#model 3 configuration

[v1-kisser]

Researching various OS's command prompt systems so I can devise a devious made-up one for the V-models

[astrow1zar6]

Slay Astro placements pt 3

Venus/Uranus positively aspected (trine, CONJUNCTION, sextile): this is by far the most magnetic aspects you can have (especially in conjunction) your vibe is very electrifying. People are super drawn to you & you have the ability to attract friends and admirers from every walk of life. These people can really get along with everyone & are usually super fun to be around. It’s never a dull moment around these individuals. You have a very unique/shocking personality & style. This can be a big fashionista placement and are really creative when it comes to putting certain clothing together. (They could have a really cool Pinterest aesthetic as well). They can be seen as very quirky but they usually pull it off in a very cool way which makes people want to copy them! Big social butterflies & always have exciting stories they share because they are always going on crazy adventures. However they can have a difficult time with long term commitments and romance because of their need for freedom. A lot of big influencers have this placement.

Fire grand trine: if you have this configuration in your chart you have big star quality! A grand trine in any element is considered super lucky & rare but I notice in the fire element they tend to be a lot less lazy & it’s easier for them to go for what they want without procrastination ( grand trines have a tendency to make the native lazy with their talents). You have a larger than life personality & have the ability to attract people and opportunities to you as easy as pie. They posses a lot of energy & ambition which makes getting what they want very easy. Big manifestor energy! Anything they put their mind to they can achieve. A lot of celebrities and models (ex; Cara Delevine) have this they usually have an easier time in life and have an easier time finding joy in life than most. They need to watch out tho for being to impulsive & making rash decisions when they become too excited. It’s good to learn grounding tips so they don’t go astray from their goals.

Venus in Leo: this is honestly one of my favorite Venus placements. These people are sooo put together. They can wear a plastic bag and still look like a baddie. Usually big into luxury and you’ll see them wear a lot of designer, name brand shoes, pretty jewelry, expensive perfumes. They usually smell AMAZING omg (especially with VIRGO or Libra in their chart 😩). They tend to be very ambitious as well! Because of their love for luxury & the good things in life they are normally very money driven & I’ve met a lot who get straight As. They are very self assured & know their worth from a very young age. It’s princess treatment or nothing with them. They usually attract partners that show them off & worship the ground they walk on (bc honestly the accept nothing less). They can have a worship kink. They also treat their partners really well too with a lot of attention and grand gestures, dates & gifts. A lot of people envy them and their relationships. Just know you getting taken care of if these natives love you! Very popular placement as well.

Jupiter in the 12th: these natives are so divinely protected & can be super lucky especially when they are practicing any type of spirituality. They have a lot of angels around them! (My mom had this placement and she had a lot of psychic randomly walk up to her in stores and tell her that there were angels around her😳 super cool). These people experience a lot of supernatural shit in their life & can be lowkey psychic (especially in their dreams). They are able to escape from a lot of terrible situations unharmed. This also creates someone that has a very beautiful selfless soul🥺 they are sooo pure at heart. They are usually into things like volunteering, helping the poor/cooking for them, volunteering in foreign third world countries ect. When they aren’t practicing anything spiritual or are giving to others however they can become very lost in life so it’s important for them to give themselves to others selflessly to increase their good luck. Don’t do these people wrong in any way! They are so protected that karma will fuck your life up forreal. Has a very unforgettable vibe especially romantically.

Uranus conjunct mercury: this placement gives Einstein vibes. So many people who are geniuses or savants have this placement in their chart. This gives a very out of the box creative type of thinking to the native. They have the ability to see patterns others usually miss. Their brain works like the speed of light and they can pick up on concepts and academics faster than most. Their brains work in lightening speed! A lot of famous scientists and philosophers have this aspect in their chart. Being super smart however can have its downfalls. These people usually suffer from overthinking because of the amount of information they are able to absorb & suffer from head aches a lot. This can also cause anxiety because you could be ahead of your time cognitively making it really difficult for others your age to understand your thought process. These people have a great out if the box sense of humor as well! Their intelligence makes them able to think of some of the most creative funniest lines.

Sun in positive aspect with the moon (trine, conjunct, sextile) : these individuals are very in tuned with themselves & are usually very comfortable expressing & understanding their emotions more than most. A lot of people are down to them because of how secure they are with themselves & are able to deal with difficult feelings with ease. They have the ability to make others feel comfortable being themselves around them because of their accepting and open natures. They are normally more comfortable being/showing vulnerability than most & their masculine & feminine energies are usually very balanced within them. They are super affectionate and have hearts of gold for the ones they love. They usually know what they want and who they are from a very young age which can make it easy for them to go for what they want since their is little confliction internally. They are guided by their hearts and don’t let others projections get in the way of what they truly desire & want which I think is so special. They can however be over emotional at times and people can take advantage of them a lot because of how giving their natures are:( overall though very good people usually.

Jupiter in cancer/4th house: these people are probably your favorite family member. They are that cousin & aunty that if there aren’t at the family reunion then it’s super dull. They know how to bring people together by their loving charismatic natures. They will do anything for their family and usually grow up being really supported by family members as well. Most I notice came from wealthier families. And if they weren’t wealthy they were all very close to the native and helped them a lot when it comes to achieving goals. Usually they are the breadwinners of the family. They could’ve grown up in a very culturally diverse household where they learned a lot about different ways of living or was able to travel a lot to places most people don’t get to see. Could’ve grown up with big family reunions and a lot of fun feasts and holidays/traditions. Because of the great support in their upbringings they have are usually very wise and emotionally mature even from a young age. Their emotional world is very colorful and can put themselves in others shoes with ease (very big spiritual teacher aspect). Billie Eilish has this aspect and she always says how growing up her family was her rock and she brings them to all her tours. Could be especially close to the mother or grandmother (4th house ruling mother/grandma). When they have a family of their own it’s most likely going to be big and they normally have a very beautiful big house/home. They are normally amazing parents when they decide to have a child of their own.

Taurus or Libra in the 5th house: another big pretty privilege placement. These people are usually very appealing to the eye and tend to enjoy very Venusian hobbies such as art, fashion, beauty, cooking ect. They tend to be very pleasant partners and attract very pretty spouses as well! This can also indicate having very beautiful children when they ever decide to have them. A lot of people in the modeling industry have a Venusian 5th house. Libra tends to be a very flirtatious placement when in the 5th house and are usually able to find their soulmates/ marry at a very early age. Taurus in the 5th may take a little longer to find their soulmates (usually they find them when financially stable) but once they do they are in it for the long haul and their partners are usually quite wealthy or are very good at investing. Taurus in the 5th tend to have a natural charm about them which makes the irresistible to the opposite sex. (Or same sex depending on what you are into). Both can attract a lot of money and admirers in their lifetime.

Juno in the 1st house or 7th: hubby/wifey material. If these people love you trust me you have a rider for life. These people are super loyal and naturally know what it takes to keep a stable long lasting healthy partnership. They are amazing at compromising & will stay with you thru thick or thin. Could’ve dreamed of marriage from a very young age (especially in the 7th). They usually attract partners that see eye to eye with them & have similar ways of thinking which can cause little issues in their marriages. They have the ability to attract others like them! However these people can struggle with having an identity outside of their partnerships and can become very codependent when in love so it’s important to separate yourself from your lover from time to time to not become too overbearing. Overall though very lucky in love & tend to marry early.

Venus/mercury: smooth talker alert. These people can charm the pants off anyone! It’s actually more rare to have this aspect considering it can only be in either conjunction or sextile. Just by the way you speak and engage can make other fall head over heels for you, you know just what to say & your timing with words are impeccable. I notice these people can have very pretty/sexy talking voices (would be very successful in a podcast because people just live hearing you talk) and they can also be very good singers as well. Usually have perfect pitch naturally. Tend to have very beautiful minds. Their words can be very inspiring as well if they ever choose a public speaking career & they have the ability to connect with so many people just by their words. Can use their hands a lot when they speak which makes you even more engaging

North node in Leo: your whole mission in this lifetime is to SHINEEE. This is such a cool north node to have. In another life you could’ve tried very hard to fit into others and hide the quirks that make you special. You could’ve been very involved in humanity and being involved in a community/friendgroup (south node Aquarius) you could’ve been very detached and independent. In this life however you are meant to stray away from groups and lead! This north node is all about fun & self expression. Deep down you have amazing charisma and charm the you may of had to water down to please others but in this lifetime you are here to stand out not fit in. You are meant to be a STAR. Don’t shy away from the stage or give it to someone else it’s all about YOU not other anymore. You are here to experience romance and learn how to connect deeper with your vulnerability. You’re going from mind to heart in this life. This is a big main character placement imo. Big artists like Beyoncé have this north node. This placement is about finding what makes YOU happy and feel good which I find so beautiful🥹.

Leo sun: you radiate warmth everywhere you go. Like the sun you are able to attract others to you and almost give life to the fullness of life. Your large than life personality and positive outlook draws so many opportunities to you. The world is your stage and YOU are the main character. You are super confident in yourself from a very young age and adore the attention you get from others (they get A LOT of attention). You are a natural entertainer and enjoy making others laugh/ inspiring people. Usually into artistic hobbies such as music, art, comedy, dance, poetry ect. The sun rules Leo so this is one of the most fruitful/comfortable placements for the sun to be in. You have this natural love for yourself that teaches others to love themselves as well♥️ if you aren’t careful you can become a little too attention hungry and only think of yourself which can cause you to receive more negative attention than positive. So make sure you give others a chance to shine as well.

Virgo mercury: these people are so well spoken & are super smart. They have such logical minds and have a very vast vocabulary from what I’ve observed. They are extremely clear in their communication as well which is something I admire (cries in Pisces mercury 🥲). They are usually at the top of their class & have little issues in acedemics. They are huge perfectionists and have an eye for detail. They will not hand in their work until it’s PERFECT. I notice a lot of people with this aspect are love reading as well! A lot of people with this placement are amazing writers and a lot of top novelists have their mercury in Virgo. These are the types to read the dictionary to expand their wordplay. However these people can struggle with a lot of anxiety because of how much they think & how hard they try to make everything “perfect”. They can have problems with never feeling satisfied with their work even if their work is incredible. Don’t be so hard on yourselves:(

Castle configuration: this configuration is pretty rare in the chart. This is where you have a grand trine accompanied by two sextiles on the side creating a castle pattern in the chart. This pattern gives great strength and fortitude. Those who have this pattern are natural born leaders and have the potential to achieve great things in life by their drive alone. This pattern is found in a lot of CEOS, businessmen & great politicians. This gives you the ability to succeed in any field you put your mind to. This gives an amazing level of confidence and ambition. & because of their charisma they are able to attract a lot of relationships with powerful individuals that can help them get to where they need to go in life. Their relationships with others too are usually strong and long lasting. The only issue with this is that these natives can be very rash and impulsive when it comes to decisions but they always prevail even thru their mistakes. This is super lucky and rarely shows up in charts. (North west Kardashian actually has this in her chart).

POF in the 11th house: these people naturally attracted like minded individuals/ friends that help them to become successful in life. The Friedan these people make in this lifetime will be powerful and very influential. The 11th house is also the house of hopes and wishes so it’s no wonder these people are natural manifestors! Anything they wish for and desire are more likely to manifest in the physical compared to others. They can be amazing at networking and can gain a mass following by just being themselves. This is a big entrepreneur placement. They have the ability to create meaningful bonds with others and can have friendships that last a lifetime. They can become very well known toward the end of their life or when they reach a mature age.

[monster-musings]

Slight spoilers for folks that follow my YouTube but I've configured a bunch of freecam stuff and have been messing around with it for the last day or so, and have made some really neat discoveries:

The entirety of the Eastlands is actually modeled in place, with all the locales relative to each other in full scale. Just not in full detail, as that would be insane.

This actually makes a lot of sense as there's only one locale that actually requires a teleport transition to get in and out of (the Iceshard Cliffs), the rest are all completely walkable.

Here we have the first 3 locales of the game all within actual distance of each other!

An overhead view of the Oilwell Basin; you kinda forget just how subterranean the region is.

I really can't blame the people of Azuz for calling them cliffs. The bailey wall of Wyveria is no joke of a superstructure. It's not surprising that there's simply a teleport to mount the wall instead of having the player do so physically all the way from the Oilwell.

The playable area known as the Iceshard Cliffs is at the very top of the Bailey, far away from most of the other locales. (Hirabami for scale).

In addition to the mystery rifts radiating out from Wyveria, there are also a concerning amount of craters surrounding the bailey.

Anyways, have a good day.

[barnacles34]

Steamy Mornings and Massages (Winter x Male OC)

7k words

Tags: smut, fluff, office sex, office massage, soulmates, romance, very love-heavy

Chapter 1: The Day After

"Let's just stay here," Minjeong murmured, pressing soft kisses to the crown of Junho's head. The morning alarm had shattered what his typically precise mind had categorized as Optimal Comfort Configuration™, but neither of them had moved to silence it[1].

His face remained buried in the crook of her neck, accepting what his mind reluctantly acknowledged as the only form of comfort he'd ever truly wanted. "Well, my secretary," he rumbled against her skin, the possessive pronoun carrying new weight in the morning light, "on a very important day, doesn't want to go to work?" Despite his words, his arms tightened incrementally around her waist, betraying his own reluctance.

Minjeong's embrace constricted in response, her Busan accent thick with morning warmth. "What are you going to do? Fire me?" Despite the implied challenge, she still continued to press soft kisses on his forehead. He tightened his embrace further, relishing in the warmth of Minjeong.

The challenge in her voice activated something primal in his executive functioning. His teeth grazed her neck in warning, hovering over precisely the spot that would make any low-necked blouse useless to wear for the following days. "Maybe," he murmured, his hand sliding to the small of her back with deliberate intent, dangerously close to the curve of her backside, "I'll fire you and keep you here, all day long, so that you belong only to me."

"That's..." her breath hitched as his hand dropped lower, "...rather unprofessional of you."

He lifted his head just enough to fix her with that boardroom stare that never failed to make her pulse race. "Says the woman currently preventing her CEO from attending his meetings." Her CEO? Something warm raced inside of her—she thought, her ceo? And this time, she wrapped her arms tighter—however much her thin arms could tighten; nevertheless, an affectionate hug.

"I prefer to think of it as optimizing your morning routine," she countered, though her professional efficiency was somewhat undermined by the way she melted under his touch, furthermore when he traced the curves of her backside. "Some things are more important than the Zhang Corp merger."

His laugh vibrated against her throat. "Careful, Secretary Kim. That sounds dangerously close to insubordination."

"And what does the CEO do with insubordinate employees?" The question emerged soft and weaker than intended as his mouth traced a deliberate path along her collar, trying her most obnoxiously.

"That depends," he murmured, his voice dropping to that dangerous register that made her breath catch. "Are they all as beautiful as you when they disobey direct orders?"

She attempted to maintain her composure, though her hands betrayed her by pulling him closer. "I wouldn't know. I've never seen you like this with other employees[2]."

"No," he agreed, suddenly serious as he raised his head to meet her gaze. "You haven't. You won't."

The intensity in his eyes made her throat tight. "Promise?"

Instead of answering, he caught her mouth in a kiss that effectively ended all discussion of work protocols and proper business conduct[3]. The morning sun painted complex equations of light across their entangled forms, but for once, neither of them was counting the minutes.

—

[1] The first recorded instance of CEO Kim's morning alarm continuing past its initial 0.3-second alert phase, a fact that would require significant updates to the home automation system's behavioral prediction models.

[2] The security system's emotion recognition protocols flagged this moment for what its algorithms could only classify as "Unprecedented Display of Executive Vulnerability."

[3] Later analysis would suggest that certain forms of insubordination yielded surprisingly positive results in terms of overall company morale, though these findings were kept strictly off the official record.

—

"You haven't eaten properly in days," Minjeong observed softly, her fingers tracing the subtle tension in his shoulders that most wouldn't notice. But she wasn't most people—she'd spent months learning to read the microscopic signs of his stress levels[4].

"I've been eating," he defended, though his attempt at authority was somewhat undermined by the way he instinctively relaxed under her touch.

"Coffee and quarterly reports don't count as meals," she countered, continuing her gentle exploration of his shoulder muscles. "I've watched you skip lunch three times this week alone."

He lifted his head to study her face, finding that mix of strength and tenderness that had first undone him. "You keep track of my meals?"

"I keep track of everything about you," she admitted, not backing down from his intense gaze. "Someone has to notice when you forget to take care of yourself."

His hand curved around the nape of her neck, thumb brushing her pulse point. "And you've appointed yourself to that position?"

"Consider it an extension of my secretarial duties," she murmured, then gasped softly as he tightened his grip in warning.

"There's nothing secretarial about the way you take care of me," he corrected, voice low and dangerous. "Is there, Minjeong-ah?"

The informal address, rarely used, made her breath catch. "No," she agreed quietly. "There isn't."

He studied her for a long moment, his analytical mind cataloging the flush in her cheeks, the slight quickening of her breath, the way she yielded to his touch while somehow maintaining that core of quiet strength[5]. "You're dangerous," he finally said, “dangerously beautiful, so beautiful,” then a kiss on the side of her neck which, eventually, will turn into a hickey and Minjeong hadn’t the power to resist her CEO’s advances anymore.

"Me?" She replied, out of breath, tremored, brilliantly transformed by her smile—the type of smile men fight wars for, the type of smile sinewy sociopathic CEOs would drop down for. "I'm just trying to make sure Korea's most brilliant CEO—I mean, my CEO, remembers to eat breakfast." Her small hand collected the waves of his hair, the aroma of the shampoo she recommended wafted in the air.

“Minjeong, you’re driving me crazy.”

“Is that a problem?” She pulled back her hand along his scalp, gathering hair, then trailing all down his nape, to his back: the type of affection that says, even if you were insane, I’d still be crazy about you.

Instead of answering directly, he pressed his lips to her forehead, then her temple, then the corner of her mouth—a calculated sequence of kisses that made her melt further into his embrace. "The only problem," he murmured against her skin, "is that you're making it very difficult to want to leave this bed."

—

[4] Her observation logs, never shared but meticulously maintained, included such details as the precise angle of his jaw when overwhelmed, the subtle shift in his typing rhythm when stressed, and the exact tone of voice that meant he'd skipped meals.

[5] The home automation system's behavioral analysis protocols struggled to categorize this new dynamic, where authority and surrender seemed to flow both ways simultaneously.

—

"Three days," Minjeong continued, her fingers finding the knots in his shoulders with practiced ease. "You've had that tension here since the Singapore deal started falling apart." The morning light caught the subtle furrow in his brow as he processed her words, realizing she'd been tracking his stress levels without him noticing. Her touch was methodical yet tender, each pressure point targeted with the same precision she applied to his scheduling.

"I didn't think anyone had noticed," he admitted, then caught her knowing smile. "Except you."

"I always notice," she replied simply. "Like how you've been drinking twice your usual coffee intake, or how your left eye twitches slightly when the board sends those passive-aggressive emails." Her hands moved lower, finding another point of tension. "You hide it well, but not from me."

He caught her wrist, bringing it to his lips. "It becomes…oddly weird when I see you do the things I usually do." The tease in his voice was softened by the way he pressed kisses to her fingertips.

"Consider it preventive maintenance," she countered, not backing down despite Junho trying to hide his habits under the rug, not backing down despite the heat in his gaze. "Someone needs to monitor your functionality levels[6]."

"Functionality levels?" His laugh rumbled against her skin as he shifted to hover over her. "Is that what we're calling this?"

"Would you prefer 'executive performance metrics'?" She managed to keep her voice steady even as his mouth traced a deliberate path down her throat. "I have spreadsheets..."

"Of course you do," he murmured, teeth grazing her collarbone in retaliation. "My perfectly thorough secretary, tracking every detail."

"Not just details," she breathed, hands sliding up his chest. "I know when you skip lunch to avoid the board members. When you stay late reviewing reports that could wait until morning. When you need..." she paused as his hand curved possessively around her hip, "...someone to remind you that you're human."

The words hung between them, heavy with meaning. Junho lifted his head to study her face, finding that unique blend of submission and strength that had first undone his carefully constructed defenses[7]. "And you've appointed yourself to that position?"

"Someone has to." Her smile carried traces of Busan sunshine. "Besides, I'm uniquely qualified."

"How so, Minjeong-ah?” Another tease. 

“Because you love me.” Minjeong stated, matter of factly. And this time, Junho seized her tight, trapping her under him, seizing her two thin wrists. Then, pressed a deep kiss onto Minjeong’s delicate lips. After a while, he released himself from the kiss, the kiss that Minjeong reluctantly let go of—her lips pointing outwards like a duck as he left. Finally, he said, “That’s right, I love you.”

Her stomach stirred with butterflies and more.

—

[6] Her personal files, never shared but meticulously maintained, included detailed protocols for managing various levels of CEO stress responses, from subtle intervention to direct action.

[7] The exact moment of this defensive breach had been logged by the building's security systems, though the footage was classified under "Executive Privacy Protocols."

—

Minjeong lingered in bed, her heart performing calculations that had nothing to do with quarterly reports. The smart home system's sensors detected her elevated pulse rate, though no algorithm could properly quantify the joy radiating from her smile[8]. She stretched luxuriously against Egyptian cotton sheets that still held traces of his warmth, letting herself marvel at the reality of being here, in his space, surrounded by evidence of Junho.

Her mind couldn't help but catalog the endearing chaos around her—academic journals scattered across surfaces, a tablet displaying economic projections that had clearly been reviewed at 3 AM, several coffee cups in various states of abandonment. The morning light revealed what darkness and desire had hidden the night before: Junho's private space was a fascinating contradiction to his public persona, a detail she filed away with all her other precious observations of him.

Rising with practiced grace, she padded across cold hardwood floors, her bare feet gliding across the floor. His dress shirt from the previous night—the one that had hung open as they'd discovered more interesting uses for his mahogany desk—called to her like a siren song. She slipped it on, the fabric carrying traces of his unisex cologne and something uniquely him that made her stomach flutter[9].

Junho emerged from his ensuite bathroom to find her like this: drowning in his shirt, examining his space with that careful attention she brought to everything concerning him. His breath caught audibly.

"That's mine," he noted, his voice carrying that dangerous edge that never failed to make her pulse race.

She turned to face him, letting the hem of his shirt brush against her thighs. "Really? I think it’s mine."

—

[8] The home automation system logged this moment as: "Secondary User Biometrics Indicating Unprecedented Levels of Serotonin. CEO Response: Highly Favorable."

[9] Security footage would later reveal this as the exact moment CEO Kim's usually impeccable morning routine experienced a critical efficiency failure, though no one questioned why that particular shirt never made it to the dry cleaners.

—

"You know," Junho mused against her neck, his hands tracing idle patterns on her thighs, "for someone so concerned about my eating habits, you're being very distracting in my kitchen."

"Me?" Minjeong's attempt at innocence was undermined by the way her fingers kept playing with his hair. "I'm trying to feed you."

"Wearing my shirt. Sitting on my counter." His smile carried equal parts mischief and heat as he pulled back to look at her. "I'm starting to think this is corporate sabotage, Secretary Kim."

She tried to maintain her professional expression, though her lips twitched. "I would never compromise company productivity, 사장님."

"No?" He raised an eyebrow, fingers sliding deliberately higher under his shirt. "Then explain why Korea's most efficient CEO is currently contemplating skipping his 9 AM."

"Poor executive guidance?" she suggested, then squeaked as he nipped her earlobe in retaliation. "I mean... clearly you need better supervision."

"Is that your professional opinion?" His laugh was warm against her skin. "And I suppose you're volunteering for the position?"

"Well," she threaded her fingers through his hair, tugging gently, "I do have extensive experience in handling difficult executives."

He lifted his head, eyes dancing. "Difficult?"

"Demanding," she amended, then added with deliberate sweetness, "High-maintenance?"

"You," he declared, catching her wrists and pinning them behind her back with one hand, "are getting dangerously bold with your performance reviews[12]."

Her answering smile was pure sunshine. "Does that mean I'm not getting that raise?"

"Oh, I'll give you a raise," he promised, his free hand sliding up her spine as he pressed closer. "Right after we discuss your insubordination."

"I have a presentation prepared," she managed, though her breath hitched as his mouth found that sensitive spot behind her ear. "Complete with charts on CEO stubbornness metrics..."

"Using company resources for personal research?" His mock disapproval was somewhat undermined by the way he couldn't stop smiling against her skin. "That's a serious violation of corporate policy."

"And what's the penalty for that?" She arched into his touch, shameless. "More overtime with my boss?"

"Definitely." He captured her mouth in a kiss that tasted like laughter and promise. "Starting now[13]."

—

[12] The home automation system registered this interaction as a significant deviation from standard performance review protocols, though it noted remarkable improvements in overall satisfaction metrics.

[13] Later analysis of the kitchen's usage patterns would reveal this as the morning the coffee maker recorded its latest ever first brew, a delay that would become surprisingly routine.

—

"We're going to be late," Minjeong observed, though she made no move to leave her perch on the counter as Junho's hands mapped new territories beneath his borrowed shirt. The morning sun painted gold across his shoulders, and she couldn't resist tracing the light with her fingers.

"Concerned about punctuality now?" His smile was wicked against her collar. "After deliberately sabotaging your CEO's morning routine?"

"I would never," she protested, then gasped as his teeth found that sensitive spot below her ear. "I'm simply... optimizing your schedule."

"Is that what we're calling it?" His laugh vibrated through both their bodies as he pressed closer, effectively trapping her against the granite. "And how does this particular optimization benefit the company?"

Her fingers curled into his hair as his mouth traced a deliberate path down her throat. "Improved executive mood... increased satisfaction metrics... better work-life balance..."

"Very thorough analysis," he approved, his hand sliding higher up her thigh. "Though I think we need more data points[14]."

"준호야..." Her professional composure cracked entirely as his fingers found bare skin. "The Zhang Corp meeting..."

"Can wait." He lifted his head to meet her gaze, his smile carrying that perfect blend of authority and affection that never failed to undo her. "I'm conducting important research."

"On what?" She managed to arch an eyebrow despite her rapidly dissolving coherence. "How to make your secretary lose her mind?"

"Girlfriend," he corrected, voice dropping to that dangerous register as his thumb traced patterns on her inner thigh. "And I believe we were discussing your performance review[15]."

Jun abruptly stopped their performance review midway because the deal was on the line and time was running short. Minjeong was reminded of this painfully by how Jun pulled away from the kiss—she was pouty about it until they reached the office, when her damascus-like resolve kicks in.

—

[14] The kitchen's environmental sensors registered multiple instances of what could only be classified as "Critical Protocol Deviations," though these readings were automatically archived under "Executive Privacy Settings."

[15] HR would later note a curious correlation between the CEO's improved mood and these new "morning performance evaluations," though no one dared to investigate further.

—

Chapter 2: The Meeting

The Zhang Corp representatives sat across the mahogany conference table, their expressions carefully neutral as they reviewed the merger proposals. Minjeong maintained her perfect professional facade, though her pulse quickened every time Junho's hand brushed hers as she passed him documents[1].

"The third quarter projections," she murmured, leaning close enough that his cologne made her thoughts stray to their morning activities. His finger tapped twice against the paper—their private signal that he needed a moment to compose himself.

"As you can see," Junho addressed the room with that commanding presence that made board members squirm, though Minjeong could detect the slight roughness in his voice that hadn't been there before their morning 'delay', "our integration timeline is aggressive but achievable."

She took her seat beside him, crossing her legs in a way that made his pen pause fractionally on the contract. Two could play at this game of professional torture. His response was to rest his hand on her thigh under the table, hidden from view but commanding enough to make her breath catch[2].

"Secretary Kim," he said smoothly, his thumb tracing dangerous patterns against her skin, "would you pull up the logistics breakdown?"

"Of course, 사장님." She managed to keep her voice steady as she reached for her tablet, though her free hand found his wrist under the table, her fingers curling around it in what could have been either submission or warning.

The meeting proceeded with perfect corporate efficiency, though the undercurrent of tension between CEO and secretary created what the room's environmental sensors could only classify as "Critical Atmospheric Pressure"[3].

—

[1] The conference room's biometric scanners noted elevated heart rates in both CEO and secretary, though this data was diplomatically omitted from official meeting records.

[2] Security footage would later require careful editing to maintain professional appearances, particularly regarding certain "under-table activities."

[3] The Zhang Corp representatives would later confess to the fact that they could tell what was happening, no amount of demure leg-crossing could hide it. Though, they ignored it in order to get that deal (which was integral to them).

—

The private office door clicked shut behind them, the afternoon sun casting long shadows across imported marble floors. Junho rolled his shoulders, tension evident in his posture despite the meeting's success[4].

"Come here," Minjeong said softly, recognizing the signs of his post-negotiation stress. She guided him to his leather chair, her hands already moving to his shoulders. "You get so tense during these meetings." Instead of standing behind him and the chair, she stood in front, impending a mount to get ‘better access’ to his shoulders.

"Keeping my hands to myself requires considerable effort," he admitted, then groaned softly as her fingers found a particularly tight knot. "Especially when you keep giving me those looks."

"What looks?" Her innocent tone was betrayed by the way her hands slid lower, tracing patterns down his upper chest. "I was being perfectly professional."

He caught her wrist, tugging her to face him. "Professional? Is that what you call that thing you did with your pen?"

"Taking notes?" She smiled down at him, letting her fingers trail along his tie. "I'm very thorough in my documentation."

"Very thorough," he agreed, pulling her into his lap with practiced ease. "Though I noticed some interesting gaps in the meeting minutes."

"Oh?" Her hands returned to his shoulders, kneading the tension even as she shifted closer. "Like what?"

"Like how many times you deliberately brushed against me," his voice dropped lower as her fingers worked their magic, "or how your skirt kept riding up when you reached for files[5]."

"Maybe," she breathed, her ministrations becoming less therapeutic and more intentional, "your secretary just needs better supervision."

His laugh rumbled through both their bodies. "Is that what you need, Secretary Kim?"

Instead of answering, she pressed a kiss to that spot below his ear that always made him growl. His hands tightened on her hips in warning, but she didn't stop her exploration of his neck, her fingers still working the tension from his shoulders even as she created a different kind of pressure entirely.

"The door," he managed, though his hands were already sliding under her blouse.

"Locked," she murmured against his skin. "I'm very efficient."

"My perfect secretary," he agreed.

—

[4] The office's environmental controls registered what could only be classified as "Post-Meeting Stress Relief Protocol: Executive Override Engaged."

[5] The meeting's official minutes would maintain strict professional standards, though certain observations were kept in much more private records.

—

"You're still tense," Minjeong observed, her fingers tracing new patterns down his spine. The afternoon light painted gold across his desk, where various merger documents lay forgotten. "Let me take care of you properly."

She slid from his lap, moving behind his chair with practiced grace. Her hands returned to his shoulders, this time with more purposeful intent. Junho's head fell back as she worked a particularly tight knot, a sound escaping him that had nothing to do with professional conduct[7].

"That noise," she murmured, leaning close enough that her breath teased his ear, "is definitely not going in the meeting minutes."

His laugh turned into another groan as her thumbs hit a sensitive spot. "Keeping secrets from the board, Secretary Kim?"

"Only the interesting ones," she admitted, her hands sliding lower, tracing the muscles of his back through his expensive shirt. "Like how my very commanding CEO turns to putty when I do this..."

His hand shot up to catch her wrist in warning. "Careful," his voice carried that dangerous edge that made her stomach flip. "You're getting bold with your observations."

"Just maintaining detailed records," she breathed, not backing down despite his grip. "For example, when I press here..." Her free hand found another knot, making him inhale sharply. "Your left eye twitches slightly. And when I do this..." She leaned forward, letting her lips brush his neck. "Your pulse jumps exactly like it did during the merger talks[8]."

The chair spun suddenly, Junho pulling her back into his lap with decisive force. "You," he growled, hands spanning her waist, "are playing a dangerous game."

Her smile was pure innocence, though her fingers were already working his tie loose. "I'm simply being thorough in my duties, 사장님."

"Your duties," he repeated, watching her with dark amusement as she stripped his tie with expert efficiency. "Is that what we're calling this?"

"Would you prefer 'executive stress relief'?" She gasped as his teeth found her collar. "Or maybe 'personnel management'?"

His laugh vibrated against her skin. "I prefer," he murmured, hands sliding deliberately up her thighs, "when you stop talking altogether[9]."

—

[7] The office's audio sensors temporarily malfunctioned during this period, a technical glitch that occurred with suspicious regularity during certain "private meetings."

[8] Her personal files contained extensive documentation of CEO behavioral patterns, though certain observations were encrypted under "Private Research: Ongoing."

[9] The afternoon's remaining meetings would require creative rescheduling, though no one questioned why the CEO's mood had improved so dramatically.

—

"You missed a spot," Minjeong murmured against his mouth, her fingers finding another knot of tension in his shoulders even as she shifted closer in his lap. The leather chair creaked softly beneath them, a sound that would forever carry new associations in both their minds[10].

"Did I?" His hands slid higher beneath her skirt, mapping territories that were becoming dangerously familiar for office hours. "Or are you just making excuses to keep touching your CEO?"

She pulled back just enough to give him that look—the one that somehow managed to be both defiant and yielding. "I take my responsibilities very seriously, 사장님."

"I've noticed," he growled, catching her wrist as she tried to maintain the pretense of massage. "Like how seriously you took those meeting notes earlier. Very... thorough."

Her laugh caught in her throat as his lips found that sensitive spot below her ear. "I was documenting important observations."

"Such as?" His teeth grazed her pulse point, making her grip his shoulders for balance.

"Such as," she managed, though her professional tone wavered as his hands grew bolder, "how the great Kim Junho gets distracted when I cross my legs. How your voice drops exactly half an octave when you're trying not to react to me. How you tap your pen twice when you're thinking about—"

He silenced her with a kiss that effectively derailed all attempts at analysis[11]. When he finally pulled back, her dazed expression made him smirk. "Any other observations to record, Secretary Kim?"

“I must’ve forgotten, I usually remember better when you kiss me.” She hinted, and he obliged, letting his lips connect yet again with Minjeong. This time, the endless teasing reached a breaking point that both of them coalesced to at the same time.

He tightly grasped her backside then pulled her up from the executive chair to the executive table. Wherein, she was splayed across the wide table. “We really have to ban tables when we’re around each other.” She joked. 

“That’d be a terrible idea.”

“How so?”

“Where else could I splay you across like this, then explore you, centimeter-by-centimeter?”

“Hmm…” she hummed, pleased, "Yeah?"

“Yeah.”

“Then come here, my ceo.”

“My beautiful secretary, whatever shall I do with you?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you find out?” She pulled as tight as she could, locking her arms around his neck.

He obliged, meeting lips with her once again. He felt the softness of her face as he explored deeper into the kiss, forgetting time and everything except what was being shared between them. Journeying his hands further, entangling it into the silken strands of his lover as he deepened the kiss, and she replied with a deep sigh—trembling with a mix of her high register. 

“You’re such a good woman for me, Minjeong.” He said before nipping at her lower lip, catching it softly between his teeth with a teasing tug, Minjeong let out a breathless laugh, “you’re devouring me, Junho.” Regardless, he dug deeper, letting his entire body shift into Minjeong’s malleable, petite body—letting his hand explore more of her silken strands, almost saying, yes Minjeong, that is my purpose: to devour you.

Now, instead of every 5 seconds, Minjeong’s soft moans that only served to goad Junho on were musically released into his ears every second. Precautiously, she asked, “how good is the soundproofing in your private room-ah!”

“Not good enough to hide your moans, dear.” He replied, his voice like rough gravel. Her eyes widened suddenly from the need to hide her moans. Yet he dug deeper, letting his loin rub against her wet bottom, daring her moan out loud.

Despite all the regulations, the possible condemnation, their passions only grew more. Mouths moving in sync, gazes meeting momentarily, it wasn’t just kissing anymore—it was a language. The type of language where Minjeong coalesced to his dangerous games and learned to enjoy it, almost as much as him.

“Junho, seriously, I don’t want to be seen as-”

“Minjeong-ah, I don’t give a single fuck if my employees hear you and I.” The teeth that so brazenly tugged on her lower lips trailed down her neck, tracing the soft tendons.

Whispering, in a verbose way, “And as you are my secretary, my extension, my life-line, you’ll follow. Me.” And as Minjeong was getting battered by the gravel-slung voice of Junho—she hadn’t noticed how her blouse was opened, bra pushed down to reveal the breasts that he was so infatuated with—only until she felt the torsion of her nipple.

“Ngh!”

“I love that, Minjeong, scream out. I’ll fuck you until the entire floor hears you call my name.”

And another wet mewl that inspired his further deviance.

Feeling the soft suction of his mouth on her neck, she deduced that it could only mean one thing: another hickey just placed above the collar of her blouse, the same sort of hickey that the Zhang corp executives couldn’t keep their eyes off of—any justification in their minds that it was a skin discoloration was debilitated by how intensely Minjeong and Junho shared those deadly glances, likely to jump on each other as soon as they left—and they were right.

“Junho—ngh!”

“Louder.” He replied, testing her, “fucking. Louder.” Then he pressed deeper, grinding his rough textured pants on the creamy soft bottom of Minjeong.

“Please Junho, seriously.” Was all that she could get out of her bated breaths, her deep moans.

Then suddenly, he stopped, caressing the softness of her cheeks with his, back-handed, knuckles.

“You look so beautiful when you’re all tired and exhausted, did I tell you that before?” Letting the tune of his voice marinate with Minjeong (who was recovering from how hot and bothered she was just a second ago).

However good his intentions were, he wasn’t perfect. The way Minjeong’s body looked splayed against the messy paperwork, her blonde hair all frizzy and stuck to the desk, how her chest went in-and-out catching all the breath she lost—all of it made it impossible for him to resist anymore.

He pounced on her again, connecting lips against her wet, trembling lips that nonetheless accepted him so openly, like a warm cup of milk tea on a winter morning. That momentary pause had changed everything, Minjeong—now fully conquered by him—was begging for that penetrative action that he would give out so liberally to her.

“Naughty woman, bad secretary, what else?”

“Junho’s toy.” 

“Fuck.” And in a flash, his belt flew off, then in another flash, his pants fell down. 

“Tented much?” She was truly in no position to tease: a strategic error.

He grinned at the statement, finally, teasingly, let his underwear fall inch-by-inch. 

Simultaneously, she bunched up her legs then pulled off her panty that revealed the color combinations that he would die for. Though before he could look for longer, she crossed her shins—hiding the cause of Junho’s demise behind her thin legs.

They shared a giggle before Jun hugged her soft body.

“I will penetrate you in this office.”

“Yes. It appears so.”

“No, like, do you consent?”

“Idiot..” Minjeong pulled him in for another kiss. Which, coincidentally, made his tip graze her engorged and swollen core, Minjeong almost came instantaneously from that alone.

And he could tell, laughing, “Seriously, Minjeong?”

“It’s your fault, you trained me like this.”

“This is like our 3rd time.” He said, as if to brush it off.

“This is my 3rd time.” 

And Minjeong would be certainly hurt by the thought that Junho’s partners before her made it more than his 3rd time for him—some of them, the girlfriends, she saw. 

He caught on the clues before it was too late, “Minjeong, not to compare, but who else have I been so crazy about? Who else did I track for every minute of the day? Who else did I let in my home (his girlfriends didn’t, actually, get to enter his home)? Who else would make me lose composure when they’re out of my sight-line?”

Letting his forehead touch against hers, he could feel her heart rend and beat and do all sorts of bothered gymnastics.

“It’s always been about you, Minjeong. You are the brilliance of my life, the expansion of a born star—bright from millions of light years away.”

And she needn’t say anything or reply. Absolving him by wrapping her arms tighter around his nape, then holding up her head to desperately kiss Junho again and again.

In between all the kisses, he penetrated Minjeong. His length, constricted against her core, travelled softly—wringing out all sorts of noises. Her swollen pussy wrapped around him gently but tight. “I love you, Minjeong.” Was the last thing said before Minjeong’s eyes went into the back of her head—a cute habit—before she orgasmed and creamed all over.

As per her request, Junho didn’t stop. He let his hips move as slow as he could possibly go before it could be called torture. During all this, Minjeong grabbed for stability as she was getting fucked through her orgasm, feeling that intense thrusting from the love of her life as she covered his length in more of her slick.

“Oh f-” He covered her mouth this time, respecting her wish to stay at least a little lowkey in the office, whatever the hell that meant right now. Then, shallow thrusts turned into slow thrusts all the way to the hilt, getting Minjeong to scrunch her face in pleasure, eyebrows knitted in the highest pleasure, her mouth agape with strands of her saliva connecting the roof of her mouth to her tongue.

“I love you, Minjeong. Fuck. This is insane, having sex with you in my office.”

“Ngh~ I - I love you so much,” was all that she could get across before succumbing to her dopamine receptors—eyes joining the back her head. Junho connected lips with her again, letting her legs lock around his waist, then rubbing his pelvis against her engorged core, clitoris and all.

After Minjeong finally got used to the familiar motions, he grasped her thin waist, almost wrapping his two hands around the entire circumference of her tight waist. Then their eyes met momentarily, Junho had the I am going to fuck you through this desk eyes whilst Minjeong had the prey eyes that relentlessly coalesced to him. Though, before he could go wild, he brushed off the stray hairs stuck to her forehead, gave a reaffirming kiss on her forehead before pumping all the way in.

The small of her back surrendered to his tight grip, bending against the pushes and pulls. Her legs tightened the lock around his waist—almost painfully tight, but that didn’t matter to him, who’d get to pummel her soft pussy.

“You’re so fucking tight,” he planted his body against Minjeong’s, pinning her two thin wrists against the stable table.

“You’re fucking me so good, Junho,” Minjeong replied, her rare use of the curse made him chuckle by the side of her head. 

“That’s right, baby,” Junho bear-hugged Minjeong, only thrusting deeper and deeper, pelvis rubbing against hers, to make her cum again.

“NGHHH~!” The abrupt moan startled him and herself—however, they didn’t care as much about the employees anymore after indulging in each other’s bodies. Instead of stopping or evaluating the situation—as the rationalists would do—they dug deeper into each other, trying to carve each other with their soft and swollen lips.

Suddenly, he lifted Winter and turned her over. Bending her back against the table before dipping his cock into her pussy again. This time, the entrance was entranced with the soft, tight, wet feeling that he was fully obsessed with. This time, he had more ready access to her soft ass that was so soft and supple that he had to relieve it of its aesthetic beauty: with some redness spread across her ass.

“Oh my god!” Winter squeaked as she reacted against the heavy-handed slap against her ass, loving it, spreading—overflowing—his length with her slick.

Leaning over, he held Minjeong’s chin for the last stretch, considerably slowing down and enjoying each other’s presence.

“How much do you bet the coworkers will give us bad looks?”

“The female workers already give me horrible ones.” She said whilst her chin was held stable by his hand, still moaning against the soft thrusts.

“Hmm, broad generalization. How do you know this?”

“That hickey that you gave that was far too purple and far too above the collar of my blouse.”

“No long-necked turtleneck?”

“No, that’d ruin the point, I wanted to show off the gift my Junho-ssi gave.” That was the moment when he moaned hard, pressing deep inside Winter before releasing all his seed—the seed that Winter felt bounce against her cervix, making her moan out and squeal happily.

“God. Minjeong, you will be my demise.” He sighed before Winter turned around and kissed him, “as long as I get to stay with you, through demise and all,” she said between the kisses.

—

[10] The office furniture procurement department would later note an unusual request for "enhanced stability features" in executive seating, though they wisely chose not to inquire further.

[11] The building's environmental controls registered what could only be classified as "Critical Temperature Fluctuation - Executive Override Protocol Engaged."

—

Evening painted Seoul's skyline in shades of amber and gold, the office gradually emptying as another corporate day drew to a close. Only the executive floor maintained signs of life, though its usual efficiency had given way to something far more intimate[12].

"We should go home," Minjeong murmured against Junho's shoulder, though she made no move to leave her position in his lap. His shirt had long since been unbuttoned, her blouse delightfully rumpled, both their professional facades thoroughly compromised.

"Should we?" His fingers traced lazy patterns up her spine, his other hand still possessively curved around her hip. "I rather like having my secretary exactly where she is."

She lifted her head to meet his gaze, finding that unique blend of authority and affection that never failed to make her heart race. "Your secretary has plans for you."

"Oh?" His interest visibly peaked. "More performance reviews?"

"Better." She smiled, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "I'm cooking you dinner. Besides, breakfast was skipped."

The surprise in his expression made her laugh softly. "You don't have to—"

"I want to," she interrupted, then added with deliberate sweetness, "Unless my CEO is refusing a direct offer from his girlfriend?"

His hands tightened on her waist. "Using that title to manipulate me now?"

"Is it working?" She bit her lip, watching his eyes darken at the gesture.

Instead of answering, he pulled her into a kiss that suggested dinner might be delayed[13]. When they finally broke apart, his smile carried dangerous promise. "Your place or mine?"

"Yours," she decided, fingers playing with his collar. "Your kitchen needs christening properly."

His laugh rumbled through both their bodies. "Just the kitchen?"

"We'll see how dinner goes," she teased, then squeaked as he stood suddenly, lifting her with him. "준호야!"

"Efficient time management," he explained, setting her on her feet but keeping her close. "The sooner we leave..."

She pressed against him, deliberate and knowing. "The sooner you can help me... cook?"

"Among other things," he agreed, already reaching for his jacket. The predatory grace in his movements suggested cooking might not be the evening's primary activity[14].

—

[12] Security logs would note this as the third consecutive evening of "Extended Executive Hours," though the actual nature of these extensions remained diplomatically unrecorded.

[13] The office's automated systems began learning to expect these end-of-day delays, adjusting power consumption accordingly.

[14] The kitchen's motion sensors would later flag unusually high activity levels, though whether any actual cooking occurred remained a matter of some debate.

Fin

I fixed some stuff that I executed poorly before, like the crazy amount of math references; which, in foresight, was far too much.

I really had to get this out quickly. Now, I think it's a good idea to not expect anything from me for an entire month (hopefully not).

hope u enjoyed.

[phoebejaysims]

Taxes & Benefits Mod + New Active Career - DOWNLOAD

One of my sims was earning a little too much money and somehow this spiralled into me developing this mod. Introducing a very configurable tax and benefit system alongside an all new active career!

The tax and benefit system is modelled after the system we have here in England. All tax and benefit options are configurable and sims will only be opted in if you want them to. See the included documentation for a proper feature breakdown.

There are three types of taxes:

Council Tax (a property tax)

Business Tax

National Insurance (an income tax)

Register sims for each type of tax through the city hall.

There are four types of benefits:

Universal Credit

Housing Benefit

Child Benefit

Job Seekers Allowance

Register sims online, through social interactions with the all new Civil Servant, or at a HSRC communications booth.

Civil Service Career

Work for the HSRC in this fully functional active career.

There are 36 jobs which can be completed: 27 are custom career opportunities (like in the private eye career), 9 of them are custom active jobs (like in the interior decorator or firefighter career).

Jobs include: checking benefit eligibility for sims around town, attending job fairs, auditing, community outreach, responding to council house repair requests, and things of that nature.

Communication Booth

Civil Servants are given communication booths which can be placed anywhere in the world. This object has 2 geostates and can be set up or packed down when not needed.

Council Houses

Properties that are not owned by a sim are council houses. There are some unique interactions for these homes. For one, they can be more susceptible to pests (if enabled in the tuning, that is).

Complain to the Council

Depending on the type of property the sim lives in, they can complain to the council about housing issues such as overcrowding, broken facilities, or vermin.

Social Interactions

There are 12 new social interactions found under Friendly, Funny and Mean.

Help Understand Welfare System – Civil Servant Only

Complain About Taxes

Accuse of Benefit Fraud

Suggest Part Time Job – Civil Servant Only

Joke About Fraud

Talk About Benefits

Talk About Career History

Hand Out HSRC Leaflet – Civil Servant Only

Warn About Fraudulent Behaviour – Civil Servant Only

Offer Council House Repairs – Civil Servant Only

Including 2 autonomous only interactions:

Talk About Shared Career History

Talk About Shared Benefit Claims

Some interactions are only visible after doing things such as paying taxes. Some interactions are specific to the Civil Service career.

Required

Ambitions EP

University EP

Optional

Seasons EP – adds tax refunds, tax fluctuations and council house scenarios

Showtime EP – adds extra interaction to communications booth

World Adventures EP- adds extra active job

My Boutique Mod, Hairdressing Mod, Go to Court Mod – adds extra work opportunities

My social clubs mod – adds extra work opportunity and some optional integration with Bronzo banking

My functional printer mod – makes use of buff

Olomaya Smoking & Private Clinic (optometry module) mod - illness buffs taken into account with trying to claim some benefits.

Uninstallation

You can use cheat ‘uninstallTaxesBenefits’ in order to remove all mod related objects and data before uninstalling.

Download: Simblr.cc - Taxes & Benefits Mod

If you would like to donate as thanks, please feel free to do so at my ko-fi! :)

ps modders: this code for this mod is up on GitHub, plus a WIP active career tutorial (emphasis on the WIP but I hope it's helpful). Link included on the last page of the documentation.

Please enjoy all!

~ Phoebe <3

[baldursghaik]

Do you have tips on how you draw mind flayers? I cannottttt get a handle on that anatomy (especially the head) and your art is so impressive! 😁❤️

of course! I threw this together pretty quickly, so it's not exactly comprehensive, but I hope it helps (and please, feel free to ask if you need clarification on anything)

I take a fair amount of creative leeway with how I draw illithids (and god knows that has been a process, please know I'm honored that anyone would ask this lmao), but also keep in mind that no two are the same. For example, I draw Thyneron and the Emperor broadly similarly, but some key differences that I keep in mind are that Thyneron is both shorter and more slender than the Emperor, and in turn, I prefer to draw the Emperor slightly more built (larger biceps, broader shoulders, etc).

However--I do also have a ripped model from the game that I use for reference. It's a fully configured fbx file (shoutout to @arcandoria for both supplying me the model, and helping me figure out how to get it to work in clip studio!), so below I've included some basic head angles, as well as a few trickier ones

As always, reference reference reference, and never be afraid to trace things for practice. I spent a lot of time just tracing the Emperor's head shape to get my hand and arm used to the motions of drawing something so alien. I rarely need to do so today, but if I'm drawing the Emperor's head from a particularly weird angle, you bet I'm loading the model in and grabbing exactly what I need. Thank you so much for asking this (and for the compliment <3), I hope this is useful!

[transmutationisms]

what are your thoughts on attachment theory? even before getting into antipsychiatry i always struggled with the idea that there is 3 Fucked Up ways to attach in relationships and one Good, Right way… i don’t think i really know anyone who would fit the secure attachment model

no it's silly. obviously freud et al weren't entirely off base to say that childhood experiences have certain formative psychological effects lol but even in those early formulations you can see this tendency toward elevating the importance of early experience to the point where it eventually becomes this psychological caricature of a singular unfixable trauma wound that marks you forever. it does a lot of the rehabilitative work of psychiatry in the sense that your misery is now configured as arising solely from past experience in the closed system of the family: there's no political dimension to the analysis, only an interpersonal injury that you compulsively recreate because you have been individually affected by it. additionally the attachment theory stuff has more than a passing association with other psychiatric discourses that assume the presence of originary trauma solely as an ad hoc explanation for a person's current problems, eg also the memory wars stuff has this going on. yknow your all-explaining past must be uncovered by a skilled professional only and then you enter into a healing relationship with this person because their professional qualifications are the only way you can Process this horrible event that you have no memory of to even mull over by yourself because you were an infant. and btw there are three discrete human personality types but this time we're definitely sure the taxonomy tracks

[bravehyde]

Ant Tenna Anatomy: What Mike is For Him?

~Deltarune Chapters 3+4 Spoilers~

I'm still working on a post on what equipment Tenna would want, and then I realized...hey, microphones should probably be their own post. This is because of multiple reasons: we have Mike, we have the fact he actually holds a microphone in a sprite, and the microphone is just important! So we'll have our own smaller post for the microphone and the cable he'll need to connect it.

Which one is Tenna holding?

This is the easiest, since it's just figuring out which microphone Toby probably used as reference, and there's one in particular that would fit the bill the best, because it's an iconic microphone model. Everyone has seen this microphone before, it's *the* microphone. This is also the closest match for Photorealistic Mike that I could find, but if someone has a better match they can ID, then by all means go for it.

Tenna's physical microphone is most likely the Audio-Technica AT818 Microphone.

So, just to go over what that name means: Audio-Technica is the company who makes the microphone. They're a Japanese company that's been top of the line for a very, very long time globally and mainly make microphones and headphones. AT818 is the model (AT is denoting that it's made by Audio-Technica, 818 is just the number they assigned it).

This is a cardioid microphone, which means it won't pick up everything in every direction and instead what's in front of it in a heart-like pattern. That's excellent for picking up one person talking. It also has a dynamic transducer, which makes it more precise with what it picks up and records and was revolutionary at the time. The AT818 is a classic for a reason, and stuck around for a longass time.

What's that cord do, though?

That's an XLR cable, and you need it. Some people also call it a cannon plug, but that's less of a thing nowadays. We use these for connecting audio, lighting, cameras, power...it's a very versatile cable and you won't see a set without one. Some microphones don't need to be plugged in for power (they have *phantom power*, which I have worked with for eight years and I still don't know what that means so don't worry about it), but everything has to be plugged in to transmit their audio to the recording device, usually with this. And because I know some people will want to see wires and cords for other reasons, here are some more pictures of them in different angles. First, where to plug it into the microphone.

All XLR cables that we use for professional microphones have the three pin configuration (the pin is that sticking-up bit of metal). There are other configurations for XLRs, they're for intercoms and the like and don't matter to the topic at hand. The other end can have a different shape depending on what it's supposed to connect to and also doesn't pertain to what I'm talking about. For the microphone we're talking about, you need to plug it in at the bottom there, so the cord will come out directly instead of from the side. After that, well, where you decide he has his multitrack recorder is up to your design, really. I was talking about suggestions with other people and i got in the forearm, a holster on the hip, or an ant-like butt that it connects into. Obviously if you need art references for the XLR cable so I'm going to go over what you can't find in a photo reference: how they move and feel.

These things are bitches and they are in charge of you. No, I'm not kidding. They're thick, they're tough, they're heavy, and if you treat them right, they're working for thirty years, but if you don't, not only are they disappointed in you, everyone in the crew is disappointed, because you fucked up the XLR cable. You cannot make them do what you want, you have to go with what they want. If you're drawing these, they'll have a lot of weight and very rarely be straight, since they love to coil in one direction and straightening them out can really screw them up. They're strong and won't ever have a sharp edge to them unless you want the director to fire you. If your Tenna has them bare, they'd also be a great show of emotions since these fuckers have so much personality to them it's a pain in the ass. I hate XLR cables. I went through some videos on cable management and I think this one is the closest to what I was taught in school on how to manage them and also shows how they really move and operate.

Notice how when you are handling them you have to run your finger along it when you pick it up. He doesn't force it into loops, it decides the loops for him and he goes with it. You physically feel how it wants to bend and follow through on it. If you force it to do something it doesn't want, congratulations, you just fucked up an XLR cable.

That's just what I have for now. I've been thinking about doing something about each of the Mikes since I thought it was funny how they're different microphones too, but I'm still thinking about that one. We needed to talk about his physical microphone while I work on the other bits, so here it is! His microphone. I looked at a lot of catalogues for microphones around this era from different companies just to see if there's a different one he could be using, but the one I said above seemed best. If anyone wants the microphones I was looking at for more options, then send me an ask and I'll post the catalogues I was flipping through.

[beyonsatan]

Astrological Fame indicators per Hellenistic astrology ⭐️🎬

Now before we even get into this let’s make some things very clear; fame can mean a range of things, it can mean going viral, it can mean being a best selling author, it can mean being on tv, on the news or even being a model and singer, the representative of a public and very successful company, and some people get famous for all the wrong reasons like hitler or Donald trump, theres nuance to these things so let’s get into it ‼️

1. Chart ruler in the 5th house. This is the first thing that came to my mind instantly which I think is a pretty desirable kind of fame that every normal person kinda soughts after. this configuration is like getting famous for being pretty or having a nice style, being talented, being an inventor, a discover of something or even being a content creator especially since this house literally has significations with creation. The 5th house in Hellenistic is the closest thing to fame and riches because rich people live a very good quality of life. This house will increase the quality of a persons life and any planet here especially the chart ruler or the ruler of the LOF may indicate that. The chart ruler here is generally gonna indicate that a person will be very celebrated by people at some point in their life. I feel like i have to keep repeating to people that this house literally has a relationship with VENUS and Venus kinda just gets whatever she wants

2. A luminary or sect of light within an angular house. The luminaries are the sun and the moon, they both illuminate light and are generally the first things that draw our attention in the sky. The sun sends light to our planet and the moon reflects that light to use when the sun sets and when there’s light upon you, you become easier to see within the landscape that you are in. Generally speaking tho, the luminaries on the angles (houses 1st, 4th, 7th, 10th) are gonna describe someone that is popular and who’s name gets around easily. This is one of those things that can mean a range of things like I mentioned above; being in the news, being a city’s official, a representative for a state, your business being featured in a magazine or more exciting things

3. North node in the 5th house. Now I’ve talked about the north node maybe once or twice and each time I did I explained how the north kinda massively increases things wherever it’s at in your chart for better or for worse depending on the house it’s in and this isn’t necessarily something that you have control over either. The north node here can generally describe all the things I mentioned about the 5th house above being massively increased for you when that karma gets activated at some point in your life.

4. North node conjunct the sun. Now I don’t need to do much elaborating about this if you read anything in #2 or #3. The north node increases things massively and some Hellenistic significations of the sun are as followed; being king, being in charge, being recognized for achievement, being the boss, having all the attention on you etc

5. Your 10th house being the 11th place from the lot of fortune. Calculate your LOT of fortune and what house its in, use your lot of fortune as the ascendant and count 11 houses from there, if the house you land on after counting 11 is your 10th house when you count using your original ascendant, that implies some level of fame. The 11th house from the lot of fortune is where a person will find honor and achievement

6. Lof of fortune in the 10th house. The lot of fortune for lack of better words can describe the cards a person is dealt in life and those cards can be good or bad ones. Generally speaking is gonna describe fated encounters in your career

7. ruler of the LOF in the 10th house or planet that rules the LOF conjunct the 10th house ruler (see #6)

8. LOF in the 5th house or 11th house or conjunct either of the benefics. (See#6)

Just a disclaimer that not everyone will get famous for their desired reasons or even famous at all, not everyone’s dreams or goals get realized or see fruition, and not everyone gets successful or popular. If you become popular though it won’t be because you are begging for it, so don’t beg for it if you have either of these placements. You should be recognized for your own abilities without having to strive for popularity, so instead focus on honing your abilities and stop caring about the outcome, chasing people’s attention isn’t sustainable. Don’t overthink it, just do ‼️

[rikeijo]

A very deep dive into Yuri!!! on ICE canon #2

One thing that is for sure not talked about enough in the fandom is how ingenious Yamamoto Sayo is as a director & as an artist.

YoI is an masterclass of intertextuality and symbolism, and it isn't possible to talk about all of it in just one post, but I thought it would be fun to look into it in a series of posts~✨

In other words: I'm sure that a lot of people noticed it before, but let's discuss the hidden story of YoI, that's actually not so hidden if you look closely enough, to appreciate the art that this anime is.

~ Topic #1 ~

Blue, purple and red

I'm sure most people, who watched YoI noticed that these three colors have a special role in the story.

Of course they are Stammi vicino costumes' colors.

But they are also used in the OP in the same configuration:

It may be not as obvious, but the same colors are also used for DVD/Blu-ray vol. 1 & 6 covers, again in the same configuration: Yuuri always blue, Victor - purple and red.

So what is the meaning of these colors, because that's definitely not a coincidence, if they are used so often as a set...?

Let's look into what the show tell us.

One of the most important scenes in episode 1. is the scene of Yuuri/Victor skating Stammi vicino. The scene takes place one evening in Hasetsu/Tokyo.

The episode starts during the day. When Yuuri talks to Mari, it's still very bright outside. Then the sun starts to set, the evening falls and this is the shot that shows us this:

Blue to purple to red spectrum.

Then we see that the World Championships start, and Yuuri, instead of watching with Minako, heads to Ice Castle Hasetsu, where he meets with Yuuko.

Before Yuuri starts skating, we are shown this long shot:

Have you ever noticed the color parallel?

Yuuko, a girl, wearing red, and Yuuri, a boy is wearing blue... In the distance, we see doors leading to bathrooms, painted with the same two colors:

That's not the only instance, when the gender of the character is indicated like that in the show, but this idea most likely came from one of YoI's inspirations - Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Genderqueer Hedwig (created and played by JCM, one of Victor's models) -> men's/women's bathroom's door behind her

But we have this question to answer - why show something so obvious - that Yuuri is a boy and Yuuko is a girl - in the visual, symbolic layer of the show? Like, isn't that clear that Yuuri is a boy, and Yuuko is a girl? Why did she need the colors to show us this?

Well, Yuuko isn't the only person wearing shades of red in this scene, is she?

Throughout this scene, we jump from Yuuri to Victor to Yuuko, and at the same time - we jump between these two colors. For example, this is an actual sequence that starts around 16:20:

So now, from the three Stammi vicino colors, we have two - red and blue.

And if these colors are mixed together, what do we get? As the sunset shot shows us - the answer is purple. Purple is in-between blue and red.

Purple is in-between genders.

If you are not sold that this was intentional, may I introduce you to what Sagiri Yuuko, costume designer, said about the Eros costume:

(...) I made the same design in two different colors, in darker colors to suit an adult - black version and purple version. If Yuuri is to wear the costume, then you could visualize that it should be blue, but for this costume, 'femininity' was also required, so I made it purple. (...) <source>

So...

Blue, that isn't femininity + femininity = purple

Blue + red = purple

Masculinity + femininity = in between genders, or as Victor says in ep. 3 'At that time, I had long hair, so I chose a costume that represents both a man and a woman'

(as we all know, the black version was used in the show, and we are shown that purple is Victor's color)

Now, let's see the scene, when we first hear teenage, long-haired Victor talking (ep. 7):

Blue, purple and red (and I really like it how she made him extend his hand like this to touch the red 😆)

Blue and pink flowers...

That's only just the beginning....✨✨✨

Isn't Sayo just a genius?

[ms-demeanor]

Since some people might want a Mac, I'll offer a Mac equivalent of your laptop guide from the perspective of a Mac/Linux person.

Even the cheapest Macs cost more than Windows laptops, but part of that is Apple not making anything for the low end of the tech spectrum. There is no equivalent Mac to an Intel i3 with 4 gigabytes of RAM. This makes it a lot easier to find the laptop you need.

That said, it is possible to buy the wrong Mac for you, and the wrong Mac for you is the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar. Get literally anything else. If it has an M2 chip in it, it's the most recent model and will serve you well for several years. Any new MacBook Air is a good pick.

(You could wait for new Macs with M3, but I wouldn't bother. If you are reading these guides the M3 isn't going to do anything you need done that a M2 couldn't.)

Macs now have integrated storage and memory, so you should be aware that whatever internal storage and RAM you get, you'll be stuck with. But if you would be willing to get a 256 gig SSD in a Windows laptop, the Mac laptop with 256 gigs of storage will be just as good, and if you'd be willing to get 8 gigs of RAM in a Windows laptop the Mac will perform slightly better with the same amount of memory.

Buy a small external hard drive and hook it up so Time Machine can make daily backups of your laptop. Turn on iCloud Drive so your documents are available anywhere you can use a web browser. And get AppleCare because it will almost certainly be a waste of money but wooooooow will you be glad it's there if you need it.

I get that you are trying to help and I am not trying to be mean to you specifically, but people shouldn't buy apple computers. That's why I didn't provide specs for them. Apple is a company that is absolutely terrible to its customers and its customers deserve better than what apple is willing to offer.

Apple charges $800 to upgrade the onboard storage from a 256GB SSD to a 2TB SSD.

A 2TB SSD costs between $75-100.

I maintain that any company that would charge you more than half the cost of a new device to install a $100 part on day one is a company making the wrong computer for you.

The point of being willing to tolerate a 256GB SSD or 8GB RAM in a Windows laptop is that you're deferring some of the cost to save money at the time of purchase so that you can spend a little bit in three years instead of having to replace the entire computer. Because, you see, many people cannot afford to pay $1000 for a computer and need to buy a computer that costs $650 and will add $200 worth of hardware at a later date.

My minimum specs recommendations for a mac would be to configure one with the max possible RAM and SSD, look at the cost, and choose to go buy three i7 windows laptops with the same storage and RAM for less than the sticker price of the macs.

So let's say you want to get a 14" Macbook pro with the lowest-level processor. That's $2000. Now let's bump that from 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD to 32GB and 2TB. That gets you to $3000. (The SSD is $200 less than on the lower model, and they'll let you put in an 8TB SSD for $1800 on this model; that's not available on the 13" because apple's product development team is entirely staffed by assholes who think you deserve a shitty computer if you can't afford to pay the cost of two 1991 Jeep Cherokee Laredos for a single laptop).

For $3000 you can get 3 Lenovo Workstation laptops with i7 processors, 32GB RAM, and a 2TB SSD.

And look, for just $200 more I could go up to 48GB RAM and get a 4TB SSD - it costs $600 to upgrade the 14" mac from a 2TB SSD to a 4TB SSD so you could still get three laptops with more ram and the same amount of storage for the cost of one macbook.

I get that some people need to use Final Cut and Logic Pro, but hoo boy they sure are charging you through the nose to use products that have become industry standard. The words "capture" and "monopoly" come to mind even though they don't quite apply here.

"Hostile" does, though, especially since Mac users end up locked into the ecosystem through software and cloud services and become uncertain how to leave it behind if they ever decide that a computer should cost less than a month's rent on a shitty studio apartment in LA.

There's a very good reason I didn't give mac advice and that's because my mac advice is "DON'T."

[frostgnawdraws]

I've been staring at the travelers' ships and comparing them to hatchy's, like a normal person who likes outer wilds a normal amount would do, and figured i would share my observations for anyone it may interest. mass amounts of yapping under the cut ::3

starting with chert - their ship is a comparable size to hatchy's, and is configured the same way in that the cockpit view is parallel to the ground. it's a bit higher up off the ground, presumably to accommodate the boosters, which stick out from the bottom of the ship. there is only one booster module as opposed to hatchy's two. it actually has three cockpits, which i assume is to allow them more observation capability from within the ship. each cockpit module has a scout launcher and autopilot module, so its possible that all three function as an actual cockpit with a seat, controls, etc, but think it's more likely that this is because they were all copy-pasted and removing the launcher and autopilot from two modules was not an important enough detail to bother with (which, fair). Also, there is only one headlamp and landing camera, and their positions imply that the cockpit on the opposite side of the ship from the only non-cockpit side is the only true cockpit. also, there is no satellite dish for the signalscope, but there is an appendage for it. there isn't a scout in any of the launchers, but their scout is visible at their camp. their ship does not have a visible entrance. not entirely related to the ship but also of note - i might be wrong but i believe they are the only traveler to have a visible signalscope at their camp. also, the radio at their camp looks different from all the other radios in the game (as far as im aware). just from how it looks i would guess it is an older model? but its also possible its a newer one, although i doubt this since chert is implied to be one of the more experienced astronauts and, although they cant have been on ember twin for THAT long since one of their recordings mentions hatchy ("the new astronaut") and hal's translator, I would guess they have been on their current expedition for longer than either gabbro or riebeck. on the other hand, esker has the same radio model as gabbro's and the one in the museum/observatory, and they supposedly don't come down to timber hearth very often, nor are they visited by other astronauts often. still, its not out of the realm of possibility for esker to have a newer radio than chert, just interesting.

next up is riebeck! their ship is also of comparable size to hatchy's, although it is configured differently, with the cockpit view perpendicular to the ground. their ship has two booster modules sticking out of opposite sides of the ship, the same as hatchy's. two sides of the ship have oxygen and fuel tanks attached, as opposed to one side of hatchy's. they have a visible scout launcher and autopilot, with no scout in the launcher and their scout visible at their camp. they have headlights and a landing camera, although the positioning of the headlamp does not make sense to me since the light would not be hitting anything the cockpit is directly facing - im guessing this is the same as the triple scout launchers and autopilots on chert's ship, and is simply a detail too unimportant to bother with. Their ship has a hatch on the bottom that looks the same as hatchy's. riebeck also does not have a radio at their camp, which I found interesting. i think based on their ship, their recordings, and what others say about them that they are on their first expedition and are the newest astronaut aside from hatchy, so its possible that the newer astronauts have a radio built into their helmet?

next up is gabbro's ship. its a bit smaller than hatchy's, although configured almost identically, with a cockpit parallel to the ground, two booster modules, oxygen/fuel tanks strapped on the back and top (with a bit more stuff strapped to the top than hatchy's), and a hatch on the bottom. the hatch is wooden instead of metal and glass. their ship is the only one to have visible antennae and an external radio, and they also have a radio at their camp. coming back to the possibility of riebeck and hatchy having radios built into their helmets, if this was true i don't know why gabbro would have so many antennae while neither chert or feldspar have antennae on their helmets or ships? although gabbro also mentions having the same map functionality as hatchy, and the museum exhibit states that the 3d map is used by their "newest astronauts," so maybe the antennae on their helmet and ship are for the deep space satellite rather than radio transmission, and for riebeck and hatchy they have improved their technology so it doesn't necessitate as many antennae as well as adding built-in radio functionality to the helmets. gabbro's ship has an autopilot module as well as a headlamp and a landing camera. like chert, they have an arm for a satellite dish for the signalscope, but no actual dish. there is no visible scout in the launcher and also no scout at their camp - its possible this was just an unimportant detail, but knowing gabbro i like to think they don't bother to recall their scout when they launch it until they need it again and just let it hang out wherever it lands lol.

and last but not least is feldspar's ship! their ship is quite a bit smaller than hatchy's and is easily the smallest of the ships visible in the game. it is configured like riebeck's (or, rather, riebeck's is configured like feldspar's) with the cockpit facing perpendicular to the ground. it doesn't have any oxygen or fuel tanks attached, although its possible that a) those got knocked off in the crash or b) there wasnt room on the ship for an existing oxygen-and-fuel-tank-bearing-module and they didn't want to model anything new for it. also, they have an autopilot module, a (empty) scout launcher, a headlamp, and a landing camera, although the landing camera is completely blocked by the thrusters. also, there is no visible entrance to the ship. I am assuming that the positioning of the headlamp - like riebeck's, its not pointed in the same direction as the cockpit view - and the presence of an autopilot module and a landing camera are most likely due to the cockpit and landing gear models being copy-pasted between ships, as i really doubt feldspar wouldve had an autopilot or landing camera, although i suppose the autopilot could also be explained as being a very rudimentary version (which could also go for other astronauts like chert and maybe gabbro), ex. being capable of locking onto things and calculating the ship's relative velocity and direction of movement, but not actually maneuvering the ship (or maybe even less functionality than that, who knows.) the reason i'm so confident feldspar wouldn't have had an autopilot system as advanced as hatchy's is because a) they would not use that shit and b) its implied to be a work-in-progress, as one of slate's lines is "I can’t wait to get back to working on the new ship. We’re working on fixing the autopilot’s avoidance system for this one," and also i like to think the full-fledged autoflight system that completely takes over control of the ship's movement was developed in response to feldspar's disappearance - also due mainly to one of slate's lines, "it’s finally time to test the new landing hydraulics with a pilot instead of the autoflight system." this could just be because all their other astronauts are currently on expeditions and aren't available to test-fly anything, but i also just really doubt that riebeck or chert would be willing to be test-pilots?? gabbro might, but who knows. the other astronauts are scientists with specific goals, while hatchy (and probably feldspar) don't seem to be scientists and don't have specific missions - as far as i can tell their job description is fuck around and find out, and it seems like hatchy, despite being a canonically sub-par pilot prior to the events of the game, is the only professional fuck-around-and-find-out-er aside from feldspar. anyways. basically i think the autopilot is a relatively new thing and slate only started working on it after feldspar fucked off to dark bramble because they didn't have anyone willing to test-fly their new stuff. also, the lack of scout in feldspar's launcher or at their camp is probably not an intentional detail but im going to pretend it is. my explanation for it would be that they either launched their scout into the bramble seed by their camp and didn't manage to catch it on the way back and they don't have the warp retrieval tech, OR when their ship's electrical systems went screwy it sent the scout flying as it does with hatchy's scout if you launch your scout at the ship. also!! their ship actually has a signalscope dish, i think it's the only one aside from hatchy's to have the actual dish and not just an empty appendage.

anyways. wow thats more yapping than i thought it would be. in conclusion i think that feldspars ship is the oldest (obviously) and hatchy's is the newest (also obviously), with chert's coming after feldspar's and being the first to be configured with a cockpit parallel to the ground (plus the extra cockpits.... chert's ship is just very specialized lol), and then gabbro's after chert's, and then riebeck's, and then hatchy's. that order is mostly based on what order i think they became astronauts in rather than the features of the ships, but now that i've taken a look at the ships i think that order still checks out. i am very confident about riebeck being the most recent astronaut aside from hatchy, but im not sure why their ship would be configured like feldspar's is when chert, gabbro, and hatchy's ships are all configured differently? maybe they felt more comfortable with their ship being that configuration because it was an older design, although considering slate's track record i dont think older=better would be a logical conclusion to make in this case lmao. I also think considering how they feel about the gravity crystal pathways they probably wouldn't be a fan of their ship's default gravity direction being different from the planet it's on? idk, that configuration is probably how gossan's ship would be constructed so maybe they were more comfortable with it since their flight coach was used to it and could train them in that configuration more thoroughly than the newer one. they also say "Feldspar would barely have laughed at me, I bet" in reference to their landing on brittle hollow, which implies that feldspar was present (or at least Not Missing) for at least part of their training.

honestly im not really sure what to think as far as how long feldspar has been gone for? everyone just says some variation of "a long time," and it has to have been long enough that they aren't actively searching for them anymore, which imo would have to be at least a year or two? (earth years, not timber hearth years - i usually ignore how long the in-game orbits, rotations, etc. take because while they work for the gameplay they are unrealistic and switching everything to earth-like day-night cycle, year length, making the loop longer, etc. makes more sense for the type of content i create) but if you look at feldspar's camp, while they are definitely not going anywhere, they seem to have a good amount of food and water. the trees are pretty tall but also timber hearth pine trees are clearly not like earth trees and its not unreasonable to assume the trees could have grown to that height in a few months or years. honestly canon compliance is not a super big deal to me so this is less of a theory and more of a Creative Liberty but my headcanon/interpretation/this-probably-isn't-canon-but-i-like-it-that-way version of how long feldspar has been in dark bramble is that, based on how people on timber hearth talk about them and the fact that there isn't an active search effort for them, they've been gone several years, probably somewhere between 3 and 5, but dark bramble is clearly a spatial anomaly and i would honestly be surprised if there wasn't some kind of time dilation fuckery going on in there, the node they're in could be on the other side of the universe inside a bramble orbiting at breakneck speeds around a supermassive black hole for all we know, and also i only care about scientific accuracy as far as i can throw it, so based on both the weirdness of dark bramble and the fact that feldspar is Not Dead, has a good bit of food and water, and is outwardly pretty chill about their situation (personally i think they're probably not as cool with it as they act, i think theyre in denial about needing help, but i do think their ability pretend to be chill with it implies they haven't been out there THAT long, bc i think if they had actually been there long enough for the space program to give up actively looking for them they would've eventually swallowed their pride and wouldn't be talking like they just left yesterday and telling hatchy to have ground control come get them "whenever they have time") i think that in the node of dark bramble they're in, somewhere between 8 and 12 months has passed. again that's not necessarily a theory on what is Actually True, it's not intentionally canoon-divergent but im not too concerned with being 100% accurate to canon if that makes sense?? wtv this started as observations about the travelers' ships idk how i even got to this topic lmfao

sorry if this is incomprehensible and thank you for coming to my ted talk ::D im gonna go lay awake in bed and think about this game for six hours

[fiftysevenacademics]

Over the recent years, the term guofeng ( literally means “national style”) has seen a rising prevalence in Chinese media to describe popular televisions, films, and musics that are considered to embody an essential “Chinese-ness.” While originated from the Chinese classic The Book of Songs, the concept of guofeng nowadays has already become a part of popular culture. National style is often utilized by the state media to emphasize Chinese history and de-emphasize the queer elements in the drama when discussing boys’ love stories. In her analysis of another BL Xianxia drama, Ye identified Word of Honor, with its soft masculinity, as comprising a larger landscape of reconstructed Chinese masculinity that includes more militant depictions, such as the Wolf Warrior films (dir. Wu Jing, 2015 and 2017), and thus being complicit in “brand homonationalism with Chinese characteristics’.”39) In The Untamed, the national style is manifested through two instruments: the historical items with clear cultural fingerprints and the martial arts chivalry extolled in Xianxia stories.

Set in the ancient indeterminate times of China, the cultural elements like Mo’e (old-style headband), Liusu ( decorative silk tassel), Chinese style gardens and architectures, and frequently mentioned Confucian quotes are prevalent throughout the drama. Some of them are savvily deployed by the producers as a hint of boys’ romance. In most Chinese historical dramas, Mo’e is always used by beautiful men with feminine traits, such as the most widely known characters like Jia Baoyu (Figure 1) and Liu Xianglian (Figure 2) in Hong Loumeng (The Red Chamber, 1984). Gradually, this code is fixated with the meaning of beautiful men (and many times, effeminate men) with fair skin, exquisite facial features, slim yet strong body figures, and graceful manner. In The Untamed, when the male protagonist Lan Wangji appears with Mo’e (Figure 3), his configuration would recall people of the early screen visual presentations and to relate the androgynous beauty with the characters. This cult of male beauty distances young men from the traditional masculinity and delivers a non-conforming gender attitude towards conventional hegemonic models. Moreover, this cultural symbol is deliberately encoded with homosexual implications by the screenwriter. In the drama, people of Lan Clan are asked to wear Mo’e to restrict their behavior ever since they are a child. As a sacred symbol, no one can touch it except for their parents, wife, and children. It represents their identity and bears a sense of belonging. Though acutely aware of its significance, when Wei Wuxian is in danger, Lan Wangji still chooses to take it off and ties it to Wei’s wrist with no hesitation. The emphasizing of “Only wife and son can touch it” in the early part of the same episode denotes that when Lan takes off the Mo’e, he already acknowledges and places Wei Wuxian in the position of a “wife.” His action of taking off the Mo’e not only breaks their clan discipline but also functions as a repudiation of social norms. 

However, all this more or less overt depiction of boys’ romance is ignored and even recognized by state media because of its application of national style. Its adaptation of ancient oriental elements was even praised by The People’s Daily for its “wonderful presentation  of Chinese characteristics,” and “manifestation of Chinese people’s confidence and pride for our own culture.”40) As a Chinese traditional clothing accessory tied on the forehead and decorated with embroidery or pearl jade, Mo’e originated from the Shang Dynasty (1600 to 1046 B.C.)41) and was used in the military for managing and distinguishing troops, but in its later evolution, both men and women, especially in the rich family wore it as a decoration. When The Untamed gets an unprecedent hit in the overseas market, the Chinese government chooses to exploit its  cultural values to exert its “cultural export” program thus turning blind eyes to its boys’ love content.

Coalition between Drama Producer and Audience: Encoding and Decoding of Boys’ Love Stories in Chinese Xianxia Drama The Untamed (陈情令) 건지인문학 2024, vol., no.40, pp. 135-174 (40 pages) DOI : 10.22830/humins.2024..40.135 by CHEN YUE

[vignellicenter]

In 1971, Massimo and Lella Vignelli designed a modular foam seating system but it was never produced. The system consisted of circular shapes that nested together to form an infinite number of seating configurations. Each piece would be made of foam with fabric coverings with zippers to attach everything together so it would stay put. The fabric cover would be removeable for cleaning.

This was around the same time the Vignellis were designing showrooms and exhibitions for Knoll who had acquired the Gavina Collection which included a foam modular seating system by Sebastian Matta. Although his system was much more organic in shape, perhaps they were inspired to give it a try with more geometric shapes?

In the archive we have the painted wooden models of the seating, vintage images, drawings and some correspondence.

Scroll through to see more about this conceptual Vignelli-designed seating system and also the Matta foam seating system on display in the Vignelli designed Knoll Au Louvre exhibition (1972) and the Knoll Gavina Group showroom (1968). Unfortunately, it was never made but we would have love to give it a try!

Images: 1-2. Vintage 35mm slide of model 3. rough sketch of seating components 4. measured drawing of seating components 5.-6. Drawings of possible seating configurations 7. snapshot of model in archives 8. Knoll correspondence regarding making prototypes 9. clipping of Massimo and Lella Vignelli in Gavina showroom with Matta modular seating 10. vintage 35mm slide of Matta seating at Knoll Au Louvre exhibition

#Vignelli #DesignArchives #nevermade #DesignHistory #Knoll #FurnitureDesign #1970s #modular #geometry

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Dodge Ram SRT-10 Concept, 2002. A prototype for the Ram 1500 powered by a Chrysler 8.3 liter V10 that was used in the 3rd generation Viper. The concept was presented at the North American International Auto Show and the production version came along in 2003 as a 2004 model. Over its 3-year model life, 10,046 Dodge Ram SRT-10s were made in 2-door regular cab and 4-door Quad cab configurations

[deeversuswords]

Hi, it's me again, with part 3 of "Katsuki and his car 🧡" (read as my silly obsession with him and his car). I turned into a wannabe Sherlock and narrowed it down to a model. I'm 99% sure this is it, the rest of 1% is just me being a complete dumbitty dumb misinterpreting everything and should probably get a new pair of glasses. My detective work is officially over. Do with the information what you will 🧡 The clues I found are under Keep Reading, but beware of spoilers. I repeat, beware of spoilers. And keep in mind this isn't a 1-to-1, flawless-as-hell match. It's rather a very, veeeery close one. p.s. sorry in advance for the potential grammar fails, my brain is still hopping around in excitement about this

The model in question could be a Porsche Panamera. The price starts around $102,000 and goes up, up, up. The latest is something like 200k+ (ha, Katsuki be having a full bank account. love that for him) Clue 1:

Katsuki's seems to have a rear bar. I can't say for certain, but that's something you can add, as the Panamera models don't come with it as stock. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please XD.

Clue 2:

The backseat doesn't come with 3 seats, but you can have that by getting the 4+1 configuration which I believe is the case here. I still don't know what in the world is that fluffy thing he's got there. Any ideas?

Clue 3:

Self-explanatory, I guess.

Clue 4:

Clue 5:

Why is it so hard to find a picture with the proper angle of this damn key...