solace in your love and what greater proof is there of his, than his willingness to split himself in half if that is what it takes to serve both you and his kingdom? He is not a particularly touchy person, so you certainly will not find him glued to your side at all times, but once in private, he is a very passionate lover.

Celebrimbor

gifts, quality of time, gifts! so many gifts!

You will be showered with gifts of all kinds, especially in the beginning of your relationship. He does not know any other way to express himself so anything that comes to mind, he will send your way; rare fruits and teas, expensive fabrics, books, and, once he feels a bit more comfortable in showing off his skills, dozens of jewelry, weapons, trinkets. Anything that comes to mind when he thinks of you, he will happily craft with astounding care to detail and deliver it to you himself so he can see the glee on your face when you receive it. When you are properly together, you might convince him to lessen the frequency and spend the time with you instead; sipping warm tea and sitting together on the balcony. He is very agreeable to that.

Arondir

acts of service

You could ask Arondir to climb up in the skies of Arda and bring you back the moon and he will not hesitate. There is very little he would not do to ensure your happiness and those are things you would not ask of him either way. He is also very keen on anticipating your needs before you can express them. Always bringing you food and water, or packing you warm clothes. He must be thinking about you all the time, because every beautiful flower he happens upon is to be picked, every trinket that catches his eye purchased with you in mind, until your hands, and home, and heart are full.

Elendil

acts of service, physical touch, gifts

His first and foremost love language is serving you in any way imaginable. Whether it be with his sword, his ship, or his love. There is none more loyal and he proves it every day. Your wish is his command and your happiness his only concern. Once affection is established between you, he will not hesitate to be more physical with you as well; always touching you some place with his sea-worn hands in the few moments of privacy you have together. When you are kept apart, he will bring you gifts from the faraway lands he travels to and write you letters you cannot receive, but which you may read when he returns and know there was not a moment he was not thinking of you.

Valandil

words of affirmation, physical touch, quality time

He may be no poet, but it is easy enough to find the words when he is looking at you. He might share a few of his thoughts in person, but quickly becomes too embarrassed and chooses to write them down for you instead, so they might hold you company while he is sailing in the cruel seas. He writes of the sensual way the moon reflects off your skin when you make love on your favorite beach, the feeling of your hair in his fingers when it's drenched in saltwater and the way it tastes on his tongue. He simply cannot wait to do it again.

Isildur

physical touch

Please touch this boy, for that is what he becomes in your presence. A sweet boy with large brown eyes, begging to be touched at every opportunity and showered with the love you so willingly provide. When you are together, he always has to be touching you in some way, whether it be holding your hand, or laying his head in your lap, or even letting your knees graze each other when in the tavern with the others. Show him affection and he will return it thousandfold.

-.-.-

bonus:

Adar

acts of service, gifts

The Uruk-father considers you his most glorious conquest, his most precious possession. He is not eager to lose you and will therefore do anything to ensure your safety and happiness by his side. You will want for nothing, for it will all be delivered to you before you might even come to need it. What is most enticing of all he has to offer, however, is the absolute devotion and adoration that only he can show you.

[urarakasdiary]

-LILY OF THE VALLEY

Jjk men as your lover!

GOJO

He's head over heels for you and isn't ashamed of showing it.

Protective but not so much so that you feel controlled. He knows the limits.

Always picking/dropping you off. When you're out somewhere: spending time with friends, clubbing, etc. it doesn't matter, he's always beside you, looking over your shoulder. Staying alert.

Definitely spoils you with wayy too many expensive gifts and if not gifts, date nights, picnics and movies are his thing.

Might be a bit too cocky and touchy but will stop when you ask him to.

GETO

Public show of affection is not his first preference but if you like it, he'll do it.

I can see him being overprotective. He knows it's wrong so he tries not to show it.

Is always on the lookout for bad company you have, and will warn you about them.

Doesn't necessarily spoil you but he'll buy you anything you ask him to.

He can be a bit manipulative sometimes, but he knows his flaws and tries fixing them for your sake.

NANAMI

He's an old money guy. Flowers and chocolates every week. Showers you with affection.

Covers you with his jacket when it's cold, and never lets you open any doors, that's his responsibility. And trips to your dream places every month.

Also a big spoiler, more on the high-end stuff. Designer bags, jewelry, coats, clothes whatever you have an interest in. If you're not interested in stuff like that he'll buy/make anything you like.

Acts cold, more so if his work is stressing him out. Random bursts of anger that surprise you, but he would never, ever hurt you.

MEGUMI

Also a guy who does not like public display of affection. Will try his best to avoid it. But at the end of the day, if you do show affection in public, he'll gladly accept it.

I don't see him spoiling you. Quality time with you is more important than giving gifts.

He would never admit it but he loves it when you play with his hair.

It takes a bit for him to open up to you and express himself freely, but you'll get there sometime.

SUKUNA

I have no words.

This dude will not let you breathe. Hyperfixated on you and you alone.

Going out? where? when? with whom? what are you gonna eat? why? you already have me, why do you need anything else?

Possessive, over-protective, ANGER ISSUES.

Loves you more than you could imagine tho.

CHOSO

He's definitely very shy. Even with you.

Wants you all for himself. If someone even looks at you a bit too much, he's picking up a fight.

Doesn't really know how to express his love so he does everything. Acts of service, Gift giving, Quality time, and maybe even physical touch (sometimes).

Gets upset very quickly but he knows how to handle his temper.

I wrote this in a single day because I want to revive my blog 🥲 Very very sorry if it did not meet your expectations Im trying to get back to writing and English being my second language doesn't help either 😭 Requests are now open :) <3

If you want a part 2 just let me know. I'll try to respond as soon as possible 💗

[justinspoliticalcorner]

David Smith at The Guardian:

Losing an election for the highest office is a crushing blow that no candidate forgets. But when the American electorate delivers its verdict next week, the personal stakes for Donald Trump will be uniquely high. His fate will hover between the presidency and the threat of prison.

If he claims victory, Trump will be the first convicted criminal to win the White House and gain access to the nuclear codes. If he falls short, the 78-year-old faces more humiliating courtroom trials and potentially even time behind bars. It would be the end of a charmed life in which he has somehow always managed to outrun the law and duck accountability. For Trump, Tuesday is judgment day. “He branded himself as the guy who gets away with it,” said Gwenda Blair, a Trump biographer, adding that, should he lose, “he is facing a lot of moments of reckoning. He could go to jail. He could end up considerably less wealthy than he is. No matter what happens, and no matter whether he wins or loses, there will be a reckoning over his health. Death, ill health, dementia – those are things even he can’t escape.” The property developer and reality TV star has spent his career pushing ethical and legal boundaries to the limit, facing countless investigations, court battles and hefty fines. Worthy of a novel, his has been a life of scandal on a gargantuan scale.

In the 1970s Trump and his father were sued by the justice department for racial discrimination after refusing to rent apartments to Black people in predominantly white buildings. His property and casino businesses, including the Taj Mahal and Trump Plaza, filed for bankruptcy several times in the 1990s and early 2000s. Trump University, a business offering property training courses, faced multiple lawsuits for fraud, misleading marketing and false claims about the quality of its programmes. In 2016 Trump settled for $25m without admitting wrongdoing.

The Donald J Trump Foundation, a charitable organisation, was investigated and sued for allegedly using charitable funds for personal and business expenses. Trump eventually agreed to dissolve the foundation with remaining funds going to charity. Trump and his company were ordered to pay more than $350m in a New York civil fraud trial for artificially inflating his net worth to secure favourable loan terms. He is also known to have paid little to no federal income taxes in specific years which, although technically legal, was seen by some as bordering on unethical.

[...] He became the first president to be impeached twice, first for withholding military aid to pressure Ukraine’s government to investigate his political opponents, then for instigating a coup on 6 January 2021 following his defeat. He also became the subject of not one but four criminal cases, any one of which would have been enough to scuttle the chances of any other White House hopeful. In May Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records relating to a hush-money payment to the adult film performer Stormy Daniels, making him the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes. Sentencing is scheduled for 26 November (the judge delayed it from 18 September after the Republican nominee asked that it wait until after the election). What was billed as the trial of the century has already begun to fade from public consciousness and played a relatively modest role in the election campaign. Jonathan Alter, a presidential biographer who was in court for every day of the trial, recalled: “I’ve covered some big stories over the years but there was nothing like the drama of watching the jury foreperson say, ‘Guilty, guilty, guilty’ 34 times and Donald Trump looking like he was punched in the gut.” Alter, who describes the experience in his new book, American Reckoning, reflects on how Trump has been able to act with impunity for so long. “It’s a combination of luck, galvanised defiance and the credulousness of a large chunk of the American people,” he said. “Demagoguery works. Playing on people’s fears works. It doesn’t work all the time but we can look throughout human history to political figures and how demagoguery and scapegoating ‘the other’ works.”

Alter, who covered the trial for Washington Monthly magazine, added: “We’ve had plenty of demagogues, scoundrels and conmen in politics below the level of president. Trump has been lucky to escape accountability but the United States has been lucky that we haven’t had something like this before. The founders were very worried about it. They felt we would face something like this for sure.” The US’s system of checks and balances has been racing to keep up. Trump was charged by the special counsel Jack Smith with conspiring to overturn the results of his election loss to Joe Biden in the run-up to the January 6 riot at the US Capitol. The former president and 18 others were also charged by the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, with taking part in a scheme to overturn his narrow loss in Georgia. Trump was charged again by Smith with illegally retaining classified documents that included nuclear secrets, taken with him from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after he left office in January 2021, and then obstructing government demands to give them back.

With a such a caseload, it was widely assumed that Trump would spend this election shuttling between rallies one day and trials the next. But the courtroom campaign never really happened since, true to past form, he found ways to throw sand in the gears of the legal system and put off his moment of reckoning.

Or he simply got lucky. In Georgia, it emerged that Willis had a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor Nathan Wade, prompting demands that she be removed. Smith’s federal election case was thrown off track for months by a supreme court ruling that presidents have immunity for official actions taken in office. The classified documents case was thrown out by Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, although Smith is appealing and the charges could be reinstated. Such delays have made it easier to forget just how much of an outlier Trump is. Past presidential brushes with the law consisted of Ulysses S Grant being fined for speeding his horse-drawn carriage in Washington and Harry Truman receiving a ticket for driving his car too slowly on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1953. Richard Nixon resigned before he could be impeached over the Watergate scandal and was subsequently pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford. Meanwhile the standard for presidential aspirants has been high. Joe Biden’s first run for the White House fell apart amid allegations that he had plagiarised a speech by Britain’s Labour leader Neil Kinnock. During the 2000 campaign, a last-minute revelation that Republican candidate George W Bush had a drunk driving conviction that he concealed for 24 years generated huge headlines and was seen as a possible gamechanger. Hillary Clinton still blames her 2016 defeat on an FBI investigation into her email server that produced no charges.

For Donald Trump, his run for the “Presidency” is all about avoiding any possible jail time for his indictments and felonies. If he loses, then Trump could be facing more trials and potentially jail time and/or massive fines.

Send Trump to prison, not the White House!

#TrumpForPrison #HarrisWalz2024

[probablyasocialecologist]

When you look at Instagram or Facebook, I want you to try and think of them less as social networks, and more as a form of anthropological experiment. Every single thing you see on either platform is built or selected to make you spend more time on the app and see more things that Meta wants you to see, be they ads, sponsored content, or suggested groups that you can interact with, thus increasing the amount of your “time spent” on the app, and increasing the amount of “meaningful interactions” you have with content. I also want you to realize that anything bad that you see on the platform is a symptom of Mark Zuckerberg’s unwillingness to rate-limit or sufficiently moderate the platform. Logically-speaking, one would think that Meta would want you to have a high-quality Facebook experience, pruning content that might be incendiary, spammy, scammy or unhelpful, or at the very least, comes primarily from those within your own network, but when your only concern is growth, content moderation is more of an emergency measure.  And to be clear, this is part of Meta’s cultural DNA. In an interview with journalist Jeff Horwitz in his book Broken Code, Facebook’s former VP of Ads and Partnerships Brian Bolland said that “building things is way more fun than making things secure and safe…[and] until there’s a regulatory or press fire, you don’t deal with it.”  Horwitz also cites that Meta engineers’ greatest frustration was that the company “perpetually [needed] something to fail — often fucking spectacularly — to drive interest in fixing it.” Horwitz’s book describes Meta’s approach to moderation as “having a light touch,” considering it “a moral virtue” and that the company “wasn’t failing to supervise what users did — it was neutral.” As I’ve briefly explained, the logic here is that the more stuff there is on Facebook or Instagram, the more likely you are to run into something you’ll interact with, even if said interaction is genuinely bad. Horwitz notes that in April 2016, Meta analyzed Facebook’s most successful political groups, finding that a third of them “routinely featured content that was racist and conspiracy-minded,” with their growth heavily-driven by Facebook’s “Groups You Should Join” and “Discover” features, algorithmic tools that Facebook used to recommend content. The researcher in question added that “sixty-four percent of all extremist group joins are due to our recommendation tools.” When the researcher took their concerns to Facebook’s “Protect and Care” team, they were told that there was nothing the team could do as “the accounts creating the content were real people, and Facebook intentionally had no rules mandating truth, balance or good faith.” Meta, at its core, is a rot economy empire, entirely engineered to grow metrics and revenue at the expense of anything else. In practice, this means allowing almost any activity that might “grow” the platform, even if it means groups that balloon by tens or hundreds of thousands of people a day, or allowing people to friend 50 or more people in a single day. It means allowing almost any content other than that which it’s legally required to police like mutilation and child pornography, even if the content it allows in makes the platform significantly worse.  As a result, Meta is kind of like an absentee parent, occasionally looking up from their phone and muttering “don’t do that” when something obviously awful happens, and even then they’re extremely hesitant to intervene. 

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s6 episode 1 "the beginning" thoughts

season 6!!!! my goodness, how the time sure has flown!! i started this whole project in may of last year, and now we are in january! so much has changed! but other things have stayed the same. 

i have heard mixed things on s6, so i am a bit nervous. but i am excited to be reunited. 

i am also curious to see where exactly the movie was set after the finale of s5. has it been a while, or only a few days? has our little friend gibson been missing this whole time? what about diana- did she pull through? will we get to know more about her?

we need to microchip gibson so we never lose him again. 

(i felt vindicated when people told me diana isn’t a fandom favorite, LMAO. i’m usually the girl that goes to BAT for overhated female characters, but she just seemed too intentionally antagonistic towards scully)

so… this episode shall deal with our agents going on a hunt. well, they had best be careful! there are a bunch of different aliens and beasts on the loose!

(post-episode thoughts: my fury at mulder is 75% normal juni rage and 25% enhanced by me being sick and emotional, a fact i only put together the morning AFTER i took all of these notes. you have been warned....)

anyway. let us begin!

(previously, on the x files)

(and i STAND by my opinion that CSM has a very soothing voice, okay?!? googling this man so i can see if he narrates any audiobooks)

man, i forgot about mulder pushing spender up against the wall and their feud. ah, spender. i feel bad for him, but that doesn’t mean i LIKE him. 

OH, WE GET TO SEE CLIPS FROM THE MOVIE IN THIS RECAP!! and they are in such high quality in comparison to the DVD i borrowed!! wow. when i watch it again sometime in the future- hopefully not on a DVD from 1998- i cannot wait to see everything so CRISP.

NOT THE KISS BAIT BEING INCLUDED IN THE RECAP LMAOOO

but now let us begin the adventures of s6!

NOOOOO! roush!!! the evil biological company! their truck is out in the desert. and their guys are pissing. 

well. this happens.

sandy is sweating. bro does NOT look good. i know his ass is not making it through the night.

when sandy gets home, he cranks the heat up to 80 in arizona, which is WILD. then he goes to lay on the couch and shiver. 

AUGH!!! his hand is JELLY???? it’s see-through!!! i did not want to look at all of sandy’s veins!!!

is he having an alien baby, too?!?!

his work buddies come to fetch him later. we see a bunch of photos of him in his house wearing a lab coat and doing doctor-y things.

AWW, his coworker called him sandman. don’t make me feel bad for the dude who works at the evil alien biotech company…

BLEURGH. he DID have an alien chest baby virus infection thing. OH, this other guy is SHOCKED!! AND HE HEARS THE ALIEN HISSING AT HIM!!!!!

HE’S GETTING EATEN!!!!! NOOOO!!!! 

RIP this guy :(

YAAAY, the intro!!! felt weird not having it with the movie!!!

and it was shortened, but okay. i’m getting used to that.

ahhh, look at this computer on which mulder is examining something. is he looking at micro film?

OH, the sweet boy, he’s restoring the fragments from the x files!! this makes me sad!! does that mean there isn’t a huge box of floppy disks somewhere containing all of them? because it is the responsible thing to do, making sure you have all your files saved in multiple sources! well, we’re only a few minutes into the episode. there’s still time for one of those to be found

and now he is presenting before a panel. he says the x files were destroyed “several months ago”, which places us on a vague timeline. scully is here!!!!

“i see your renowned arrogance has been left quite intact”, says this dude on the panel, and HEY! mulder literally isn’t even being arrogant at THIS MOMENT, OKAY? plenty of other times he is. but not now, as he is submitting his report on this alien spaceship!!

“i didn’t see men in black” “well it’s a damn good movie” <- LMAO they are BULLYING HIM!!!

scully looks pained. 

NOT THEM GETTING ON HIS ASS FOR THE TRAVEL EXPENSES STOOOOOP BEING MEAN!!!

OHHH NOOOOO!!! he says that scully can prove the whole thing, but she can’t. cut to them fighting in the hallway.

mulder… you’re pissing me off. SHE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT THE VIRUS IS OR HOW IT WOULD MAKE ALIENS!!!!!! maybe you should have brought a camera to the arctic. don’t you BRUSH INTO HER SHOULDER AS YOU WALK AWAY!!! you were going to KISS HER like a few weeks ago!!! i won’t tolerate this disrespect. 

CSM is debriefing the syndicate on the arizona alien deaths, saying he made up a cover story and it’s called “blaming it on Native Americans”. classic CSM, world-renowned great guy /s

so, he thinks the arizona guy who gave birth to an alien chest baby accidentally injected himself with the virus, and now the alien is on the loose!!! 

man, the presence of well-groomed man is missed. RIP. this other guy is here, though. so that’s good. i guess.

CSM says he is managing the situation. will he be sent out to test his sniping skills?? can you snipe an alien?

skinner is coming down to see mulder on the computer… NOOO, he breaks the news that his reassignment on the x files has been denied!!!!! 

mulder's all angry, and skinner tries to clarify he’s not arguing with him, but raises the question: “when will you accept that no amount of pressure or reason will bring to heel a conspiracy whose members walk these halls with absolute impunity?” <- ohhh, a very good point…

so they reopened the x files, then denied his reassignment? are they going to assign them to someone else? or just close them again?? will they keep scully on them?

skinner said that the vote was unanimous… he must have been trying not to blow his cover as mulder’s biggest supporter… but i'm sure this still made mulder very sad

so he gets all his stuff up and starts to leave. BUT SKINNER WANTS TO HELP HIM FIND PROOF??? SO HE CAN PROVE THE OTHERS WRONG??

i told you!!!! that man is my uncle.

he says there’s a file on his desk in the old office……. and sure enough, there is.

is this season much darker in terms of screen brightness?

OH SHIT…. why is spender down here in mulder's old office? WITH DIANA??? “diana, back on your feet. i guess that’s the only way you can stab me in the back” <- damn. he's pissed.

woah, what? okay, i was imagining scully staying on the project and spender taking his place, which would obviously be awful, but diana taking his place is like, worse. so now is it going to be spender and diana? instead of mulder and scully? ew.

jump to CSM lighting up in front of a no smoking sign… he’s just fundamentally a bad boy. he’s walking in where some sort of surgery is taking place!!!

he says he needs the patient bandaged and dressed, even though this might kill them. OH SHIT! IT’S GIBSON!!! and he must be in the middle of surgery!!!!!

EAIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THEY HAVE HIS BRAIN OPEN………….

good lord, i nearly passed out. again, i repeat my grounding mantra: shoutout to the props team.

and he was awake, too………..

poor baby. 

AWWWW, THE AGENTS ARE DOWN IN PHOENIX to investigate the case that skinner left them the files on, and scully WILL remind him that they are violating state laws regarding contamination of a crime scene (she lets out a deep scully sigh, asking “why do i bother?”) yeah. idk either queen.

he sees claw marks on the walls!!! that does not look like it came from some bare hands. scully is not fooled by this claim in the evidence report. 

ooooooo, he finds a claw!!!!!!!!

“is that an animal?” “ain’t rupaul” <- LMAO I’M CRYING????????? 

mulder, i knew you were an ally ✊

(listen, both of those agents are bisexual to me. and maybe ace, too. depends on the day. THAT'S MY OPINION!)

(he hands the claw to scully very carefully <3)

feels wrong to see him in what i think is a polo, but it is hard to tell because the screen is so DARK.

oh yeah, let scully calculate the gestation rate of this hypothetical alien baby. under 12 hours!!! damn!! that is… quick. and also? how could a baby do all this, she wants to know? well. some babies are more equipped for violence than others. i guess. 

oh no! CSM IS HERE!! AND POOR BABY GIBSON, BLEEDING THROUGH HIS BANDAGES!!

please someone lay him down and let him watch spongebob. NOW.

gibson announces that "it" (alien baby) isn’t here. and that he knows CSM wants to kill him if he can’t find the creature. poor sweet little dude. they drive off.

mulder emerges into the daylight, and he does, in fact, have a polo on. but he is asking scully why she won’t believe him. MAYBE IT *WILL* TAKE AN ALIEN BITING HER FOR HER TO BELIEVE, BUDDY!!! DON'T RAISE YOUR GODDAMN VOICE AT HER!!

OHHH, SHE GRABS HIS HAND?? “listen, mulder, you told me that my science kept you honest. that it made you question your assumptions; that by it, i’d made you a whole person”

(okay girl, stay with me here now, but i think he meant YOU made him a whole person, not your science…….. but maybe she had to compartmentalize after nearly kissing him)

“if i change now… it wouldn’t be right, or honest” oh, scully <3 he has never deserved you or your kindness...

he’s being a whiny baby. like, i get it, and i understand. they're taking the x files away! and he needs to prove they are correct about aliens! but “i’m sorry scully, but this time your science is wrong” and walking away… 😒 which problem did that solve?

idk!! i see both of their points!!! this fundamental and ancient conflict is once again playing out, but can we focus less on the hows and whys of the situation and more on the “we need to get our jobs back and be bestest friends forever and ever, and also save that missing little boy and find some answers along the way”? please. consider this viewpoint. for me!

oh, let's go off to a nuclear power plant. again, very dark. noticing a theme here. it’s outside arizona. is that where the alien wants to go?

did they call the guy homer as a simpsons reference…? i see what was done here. well, something in the power plant is off. 

don’t send homer loose into the dark!!! the alien will eat him!!! especially while vague splattering noises are heard!!

CREATURE EATS HOMER……….

agents mulder and scully are on the scene. but so is spender!!!

UGH, he’s so ANNOYING: he basically says “i’m gonna get skinner censured for telling you some guy was murdered, now LEAVE” SPENDER!!! you are PISSING ME OFF!! 

(it made me think of that line from sharkboy and lavagirl: "mr. electric, send him to the principal's office and HAVE HIM EXPELLED!" <- that's what your whiny ass sounds like, spender)

and diana won’t let them in either, saying that it was "just a work accident". oh, so much for caring about the x files, huh? like you claimed in the last episode. you sound REAL invested now /s

scully gets him to come back to the car after he spits some venom at diana (“i hope you know whose errands you’re running”).

however, he says to give him the keys and tells scully to get in the car, and she gives him the most DIABOLICAL side eye LMAO. she is so suspicious of his shenanigans!!!

OH MY GOD, THERE WAS A REASON FOR THAT: SHE FINDS GIBSON IN THE CAR????? he’s out cold and she’s holding his head, calling him “sweetheart” oh my GOD????? 

wait. hold on. i’m emotional. hold on.

they take him to their motel, and she’s trying to smile at him while she trims off his bandages. he IMMEDIATELY READS HER THOUGHTS AND SAYS “frankenstein? really?” and DESPITE KNOWING HE CAN READ HER THOUGHTS, SHE TRIES TO LIE AND MAKE HIM FEEL BETTER.... OHHH, SCULLY

(this is still making me emotional. lying to the kid that can read minds because she doesn't want to hurt his feelings or scare him... knowing that she is the doctor that has to try and make him better, so he cannot know she thinks he looks to be in serious danger...)

he has some infection because they didn’t change his bandages and a fever, ohhhh this poor CHILD

so he ran away when they weren’t thinking about him!!!

scully, do you have antibiotics on you? is that a doctor-ly thing to have in your purse? please fix him. 

OHHH SNAP, HE CALLED HER OUT: “they were using me. because i can communicate with it” “communicate with what?” “you already know. you just don’t want to believe it”

actually such a fascinating narrative choice to have a child psychic call out her own internal lies… he’s too young to blunt his words, so we know they are the truth… getting to see inside what scully truly believes, even if she cannot admit it to herself, through the lens of this sweet angel with his poor infected skull...

(mulder nods his head to the side, indicating to her they must go talk privately)

he wants to take gibson out to find the Creature, but scully says he needs to be in bed under constant medical supervision; he is the evidence for the x files that can prove to the panel that everything they research is real!!

lowkey pissed me off that this boy is suffering in front of them so horribly and mulder wanted to go on an alien hunt.

so, they’re going to sneak him off somewhere. maybe to an alien hunt and then the hospital. but alas, who approaches them in the parking lot?

IT’S DIANA???? she claims to be alone. CAN WE HAVE A BREAKUP LATER???

she tells mulder that she took the assignment to represent his interests, reminds him that THEY found the x files together, and says that they should go find the beast right now. sure. whatever. you go find the beast, let scully doctor the poor boy. whatever. like i care.

he agrees to do just that, which i actually do think is morally wrong, because now scully has to play single mother to this sick boy. what if she gets sleepy and he is stolen from under her, like what happened with diana?

but diana and mulder are off to the nuclear reactor. mulder thinks that maybe the alien baby needs to be warm… maybe to grow?

so scully is with gibson, and he accuses her of only thinking about herself and what she can learn from him. “i’m a very special lab rat”, he says (deep and sad scully sigh)

OHHHH… these two are giving me feelings……….

gibson just wanting to be a normal kid, and scully wanting to take care of this normal kid who is sadly being used for ulterior motives, but also knowing that if she wants to keep her job and prove the x files, that she must test upon him, too... she must have felt so conflicted... and he must have been able to sense that...

meanwhile, mulder and diana are sneaking into a nuclear reactor. i hope they don’t kiss. i don’t wanna see that shit. 

do they have guns? like, good guns? what are they going to hunt the alien with?

he finds a sticky trail… while spooky music plays…. and the wrench from homer (RIP)

bro needs to stop touching mystery fluids.

EUGH he pulls out… guts??? 

but scully calls!!! they found evidence of the virus that she was infected with in gibson’s system!!!

is diana here to just snitch on their progress… with his gut haul…..?

NOOOOO!!! THE DOCTOR APPROACHING GIBSON IS GOING TO HURT HIM??? HE IS KIDNAPPED! AGAIN!!!!!!

SCULLY IS GOING TO YELL AT SOME DOCTORS ABOUT IT!!!!! THREE CHEERS FOR MAMA BEAR SCULLY!!! DON’T TELL HER TO CALM DOWN!!! GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!

the evil guy is taking him away in an ambulance while mulder and diana track the beast. and again, i’d like to know what their game plan is once they find the thing.

gibson is brought to the nuclear power plant as well, being forced around by his kidnapper, who wants to use him to find the alien. and i can barely see what is happening because it is so DARK. 

gibson is being brought into what i think is the nuclear core, where he declares that "it" is here. 

i’m gonna need this gibson fellow to make it through, okay?

mulder is POUNDING ON THE DOOR, telling the evil guy to open it NOW, you SON OF A BITCH!

diana wants to find another way in, maybe, idk, i don’t trust her!!!

AUGH, the alien EATS the evil guy!!! well. deserved, tbh. will the alien please NOT eat gibson, though?

and it seems that diana DID snitch on him??? she pulls her gun on mulder as the cops suddenly arrive??

IT’S TOO DAMN DARK, I CAN’T SEE IF GIBSON WAS EATEN OR NOT!!!

skinner is absent from the hearing in which the agents are being told they must not go near the x files at all, or else they will be immediately dismissed!!! and they are moved to assistant director kersh!!! 

who is this man.....?

i expect mulder to just hand in his resignation papers now.

EW, CSM IS HERE TO SEE SPENDER??? he says he doesn’t want to see him. but CSM congratulates him on handling mulder. and he calls him “son”. 

“simple but extreme solutions” bro is offering to kill him??? no... he says this will not do in such a situation

spender asks if he’s killed men... IJBOL! that is his whole thing, buddy. welcome to this show.

CSM says you cannot kill what a man stands for, unless you kill his spirit. can mulder's spirit be killed?!?!

mulder is back to investigating the scraps of paper from the x files. “it would help if you’d shut the door; it’d make it harder for them to see that i’m totally disregarding everything i was told” <- LMAOOOO

oh scully, always pushed to the side in his mad ahab quest: “everything we were told, mulder” <- YEAH, YOU TELL HIM!!!!!!!!

she thinks that diana is throwing him under the bus (her report makes no mention of gibson!! and lies about the body they found!! also, i think she literally pulled a gun on him when the cops rolled up??), but he INSISTS that she is doing this out of the goodness of her heart 

“and though it may not say it in her report, diana saw it too. and no matter what you think, she’s certainly not going to go around saying that just because science can’t prove it, it isn’t true” 

wait hold on… i’m emotional… that was so mean… why am i genuinely tearing up…?

scully just wants him to trust her…. and he won’t take her files, because he's being stubborn, but they are literally TEST RESULTS that prove his theories to be true……..

the claw matches the DNA from the virus and the DNA from gibson…. 

if it’s true, that means everyone is a little bit of an alien?? oh scully…. look at her…….. sciene geek...

back at the nuclear power plant, it’s GIBSON!!!!! he sees the alien going for a swim in the nuclear water!!!!! yucky. 

it’s hatching………… oh.

the end.

man.

i don’t know if i’m emotional on this fine evening, but i nearly cried at mulder disrespecting scully. how can you say that about someone, that they make you whole, and keep you honest, and then treat them like that? how can you just toss her to the side the minute someone else says what you want to hear?

like. what the fuck! i can’t tell if this is purposeful character development leading up to something or if he is truly being an awful guy. how can he go from trusting her with everything he is- his life and even his death, over and over again- to having a hissy fit because she can't prove the virus was alien? it's not like SHE is the one taking them off of the assignment! she is not the corrupt government! in fact, she knows better than anyone the reality of the corrupt government, considering they 1) KILLED HER SISTER and 2) TRIED TO KILL HER WITH TERMINAL CANCER THAT DAMN NEAR SUCCEEDED?

shakes my fist angrily… i think scully should get to bite him.

she NEVER blows up at him!! even when he deserves it!!! and he has!! a million times over!! but she doesn’t!! it’s his stupid alien nonsense that got her sister killed and nearly killed her!! why does he act like he is the only one who can see some bigger picture?? oh wisest of all men, mulder, enlighten us with your alien theories??? bitch!!! if i was scully, i would have had enough!!! i would need a break from him!!! i would take that reassignment!!!

okay, maybe i’m just really angry tonight. BUT I HAVE A RIGHT TO BE! we were making such good progress in the “telling your best friend you love them” department, that i truly cannot stand this!! you tell him anything he wants to hear and he’ll eat it up!!! sure, sure, this lady that you used to date CONVENIENTLY wants to save the project you just got kicked off of after dedicating your whole life to it. (heavy on the /s) BRO??? LET’S USE A LITTLE BIT OF COMMON SENSE.

grrrr, i’m actually gonna GROWL. i don’t CARE about your inner man angst, you HAVE TO BE NICE TO YOUR FRIENDS!!! she LOVES you and you LOVE HER, so you ought to ACT LIKE IT.

and they took my uncle skinner away from me…

oh, i just know that if i had seen this when it was airing, i would be SPITTING MAD!! i’d be on those discussion forums saying NASTY things!!!

man. i still feel angry.

scully and gibson…. she wants to keep him safe, but also wants to prove her theories, and he suffers because of it… poor baby… how she held his unconscious head, calling him sweetheart; how she screamed at the doctors who ignored her…. god…

see, normally i’d say “give them both a baby”, but right now i’m mad as hell at mulder, and he does not deserve baby privileges.

poor gibson… i hope he makes it out of that nuclear reactor.

also. spender. the most pathetic nepo baby of all time. is he not at all suspicious about why his absent father is suddenly making a reappearance? hello? and the way he just pushes people around with his newfound power? do you think CSM will just use him and then discard him like he does everyone else????

wow. much to contemplate. for now, i must sleep off my rage. stupid mulder in his stupid polo…

spender and diana are literally scully and mulder from shein.

[argumate]

you've mentioned china's trade surplus effectively ripping of Chinese citizens (they are generating product but not getting access to it, I think?) and I was wondering... why? what benefit does this give to the people of China? I assume they operate that way for a reason but I don't know what the reason could be

I think it was a sensible strategy for at least 25 years or so, from when open policy began under Deng Xiaoping in 1979 up to the Beijing Olympics and Global Financial Crisis in 2008, then it became increasingly unhelpful but it was difficult to stop.

China was coming out of 30 years of Maoism when Deng took over, disconnected from the global economy, lacking infrastructure, and extremely underinvested: the GDP of Japan was 5x larger than China and it was exporting 10x as much as China, despite China having 8x more people.

under open policy, China created special economic zones across the south east and encouraged companies from Hong Kong and Taiwan to setup low cost operations there, then later invited US and European corporations too but always with strict conditions to partner with local businesses and state owned enterprises to ensure technology transfer (the classic story of investing in China is to do the work of setting up a partner company then later have that partner company take over the market).

at the same time as opening up to global markets (and getting rid of rations and price controls and switching to a market economy domestically), China poured resources into infrastructure investment, building factories and highways and bridges and docks and harbours and the largest high speed train network on the planet and vast cities of apartments to accommodate the biggest urbanisation project in history and so on and so on.

this transformed China at vast scale with shocking speed into the industrial powerhouse that it is today, with GDP 4x Japan and exporting 5x as much, an incredible turnaround from the 20th century, when cyberpunk authors were predicting the Japanese economy would eat the world.

but all that infrastructure and property development required to urbanise and industrialise was a massive investment, funded by the government and paid for by the hard work of Chinese households, whose incomes were suppressed by a range of mechanisms: fixed exchange rates and tariffs making imports expensive and helping exporters, bank spreads giving low deposit rates for savers and cheaper loans for favoured industries, the hukou system taking away rights from rural residents so they could be used as cheap labour in the cities much like undocumented immigrants in the US, and of course the labour movement was carefully controlled by the government and suppressed when its demands grew too strong.

the Chinese people paid for the transformation of China, but by and large I'd say it was well worth the effort: even if the politically connected elite siphoned off the top and wealth inequality increased, the overall quality of life improved enormously from the Maoist dark ages that preceded the open era.

the transition from the rationed economy to the market economy was rough, and inflation and unemployment not always perfectly managed, but the unrest of 1989 was relatively minor in the scheme of things, compared with the chaos and dysfunction of Russia's failed attempt to cross the chasm and liberalise its economy.

so that's the Chinese success story, which I think peaks in 2008, when China is inviting the world to the Beijing Olympics while America is busy spending billions of dollars invading other countries and has just blown up the global economy thanks to poor regulation of its banks inflating a mortgage bubble into a credit crisis.

however at this moment of triumph, China faces a quandary that it has not resolved to this day: the development model that has made it the industrial envy of the world has run its course and must be changed in order to continue steady growth, but it is very difficult to change course when politically connected vested interests owe everything they have to the continuation of these policies!

but first, why were exports important to China's growth in the first place? I think there are multiple reasons for this:

foreign companies that setup operations in China were focused on the export market because the Chinese people at the time had very little money, making them great workers but poor customers, and although the domestic market would steadily grow in size over time, the size of the global market and the suppression of local wages would continue to favour exports.

the government knew that the export market was highly competitive and would keep industry honest in a way that the domestic market might not, avoiding the problems seen in the USSR where protected industries could manufacture low quality products and faced little pressure to improve: "Made in China" would start cheap and then work its way up in quality, a classic tale of market disruption, as we see today with China subsidising Tesla factories as a rabbit for its own greyhounds (BYD) to chase.

possible geopolitical advantages to taking over critical industries for the entire world, along with an ideological bias in favour of production over consumption which means industries will habitually produce more than the domestic market can consume, requiring exports to meet the demand for demand.

so the problem was that over time China began to run out of opportunities for productive investment: when every person has an apartment and every river has a dozen bridges and the country is exporting a trade surplus of a trillion dollars a year it's time to slow down investment driven growth, shift towards consumption, pay households more, and let increased demand from Chinese consumers drive future development.

however, this requires reversing the transfers currently in place that take money away from households to subsidise exporters, which would immediately hurt export competitiveness and risk businesses downsizing and spiking unemployment -- much as we're seeing with Trump's tariffs in the opposite direction, any poorly managed change causes an economic downturn immediately but the potential economic growth is delayed, leading to a painful adjustment period and possible political instability.

as a result the Chinese government has been announcing plans to raise consumption and deleverage (reduce debt-fueled investment driven growth) for fifteen years now but it has balked from actually doing it every time, so the trade surplus mounts ever higher and popular discontent grows as -- much like America -- the people see the economic growth opportunities that their parents enjoyed now receding into the distance.

in theory the US could force this adjustment unilaterally, ideally by controlling financial investment from China (which is how China balances its enormous trade surplus) or much more clumsily by the kind of tariffs that Trump is levying (although bilateral tariffs may just push trade into more circuitous paths through other countries to evade them).

if the US no longer accepts Chinese trade surpluses then the government will have no choice but to shift the economy in a different direction, and perhaps it will be easier to justify the transition when the disruption can be blamed on a foreign adversary.

so if I had to summarise I would say that extracting wealth from the people can be beneficial if it is invested productively, but ultimately what makes an investment productive is that it meets demand from the people, that is what an economy is for, and we see countries experience growth booms when demand drives investment to meet demand and stagnate when demand drops and investment becomes increasingly unproductive, pushing on a piece of string in the hope that people will spend money they don't have if you just build enough shopping malls.

[senpazzi]

Maintenance (Teaser)

Ceo!Jeong Jaehyun x Afab!Reader

Synopsis: You worked at an extremely successful Marketing company in the big city of Chicago. Fresh out of college, you were able to land such a high paying job, just for it to not be enough for you. You valued the more expensive things in life, and there was only one man who could provide that for you, Jeong Jaehyun.

Warnings: smut, language, pet names, explicit jokes, age gaps, degrading, reader can be a brat and selfish, jaehyun is a smoker, etc.

You wanted a promotion. Scratch that. You needed this promotion. Anyone else would’ve been satisfied with the amount of money that you make. You’re only 25, working as a marketing consultant almost fresh out of college. To simply put it, you were very skilled in university and had amazing internship experience. It’s only been about two years of you at this South Korean based company, it’s branches have finally reached the States, landing you a great opportunity to work in the big city of Chicago and be grateful enough to live alone.

But, even with the amazing pay and benefits the job comes with, you want more. You’re one to spoil yourself and live a luxurious life as a 25 year old woman making more than the nations average. You never came to work with your nails undone, a hair out of place. Instead, you came in the sleekest heels with the highest quality blouses and skirts. You catch eyes from all around when you step into the office. The men and women in every quarter acknowledge you daily.

“Y/N, I love you your suit today.”

“Y/N, your purse is so beautiful, I wish my husband could afford that.”

“Your hair is always so beautiful, send me your stylist”.

Just a number of things you heard daily. However, your maintenance is becoming a bit too high. Your budgeting is shifting, and you’re beginning to realize that your maintenance can only be upheld with a higher salary. And what better way to do that? A raise simply wouldn’t cut it.

But, why not head for a position that is offering 6 figures after the first year? Yes. You decided you were going to run for Vice President of Marketing Consulting at your company, that way with a little bit of the extra money, you can sit back and monitor everyone else in your company. You’ve always been one to express your opinion on anything going on, so why not get paid more for your input?

Applications were to have been submitted earlier this month, and of course, you were one of the first to get that done. Your boss, Jeong Jaehyun, has always praised that aspect of you. You never slacked or procrastinated, you’ve always shown that you were serious about your job and put in your best effort.

Earlier this month, you knocked on the door to his office, all the way on the 17th floor of the sky rise building he owned.

“Come in please.” you heard the assuring tone through the thick wooden doors. You pushed the golden handle and walked into the office, lit with beautiful warm lights, the room was filled with huge windows, cleaned twice a week per his request. Filing cabinets galore, the smell of coffee, and soft jazz music playing off his Alexa speaker. He acknowledged your presence once he heard the clacking of your heels approach further.

“Ah, Ms. Y/N, I almost forgot you were coming today. Is this your application?” He asked, motioning towards the portfolio in your hands.

“Yes sir, I know we had about a week left to submit it, so I just needed to get this out the way.” You smiled softly, placing the portfolio in his hands. He nodded agreeing with your state, and gazed over the portfolio. “You know, Y/N, you’re very brave for going after a position like this at such a young age, the competition won’t be light. What’s influencing you to go this route?” He asked like it was simple question, setting your portfolio into a cabinet next to him, leaning back into his chair, cocking his head to the side. He folded his hands over his lap, after motioning you to sit in the soft office chair across his desk.

You cleared your throat, smoothing your skirt, sitting on the chair and sitting up as straight as you could. “Well, you see, I want to explore my expertise and bring everything I have to offer this job Sir. I really admire everything that goes on here and I would love to play a bigger role.” You said, in your soft but assuring voice. Even though what you said was truthful, you wanted it to sound more convincing than the tone that was coming out.

Jaehyun giggled slightly and put his head down facing his hands. Almost in disbelief. You cocked your head and furrowed your brows, genuinely trying to follow the actions of your supervisor. “Ms. Y/N, your answer sounds so rehearsed, it’s almost like you’re playing this out to be the interview.” he says calmly after regaining his breath from the laughter. “You’re young, you’re single, what business would somebody like you want going out to the be the boss of a bunch of egotistical men? You’ll drain yourself by the time you’re 30.”

You furrow your lips into a tight line and try to suppress a sigh. He was right. These men don’t want to be bossed around by a woman like you. At least not in this setting.

Will you even be taken seriously? Will people really acknowledge you as a higher up? You’re as old as some of these men’s daughters. Would it be selfish to take this opportunity from another person who might actually need this money?

“I need the money Mr. Jeong.” you finally caved in. It sounded almost disappointing that you were admitting to such a thing.

Jaehyun’s eyes dropped as well as his smile. He looked down a bit awkwardly, almost like he said something offensive and realized the severity of the situation. A few moments pass, as we he inhales a breath before leaning in closer over the table.

“Excuse my ignorance Ms. Y/N, but everyday you come into the office looking like a model. It sounds a little cliche and inappropriate coming from your boss, but your documents tell me you’re single and live comfortably, your salary pay is above average, your hair is never out of place, you drive a 2024 Hyundai outside, if I didn’t know any better, I would say you’re doing perfectly fine.” It sounded like a lecture in all honesty.

He was right, you were doing amazing on your own, you can afford almost anything comfortably. You’re being greedy, at least that’s what you felt Jaehyun was portraying. You shook your head in acknowledgment of his words. “Yes sir, my mistake. I’ll withdrawal my application.” you caved in, too afraid to look him in the eyes. You slowly began to rise from the chair, noticing your vision began to get a little blurry from the tears threatening to fall.

“Ms. Y/N.” his voice came out sharp, but not harsh, as he also arisen from his chair. He looked at you with the same soft gaze as before, you blinked a few tears back and met his eyes. “Yes sir?”

“Do you have any plans tonight?”

You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. Why could he possibly need to know that? Your eyes told it all, but he still wanted to hear you.

“Uh. Well, no sir I’m not. May I ask why? Do you need me to stay after today?” you asked with the confused pitch in your voice. It almost came off as a bit rude some may argue, but with Jaehyun being your higher up, the idea of him seeing him past work hours is a rare as a blue moon. It’s understandable why your mind is racing accordingly.

“I want to see your apartment.” he said ever so bluntly. “I want to see how you live, I want to make sure the assumptions i’m dropping on you are correct.” he continues on, crossing his arms. Is he trying to intimidate you? Because if he is, it’s definitely working.

You cleared your throat once again and shook your head in approval. You stood straight up, raising your head higher and forcing a small smile, to distract him from your nervousness. “Oh. Well, I guess that’s okay. I’ll have to clean a bit, but I could see you for company tonight around maybe 8?” your voice was as convincing as a 5 year old who broke something and pretending to be oblivious.

“Great. It’s a date. See you tonight Ms. Y/N.” he smiled again finally since his laughing fit, of course his dimples on display for your eyes.

“Yeah, a date.” you blushed like an idiot, before collecting yourself, clacking your heels as you almost sped walk to his door. The sigh of relief that left you after closing his door was almost as loud for anyone passing to hear.

“Fuck.” you cursed to yourself.

Author’s Note:

Hi everyone!

I hope you enjoyed the preview for you this work that i’m creating! Please let me know if this is something you’re interested in, it’ll motivate me to produce it quicker and let me know what other fics you want to see! Thank you!

- Love, Mei!

[tetrakys]

A few thoughts on the Halloween event

The first event of New Gen was released today, and as usual there are some positives and negatives. I'll start with the negative and put everything under spoiler.

Negatives

The system in my opinion isn't well calibrated. I personally hate gatcha, years ago I swore to myself I would never play another gatcha game in my life. But alas most games have some form of gatcha embedded mechanic, and I know generally people are not as negative toward them as I am. However, even if I want to set my personal feelings aside and try to be completely objective, there are some issues.

I think it all boils down to: games should either have a luck component or a timing/difficulty component. At the moment the event relies both on luck (the gatcha and the minigame) and timing (it's too short). This means that while it's impossible for f2p players to complete the event in full, it's also extremely expensive for them (and everyone else) to catch up.

Side note: I don't think it's outrageous that f2p can't complete the event in full. If we look at other games it's basically the case everywhere (I'm thinking of Ikemen games especially, but also MLQC and other similar mobile games). Companies have to make money somehow so it makes sense that they incentivise people to invest in the game with additional rewards. The issue here is that by adding too many obstacles what is achieved isn't a desire to invest some money to keep playing, but only a feeling of frustration that puts people off completely.

I did the math, f2p players by entering the event every day will only be able to obtain around 10-12 items when the total is 25 (including clothes, room elements and moments with the crushes), which makes for only 40% of the event. The gap is too large. If it had been 70-80% instead, maybe some players would've felt encouraged to spend something on the event to complete it, but when you're missing more than half and would need around 650-750 gems the feeling is instead anger mixed to a resigned 'what's the point?'.

Of course there is the possibility of someone being extremely lucky and obtaining perfect scores at the minigame and also unlocking all the dates and items they really care about in those free rolls they are able to obtain. It is true that not everyone wants to maximise the event and unlock all clothes and scenes. In which case yes, the event would be very convenient to them. But 40% odds of obtaining exactly what you want are still too low in my opinion.

Hence why I think this would be solved by either making the minigame easier, or extending the event for a few extra days.

Positives

There are indeed some very positive aspects. The outfits and items are all really pretty in my opinion, plus I already mentioned being a fan of how the crushes look like in their Halloween attire.

But what I think is the main improvement of this event is the scenes spent with the crushes, they seem to be much longer than what we used to have in the old game. Plus personally I really liked these scenes, they were both funny, cute and a bit romantic/hot. I can tell it's an early days event because there's nothing overtly romantic going on, but it feels right for the pace of the game. Also, I think all illustrations are 10/10 chef's kiss (I wiiiish Jason's illu had been a bit darker, with a dangerous/spicy undertone, but alas that's just my personal taste).

Also, what really sold me on these scenes is that they are all saved in our library, and we can replay them in full whenever we want and even pick different choices. This gives my completionist soul so much relief, I've always hated that I couldn't test different choices in past events without spending most of the event currency.

So, in conclusion, there are both things that work and don't work in this event, I hope for Christmas and Valentine the high quality of art and scenes will be kept and the system will be reworked to make it less frustrating for everyone.

[tanobatcher]

skyline

commander fox x senator fem reader

summary: the coruscant guard regularly accompanies your diplomatic missions off-world to ensure your safety. secretly believing the chancellor is spying on you through the troopers he assigns as your escorts, you find yourself looking for answers after a long trip with commander fox. despite not trusting him, you can't help the pull of attraction that he might also struggle to control within himself.

warnings: technically none erm sorry if this feels i'm edging

a/n: lord i have been in the worst writing slump since getting sick during my winter break ugh and then uni starts up again and piles all this damn work on me but this lowkey got me back into things (i say as if i haven't been actively avoiding my fics on ao3 for over a month now oopsie...)

@auxxrat <3

˚☽˚.⋆

It's well past sunset by the time you return to Coruscant after a restlessly uncomfortable trip. Only, there was nothing wrong with the quality of the experience itself, especially considering your expensive starship of choice. You didn't feel any bumps and jolts throughout hyperspace, safe as ever under the protection of the very person who is responsible for your current dissatisfaction. Commander Fox might be the most boring man you've ever spoken to, but he also happens to pique your interest like no other. Perhaps it's the challenge in breaking through his stern obsession for his job that raises your attention toward anything he says, or the fact that he doesn't seem to care about yours. Politics is never a soldier's strength.

Obedience, on the other hand, has to be. You can tell he doesn't particularly enjoy being assigned to escort your off-world commitments, but he remains indifferent all the same. You're not bothered by this, though. Not strongly, at least. Because you'd also rather be left alone than have your work constantly observed through a keen pair of eyes that sees the Republic's affairs in every one of his soldiers. This group is formally known as the Coruscant Guard, or shock troopers, but they're more like pests to you. They'll hover like hawks or buzz around like flies if it means reporting your behavior and lifestyle to the Chancellor. A humble man, he once was.

Dangerous now, maybe. You can never say this aloud, but you believe it without realizing that some people are better at reading your mind than you anticipate. But it doesn't matter. Fox isn't just boring—he's also terrible at spying.

"Where are you going?" The commander asks as soon as he notices you've taken an abnormal route—not the one that usually leads back to your apartment.

This might be the first question he's asked you throughout your entire week-long trip. His lack of interest in your life isn't a shock at this point, but your chin instinctively lifts before you cast a sideways glance at him. He's clearly looking back at you, even though his face remains concealed under his helmet. The bright red is tacky.

"Home," you answer in an obvious tone.

"You're not going the right way."

"I'm surprised you noticed."

He's silent as you return to the right course, which takes a little longer than expected. Traffic is high at this time of the night, only prolonging the journey with your beloved company, but you feel that this day is almost over anyway.

"So...what?" He eventually brings up, not masking his irritation in the volume and intensity of his words, "You're testing me? Making sure I'm paying attention?"

A flare of warmth coalesces in your chest when you realize this is probably the most engaged he's been in a conversation with you this week. You're not embarrassed nor flushed, but the heat crawls lower as you reply, "I didn't realize that would offend you."

"Just get going. I'm late as it is," he snaps.

"Late to what?" You question, purposefully driving a taunting edge to your tone, "I thought you were all mine today."

His posture stiffens in his seat, which further proves your theory that riling him up is as easy as breathing. "I have a meeting."

"With...?" You press on.

"Not that's any of your business, but the Chancellor's expecting me."

Your blood runs cold at this mention, immediately chilling away all that you felt just mere seconds ago. You don't even realize that you've gone quiet for the rest of the drive back home, too busy thinking back to anything he could possibly report on. Of course, you already saw this coming, but hearing him admit this aloud only confirms every instance you had to look over your shoulder when he was in the room. Even though he hasn't disclosed what the meeting is for, your gut instincts are piling higher into a tangible truth that makes you wonder if he's truly your medium of safety. If any of them are.

But you don't want to appear intimidated, so you turn toward him when your ship docks comfortably in front of your tall apartment. He's already standing, sort of looming over you like the skyline outside. Your eyes flick down to his gloved hand, which is slightly outstretched as if offering its use in helping you out of your seat. A formality, of course. Nothing more. Slipping your fingers around his large palm, you raise your figure to his level and lean in close despite the distrust running down your spine. Neither of you has let go of the other, silent in sound but speaking with a questionable understanding. The pressure of your hand is light against his weight, squeezing just softly enough to provoke a sharp intake of breath underneath his helmet.

"Are you ready to go?" He suddenly asks in a tone devoid of its usual bite.

You drop your hand from his, only to reach for the base of his helmet. The surface is cold—a bit dusty from his time outside his usual post here on Coruscant. A fleeting touch, and then your arm falls back to your side because you know there's no chance he'd bare his face for you. There's also no rule that says he can't.

"Are you?" You retort, "Or are you worried that you didn't have enough time to spy on me?"

Everything about his demeanor screams exhaustion when he crosses his arms over his chest and leans forward just as you did before, almost meeting you halfway with little distance between your faces. You should feel exposed, especially from how your gown reveals your arms and shoulders before fitting around your form at the middle. You're hardly naked—you know what it truly means to be—but he's seen much more of you than the other way around. You know a lot less about him than you'd like. For someone who believes in bringing a level playing field to the galaxy, you're currently tipped on a scale where you feel powerless. It doesn't feel good.

"That's a bold accusation," is all he says.

Your eyes narrow as your lips smile. "And I have reason to believe it."

"Because you don't like me."

A bit caught off guard, you remember to keep your expression unreadable as you reply, "I don't trust you. There's a difference, Commander."

"I've only been doing my job," he reminds you, "Senator."

"A job assigned by who?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?"

You roll your eyes, shifting your expression into a glare that no doubt reaches past his helmet with the way his shoulders recoil a little. Maybe you intimidate him more than you know. Good.

"I'm hardly the threat you need to worry about," you tell him, "If you care about this Republic as much as I do."

He sounds wary when he says, "Worry isn't exactly the word I'd use to describe how I feel about you."

As simple as this is delivered, it reads like a vulnerability to your ears. You swallow hard, suddenly warm all over again. "How you feel? Or how the Chancellor feels?"

Not a rhetorical question this time, but it might as well be since he doesn't answer it. Instead, he takes your chin between his fingers as his thumb gingerly presses down on your skin. He's never touched you like this before. Never not waited for your permission first—for your hand to reach out in return. This moment is different, and it's almost apologetic. You don't know what words rest on the tip of his tongue—words that you won't hear because they're not for you. They're for the one person who holds your downfall in a tight fist he can release whenever he pleases or chooses. You've been walking a lonely path because of this, but you've never been alone. If it's not Fox watching you, it's always someone else.

"If you didn't get into so much trouble all the time, I wouldn't need to be here. If you stopped drawing so much attention to yourself."

The hot flush in your face becomes more scalding at his words, reminding you of the fine line between desire and rage. Both are so pure at heart. So easy to mistake for the other. Just like you nearly confuse the uncharacteristic softness in his tone for actual concern. From one moment to the next, you're already familiar with the lethal switch in his brain that distinguishes him from regular soldiers who will never possess the same level of competency as him. But is it truly competency? Or is it hunger? Satiated with the prestige of his proximity to the Chancellor, it's only obvious that Fox takes his job so seriously. Too seriously, sometimes.

"I don't need a lecture on how to do my job," you whisper harshly, "Especially not from someone like you."

His thumb presses harder as soon as the words leave your mouth, lingering in the air around you. It only grows more suffocating when he moves closer, but you let him. You feel his frontside just barely graze yours as his boot slides between your parted legs, disappearing under the wide plume of your gown. Such a big space in a big starship, and yet, you're inches apart with nowhere to go.

"Someone like me," he repeats, letting his hand around your chin trail lower so that it's slowly running down your neck.

Goosebumps raise across your arms at this ticklish but also fleeting sensation because his touch is barely there. Even though you feel it so closely, you also feel it at a distance. You wonder what it would really feel like, though. If he wasn't wearing his gloves. If he wasn't fully clothed. If his fingers are rough and scarred like him, or if they're smooth and unblemished like you. They pause at the base of your throat, dormant as if waiting for something more. Your breathing, though quiet, has shallowed out a bit from this contact. There's no doubt he can hear it. But he might not have to, for your eyes are heavy as they stare at him while trying to pry apart all that hides his truths from you.

I'd just like to see you. Just once.

His pointer finger draws a straight line down to the dip of your bodice, dangerously near your chest. "But you'd let me touch you. Like this."

"You wouldn't be the first."

He seems to laugh under his breath, clearly unfazed. "Neither would you."

Of course, you wouldn't. After all, he's in a position to pursue whatever kind of relationship he wants—especially in the heart of Coruscant, where one can choose between a brothel or a bar every night. The outcome is the same, nonetheless. You imagine this as he hooks his finger to tug you closer, sharp and abrupt in his movements. It's the same way he leads. Quick on his feet, never hesitating to call out an order when a situation emerges. Sometimes, you think about whether or not he'd display the same sense of urgency if your life was on the line. But his loyalty is to the Chancellor before the Republic. You remind yourself of this as you reach for his helmet, this time using both hands to pull it off. Patiently.

He's now holding your waist in a firm circle, squeezing roughly once his face comes into full view under the light. You're not sure why he feels the need to keep you in his hands like this. It's not like you'll run away if you see something that falls short of your standards. But you might if you see something you do like. Your breath catches, even though you're no stranger to this face. It's shared among millions of bodies that cross this galaxy in waves, ebbing and flowing like a mystery not yet uncovered. But all that's in front of you is Fox tonight. Just the one mystery you really care for.

"You look nervous," you tease softly, brushing a hand across his clean-shaven jaw, "Just relax."

It's his turn to fall silent as his eyes roam over yours, hazy with an easily recognizable fog of lust that tells you he's right where you want him. You can't help but feel surprised when some of his hair—wavier and wilder than you expected—falls over his forehead just slightly. His expression is almost pained when he looks at your lips, like he's holding onto the last of his lost pride. Knowing what he wants but can't bring himself to admit, you smile and lean forward so that you're now sharing the same breath. One more inch and you might not be breathing at all. Your eyes flutter while his completely close. Waiting.

"You won't tell the Chancellor about this, will you?" You murmur, amusing yourself with how easily you've toyed with him tonight.

His voice sounds strained when he answers, "Believe it or not, I haven't told him anything about you."

"Hm," you chuckle quietly, "You're right. I don't believe you."

You kiss the patch of skin just barely to the right of his mouth, not letting him take a breath and react. The dark red lipstick stain you leave behind stares you right in the face as you pull back, swiping some hair out of his eyes in a slow push that reveals more of his bewildered expression. He's breathing heavily, but his hands feel lighter around your waist now that you're slipping away from his grasp. Still not done with him, your thumb reaches forward and smudges the mark on his face ever so slightly. It's hard to deny that he looks handsome in this light—even more so with your kiss visibly written all over him. Unfortunately for him, it's also easy to keep this confession to yourself for as long as he whispers your affairs to the one ear you wish to cut off from this Republic.

"I appreciate your time," you tell him honestly, "I'll be sure to personally request your audience the next time I'm in need of an escort."

With that, you step away from him and turn around to exit your ship. Before you disappear from sight completely, though, you flash him one last smile over your shoulder.

"Be sure to give the Chancellor my best regards."

[waywardmillennial]

I'm really curious to see the reaction of the 'we want lower production content just like this' to puppet history season 7 which is the most high quality thing watcher produces and that show would really suffer if they put less into it. anyway not to start dishose again but thank you for pointing that out, reading the yt comments of 'we want production just like this' when Ryan is like 'yeah hauing all that equipment was insanely tiring and it made me stressed out and more scared' is like. oh so you really just want an imagined version of what you saw. anyway sorry to rant in your inbox i just am glad to see someone else point it out lol. (no need to answer if you don't want to btw)

NONNIE! <3 thank you for reading my tags and leaving this message!

honestly I'd already considered making a post about this a couple times because when I read through the comments for GFA on yt nothing makes me wish more that the platform had a 'block user' feature -_- I wish some people a very poor internet connection

it feels like so many people don't UNDERSTAND what Ryan was trying to do with GFA. he wasn't trying to return to his bfu roots (though he said making it more vlog style was something he had in mind, but he was also constrained by what he could film alone)

GFA was a personal challenge to himself after he's been trying to get a handle on his mental health for the past few years. Ryan wanted to go completely on his own to see if removing the crew would change anything and if he was mentally capable of doing all of it on his own, and that meant running camera and sound and everything else alone too

I won't spoil the debrief in case you didn't see it nonnie, but Ryan was really insistent that he do this show 100% on his own. I can't imagine knowing the physical and mental toll this took on him and then telling him "make all your shows like this"

and yeah, it makes me wonder on the general public's media comprehension because I know overall PH is their most popular series, and one of their most expensive and high quality too. maybe there's not much overlap of the two audiences?? idk I think it's also possible that people see PH as just Shane making some sock puppets and waving his hands around a cardboard theater - but it hasn't ever been that and the closest we had was s1 if anything (I'll stop myself going off on a PH crew tangent here, but there is SO MUCH that goes into making this show as good as it is)

I keep thinking back to the December Pod Watcher episode where they talked about how they're not going to focus on making "tv-caliber content" going forward (timestamp included but I'm paraphrasing Steven here, so watch that ep if you haven't) and that makes me sad because I've always liked and appreciated Watcher for making high quality content - for having well thought out series with nice sets, great camera work, phenomenal editing, and always making sure to give credit to the people who worked on their shows

Ryan worked as a grip for a while in Hollywood and probably had dreams of going further in the film industry but wound up going a different route working on bfu. I have to assume that starting Watcher must have felt like the opportunity to make a whole production company, to be able to emulate styles and storytelling of some of his favorite filmmakers. as someone who enjoys supporting independent creative endeavors like this (and had similar aspirations of my own) I guess I can see what Watcher wanted to be from the outset, and I wouldn't feel comfortable commenting publicly on any of their work what I think they "should" be making or trying to control their artistic vision

[trophy-girl]

Being High Maintenance Is a Lifestyle, Not an Insult

“She’s so high maintenance.”

For some reason, people love to use “high maintenance” as an insult. But let’s be honest having high standards isn’t a bad thing. It’s a sign that you value yourself, your time, and your energy. Being high maintenance doesn’t mean being entitled or demanding; it means you expect effort because you put effort into yourself.

The truth? Being high maintenance isn’t about making life harder for othersit’s about making life better for yourself.

🫧🍒High Maintenance Means Self-Respect💐

Being high maintenance is about knowing your worth and refusing to settle for less in any area of life whether it’s dating, friendships, or how you take care of yourself.

Example:

• if a guy asks you out but only makes last-minute plans or puts in zero effort, you say no instead of accepting it just to have company. You know you deserve someone who actually plans a nice date.

• If a friend only hits you up when they need something but never checks in on you, you distance yourself because you want real friendships, not one-sided ones.

Taking Care of Yourself Is a Priority 🛁🧖🏾‍♀️

Looking good and feeling good are important. Being high maintenance means you put effort into your appearance, health, and overall well-being.

Example:

• You have a skincare routine, keep your hair and nails done, and dress well not because you’re trying to impress anyone, but because it makes you feel confident and put-together.

• You prioritize your health, whether that’s working out, drinking water, or eating good food.

• You don’t settle for cheap, low-quality products just because they’re convenient. If you love luxury beauty items or spa treatments, you invest in them because they make you feel good.

Having High Standards in Dating and Friendships

A high-maintenance woman expects effort in her relationships. She doesn’t chase people or accept poor treatment.

Example: 🌸🫧

• If a guy isn’t putting in effort, texting consistently, or making plans, you don’t beg for his attention. You move on and attract someone who values you.

• You don’t entertain men who don’t have their lives together. You expect someone who is financially stable, emotionally mature, and treats you well.

• In friendships, you avoid people who gossip, drain your energy, or bring negativity. Instead, you surround yourself with like-minded women who also value self-care and success.

✨Investing in Yourself🥂

Being high maintenance isn’t just about looks it’s also about upgrading your life. You’re always working and improving yourself.

Example:🌻🌻

• You read books, take courses, or learn new skills to level up in life.

• You invest in experiences like luxury travel, networking events, or things that bring you joy.

• You don’t stay stuck in bad situations. If a job isn’t paying enough or a relationship isn’t making you happy, you move on and find something better.

The Difference Between High Maintenance and Entitlement

Some people confuse being high maintenance with being spoiled, but they’re not the same.

• Entitlement means expecting things without putting in effort.

• Being high maintenance means setting high standards and making sure you meet them either by working for it yourself or choosing people who align with that lifestyle.

🛍️🥂🛍️🥂🛍️🥂🛍️🥂🛍️🥂🛍️🥂🛍️🥂🛍️🥂

Example:

• An entitled woman expects men to buy her expensive gifts without bringing anything to the table.

• A high-maintenance woman attracts men who want to spoil her because she carries herself with confidence, class, and beauty.

❤️Attracting the Right People 💐

When you set high standards, you naturally attract better people into your life.

Example:

• The men you date will be the ones who enjoy taking you on nice dates, treating you well, and making an effort because they recognize your value.

• Your friendships will be with women who also take care of themselves, support your goals, and match your energy.

• You’ll get better opportunities in work and life because you present yourself as someone who deserves the best.

Final Thoughts: Own Your High-Maintenance Energy 💕

The right people will appreciate your standards, not complain about them.

A high-maintenance woman

✨ Takes care of herself

✨ Has high expectations in relationships

✨ Invests in her personal growth

✨ Refuses to accept anything less than what she deserves

[rvbrebooted]

I think it's time I posted our business plan on here. But first I want to say that my LLC is Rancher Toads

Warner Brothers owns the Red vs Blue IP which is a big hurdle, but someone bigger than them owns HALO. Microsoft and Halo Studios (formerly 343 Industries). I bet Halo Studios is looking for a HALO show that works. Red vs Blue can be that show. It has over a decade of success, started a new form of animation, is an established IP, and has a massive fan base wanting more. But first we need to open a path with Microsoft and Halo Studios. However, we will not rely on Microsoft to be more than a sponsor and partner. Having a bigger parent company owning our smaller studio is too risky. My plan is:

Depending on how much Warner Media will be selling the rights for, we may need Microsoft to help get the rights back from Warner Media, which will cost them a pretty penny. But it will be a wise investment as they will get product placement, a percentage of profit, free advertisement for HALO, a successful HALO based show, and a good PR campaign about supporting creatives. Another financial bonus for them may be that when big companies take on some debt, it helps them pay even less in taxes. Which will save them money.

Meanwhile, to pay for operation costs and possibly even getting the rights back, we will do a Kickstarter. Death Battle got funded within a day of their campaign. They set their goal as $75,000 (USD), and by the end of it they made $740,000 (USD)! I have no doubt that Red vs Blue can reach its goal and continue operations. Reward items and future merchandise is a strong suit for my company, Rancher Toads.

Rancher Toads was originally founded when things regarding Rooster Teeth and making animated shows started to change. We want to make the animations that we originally would have pitched to Rooster Teeth. But- Animation is a labor intensive art form, and expensive. This is why we call our business model a reverse hasbro- We sell toys to make animation. (They infamously are known for “Make animation to sell toys”.) Our in house merch includes:

Mod Mods

Short for “Modification Models”, these figurines are posable, interchangeable, and extremely customizable. We want to do Red vs Blue and Halo batches, while providing custom Halo armor options so fans can make their own personal armor. Then with the interchangeable aspect, fans can also make their face claims of who is under the helmet.

Sewed’s Boutique

Sewed’s Boutique is more for fabric based fashion, such as bags, cosplay parts, and the like. A few concepts we have worked on that combine Red vs Blue and Sewed’s Boutique include: An Agent Washington helmet purse that is a 2D front facing image of Wash’s helmet. A Kaikaina “Sister” Grif Cheerleader bag. A Felix helmet purse that is a 2D front facing image of his helmet.

Corrode’s Armory

Corrode’s Armory is an offshoot of Sewed’s Boutique, where we sell more armor and weapon based merchandise. We would love to produce an official HALO armor line. Reasonably, it will start with HALO helmets. The plan is to have them made from two (2) sturdy, yet thin, resin molds. One for the helmet, and one for the visor.

I bring up using resin as I plan to use high quality alternatives to plastic when it comes to armor and figurines. Ridding plastic in all fabrics will be an uphill battle later to come.

Merchandise is not the only thing we want to be involved in when it comes to hopefully continuing Red vs Blue. We want to be involved in the writing. We see Red vs Blue having a canon map that looks like a subway map, or the Hyrule timeline. Our contribution to this messy, but organized, canon map is what we like to call- Red vs Blue ReBooted.

This will take place after Wash was shot, and instead of going on an adventure, the Reds, Blues, and Carolina stay beside Wash as he recovers on Chorus. In a way, it echoes the ending of Season 17, while leaving the canon of Seasons 16 and 17 in the air. We have much more planned out but legally, this proposal will not cover the majority of storyline ideas. But we will say we do have plans for both Meta Tucker and Zero to have proper stories.

We also want Miles Luna to have his chance to make a Mercs spin off series. While Luna has adopted an idea for Felix and Siris from one of our members, we want/plan Miles Luna to have majority creative control on his series.

Shisno Tales, a Red vs Blue anthology. This would be a perfect spot for officially making the Red vs Blue plays Among Us episode. We and our Amphibian Allies have a lot of episode ideas written down and even completed scripts. Shisno Tales will include different animators and forms of animation.

Project Freelancer Remembered. A spin off of seeing Project Freelancer’s early days and how close the Freelancers were before the mind games started.

Blue vs Pink is my own little talking in a box canyon idea. I plan to keep it in Shisno Tales. As there are a lot of show ideas being pitched here. It deals more with gender and sexuality. As Pink Team represents femininity, and Blue Team represents masculinity.

Locus Redemption. A space western. Not in the way that Firefly was, but Locus traveling around the universe trying to make things right after Chorus. A show the reds and blues will make cameos in. I see this as a true M rated show. One thing I want to put in this show is to highlight even more corruption of the UNSC. Specifically, where Locus is out in little known Outposts, that the UNSC is dead serious about occupying, even with great harm to the people originally there.

Circling back to the Mod Mods, the dream is to have these customizable figurines be building blocks for Mod Mod Media. Which would include a life simulator game, a more contained scenario game, and animated crossovers. We imagine most of the crossovers would be like Cartoon Network City bumpers from the 2000’s. But we dream even bigger to make Mod Mod Movies. Especially a Red vs Blue & RWBY crossover, as there should be one. But also to show while owned by different companies, they will always be sister shows. Then of course ones with our own original IPs, I see these as a love letter.

Nothing Rancher Toads plans to do is a cash grab. Bringing back IPs and expanding them is an act of creative love. We are not ready for goodbye, and neither should the creatives who put so much love into it. So please, take us seriously and let us work together. Thank you.