I am a mouth with a body attached to it

[clevermanka]

Finally had time to read elizacake 's Crave and MY GOD, y'all. MY. GOD. It's so hot it inspired me to add a detail to my dSSS letter. =D

Speaking of hot, there's a lot of many things in like the third bit of fanart in this tweet. I have A Thing for strands of saliva, okay? And dommy Shen Wei, obvs. The words really aren't necessary, but if anyone feels like translating, I'd be interested.

And speaking of strands of saliva cough ...riventhorn asked what people who like to kiss like about it and I wrote an essay.
I love kissing--doing it, reading about it, thinking about it, watching it. I have A Lot of feelings about kissing (and mouths in general).

Part of my love of kissing is probably because I have something of an oral fixation. I used to smoke, still miss it desperately. I have a questionably-healthy relationship with food/eating. I don't really grind my teeth, but I click them a lot and chew my lips. I touch my mouth a lot if I'm not thinking about it (one of the few bad habits I've tried to break because GERMS). I'm what dentists call a tongue thruster (linked so you don't have to look up something that might bring up unpleasant results). Etc., etc., you get the idea. I don't know if my mouth/lips/tongue are naturally extra-sensitive or if I've psychologically sensitized them. It amounts to the same thing, really, so dunno if it matters.

Basically my mouth is a major erogenous zone, and when I'm aroused (or am around someone I'm attracted to) that area gets...idk, tingly? and sensitive (I'm using that word a lot, sorry) like erectile tissue. So mashing my lips and tongue against someone else's lips and tongue is hugely enjoyable, as is exploring other parts of their body with lips and tongue. I know it's a cliche to say "ached to kiss" but seriously, my lips and tongue have actually hurt from my wanting to kiss someone so much. Not like accidentally biting it pain, more like delayed onset muscle soreness (if that makes sense, idk I'm reaching for metaphors here). I agree with a comment thatyantantether made in the comments that it definitely does feel like part of sex. I mean, with deep kissing, you are, technically inside the other person and that's incredibly hot to me.

So that's the physiological side of it, but I also like the emotional aspect. It's a form of sexual intimacy that's (generally) safer for someone who's just playing around. I'm not a terribly romantic person and although I love stories about (real and fictional) people who are deeply in love, that's just...not where I live. So kissing provides an outlet for sexual expression that I might not be able to indulge without a ton of discussion/negotiation/engagement. Some friends of mine who share this tendency came up with the term "sport kissing" to describe it (we're most of us former theater nerds and/or RenFest workers and I think this sort of casual sexuality is pretty common among those demographics).

Kissing is also incredibly visually appealing to me. I love watching people (who are good at it) kiss. From what I've seen, Bai Yu is very good at it. =D
Also I shall just leave the link to this piece of fanart I saw this morning.

Not related to kissing: I don't need a translation for this Untamed/Guardian comparison to be hilarious.

Also not related to kissing (except maybe in the *chefs kiss gif* sense), the Korean Leverage intro is out!

Comments

[minoanmiss]

Now I want to draw a kissing icon.

[clevermanka]

Do it!!! =D

[winter_blossom]

Oh, wow, but that Shen Wei chibi in the little comic (especially the second panel)! <3 <3 Trust Japanese artists to know exactly how to crank the kawaii up to 11! That being said, very cutesy art in smut bothers me a little...

So the next one, by the Korean artist, is a bit more to my taste. It's sizzling, but without the confounding factor because they're drawn in a realistic style.

ZYL's art of SW vs. the Envoy will never not crack me the hell up. I wonder what the context for the sketch in The Untamed is? (Though clearly whoever drew that has ZYL beat in the artwork department!)

[clevermanka]

very cutesy art in smut bothers me a little
I call it "uncomfortably cute" and yeah, it's a little weird to me, too.

Pretty sure that's the sketch that Wei Wuxian draws of Lan Zhan when they're in the library...it's a pretty early episode, when they're studying at Cloud Recesses.

[galaxysoup]

I am so excited about Korean Leverage! :D

[clevermanka]

Me, too! Nate and Sophie's being older was a big plus for me in the original, and I'm a little bummed they all look like 20s/30s in this, but it still looks amazing.

[naye]

Oh I love this! It's such a great explanation I feel I can enjoy the urge and satisfaction of a good kiss just through reading your words. ♥

And goodness, yes, Suya's kissing there is so very, very gorgeous. It drives me a bit nuts that I can't fully grasp the meaning - Suya speaks decent English, so my suggestion would be to comment on Twitter and let her know you love the art while asking if she could give a brief translation?

...I can read all the panting and groaning and slamming, and what Zhao Yunlan says is "Honey! I love you!" (And the red text in the second to last panel his his heart going SQUISH with love.) It's just Shen Wei's line that could be anything from asking Zhao Yunlan to (sweet) talk less to implying Zhao Yunlan should stop "stirring [him] up" (and get things over with...?)?? Really, this verb is...versatile!

[clevermanka]

I am so weirdly uncomfortable engaging on Twitter! /o\

I can read all the panting and groaning and slamming
nggggggggggg

I feel I can enjoy the urge and satisfaction of a good kiss just through reading your words
Oh, thank you! Let me tell you how much it's killing me that I can't write any Actual Kissing in Ghost Story. Like, er, everything else I have figured approximations for but apparently kissing a ghost is much trickier than fucking them? =/

[jo_lasalle]

I like this essay!

The kissy fanart is very cute! I can't quite make sense of the plot because the title seems to be "counterattacking Shen Wei", and what he says, I read as something like "Don't stir things up / agitate me too much" ("I wish for you to mostly not incite"), which would seem counterproductive. *g* But it's possible the verb has a slang or context meaning I'm not familiar with! (I clearly don't read enough porn manga anymore these days...)

Oh, yes, and the last line is "Honey, I love you", but that confuses me even more, plot-wise. *g*

[clevermanka]

*happy wiggle* I'm glad you like the essay! YAY KISSING!

naye calls the verb in use "versatile" so I wonder if there's some sort of colloquial/double entendre thing going on...

[jo_lasalle]

Yes, that's what I suspect. The fact that it's a negative-imperative throws me a bit, otherwise I'd have found it pretty easy to adapt "incite" to the context, but... I'm weakest at casual Japanese!

[clevermanka]

I'm now picturing something along the lines of "Don't fuck with me unless you plan to fuck me" which I absolutely want to use in a fic, now.

[jo_lasalle]

HEEEEEEEEEEEE. Creative adaptation can lead to good things! :D

[ranalore]

This is such a great essay on kissing! It's something I really enjoy writing, and I like it as an expression of intimacy (and it's as close to sex with another person as I'll get these days). Like you, it's also something I enjoy watching people do who are good at it.

I also like kisses that aren't two mouths meeting, but mouths against skin, whether in a sexual context or not. I like sweet forehead kisses of comfort, and cheek kisses of adoration, and hand kisses of devotion. I like throat kisses and kisses up the arm and down the chest and peppering the inner thigh. I like a kiss on the tip of a cock just before the deep throating, or a kiss on the clit before the eating out. I like the slow, lazy kisses post-orgasms. I like the frustrated, hard kisses when there's not time for more and they're both burning for it. I like the coaxing kisses that say we have the time, let's take it. Which brings us back full-circle to the mouth kisses, but that's okay. There's always room for more kisses. *G*

[clevermanka]

Coming back to mouth kisses = ALWAYS OKAY and also that whole second paragraph is fuckin' hot, yo.

[asya_ana]

Oooh that mashup of BY kissing is a lot. And to think in most of those, it seems like they are limited to closed mouth kissing, which is always difficult to make look genuine. Imagine BY let loose??? With those lips? Maybe it's better not to know.

[clevermanka]

I think yes, they are limited to closed-mouth kissing which I think is hilarious and also a little disappointing because Imagine BY let loose??? With those lips? I IMAGINE IT ALL THE TIME LET ME TELL YOU.

[kazoogrrl]

I started Leverage but never stuck with it, but I may try this version! Also, I looked it up because I thought appearances may be deceiving, and the two main leads are in their later 30s.

I LOVE kissing (it makes my head all pleasantly buzzy), and something I hate is that J (I still love him, too) is not that great a kisser. It makes me sad. Maybe I should have a talk and maybe start a training program, if he's open to it? I'd like it to be better because sometimes I just want a nice long make-out session and don't want it to go any further than that, but he doesn't seem to really lose himself in kissing. I've never said this to him in as many words because I have never been able to think of a way to say it that doesn't sound insulting.

[clevermanka]

I always thought Nate and Sophie were in their mid-to-late 40s but maybe that's just my own lens.

It sucks when your romantic partner isn't as good at/into something that you really like. I have some thoughts about this (ways to sneak a training program in there) because Yes This Is A Thing I Have Had To Do with more than one partner ('cos obvs good kissing is Very Important to me). So if you're interested, let me know. We can move the conversation to email if you'd be more comfortable with that, although I don't mind sharing here.

[kazoogrrl]

Since I didn't watch it I never thought about their ages, but I am happy to see some "older" actors for the Korean version (though there are quite a lot of kick-ass actors in their 40s I'd love to see, too). j

I may take you up on that, thank you!