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#I have ordered one sticker package six times
boxturret · 2 years
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Toa Canister reproduction
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In the same vein as the Mask Pack reproduction, I decided to next tackle the Toa Canister, this was much more complex as there was six of them. Luckily, dating back from 2001, I had all six canisters, and through a recent buying spree from me trying to complete my 2001 collection I had a Kopaka canister from Europe. This is what I based my recreation on, as it was cleaner and had a more interesting layout, though unfortunately I had to use the NA barcodes, as try as I might I couldn't find any photographs of the backs of the canisters online[Update: I now have the EU barcodes and everything has been updated accordingly].
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The process was composed of 3 main elements:
Inner Sticker
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One thing that massively complicated the process was that the canisters were all really unique to the Toa, seemingly simple things like the order of the Toa on the sticker were different for each of them.
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The instructions were more clear cut, but I had to scan all the instruction sheets used myself, as the ones online were super low quality. Also colour matching the different canister images was a pain, all the versions I could find online had wildly different hues.
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The masks I was able to get away with using some scans I took from the instruction booklets.
Buying a Kopaka that came with the canister that still had the tabs attached and had a sheath loose enough to slide off was so useful, I wouldn't have been able to recreate everything as easily without it.
Outer Sheath
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This was actually much more straight forward, the hardest part was making all the Toa specific elements. There are 7 parts of the layout that need to be switched out per Toa, 3 of which I had to make by hand. The parts layout was initially scanned from the instructions, but they proved to be much to low quality, so I recreated them, since I happen to have access to a large collection of 01 era Bionicle part 3d models, AND SO DO YOU!
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It was fun to recreate them, especially the weird things like the extra ball on Pohatu or the weird green axels on Lewa.
The trickiest part was the shot of them sticking out of the canister, since the render required the canister itself. I had to get the model done and have everything set up for at least the front of the label to do these, then go back and finish the rest.
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The bar codes also took some working out, each one is unique and should, if I did it right, be actual bar codes. I spent so much effort on getting them right.
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Though unfortunately, this is wrong, as it's the NA version of the code, not the EU. If anyone has a full collection of the EU canisters and would be willing to photograph them or simply write down the bar code and item numbers I would be super happy[Update: I now have the EU barcodes and everything has been updated accordingly].
At the end, doing all the different images I needed became quite excruciating, as the files were so large that saving and exporting took minutes. I was originally planning on doing 12 layouts, 6 for the cleaner EU version, and 6 for the NA version, but the NA one really just cuts out the parts layout bubble, shifts everything around, and adds a ton of extra text, so I didn't really want to. You also miss out on this awesome arrow.
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Here's a quick comparison between the regional variants
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The Canister Mesh
A bit easier than the 2d parts, since I just had to do it once.
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The lid was particularly hard, as the face part wasn't really built to be used in this way, hollowing it out for the top and then doing the inside was very time consuming.
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The rest went pretty smoothly as I had already had some practice with doing the jar for the parts pack.
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The mesh was split in to 4 parts, the canister body, the lid, the inner sticker, which had a variation with separated tabs, and the outer sheath. All decorated parts share one texture, but I made a pale version for the insides, even though no one will ever see it.
It was a fun project, I learned so many things about layer masks, and I hope to be able to do more packaging reproductions in the future, I have a couple Matoran bags and a Turaga box for this purpose.
I've uploaded the high res labels and the 3d rendered assets I made for this to Flickr.
As I was writing this a kind person on twitter gave me the EU bar codes, so I'm not done yet!
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musiconanironingboard · 2 months
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20 January 2024: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello Super Deluxe Edition, various artists. (2023 Universal expanded reissue of 1998 Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach Mercury release Painted from Memory)
For nearly twenty years, beginning when I was a really young kid and discovered there was music other than The Beatles, Elvis Costello was my favorite artist. This began to wane in the mid-'90s. I remember hearing his 1996 album All This Useless Beauty and it not wowing me, but it was 1998's Painted from Memory where the fissures really began to crack for me. It was an album co-credited to Burt Bacharach, and all songs were co-writes between the two musicians. At 25, I had no interest in Bacharach's music; I found it saccharine and the opposite of what I liked about Costello. I'd know for eons that Costello had been covering Bacharach as far back as 1977; the Live Stiffs compilation I bought as a lad featured Costello and the Attractions going through a sleepy version of "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself," for instance. I bought Painted from Memory and played it exactly once (I have kept track of all my listening since 1993). Over the next four years I tried two more times to play it, and didn't get all the way through either time. It wasn't until 2004 and I was dating a Costello fan that I listened to the album in earnest. It never did anything for me. The album got its first vinyl release in 2017 by the Mobile Fidelity label; I bought that as well, and by that point I could find some value in the album but it was never going to be a favorite of mine.
Last year the album got the super-deluxe treatment. I balked at buying any versions of the reissue, including the 2-CD edition that included a disc of Bacharach & Costello compositions sung by other artists, taken from a planned but never realized stage musical based on Painted from Memory, called Taken from Life and including additional Bacharach/Costello compositions not on the original album. I blew that off completely and decided this would be a rare Costello item I just wouldn't chase. Sometime around Thanksgiving, I was browsing at my neighborhood record store and Erin, one of the staffers, decided to play the reissue and I got to hear some of the material sung by other people. I was surprised by how much I liked it. I knew there were a couple of reasonably priced copies of the new 2-LP set in the bins there, and I wound up buying one. I hadn't done any of my homework, so I didn't realize on the new LP reissue the album proper was spread across three discs with side four being just a sampling of the guest-vocalist material. Once I got it home I was irritated to learn that while the LP had six tracks of this material the CD edition featured sixteen. Now my hastily bought LP felt even more redundant than it already did, considering that I've got the 2017 Mobile Fidelity vinyl (which is just a direct reproduction of the original album with no bonus material). Bah!
I tried to forget about this, knowing it would be years before I even get to the point in my stack where I'll need to be playing it. The holidays came and went, and in January I wound up with a store credit at everyone's most hated online retailer; I don't even know how I found it, but somehow I discovered that the "Super Deluxe Edition" of The Songs of Bacharach and Costello, with 2 LPs (the same ones I'd just bought at my local shop) and 4 CDs, was marked down nearly 70%. I'd never have paid full price for the set, but armed with my store credit that matched the sale price almost exactly it was a no-brainer to order this box.
Above are the front cover (with embossed gold lettering), hype sticker explaining the contents, back cover with credit insert in place (it came packaged with it there under the shrinkwrap), and then the back cover after unwrapping the set.
Below is one shot of the interior of the opened package. You may be able to see a notch on the top left panel revealing the top of a booklet; one of the LPs is also housed in that pocket. More on that later.
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That right-hand panel in the photo above is actually a "page" that can be flipped, and when you do so you now see this:
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On the left are slots housing the four CDs, and on the right is another pocket with yet another booklet and the second LP.
Below is a picture of one of the booklets. They both look like this on the front, a reproduction of the set's cover art but sans the gold-leaf effect on the lettering.
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Next is the back of the first booklet.
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Now we see the back of the second booklet. (It was a bit of a missed opportunity to not have different photos on the front of the two booklets.)
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Here is a close-up of one of the discs. They all use this same design, with each disc including its individual title (Painted from Memory, Taken from Life, etc.).
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Here is a view of one of the LP labels, in its white sleeve. All four labels use this same design.
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That's it for visuals of the 2023 box. Now let's look at the 2017 Mobile Fidelity vinyl issue. Below is the front cover.
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Next, the back cover.
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Here is the 2017 edition's opened gatefold.
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And here is side one's label.
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Last, let's look at the original 1998 CD edition. Below is the front cover (removed from the jewel case).
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Here is the opened case. You can see how these visuals have been repeated across the various editions.
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Here is the back cover.
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Last, I want to show this. The black-and-red silhouette design used for the CD and LP labels of the 1998 and 2023 editions always remind me of the label design from the Japanese edition of Costello's 1981 album Trust. Below is a photo of my copy of that item. I do wonder if there is any conscious continuity at work here, or if it's a coincidence that even Costello (or his art designers) wouldn't think of.
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amstrup64lindsay · 2 years
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hermes pochette kelly 10
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taltostrinkets · 3 years
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SHOP UPDATE! ✨May 2021✨
Finally we have a new shop update, the first in many months!! Though the shop had been seemingly quiet, I have been working very hard, and I thought it would be really fun to take you guys on a little tour and present what I’ve got to show for myself.
If you like what you see and it makes you nosy what else I’ve got in the works, you can come visit my Patreon, where I’m much more active and I frequently post about my WIPs. 💗 Reblogs are extremely helpful and much appreciated!
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1. I’m so proud of how the holo stickers turned out!!!!! My hope is that they will be the first pair of many and over time we can build up a small holographic witchy sticker pack or something. (Also, if you like these and you are on Trickster or above tier on Patreon, don't even worry about ordering because they will be a part of your packet.)
2. This is technically not new, but in practice a separate listing, so here it is. I thought it would be awesome to offer all of the stickers in one package at the same time. I would love to see that from other artists, as a big sticker collector. It spares a lot of shipping, and I also set the price a lot cheaper than they would be separately.
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3-4. At one point I ordered a ton of metal charms with a spooky, witchy vibe, and I had some ideas for enormous dangle earrings, two of which have come to life so far. They will be called Ritual Sacrifice and Emotion Magic. These teardrop shaped beads are like an elixir of life to me right now, they look so good. They will probably appear on and around my earrings quite a lot.
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5. I made a matching ring for the Wisdom Teeth jewelry set. Two little teefs, one for each of the two color variants. I love the grotesque mixing of the delicate filigree with the mildly spooky tooth imagery and they fit the necklace so well. The rings are a permanent part of the set now, but I decided to keep the earrings optional, in the case that someone would really like this set but has no use for the earrings in particular.
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While on the topic of metal charms, I added the newcomers that arrived to the "Choose your own adventure" pile as well. If you haven't heard yet, this is a listing where you can order simple (and inexpensive) earrings with the charms that I have in my stock. The catch of it all is that the two halves not only CAN be different, but I strongly encourage it actually.  The buyers can select their choices from annotated photos. I retook these photos from scratch, because I thought the colorful background was a bit distracting, but I have second thoughts about it to be honest, cause the color looked more... happy, I guess? Maybe I will retcon this change when I have to retake the photos again. Or maybe I should stop hoarding charm packets? Nah, it's the kids that are wrong.
If you are reading this on Patreon, you likely know everything about this from Discord already, but for those who are not in there (yet!!!!!! The Bagel Gang is STILL hiring!!!!!!!) since my last shop update about half a year ago, I have been mastering the art of the blade. And by blade I mean the sharp ass edge of the resin that I have yet to cut my finger on while I'm sanding it but I just know some day it's gonna happen... ANYWAY. Long story short, I have been into resin pouring big time recently!
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7-8. These glitter flakes look extremely luminous and almost like opal. I thought the lightning and this big ass eye molds would make for a great, boisterous, queer, faux 80s vibe, so that's where I started. When I bought the eye mold, I imagined it to be only about 2/3 of the size in every direction, so I was a bit surprised they turned out so huge but I ain't no coward! I actually wanted to make more colors than just the transparent or blue... but for starters I thought two would be enough. If someone is interested, you absolutely CAN request pretty much any color though, and I'll make it if I have it.
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9. I'm absolutely in love with this ouija mold. There are six different designs on it, and I will sell four of them, for now (#5 is still in progress and #6 was more like a test piece that didn't turn out quite right, better luck next time ig). But if people like these, I will make more, maybe even glittery ones and stuff. You may find it weird that the different options will be named after random numbers, but they are actually the number of the pigment that I used, and I thought this would help me remember just in case someone would request me to remake a particular color. I have so many pigments yall. I don't even want to talk about it. We all have to get our serotonin from somewhere.
10. Deep in my heart, I hope that these earrings will be the star of the show. These molds came in a bigger pack but I thought they would look cute and kind of whimsical together as a pair of asymmetrical earrings. I think they are intended as pendants originally but if you are not wearing an entire pendant in your ear, are you even living?!
At the time the photos were taken, I only intended to sell these as earrings but my Patreon peeps said they would be interested in pendants as well so that is now an option.
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11.This earring was the last thing I finished for this month’s update - in the vein of the witchy metal earrings, but there main centerpieces are the silver bezels filled with transluscent-iridescent, brilliant resin.
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12. These are the pendants from the last crafting video!!! They were all done in one sitting. I just kinda improvised the pattern as I went, it's just like doodling, just with a 230C hot rod that could burn off your finger any minute. Which is exactly my idea of relaxing. But jokes aside, I hope people will like these too, because making these is really chill and meditative for me, and no don't worry there were no fingers or szintas harmed in the making of these pendants!
13. And lastly... just a simple, fun little extra. Electroplated quartz pieces that I wrapped with wire quite lightly, just the natural, raw beauty of it on display and everything. Just like the moon and star earrings, they will be available as necklaces as well. I like these a lot, in fact the pieces that you see on the pictures I decided to keep for myself but don't worry, if you wanna order, you will get something very similar. It's like goblincore, but add a little 80s in there. Brilliant. Quite literally since the electroplating makes them INCREDIBLY shiny.
That will be it for this month. There will not be a shop update every month (rather one every 2-3 months most likely) but I will be damned if I don’t come up with something awesome for you to wear for PRIDE MONTH of all times of the year - that would be an absolute dishonor! So see you very soon... 👁️‍🗨️✨
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sleephyjhs · 4 years
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You Hug Them when in Distress (REACTION)
all members are included under the ‘keep reading’ link
m.list | requested
tw: mentions of emotional distress
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KSJ
You stormed into Seokjin’s apartment, your bag in hand ready to throw onto the couch. He’d allowed you to use his place to study for your university exams since libraries and classrooms were packed. The isolated work space had allowed you to complete what you thought would be good revision, but your first exam was nothing but disaster.
“How did it go?” He asked, coming out from the wall that separated the dining room. You grunted in frustration, chucking your bag at the large sofa cushions, “Oh dear. I take it not too well?”
Seokjin was your best friend, you weren’t afraid to cry around him. Scorching tears slivered down your cheeks while you whimpered in all the different emotions you could think of. He sat beside you, reaching out to rub your back as you curled into your knees, “I’ve failed, I know I have!”
“Listen-“ He began. Before you allowed him to continue, you raised your head and buried it into his shoulders. Your arms reached around his frame as you cried harder into his shirt. Seokjin paused in his upcoming anecdote and shifted his hands to attempt and comfort you, “Listen, this was only the first of.. seven? You have six more chances to show them how amazing you really are, yeah?”
The congested sniffles that accompanied tears were upcoming, “I hope you’re right.” Even his presence was relief enough. He tightened his hold around your shaking body and began to slowly rock you. It went without saying that Seokjin was one of your most trusted friends, and above that, a good shoulder to cry on.
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MYG
Constant alert sounds from your phone easily caught Yoongi’s attention. You were never this popular. The idea of muting your ex hadn’t even crossed your mind; instead you allowed yourself to read the abusive messages.
The spiteful comments that continued to roll across the top of your phone became like daggers. Once upon a time, such remarks wouldn’t have affected you, but even you had your thresholds. Amidst the messages, your long-hidden tears began to well at the brims of your eyelids and soon enough, they had fallen.
“Come on, what’s going on?” Yoongi asked, waddling over to your spot on the couch. He had been the person who’d helped you out of a harsh breakup, you were relieved to be in his presence, “Is it him?”
You handed over your phone to Yoongi who resumed to flick through the tens of messages. While he held your phone, you rested your head on his shoulder and proceeded to embrace him. Yoongi had never been the biggest on surprise skinship, but he’d never turn you away, “He’s just being annoying, that’s all.” You insisted through weighted sniffs.
Using his spare arm, Yoongi reached around to grip your shoulder affirmingly, “I’ll take care of it. You don’t need to worry, alright?”
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JHS
A few months ago, at the end of spring, you’d been unfortunate enough to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Never did you think that it could happen to you, but it did. When on the highway, another driver had misjudged the gap between you and another truck, resulting in your car being pushed over another lane and you sustaining a couple of minor injuries.
It wasn’t serious, you’d won your claim and insurance had covered the damage to your car. But in the few seconds that it took to harm your car, the entirety of your life had flashed before you. Sometimes, when left to overthink, the initial panic of the incident returns and you can’t help but become upset.
Hoseok looked over to your place at the dining table where you continuously picked at your nails. It was only a nervous habit, but one that you made obvious enough for concern, “Overthinking?” He asked, carrying a bowl through to the kitchen.
You stared into space to process his simple question. Hoseok turned his back to begin cleaning the used dishes, and as he did, you began to pace over to him, “Was it my fault? The accident?” Trembling vocal chords made your distress sound more apparent, and your building panic earned a empathetic sigh from Hoseok.
Before he had the chance to answer, you wrapped your arms around his stomach and laid against his back. He froze in place, clearly started by your sudden gesture. Nevertheless, he welcomed it, “Not at all. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that’s all.”
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KNJ
It had been apparent to you for months that your workplace wasn’t stable enough to keep operating, and that sooner or later you’d have to find a new job. A new job, with pay as good or even better than before, would be near impossible to find. Especially with your limited schedule and infinite amount of students searching for workplaces, you were prepared to give up before you’d even begun.
Time was the single security you had in your situation, but after losing your job a few days ago, the only thing burdened in your mind was stress. To try and distract yourself for a few hours at the least, you’d invited your best friend, Namjoon, to a near café to catch up. You spoke almost everyday on the phone, but you’d failed to mention the loss of your income in fear of breaking down.
He approached the far table you waited at enthusiastically, “Hey!” His coat was already sling down his arms and over the back of his chair. Instead of returning his verbal greeting, you raised from you chair and hugged him instead. It was a rarity for you, but it felt right, “This is sudden? What’s up?”
You retracted from his embrace shortly. Having known Namjoon for as long as you had, you were aware his advice and willingness to help you in any situation were simply invaluable, “Could you help me with a few things? I desperately need it.
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PJM
Moving to Seoul to study was easily the biggest decision you’d made so far in your life and by far the best. You’d met so many incredible people that you never would have met by staying in Busan, but of course, you couldn’t help but miss home.
Your homesickness became worse around your birthday. Not being able to celebrate with your family and old friends was the worst part of it all. Your current friends were more than capable of throwing you the perfect party, but it still wasn’t complete.
After the move, Jimin had quickly grown to become your best friend. As he was also from Busan, he was able to listen to you rambling about every aspect of childhood you missed and understand your longing for home. A couple of days following your birthday, Jimin visited you apartment just to spend time with you on your day off, and following a conversation relating to your birthplace the familiar feeling of homesickness had returned.
Emerging from the laundry room, you found Jimin stood in the kitchen drinking from a mug oblivious to your whereabouts. Without the time to think of words, you hugged him gently from behind, careful not to spill any beverage, “Everything okay back there?”
“Homesick, nothing much.”
“Tell you what,” Jimin started, turning around and using his spare hand to softly pat your back, “when there’s time in our schedules, we’ll go to Busan together. I miss it too.”
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KTH
Since you were a teenager, you knew that your dream job was to work in childcare. As the youngest in your family, you’d never been able to watch somebody grow up in front of you, and so the opportunity was appealing. Working in a preschool was everything you wanted in a job, but of course, it came with it’s stresses.
Taehyung, one of your closest friends, was staying with you for a couple days and was always back at your apartment by the time you were home. You pushed the front door open, quick to dump your shoulder bag on the sofa and kick your shoes to the side of the corridor, “How was your day?” He asked, turning to look away from his phone as he sat cross-legged across the room.
There were a million different ways to describe your lacklustre day and yet none of them were available to you. Instead, you heaved a sigh and walked over to lay next to him. Taehyung welcomed your head in his lap as he became more aware of your exhaustion, “It’s harder than you think, working with kids. They’re amazing but constant headaches and bickering.. it’s tiring after so long.”
“No, I can imagine.” He assured you, twirling a strand of your hair between his fingers, “How does tea sound? Or coffee? Vodka?”
You stifled a laugh at his somewhat successful attempt to make you smile, “Camomile sounds great, Tae.”
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JJK
Selling prints of your artwork was a business you never imagined taking off, but a fair share of your income was earned from people enjoying what you made. Nothing made you happier than to see people praise and appreciate what you loved to do, and so it was just an added bonus that you could make money from it.
All orders you received were packaged in your own front room. Stacks of drawers filled with stickers, envelopes, cards and products framed the wall of your study. As you were preparing to fill out a surge of overnight orders, your doorbell sounded. Of course, it was your best friend.
Jungkook didn’t often make surprise visits, but they were always welcome when they took place. For once, you couldn’t even fake a smile to greet him; the stress of your task was already getting to you and you hadn’t even started, “Come see what I’m doing.”
You led him through to the room where you’d only laid out the tens of coloured envelopes you were ready to use. His dropped jaw and widened doe eyes demonstrated the same level of shock you felt. Sighing in disbelief of your task, you buried your face into his chest, “I didn’t think it would ever get this big.”
After evaluating the situation before him and considering the amount of time he had, Jungkook proposed an offer to you that was impossible to deny, “If you teach me how, I’ll help you. It looks like fun, really!”
You rolled your eyes at his constant enthusiasm, of course still glad he had it, “You won’t be saying that in 10 minutes time, I promise.”
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appears · 3 years
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20th Anniversary
Ayumi Hamasaki: evolution (2001.01.31)
evolution is where it all started. It is the very first Ayumi Hamasaki CD I ever bought, way back in the early 2000s at the Virgin Megastore in downtown Chicago. Till that point, I had only cursory background information and a few RealAudio samples, but had never bought any albums (I had ordered a few CDs off of the Internet, but they hadn’t arrived in the mail yet). After bee-lining straight for the Import section on the lower level like I always did, and flipping through every single CD, beginning with A all the way down to Z, I picked out a few CDs that looked promising. I then had to whittle it down to one, because that's all that I could afford with the money I had saved up over time. I remember there being a few other Ayu CDs, namely the ayu-mi-x II version US+EU and version JPN CDs, but they were about $25 apiece. I think they might have had Duty, as well. I eventually bought two of those three from the store on later trips, but evolution just made sense as the first: it had 10 songs and was only $13. Sold! I remember opening the CD very, very carefully, making sure to save the original plastic it came in, and popping the CD into my Discman, where I proceeded to listen to it for the rest of the day while walking around the city and on the train ride home. For me, those first few notes of "evolution" never cease to take me back to that day in my life.
"evolution" was released at the peak of Ayumi Hamasaki's career in January 2001, debuting first at an annual COUNTDOWN LIVE concert to commemorate the new millennium. Though only the second song she had ever composed herself (aside from lyrics, and credited, as always, under the pseudonym CREA), it already had all of the classic elements of her style: a soft, slow ballad-like opening, followed by the introduction of faster and heavier elements, that resounded in layers of drums, guitar, distortion, and fuzzy vocal effects. I didn't really like the whole song right away: I loved the intro, and wished it was just as gentle and slow as it suggested, but over time, the time you had back before so much music was freely available at a click and you could skip to the next thing as soon as you felt bored after three seconds, and all you had was radio and your CDs which you practically learned to love through re-play because you wouldn't be able to afford another one for another month, it quickly became one of my go-tos, a song that I blasted often and learned all of the lightning-fast lyrics to. But I did like most of the remixes: all of them are in club and house styles, with many of the usual and now-legendary names like DJ Remo-con, Izumi "D.M.X" Miyazaki, and RAM RIDER contributing their takes on the title track, and Laugh & Peace and Seiki Sato adding two remixes for "End of the World" and "SURREAL" respectively. One of the advantages to having six remixes of the same song on one disc was that it made you intimately familiar with the vocal track -- this is one Ayumi song that I know from front to back, upside down and sideways, and probably backwards, too.
On the other hand, it can get a bit tedious as well, and the limits of using the same vocal track of a rock song to front upbeat club tracks doesn't always translate so well -- what a producer did with the vocals could really help him or her stand out with how skillfully they managed to make it work. To be fair, I liked dance music a lot around the time I bought these, so I probably wasn't the best person to ask about a fair assessment. Twenty years removed, these songs have become so entangled in my DNA that there is no way I can judge them in any objective way.
I purchased this CD twenty years ago, on April 21, 2001, and still have it in the original packaging, complete with hype sticker and the giant, nostalgic Virgin Import sticker. It comes in a standard maxi-single case with no paper backing, a foldout sheet with lyrics and song credits, and an OBI. This single was later released on two different 12" vinyl records. The Japanese version with the same image on the picture sleeve, only included three songs: the title track, the "Oriental Hot SPA" mix, and the "Razor's Main Mix" version, the latter which is not on the CD maxi-single. An overseas American version came in a blank, black record sleeve and included two tracks: “Razor's Club Mix” and “Razor's Dub” mix. I own both of these, and as far as I know, the Razor remixes were exclusive to these vinyl versions, though many more remixes of "evolution" would follow on singles and albums for many years after this single was released. This single, along with LOVEppears, which showed up a week later, prompted me to continue buying more Ayumi CDs, helping to spawn one of my longest and most loyal love affairs with an artist and genre to date. That makes this single, and this particular copy of it, absolutely priceless.
For more on the song, please check out this retrospective I wrote back in 2015.
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foreficfandom · 4 years
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Mystic Messenger - Their Favorite Gift From MC
-- Zen: Customized Bracelet --
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Zen’s sort of an excessive person so he’s almost always the one giving you gifts. He doesn’t want for much and the stuff he does - like skincare products - you used to buy for him but he eventually convinced you to buy it also for yourself so you could do sheet masks together.
When you do buy gifts for him, it can be a bit difficult. His fans send him a bunch of stuff all the time, like baked goods, or fanart, or neckties. He, of course, is a lot happier when you decide to hand him something, but it’s almost never something he’s ever gotten before.
You have to outsource. So you order a custom-stamped leather bracelet from an indie crafter, something he can wear while rehearsing without worrying about it falling off. On the outside, you have ‘I love you’, and on the inside ‘Zen x MC’. 
You give it to him for Valentine’s, his favorite holiday. Zen dedicates the entire day to you and him, and pushes aside the many packages from his fans for later. 
You hand him a little box, and he opens it to gasp dramatically at the bracelet, immediately putting it on and exploring the texture of the leather. The lightly-colored tan matches his complexion perfectly.
First, a kiss for you, then its 904709 selfies with him proudly modeling his gift. It goes on his social media to a slight ruckus, because Zen’s never shown off any gifts he’s gotten before. 
“My love is so thoughtful!!! Such a beautiful bracelet <3333″
Your name isn’t on the outside to maintain privacy, which proves to be a good idea since that picture is circulated like crazy to mixed reactions.
Zen doesn’t care, this is by far the best gift he’s ever gotten. He hugs you tightly and promises to wear it always.
-- Yoosung: Vinyl Laptop Stickers --
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You like to buy knick-knacks for each other on occasion. Yoosung’s wallet isn’t packing so he can only get you stuff once and a while, and you return the favor with other little things.
And Yoosung is also kinda already surrounded by little trinkets and other stuff he’s collected on his own. Little figurines and toys from vending machines, plastic reward favors from convenience stores, character-themed pens and mugs and phone charms. 
It can get a little cluttered. His backpack alone is heavily decorated with pinback buttons and enamel pins, and you know he’s home just by the jingling of the many charms hanging off the zippers.
He’s also of a romantic and ‘cute’ mind, so when you give him practical gifts of a headset holder for his gaming desktop, he’s pleased but ... he prefers it when your gifts aren’t quite so banal.
You eventually do some deep surfing for his upcoming birthday, and find this adorable pack of laptop stickers based off of LOLOL characters. These wouldn’t take up anymore of his space, and he could still carry them with him. So during his birthday dinner, you give it to him over cake and he opens it with a gasp. 
“It’s ... oh, it’s so cute! It’s perfect, MC!” He hugs you tightly and immediately has you help him stick them on. 
He uses this laptop for school, bringing it with him on most days, so it was the perfect gift to remember you by. Whenever he opens his laptop in the student lounge, or in class, he sees all those bright colors reminding him of his favorite pastime, but also he thinks of you and how much you love each other.
-- Jaehee: Promise Ring --
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You’ve gotten her spice giftboxes for her cooking, a set of cozy loungewear for the both of you, and other cute things she absolutely adores.
But her true favorite? Her engagement ring. A dainty little band that matches yours perfectly. You had proposed to her during a beautiful evening in the park, making her tear up. 
“We’re partners, now,” you said. She gave a watery smile and put her ring on proudly.
South Korea wouldn’t allow marriage between you two, so these rings promised more than a union. It promised a brighter future in the face of adversity. It promised progress in the name of love and equality. 
Jaehee struggles with societal expectations for a woman like her. This ring was like a shield against the worse thoughts, or an anchor during the more tremulous times. She had chosen to pursue you against the world’s wishes, and it was the best decision she’s ever made.
You and her wear the rings 24/7. To an onlooker, it just seemed like the two of you were separately engaged people. But she knows differently. A proud little secret. 
Customers sometimes make comments about them. She’d be ringing them up, and they’ll notice the brilliant white sapphire. “When’s the date?” some have asked. She stammered,  “It’s in the making.” The customer nodded, and wished her a happy union. 
She twists the ring around her finger, looking at you wistfully. It will be a happy union. One day!
-- Jumin: Custom-Made Cologne --
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What the heck do you gift the man who could have anything he wanted? Material possessions are never a strain for him. He grew up knowing that any toy, any trinket, any new technology or experience he desired, he would get. He’d ask for ice cream and his father’d purchase an entire chain. 
His current self rarely buys indulgences. He’s had years of being fulfilled already. But he definitely buys gifts for you, almost to ridiculous levels. You can see from the diversity of gifts that he has a reach for any product or merchandise, anywhere at any time. 
When it came time to get him a gift, you had asked the RFA for advice. And everyone was as clueless as you were. Even Jihyun wasn’t sure; the two of them have almost never exchanged gifts throughout the long years of their friendship, since they knew the other was showered in generosity already. 
“You’re gonna have to go custom. Something that can’t be bought,” Zen suggested. So when Jumin announced that he had to go to Birmingham for a business meeting, you came along with him. Which you seldom do, since it’s two days of Jumin being stuck at meetings leaving you to your own devices. But you had a plan.
You looked up a luxury custom perfumery, and with the help of an expert nez you crafted a bottle that would complement him perfectly. On the bottle was a label that said “Love Forever by MC”. 
So for his birthday, he accepted his gift with grace and asked where you bought it. “This bottle doesn’t look like its from Clive Christian, is it? Maybe it’s Dior ...” 
You explained where you got it, and giggled when his mouth dropped open in surprise. He opened it, sniffed, and his smile grew bigger ‘cause it was so much more special now. It was made under your hand, something that will never be replicated. His and his only. 
He loves wearing it to work. It’s so wonderful to be surrounded by a smell that reminds him of you. 
-- Saeyoung: Fingerprint Charm --
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He’s a surprisingly complicated man to gift. Like Jumin, he neither lacks nor wants for material needs. Sometimes you’ve given him cute candies or hand-knitted mittens for winter, and meanwhile he’ll give you ridiculously advanced robot cats or he’ll bust out his packing wallet and boom, you’ve got a new Gucci clutch bag.
He kinda knows that he’s hard to gift. So whenever you shyly hand over a six-pack of gag-flavored soda for Christmas or something, he makes a big show of loving it and thanking you with kisses and nuzzles. And he does love it! He’s never had gifts before, not from V or Rika or his co-workers, and definitely not from his mother. Just the thought that someone cared enough to surprise him with trinkets is so heartwarming.
But your anniversary was coming up. It marked the day that Saeyoung’s life turned around a complete 180 for the better. A very important day, one that you couldn’t mark with an exotic beef jerky bouquet or whatever.
One day, while touring a small art fair, you found an indie jeweler who offered custom fingerprint charms. You set up a date to come in and make a mold by pressing your thumb into a block of sand, which was cast into a mold and into which steel was poured. 
You gave it to him over a late-night car ride date. He took the charm out of the little bag and stared at it, you explained what it was. “That’s my very own fingerprint right there. I hope it’s something you can carry with you, and remember me by.”
He was silent for a few long seconds. You saw that his hand was shaking. So you reached over and kissed him, he embraced you tightly and said with a wavering voice, “Thank you.” A sniffle, and he was back to his cheery self. You helped him put it on his keychain, next to his car keys. 
He loves it dearly. Especially when he fingers the print and feels the groves, imagining your hand.
-- Saeran: Sweater --
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For a long while, Saeran couldn’t live a proper civilian life and spent many days holed up at home, stuck in an anxious and depressive slump. Any venture outside was an ordeal for him. Bit by bit, through therapy and medication, he regained his confidence.
You found this sweater online, and you knew how much he liked wearing sweaters at home. It had this quote on it that the both of you were familiar with. It had been one of the repeated self-forgiving phrases his therapist suggested. Saeran took to that phrase particularly well. He repeats it in his mind when he feels himself on the verge of a breakdown, and it helps de-escalate. 
You knew you had to buy it. But keeping it secret from Saeran was kinda a challenge because he likes to tour around your internet history when he’s bored. Not for malicious reasons, he’s just curious and wants to know what kind of stuff you like to re-tweet, or what shops you frequent. 
So with Saeyoung’s help, you ordered the sweater under a guise Saeran wouldn’t be able to crack without some effort, and it ended up being a legit surprise when you handed Saeran his gift. 
You watched his eyes trace the quote carefully, and at his fingers tracing the screenprinted flowers. He was quiet for a long while, just exploring the sweater thoroughly.
He can’t remember the last time he’s gotten a gift. Maybe it had been never. His eyes teared up.
You hugged him close and stroked his hair like he said he enjoys. It was almost hard for him to accept this from you; he’d spent years trying to approve others under threat of violence, and he’s rarely gotten to experience true generosity. 
He wears it at least once a week. It’s his absolute favorite article of clothing forever and ever. 
-- Jihyun: Filled Scrapbook -- 
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For the holidays, Jihyun had given you a beautiful set of jewelry over dinner, along with a framed photo of yourself that he had taken some time before. He rarely decides to spoil you with his riches, but sometimes the occasion calls for it. 
How can you match up with his generosity? You knew Jihyun would be charmed with whatever you gave him, but you wanted your gift to mean something. 
Once your anniversary began to creep up, you had an idea and began working on your project two weeks in advance - it was going to be a beautiful scrapbook of not just Jihyun’s photos, but also little momentos and decorations on every page, detailing particular moments of your life together up to this point. 
You scoured his instagram, printing out copies onto photo paper and cutting and pasting. You folded within old plane, bus, and boat tickets. There were sightseeing brochures from trips abroad, old restaurant menus, stamps from envelopes he had sent you. You wrote messages and captions with multicolored ink. 
Extra special were the pages dedicated to when the two of you moved into the new apartment together, and when V was officially recovered from retina surgery, and also the first RFA party he co-hosted with you. Some pages touched on more sad subjects.
Finally, you finished the scrapbook just in time for the anniversary, and it was all worth it to see Jihyun completely blown away by the effort you put into it. He spent several minutes on every page, talking them over with you and reminiscing. 
He managed to hold in his tears until the last page, which you kept empty except for a calligraphy script that said, “... and into the beyond.”
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jackawhacker · 4 years
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Who You’re Meant To Be
Contains breast expansion, ass expansion, giantess growth, and cock expansion
“It’s here!” Jolyne slammed the door to our apartment, eagerly rushing inside. She rounded the corner into the living room carrying a small cardboard box.
“Please, I told you to not slam that thing, our neighbors are going to report us again.” I complained.
“You’re just being a grouch, Elaine. Our neighbors don’t care.” She retorted, sticking her tongue out at me. It was hard to take her seriously whenever we argued. Her short five foot flat stature didn’t lend much authority to what she said, and the bright smile she wore whenever we bickered made me forget about what we were talking about in the first place.
I sighed, “It’s whatever. What did you order this time?” Jolyne had a habit of draining her bank account by purchasing all sorts of baubles and trinkets that she swore had some mystical property to them. Last week it was a “scrying orb” with the forbidden ability to see into the future. That illusion was broken pretty quickly after I pointed out the “Made in China” sticker on the bottom.
“Well since you asked,” she said as she plopped down on the couch next to me, “I found a surefire way to help our…” she paused, “...situation.”
For the past couple months our sex life had been rocky to say the least. It wasn’t either of our faults, in fact the intimate moments I shared with Jolyne over our two year relationship were some of the best of my entire life. Before her I felt like I couldn’t be loved.
The main problem was my dysphoria. Being a transgender woman unable to afford hormones and being outcast by my family took a heavy toll on my psyche. I couldn’t find it in me to accept myself, let alone ask somebody else to accept me. But Jolyne made me feel loved and cared for. She looked past my lumbering, wide six and a half foot frame and my rough angular features. She loved me for who I was.
But this last month I was having more and more trouble seeing my body in a positive light. I felt disgusting. And it interfered with the sexual dynamic of our relationship. I couldn’t get over the fact that I would be trapped in this body forever, and it really killed all sexual drive in me.
Jolyne nervously pushed a strand of her brunette hair behind her ear. “I know this is a touchy subject for you, but I really think I can help.” She never failed to try and make everything easier for me. She was there every step of the way. I appreciated her genuine care, even if I did doubt whatever she had to offer. “Alright, if you think it’ll work, I’ll give it a shot.” I said.
“Really?” She bounced up and down with glee, “Thank you Elaine! I know you won’t regret it.” She began tearing open the flap on the small cardboard package. The outside had no discernible markings; no shipping labels or company logos. After she finally got it open, she reached inside and produced a small aluminum sheet with two tablets encased in plastic, similar to the kind you’d pop cough drops or aspirin out of.
“What the hell are those?” I asked, taking the mystery container. The two pills were bright pink in color, devoid of any inscriptions.
“Those,” she said proudly, “are our little miracle workers. I got them off a website called Witch’s Wares.” She took the package back, and popped out the two pills from inside. “We each take one, and after that we’re supposed to become more ideal versions for ourselves and each other.”
“Ideal selves?” I inquired. “Like more at peace or inner calm or something?” The idea of taking random drugs off the internet made me nervous, but if it was something to just mellow you out for an hour or two I wouldn’t mind taking it.
“Not exactly,” she giggled, “it’s supposed to have a more physical effect.” She cocked her eyebrow and cupped the air in front of her flat chest. “Eh? Get it?” She winked at me. I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t satisfied with her body. Ever since puberty passed her over in high school she’d been looking for ways to give herself a boost in the chest department. She had gone through a multitude of natural oils and phony spell books trying to gain a couple cup sizes. Nothing worked of course, but she took it in stride by wearing push up bras and high heels to boost her confidence.
I rolled my eyes. “Jolyne, there’s no way I’m sticking some random snake oil pill in my mouth. Who knows where they came from.”
She frowned, turning away from me in mock anger. “Well then, I guess I’ll have to take this all by myself then.” She said, quickly popping a pill into her mouth before I could respond. God damnit. I couldn’t let her do this alone. If she was poisoned then I might as well be too. “You’re the devil.” I grumbled, swallowing the other pill. The taste was surprisingly sweet, almost like it was pure sugar.
She lightly pecked my cheek. “Thanks baby. I know you’ll enjoy this.” We sat on the couch for the better part of an hour, mindlessly watching reruns on TV, waiting for our miracle drug to kick in. Jolyne anxiously looked back and forth between us the entire time, waiting with bated breath for any sign of change. My eyes remain glued on the episode of MASH playing.
Finally I paused the show and turned to Jolyne. “Listen, not to rain on your parade, but I don’t-“
She had her eyes tightly shut. Her fists were clenched, and her back was arched in either pain or pleasure. A small bead of sweat began to trickle down her forehead. I stared at her, debating whether I needed to call poison control or 911, when she finally spoke up.
“Elaine… I feel really…” she whispered.
All at once, a sudden wave of heat spread across my chest, moving its way throughout my body as I began to breathe heavier. I was overcome with a tingling sensation that seemed to gently massage every inch of my body. I was expecting some sort of bad acid trip at worst, but this didn’t feel painful at all.
“Elaine… I feel good.”
All I could do was stare at my girlfriend as she began to gently moan under her breath. Her breaths were as deep as mine, her chest rising and falling steadily. With each breath it seemed that it rose a little higher, the fabric of her buttoned top slowly being pulled tighter and tighter. I thought I was seeing things, but there was no doubt about what was happening.
She looked down and realized the same thing I had. She looked back up and smiled at me. “See? I told you baby.” She moaned through labored breaths. “Oh Elaine, I feel really warm.” Her nails dug deep into the leather armrest of the couch as she fell back into her stupor.
It was hard to tell at first, but I could slowly see the top of her head rising, inch by inch towards the ceiling. Her ass below her had begun to push against her jeans, her growing hips putting strain on the material. Her curves continued to slowly blossom outwards, creating an hourglass from her once skinny frame. Her breasts had begun to put intense pressure on the buttons of her shirt, easily growing past handfuls now. This was impossible. There’s no way this was happening. And yet she continued to change. Her face was glazed over in ecstasy, unable to form any coherent thoughts as she grew and grew. Suddenly her eyes opened. “Baby, we should stand up. Quickly, quickly!”
I managed to distract myself from this impossible scene in front of me and drag myself off the couch. The tingle inside of me slowly intensified. Why hadn’t I changed yet? What would I look like? What would she look like? Why wasn’t I more freaked out?
I could see why she wanted to stand up. Her once diminutive stature was slowly creeping higher and higher. I couldn’t believe anything I was seeing. My dick tensed against my pants, all of this had me unbelievably turned on. Her legs poked out from the hemline of her jeans, steadily growing, pushing her up taller and taller. The top of her head was level with my nose by now. Her top finally gave up its fight with her expanding tits, launching buttons across the room, her bra snapping in half as breasts the size of her head were finally released from their prison.
“Elaaaaaiiiine,” she groaned, “I’m getting...so big. So big for you.” I looked into Jolyne’s eyes as she crept up to my height, and then past it. “So big baby. I know this is what you want.” And she was right. I had never been more turned on in my entire life. Jolyne was turning into an absolute goddess in front of me.
The jeans desperately clinging on to her frame finally ripped, her monumental bottom shredding them to bits. Her curves were not only massive, but impossibly beautiful. The soft bounce of her now basketball sized breasts was mesmerizing, and every inch added to her growing frame somehow made her more and more perfect with each passing second. The woman standing in front of me was becoming something greater. She stretched upwards, her hands grazing the ceiling.
Slowly her breathing returned to normal, the last bits of her growth coming to an end. I looked on in stunned silence. All I could see was the bottom of a massive pair of flawless, bountiful tits directly in front of me. I forced myself to crane my neck up at her, and gasped. This whole time I had been focusing on her growing body, I had neglected her face. The features were all hers, but changed enough to be the envy of any model. Her lips plumped, eyes glittering. It was intoxicating. I was at a loss for words.
Jolyne softly giggled and looked down on me. Even her voice had become angelic. “I think it’s your turn, Elaine.” She said in her new smooth and sultry tones.
Almost as if on cue, the warmth inside of me began to burn hotter. Realizing I didn’t have much time before the changes set in, I quickly began pulling my top off, only to be hit with a wave of unbridled pleasure. I could hardly move.
“Oh baby don’t worry,” Jolyne cooed, “I’ll get that.” She bent down, her hulking form pressing close to me. I could feel her breasts push into me, slowly consuming the entire upper half of my body. And as if they were nothing, she ripped off my clothes and tossed them aside. “That’ll make it better for both of us.” She stood back up and hungrily licked her lips in anticipation.
I wanted to reply, but all I could do was eek out a yelp of pleasure as the intense tingling settled on my dick. I felt the heat consume my four inch length, and slowly seem to intensify my hard on. It was hard to see at first, but it became apparent that my penis was thickening, growing longer by the minute. My unimpressive rod was now average looking, around six inches now.
The heat burned in my chest, and I almost cried in joy as I dared to hope what may happen. The flesh beneath my nipples pushed out, forming small buds that began rapidly increasing in size. I felt the same heat burn in my rear, and could feel the pressure on my hips as they got wider. My thighs began to thicken and jiggle with my thrashing in pleasure. All the years of hating who I was were now melting off as I began to settle into my new body. The popping and rearranging of my body felt almost orgasmic.
“Elaine, you’re growing so fast! You’re gonna be so big!” Jolyne exclaimed. She was right, I was growing much faster than her, my tits rapidly moving from the size oranges to small melons. All I could do was moan and let the feeling wash over me. This was almost everything I could have hoped for.
I was pulled from my reverie by the slapping of my dick against my stomach. It had grown beyond the point of big, and had moved its way into practically outrageous. It slowly inched higher as my breasts grew to envelop the head. I could feel the thick pulsing shaft creep up in between my breasts and cried out in pleasure. I was practically giving myself a tit job as my breasts massaged my penis with their growth, now as big as Jolyne’s.
I looked up to her from my haze, and realized I had to look further up than before. I didn’t reach the bottom of her tits anymore, I was staring smack dab at her belly button. Had she grown more?
It dawned on me. “I’m getting… smaller.” My now completely feminine frame had been slowly dwindling. The world around me seemed to expand and shift as I lost more and more height. I smiled as I looked up at my girlfriend, slowly sinking below her hips. My titanic breasts now hung below my navel, resting on the tops of my thighs. I could feel myself falling, being pulled further and further downward. My dick burst through the top of my cleavage, achingly hard and begging for release.
I could feel the last spurts of my change coming to an end. My hands roamed all over my new body. I had curves for days. Hell, I had curves for weeks. My dick bounced and throbbed as I felt myself up, thick and leaking precum.
“Oh Elaine, you’re beautiful.” Jolyne stepped closer to me. Her thighs filled my vision. I had shrunk enough to be eye level with her knees now, the thought of which excited me greatly. She knelt down on the floor, still much taller than me even crouched. “I knew this would work. You’re who you’re supposed to be now.” She smiled warmly.
The tingling sensation had slowly left, leaving me with only one thing on my mind.
“Jolyne?”
“Yes baby?” She replied.
“Let’s go to the bedroom.”
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miaswetnambcu · 3 years
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Packaging
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Packaging is an important part of customer experience and therefore takes a lot of time and consideration. I created a mood board about the general ideas that I wanted to put into the packaging. We decided that we wanted our products to be packaged in a box, so I added some different boxes onto the mood board. We did not want a standard brown box as we thought it would not be personal to our brand. Our idea is for the outside of the box to be a matte black, as it would look very sleek and minimal, which would link to the rest of our branding.
The products inside would be wrapped in tissue paper, with a sticker holding it together. I added an image of a box with black tissue paper and a black sticker to the mood board to illustrate this. Another element we wanted to add was a small card that came with the packaging. Usually, cards that come with products are based around promoting the brand, such as there Instagram or other products that they sell. We decided that, as our brand is promoting empowerment in our customers, we wanted a card with a quote on it that empowered the women who read it. It would be the size of a standard credit card so that it would be able to fit into the customers’ purse so that they would be able to carry it around with them to encourage them to be more confident.
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I started by creating the outside of the box on illustrator. Using an image of the outside of a box, I used the pen tool to trace around half of the box. Once I had done this, I duplicated and flipped the illustration to create the other half of the box. By doing this, it ensures that the box is symmetrical on both sides.
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Once I had completed the illustration, I added a dark grey to the fill of the box. I chose to use dark grey so that it would display that the box is a matte black, as if I were to fill the box with just black, it would not have the same effect.
I trialled different way of putting the logo onto the box. The first was to use an effect called ‘plastic wrap’ on Illustrator, which gave a shiny look to the logo. I added a drop shadow as well so that it would highlight the logo. I decided that I did not like this as our packaging is supposed to be minimal, so the amount of detailing on the logo did not work and made it very unclear.
I took away the ‘plastic wrap’ effect on the logo and left the drop shadow on. This worked better than the previous attempt as it added attention to the logo without it being too dramatic. However, I still did not like the drop shadow as it seemed to make the edges of the logo quite blurry and not very clear.
I took away the drop shadow and left the logo as it was on the packaging. Although it is clear and minimal, it seemed too basic to use on our packaging and did not fit with the luxurious aura that our brand is trying to showcase.
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For the final design of the outside of the box, I revisited the ‘plastic wrap’ effect without the drop shadow. This contrasts well against the matte of the box and draws attention to the sheen that is seen of the logo. The difference in the finishes of the box and the logo will make it stand out and will display the sleek and luxurious look that we were hoping for.
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Like the previous illustration, I used the pen tool to outline an image of the inside of a box. I drew one half of the illustration and then duplicated and flipped it to create the full symmetrical illustration.
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I decided to create outlines of curvy and ‘normal’ sized bodies to use on our packaging. The illustrations could be used on other parts of our branding, such as promotion on posters or Instagram posts. I used three images of different women that I found on Savage x Fenty’s Instagram. I used the pen tool on Illustrator to create the outlines of the women. I added lines on the body to show the texture of the skin, as most women will have these lines, whether it be stretch marks or layers of skin. I chose to add this as it would illustrate the size and shape of the body more easily, as well as show the customer that that these lines on bodies are normal, linking back to the empowerment of women that we want to demonstrate in our brand.
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I trialled six different designs for the inside of the packaging. I used our slogan ‘Stand out, Show out’ on the design as it would personalise the box more for the customer. I used three colours for the inside, which was the continuation of the matte black from the outside, an off-white and a beige. The contrast between the outside of the packaging and the inside of the packaging would have worked well as it would make the box more interesting. However, we decided that by having a colour inside the box, it would take attention away from the illustration and the product that is inside the box.
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Our final design for this section of the inside of the box is matte black, with the ‘Stand out, Show out’ slogan in the centre, with an illustration behind it. The illustration is like the logo, but all the lines are linked together and have there are no gaps as there are in the logo. We decided to use white for the illustration and the lettering as it contrasted enough against the background to make it interesting for the viewer, without it taking too much attention away from the product in the box.
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For the bottom of the box, I freehand drew it to match the sizing to the top of the box. Using the pen tool, I was able to create the bottom inside box. I filled it with the same dark grey colour as the rest of the packaging.
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I chose to add one of the other figure outlines on the bottom of the box, as well as the Curvé logo in the bottom right corner. The illustration will be revealed once the customer lifts the product from the box, which will add to the customer experience when they open their order.
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To create the cards that will be placed in with the packaging, I used the rectangular tool to create the front and back of the cards, one version being filled with a solid black and one filled white with a black outline.
I trialled different versions of the quote that I wanted to add to the cards. I used the Transform tool on Illustrator to create the different effects of the text, such as the Bulge and Vertical Transform lettering. I used the ‘Stylize’ effect to create the gradient on the lettering in the centre. 
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I chose to create a gold text that could be used on the cards. As we are aiming to be a luxurious brand, I thought that gold writing on the cards would illustrate this. By using the gradient tool on Illustrator, I added multiple colours onto the charts in varying shades, such as cream, orange and a dark red. I alternated these colours throughout the gradient to give that gold foil look that is seen on the text.
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Using the illustration that inspired the logo, I created these two cards. Both cards have the illustration on the back of the card. The white card has the gold lettering that I previously made, as well as the logo in the bottom left corner. I added the logo to ensure that the customer is aware that this card is from our brand, and as a watermark so that it is not copied. The second is very similar, with the logo being in the bottom right corner on this card. I chose to keep the text white on this card as I thought it worked well the link with the opposite side of the card.
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These two cards, again, have the same illustration on the back. With the white card, I placed the text down the left side of the card. This created negative space on the opposite side of the card which allowed me to place the logo in the bottom right corner. I did the same with the black card, but I stretched the text along the fill card. I chose to do this as it created varying sizes of negative space.
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To create the stickers for the packaging, I used the Rectangular and Elliptical shape tool to create both rectangular and circular stickers. I filled the shapes in with black and beige, as these two colours are going to be used in our brand promotion, so this continue the colour story throughout our whole brand. 
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I chose to use the logo as the design on the sticker. By doing this, it ensures that the brand logo is highlighted throughout every aspect of the packaging, as well as sticking to the minimal theme that our brand is looking to achieve.
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The final two stickers that we chose were the two circular stickers with a white logo in the centre. We decided that a circular sticker looked better with the logo as it follows the curve of the ‘C’, making them work cohesively together. We chose both colours as the black sticker with the black tissue paper would look very sleek and the beige would give just enough contrast to make it interesting, whilst also looking luxurious.
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jayne-hecate-writer · 3 years
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The Mandalorian... In Lego form
What can I add to the praise about the Disney Plus series, The Mandalorian, that has not already been said?
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Yes, it is really very good, I was captivated within the first minute and was heart broken during the third episode, entitled The Sin, when the Mandalorian handed over the child to the Imperial officer, played so beautifully by Werner Herzog. Of them all, it is probably episodes three and four that are my favourites, showing the more gentle side to the character. But let us be honest, when choosing favourite episodes of this series, we the viewer have been rather spoilt because there is not a dud among them. Not even the sixth episode, which was a heist story and could easily have been done rather badly, but wasn’t and even included a fabulously dry Dave Filoni cameo as a New Republic pilot. No, not a single missed beat, bad line or failed joke throughout series one.
This is not to say that it does not have its cold brutal moments though, the Quarren being bisected in the first episode was utterly shocking, you even hear his legs heit the floor! Encasing the good natured Mythol in carbonite was really mean. Yet, they saved the humour of child abuse right up until the end and the speeder scouts indifference in violently handling the child. These moments of suffering are balanced so perfectly with real heart and leave a lump in the throat, even when dealing with an assassin droid walking into a lava flow. Terminator eat your heart out!
So, it must be time to combine some of the biggest loves of my rather childish, adult life into one hobby, namely my love of Star Wars and my love of Lego. With every new franchise released under the Star Wars banner, Lego get good dibs on making tie in sets. With the release of the Mandalorian, the Lego sets have been exceptional and if you have not yet seen them, you should go and have a look at the Brickset page.
The first set, number 75254 or AT-ST Raider is a glorious reworking of the beloved Imperial walker, as seen during the Battle of Endor, but here it comes with loose wiring and scratched paint. The colours are indicative of rust, repainting of old worn out parts and some battle damage, all achieved with coloured bricks and several stickers. The effect is really very pleasing and the walker stands at just over twenty five centimetres tall. All that it is missing is the red glow in the cocpit. The minfigs that come with this set just wonderful. Cara Dune, played so effortlessly well by Gina Carono in the show, is a really lovely minifig, although having a globally available minifig of your character must be exciting even for a movie star. Along with the walker come two raider pilots and then even Mando himself, in his dirty and mismatched armour, which is a little odd. By this point in the show, when he meets and briefly fights with Cara Dune, he already has his new Beskar cuirass of armour, complete in shining silver. So one has to ask why he is presented to us in the older colours of his armour that was destroyed by the Mudhorn in the second episode? Over all though, 75254 is a lovely set, even with the annoyance of having to apply stickers (which is a topic that takes on the additional needs of disability issues for me and my manky old lady fingers), rather than using printed pieces.
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Set 75267, the Mandalorian Battle Pack is simple, cheap and rather pretty. This is a basic set with four minifigs, all in various colours of Mandalorian armour which may be different clans, with a small gun emplacement and speeder bike. The warriors are split equally male and female, but I have no idea which is which, due to the lack of lipstick, floral tops and flowing long hair, the usual key indicators used by Lego to show the gender split (stories of my subverting this by placing  the ‘male’ bodies with the ‘female’ heads, are very likely true!). Removing the helmets reveals an unprinted black head, which is slightly disturbing, but this is something that Lego had done for several years now.
The big set of this theme for 2020 has to be the fabulous ship used by the Mandalorian, the beautifully named Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Transport Ship… Oops yeah, it seems that somebody fucked up. Set number 75292, Razor Crest has in some cases been renamed following claims of trademark usage by another company, who just happen to make Lego compatible sets and some may claim have been guilty of cloning Lego sets without license. Oh dear.
I pre-ordered my set a good three months prior to release and thank the heavens that I did, because it was hopelessly delayed and finally cancelled three days after release and so I had to deal with Lego directly... during a pandemic outbreak... when every anguished parent with a Star Wars addicted child was no doubt screaming for their Mandalorian set too. Lego were hellishly busy and no doubt there were many like me, disappointed Amazon customers scrabbling to find the sets they had ordered weeks before. How many of those adults with debit cards were buying the toy for themselves though, remains a closely guarded industry secret.
When the set arrived, I was impressed by the actual size of the box which was huge and which my cat now uses for a bed! This was just the outer packaging used by Lego to ship the set, but the actual set box was still quite large and also beautifully printed, if surprisingly heavy.
Building the model was fun, even if there is a fair amount of repetition due to the chirality of the ship and the usual struggles with yet more bloody stickers! The engine nacelles are probably the least screen accurate feature, given the rough tooth like arrangement on the front intakes bares little resemblence to the smooth circular versions on the screen rendered ship. This is a tiny little complaint about an otherwise awesome model though. (I am just going to pause here for a moment. Are they really air intakes? Given that this is a spacecraft and it can travel at ‘light-speed’, why does it have these large open front intakes that resemble the compressor fan of a jet engine? Actually, that is a stream of thought that can only lead to sadness, especially with the roar of said engine as it flies across screen, supposedly in space, you know space. The place where NO ONE can hear you scream! But can hear if you miss a gear on your spaceship!)
Minfigs with this set are thoroughly cool, with our classic Mando himself, Din Djarin. He does of course have the child with him and the fidure of the child is adorable. This set also includes Greef Karga, a Scout Trooper and IG11… Um. Once again, this is a potentially confused set. Is this from the first episode or the last two? I don’t recall seeing the Scout troopers in the first episode so much, but they are present and a large part of the finale. Mando does of course have some serious issues with droids, having been orphaned during the Clone Wars, by a B2 Super Battle Droid (Speaking of droids and the Clone Wars, this does explain to me why when Luke and Obi Wan visit Mos Eisley, the cantina owner tells Luke that the droids are not welcome. It was a glaringly obvious issue that I never gave thought to, of course people would mistrust droids, the Clone Wars were a political tool used by a member of the elite, to secure their own power while creating political turmoil in which they could thrive and in which many thousands of innocent people lost their lives. I wonder if this was written to parallel real life, not that we have many examples of this in the real world), which is shown in heart breaking visceral detail during the several flashbacks we see. Again, this is just another element in this series that goes to such great depth to give the characters real heart. Anyway, back to my point, a part of his redemption was Mando coming to accept and even trust a droid, which he does with IG11, despite it being Mando himself who terminated the IG unit to begin with. So with a Scout trooper, IG11 and Greef Karga, would it be fair to say that with the child in hand, Mando should be in his silver Beskar armour? It would appear not and thus Mando is still in his dirty, rusted and damaged armour with this set. At some point they simply must release a set with him in shiny new Beskar, but maybe that will come with the release of Series two.
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Over all, the sets released in this theme for 2020 have all been excellent and to an adult child like myself, well worthy of collecting, building and displaying… Because these are not  toys! They are valuable collectors pieces, future antiques and actually rather pretty. Which leads me onto my next section, how to display the models while making them look like something interesting and not just a pile of bricks. I had a space that you could have called a bookshelf, not a great space for books if I am honest, being slightly awkward and on top of my Lego desk. So I decided to fill this space with a Lego Diorama that measures one hundred and six studs wide and twenty four studs deep. It was a crap bookcase and my Lego books kept falling over or worse, falling off altogether to land on whatever I was working on at the time. The gloss painted finish proved to be be sticky, which damaged a couple of my instructions booklets and well, these are the issues you get when you design and build your own furniture, out of scrap wood and offcuts. Yes, the furniture is a bit mismatched in my office, but I made nearly all of it. Maybe one day I will do a show and tell.
The display started as a simple thing, a couple of enclosed boxes in which I could build a pair of scenes. My first scene was the Rebel Alliance looking at a hologram of the Death Star, while planning an attack on the technological terror. It is half based on Episode four with a dash of episode six. I added flickering lights and a large Death Star shell from the planets sets and stood back to admire my work. It was… OK-ish and sat like that for several months as I planned the next box and then what was to go above it.
With the release of the Mandalorian, I knew that the remaining box had to be the Covert, with the Armourer and her forge. I also knew that with the Razor Crest, I wanted some kind of scene above the covert to place both the ship and the AT-ST together, which while technically mixing a couple of episodes set on different worlds, could be seen in the soul of the show, rather than an accurate depiction of the Mandalorian itself. With the addition of some more lights it was all going so well and then I had to re-home Vader's castle, a task of Sisyphean proportions. 
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Humour aside, I need a larger office. With my Solo, Rebels, Rogue One, Clone Wars, New Hope and final trilogy themes to my Star Wars Lego display, plus the collection of Technic lego so large it required specialist furniture to be built, I have run out of room. Vader’s castle is thankfully taller than it is wide and it fitted onto the shelf fairly well. It also took lighting effects really nicely and I was pleased with the results, in particular, the glowing hologram of the Emperor that appears in miniature in front of Vader's desk. However, it now looks like I have a nice castle, built on the edge of a run down city slum, with the sewers taken over by rogue blacksmiths and a group of noisy political activists. If any of you can spot the social commentary in here, well done you. Poor old Vader however can barely get any sleep, no wonder his mouse droid keeps leaping off the model and onto my carpet, it wants to escape for some peace!
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So now that the office shelves are filled, what should I do next? Well actually, there are some things on the Razor Crest that I am not happy with, aspects that need some work to make it look a little better. First to go is that hideous hole in the top. Yes, it allows you to claw the pod out, but for display, rather than play, the hole is unacceptable. I made my own Moff Gideon (Using Winstone from Ghostbusters for the head and an Imperial Pilot body) and equipped him with a Darksabre. I added a pair of speeder bikes too, one for the scout that came with the Razor Crest and one for a scout that I added later.
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I dread to think how much I have spent on this project, there is easily three hundred pounds in sets on my shelf alone, consisting of three large ships, one walker and a castle. There are also the various minifigs I bought from else where, such as the Rebel Alliance leadership and spare Mandalorian warriors. There are all of the lights, the wire and the switches, which cost about twenty pounds. It all adds up rather quickly and luckily for me, most of the Lego consists of bricks that I have collected over the years and a lot of those bricks were second hand.
Was it worth it? Yes it was. Not only was it a lot of fun to plan and build, but as a disabled person, it is nice to have a hobby that I can still manage and do fairly well. It is nothing like climbing a mountain, or wild camping with my mountain bike, but it stopped me going insane with boredom, especially during lockdown. Who knows what I can do next, but it is nice to be back on the technic and building actual gear boxes again.
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7 February 2023: Fragments—Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series Vol. 17, Bob Dylan. (Legacy/Columbia, 2023)  
When I think about the breadth of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series archival compilations, I am amazed. The first one came out when I was 18 years old—I bought it at that time—and here is Volume 17, released when I am 50. An archival program lasting from 18 to 50! It almost sounds impossible.
There are constant rumors that the program is coming to an end. Every volume that appears dredges up claims from fans that it will be the last one. I never believe that when I hear it, but this new volume does have some signs of it being a rather weak one. What I’m posting here is the standard two-disc edition; since Volume 8 in 2008, most Bootleg Series releases have also come in expanded “deluxe” editions. The weaknesses of Fragments are more prominent when you see the five-disc deluxe edition, which I’ll talk about in a subsequent post sometime in the future. But even on this standard version, some of it is apparent. The Bootleg Series has never been about simple reissues or new mixes of existing Dylan albums, but Fragments, which chronicles sessions for one of his most beloved album, his breakthrough 1997 comeback, is focused on a “2022 mix” that denudes the album of all the sonic hallmarks of its original producer Daniel Lanois. Apparently Dylan didn’t like what Lanois did, which is interesting because that production is one of the things that makes the album so remarkable. I’ve yet to hear anything from Fragments, and I’m interesting in seeing what this new mix of the album is like, but the real draw for Bootleg Series entries has always been unreleased material. Again, I’ll discuss this more in a subsequent post.
Above are the front cover, slightly blurry picture of the hype sticker, and the back cover.
This edition’s two discs both come in their own little digipaks. Here are the front and back of disc one’s package.
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Here is the opened gatefold of disc one.
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Here is disc one itself.
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Likewise, here are the front and back covers of disc two’s sleeve.
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Here is disc two’s opened gatefold.
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And here is disc two.
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Here are the front and back covers of the book that comes in the package.
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This and the album in my previous post (Mercy by John Cale) were purchased at the same time as Part Three of what I called a few posts ago The Great Record Haul of February 2023 (depicted in a series of non-consecutive posts starting here). I didn’t expect to get the Cale and Dylan albums when I went to finish that escapade, but I’d special-ordered them and they happened to have arrived that day. My next six posts will chronicle the conclusion of the Great Record Haul.
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bittysvalentines · 5 years
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from @parrishsrubberplant to @rhysiana Happy belated Valentine's Day!
The man’s plain white t-shirt does wonderful things for his chest. And arms. And abs.
“Wow,” Brittany whispers to Jen.
Brittany says ‘wow’ about a customer eleven times a day. Jen is a good friend who looks every time.
“Wow,” Jen dutifully agrees. She can’t argue with Brittany about men. She’s a lesbian so Brittany automatically disregards her opinion. But her vision is fine, and this dude is jacked. He’s at least six feet tall, with a swoop of perfectly styled brown hair and sky-blue eyes.
She expects him to walk on by, to menswear or shoes or whatever. Then Jen will listen to twenty minutes of Brittany sighing over him.
Instead, Tall and Handsome stops. He hesitates and then heads over to the makeup counter.
Brittany blushes under her makeup and shoots Jen a look that is equal parts panic and glee. Jen rolls her eyes.
“Hi,” Jen says. “Can we help you?”
“Uh, yeah,” he says. “I’m looking for eyeliner?”
He doesn’t look like the type of guy who would wear guyliner. Eyeliner, Jen corrects herself. If he wanted guyliner, he would have asked for guyliner. Don’t make assumptions about people.
“Any particular brand?” Jen can hear Brittany having a heart attack behind her.
“Um.” He reaches into the back pocket of his tight jeans, and hands her a tube. “Something like this?”
The black tube has worn silver lettering. Jen turns the tube in her hands, looking at the faded hieroglyphs that might have once been a ‘W’ and an ‘S’.
“It’s discontinued,” he says. “I was hoping you might have some left.”
Brittany finally recovers. “Um, that’s the WorldStar Mega Vanta, right?” She doesn’t wait for an answer. She’s never wrong about brands. It’s like her secret super power.
“I can check in the back, but I don’t think we have any.” Brittany looks at Jen. “Or, Jen can.” She smiles at him.
Tall and Handsome tips his head down, and angles his chin, his blue eyes disappointed. He angles his body towards her, cutting Brittany out of the conversation. If she were straight, she’d swoon.
“Do you know of anything like it?” He says.
Brittany folds her arms and leaves to check the back, her shoulders held in a stiff line.
Jen frowns. “I really don’t. That was the brand that was like, a liquid marker but it applied like a pencil, right? It sucks they stopped making it.”
He nods. “I’ve got one more tube left. I’m hoping maybe I can try some stuff and find something like it.”
“Excuse me?”
Jen freezes. Goth Girl steps out from behind Tall and Handsome.
Where is Brittany when Jen needs her?
Goth Girl is adorable, and she comes to the makeup counter every week. Jen’s tiny gay heart cannot handle the glory that is Goth Girl. She’s short, with curly black hair and perfect makeup. The wings of her eyeliner end in points sharp enough to stab. Today, she’s wearing a lacy black shirt and combat boots. Jen cannot.
Tall and Handsome--Jen almost thinks she recognizes him--shifts to include Goth Girl in their conversation.
“You were talking about WorldStar Mega, right?” she asks.
“Yeah,” he says.
“I have a friend who makes stuff,” Goth Girl says. “They have an Etsy store. If you wanted, I could give you their store name. It isn’t a perfect match, but their black eyeliner is a lot like the Vanta if you just make a thick enough line.”
He already has his phone out. “Could you? That would be amazing.”
Goth Girl tells him the name, and Jen writes it down for herself on the back of a discarded receipt. She likes the WorldStar eyeliners too. Tall and Handsome has good taste.
“Thank you,” he says, and holds his hand out to Goth Girl. “I’m Gabriel.”
Goth Girl takes his hand. “Julissa.”
She looks like she has a firm handshake.
He turns, smiling, to Jen. “Gabriel.”
She gestures to her nametag and waves awkwardly. “I’m Jen.”  Lovesick Jen, trying desperately not to stare at Julissa.
Julissa walks away to look at the display of lotions on sale.
Gabriel smiles at Jen. He’s missing a front tooth. “Do you work on commision?” he says. “I’d feel bad if I don’t at least buy something from you.”
“That’s...really sweet of you,” Jen says. She’s never had a customer ask that before. “We don’t.”
“Well, you’ve been really nice and helpful,” he says. “I should buy something.”
“Well, do you have a girlfriend?” Jen asks. She thinks of Brittany, who hasn’t come back yet. She may have just decided to take her break early. Or she’s still dying of embarrassment. Jen knows Goth Girl’s name now; she can do Brittany a solid.
He shakes his head. “My tea--my friends’ partners are really into these travel eyeshadow pallets?”
She takes him to a display of dull gold-colored eyeshadow cases. “These?”
He checks the name. “Yeah.” He peers at the descriptions. “Martine has...light brown skin, so this one would probably look best with her. And Yudita is very pale, so I think this one, and…”
He picks out eye shadow for at least six different women. Jen tries not to let her eyes bug out. This brand of eyeshadow is not cheap. She carries the pile to the register.
“Your buddies aren’t going to care that you bought their partners stuff?”
He shakes his head. “Not really. And--hey, I just thought of this. Can you ring them up separate? That way I can include the receipts so they can return them if they want to.”
What, Jen thinks. I’ve fallen through a portal to another dimension and not realized it. Or another planet. Who is this man?
She rings him up six times. Tall and Handsome smiles one last time at her and leaves. Jen wishes she did work on commission. She would have just made a killing.
And now Julissa is standing at the register.
“Hey,” Jen says. Her voice creaks.
Julissa smiles. She looks down at the counter, then back up at Jen. She looks shy. Her eyes dart to the back door where Brittany disappeared, over to a display of lip glosses, and back to Jen.
“Just this,” Julissa says. It’s a tube of berry purple lipstick, made by one of the brands that lasts forever and stays on through any kind of mischief.
After Julissa signs her receipt she hesitates. “Can I give you my number?”
Jen goes red. “Yeah.”
The corner of Julissa’s mouth curls up in a wicked grin. She pushes the receipt back towards Jen. Below her signature is ten digits. Jen catches herself smiling back.
*           *           *
Ari does not understand.
They fell asleep yesterday after spending hours packing orders, receipts, business cards, and sparkly star stickers into envelopes. They were really looking forward to taking day off. Maybe going for a walk in the park, feeling the sunlight on their skin. Something like that.
Instead, their inbox appears to have exploded.
They stare at the computer screen in disbelief. They have forty-five new orders.
“I need coffee,” Ari tells their cat. Marmot blinks slowly. Ari blinks slowly back.
They fill the electric kettle, spoon coffee grounds into the French press, and stare blankly at their phone. They have a lot of text messages.
Ari sends a quick text to Julissa. I think I might not be able to meet up today. Sorry. They pour the hot water into the French press and set the timer for three minutes. Then they turn to their messages.
They open the thread from Julissa and scroll back. I’m so sorry, Julissa wrote. I think this is my fault. I told someone about your eyeliner and… There’s a link to an instagram page. Ari opens the link.
It’s the Insta of someone named Gabriel “Snowy” Snöröken, who is dark-haired and Nordic and beautiful--and an NHL goalie for the Providence Falconers.
Okay, Ari thinks, but what does this have to do with me?
Ari finds the answer as he scrolls through ‘Snowy’s’ posts. One post is a selfie. Snowy focuses on the upper part of his face, head tipped forward. His eyes appear closed. He sports thick lines of black eyeliner.
Goalie superstitions! The caption reads. I freaked out when WorldStar stopped making Mega Vanta. But I think I found something better. Shutout last night. Thanks, @AriSparkles!
He includes a link to Ari’s Etsy store.
Oh.
Ari barely hears the timer going off. They pour coffee, add creamer, take sip. It’s just on the right side of too bitter. Marmot brushes against their ankles, making them jump. Ari bends down and scratches Marmot behind the ear. The cat purrs.
“What am I going to do?” Ari asks Marmot. They don’t expect the cat to answer.
What Ari wants to do is yell at Snowy to take the post down. Ari does not need this stress in their life. Not when they’re navigating  suppliers, making sure all the ingredients are certified cruelty-free, and packaging and mailing everything themselves.
Marmot is absolutely wonderful, the best cat in the word, but Marmot doesn’t have opposable thumbs.
Ari drinks more coffee and checks their inbox again. They’ve gotten three more orders.
Without thinking much about it, they post a quick update on Insta. Thanks ‘Snowy’ for the shout-out! Glad you like our eyeliner. Friends, it’s just me here and with the recent spate of orders things may be a little slower than normal. Thanks for your patience and your business!
Ari’s hands are shaking as they put down the phone. They text Julissa: Help.
Even with Julissa pinch-hitting, it takes Ari almost all day to make it through the recent orders. And that’s just printing labels, sorting products, and counting out the sparkly stickers.
“Hey,” Julissa says.
It takes Ari too long to look up.
“Yeah?”
“Have you thought of just asking Snowy to take down the link?”
Ari grabs Marmot and pulls the cat onto their lap. “No.”
“Why not?” Julissa grabs the two empty mugs and heads for the kitchen. She comes back with a mug full of cold water for Ari.
“I couldn’t,” Ari says. “He’d think I’m an ungrateful brat.”
“Well, then,” Julissa says, and pulls out her phone.
“What are you doing--no, don’t!” Ari lunges. Julissa leans back, pulling the phone out of their reach. “C’mon, Juli, please--” Ari gets their hands on Julissa’s phone and pulls it away from her.
Ari looks at the phone and laughs. “Oooh, Mall Girl. You’ve been texting Mall Girl?”
Julissa hits them. “Why are you like this?”
“You love me,” Ari says. “But seriously, Mall Girl? If you have her number, don’t you know her name?”
“Jen,” Julissa mutters. Ari’s distracted by laughing again, and Julissa takes advantage of their distraction to pull the phone out of their hands. “I’m doing it,” she says.
 “No,” Ari whines.
 “Bro,” Julissa says. “ It has been one day. You are super stressed, and you are only going to get more stressed, and then the semester is going to start. I would rather you feel temporarily embarrassed than be in trouble a month out.”
Ari covers their face with their hands.
“I’ll send it from my Insta,” Julissa says. “Since I actually met him.”
Ari groans incoherently.
“Done,” Julissa says a minute later.
“It went through?”
“No, it sent as a request.”
“Bro,” Ari groans. “He probably gets like, hundreds of requests a day. I have looked at his Insta. He’s a professional athlete with the body of a god.”
“So we’ll make scrambled eggs, and watch terrible TV, and wait,” Julissa says.
“And you���ll tell me what’s going on with Jen,” Ari says. “I mean, Mall Girl.”
Julissa smacks them.
*           *           *
Julissa left an hour ago. Ari checks their phone one last time before bed.
They have a DM from Snowy. Hello! Julissa says I stressed you out. Sorry!
Ari resists the urge to roll over and scream into their cat. No worries, Ari writes back. No worries, ha, Ari is literally full of worries.
Can I make it up to you? Are you a hockey fan?
Ari looks around for Marmot. The cat perches on the arm of the sofa, front paws tucked under her. “What do you think?” Ari asks their cat. Marmot blinks.
Yes, Ari writes back.
I really like your store, Snowy says. How did you start doing that?
It’s kind of a long story. Ari thinks about suggesting it’s a story better told in person, but they aren’t a puck bunny.
Ari puts the phone down and scritches the top of Marmot’s head. When they pick the phone back up there’s one more message: I’d love to hear it, if you’re free some time.
231 notes · View notes
kookiesspacebuns · 6 years
Text
Suite 114 | Pt. 1 | ((ON HOLD))
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■ pairing: Jimin x Female OC
■ genre/warnings: fluff, angst, eventual smut
■ words: 6k
■ summary: An innocent staring contest leads to a not so innocent relationship.
As soon as the clock ticks 7pm, I throw the last batch of cupcakes I was frosting into the large, industrial-sized refrigerator and let the door slam shut. The loud noise makes me cringe.
I hope my manager didn’t hear that.
Yanking off my apron, I walk to the lunch room and hang it with the others on the wall. My boss, Isa, already knew I was leaving 2 hrs early today but I still poked my head into her office to let her know I was leaving. She responded with a soft smile and ‘Have fun!’ before returning to her paperwork. I was beyond lucky to find such a nice job AND the sweetest boss in the world. Most head bakers in the city were rude, with no care for any of their employees’ feelings. Especially to people like me, who had zero experience.
After 4 years in college for culinary arts, I thought finding work would be easy, but I was wrong. 21 years old and jobless made it difficult to live in the city, but thankfully this job was practically thrown into my lap 3 months ago. How many people can say they were hired through Instagram? I guess all of those perfectly staged photos of desserts I’d upload weren’t a waste of time like everyone used to tell me they were.
A loud honk let’s me know that my ride is here. I look out the front window of the bakery and see my friend, Mina, bouncing in anticipation in the driver’s seat of her car. She’s waving at me to come out with a hurried expression on her face. I quickly turn the shop’s ‘OPEN’ sign on the front door to ‘CLOSED’ and walk out, locking the door behind me. The instant the door latches closed, my heart begins pumping wildly. Adrenaline rushes throughout my body as I run to the passenger side of the car, smiling like a little girl. I practically fall into the seat before shutting the door and buckling myself in.
Mina looks at me as if in shock, “We’re going to meet the most handsome men in the world and you’re wearing….that.” She glares at my shirt.
My eyes follow hers to my soft pink colored blouse with a white peter pan collar. “I forgot to bring a change of clothes this morning. We don’t have time to stop by my place for me to change. So this is what I have to deal with.” I frown.
“Oh no. You are not going to approach your future husband looking like a maid.” She says, almost sarcastically.
My hand goes to cover my heart, pretending I’m hurt by her words. “What if Park Jimin has a maid fetish? You never know.” I purse my lips and try not to laugh, secretly hoping he does have that fetish.
She bursts out laughing and puts the car into gear before taking off. “Well, at least you don’t have to wear those ugly leather shoes you have on.” I glance down at my work shoes. “Because I love you, I brought the converse you left at my house last week. They’re in the back.” She points a finger over her right shoulder towards the back seat.
“Oh my God Mina. You’re the best! I totally forgot I had left those at your house.” I turn in my seat to look for my shoes in the back. They weren’t that easy to find, buried underneath 3 different sweaters and tons of books. I grab them and start to turn around when I spot a black sweater folded neatly on the seat.
“What’s this black sweater for?” I ask.
“Oh, I ordered it online but its it’s a little too big for me. It’s supposed to be oversized, but it’s way too oversized.” She shrugs. I raise one eyebrow and look at her small frame in the seat. She always wears super fitted clothing so the sweater probably isn’t as big as she’s making it out to be. “I have to return it when I get a chance.”
My mind won’t let me get rid of the curiosity about the sweater, so I grab it and open it up in front of me. It feels extremely soft in my hands and the knitted fabric gives easily. Almost all of it is black except for two thick white stripes going across the arms and chest. I instantly fall in love with it.
“I love it, Mina.” I hug it to my chest to show her how much I love it. She shakes her head and laughs at me. “Pleeeeeeeeease let me wear it tonight. Please.” I flash her my best puppy dog eyes.
“Really Anna? You know that doesnt work on me,” my facial expression falls back into place. “You can have it if you like it that much. It can be a super early birthday gift.”
“Awe! Thank you Mina!” My arms awkwardly wrap halfway around her torso in a makeshift hug. She playfully pushes me off of her.
“No problem, girly.”
I slip my arms into the sweater and over my head, pulling it down into place. It fits as perfectly as an oversized sweater can fit, hanging loosely on my sides and reaching almost past my bottom. Sighing contentedly, I reach down to change out of my ugly work shoes and into my black high tops. My feet slipping into my favorite shoes comfortably.
My pink socks, the only item I love from my work uniform, stop right below my knees. The grey pleated skirt touching halfway down my thighs, showing just the right amount of skin.
‘I must look like a school slacker in this outfit.’ I think to myself as I release my hair from its constricting bun and let my long chestnut curls fall down my back.
Mina breaks the short silence with a high pitched squeal. “I can’t believe we’re about to touch BTS. Anna! Are you wrapping your head around this!?” She voices loudly.
My eyes widen out of excitement. “No, I’m not wrapping my head around it fully. It probably won’t even hit me until after we’ve shaken their hands.” We both whine in unison. “I can’t believe that we spent 200 dollars just to touch them. What were we thinking?!”
“I think we were letting our hormones guide us. I just…can’t give up the chance to touch Namjoon’s hand. Anna! Oh my gosh!!!! We’re almost there.” She starts shaking in her seat and fanning her face with one hand. “I don’t know if I’m ready.”
I raise one eyebrow in her direction. Calm down Mina. It’s just a hand.
A really beautiful hand…
Oh my…I’m about to touch Jimin’s hands.
His delicate fingers are going to wrap around mine……I bet they are so smooth.
I bet his lips are smooth too….
I clench my eyes shut and cover my face with both of my hands, trying to clear my mind and keep myself from freaking out like my current chauffeur is doing. Mina is practically hyperventilating in my ear, making it hard for me to calm down.
“Mina! Pay attention to the road! We have to make it there without crashing before we can touch them. Okay?!” I say as calm as I can, even though my insides are as worked up as Mina’s.
It would be a horrible death, crashing on the way to a BTS fan meet. Leaving this world before meeting the man that fuels my, mostly naughty, dreams at night. He would see the news of our car crash not even knowing how much he drove my insides crazy. Tragic. Imagining how soft his hands feel is enough to satisfy me for the rest of my life….and enough to have me squeezing my thighs together right now.
You are in so deep, Anna.
Arriving at the convention center, I immediately regret not just taking the day off. The line to get in is beyond ridiculous. At least 200 fans are waiting, in a barely-moving line, trailing all the way down the street. Thankfully as we pass by the front entrance, we notice a separate line with a sign that says ‘VIP Ticket Holders’, which is what we spent a fortune on wondering if it would be worth it or not.
Mina and I speak in unison, “Definitely worth it.” We look at each other and screech.
We park and practically run to the VIP line. Only six other people are in front of us and our line is moving rather fast. I look to my side at Mina who is fixing her makeup in a little pocket mirror, then glance around to see that almost every other girl is doing the same. I grab my lip moisturizer from my little black backpack and apply it slowly while still observing everyone else. Should I have worn makeup? I could count on both hands how many times I’ve worn makeup in my life. I think its it’s mostly laziness that keeps me from even giving it a chance. I still keep a little bag of essentials at home, in case I have to go somewhere formal.
It starts to sprinkle, which makes the ticket holders work a little faster. We enter the building and rush over to the table where they keep all of the extra goodies that are included in our VIP package. One of the ladies hands me a paper-sized photo for the autographs, an army bomb keychain, a pack of 3D stickers, and of course, my VIP lanyard. The main reason we paid for VIP tickets was to participate in the new activity they introduced for this meet. Apparently, we’ll get a random surprise action we get to do with one BTS member. I’ve heard rumors of selfies and serenades, but serenades seem too good to be true. I hope it is true though. I put the lanyard around my neck and follow Mina into the main room filled with seats.
Taking up most of the room are hundreds of folding chairs arranged so that there’s one big aisle down the middle leading to the stage. On the stage is a long table covered in a black tablecloth. Seven glass bowls filled with what looks like folded pieces of paper are evenly spread along the table top. Behind the table is a big screen covering most of the wall, the rest concealed by long, red velvet curtains.
Mina grabs my hand and drags me to the closest seats we can find, which is in the 3rd row on the left side. We maneuver past other fans already sitting down to two empty seats in the middle of the row. Once seated, we take out all of our new goodies and fangirl over them like everyone around us is doing too. I keep staring at Jimin’s beautiful face in the photo we were given. Mina, doesn’t stop talking about how sexy Namjoon is in his black choker necklace he’s wearing in the photo.
After about half an hour the room is completely full and buzzing with the voices of fangirls and fanboys. I’m almost to the point of putting earphones in to block out all of the noise when the lights dim and someone approaches the microphone on the corner of the stage. As the man speaks, he welcomes us to the fan meet and lists the rules we must follow. No unsolicited touching. No screaming in their faces. No kissing. No gifts. No sharing of personal information. And no pushing.
Some in the crowd groan as he finishes saying the rules. When he speaks again, everyone quiets down. “Today we are testing a new activity that’s never been done before. On the table there are 7 bowls filled with slips of paper. Inside each piece of paper there is a random activity that can be done with that corresponding member. This activity is only available to the VIP ticket holders and can only be done for one member, so choose wisely!”
With that, the noise in the room reaches the loudest it’s been so far. Everyone around us loudly discusses what they think the activities are, ignoring the speaker who is trying to recapture the crowd’s attention.
He finally finishes talking and introduces BTS, causing what feels like the whole building to shake as everyone stands up and screams. Namjoon comes out first in the line and Mina grips my arm as she jumps up and down, screaming beside me. The rest of the members file out after him and stand at the front of the stage to introduce themselves one by one, finishing with a bow.
My heart skips a few beats at the sight of Jimin. A smile is plastered to his handsome face and his dark hair is parted to the side, showing just enough of his forehead. Even the way the way he bows makes me scream internally.
They take their seats behind the table and smile at the crowd while giving finger hearts and arm hearts. Jimin does a big heart with his arms and screams, “I love you AMI!”. My heart explodes in my chest at his absolute cuteness.
Now I’m the one acting crazy.
My cheeks flush red and I jump up on my tippy toes to get a better look at him.
Why am I so short?
I can’t control the pout on my face when I fail at getting a better view. The thought of standing on my chair crosses my mind many times throughout the meet. There were several times when the crowd would go wild and I couldn’t even see what happened. Mina is no help either beside me screaming her head off. Thankfully the girls in front of me sit down halfway through, allowing me to finally enjoy myself.
When the time comes to start forming the line to go onto the stage, my nerves are through the roof. Fans are pushing each other and cutting in line, despite being told to line up in the order we were seated. We wait in line, chatting nervously while watching the members sign things and shake hands with other fans. One girl selects a piece of paper from the bowl in front of Jungkook and immediately screams. When she shows Jungkook the paper, he smiles and gets up to lean over the table. The girl takes out her phone and snaps a selfie with Jungkook as he rests his head on her shoulder and holds up a peace sign. My insides do somersaults just imagining taking a picture like that with Jimin.
Many others in front of us pick out slips from the bowls of whichever member they want, each time squealing and screaming as they read the paper; their screams making my nerves worse each time. So far I’ve only seen people receive selfies and kisses on the hand.
There’s got to be more than those two right?
Once we’re up on the stage, I tell Mina to go before me. She obliges and giddily moves in front of me. I watch her with a racing heart shake J-hope’s hand and tell him how much she loves him. He responds with ‘I love you too’ and flashes her a huge grin before holding his arms out towards her. They hug as I stare at them open-mouthed.
This lucky bitch.
He signs her photo and moves on, giving space for me to approach. He laughs at the incredulous look on my face and reaches his hand out the shake mine.
Oh my gosh, I’m touching Hobi.
His hands are rough….
But also so warm.
I blurt out, “You have a beautiful personality.” He blushes slightly.
“Thank you.” he says.
I hand him my picture to sign. “No, thank you!”
I scrunch my face, cringing at my awkwardness.
Well, it wasn’t a lie…
I hope he doesn’t think I’m weird.
I take my picture and move on to the next few members, trying not to talk too much and embarrass myself. First Tae, then onto Jungkook sitting right next to him. He has his arm around Tae’s shoulder.
Taekook confirmed?
Next is Yoongi who is as chill as ever, leaning back in his chair smiling as I approach him. I slide him the picture and say, “Your lyrics have helped me through so many hard times in my life.”
He sits up and smiles brightly at me. “Thank you so much.” he responds.
I know Namjoon is next just by the high pitched squeal coming from Mina’s direction. I look over at her as Yoongi signs my picture. Namjoon is laughing hard at her reaction and points to the bowl of papers in front of him. Her eyes go wide and she hurriedly reaches in to grab one, then lifts it to read.
“Selca!!!!” she says a little louder than necessary. Namjoon mouths ‘Ahh’ and leans over the table to take a selfie with her. He holds fingers up behind her head, making her face turn beet red. I hear the shutter noise at least 5 times before he sits back down.
Yoongi is still holding the photo and enjoying the show next to us. I reach for it and say, “Thank you.” He smiles and waves.
I barely even register Namjoon speaking to me because of the fact that Jimin is sitting right next to him, and Mina is handing him her picture.
Holy shit.
Namjoon waves his hands widely in front of my face, causing Jimin to notice and look over at me. Our eyes meet and my heart stops beating. He smiles at me.
Holy crap. Calm down heart.
I turn my head to look at Namjoon quickly. He’s shaking his head and grinning with one side of his mouth.
Fuck, I hope I didn’t offend him.
“I’m so sorry.” I apologize quickly and hand him my photo. He takes it and starts autographing it.
“No worries.” he says before handing it back. I grab it and practically bend it with how tense my fingers are, trying to suppress my growing nervousness.
Mina grabs my hand, pulling me out of my trance, and practically yanks me to stand in front of Jimin. She must know how jumbled up my insides are.
Jimin is gazing at me with raised eyebrows when I finally look up at him. His plump lips pursed together as if he’s trying not to smile. I stare at them for a whole second too long and lay my photo on the table in front of me.
My mind goes completely blank, “Ahhh……”
“I love your bracelet.” he says.
What?
Out of instinct I grab my right wrist with my other hand and look down at it. My silver chain bracelet with a single chimmy charm hangs loosely around my wrist.
Duh….how could I forget?
“Uhh…..thank you!” I spit out awkwardly.
Shit. He has to know now that he’s my bias…
I make eye contact with him a few times before I remember the bowl in front of him. He sees me glance at it and pushes it towards me on the table.
Smiling, I reach in and grab a piece of paper hoping it will be something that will help break me out of this awkward situation I am in with Jimin. Park. Jimin. I mentally cross my fingers and open the slip.
I furrow my eyebrows at what it says and hesitantly look at Jimin’s eyes watching me intently. My mouth opens slightly.
“Staring contest?” I say questioningly.
His face immediately lights up and a blinding smile spreads across it. “I wasn’t expecting that!” he exclaims.
A quiet giggle escapes my lips, “Me either..”
Jimin laughs at my confused face and reaches out to grab both of my hands. My heart flutters wildly in my chest at the sensation of his skin grazing mine.
Ahhhhh.
He’s….touching me.
I hold my breath and try to savor the feeling of his soft hands on mine, locking it in my memories for later reference.
“Are you ready?” he tilts his head and raises his eyebrows, waiting for me to respond.
I’ll never be ready…
“Yes.” I respond, barely above a whisper.
He grabs both of my hands tighter and runs his thumb on the back my left hand. My soul leaves my body as he bites one side of his bottom lip.
I’m not gonna survive this at all.
He licks his lips, “Okay…..Go!”
Our staring contest comenses.
I try not to think about how dumb my face looks right now, my eyes wide open trying not to blink and my mouth open as well, concentrating as hard as I can. Those deep brown eyes staring back at me widen and come closer.
He wiggles his eyebrows trying to get me to break, but I hold steady and bite my lip hard to withhold from breaking eye contact.
When he lowers his head slightly so that he’s gazing up at me under low lids I feel heat surge to my cheeks and unwillingly to my core.
Oh my God. This is actually turning me on.
My cheeks grow even more red with the thought of being turned on by Jimin…..right in front of him as he watches me.
I notice him moving slightly in his seat before he let’s go of one of my hands and puts it under the table, out of view. My heart drops at the loss of his warm hand but he repays me with a quick slip of his tongue over his lips, then pulls his bottom lip into his mouth, sucking on it lightly.
I accidently let out a barely audible groan, but it must have been loud enough for him to hear because his eyes immediately go wide and he lets loose of the tight hold he has on his lip. A slow smile creeps across his face. It’s as if he knows how he’s affecting me with those eyes and mouth of his. If only he knew how much they did affect me most nights….
I feel my hand being turned so that my palm is facing up, then his finger sliding from my wrist all the way to the tip of my middle finger, sending little shocks up my arm and through my body. I almost look down at what he’s doing, but I mentally catch myself. I honestly don’t know how much more of this I can handle.
My lower abdomen is tight and tingling when he separates his lush lips and runs his tongue over them slowly and sensually. I blink rapidly and inhale a harsh breath before covering my face with both of my hands and whining into them.
Fuck. I lost.
It was well worth it though.
A beautiful and heartwarming laugh makes me uncover my face and look my victor in the eyes. I pout my lips, pretending I’m upset. Which is honestly far from the truth. I’d gladly lose 100 times over just to see him lick his lips like that again, despite the embarrassment on my side.
He has a cocky grin on his face when he says, “I won.”
So much blood rushes to my face that I feel faint for a moment. I’ve never been attracted to cockiness up until this point.
“Yeah…that wasn’t fair at all to me though!” I respond.
“Why?” he asks with a quizzical look.
Really?
“You can’t expect me to not crack when you’re making those types of faces at me.” I cringe inwardly realizing that I basically just confessed how much his actions really affected me.
He smirks again, “What types of faces?”
My eyes go big.
Wow.
“You….uhh.” I look away for a split second then turn back shaking my head. “Nevermind.”
“Come on,” he laughs.
I start to reply but stop when I see Namjoon nudging Jimin in his side to get his attention.
“You’re holding up the line.” he tells him.
I glance to my left to see that everyone in front of me has already gotten off stage and gone back to their seats. Jin is sitting to the left of Jimin, staring open-mouthed at me.
Holy crap.
He must’ve been watching everything transpiring between Jimin and I. I now have a permanent blush on my cheeks. I smile softly at him and turn back to face Jimin when I hear him speak.
“What’s your name?” he holds out his hand in front of me.
Does he want to hold my hand again?
“Don’t you have a picture for me to sign?” he says in his soft voice.
“Oh! Yeah!” I hand him the photo to sign.
“So, what’s your name?” he smiles.
“Uh. ah…..Anna.”
“Anna..” he repeats it back to me softly. My name falling off his lips like a treasured word, making my heart squeeze. His hand moves across the picture gracefully as he signs it.
The noise of the rest of the room starts getting loud again. I look to my right to see the next two girls behind me glaring daggers my way.
Geez…
Jimin is still writing as I look away from the girls’ harsh stares. How extravagant must his signature be if he’s taking this long? Maybe he’s writing a cute message for me too?
Just as I start to really question how much longer he’s going to take, he finishes and swiftly hands me the photo.
“Bye.” he says grinning.
This boy and his smiling.
I smile back and wave goodbye before moving on to Jin. He says hi and takes the picture from my hands, giving me the final signature I need. I watch him look for an empty space to sign, his eyes searching the photo before widening and looking up at me fast.
What?
I raise one eyebrow out of habit.
What’s wrong with him?
He looks back down and quickly signs his name before handing it back to me. I grab it slowly and pull it to my chest, wondering why he’s acting so strange.
“Thank you.” I say and head back to my seat.
When I reach my seat, Mina is staring at me as if she were looking at a ghost.
“What!?….What is it?” I ask, thinking there must be something wrong with my hair or maybe something stuck in my teeth. Panic seizes my chest as I think of how that could be why Jin was staring at me so surprised.
I sit down in my seat and continue watching her, waiting for her to answer me. “Mina, what?” She looks around us, causing me to follow suit. Everyone close to us is either openly glaring or trying to act like they aren’t.
“People keep talking about ‘the girl holding up the line’"
I look back up on stage to see who shes talking about when it registers that it was me. I AM the girls who was holding up the line.
Oh God.
“Umm….how long was I up there?” I ask.
“Well, I’ve been back in my seat for almost five minutes now.”
“Five minutes!?”
She nods her head. Everyone must be mad that I was at the table longer…..Oh well. I shake my head and sit back. I try to enjoy the rest of the event and pretend I don’t feel everyone staring at me.
Watching the rest of the fans finish up on stage, I can’t help but glance at Jimin every once in a while. Unexpectedly he’s looking right at me when I look over at him around the fifth time. I freeze, not being able to break eye contact with him. Soon another fan goes up to him and he looks away.
It’s not that I don’t want him to look at me, it’s just that it feels like I can’t breathe every time he does.
We make eye contact a few more times before I decide to stop looking his way.
I feel a tap on my shoulder. “Hey, I have to go to the bathroom….I’ll be right back.” Mina whispers.
“Okay.”
The crowd starts screaming and some stand up as soon as Mina leaves the row. I look over in the direction where everyones looking to see two girls taking pictures with Jungkook and Tae.
I wish I could’ve gotten a picture with Jimin.
Subconsciously, my eyes look over at Jimin. He’s relaxed, leaning back in his chair and staring right at me. It’s not a friendly stare, more like a dark stare. He glances around him then holds a picture up in front if him and points at it.
I furrow my brows and look down at the signed picture in my lap. I totally forgot to look at it after everyone signed it. Lifting it up, I glance over everyones signature until I get to jimins.
But its it’s not just a signature…
He wrote my name with hearts on either side followed by his beautiful signature. Underneath is smaller writing. I bring it closer to make out what it says and my heart drops into my stomach.
There’s a hotel name….and a suite number.
Suite 114.
What?
Suite 114….
HOLY FUCKING SHIT.
I know he’s watching me from the tingle I feel on the back of my neck. For sure he’s laughing at my reaction to seeing what he wrote. I’m not even sure if this is real. Is he serious? Is this a joke? Why would Park Jimin want me to know where he is staying?
My stomach heats up just thinking of the things that could happen in that hotel room. Things that I’ve dreamt of many times….
But he might not be thinking that way…..
The tingling feeling is gone so I peek up at him while still keeping my head down. Thankfully he’s signing a photo and not staring me down, making me feel nervous. I can’t take my eyes off of the way his dark hair falls in front of his face. He runs his hand through those black locks and hands the fan her picture, returning his gaze to me once again.
My heart is beating three times faster than it should be as I stare back, not having the mental strength to look away. He flashes me a devilish smile and licks those plump, pink lips once again.
He definitely doesn’t want to just have tea with me in that hotel room…
As hard as it is, I avoid looking towards his end of the table for the rest of the meet. It eventually ends and all of the members of BTS bow and exit the room. The crowd is enormous and it is complete HELL leaving the building, and even worse leaving the parking lot.
We manage to make it back to my apartment around midnight. It should’ve only taken us half an hour to get there, but instead it took two.
On the drive home I told Mina everything that happened between me and Jimin in excruciating detail. She started crying as I described the encounter. To be honest I’m not sure why I’m not crying as well. My ultimate bias wants me to meet him in his hotel room. It’s like I’m living in a fucking fan fiction! Mina didn’t believe it was true until I took out my picture and showed her, which probably wasn’t the best idea seeing as she almost drove off of the road after looking at it.
We walk up the steps to my door and enter my apartment. Well, me and my sister’s apartment. I share one with her for financial reasons. And besides Mina, she’s my best friend.
Mina is grabbing onto my arm as we enter, talking rapidly about whether Jimin could introduce her to Namjoon or not. My sister is sprawled out on the couch half asleep when we walk in and turn the lights on. Mina immediately runs over and throws herself down beside her, grabbing her shoulders. She takes a deep breath before spilling the news.
“Guess who got Jimin’s hotel room number!?” she practically yells in my sisters face.
My sister, Vee, dramatically rubs her eyes and turns to look at me. “NO…You didn’t!” I see her eyes sparkling. I can tell she’s about to freak out like Mina and join in on her bouncing from wall to wall in excitement.
I sigh, “Yeah….” I cover my ears to protect them from the glass-shattering scream my sister releases. She grabs Mina’s hands and they jump around the room like excited children.
Why am I so annoyed by this?
My thoughts are all over the place, my mind almost not even believing I’m awake right now. For some reason, seeing my sister and best friend flipping out makes me want to lock myself in my room. Maybe I just need time to comprehend it all.
I turn, heading in the direction of my room. I make it halfway down the hall before my sister grabs me and pulls me back towards the living room.
“Wait. Why aren’t you freaking out, Anna?” she asks me.
“I don’t know….I am on the inside, trust me! But it’s just so surreal, I feel like its it’s too good to be true.” I’ve never been one to get my hopes up, and this situation was no different.
She holds her hand up to her face and shakes her head. “Well it’s real! Do you even know what this means?!” she smiles hard and waits for me to reply. I just shrug, not having the energy to express everything I’m feeling right now. “Wait….what exactly happened. How did it lead to that?”
As I head to the kitchen to grab something to drink, Mina tells her everything that I described to her on the drive here. I open the fridge and to grab a bottle of water when I see a half empty bottle of moscato in the back. I grab it and pour myself a glass, filling it nearly to the rim. I down half of it, barely even tasting it.
What am I going to do?
Wait. Why am I even questioning this? I can’t deny Park Jimin.
But what if this is all a big joke? What if I show up and him and the rest of BTS laugh at me for having false hope. I don’t think they’d do that…..not those angels…..but it’s all so skeptical.
What if he does this all the time?
Oh my God. What if he just wants a one night stand? I mean…I probably wouldn’t say no but…still it’d be nice knowing what I’m getting myself into before I show up.
Ugh I just don’t know.
My sister’s voice makes me jump, causing some of the wine in my glass to splash onto the floor.
“Well, someone’s clearly stressed.” she giggles and puts her hand on her hip. “Since when do you drink my wine?”
“Since….now.” I tilt the bottom of the glass into air as I gulp down the rest of the wine before placing the empty glass in the sink. I wipe up the little that spilled onto the floor and face my sister.. “Vee, I don’t know what to think right now.”
She and Mina stand side by side, staring at me in disbelief.
“What do you mean you dont know what think?” Mina half yells. “You need to think about what you’re gonna wear when you go to meet Jimin…..easy as that.” my sister nods in agreement.
Groaning, I look at them both. “I don’t know guys, what does he want though?” I say, even though deep down I know full well what he wants. The thought makes my body temperature rise.
“Maybe he wants to get to know you more?” says Vee.
“Or maybe he just wants to fuck.” Mina states matter-of-factly. I groan again and cover my face with my hands.
My sisters voice gets closer, “You’ll never know if you don’t go Sis, and don’t even stand here and tell me that you’d say no to him if that’s what he really wants.”
“I need to go lay down.” I let out a sigh.
Mina gets the hint and pulls me in for a hug, “Okay, just let me know what happens.”
I walk her to the door then head to my room, bypassing my sister as she stands in the middle of the hall.
“I really just need sleep first, Vee.” I say, avoiding eye contact.
My room instantly calms me as I enter. I shut the door and lock it behind me. I find my pajamas and change into them before throwing myself on my bed.
I am so mentally exhausted and confused that I don’t even consider taking a shower. I need to stop thinking and close my eyes. I soon fall asleep and drift into my dreams….
MASTERLIST
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aion-rsa · 3 years
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The Secret World of Star Wars Toys and Collectibles
https://ift.tt/33yQk6J
This article is part of our Collector’s Digest content series powered by:
Want to know something about world of nerdy collectibles? You ask Brian Volk-Weiss, the prolific producer and creator of Netflix’s The Toys That Made Us and A Toy Story Near You, two must-watch documentary series that track the stories of the coolest, rarest, and most valuable toys and collectibles ever made and where to find them.
Volk-Weiss isn’t just a documentarian, though. He’s spent years chasing collector’s items for his own personal collection, and he’s learned a few secrets and heard quite a few stories about the high-stakes world of collectibles along the way.
Star Wars collectibles are of particular interest to Volk-Weiss, who has previously written about the rarest, most expensive Star Wars action figure for Den of Geek. But did you know about the secret Facebook group that deals almost exclusively in precious Star Wars collectibles that sell for six figures? What about the warehouse where sellers who don’t own their own stores keep and sell their prized collectibles?
On a recent Zoom call, Volk-Weiss took us on a trip through the lesser known corners of Star Wars collecting, and even shared his sacred rules when it comes to curating his own collection. Yes, that includes a collectible contingency plan were his house to burn down.
You can check out the interview below. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
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DEN OF GEEK: How did you spend your May the 4th this year?
Brian Volk-Weiss: I am looking at what I already have, praying that some cool stuff gets announced. I mean, that’s usually what I do on the fourth. Well, I mean, before COVID, I’d go to Toys “R” Us, Walmart, and Target and grab whatever gets put out. This year, I ordered an Ahsoka Tano statue, I think about five or six months ago, maybe even more, that I think is supposed to come tomorrow. So if it does, that is exactly how I’ll be spending the fourth, opening that statue that’s long overdue.
You’re not just some creator and producer who works on the idea, but is not invested. You’re in the trenches. In The Toys That Made Us and A Toy Store Near You, you were actually hitting the aisles. You were going to the stores, finding the collectibles.
I try to sell shows that are hobbies of mine, so that a) I’m getting paid to do my hobby, but b) that passion that you need to make your show, because it takes a long time and a lot of work, you really need to be excited about the show to try and do a good job. So yeah, I buy toys. Quite a few.
Is Ahsoka a new favorite character of yours?
Oh, absolutely not. Since the end of [The Clone Wars] season five … I mean, technically, it would have been the end of season four, but really, there’s a moment in the last episode of season five when she resigns from the Jedi Order. I’ve been obsessed with her ever since that moment.
And I have to give myself credit. I knew for over a year before it was announced that Ahsoka was going to be on TV, and I kept my mouth shut. So I’ve known that was coming for a long time. And I kept my mouth shut, Lucasfilm. You should be very proud of me.
Yeah, but by saying that, that now makes me want to try to pull other stuff out of you, because now I’m sure you know about things that are coming down the road.
No, I really don’t. And it’s because of COVID. The reason that I knew about the Ahsoka of it all was I was at Disney or Lucasfilm all the time, and every now and then, you’d hear something. But I kept my mouth shut. Because of COVID, I didn’t have as much access.
So we spoke back in the spring of, well, I guess almost a year ago, for A Toy Store Near You, and if I recall correctly, you said that the Millennium Falcon was your Holy Grail of Star Wars toys?
That’s right. I used to bite my fingernails and my mom told me if I didn’t bite them for a year, she would get it for me. And I stopped. Very hard. Other than quitting smoking, that’s the second hardest thing I’ve ever quit. I’m not even trying to be funny. And I got my Millennium Falcon and proceeded to obliterate it over the next 10 years.
It lasted 10 years? That’s actually pretty good. But that certainly was not your first Star Wars toy?
No, my first. I still have my original R2-D2 and one of my original stormtroopers. I still have those. And in my collection that is absurdly big now, I do believe those are the two old…I have two mini figs from Lego. Those four toys are tied for the oldest toys in my 2000 plus toy collection.
And what is the current status of that stormtrooper and R2?
It’s funny you asked that, because this is crazy. The R2-D2 and one of those mini figs is in my home collection. The stormtrooper and the other mini fig is at a friend of mine’s house in the insane off chance, this will show you how crazy I am, that…I’ve had to evacuate my house twice in the last two years because of fires. If God forbid anything happens to my home here in LA, my two oldest pieces, I have a backup. That’s how crazy I am.
It’s sort of like, whenever the Congress and president gather in Washington, there has to be the designated survivor, right?
These are my toy designated survivors. I’m going to steal that from you. I love that.
We’re pretty close in age. The R2 unit I had, it’s still around, but man, it’s not in great shape. The dome is loose, the sticker is off. And then my stormtrooper, totally yellowed. Is yours the same thing? Or does it actually look good?
My R2’s dome is great. It still makes that super duper weird noise that, we all know how it was made, but it was still kind of weird. But the stickers are very faded. And my stormtrooper, you can tell it’s 40 years old, but it’s not yellow or anything.
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What are the figures that you think people are kind of getting into now? Because obviously, we’re legacy collectors and nerds, we grew up with the first generation of it, but what are the things that people are attaching themselves to now? Anecdotally. As much as you can say.
Ahsoka Tano, all of her stuff, especially because it was made in limited numbers when it came out in the early aughts, as they say, maybe not early aughts, but like 2008 to 2012, there’s an Ahsoka Tano that’s $2000-3000 now. Not a prototype, not a sample, not a paint test. Literally an Ahsoka Tano that was still in the package. That’s two to three grand now. That’s because a lot of the people that are 10 to 20 years behind us, they’re starting to have money. And the same way you and I wanted to start collecting when we got a little money, now they are too.
Is part of that because of the multi-generational component? I guess maybe the question is, what makes Star Wars collectors different than others? I always kind of wonder if it is this sort of multi-generational element to it that’s maybe not present with other franchises or IP.
The main thing about Star Wars collecting that is different than almost any other kind of toy collecting there is, is the amount of people doing it and the amount of data that exists. There are, and I’m making this up, so please, anyone who sees this that’s offended, I am making these numbers up, I don’t know the real numbers, but there are like 10 types of Luke Skywalker New Hope figures with…You need a scanning electron microscope to see the difference in the hair color changes. There is so much data. Oh, that light hair with a freckle on the cheek? Oh, that came from the Taiwan factory. Brownish hair with no freckle? That came from the British factory.
There’s a private Facebook group called Deal or No Deal. It covers all toys. There’s only 3000 members. I mean, I’ve seen stuff sell in the six figures. Very, very high end general toy group. It’s 85% Star Wars. So that’s what makes Star Wars collecting unique compared to any other toy.
You’re saying that the accumulated data continues to unveil other collectibles that we did not know about?
I’ll be honest with you, I’m not trying to be funny or humble, I don’t consider myself a toy expert. I know more about toys than most people, but most people are toy collectors. But I mean, there’s like 10 to 20 Star Wars collectors who have been doing it almost as a full-time job for 20, 25 years. So those 10 to 20 guys, and I think they’re all guys, I mean, they’re probably embarrassed by me talking about Star Wars. So I learned from them…I mean, I could learn one to five new things a week just from knowing those people.
What’s the craziest Star Wars collectible quest you’ve ever heard of? The epic lengths that someone has gone to to pursue an item? Does anything come to mind?
I think Gus Lopez going to Tunisia with a storage container. That’s probably my favorite. I mean, he literally went all around Tunisia to the sets and was buying stuff off the people that own the land. The sets are still there. I went there for my bachelor party and I was there, I think, 10 years after Gus. So what was still there when I was there in 2012, and I think he was there in 2002, approximately…And I’ve seen a lot of his collection. Almost any question you would ask. Like, “What’s the best story?” The answer is Gus Lopez.
And you can get really crazy with the collecting, and sometimes you have to establish rules. I mean, I know I’m fortunate to work a lot of comic-cons, and I’m out there, and I’ve established rules for collecting so I don’t spend too much money or go too crazy. Do you have any rules that you apply to yourself?
Well, number one rule? It must go on display. So I will not buy anything to just go into storage, because if I did that, it theoretically violates my whole reason for toy collecting, which is the objects give me some joy. So if I’m putting it in the garage or a storage shed, it doesn’t give me any joy. This is getting harder and harder for two reasons. One, I now have a lot of “insider knowledge.” So I’m not buying things that I know will depreciate in value. So that’s tough. And then the other thing is, it’s kind of a bad theory because it ends up costing me more money in the long run, because I guarantee you, I will have to buy a new house next year because my collection room is already getting too small. But that’s the first rule. Nothing goes to storage.
My second rule. Have you ever heard of this place called Frank & Son? It’s two full-size warehouses where I think they tore the wall down in between them. And I think Monday to Friday, it’s where toy sellers who don’t own a store keep their stuff, and then they sell it online. On Saturdays, it’s open to the public.
So before COVID, my rule was I would go there only once a year for my birthday. So that’s already a rule, because if I went there more than once a year, we’d be bankrupt and living on the streets. And two, I bring a thousand dollars cash and I leave all my credit cards at home. And by the way, dude, I’ve gone in there and spent it in the first 12 minutes I’ve been in there and basically had to walk around like a jackass for two hours and not buy anything else.
The Star Wars Topps cards have very much been part of the collecting within the Star Wars fandom, and you can display those. Did you have them as a kid? Have you ever collected them as an adult?
I had them as a kid. If I had to guess, I had all of them. Right now in my collection, I have one Star Wars pack. My second favorite character is the aforementioned Ahsoka Tano. My favorite character in all of Star Wars is Return of the Jedi Luke, specifically that. And the only Star Wars cards I have is an unopened pack, it’s probably worth five bucks, and it’s him in Jedi Luke attire.
You are working on so many things. I know you’ll have a new season of Toys That Made Us at some point, I know you’re working on this Gates McFadden Star Trek podcast your company is producing. What else is on the way that you can talk about, man?
There’s a lot of stuff I can’t talk about yet, but two things I can talk about. We’re partnered with Dwayne Johnson and his company, Seven Bucks, and we have a show coming out called Behind the Attraction that’s all about the attractions at the various Disney parks. I can’t say when, but that’s coming out this year.
And then we have another show, which I literally cannot even believe is real, called The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek. We’re making that for History Channel, and to the best of my knowledge, it is the deepest dive documentary about all of Star Trek. I think we’re doing the first documentary ever about the animated series. The first one out ever about Voyager.
And then A Toy Store Near You, which is coming out in June, season three. So I’m pretty excited about 2021.
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