#this listing is not the best price but it is the most aesthetic | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

awniie · 3 months

Text

AT LEAST LOOK AT ME WHEN YOU LIE

ᣞ ⊹ ݁ summary: your boyfriend suguru finds the best way to punish you !!

꒰ content: mean!sugu, fem!reader, pussyslapping, praise/degradiation, cum denial, feel like this whole thing is kinda a niche kink

ㅤㅤㅤ⭑ notes: my ‘mean suguru’ drabble was based on this so if some stuff sounds familiar it’s cus i took this n drabble-fied it; also this is for the anon who asked for it <33 ALSO @d0nk3y-k0ng my new-found geto fixation is your fault <33

“Suguru, can you help me?…this thing is too heavy!” you called out, voice straining as you struggled to bring the giant cardboard box through the door. It was way too heavy for you, and of course the delivery people had quickly set it outside the door, escaping the potential work of having to bring it inside. Your boyfriend quickly rushed to your aid, grabbing the opposite side of the box. “I got it baby, where did you wanna put it again?” Suguru asked, setting the box against the wall and looking at you.

“I wanted to put it in the living room. That way it’ll be the most accessible.” You told him. You two hand just moved into your new place and decorating was the sole thing on your mind. You spent hours on pinterest, trying to find the perfect aesthetic for your new home. You valued your home,so much so that you started repeating all those cringey aphorisms whenever you were questioned about your new-found obsession.

“Home is where the heart is, sugu.” You told him. He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Okay, but what does that anything to do with spending $100 on a house plant?” You let out a sheepish laugh. “Well…I can take care of the plant. Which takes heart…?” You murmured. It was an inane suggestion, which was appropriate for the circumstance of spending $100 on a plant. “Sounds a bunch of bullshit to me.” Your boyfriend told you. He was necessarily happy with all the money being spent on what seemed like superficial things, he seemed to be happy with the results of your decorating.

It took about 30 minutes to situate this new mirror, but for good reasons. It was big, like really big. Leaning, it was taller than you and almost as tall as your 6’3 boyfriend. It was wide as well, providing a perfect view of anyone who looked into it. It was a gorgeous peice of furniture. The frame was a creamy white, with ornate molding. There were carefully crafted swirls and curves on it, with tiny clay embellishment. It had looked like something out of a fairytale, like a mirror that could reveal the deepest desires of whoever dared look inside. It was perfect for your new house, the only thing that wasn’t so perfect was the extravagant price. Your jaw almost dropped when you saw the cost. No way in hell would Suguru let you buy it, no matter how much you beg or how many tears you spill.

So you searched for alternatives. Any sort of duplicate or listing on another site would be scouted out and search throughly before you succumb your wallet to $2,500. You must’ve been god-kissed that day, as the only cheaper listing was $1,700. Still, it wasn’t something you felt 100% sure about buying, but what other options were there? Suguru would be proud of you for finding a cheaper offering and thinking about a budget. So, you went ahead and bought it, feeling pretty proud of yourself for doing so. Did you tell Suguru about the purchase? no way. You’d only tell him if he asked, and you prayed with all your heart that he wouldn’t.

“Sooo…do you like it?” you asked him hopefully. Maybe he would say yes and then move on to something else, and not ask that dreadful question. Maybe, when you told him about the bargain you made, he’d be proud of you for your efforts. “Mhmmm, t’s real pretty.” He put his hand on his chin, as if thinking. “How much did we pay for this again?” Suguru asks, stepping back and giving it an appraisal.

Shit. It was silent for a good 10 seconds. You could feel the way your words dried up on your tongue and died, as if they were too scared to come up. He raised an eyebrow and asks again, looking at you through the reflection of the mirror. “How much did we pay for this thing?” Stil not answer. He came up behind you, snaking one arm around your waist, while his open hand went to your chin. “Baby, you gon’ answer me?” His ghostly purple eyes searing yours through that cursed mirror.

…

“I-I just forgot to tell you-…!” you whined, legs buckling as you felt another sharp stinging sensation land on puffy clit.

“Oh, you did?” Suguru asked facetiously. You nod and cry as you feel another slap land on your clit. He then grabs your face with his hands, holding your cheeks between his slick-coated fingers. “At least look at me when you lie, baby.” He said as he guided your face in the mirror.

This was humiliating. He had you spread out on the floor, pussy glistening and your back pressed up against his chest. He had took upon himself to punish you, which subsequently turned into something lewd and twisted. Hence the being sprawled out, leggings and panties long discarded and receiving countless slaps on your cunt. It was painfully obvious that he was hard, feeling his length that was being squashed up against your ass. Your hair was messy and out of place, your skin sticky while drool and tears coated your chin. The worst part? He was doing this right infront of the new mirror and he wouldn’t even let you look away, so you were forced to fully embrace your current state.

“Please sugu. I didn’t mean too…just lemme cum please? You begged, your voice shaky and full of hiccups.

“Noo, only good girls get to cum .” He cooed, his finger playing with your little bundle of nerves. You’d been at this for about an hour now. He’d start to finger your cunt, and then he’d hit it as punishment. The closest you’ve been to finishing was the half-broken orgasm you’d stolen from his fingering, which in return you got another slap.

“Could’ve been done a long time ago. You’re making this so difficult for me baby.” He whispered in your ear, as if this hurt him more than it did you. “So now, are you gonna tell me the truth, or are you gonna keep lying to me? Cus’ trust me, I won’t hesitate to hit this pussy again” He threatened, the hand on your sticky clit moving even more slowly as an incentive.

You meant to shake your head, but when he swiftly plunged his fingers into your weeping cunt, the sloppy sounds of your slick, must’ve drowned out whatever of your senses was left. “y-yes…!”

You saw the gleam of that dangerous smile in the mirrors reflection. “I knew you would. Such a smart girl, yeah?”

Then your boyfriend laughed, a soft and smooth laugh that should not have gone down to your lower stomach with molten delicious heat. Could you blame yourself though? His fingers were pumping in-and-out of you with tantalizing proficiency, making your insides do somersaults. The way that syrupy-sweet praises dripped off his tongue alongside bitter jeers. Your brain was too far fucked out for so many conflicting emotions. “Go on now..say what you needa say to me.”

“m’ sorry for spending your money sugu! I shouldn’t have bought it, should’ve a-asked!” You confessed, buckling you hips in tandem with his fingers. “Ah ah…no moving.” He reprimanded, taking those fingers out and slapping your hole again. Your body jolted at the sudden sting and then slumped back against his chest.

“Look at you, all teary eyed and wet-pussied. You like this shit, don’t yeah?” He catchesized, with that stupid-stupid smirk on his face. “I bet you’re not sorry at all.”

“No-yes-no m’ sorry..! M’ really really sorry! ” You could barely understand what he was saying. Your pleasure was the only thing that mattered right now, all other senses finger-fucking out of you a long time ago. Geto loved you like this though. Fucked dumb and too far down the abyss of your own pleasure to think properly, all inhibitions lost. It was the easiest way to get an answer out of you.

“I think you bought this mirror just for yourself. Just so you could watch yourself get fucked? He guessed, dragging his hands across your quivering thighs. You hated how soft his voice sounded, especially when accusing you. whimpered as he did, wishing he’d just hurry and put you out of your misery. “N-no”

he frowned, stopping his hand in its tracks. He brought his lips close to shell of you ear, sending shivers down your spine and more wetness to your cunt. “Look at me, and don’t lie.”

You looked at him, straight through the mirror. “I promise, i didn't sugu. I just wanted our home to look nice!” you confessed, sniffling and squeezing your thighs together to create some sort of friction for your achey pussy.

Suguru felt his heart melt a little. You were so pitiful with your shaky mewls and whines . He couldn't help but feel a little bad for being so mean to his precious girl. He shouldn't punish you too hard, obviously you didn't know much better. “Aww..look at that face. How could I be so mean?” He told you, trailing that finger up on down your slit. He smiled at how you hips yet again bucked at his wandering digits. “So needy. Poor baby, drooling n’ crying just like this pussy. Guess I should give you what you want, yeah?”

“Mh! Yes sugu, please lemme cum now! I’m so sorry, won’t do this ever again.” You begged. At this point you were full on crying, all other senses overrides by your need to cum. His thick fingertip teased your sopping entrance, re-coating the fingers in cum.

He simply laughed, diving those fingers back into your pulsing heat. “Oh, I know baby. I know. Now watch me as I give this pussy just what she needs.”

2K notes · View notes

hiveworks · 8 months

Text

Convention Guide: Basic Tabling Gear

September 2023

Whether you’re an artist alley newbie or you’ve been doing the convention circuit for years, putting together your table essentials is a crucial part of selling your wares at events and ensuring your weekend goes smoothly. In this guide, we’re covering the basics of setting up your first ever table.

This list is a non comprehensive assessment of things a tabler might need and should be used as a simple starting point. The four main categories we will cover are:

The Display

Behind the Table

Money

Quality of Life Suggestions

—🐝—

1. The Display

a) Tablecloth

Starting from the base layer, we’ve got tablecloths– an easy way to add some color and personality to your table. Your tablecloth doesn’t even have to be an actual tablecloth! You can use a length of fabric cut from a bolt at your local craft store. Convention tables tend to be 6’ long, so when selecting your fabric, look for measurements longer than 72” (183cm).

Play with color and texture to find something that fits the theme of your work on display. Patterns can be fun, but might distract from your inventory or signage if the colors/design are too bold and busy. Tip: your cloth may get messy from food behind the scenes or dust/dirt if you do outdoor events. Get something that’s easy to wash in your machine!

b) Display supports

Most artists these days use cube organizers that break apart into flat panels and connector joints. They are easy to store when not in use, easy to transport in a suitcase or tote, and you can change the shape depending on your table set up and inventory. Tip: constructing your display to include shelves that face you behind the table helps organize your backstock during the show.

These cubes aren’t your only option. Some people use milk crates, picture frames, wooden boxes, custom built shelves, etc. Consider what works best for you, your aesthetic, and your storage/transportation needs. When in doubt, you can always lay your goods flat on the table.

c) Signage

Having clear signage on your items to denote price helps people feel more comfortable purchasing from your table. Your price markers don’t have to be fancy. Prices written neatly on pieces of paper and paperclipped to your books or taped up next to your stickers is a simple and effective strategy. Some people print out a price list or use a sign board. It’s totally up to you!

Include a sign with your name somewhere in your display, including your social media handle if it is different from your artist name. This will help fans of your work more easily recognize you. Tip: use a QR code prominently displayed on your table that links to your portfolio, linktree, etc.

d) Banner/backdrop

Look out behind you! Whether it’s a banner, a backdrop, or something else, the space behind your seat can be put to use. While it is relatively easy to print custom banners at most print shops, many tablers cite this as an unnecessary expense, especially for first time artist alley participants. If you’d like to hang a collage of your work behind you, look for photography backdrop tripods, which can collapse and fold up neatly. The behind-the-table space is shared with other artists, and it can get cramped. Be mindful of your needs when deciding how to do a backdrop. Some artists opt to exclude a backdrop and just use their cubes to arch over them.

Optional: Decorate your table! Flowers, string lights, plushies, etc. can all bring a special one of a kind experience to your set up.

2. Behind The Table

a) Inventory

Now that we’re behind the table, let’s talk about what’s going on back here. Starting with inventory. If you’re absolutely unsure how much to bring, a good starting number is about 10 of each item. If you sell out, congratulations! You’ll know what to bring more of next time, or you’ll know you should raise your prices. For storing inventory during transportation to the con and while at the show, you might consider simple boxes, an accordion folder, or a portfolio case, depending on what kind of items you’re bringing. Reminder: if you’re using display cubes, structuring them to give you shelves on your side of the table will help you keep things organized.

b) Suitcase/storage tote

Under your feet will be your suitcase/tote box, and perhaps a dolly, if you used one to wheel your boxes into the building. It is recommended that your suitcase/tote has a lock on it, as you’ll be leaving inventory overnight. Hopefully no matter what you use, it has wheels of some kind. All this gear gets heavy. If you are not using a wheeled device, make sure to check your pack’s weight as you assemble your supplies. You will have to carry it from the parking garage or bus stop through the convention center, and back out again at the end of the show.

c) Cover cloth

What else is in that box? Your cover cloth. This one is optional, but some artists like having a lightweight cloth to cover their table when the day is done. Something like a vinyl picnic tablecloth works perfectly. The cover cloth helps prevent anyone from accidentally knocking your things over or having things go missing.

d) Business cards

On your side of the table, you ought to have plenty of back up business cards. You’ll have some of these out on the table for passersby to pick up, but this item is the number one thing you’re going to hand out the most of. It’s always better to have too many rather than too few. For a single three day convention, you might need 200+ cards. Make sure your website/online shop is easy to find on your cards. Cute business cards go a long way to making your table memorable long after the con has ended.

Bonus supplies: Here’s a short list of things you might need throughout the weekend to touch up your display. Keep them in a bag and bring them with you every time you table!

Masking and clear tape

Spare paper for impromptu signage

Sharpies and pens

Zip ties

Scissors

3. Money

a) Card reader

The most commonly used card reader is Square, but there are alternatives. Research their fees and prices to determine what fits your needs. You’ll want to get a hold of a card reader and set up your account well in advance of your show. Card readers require wifi/data to work and will only work in your country of business, so take that into consideration when packing for your show. Most convention halls have wifi (sometimes at a cost), but if your show is outdoors you might be relying on data.

b) Cash/change

Cash is king! Make sure to bring enough cash/change for your show. About $25-50 in small bills is usually enough if you’re also accepting card. At the end of the day, consider tucking your big bills away in a secure location in your hotel room. If something were to happen to your bag, you’ll appreciate not having your entire weekend’s earnings in it!

c) Fanny pack

Keeping your cash attached to you at all times is smart. People often use fanny packs or cross body bags to manage their money.

4. Quality of Life

a) Backup battery

Since you may be using your phone to complete transactions, or maybe you’re drawing on your iPad with time to kill, you’ll want to bring a back up battery. Most tables don’t have access to electricity, so having a battery and charging cables is a good idea.

b) Hand sanitizer & masks

One hand sani pump out front and one behind the table. You’ll be handling money, shaking hands with strangers, and touching surfaces that thousands of people have been touching all day. As long as there have been conventions, there have been con plagues. You don’t want to get knocked out with a cold (or worse) so masking is great!

c) Table buddy

If you’re able to, bring a friend to help you table. Cons will often give tablers 2 passes (one for you and one for a friend). They can help you grab coffee or lunch, get change, package a big purchase, cover you for bathroom breaks, etc. Table buddies are truly the unsung heroes of artist alley.

d) No table buddy? No problem.

Check in with con staff and volunteers. Many comic cons will have a green room for artists to take a snack break and decompress, and con staff will help guide you there. Some conventions also enlist volunteers to help sit your table while you’re away. They’ll make sure your table stays in order, direct people to your business cards, and inform curious patrons when to expect you back.

e) Fun stuff!

There will be plenty of downtime. Con hours are long and often slow in the mornings. Bring something to keep you occupied, but not too engrossed, so you can easily pull away to greet customers and fans. Fidget toys, a puzzle book, knitting or crochet project are all great ideas.

f) Get Comfy, Eat Well, Stay Hydrated

Going from your quiet desk to the high octane energy of artist alley can be a shock to the system. Some items to help reduce the fatigue are: noise canceling headphones during downtime and breaks, sunglasses to combat the fluorescent lights and rest your eyes, slippers or comfy shoes for under the table, and layers of clothing. Convention halls can fluctuate temperatures wildly. With lots of AC during the summer, sweaty crowds, and the flow of traffic to your table, you’ll be working up a sweat fulfilling transactions one second then freezing after sitting still for a minute.

Most importantly, have a small cooler with snacks and drinks. You may not get a break, but it’s important to stay hydrated and energized.

—🐝—

The next time you're at a convention, take note of displays that inspire you. #ArtistAlley and #ConTable tags on Instagram or TikTok can connect you with creators sharing their setups. Your table design is an opportunity to be creative and express yourself, while also learning along the way what works for you. Most tables, however, are built up over several convention seasons of trial and error, so while it’s good to take note of others' displays as a source of inspiration, try to keep your first table relatively simple. The more you table, the more you’ll be able to identify your needs for you and your merchandise.

We’ll close out this blog post with one final suggestion. Big, multi-day conventions can be fun, but they can also be expensive. Your tabling supplies and inventory aside, if you’re doing a show away from home, you’ll contend with table fees (often $250-450 USD), hotel, transportation, meals, etc. And not every convention is a good fit for your wares! Small, local events and art festivals are a great, low stakes, relatively cheap (or free) way to start tabling. Check your area for zine fests, queer makers markets, and craft fairs.

Sound off if there’s anything we missed! Good luck on your tabling adventures.

#tabling #convention #comic con #artist alley #hiveworks #blog

164 notes · View notes

thegreatstoryteller · 10 months

Text

Body Swap N’B

Welcome to Body Swan N’B! The premiere destination for all your body swap needs! We all know traveling can be hard. Booking flights, booking travel, and most importantly those outrageous prices. Don’t worry. We’re here with the solution! Why go to those snobby body swap hotels, when you can swap from the comfort of your own living room right into the amazing destination of our choice. Our list of thousands of home owners want YOU to take their body out for a spin from the comfort of THEIR own home.

Choose between a collection of countless locations and individuals of your choosing. Want to cruise in the Caribbean as a local? Want to sample authentic Parisian cuisine as a refined food connoisseur? How about ride the Texan planes as a real cowboy!? All of that is possible and more with Body Swap N’B! Don’t believe us? Just listen to our satisfied customers

Reviews:

DisneyDad85: 2 out of 5 stars.

My family and I were planning a trip to Disney and I wanted to find somewhere close to the park. The location was just as promised, a 3 bedroom with a great view. The bodies were not what I expected. I assumed when the listing described a “great way to enjoy the best parts of youth” that we’d be given some family friendly bodies. Not some local young men who were rooming together. I guess “young” is relative as my eldest boy found himself in the most mature body. Being slightly overweight was new for him as he was always so nerdy and skinny. And as always, on his phone talking to his friends bragging about his new body.

He loves being the oldest and eating whatever he wants without worry of food allergy. I told him that he wouldn’t like it if he had to worry about all that weight he’s putting on his new body later, but he doesn’t listen.

Then there was my youngest! He loved the vintage aesthetic to the rooms we were given and he couldn’t stop playing with the phones there.

He was certainly happy that he was tall enough to ride all the rides at the park, but I did not like how he was now able to consume all the alcohol at the various bars around the area. But being 6′7 and confident, it’s no like anyone would think to card him. Meanwhile I was now the only one of our party not old enough to drink only being 20 years old! Gosh… maybe I shouldn’t have snuck into that bar on the final day of the trip. I can’t believe I drunkenly renewed our vacation for next year! Still trying to contact customer support to discuss cancellation!

Overall good vacation, but just make sure you inquire about the bodies before making a big trip. I still feel just like the reckless 20 year old I was a few days ago. Almost like I’m still on vacation… maybe another trip will do us some good in the near future.

AlwysABridesMaid: 3.5 out of 5 stars

So I like to imagine myself being very open minded when it comes to these swaps and vacations! I’ve tried out loads of these vacations with my girlfriends and I when we did sorority parties in college! However, I’ve got to say this is the first time me AND my entire party ended up as ALL guys. Normally it wouldn’t be an issue as we love exploring new experiences and locations, but I don’t think my best friend the bride envisioned being surrounded by a bunch of hairy men during her wedding ceremony. That’s right every single one of her bridesmaids were now half a foot taller and a lot more manly than she expected. I’m mostly mad that I couldn’t fit into our tailor made dress. That being said, the wedding still went off without a hitch! We had so much fun doing spa days, bachelorette parties, and the actual day of wedding in our new bodies despite the small hiccup.

Would I do this again? Definitely given a heads up about the party. But now that I’m intimately aware of some new male physiology I’d definitely like to try it again. The best man certainly wants to do some more exploration with me after last night. Anyway, has anyone ever heard of the so called “side effects” people keep referring to? The bridesmaids and I all found ourselves inside these book smart engineers and now I feel like my IQ is through the roof. All the girls and I can do at the nail salon is just gab about research papers, new theorems, and the latest technological marvels making the news!

WifeGuy88: 1 out of 5 stars

I swear I’m a feminist. Gotta get that out there before I say that I’m not sure my wife and I should do another of these trips. I heard that there used to be lots of safety procedures when it came to these swaps, but I recently heard that unlike Swap Hotels, they do not have to cover any kinds of safety or ethical costs associated with normal swapping.

I’m getting ahead of myself. The reason I’m not jazzed about Body Swap N’ B is because… I was a bit jealous my wife was bigger than me…. I know we booked a room for a loving couple…. But I didn’t expect both pairs of that couple to be male. Being a former college athlete and finding myself in a 5 foot nothing twink was a big enough shock.

But when my wife came stomping in from the other room as a big mass of hair and muscle… well let’s just say that weekend went very differently than I imagined… It all feels like such a blur…. And my ass is still sore…

But no! I’m leaving this as a warning. There are reviews saying your mind thinks differently after the swaps and that some people are claiming they are stuck in those bodies longer than they like! Also my girlfiend signed us up for another trip and due to their zero cancellation policy I know we’re gonna be there sooner than later if things go their way! Not that I mind…. I rather liked being thrown around by a larger man for a change… I’m sure it’s gonna be a lot of fun… but that doesn’t take away from the fact that this company can’t keep getting away with this. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find my wife some new male outfits that she wants to try for our next vacation.

BenTheOrganizer: 5 out of 5 stars

Great for family reunions!

Normally I was the one that plans all these big family events. Criticism here and there about this location being too hot, too cold, or too far. But hey! Finally got a family gathering we can get behind! Who would’ve thought that it was when my entire family were in the body of one of the biggest college fraternities in the state! Turns out aunt Marjorie doesn’t have time to comment on my lack of partner when she’s doing a keg stand while uncle Larry cheers her on. Turns out cousin Jeremiah can’t brag about making partner as his law firm when he can finally cut loose dancing to some music! Racist grandpa Marvin won’t be making any problematic remarks about minorities when he’s enjoying his big black body so much. And the younger second cousins aren’t nearly as annoying when you can share some beers with them while we all test out our new muscles in the frat’s personal gym.

My parents were surprisingly the most into the idea. My mom and dad are some of the most heteronormative couples I know but it wasn’t 5 minutes before someone found them making out the frat house locker room. They kept saying it wasn’t gay if it was two bros, but I don’t think any amount of “No Homo” could save face there. Especially when they were caught a few hours later doing the same thing.

As for me… well maybe I put myself into the hottest guy there, the frat president, on purpose when I filled in the special requests portion. But hey. I think I deserve it for a job well done. In fact as I’m writing this review I’m still in his body! After all thanks to the “Extend your Stay” option, we were able to extend our swap vacation for another 2 weeks. Maybe if this continues going so well I can talk to the company about having us keep these bodies. I don’t think my entire family can go back to their old lives when they are loving being loud, raucous, muscle heads every day of the week. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got another frat party to plan. Thanks Body Swap N’ B!

Body Swap And Breakfast is not liable for any lasting physical, mental or reality changes. Any long lasting development of new abilities or attributes that is shared with a previous swapped body please contact your doctor. Body Swap And Breakfast is not affiliated with Swap Hotel and its affiliates.

Book your Body Swap N’ B vacation with us today!

#thegreatstoryteller #body swap #BodySwapN'B #gender change #female to male #mental change #race change #racial change

332 notes · View notes

nipuni · 8 months

Note

im sure you get this question all the time but how do you go about procuring those amazing outfits? do you thrift, get things tailored, make items yourself? do you buy things as you go or do you search for specific items one at the time? it's just that id love to have a style like yours (but masc haha) and i always wonder how you do it because i wouldn't know where to get clothes such as you wear anywhere, let alone for a price i can afford. and also, now im here, thank you for your amazing art, it always brightens my day when you post <3

Hello! 🥰 I collect pieces from different places that I feel fit the aesthetic I created for myself, kind of like character design, and I stick to certain silhouettes and color palettes that I already know I will feel comfortable in.

In my case I go for structured pieces instead of flowy draping ones, plain colors over patterns unless it's straight lines, earth and jewel tones on the warmer and muted side, medium height heels, gold over silver, etc. All of this makes for safe purchases for me no matter the store or outfit

Most of my clothes I buy from the historical reproduction shops I list under my posts ( I made a list some time ago here and also in the tags of each post as well as in my Instagram )

Some of these shops are on the more expensive side but offer custom tailoring which is ideal and a must for me because I'm built weird 😅 so I try to get my staple pieces there and plan the whole outfit around it before purchasing.

Then you can get the basic pieces to complete the looks from regular stores! stuff like plain shirts and trousers I usually get from places like Zara

I also thrift at curated stores which makes it easier to find interesting pieces (Edwardian revival from the 70's, capes, belts, handkerchiefs, scarves, bags and hats are some of the things I go for) I don't go with an outfit plan in mind for this, I just look around every once in a while and see what I can find and what I can do with it since it's usually very cheap too. I've also found that thrifting for masc clothes is way easier (at least where I live?) for some reason. I go antique shopping for accessories too, hats and pins from the 20's!!

Then the more specific and inexpensive stuff to tie the outfits together I get from aliexpress, (like the clock bags) and for blouses I also shop at lolita stores online sometimes

When it comes to planning outfits I just play dress up in front of the mirror like you see in the videos I make, I pull out a bunch of stuff from my closet and start matching. it helps me see what I'm missing or what colors would work best or which cut or fit creates an interesting look. It also helps you see and remember everything you have so when you are shopping or dressing up to go out you have this mental library and know whether something new will fit in with your wardrobe or not.

I also got a sewing machine some time ago and I'm teaching myself to sew! So far I've only fixed mine and my husband's clothes to make them fit but I'd love to move on to making my own clothes eventually!

I think that cultivating a personal style makes shopping for clothes easier and allows you to invest in pieces you know you will keep without fear of them going out of style and you don't feel the pressure to update your whole wardrobe every year. it's also super fun and has helped me build confidence and feel a lot more at peace with my appearance. I hope any of this helps you 😭 I rambled a lot I'll stop now!! Thank you so much for the kind words!! ❤️❤️❤️

#nips replies #this is so long why am I this insufferable

140 notes · View notes

footballffbarbiex · 4 months

Text

player: Ben Chilwell words: 880 so slightly over request: Ben Chilwell - no pref - 500 - 750 words - My birthday is the 20th Dec, Chilly’s is 21st Dec, so shopping for birthday gifts in among the Christmas gifts, a night away to celebrate both birthdays in a cabin with a hot tub, snow, real fire, smut, before the madness of Christmas and the Christmas fixture list kicks off…

You hadn’t known what to expect when Ben said that he was taking you away as a mini birthday treat for you both and an early christmas present. You didn’t want to think how much was spent to secure this cabin, what with anything surrounding children’s school holidays and Christmas was an automatic price hiker after all. You hadn’t been sure what to think when he’d told you to pack for a “cabin in the woods”. Which is hardly surprising considering your first thought was “I’ve seen how this movie plays out before”.

Snow had already begun to fall before either of you had climbed from the car but seeing it fluttering down from the sky, between the branches and landing softly onto the building had made you grin from ear to ear. From the outside, it truly looked like a log cabin with its large logs stacked upon one another until it reached a thatched type roof, but once inside, you realise this was merely an aesthetic with most of the downstairs walling being exposed brick.

With a large AGA cooker taking pride of place in the kitchen area which overlooked the raised decking in the backyard and an impressive open fire with a small basket of logs on either side of the fire proudly holding a sign stating to be used if cold - each basket containing wood with a burn time of 3-8 hours, enabling you to pick the best log for your ideal burning duration.

Ben had dragged the suitcases from the car to the bedroom up the stairs which featured a much bigger window than you’d been expecting and already, you couldn’t wait to get snuggled up in there and look at the stars from beneath the covers. While he took care of that, you’d looked over the hamper in the kitchen. A handwritten card hoping that you enjoyed your stay and with it brought a selection of breakfast items, a bottle of wine and things for a light lunch including what smelt like a fresh baked loaf. Out on the decking beneath a quickly growing layer of snow, is what appears to be a hot tub.

Ben found you unpacking the final bag while you put away the food and drink that he’d purchased. So far, it felt as though there wasn’t anything that Ben hadn’t thought of for this trip and you had to hand it to him, this had clearly been something on his mind for a long time for him to have planned this so perfectly. But that’s exactly what this day has been so far - perfect.

The two of you spent the evening heating up the house and making sure the hot tub was all fired up and nice and hot ready for after the evening meal. The cabin emitted a beautiful warm glow which poured from the windows across the rapidly deepening snow as you’d cooked together. Something which you’d done many times before at home but here in this setting, it felt different - far more romantic if you dare state such a word for something as simple yet intimate as this. He looked at you in ways that made your heart feel as though it was on the verge of bursting. His kisses held promises of something else to come.

Pressing a towel to your hair, you make your way out of the bathroom and to the bedroom. Ben is already sprawled out over the mattress in only his boxers, one hand laid on his stomach while the other holds his phone as he scrolls through social media with a concentrating expression. Despite now only being dressed in a vest top and shorts, you didn’t feel the cold like you had earlier

“I still can’t believe how clear it is here,” you comment as you enter the room, the large window grabbing your attention as it has each time you’ve walked in here. Even with all the trees surrounding the cabin, the sky is still more exposed than in London. Stars are brighter here than you’ve ever seen in the city and already your camera roll is now filled with tens of photos ready to be uploaded to insta once you’re back. “The view is amazing. You couldn’t have picked a better place.”

“Mmm,” Ben nods, lowering his phone to look at you, “was just thinking the same thing about the view.” The look he gives can almost, almost, makes up for the corniness of the sentence. And if the look didn’t, then the swelling in his boxers did. You’d heard the saying “drinking them in” but only now do you fully understand the meaning of it. The way Ben takes in the sight of you is enough to feel wetness gathering where your thighs meet. Give it a bit longer and you’ll dampen your underwear and your nipples will strain against the shirt you wear.

“Something interesting got your attention?” you ask him as you fold up the towel nonchalantly and place it on top of the dresser. Ben leans over and reaches out, fingers skimming up your thigh until goosebumps leave a light trail where they’ve touched.

“Call it a work in progress,” he replies, gaze remaining where he touches as they climb higher up your leg.

#ben chilwell imagine #ben chilwell x reader #ben chilwell fanfic #ben chilwell x y/n #ben chilwell blurb #ben chilwell drabble #ben chilwell one shot #ben chilwell fanfiction

22 notes · View notes

aphrxditing · 11 months

Text

How to reinvent your wardrobe : The basics

Before starting, remember the goal is to wear the clothes, don't let them wear you. Be confident, a good way to do that is by buying things you genuinely love and feel comfortable in. This post is only focused on basics, so nothing too exciting but it is needed.

✩ Learn about yourself and your body:

Before spending money on clothes and/or a new style. Find out what you like and don’t like when it comes to clothes. If you’re stuck and don’t know what you like or look good in. I recommend learning about your body archetype. There are plenty of quizzes and videos on this topic. I will list some of my favorites below. Learning about your body archetype is a good starting point to what suits you best but of course you don't have to follow everything these quizzes say, pick and choose what works for you. I also recommend looking at fashion eras and picking what you like and don’t like in each era.

♡ Invest in high quality basics:

Why? Because no matter what style or aesthetic you choose these basics always come in handy. Basics are timeless, you can never go wrong with jeans and a basic white tee. Lastly, basics are super easy to style, you can dress them up or down. If you don't want to style them you don't have to because they're outfits on their own. Some of the basics that I recommend buying are:

Black and white shirts: Long and short sleeves. Personally I love cropped tees since I love wearing high waisted pants but the style of shirt you choose depends on you, your body and what you feel comfortable in. Also have different variation of these shirts for different occasions.

Blue and black jeans: The fit really depends on your body type but these jeans are super easy to style.

A nice active wear set: It makes you feel hot and makes you want to leave your house so the world knows how hot you are. So yeah it’s needed. Also they’re super comfy, need I say more?

Trousers/dress pants: For some these are a hit or miss but I think they are a great way to look put together without doing the most. I won’t lie I used to hate them but finding the right fit for you is what matters most.

Long coat: A good quality long coat is a easy way to look put together during colder weather.

White button up: We can’t talk about basics without mentioning a white button up, they’re classic. I recommend getting one that fits perfectly and another that is oversized. Trust me.

Black and white dress: You can never go wrong with a simple black dress. White dress give off a "I have my life together” vibe.

❁ Accessories:

I'll briefly go over this since this is getting long. Invest in certain things but not everything. Find out what Jewelry colour suits you. I found a really good webpage that speaks about that.

When it comes to bags, go to a thrift store. And I don’t mean thrift stores that everyone goes to, so don’t go to savers or value village. Go to thrift stores that older people frequent. Why? Because that’s where you find amazing vintage pieces but at a really cheap price. You will find perfect vintage bags with real leather, looks like it’s never been used for less than 10$. I know that because I have found bags valued at 900$+ for 5-7$, some with tags still on.

Links:

Kibbe Body Type

Kibbe Body Type Test

What is your jewelry colour?

109 notes · View notes

noodyl-blasstal · 1 year

Text

JustIn from the Beyond!

Do I have plans for this? Yes! Do I have time to make them happen any time soon? Debatable! So you can have what'll hopefully be the first chapter, as a treat. -

Kravitz frowned down at his phone, double checking the address from the email was the same spot the map app had led him to. The office block in front of him didn’t seem like the kind of place that would contain Justin From the Beyond: your direct line to the spirit world, he was expecting some kind of difficult to find Victorian building, not a grey box with wildly unhelpful company names like Loccarion, Applewell, and Plaxistics on the sign. People in suits kept striding past him doing what he could only assume were important business things. Actually, scratch that, they all had a whiff of stock market about them, so maybe not that important. In fact, with that in mind, the location made a lot more sense - ghosts were a lie and so were stocks, of course they were in the same building. Maybe he could try and get an interview with some of them for his next block of episodes… no, one job at the time. He was a nightmare for dropping projects for the next fancy idea, but this week he was fighting ghosts, next week he could take down the stock market.

He glanced down once more, just to be sure, and the map pin stayed resolutely in front of him, definitely no GPS wizardry, this was the right place. It had taken him 10 months to get this appointment so obviously he’d shown up two and a half hours early. By the time Kravitz accounted for traffic, his own disorganisation, and the possibility of unreported strikes, break downs, and walking at half pace from the very furthest possible station in the city (‘just in case’ he missed four other stops) he might have slightly overestimated his actual travel time. He couldn’t leave though, if he went to grab a drink or something time would disappear and he’d end up late. Better to just stay put. In fact, if he could sit in the waiting room he might even be able to get an idea of the other clientele, all good background for his report. Flawless planning, every inch of it on purpose.

Kravitz gave himself a critical once over in the window, smoothed his long woollen coat, put on his very best business face, and headed inside. The email had instructed him to head to the 13th floor. Kravitz rolled his eyes when he read it - although on reflection, it was impressive dedication, it must have taken an age to find a building which actually had one. Oh, maybe the rent was cheaper because of the luck thing? He made a quick note in his phone to look into it - spooky aesthetic, money saver, or both? Probably both, Justin was smart, he marketed well, was consistently in demand, and somehow every public review was positive - regardless of where it was posted.

Sure, Kravitz could have investigated any old grifter and done it much faster, but the cons with a veneer of legitimacy were his actual targets. Most people knew that the bloke on the street corner offering you a direct line to death for a few dollars wasn’t likely to be the real deal - at least he wasn’t exploiting people as much. Justin though? This guy had a massive waiting list and prices to match. Most people could only dream of getting an appointment, let alone three. Thankfully Kravitz could afford it and the revenue from the episodes should more than cover the cost. Kravitz, of course, tried to keep his ethics intact but it was hard to turn down ads when they let him break stories that helped. If keeping people safe meant he occasionally had to extol the benefits of certain underwear brands or enthusiastically tell his listeners about his pubic grooming regime then sobeit.

The display ticked from twelve to thirteen, the lift binged pleasantly, and the doors slid smoothly open. Kravtiz stepped straight into a waiting area, “News JustIn!” was scrawled across a banner facing the lift, a ghostly phone cord underlined the writing. He’d clearly escaped faceless, corporate McBusinessland.

“Welcome to Justin from the Great Beyond, handsome. How can I help you out today?” The receptionist asked from behind an ornate wooden desk which appeared to rest on chicken legs, the work on the feathers was exquisite and Kravitz only tore himself away from admiring the craftsmanship to admire the man behind the desk instead. The receptionist was perched on a dusky pink cocktail chair which clashed marvellously with the fluffy mustard carpet (the kind Kravitz would love to bury his toes in). The receptionist was long and lean, clean shaven and his eyeliner was smudged just enough that Kravitz couldn’t tell if it was on purpose or not. His roots were showing, there was a gap in his front teeth, and Kravitz thought he might possibly be the most beautiful man he’d ever met. Before he could talk himself out of following that line of thought, the receptionist noticed Kravitz’s roaming eyes and winked lasciviously. Was Kravitz allowed to flirt on the job. Probably not? He’d better check with HR… He was HR and it was very important that he made the man call him handsome again.

“I have an appointment with Justin, my name’s Dante Bellefleur.”

“Ah yes, Mr…” The receptionist paused and side eyed him. “...Bellefleur. You aren’t booked in for a while, are you happy to wait?”

“Of course, I was so worried about being late that I made it a little bit early instead.”

The receptionist snorted loudly and Kravitz glared before he could stop himself. Fuck, he couldn’t be sulky at work, that was how he lost opportunities. This guy could get him booted and it had taken enough effort to get this appointment, falling at the final hurdle because he couldn’t take a bit of light mocking would be mortifying. At least if the guy was going to mock him Kravitz could write off the flirting. He tried to settle his expression to something more neutral and looked anywhere but at the man behind the desk… which was a shame because even if the guy was a prick he was nice to look at. Maybe he could sneak a few glances as he waited? It was perfectly reasonable to occasionally look at the other person in the room.

Kravitz spent a few more moments staring placidly at the wall before subtly shifting in his chair and looking quickly towards the desk. Taako looked right back at him, Kravitz hurriedly looked away again and focused on retrieving his book from his bag. He could just chill out here, see if anyone else came in, see what Taako actually did.

It turned out that the answer to that question was ‘Not Much.’ Every time Kravitz glanced over Taako had moved slightly, knee tucked up under his chin, one leg splayed out and the other curled under him, legs crossed under him. Every time Kravitz glanced over Taako noticed and smiled his handsome smile right back. Kravitz knew he should say something, but he didn’t know where to start. All he wanted to do was get a good long look at the other man. Instead he had to focus on his book, which of course was one he was reading for show and not enjoyment. After a painful hour in which he made it through three pages, retained none of it, and pointedly avoided looking at the man directly, Kravitz tried again.

The receptionist was now sideways, legs slung up on one arm of the chair, and, worse than improper use of furniture, he grinned wide and wiggled his fingers at Kravitz as if he’d been waiting for this. “So, come here often, kemosabe?”

“You’re the receptionist.” Kravitz replied flatly. “Wouldn’t you recognise me if I did?” Was this some kind of trap?

“Great point… So what’s a guy like you doin’ in a nice place like this?”

“The same thing as everyone else I imagine.” Kravitz’s tone remained placid and polite but if this guy wanted to get under his skin he was certainly doing a good job of it. He could smile his stupid lovely smile all he wanted, but that was outright rude. Sure, Kravitz was accustomed to this - personal insults weren’t uncommon when your job was uncovering dirty secrets, but that usually came after he’d been busted not before. Usually at that point he could give back as good as he got, but this guy might not even know what he was part of. There was no way he could retaliate though, he had to be on his best behaviour until he’d got what he needed, and that included not snarking or sulking. He took a moment to stamp out the sparks of irritation that ignited in his gut and decided to attempt redirection, may as well get some information out of this exchange. “Although, having said that, what’s the main reason people come?”

“Conversation with yours truly, mostly.” The receptionist replied. He slid a drawer open, slapped a magnetic badge on (Kravitz didn’t have any thoughts about the swathe of brown skin this motion revealed), then tapped it. “Taako Taco, here to blow your mind before Justin gets the chance to.” He wriggled until he was sat cross legged again, uncapped what looked to be a sparkly gel pen, and started doodling on the desk planner. Kravitz wasn’t sure if he hated or envied him - how much did this gig pay? It wasn’t like the phone was ringing off the hook. In fact, he couldn’t actually see one on the desk. “Is that why you’re here, Dante, to be blown away?” They made eye contact about that comment, they made eye contact about it really hard. Maybe he should look at a sexual harassment angle for the episode, but honestly, he had stared at the guy so much that he didn’t have a leg to stand on. He was going to choose to believe this treatment was specifically for him and not the usual experience clients had, certainly none of the extensive reviews had mentioned it.

“I’m here to get the answer to some questions I have.” That was true, he wasn’t going to lie if he could help it… well, any more than he had already, but there was only so much you could do when you were the first google result for ‘Kravitz’. “Have you ever…” Kravitz trailed off.

“There isn’t much Taako hasn’t done.” He uncapped another few pens and switched between them as he doodled.

Kravitz wanted to see what he was drawing, Taako was concentrating so intently that his brow furrowed and Kravitz needed to know what was important enough to make that happen. More importantly, he needed to stop staring, he needed to remember that Taako was ridiculous and rude and bold and terrible at customer service. This wasn’t someone he should be interested in, Taako was hot as fuck and he knew it, he was conceited and unkind. That wasn’t what Kravitz wanted.

“Spotted something interesting, Dante?” Taako had stopped drawing. He’d stopped drawing because Kravitz was staring right at Taako and Taako had noticed and fuck this was going badly. It was fine, he could fix it.

“I was admiring your name badge.” Kravitz said, gesturing at the incredibly ordinary badge with zero distinguishing features to offer any follow up on.

“Uh huh. Which aspect?” Taako didn’t resume drawing, of course he didn’t. Instead he smirked and waited patiently for an answer, the bastard. He knew why Kravitz was staring at him and sure it took a lot of bravery to investigate crime and put yourself in compromising positions with dodgy people; but telling a guy he was hot and you’d quite like to get into some compromising positions with him? Absolutely not. Especially not when that guy was doing his job - no matter how loose that concept seemed to be for Taako.

“The typeface.” The fucking typeface? “It’s satisfying to look at.” Just like the guy wearing it. This was fine. “I wasn’t bold enough to say it before, but I think I’m justified.”

Taako looked horrified. “Did you just…? Bad, terrible, illegal.” He paused for a moment and Kravitz felt anxiety bubbling in his gut. He was trying to make things better, but maybe puns would be what got him kicked out, not his snarky attitude. Then Taako continued drawing. “I’m going to have to do a citizen’s arrest because right now we’re Sans Sheriff.” Oh, oh okay, Kravitz could work with this.

“Oh no, did the last one experience some hard Times?” That earned Kravitz a long glare.

“Don’t make me curse…ive” Taako grimaced even as he said it.

Kravitz snorted. “Well now who’s going to pun jail?” Taako was hot, Taako was interesting, Taako was willing to play in this stupid space with him. Kravitz wanted to take him out then take him home. Could he just ask Taako out? It didn’t have to be weird. “Hey, can we go on a date, also I’m using a fake name and I’m probably going to be the reason you lose your job because I’m here to expose your employer as a con artist…” Maybe it had to be a bit weird. Kravitz should at least wait until this was over. If he did that Taako might appreciate his integrity? Surely he’d understand why the fake name was necessary. He’d think Kravitz’s dedication to doing the right thing was sexy. Obviously. Just like all his other boyfriends who were definitely still with him and didn’t break up with him because he was too busy doing the right thing and being boring.

“The view’s gonna be good at least, Taako could do some rotting in a cell if you we…” He stopped mid sentence and noticeably clammed up. As if this was the point where Taako decided he had professional boundaries, Kravitz wanted to know where that was going. Did he mean Kravitz would be a good view to see? Good company to be stuck in pun jail with? If Taako thought that then Kravitz could definitely ask him to dinner. Taako stood abruptly, knocking one of his pens off the desk and abandoning it to the floor. “What are you waiting for, kemosabe? I thought you were desperate for your appointment with Justin.” Taako didn’t look at him, just walked towards the door in the corner of the room. Kravitz had no idea what just happened, he didn’t even say anything, was he doing something weird with his face? Looking too eager? It was bang on his appointment time, so maybe Taako just had to be really prompt? Maybe this Justin guy was a horrible boss? If that was the case Taako would surely give him an interview for the podcast. He’d definitely understand why Kravitz had to lie if Justin was treating him poorly. He might even be a little bit grateful for Kravitz’s intervention!

Taako cracked open the door and slipped inside without looking back. Kravitz reached to push the door wider and follow, but paused. He didn’t know what was going on, but it felt wrong. He didn’t want Taako to be in trouble, but he also didn’t want to leave him upset. Kravitz quickly doubled back to the desk and picked up the gel pen from the floor - it was gold and glittery and boy if that wasn’t Taako all over. Kravitz quickly scribbled out a note on the jotter. “Sorry if I overstepped, it was lovely to meet you Taako.” He placed the pen neatly on the desk and, feeling mildly absolved, walked into Justin’s office.

Sat with his legs kicked up on the desk was a man wearing the most ridiculously elaborate wizard hat he’d ever seen. The brim was strung with rows of tiny stars and pom poms, there was an iridescent sheen to the fabric, and a spindly moon charm hung from the crooked peak. The hat was new, but the face it did very little to obscure was familiar.

“Taako? What’s going on? Is there a problem?”

“Nope, you’re here to have a natter with the world beyond, I’m your guy.”

“But you’re Taako.”

“Nope. I’m definitely Justin.”

“You just said your name was Taako?”

“And you said your name was Dante. Apparently that’s what we’re doing here.” Kravitz didn’t flinch, but he didn’t say anything either. He waited an incredibly normal amount of time while the gears in his brain turned. This was a puzzle, he loved puzzles, he could solve puzzles. Sure, no one had ever questioned him so directly before, and okay, he didn’t really have a plan for this. Why didn’t he have a plan for this? Stupid, stupid overconfident prick. There was something about fake names, pride, and infernos in this, but he wasn’t calm enough to make the joke right now. Thank the goddess that Taako didn’t know who he actually was.

“So, Krav, are you going to call me Taako, or will Justin call you Dante?”

Fuck.

#This one gave me the brain worms and there's more; there truly is; but there's also so many deadlines on their way #Taako Tacco #Kravitz #Taakitz #The Adventure Zone #TAZ #TAZ fic #Noodyl Writes

36 notes · View notes

thecandywrites · 1 month

Text

Monster March 2024- Day 14- Minotaur

River and Rane

This time, I wanted a true Minotaur. But I also couldn't resist- yet another Velvet Spa story. It's my guilty pleasure. Anything with horns and antlers and fur and hooves and just...all the things that make humanoid- animal beings GREAT.

As always, huge thanks to @borealwrites for their Monster March 2024 Prompt List, you're the best.

Monster March 2024 Day 14- Minotaur

The Velvet Spa Continued Again

“Thank you for calling The Velvet Spa, how can I help you?” Allison answered the call.

“Hi, this is Rane Surmas, I got a call that there was a change to my appointment?” Rane asked.

“Yes, your horn specialist had to go on maternity leave early. So we have your appointment with another horn specialist if that’s ok.” Allison offered.

“Oh ok. Is Maddison ok?” He asked after the specialist who had always worked on him before.

“Yes, she’s fine. She just ended up needing to go into her maternity leave a few days earlier than planned and that means that all of her appointments have to be picked up by our other specialists.” Allison quickly reassured him.

“Ok, do I have a choice in who else I can get or are we being assigned?” He asked.

“Well, there are only two who had the room to take on her clients while she was on maternity leave while three more are still being cross-trained from being purely antler specialists. But the ones currently being cross-trained haven’t finished with their training and won’t get tested and certified until next month. If you postpone your appointment for another 5 weeks, you will have five to choose from then. But until then, if you wanted to keep your appointment for tomorrow, there is only Skye and River.” Allison offered.

“Ugh, those names aren’t really ringing any bells. Which do you think- does the better work?” Rane asked.

“Honestly, they both do exquisite work from what I’ve seen so far. I haven’t gotten any complaints from any of their clients. They’re both pretty great at everything.” Allison tried to say.

“But?” Rane asked.

“That being said, Skye is more holistic in her approach and most of the products she recommends are the vegan and vegetarian products. Skye also leans more towards aesthetics and the over all appearance. While River is more clinical and is more geared towards pure functionality. And she tends to prefer the best products period. But those tend to have higher price tags but better results as well. So it’s really a matter of what your own personal preference would be. I know from Maddison’s previous notes that you’re pretty middle of the road, wanting both strength of your horns as well as aesthetics and honestly, both of them would be just fine and either or both of them would be able to care for you just as well as Maddison usually would do if she were here.” Allison explained.

“Get me River then.” Rane decided.

“Will do. River will be with you at 8am tomorrow morning.” She offered.

“Great.” Rane nodded with a heavy sigh before he hung up and called Maddison himself.

“Hi Rane,” Maddison answered.

“Hey, you ok Maddie?” Rane asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be ok. I’m sorry, I had to call off today and then the rest of the week. I just… I couldn’t do it. My legs and feet have pitted edema and the doctors put me on bedrest.” Maddison sighed tiredly.

“Ok, do you need anything?” Rane asked.

“No, Lucas and the boys and even the girls are all taking great care of me, Lucas is even rubbing my feet and legs, as we speak to try to get the swelling down.” Maddison reassured him.

“Ok, well, if you do ever need anything, just let me know ok?” Rane urged.

“Could you be nice to whoever is picking your appointment up from me?” Maddison urged since Rane was very, very particular about his horns and had gone through every horn specialist at the spa before choosing Maddison who was, in his opinion the best, since she had amazing horns herself and all her kids had great horns as well.

“Yeah, speaking of, who am I better off getting? River or Skye?” He asked.

“Honestly, both of them are great. You might like River more- because she’s very- all business and more of a ‘it’s only gonna hurt for a minute, suck it up, take it like a man’ kind of person. Which, is totally your style. Skye is much more sensitive. But when I say - sensitive- I mean, you look at her wrong or you speak to her in the wrong tone and she’s upset and she’s very, very sensitive to your mood, to your facial expression, to your energy, to your aura- kind of thing. She would want to do calming breathing exercises first thing and she is not one that likes to be rushed and you can not get impatient with her. Whereas River’s background is actually in nursing, because she’s a triage nurse when she’s not a specialist. So she’s all about the fast pace and getting it done and being as effective and efficient as she can be because she’s in and out. And she’s of the school that the sooner she does this and does it right, the less any of it would hurt overall. And her biggest thing has been learning to slow down and not rush her clients and developing her softer touch, whereas Skye is nothing but that soft gentle touch and is learning to develop her firmer touch with clients because her Professional Voice is still really soft. Whereas River is rather blunt in her honesty, she’s also very authoritative but also, she knows her stuff and so much more. River is one license away from being just as broad as Bianca is. But that also means that she has the bigger clientele and her schedule is a lot busier and is only taking my clients on as a favor to me and Bianca. So she’s usually just running ragged but on time. Whereas Skye is always running late period because she wants to treat every client like they are her favorite and only client in the world. So while some of her clients absolutely love her for that, those of us who have other things in our day, don’t. So they’ve actually been put in side by side rooms to try to rub off on each other.” Maddison expounded.

“Then I’m really happy I got River then. I don’t need another girl looking at me and instantly burst into tears because she thinks I’m mad at her for no gods damn reason.” Rane offered.

“Ooophf, again?” Maddison winced as she sucked in her breath through her gritted teeth.

“Yeah, every woman I work with just assumes I’m just pissed off, like, all the time. And the last thing I need is for my horn specialist to assume the same and risk her fucking up my one characteristic that does’t involve my resting bastard face.” Rane offered.

“Well, River would be able to sympathize because she has resting bitch face so you two are practically made for each other.” Maddison urged with a light laugh.

“I hope so. Well you just focus on getting those feet elevated. Say hi to Duncan and the kids for me. And tell little Penelope to quit kicking you hard.” He urged.

“You tell her yourself.” Maddison urged before she put the phone to her pregnant belly.

“Hey Stinker, you quit kicking your Mommy and hurting her back. Her feet are already swollen enough from you. You don’t need to add to it or Uncle Rane is gonna have words with you Young Lady.” Rane urged.

“And she’s not listening.” Duncan said as he watched Pen kick at the phone before he grabbed the phone and put it between his ear and shoulder.

“Yeah, that just pissed her off.” Duncan laughed into the phone as he lifted his wife’s leg to rest over his shoulder as he slid his hands up her leg and thigh.

“I’d love to say she gets that from you, but we both know where she would get that.” Rane chuckled.

“Hey!” Maddison frowned as she overheard that.

“Well would you look at the time, gotta go into a meeting.” Rane laughed.

“Take good care of your girls Duncan, I’ll catch ya later.” Rane urged before he hung up and continued on with his day.

The next morning, he was at the Salon at 7:30am.

“Good morning Mr. Surmas.” Gretchen greeted, rather sleepily.

“Good morning.” He replied as his ears flicked to the back door at the end of the hallway where the specialists were filling in for the day as he overheard the girls in the back sleepily chit chat as they came in and got ready for work before someone came in and- by the sounds of it- had a key chain the size of a bullwhip.

“Girl! Did you come here straight from the hospital?” The others asked as she seemed to be carrying several things as he heard several large, heavy things slump onto the floor.

“No, I slept.” He heard a groggy voice defend.

“For like a whole 15 minutes?” Another asked.

“It doesn’t matter, I’m here, I’m on time, just let me change and chug this, and I’ll be good to go.” She said as she seemed to be struggling with something as he could faintly hear fabric against a body as he wondered if it was River changing out of her scrubs from the hospital to the scrubs at work as he simply took a step to look down the hallway.

“Woo! Getting a show this morning.” Bianca laughed when she came in which got the other girls to laugh.

“Here, let me help.” Bianca offered as she put her stuff down and helped her friend get redressed.

“I always snag.” He heard a tired voice say as her voice got muffled by another piece of fabric.

“Rane, you can sit down. River will be right with you.” Gretchen urged.

“Right, yeah.” He nodded with a blush as he slowly turned away but kept his ears towards the hallway to listen to the girls laugh and giggle while they got ready as he chose a seat as close to the view of the hallway as he could manage as he just leaned over and kept his eyes trained on the end of the hall where the back room was.

“There you go, let’s get this wild tangle under control.” Bianca offered once she brushed out River’s hair and put it up into a pretty messy bun for her.

“Thanks Mom.” River cooed happily as she sat down and slipped her feet back into her shoes.

“You’re welcome Hun.” Bianca giggled.

“There, and it’s about time to get our first clients, Actually your first client should already be here.” Bianca murmured.

“Another perfectionist that will take one look at my broken horns and think I couldn’t possibly know what it’s like to take care of pretty ones?” River grumped.

“Well, yes, but Rane is otherwise a great client, he’s a professional. He’ll care more about his horns than your own.” Bianca reassured her.

“If you say so.” River offered before she opened up an energy drink and started chugging it.

“Girl, I swear, you’re gonna collapse on me if you keep this up.” Bianca murmured worriedly.

“It’s just the busy season. And it’s only for another month until the other girls get certified, I could use the extra income to get those damn credit cards paid off so my credit score will increase so I can get a place of my own. I can’t do this- sharing a bedroom with a roommate and sharing the apartment with 7 others. I can never get my laundry done because the washers and dryers are always full with everyone else’s laundry and my mugs are always being borrowed by everyone else. I gotta get out of there. But I need a down payment first.” River groaned as she let her eyes stayed closed as she continued to chug her energy drink before she drank the last of it and crushed the can in her hand.

“Alright, lets do this.” River took a deep breath and got up and picked her stuff up before she carried and dragged it to her room to set up her room real quick before she came out and came up to the front desk, feeling someone watch her, but was too tired to care. She tried to shake her sleepiness from her head and got the file that was in the cubby for her room number as she took a moment to quickly glance over it before looking at the name.

“Good morning. You must be River. Maddie had quite the song when she sang your praises.” He greeted charmingly as he offered her his hand.

Rane on the other side, while he could see how tired she was, she was also- too damn cute. Like, naturally, gorgeous. Didn’t need any kind of makeup to cover up that natural beauty she practically glowed. He was in trouble. Bianca sure did know how to pick ‘em. This girl was just as beautiful, if not more so than any other woman in here. She was of good height, but also the girl was large and incharge and so his type. She had that- mess with me, and I’ll fuck your shit up’ vibe that he was digging. And she carried her weight like she knew exactly how to throw it around. Hot damn. He could see those powerful thighs rub together through her scrubs and those big breasts that jiggled with her gait- looked big enough to nurse an orphanage. And that belly? Oh, he wanted to see just how big those waves would be if he were to pound into her and figured he could watch those waves ripple all over. Oh he was down. And best of all? No wedding ring. Meant she just might be single. Hopefully she’d be into taking him by the horns.

“Rane Surmas?” She called out before she looked up to see him already looking at her with as friendly and charming of a smile as he could manage as he gracefully got up from the seat and came up to her as she blinked in surprise to see him tower over her.

“Lucky number 13?” He offered.

“Yeah huh. Hi.” River offered as she seemed to take a moment to register that he was her client as she offered her hand to shake as she shook it while looking him up and down as she seemed to try to wake up in a hurry.

“Well if you’ll just follow me to room 13.” She offered as she withdrew her hand and then walked him back.

“It’s just the room number Sir. But, with as superstitious as most people are, I’ve had clients outright refuse to come into the room.” She offered as she got the door open and gestured for him to come in before he came in and took of his suit jacket and hung it on the hook as River could only stare at his shoulders and back as her jaw dropped to see the bulging muscle and the broad shoulders and then that pinch of his waist and that ass, good lord. Fuck. neither Bianca or Maddie told her that Rane was fucking gorgeous as she tried to shake off her nerves as she really didn’t want to fuck up this guy’s already perfect aesthetic. Even as badly as she wanted to mount him in that chair. She needed to be a professional. Maddison would kill her if she dared to screw up a perfectly good client just because she was all kinds of horny just looking at the epitome of sexy and the epitome of ‘blow your back out’. Shit, if he was as hung as the bull he appeared to be, she’d be good to even walk after. And she still had a full day ahead of her.

“Ok, I’m looking at your file, and other than maintenance, is there anything in particular you need or are wanting?” River asked as she flipped through the SOAP notes from Maddison.

“Just maintenance.” He answered.

“Cool. Well you know the drill, sit down, lay back and let me keep up the great work Maddison laid the groundwork for. I’m pretty sure if I managed to fuck your horns up, she’d came and beat my ass with a chancla with Pen half birthed.” River offered which got Rane to bark a loud laugh as he laid back in the chair.

“Oh, you and I are gonna get along great.” He beamed.

“Yeah, my brand of brutal honesty doesn’t leave room for pussy footing around.” River giggled as she slipped some gloves on and then got her tools out and her supplies for his horns on her trays before she scooted over to work on his horns, washing them and scrubbing them so she could appraise them in their natural state.

“Huh.” She hummed as she used a brush to really scrub them against the grain.

“Have you been using filler?” She asked as she scrubbed the now gooey filler out of the grooves on his horns.

“Guilty as charged.” He freely admitted.

“Has Maddison talked with you about poly resin to fill it in?” River asked.

“She told me that the resin would cause more damage than it’s worth.” Rane answered.

“My man! Yes! Yes it does. Like veneers on teeth. It would absolutely wreck the soundness of your horns to dig and drill these grooves out and drill down to dig a foothold into them to anchor the resin- then they’re worth. These are so superficial you can’t see or notice them unless you are this close to them, and practically riding them. And honestly what you’re doing, is keeping the grooves from getting any bigger or wider and keeping the grooves from getting any deeper either.” She offered as she offered her fist for him to bump before he chuckled and fist bumped her, as his ears perked up to her comment about riding them. So at least, from that cue, she might be into it.

“Plus, once you start filling in with resin, you’ll be chasing the edge until your whole horn is nothing but resin. There’s a girl in here who actually ground her horns down to the base and has multiple sets of horn enhancements. Like a set of wigs for hair. Problem is- is that now the bases are so pissed off from all her tinkering that it’s really painful for her and she needs to give those poor bases a rest, but now, she can’t stop wearing them and feels naked without them. But she continues to wear them because she’s one of those- ‘never leaves the house without a full face of makeup and all dolled up and put together’ types. Because her mother was that kind of woman who would get dolled up just to get her mail from the mailbox and wouldn’t leave her bedroom without a full face of makeup.” River noted.

“But not you?” He asked as he really took notice that she was bare faced and was sporting- actually really cute glasses too that brought out the brown of her eyes gorgeously.

“Which would be what?” He asked curiously.

“Nope. I don’t got time for that shit. I’m either working or eating or sleeping. My coin is way too precious to pour into makeup that’s just gonna go bad before I would have the chance to use it more than twice.” She snorted with a shake of her head.

“I mean, I used to- in like highschool and stuff but now that I don’t have my parents paying for everything for me and I’m on my own? Not worth it. I’d rather save it for something I really want and need and not spend it on an aesthetic that no one gives a shit to notice or care about.” She offered.

“A place of my own and sweet independence. I have 4 sisters and 3 brothers and currently- all of my brothers are still with my parents, two of my 4 sisters are getting divorced and have moved back in with my parents too. And I am still in my college dorm, and still have a roommate in my bedroom and still share the 4 bedroom duplex apartment with 7 other people. I would kill for just a one bedroom place with a washer and dryer that I can just wash and dry a single fucking load of laundry in that I don’t have to lose an hour and a half at a laundry mat to do because the washers and dryers at the apartments are always, constantly full and constantly being used.” She complained as she scrubbed the other horn and made sure she scrubbed all the filler out so she could get the horns a thorough cleaning.

“Well Maddison told me that you work two jobs?” He asked.

“I do. I’m a Registered Nurse in the ER and I do Triage and ride in the helicopter, stabilizing patients if we ever have to fly them out to other hospitals, and I’m cross training into Labor and Delivery because- helping Bianca and Maddison with their pregnancies, hell half the staff is either pregnant or just gave birth or something in between.” She answered.

“Something about pitted…her feet are swollen.” He recalled.

“And you work here on top of all of that?” He asked, impressed that she would take on all that.

“Yup. This place lets me have the flexibility in my schedule to roll with my nursing rotating schedule. Granted going from the hospital at night to come in here in the morning and early afternoon is less than great and working 18 hours straight sucks but the paychecks are more than worth it. And I get off, just about when my body demands sleep. So I’m able to get out of here and get take out, eat it on the way home, get home and crash and sleep too heavy for my roommates and their social lives to interrupt. Plus, did Maddie tell you why she had to cancel?” River asked.

“Yup. It’s called pitted edema, it’s a pretty serious thing for pregnant women, I noticed it the day before yesterday and the LMT and I sort of ganged up on her and told that she needed to either get out of here and get home and get those feet up or I threatened to take her to the hospital and check her into Labor and Delivery myself because her health and her baby mean more than her clients getting their favorite specialist to work on them. I don’t think anyone would forgive themselves or each other if they were the reason she pushed herself past her limit trying to see everyone- one last time before she would take the time off.”

“Amen, and you’re absolutely right. We wouldn’t I know I wouldn’t and I’d want to gore anyone who did threaten little Pen.” He offered.

“Awww. That’s where I know you from. I’ve seen your picture at her house. I couldn’t make it to her wedding, I had a full cardiac arrest come in 20 minutes before my shift was supposed to end and I was supposed to walk out the door and head there, but instead I stayed and did compressions to try to keep him alive so he didn’t go brain dead. Poor geezer took one too many viagra and ended up stroking out. And after, I just didn’t have the heart to go and crash a wedding in my blood covered scrubs. I just wanted food and sleep.” River recalled.

“Sounds like you’re pretty close with her.” River offered.

“Yeah, her late husband was one of my best friends. I was a groomsman in her wedding. I helped her move into her house when she moved to the country. And I was in her second wedding to Duncan. I was one of her groomsman then too.” He offered.

“But, with Maddie having pitted edema, I told her that I would pick up her shifts and her clients and practically double book myself for the next month until the three others got licensed. It’s only a month. I can handle it. Plus the LMT promised that she’d give me a full body massage once a week until then to help my body manage my workload. And Bianca of course, was in agreement that Maddie needed to get out and take care of herself and her baby first. And that all of us would pitch in to help. But, for the last 2 days, I’ve had most of her clients take one look at my horns and assume I don’t know my shit or I do shit work period. And outright refuse to let me anywhere near them and instead, push their scheduled appointment back until the three are available. Whatever, less work for me. I stopped giving a shit about people assume about me based on a just a look. And instead, just let my work speak for itself. You know?” She offered.

“Yes I do. So, if you don’t mind me asking, what did happen to your horns?” He asked as he studied them.

“Oh, I had to use them to restrain a combative patient who was as high as a kite on ketamine and who knows what else, and he broke them as he tried to pick me up by my horns and throw me against a wall. And instead, my horns broke in his hands and the minute my head was free, I ducked my head under his- used the broken horn to move his head to the side as he picked my body up to body slam me into the wall and I was able to shove a whole syringe full of demerol into his neck once the narcan had taken what it could out of his system. He may or may not have knocked himself out when his face colidled with the wall when he hit it head first and then may or may not have hit my knee on the way to the floor though.” River shrugged.

“That is the most epic, badass-motherfucking- thing I’ve heard all year.” Rane praised as he lifted a fist to fist bump her again, impressed that she had such an epic story to tell as she laughed and fist bumped him.

“Skye offered to resin them back on and back into place. But I actually like them this way. It lets others know to not fuck with me in the ER. Gives me street cred.” She giggled as she then put a glob of polish on her polish head of her polish tool and turned it on and started to polish his horns. Using the larger, but broader head to polish his massive horns. And managed to do so- in less than half the time that Maddison usually took as she even paid special attention to the bases, instead of the tips before she used some more filler on those fine lines and used a smaller buffer to fill them in before giving them one more coat of shine to make his horns look absolutely fabulous.

“There, sit up and tell me what you think.” She invited before he did and looked up in the mirror and used the panels to look around his head.

“Well hot damn, you do amazing work!” He praised happily.

“Thanks, I try. Plus, you gave me a ton of naturally good horn to work with. You’ve done all the work in maintenance. It’s obvious that you care about them and keep them practically pristine. Just keep taking care of them and they’ll take care of you.” River smiled as she cleaned up her tools.

“Want to take home the extra filler and polish?” She asked as she held up the still only partially full containers of them since she had opened the biggest containers she had of those things since he had huge horns to use them on instead of opening and using up several of the smaller containers.

“Really?” He asked happily.

“Yeah, let me just get you lids for these. Otherwise I’d just have to throw them away and I hate to be wasteful. Plus, you know how to use this stuff. You will actually use it.” She offered as she got the lids put back on and wiped the containers clean so he wouldn’t get this stuff on his hands or anything else before she grabbed a little gift bag she usually used to gift samples to and put them in.

“Well, obviously, you know what you like and what works for you, if you need more, they have it up at the front counter, otherwise, you should be good for another 6 months.” She offered pleasantly as she got her gloves off and then started to mark up the worksheet of what she had done.

“Ooh, and because you were early, that means I get to be early for my next one too.” She smiled when she saw the time on the wall when he blinked to see that she had done an hour’s worth of work in only half an hour. And because he was early, it was now- only 8:30.

“Tell you what, in a month when those other girls get licensed, and you’re able to take a breath, call me. I’d like to take you out some time.” He offered as he took out a business card and put his personal number on the back of it as she took it and looked at the number on the back of it, ignoring the front completely.

“So, here’s the deal. Technically- we can not date active clients. Which is ok because you’re still Maddison’s client that I just happened to fill in for today. So we’re good there. However, there is a really firm- no sex at work and respecting the professional sanctity of the chair which I absolutely must uphold because if this ended up being more than just a one time thing, the last thing I would ever want my partner to worry about is who else I would be riding in that chair-which has been no one and will continue to be no-one. Because I’m a stickler about that. I’m a professional, you’re a professional and we both should respect the other’s profession- Because, again, otherwise, I’d be having you sit back down so I could ride the bucking bronco that I’m sure you are, but that’s only because I’m really tired and my filter isn’t working which makes me even more honest and transparent than usual. However, this is not the time or the place for that. However, later today- will be. How late are you working today?” River asked.

“Deal.” He readily agreed before he dipped his head and kissed her as she practically melted and then deepened the kiss.

“However early or late that you’d need me to.” He offered.

“Great, well I get off at 4. Pick me up, either have food ready or be ready and willing to feed me an obscene amount of carbs, starches, fats and animal proteins and we will see where it goes from there. Deal?” She asked.

And she didn’t know how, but suddenly his big hands were roaming her body and then suddenly he was picking her up and pinning her to the wall, next to the shut door.

“Fuck, you are really tempting me beyond what I can bear.” River whispered.

“Turn around and find out.” He murmured in her ear before he nipped her earlobe.

“Well, it’s not the chair. But you did get me done early. Don’t you have the rest of the hour?” He asked.

“Could you fuck me quietly enough to not get caught?” She breathed.

“Fuck, we could get in so much trouble, you better make it worth it.” River offered as she turned around and dropped her bottoms before he did the same and then used his hand to cover her mouth to keep her from making any noise as she could only breathe heavily through her nose and whimper when his huge cock began to rise between her legs before he pulled a condom from his wallet and ripped it open with his teeth and then put it on behind her but looking down she rather liked the bright blue color.

He was hung like the stud he was. He reached around and slipped his hands into her mound and opened her up as she nearly cried in a whimper because she had forgotten how long it had been since the last time she got laid.

But Granted, she didn’t want to get fired, but considering every single person who worked here, if they started working here single, they usually ended up falling for the clientele at some point. Bianca was the prime example of that. It wasn’t just the rut, it was- All. Year. Long.

He managed to find purchase and she was just the right height for him to mount her comfortably like this. But between his hands- either groping her large bosom, or raking up her thighs and caressing her belly in between both holding her closely to his chest and pinning her between himself and the wall, she was just grateful that there wasn’t anything on the wall that could be knocked off of the wall because the mirrors were practically bolted to the walls.

And his snarling, and heavy breathing in her ear and nips to her neck and shoulder as she braced her hands against the wall was heaven. And, right in the nick of time, she was clawing at the wall and scraping her own horns against it too as her body writhed as she felt her body happily embrace the orgasm as he nearly popped the condom, filling it up as he had to reach down and clamp his hand around the base to keep it on and so her pussy wouldn’t threaten to suck it off of him. Like he thought he filled out a condom pretty well and got ones that fit. But her pussy was about ready to suck it off all by itself.

And granted, he was usually not this kind of guy, but he rarely got to meet women who weren’t intimidated by him. So he took his shot and frankly was floored that she took it, and not only took it but accelerated it too. And he couldn’t be happier about it as he slowly got his hand from her mouth to let her catch her breath.

“Hot damn, I’ll be lucky to walk out of here, my legs are practically jelly.” She grinned as she let her hot cheek rest against the wall before he slowly pulled himself from her but didn’t pull away just yet.

“Nope, never.” He shook his head no and kissed it.

“Thank you for this.” He thanked her as he hugged her.

“Thank you. I don’t…shit…I’m not usually this kind of girl. But, I just couldn’t resist you. Now, I just gotta trust that this or you won’t burn me.” She offered as she fixed him with a look but a pleasured grin all the same over her shoulder as she slowly turned around to face him.

“Why’d you…want me? You could have any girl you want, why me?” She asked once she turned around to face him.

“Because you’re awesome and a badass. And I don’t instantly like a lot of people. In fact, very few even like me or are attracted to me. I exhale through my nose too hard at work and nearly half the office shits themselves, thinking I’m gonna go on a rampage or something, even though, I’ve never done that. Plus, I work with mostly wafer thin chicks that I’m pretty sure I’d snap like twigs. You on the other hand, are big enough and strong enough to not break if I want to use just a little more force than a feather light touch.” He offered as he kissed her again before he had to pull back and take the condom off and clean himself up as she helped him get put back together after she slipped her own pants and underwear back up from the floor.

“Big enough to put up a good fight huh?” River asked.

“Well not knock out brawls…” He offered.

“No, but enough to do this.” She offered as she grabbed him by the horns to kiss her again.

“Exactly! And frankly, if anyone was going to get up close and personal with these things, I’d want them in the hands of a good professional who knows what to do with them.” He winked as he tipped her broken horn with his own with a wink as she started laughing before she just hugged him as they got to stay like that for a few long moments before they heard the telltale signs of the other specialists opening their doors and leaving with their clients.

“Time’s up. You still gonna pick me up after work and feed me?” River asked.

“Hell yeah!” He boomed before he gave her one last kiss.

“See you after work Babe.” He offered before he kissed her cheek and then left the room together.

“See ya handsome. Can’t wait for you to bring that rain to my river again later.” She offered with a wink as she handed his file over and then exchanged it for her next client.

“Mrs. Cassidy?” River called before an elderly pronghorn minotaur came up.

“Right this way Mrs. Cassidy.” River beamed happily as she brought her next client back while still giving Rane another wink over her shoulder.

#Monster March 2024 #Monster March 2024- Day 14- Minotaur #The Velvet Spa #The Velvet Spa - Continued #Because yes #Both Bianca and Maddison are mentioned here.

6 notes · View notes

sloppy-sybarite · 28 days

Text

Start Gymming.

Cardio, Pilates, Light Lifting, Rowing, Incline Walking, and Sauna. All you need to get toned. I do all of this and spend around an hour and ten minutes at the gym every day, I walk for fun, and I feel and look amazing. My arms and legs are toned, my stomach looks great, and I’m so much more limber and look forward to working out. I set a goal to go to the gym every day for 30 days and I was looking forward to it and seeing real results by the 21st day, I made friends and found a workout partner, and picked up a new hobby. I go to the gym for aesthetic reasons and there’s nothing wrong with admitting that but I also make sure to have a good time as well.

Eyebrow and Eyelash Serum Religiously.

I mean it, the eyes are the windows to your soul and your brows and lashes frame your eyes. I use The Ordinary’s Brow and Lash serum and I swear by it; it works miracles to help my brows and lashes look lush, feel healthy, and grow super quickly. I used three other serums before I settled on The Ordinary’s serum and found that I didn’t love the results and that the price I was paying was ridiculous. You don’t need to buy any super expensive products and you shouldn’t chase after dream results or expect to see them without remaining consistent but I do think that a good lash and brow serum can work wonders.

Better Eating.

Intuitive eating, calorie deficit eating, cooking at home more often, eating more, mending your terrible relationship with food, whatever you want to call it. We could all eat a little bit better and start creating healthy habits and they don’t need to revolve around losing weight, you create your own goals and you can tailor them to what works best for you and what you need to do. I’m not going to go on a long rant and tell you when and what you should be eating or make meal plans for anyone but I do encourage finding a happy medium and figuring out ways to make the thought of food less stressful. I think tnat most women these days have issues with eating too much or not eating enough and it’s good to find ways to not feel guilt when eating and ways to find eating pleasurable again.

Getting Outside.

Spring has finally sprung, the weather has gotten better, and it’s time to get outside again. It’s so important to get fresh air and sunlight and you should be doing your best to spend some time outside every day. I walk on my lunch breaks and in the mornings, I walk my cat, and I try to eat outside and do an outdoor activity on the weekends and I think it’s good for me.

Haircare and Skincare.

Every woman needs a haircare and skincare routine, that’s all. Everyone has skin but no matter your skin type, you do need to use a moisturiser, everyone should exfoliate twice weekly, I wash my makeup brushes and sponges every week and as needed too, I think that you should be double cleansing, and everyone of every colour needs sunscreen. Moving on to hair, everyone should have a washing and conditioning routine and schedule, you should do a hair masque once a week or a hot oiling treatment, and I think hair glossing should be done twice a month for the best look. You should be investing in your skincare and haircare so that you feel confident when you’re barefaced.

Water and Supplements.

I have a whole list of supplements and medications that I take every day and I think they help me greatly, I drink nearly a gallon of water and have cut down on the Diet Coke, and I feel good. I had a blood test and started taking an iron supplement a while back and also decided to take folic acid and I’ve felt much better, I take B-12 which helps calm the jitters I get from my Vyvanse, and I take chlorophyll as an addition to my water and I’m in love with it.

Laundry.

I do laundry thrice weekly and then whenever is needed outside of that. I wash my clothes on Saturdays and my sheets on Sundays and Wednesdays, I use bleach and a heavy sanitiser, I have a routine for washing my white clothes, and it’s a pain in the ass but I look and feel good, I don’t smell like my cat, and it feels good to be so on top of things. I also vacuum and clean twice weekly, I make sure that there are no dishes in the sink, and I keep my closet and living space as tidy as possible. It feels good to have a clean home and clean clothes and you won’t ever regret creating positive habits.

Friendships.

I believe in having friends but also being comfortable having boundaries; the woman who insists upon being the friend of everyone is the friend of no one - including herself. It’s important to surround yourself with people but it’s not worth doing that unless they’re good people who you’re able to call out, have boundaries with, and maintain positive relationships with. If your friends don’t have positive energy, don’t treat you well, and you don’t feel good around them plus aren’t able to grow alongside them, then you should consider moving on from the friendship.

Casual Dating.

Your late teens and early twenties should be reserved for casual dating and self growth. You should feel as if every relationship you get into has to end in marriage, you shouldn’t be overly stressed about the idea of marriage, and you should feel desperate. You won’t do well if you have never had a boyfriend/dated/had sex and you feel forced to do so by society. There’s nothing wrong with casual dates, meeting people, and having a good time and not every man should be taken seriously. Don’t waste your tears on men, don’t sleep with anyone you don’t want to, and make sure to have fun. Dating is only as serious as you want it to be.

Responsibility.

I have this talk with Oma all the time and I believe her when she tells me that the first and only person I’m responsible for is myself. I’m not responsible for living up to her ideals, I’m not responsible for impressing my parents or my parents’ friends, I’m not supposed to live for anyone but myself and all that matters is living in a way that makes me proud. Your life is yours to live and you’re the one who’ll have to live with yourself once everyone you know is gone, don’t fall into the trap of letting others live vicariously through you, don’t chase after ideals and fates that were never your own, and try your best to take responsibility for your own actions.

#sloppy-sybarite

3 notes · View notes

rijmeta · 1 year

Text

Defunctland Disney Theme Documentary -A Critical Analysis-

so after a shit day of existing in public and thinking about my art, ive watched these videos of these very obscure youtubers :

the Defunctland video had me feeling we will never have a clear confirmation of who wrote the disney jingle. it's easy enough to get more information in the roblox video where the boss of the company (Tommy Tallarico) is so obviously putting himself out there any chance he has, even when he really should not. This man has seemingly always been kind of unlikeable, yet mostly tolerated for his entire career. On the other hand, hbomberguy mentioned the actual work of Joey Kuras, being the self-credited designer of all sound effects from.....most of the games that Tommy Tallarico Studios worked on for sound design. Joey Kuras also made the glorious sound design of the Fortnite Pick Squeak pickaxe, which is the best fucking fortnite pickaxe, after the scampi slugs pickaxe which is criminally underrepresented in the Fortnite Pickaxe Tier Lists, but whatever. Weirdly enough, none of haze's pickaxes are on the tierlist despite their extremely cool design theme, either. I didn't find the cool neon shark one, or the neon street signs either. Heh, whatever, just look at all of these I just mentioned. They're all above the pick squeak, naturally.

I'd say the vuvuzela pickaxe comes second after the pick squeak because obviously it does, it makes the player's brain enter football mode trying to activate the sound by finding a netcage and kick a ball into it, and the homestuck reference comes third because it's a good omen of what's to come. Then the balloon pickaxe is a strong fourth as it also makes great sounds of the balloons rubbing each other when you hit the air with it. Much subtler as far as sound design goes, but definitely a strong pick.

Honorable mentions go to the brightly colored dumbbell pickaxe, the splatoon pickaxe, and the drum pickaxe. Other notable pickaxes include a camera pickaxe, a pizza cutter pickaxe, but also a stop sign battleaxe pickaxe (which I feel is a very sapphic mood) as well as the obvious crowbar, going far in the anti-authoritarian aesthetic. There's also the survivalist shovel that's pretty cool, as well as a bunch of others whose shapes surprisingly escape my understanding altogether. And then there is the trash, where the pickaxe stabbing a shark goes (the shark isn't even neon at this point !!! Trash).

Those are the forgettable ones. Yeah, the planet pickaxe is forgettable and doesn't even appeal to a cosmic aesthetic. It looks like a toy, and if you want a toy pickaxe just buy the pick squeak next time it comes in the shop. Get yourself ready with the fortnite trackers and shit, its only 1500 Vbucks. Worth it even if you don't play the game. Its what, the price of an entire meal ? Come on. Worth it.

Anyway god damn it.

Aside from that. Yeah. I think the Defunctland video couldn't do as much of a good investigation job because it's about Disney. As a mediatic monopoly on media, you can't simply retrace the work people made as well as in a company that was seemingly just two ex-Virgin employees trying to make a sound design company work out.

In the Defunctland video, the only clear confirmation we get that Alex Lasarenko is the composer of the melody the entire video is about is by Andrea Taylor, the previous Senior Vice President of Disney Channel. Which by all accounts has never worked in the sound design of any of disney's projects.

Her job was to "create" personalities for networks, as in : be the link between a brand and the artists that will then rework its identity. Organize contractors, including Tonal Sound, which was founded by Alex Lasarenko after leaving Elias Music in 2002, the same year the actual jingle was composed and used on the channel. I think it's important to keep in mind that Alex Lasarenko is said to have been the "creative director" of both companies (Elias and Tonal), which I think is not the right term.

Creative directors are assigned from the start of a specific project, no matter the industry. Someone will assume the leading role in order to help focusing said project in one direction, making sure it doesn't get carried away to become something entirely different in the process. It's mostly a managerial role which does imply a strong grasp on the domain's technicalities, as a creative director can absolutely directly contribute to the project.

The issue is, Alex Lasarenko was also the executive of both these projects that were contracted by disney. What's absolutely certain at this point is that the theme song has been made under Alex Lasarenko, whether it's at Elias or Tonal. My take is, it was probably made under Elias as they still seem to be a provider for the Disney audio identity to this day, as shown on their website. On the other hand, there is no way to check online what specific projects Tonal Sounds worked on, unfortunately, as it's been shut down since.

And because Eric Perlmutter wrote the "Let's Watch a Disney Channel Movie" Theme under Tonal Sound after having followed Alex Lasarenko out of Elias, while still not knowing who actually made the jingle, I think it's safe to say Alex Lasarenko didn't actually make it on his own. The direction taken for the bumpers's music was much more vague than if it was passed down to Eric Perlmutter by the composer of the original jingle himself.

(at 57:11 of the Defunctland video)

Kevin : "Wait so you didn't write the theme, but you wrote with the theme ?"

Eric : "Yes, so we would have the theme. Mostly for those, we just had so much fun with them[...]because they're so short."

-talking about his experience, contracted by Disney within Elias Associates, working under the leadership of Alex Lasarenko. Which then goes on to talk about the sheer status of Elias Music (formerly known as Elias Art or Elias Associates). Eric saying "we" as a pronoun when he's talking about getting to work with the pre-made 4 notes from the disney channel's theme song reminds me of something.

Like, a Parallel. (screen recording from Hbomb's video)

Yeah, that's the answer. It was Joey who wrote the disney jingle.

More seriously, the actual important bit in the Defunctland video is at 59:06 where Kevin asks Eric about the status of Elias as a company, to which Eric responds in a very, thematically interesting way :

Eric : "I think the company tried to harness this idea of "there are no individuals here" [...] You aren't allowed to be known."

This is basically the conclusion hbomb makes in his video, mentioning how easy it is for a huge company to simply erase these names over time, as most of the work is done to establish quickly brand image and never to actually help conserve the work and allow artists to have their own career paths accessible on the long term.

Eric actually tells us about how big Elias was, and how intimidating it was to work under Alex Lasarenko in his interview, but that they were good friends and worked a lot together. The documentary seems to derail from "trying to find out" who wrote the song, to a post-mortem tribute to Alex Lasarenko, which unfortunately might still not be the one who technically created the song.

Eric mentions his former boss as the "ringleader" of all of the Elias composers, which does fit his established job as executive. The striking choice of words that go right after is the bit that made me the most emotional from the entire video though :

Eric : "Its tough when you have a boss who's a genius and who's just an absolute music prodigy, and you're just a dumb rock bass player trying to[...] breathe the same air as him"

The previous interviewee, David Little,has been working with Alex for a long time, and said "He was one of those guys, if a camera came out, he was outta here" which is definitely a healthier way to deal with working in the industry than Tommy Tallarino , thats for sure. (watch hbomb's video if you haven't done already, its great)

The interviewing session ends with Andrea Taylor telling us she worked with Alex Lasarenko back on her TNT job, where they used an orchestra to rework the channel's audio identity, probably lead by Alex himself, within that five years job.

But within the more recent disney job, Andrea Taylor tells us a lot about how the entire job went down, with a lot of very evil meetings to create demands within kids for upcoming disney movies by producing disney merch and special bumpers a whole year before said movie would even release (specifically known about "the "The Lizzy McGuire Movie" and the "Finding Nemo" movie, thanks to this interview).

At no point does Andrea seem to have any real insight in the artistic creation of every element that goes into the rebranding, she only organizes them and makes sure they all the different contractors do the work on time, by talking with the executives. Which does lead me to believe this here is a case of actual long term erasure of the person who created this melody, when she immediately credits Alex Lasarenko because she knows him as the one responsible for musical departments she used for her job.

Kevin : "Do you remember anything from the production, when he was writing the theme ?"

Andrea : "You know, he probably did it in like a day or two. Things just came to him. He was amazing. I mean he probably wouldn't have said he wrote it in a day, he probably would've said Oh I struggled over it for months !"

She wasn't there, unfortunately. She wasn't producing it. She is not a producer after all, she is a bachelor of communications from Boston University.

Kevin then goes on to call the producer Andy Solomon thanks to Andrea sending him his contact information, but Kevin isn't shown asking for confirmation that Alex really did write the theme, even though Solomon probably supervised the entire thing. Maybe it was cut, but from this point onwards the video becomes a hommage to Lasarenko instead. His sister Lisa Lasarenko then talks about his genius-like qualities as an artist, followed by David Little who also praises the "effortless" nature of his entire craft.

To me, this documentary concludes on this idealized depiction of a quiet artist who made sure he wouldn't appear on cameras his entire life, highlighted by the fact that Kevin found only one photo of him on his obituary. He was the anti-Tommy Tallarino, never attempting to reach the spotlights in his life, yet working for a massive sound company whose entire goal is to centralize sound production as well as completely erase all names from the work.

In the end, there is no real confirmation Alex wrote the theme (unless Kevin has footage of the producer having insight on when and how the theme was created exactly, which would probably be in the video if it was the case.) We just know he was leading the people who did, with never any trace of whether it was him or another one of his coworkers, or if it was a collaborative effort. We might never know who actually sat down and researched this jingle, in the end. His producer does tell us they composed an old jingle for On-Core food services together, but that's all we're getting.

Everyone also seems to say about Lasarenko that he was working incredibly fast and could switch genres on a whim. But these are standard expectations any media company will hold unto any composer they hire ! Both Eric Perlmutter and David Norland actually give a lot of insight in how they created the varying themes, and also how much each of them built up on this mnemonic tone adding their own twist.

Anyway this is a lot. I lied about the website having a satisfying disney logo on their client lists, which wasn't smooth if you remember well the video anyway. Elias doesnt have Disney + as a client. I just thought. Why did they not put disney on there, even though they obviously got major work done for them, and an empty space on the website where a perfect little Disney logo would fit or something. Come on Elias, fill up that brand square, you got an empty spot. Like sure they might not be "featured clients" but which company its in right mind would actually miss an opportunity to say "I made this ribbon mouse era happen" right ?? I barely even watched disney channel in my life and I still know about the motion of the wand IDs. This is a missed opportunity to brag, which is out of character for a corporation.

I talked mostly about Defunctland's video because it touched me in this specific way, but also kind of sent me chills about how efficient the actual music & editing of a video can be to convey subtle messaging. Being afraid of actually entering the animation industry with all the shit you can read about, there's absolutely a lot of ways artists get exploited, erased and even their image distorted for profit.

In the end I'm glad youtubers are talking about these subjects in such rigorous ways, as it's a very important part of how the newer generations (me included) perceive the various industries we aspire to invest ourselves in. There is never enough conversation had around the subjects of media ownership, art creation and overall what's going inside our industries, and I am so glad it's the focus of accessible works anyone can watch and think about nowadays.

That is the end of this messy post. I used to do random twitter thread rants, seeing how huge tumblr posts can be though ? This site is winning me back over. I forgive you for banning me years ago because you thought my homestuck art was porn, tumblr. You may have your sins, but you also have my appreciation.

#defunctland #hbomberguy #fortnite #rambling #first post

51 notes · View notes

theascent · 10 months

Text

connections + plots masterlist

*this list is in no way complete, matteo is always in need of connections *if something stands out to you, please message me ! all can be tweaked if need be.

Sonata One↳ The Accidental Companionship taken by adeline bourbon

whilst the dulcifying lagoons of venice prompted ink to flow effortlessly across his brimming journal, they did little to patch the cavity of loneliness that slowly eroded his gut. partaking in what he does best, matteo relayed the spectacular sights of venetian canals and mosaics to his friend back home - only, it wasn’t his friend who answered his letter. a slip of his wrist partnered with a fumbling post-boy provided for a strange, yet comforting relationship over the remainder of his travels: matteo now had someone to converse with about both his woes and his feats, whilst the stranger was given the opportunity to see the world through a poet’s eyes. the two strangers formed a peculiar companionship that he hoped would no longer be shrouded in mystery, and that they would finally meet in person in france.

Sonata Two↳ The Friendship

matteo finds it rather tedious to maintain friendships, especially given his penchant for international escapades. the gentlemen back home are far too immersed in the lives of lords and first-borns to converse with the likes of a rhymester, no matter his favorability with the nobility. though there is one individual with whom he’s shared many a story with since their time at sea, and there’s an understanding between the two that whenever matteo finds himself back home, he would send word of his arrival. they aren’t confidantes, but they are indeed comrades - a relationship matteo plans to deepen now that his stay in france appears prolonged.

Sonata Three↳ The First Love taken by alina lorraine

when matteo was a mere twenty he fell in love for the first - and last - time. it was without question that he engaged in rakish behavior long before meeting his beloved, after all, he was a man armored with flowering words capable of pricking even the most guarded of hearts. yet as dances shifted into promenades, he began asking his servants to arrange for the arrival of his soon-to-be partner. the heirloom ring that once weighed heavily in his pocket offered his heart the same fate as it then sat collecting dust in his desk drawer. how could matteo expect to give them the life they deserved when the bustling bazaars of turkey beckoned him?

Sonata Four↳ The Deal

matteo needed money; his allowance had already dwindled thanks to the eldest schellenberg, but it was time he took matter into his own hands. when he wasn’t swindling precious jewels, he found himself gambling with the gentleman in versailles. whether on the newest horse to arrive from england or the undefeated boxer for two years running - matteo betted. yet there was a factor that set him apart from the rest; he just wasn’t any good. upon running into you on his swift (albeit, crazed) attempt to escape the expecting fists of those whose wallets suffered from matteo’s lack of fortune, you agreed to front him the money. but it came at a cost. you wished to use his words to [enter character motivation; ex: seduce, persuade, convince, etc someone].

plots:

*these are more than welcomed to be tweaked to fit a certain character’s storyline and/or personality

“The Negotiation.” or

“matteo helps you make the [insert title] jealous by pretending to be interested in you. in return, you promise to introduce him to one of your wealthy friends.”

aesthetics: sneaky glances. champagne flutes. not-so-subtle exclamations. atrocious winking. fake laughter. dance cards.

“Busted.” or

“to earn money, matteo writes for hire, he produces poems for members of society to gift their lovers, for a small price. you think you’ve received the most ardent profession of love - that is, until you see matteo exchanging a similarly looking paper with a nearby gentleman.”

aesthetics: crumpled paper. smeared ink. ingenuine apologies. scoffing. clinking of coins. pitying stares.

“Prideful.” or

“you and matteo went to university together, and long story short, you owe your ‘exceptional writing’ distinction to him. through certain circumstances you hear about his financial predicament, and offer him funds as compensation for his help back in college. and let’s just say, matteo does not embrace your ‘help’ with open arms.”

aesthetics: clenched teeth. bitter whiskey. flying fists - down onto tables, of course. humorless chuckles. unbuttoned shirts.

“Muse.” or

“matteo always found comfort in his quill, and after a less than desirable evening, he found himself in your company; company that assuaged him far more than his pen ever could. and so he asked to meet again. and again. and after each rendezvous, when he was alone in his study, he put his pen to paper and wrote.”

aesthetics: stained fingers. a setting sun. good-natured banter. gifted poems. reluctant partings. promises of next time.

"Thief." or

"though unbecoming of a lord, matteo begins to pickpocket the unsuspecting members of society - though he maintains that this is a last resort. and he does pretty well, that is, until you lay your eyes on the diamond necklace dangling from his pocket and the suspiciously bare neck of a nearby titled woman. will you use it as blackmail? will you want in?"

aesthetics: glittering jewels. waves of dismissal. wide eyes. a thundering heartbeat. negotiations. bitter begging.

"Partner." or

"being removed from society for years rendered matteo clueless when it came to recent betrothals and the current financial standings of those staying in versailles. and yet somehow he met you [tba], a member of non nobility with a near palpable resentment towards those in power. matteo was (he supposed) a criminal, yes. but he wasn't stupid (debatable). the last thing he needed was a pissed off prince. he needed your knowledge, and you, a cut of the fortune."

aesthetics: confirming nods. hurried whispers. dark hallways. subliminal messages. observant glances. "good job".

"Regret." taken by kiraz ekim or

"matteo can't afford to put his heart on the line, not when his dream is in jeopardy. and so he uses and discards people without care, as if they were valued at no more than a dinner towelette. it was different this time, though. at night he lay awake, eyes trained on the ceiling, staring but never truly seeing. how could he manage to sleep when the image forever burned beneath his lids, seared into his thoughts was the look on your face when he told you the truth." *can be friends turned enemies or lovers turned enemies

aesthetics: withheld apologies. deep breaths. weary eyes. one step forward - one step back. foreign feelings.

for artistic muses: please teach him how to paint for muses with two left feet: please let him teach you how to dance for non french muses: maybe he stayed with you during his travels

lastly, he needs enemies. and lovers. whether the relationships are built on a lie or not, i would like to see him eventually settle down.

#matteo ⊱⋅•⋅ wc #idek if these make sense but #please take one

7 notes · View notes