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this-week-in-rust · 2 years ago

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This Week in Rust 501

Hello and welcome to another issue of This Week in Rust! Rust is a programming language empowering everyone to build reliable and efficient software. This is a weekly summary of its progress and community. Want something mentioned? Tag us at @ThisWeekInRust on Twitter or @ThisWeekinRust on mastodon.social, or send us a pull request. Want to get involved? We love contributions.

This Week in Rust is openly developed on GitHub and archives can be viewed at this-week-in-rust.org. If you find any errors in this week's issue, please submit a PR.

Updates from Rust Community

Official

Improved API tokens for crates.io

Project/Tooling Updates

rust-analyzer changelog #187

Youki v0.1.0 has been released for use with Kubernetes and more

Build Zellij WebAssembly (Rust) plugins for your Terminal

Slint 1.1 Released with additional Royalty-Free License

Exograph: Declarative GraphQL backends with a Rust-powered runtime

Nutype v0.3

Observations/Thoughts

Rust fact vs. fiction: 5 Insights from Google's Rust journey in 2022

Escaping Macrophages

Code coverage in Rust

[video] Verus - Verified Rust for low-level systems code by Andrea Lattuada

[audio] Daily with Kwindla Hultman Kramer :: Rustacean Station

[audio] Fish Folk with Erlend Sogge Heggen :: Rustacean Station

Rust Walkthroughs

Serde Errors When Deserializing Untagged Enums Are Bad - But Easy to Make Better

Blowing up my compile times for dubious benefits

Walk-Through: Prefix Ranges in Rust, a Surprisingly Deep Dive

ESP32 Embedded Rust at the HAL: Remote Control Peripheral

Auto-Generating & Validating OpenAPI Docs in Rust: A Streamlined Approach with Utoipa and Schemathesis

[video] Writing a Rust-based ring buffer

[video] Supercharge your I/O in Rust with io_uring

[video] Graph Traversal with Breadth-First Search in Rust

[video] Nine Rules for Writing Python Extensions in Rust | PyData Seattle 2023

Research

Friend or Foe Inside? Exploring In-Process Isolation to Maintain Memory Safety for Unsafe Rust

Agile Development of Linux Schedulers with Ekiben

Miscellaneous

How to Deploy Cross-Platform Rust Binaries with GitHub Actions

Crate of the Week

This week's crate is Parsel, an easy to use parser generator.

Thanks to jacg for the suggestion!

Please submit your suggestions and votes for next week!

Call for Participation

Always wanted to contribute to open-source projects but did not know where to start? Every week we highlight some tasks from the Rust community for you to pick and get started!

Some of these tasks may also have mentors available, visit the task page for more information.

RustQuant - Issue 56: Implementing Logistic Regression: weights matrix becomes singular.

RustQuant - Issue 30: Error handling for the library.

RustQuant - Issue 22: Pricing model calibration module.

RustQuant - Issue 14: Add/improve documentation (esp. math related docs).

RustQuant - Issue 57: Increase test coverage (chore).

Ockam - Add API endpoint to retrieve the project's version

Ockam - Validate the credential before storing it

Ockam - Update CLI documentation for lease commands

Send File - create hotspot on Linux operating system

Send File - Get device storage information (used disk size and total memory)

Send File - Create hotspot on Windows Operating system

Send File - Use Tauri store plugin to persist app data

mirrord - Alert user when running on OpenShift

mirrord - Add integration test for listening on the same port again after closing

If you are a Rust project owner and are looking for contributors, please submit tasks here.

Updates from the Rust Project

400 pull requests were merged in the last week

syntactically accept become expressions (explicit tail calls experiment)

hir: Add Become expression kind (explicit tail calls experiment)

add esp-idf missing targets

accept ReStatic for RPITIT

account for sealed traits in privacy and trait bound errors

add support for NetBSD/aarch64-be (big-endian arm64)

always register sized obligation for argument

better error for non const PartialEq call generated by match

don't ICE on unnormalized struct tail in layout computation

don't structurally resolve during method ambiguity in probe

don't substitute a GAT that has mismatched generics in OpaqueTypeCollector

expose compiler-builtins-weak-intrinsics feature for -Zbuild-std

fix return type notation associated type suggestion when -Zlower-impl-trait-in-trait-to-assoc-ty

fix return type notation errors with -Zlower-impl-trait-in-trait-to-assoc-ty

add cfg diagnostic for unresolved import error

inline before merging cgus

liberate bound vars properly when suggesting missing async-fn-in-trait

make closure_saved_names_of_captured_variables a query

make queries traceable again

merge BorrowKind::Unique into BorrowKind::Mut

sort the errors from arguments checking so that suggestions are handled properly

suggest correct signature on missing fn returning RPITIT/AFIT

support Apple tvOS in libstd

test the cargo args generated by bootstrap.py

use ErrorGuaranteed instead of booleans in rustc_builtin_macros

various impl trait in assoc tys cleanups

warn on unused offset_of!() result

fix: generalize types before generating built-in Normalize clauses

support FnPtr trait

miri: mmap/munmap/mremamp shims

Default: Always inline primitive data types

add alloc::rc::UniqueRc

make {Arc, Rc, Weak}::ptr_eq ignore pointer metadata

alter Display for Ipv6Addr for IPv4-compatible addresses

fix windows Socket::connect_timeout overflow

specialize StepBy<Range<{integer}>>

implement PartialOrd for Vecs over different allocators

implement Sync for mpsc::Sender

cargo: Support cargo Cargo.toml

cargo: add .toml file extension restriction for -Zconfig-include

cargo: allow embedded manifests in all commands

rustdoc: partially fix invalid files creation

rustdoc: fix union fields display

rustdoc: handle assoc const equalities in cross-crate impl-Trait-in-arg-pos

rustdoc: render the body of associated types before the where-clause

rustfmt: handling of numbered markdown lists

rustfmt: implement let-else formatting (finally!)

clippy: borrow_as_ptr: Ignore temporaries

clippy: format_push_string: look through match and if expressions

clippy: get_unwrap: include a borrow in the suggestion if argument is not an integer literal

clippy: items_after_test_module: Ignore in-proc-macros items

clippy: ptr_arg: Don't lint when return type uses Cow's lifetime

clippy: single_match: don't lint if block contains comments

clippy: type_repetition_in_bounds: respect MSRV for combining bounds

clippy: allow safety comment above attributes

clippy: avoid linting extra_unused_type_parameters on procedural macros

clippy: check if if conditions always evaluate to true in never_loop

clippy: don't lint excessive_precision on inf

clippy: don't lint iter_nth_zero in next

clippy: lint mem_forget if any fields are Drop

rust-analyzer: feature: assist delegate impl

rust-analyzer: fix some unsizing problems in mir

rust-analyzer: skip mutable diagnostics on synthetic bindings

rust-analyzer: support manual impl of fn traits in mir interpreter

rust-analyzer: support more intrinsics in mir interpreter

Rust Compiler Performance Triage

Relatively quiet week outside of a large win on one incremental benchmark in a regression test (i.e., not real world code). Bimodality in a number of benchmarks continues to be an issue.

Triage done by @simulacrum. Revision range: b9d608c9..b5e51db

5 Regressions, 6 Improvements, 3 Mixed; 5 of them in rollups

44 artifact comparisons made in total

Full report here

Approved RFCs

Changes to Rust follow the Rust RFC (request for comments) process. These are the RFCs that were approved for implementation this week:

No RFCs were approved this week.

Final Comment Period

Every week, the team announces the 'final comment period' for RFCs and key PRs which are reaching a decision. Express your opinions now.

RFCs

No RFCs entered Final Comment Period this week.

Tracking Issues & PRs

[disposition: close] Tracking issue for std::default::default()

[disposition: merge] Create unnecessary_send_constraint lint for &(dyn ... + Send)

[disposition: merge] Change default panic handler message format.

[disposition: close] MSVC and rustc disagree on minimum stack alignment on x86 Windows

[disposition: merge] style-guide: Add chapter about formatting for nightly-only syntax

[disposition: merge] rustdoc: Allow whitespace as path separator like double colon

[disposition: merge] Add internal_features lint

[disposition: merge] Don't require associated types with Self: Sized bounds in dyn Trait objects

[disposition: merge] Return Ok on kill if process has already exited

New and Updated RFCs

No New or Updated RFCs were created this week.

Call for Testing

An important step for RFC implementation is for people to experiment with the implementation and give feedback, especially before stabilization. The following RFCs would benefit from user testing before moving forward:

eRFC: single-file packages ("cargo script") integration

Testing steps

If you are a feature implementer and would like your RFC to appear on the above list, add the new call-for-testing label to your RFC along with a comment providing testing instructions and/or guidance on which aspect(s) of the feature need testing.

Upcoming Events

Rusty Events between 2023-06-28 - 2023-07-26 🦀

Virtual

2023-06-28 | Virtual (Cardiff, UK) | Rust and C++ Cardiff

Building Our Own 'Arc' in Rust (Atomics & Locks Chapter 6)

2023-06-28 | Virtual (Chicago, IL, US) | Chicago Healthcare Cloud Technology Community

Rust for Mission-Critical AI: A Journey into Healthcare's Safest Language

2023-06-29 | Virtual (Charlottesville, VA, US) | Charlottesville Rust Meetup

Crafting Interpreters in Rust Collaboratively

2023-07-01 | Virtual (Nürnberg, DE) | Rust Nuremberg

Deep Dive Session 4: Protohackers Exercises Mob Coding (Problem II onwards)

2023-07-04 | Virtual (Berlin, DE) | Berline.rs / OpenTechSchool Berlin

Rust Hack and Learn

2023-07-04 | Virtual (Buffalo, NY, US) | Buffalo Rust Meetup

Buffalo Rust User Group, First Tuesdays

2023-07-05 | Virtual (Indianapolis, IN, US) | Indy Rust

Indy.rs - with Social Distancing

2023-07-05 | Virtual (Stuttgart, DE) | Rust Community Stuttgart

Rust-Meetup

2023-07-06 | Virtual (Ciudad de México, MX) | Rust MX

Rust y Haskell

2023-07-11 | Virtual (Dallas, TX, US) | Dallas Rust

Second Tuesday

2023-07-13 - 2023-07-14 | Virtual | Scientific Computing in Rust

Scientific Computing in Rust workshop

2023-07-13 | Virtual (Edinburgh, UK) | Rust Edinburgh

Reasoning about Rust: an introduction to Rustdoc’s JSON format

2023-07-19 | Virtual (Vancouver, BC, CA) | Vancouver Rust

Rust Study/Hack/Hang-out

2023-07-20 | Virtual (Tehran, IR) | Iran Rust Meetup

Iran Rust Meetup #12 - Ownership and Memory management

Asia

2023-06-29 | Seoul, KR | T-RUST meetup

🦀 T-RUST Meetup 🦀

Europe

2023-06-28 | Bratislava, SK | Bratislava Rust Meetup Group

Rust Meetup by Sonalake

2023-06-29 | Augsburg, DE | Rust Meetup Augsburg

Augsburg Rust Meetup

2023-06-29 | Copenhagen, DK | Copenhagen Rust Community

Rust metup #37 at Samsung!

2023-06-29 | Vienna, AT | Rust Vienna

Rust Vienna Meetup - June - final meetup before a summer break

2023-07-01 | Basel, CH | Rust Basel

(Beginner) Rust Workshop

2023-07-03 | Zurich, CH | Rust Zurich

Rust in the Linux Kernel - July Meetup

2023-07-05 | Lyon, FR | Rust Lyon

Rust Lyon Meetup #5

2023-07-11 | Breda, NL | Rust Nederland

Rust: Advanced Graphics and User Interfaces

2023-07-11 | Virtual | Mainmatter

Web-based Services in Rust, 3-day Workshop with Stefan Baumgartner

2023-07-13 | Reading, UK | Reading Rust Workshop

**Reading Rust Meetup at Browns***

North America

2023-06-21 | Somerville, MA, US | Boston Rust Meetup

Ball Square Rust Lunch, June 21

2023-06-22 | New York, NY, US | Rust NYC

Learn How to Use cargo-semver-checks and Closure Traits to Write Better Code

2023-06-24 | San Jose, CA, US | Rust Breakfast & Learn

Rust: breakfast & learn

2023-06-28 | Cambridge, MA, US | Boston Rust Meetup

Harvard Square Rust Lunch

2023-06-29 | Mountain View, CA, US | Mountain View Rust Meetup

Rust Meetup at Hacker Dojo

2023-07-01 | San Jose, CA, US | Rust Breakfast & Learn

Rust: breakfast & learn

2023-07-07 | Chicago, IL, US | Deep Dish Rust

Rust Lunch

2023-07-12 | Austin, TX, US | Rust ATX

Rust Lunch - Fareground

2023-07-12 | Waterloo, ON, CA | Rust KW

Overengineering FizzBuzz

2023-07-13 | Seattle, WA, US | Seattle Rust User Group Meetup

July Meetup

2023-07-18 | San Francisco, CA, US | San Francisco Rust Study Group

Rust Hacking in Person

Oceania

2023-07-11 | Christchurch, NZ | Christchurch Rust Meetup Group

Christchurch Rust meetup meeting

2023-07-11 | Melbourne, VIC, AU | Rust Melbourne

(Hybrid - in person & online) July 2023 Rust Melbourne Meetup

South America

2023-07-04 | Medellín, CO | Rust Medellín

Introduccion a rust, ownership and safety code

If you are running a Rust event please add it to the calendar to get it mentioned here. Please remember to add a link to the event too. Email the Rust Community Team for access.

Jobs

Please see the latest Who's Hiring thread on r/rust

Quote of the Week

It's a compiler not a Jedi, don't expect it to read minds.

– Nishant on github

Thanks to Nishant for the self-suggestion!

Please submit quotes and vote for next week!

This Week in Rust is edited by: nellshamrell, llogiq, cdmistman, ericseppanen, extrawurst, andrewpollack, U007D, kolharsam, joelmarcey, mariannegoldin, bennyvasquez.

Email list hosting is sponsored by The Rust Foundation

Discuss on r/rust

#rust-lang #rust #rustlang #twir #long post

0 notes

gaypiratebrainrot · 3 years ago

Note

This is not so much a question as it is me screaming about the secret fic. Probably not for the last time.

I wanna talk about how you swapped the names of the actors with the characters they portray. Ok, maybe I do have a question--did the idea for the name swap come during the early formation of this story in your mind, or did that come later, after you'd been writing for a bit?

It's just--we so often lean on names in fanfic not just as indicators of identity but as stand-ins for/signifiers of intrinsic elements of entity*, so while it's RPF (but is it lol) it's also like you've set up this series of mirrors so you can't tell if you're looking at the projection or the real person

which also sort of begs the question, is it all a projection

and basically you're amazing because you do all of this within the recognizable structure of an explicit one-off fanfic, complete with brain-melting smut and an emotionally satisfying (if also 'unhappy') ending. I can't even.

*See end of this interview https://krauseessayprize.org/winners-2/mary-ruefle-interview/ with Mary Ruefle where she talks about identity vs entity; see also every fanfic with the line "he smelled/tasted like [noun] and [noun] and something uniquely [NAME]"

Ok here's the quote from the Ruefle interview because I can't resist:

"Literacy is a blessing and a curse. Increased literacy means increased self-consciousness and we all know where that ends. Gertrude Stein once pointed out the difference between being an entity and having an identity: an entity is an entity but has an identity. An identity is bestowed from without, it is given to you socially. It’s your resume. But an entity is your being, and for many people, they have no entity without an identity, they confuse the two, and therein lies a great deal of anguish and suffering. Language and literacy are ambiguous because they invest one with entity at the same time they accessorize one with identity. That’s what I mean by being both a curse and a blessing. The moment someone learns to write their name, they become someone else, someone other than who they were before. A whole world opens, and a whole world closes. Who am I? I am one person when I am answering interview questions, and I am another person when I am alone on a plastic float in the middle of a lake. Which is the real me? Damned if I know. But the tension between the two creates my life."

ok first thank you so so so much for this incredible message and amazing quote, truly truly a gift to me.

the story of the conception of this fic: in the wild fields where fic ideas and masturbatory fantasies are not easily distinguished, my mind kept producing the rpf scenes that are now in the fic. i had very little interest in writing rpf (though i came into fandom through rpf and don't have problems with it), especially bc i knew there would be wank, but the scenes just kept coming.

so then i was like, okay, how far would i have to go to turn these scenes into an actor AU, and that was the slightly cursed day i asked myself "what really is the difference between a rhys/taika-coded actor au and a stede/ed-coded rpf?" i was too lazy to come up with the actor AU, and then the idea of just switching the names was really funny to me, AND THEN i was like but what do i call david jenkins, and sat on the floor weeping with laughter for a very long time at javid denkins, and the rest is now history.

one of the most fascinating parts to me is that i wrote it with their names being stede and ed, and then there was a stretch where i wasn't sure the meta aspect was working and almost swapped the names back (there exists a google doc where they are called rhys and taika). i had to grapple with feeling like i wouldn't have written it if i'd actually called them rhys and taika from the start, but that feeling is so so so interesting to me, cause like, damn, the power of a name!

anyway, i think excessively about the nature of identity, so this is just a bonkers great time for me to have folks engaging in the conversation that runs constantly in my mind <3 <3

#asks #thank you thank you #water flowing underground

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druid-delaluna · 2 years ago

Note

may i ask what happens between you, the fandom, and the crew if you're comfortable recounting? im thinking about getting back into eddsworld after a rocky start in the fandom, but if stuff is worse then..

I want to say firstly if you want to join the fandom don't let my views or story sway you in any way. It's all under the cut please don't go harassing people on my behalf or because you feel you're doing anything good.

A lot of people were victims, including myself of the crew (and by crew I mean those active in the Eddsworld discord before the Patreon change) aggressive and just mean behavior and actions. I'm talking a lot of mad shit spoken, arguments, fights, petty ass drama, and in my case. A lie created by Oblivion/Neep/Prince Jayden to have me kicked from the server. (from what I understand Collin/Jon and a few other crew members were involved as well)That I leaked the Patreon when I never had paid for it. I never had access to it. Either they knew this and didn't care or Bing forgot to mention old mods didn't have to pay for it. I really don't care who did it as most of them dislike me. They didn't like that I was quite blunt with my disapproval and had harsh opinions on their behavior and what was going on with the show. So since they couldn't actually just outright kick me, they figure getting me with this lie was good enough. Bing coming to apologize wasn't because he actually cared, it was more or less damage control pushed by another person, who I got all this information from. Then, you add in all the past grooming and SA crap that happened last summer. On top of these same people going to harass server members and their ex-friends. It is toxic, it is shameful. You think people who have done such bad things would wake up to the fact maybe you're the bad guy in this. You are doing terrible things for what? Your name on a show riddle with issues? Don't you have anything else going for you? I realize I'm tired, I got burnt out fighting and fighting for what I thought was the right thing but man I'm getting old myself I got a lot of opportunities elsewhere.

Regarding fandom, those very same people are now working on the show (SKL was involved too) so it's like I don't want to see them of course. So better I leave, block it all, and try to find some calm back in my fandom/internet life. As well as my own friends being targeted by them or by others over very petty nonsense. I feel bad that perhaps Jayden and the rest are targeting my friends cause of me, maybe they're trying to get at me. So leaving might make it easier on them. I'm not sure. There have been some awful harassment and bullying issues. The fact fandom rightfully opens the discussion of using fascism tropes with the red army but then ignores the rampant racism going on. Also since so many of the older fans are leaving, the younger ones are starting to repeat the same harmful discussions of irl vs show and using that dead man name to push their views.

(Take this next part with a hard grain of salt) Down to the fact that we might not know 100% what happen between Edd Gould and Cal from the google docs. But when I asked Matt about it he couldn't seem to tell us that Cal was an adult at the time of their relationship. I know England laws are different than the states but if you can't just say your friend was dating an adult and kinda avoiding the discussion something very weird going on.

Now if you wanna come back, just stick in your own lane, make your little friend groups, and just have fun is my best advice. Avoid these users as they are very twoface like the rest of the crew. During my time as curator and I got to see those masks drop when they realize you didn't suck up to them. It wasn't just me they acted like this with and I feel so bad for others they hurt to get the positions they have today. It wasn't fair and I understand why removing the one person who stood up to it all was in their mindset as they continue to harm others. I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt that maybe it was just all in my head but after finding out from one of them what really happen, it fucking disgusting why they did this. Hope this help explain why I left the fandom and why I dislike the crew so much.

UPDATE: 5/1/2023 As of today Oblivion and Neepin have reached out to apologize for their involvement and behavior towards me and others. I appreciate this and I'm glad they are coming to see what they did was very wrong.

#its been this crap for over 4 years man

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goddesspharo · 2 years ago

Note

weird writer questions: 3, 25, 26!

weird questions for writers asks

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

A billion years ago when we were all still beholden to PCs, I used to write everything in Windows Notepad and then copy to Word afterwards because I found it easier to write when I didn't have the distraction of fonts/sizes/italics. Over the years, I have thankfully broken myself of this habit, but sometimes when I'm stuck in the middle of a section, I'll open up a blank Word document and start writing in that - somehow the absence of all that came before and all that will come after takes the pressure off. I mostly write in word, but then update it into the google docs file corresponding to a story so that I have it on the go if inspiration ever hits. The annoying thing is that google docs always formats a space after each line break so every time I copy it back into word, I have to manually delete the space so it won't piss me off. (Also smart quotes on my iphone/ipad vs straight quotes on my macbook - just default it to straight quotes, google docs, so I don't have to find/replace every time I edit it somewhere else!)

25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

There is no story so I suppose this is irrelevant, but I've always thought that when the Yellowjackets girls get rescued from the wilderness (circa 1998?), someone in the media gets wind of how the cinematic stylings of Sandra Bullock kept them going in the Canadian Wilderness, leading Kurt Loder and the MTV crew to hold a special screening of Practical Magic in Jersey for them. Years later, Van runs into Sandy B when they're filming a movie near her hometown and tells her that she's a big fan of her work, to which Sandy jokes, "You must not have seen Speed 2 then," which, let's be real, is the ONLY good thing to come out of being stuck in the wilderness for 19 months and having to cannibalize your teammates to survive.

Another hyper-specific detail re: Top Gun Maverick is that I've always assumed that Coyote's mom used to send mini-care packages to Hangman when she sent Coyote stuff because of course he went to one (1) barbecue at Coyote's when they were on leave and charmed the hell out of Mama Machado and immediately became "one of the family." (Except to Coyote's brother who has still never forgiven Hangman for innocently hitting on his now-wife/then-girlfriend at the party.)

26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?

Not to be Sophie Nélisse about this but it doesn't consume me. If I liked the character enough to want to explore the characterization more, then it's probably fun more than anything else? I also think it's less about getting in a character's head and more about getting their voice right. Once you have that, the rest falls into place.

#ask me things #we can pretend there is a thought process behind any of this

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mach-speed-extra · 2 years ago

Text

I made this because I lost a bet

If I won, my friend would’ve had to make a Tumblr account and write superwholock crossover fanfiction. If I lost (which is what happened based on the title), I had to go over Lily Orchard’s simple writing tips. Then we did double or nothing, where if I won he’d have to double the length of the fic (from 15 to 30 pages) and if he won, I’d have to make a second post talking about High Guardian Spice. For context, the bet was on who won a game of Mario Kart on the Switch played with the leg strap and motion controls

So I’ll begin with Lily Orchard’s writing tips. At least I get to add my own thoughts to this. I am writing this introductory paragraph before looking at her writing tips, so I don’t know how much I’ll agree or disagree (also I didn’t know anything about her until a few minutes ago when I did a quick Google search and if what I read was true, then what the fuck). At least I’ll be (probably) shitting on her. Also, it seems the original thread was deleted (or Twitter just sucks) but the tips were recorded on google docs which is what I’ll be using

Written after I finished: I didn’t need to add “(probably)” in the last paragraph

tw: rape mention

1. Don’t worry about spoilers: There is some truth to this in that good stories are still enjoyable on rewatch/ reread, but certain things are more enjoyable the first time. Reading a murder mystery is fundamentally different the second time because it goes from using the pieces to find a solution to analyzing how the pieces actually led to it. It’s like solving a math problem vs seeing someone else do it and following it step by step

2. The middle is the best time to put couples together: I don’t give a shit about romance in fiction. At best, a relationship is believable and developed enough that it serves as character motivation. As someone who has never tried (and likely never will) to put romance in his stories, couples usually get together off screen before the story starts. I then build the relationship like I would a close friendship or family bond, where the point of the couple is to have characters that care deeply about someone else

3. Friends to lovers is better than enemies to lovers: Refer to the point above. Also, fandom jokes about Negan slipping his dick down Rick’s throat and being thanked for it (actual line from The Walking Dead) are fucking great and one of the best things about the later parts of that show

4. Abuse victims healing does not equal redemption arc: I agree that they’re not synonymous, but she uses Zuko as an example which kinda defeats her point. Whatever the cause of a character being evil, a redemption arc is a character arc that leads to them no longer being evil. I don’t understand what she’s getting at

5. Heroes refusing to kill villains is bad: I’ll be using Rick Grimes as an example again. One consistent thing with Rick is that outside of times when his sanity is questionable, he’ll avoid killing villains if possible. He’ll do it if he has to, but that scene where he tells the Governor and his forces that if they stand down, he’ll happily take them in to his community is a perfect example of it (followed by them opening fire and all of the Governor’s men dying except for the one that stood down). Now, there is a difference between not killing and not punishing, but Lily doesn’t make that distinction

6. Lesbian enemies to lovers present in one scene in the finale sucks: I agree with this. She then says it’s “fetishized abuse and violence.” It certainly is sometimes, but I would not say this is an inherent (or even general) thing

7. Revealing information on Twitter instead of the story itself is bad: Depends. Hiro Morita revealing character ages on Twitter? Fine, because the actual ages aren’t relevant to the story. Just Kidding Rowling going on Twitter to say wizards shit their pants? What the fuck. Character birthdays being revealed in outside media (tie-in guide book, spinoff video games, etc) is fine if its not relevant to the story. Not revealing important information in the work itself sucks, but I don’t see it done often enough to warrant this take

8. If a character kills more than 10,000 people they’re not redeemable: Kill count is relevant to redeeming villains, but not the sole factor. This varies from person to person, but I say the most important thing is whether the villain is willing to put in the work to be redeemed. Do they put one foot forward and say “I’m gonna make this right?” I’d also factor in the cause of the killing (mind control or demonic possession for example). Were they aware of what they were doing? I wouldn’t say the titular protagonist from Ender’s Game is irredeemable because of his kill count when he didn’t know he was actually killing anyone. And 10k seems like such an arbitrary number but I’ll assume she just means “a metric fuck ton of people”

9. Tip 8 does not apply to characters if their villainy was character assassination: Huh? I genuinely don’t know what she’s trying to say here

10. Everything in a story is a decision made by the creator and justifying problematic elements with worldbuilding doesn’t work: At face value she’s right. Considering who it’s coming from I doubt her examples are good, but she does have a point

11. Don’t pair adults with minors: I have 2 things to say about this. The first is that Lily Orchard is not the right person to talk about this. The second is that it assumes all pairings are meant to be liked by the audience. Lolita wasn’t written with the intent of making readers like the romance. Toxic relationships exist in fiction for more reasons than I can count, and this tip is reducing fictional relationships to such a narrow, simplistic narrative purpose that it shouldn’t be said by anyone that ever took a literature class in high school

12. Don’t sexualize teenagers: I could be pedantic and say “um akshually nineteen year olds are fine,” but that would be worthless. Now, there are ways to make sexualized teenagers work, but it’s rare enough to see it pulled off well that I will give Lily a pass here. (As for how to do it well, that’s for another day but basically, teenagers fuck irl, and realistic depiction does not mean glamorization, though glamorization happens more often than it should. Also, don’t actually cast minors for fucks sake you pedo-ass fuckers behind Cuties)

13. Don’t use “actually a 6000 year old demon” to justify point 12: I don’t have much to say here that wasn’t said in the last few points. But the idea of an adult that looks like a child and faces issues specific to that context is an interesting story premise (ex: a 25 year old who magically reverses her body’s age on accident but not her mind and has to navigate her adult life while everyone treats her like a child)

14. Metaphors for queer characters is inferior to actually having queer characters: Depends on the story’s setting. A story set in Los Angeles in 2030 likely wouldn’t have queer character treated the same way as in 1930, so unless you do some worldbuilding to explain what cultural shifts happened until 2030, it’s not something you can realistically show. Then, a metaphor works better. Alternatively, a setting where queer characters are accepted but the metaphor is not (or vice versa) which serves to point out how arbitrary the distinction between “acceptable” and “unacceptable” minorities is

15. Confining queer representation to non-humans in a story where humans exist sucks: If I have a story about a bigoted human group that flies off into space to establish their own world (kinda like a metaphor for the Puritans) and they meet an alien race where queer people are accepted, it makes sense to confine queer representation to the aliens. I admit that premise is specific enough to not apply to many scenarios, but it shows how this rule can be easily broken with a scenario I came up with within 2 minutes of reading the tip

16. Fuck having the only gay man in your story be a “faupish diva:” I am currently writing a story about a guy that got a reputation for being extremely violent and decided to play into it because he’d rather have people be scared and stay away from him than deal with their shit. It’s fairly easy to make a gay character that actively plays into certain stereotypes because it prevents him from dealing with other people’s shit. All that you need is a setting where gay characters are kinda accepted but not fully (which isn’t that hard to make)

17. Fuck having the only lesbian be abusive, angry, and have a codependent relationship with the protagonist: Doesn’t the codependent relationship require at least 2 lesbian to be present in the work? Also, refer back to point 16

18. Fuck having the only enby be a non-human shapeshifter: Refer back to point 15 about a setting where [group] isn’t accepted by humans but is by other non-human societies

19. Fuck having the only autistic character be an “ethically-challenged number fetishist:” Refer back to point 16

20. Fuck having the only black character play into the “scary black man” trope: Refer back to point 16

21. Fuck having the only woman get barely any screen time and just be fetishized: I’d expand this to say “any character” rather than “only woman,” because this applies everywhere. It being the only woman is bad, but just because there are multiple women it doesn’t make much better

22. Fuck having the only trans woman be a drag queen: How many times will I say “refer back to point 16?” Also, a society that accepts gender nonconformity only as a performance (viewing gnc identities as characters the actors play) isn’t that hard to come up with

23. Fuck making a woman kiss her abuser: Me when villains to evil things [surprised Pikachu face]. Also, “acting like I’m in love with my abuser to keep up appearances in a setting where I’ll be demonized for stepping out of line so I force myself to throw away my dignity for survival” isn’t a bad protagonist idea

24. Fuck sidelining every poc character to focus on a white guy’s redemption arc: At face value it makes sense but how often does this happen to warrant an entry? I’m actually asking since redemption arcs happen for characters that were antagonists so it’d mean sidelining the protagonists which I don’t see very often

25. Fuck justifying horny designs with “sexual agency” and refer back to point 10: What? I’ll refer to one of my own stories, where a woman actively sexualizes herself after realizing that letting go of society’s notions of sex makes life in general more enjoyable. The entire point of it is exploring the possibility of a “sinful” life while maintaining morality, and how it’s very much possible. This argument also assumes the only reason to include horny designs is to get off to it, ignoring the fact that the exploration of human sexuality is an actual thing fiction can do

26. Fuck justifying horny designs by saying “I’m horny:” This isn’t even about writing

27. Don’t worry about planning. No writer actually plans everything: I literally do. I create what I call “the encyclopedia” where I list out everything. Every character, their relevant information, relationships, etc. It also includes things like maps of cities (real or fictional), the layout of buildings, the make and model (and mods when applicable) of the main character’s car, and more. Not every writer does this, but many do (and if you make it up as you go along, please review it because it’s likely an unpolished first draft that needs revising)

28. Don’t try to be Avatar: I don’t even know what this means. Now, I take inspiration from other works. Every writer does. Just don’t try to replicate someone else’s work. Every writer has their own style, and combing your own style with your inspiration is what makes a work good

29. Low stakes interpersonal conflict is more engaging than high stakes: Why not do both? An interpersonal conflict that escalates until it becomes high-stakes isn’t exactly a rarity. Now I’m gonna plug in a JoJo reference and say that Jonathan and Dio’s relationship in part 1 is a perfect example of what I mentioned. And I can look at The Walking Dead and say that the interpersonal conflict involving Maggie and Negan in season 11 is nowhere near as engaging as the Saviors arc from the second half of season 6 to the season 8 finale. That’s because the interpersonal conflict mainly stagnated and we spent a lot of time with the conflict neither escalating nor deescalating, while the tides of the Savior War were constantly changing and there were many moving parts

30. Choose either comedy or drama and stick to it: You can have both a comedic episode and a serious episode as long as you set up the plot well enough. It’s really not a problem. Going back to JoJo, the episodes with Boingo are comedic, but the Vanilla Ice fight certainly isn’t. Or for a more condensed moment, Lisa Lisa’s backwards cigarette. We see Caesar die, Joseph cry, and Lisa Lisa light a cigarette stoically. Joseph then points out she has it backwards, prompting a light chuckle from the audience before we collectively go “oh” at the realization that she’s so distraught she can’t even light a cigarette properly

31. Don’t overdo it on worldbuilding: I understand that pulling away from the action to focus on worldbuilding can be boring. I also tend to include a glossary of fictional terms at the end of my stories detailing the information that isn’t relevant to the story itself (ex: the sci-fi story has a spaceship. The glossary goes over the history of the design and its notable uses)

32. Characters come before anything else: Well written characters push the plot forward in interesting and engaging ways. A well written plot forces the characters into situations that either cause them to progress or give us (the audience) more insight into a character. Characters are dependent on the narrative elements around them to function

33. The protagonist should not be a vessel for the antagonist to hog the story: I’m not sure what she means by this. She mentions villain protagonists but I don’t see what she means by “a vessel for the antagonist.” I guess it’s about sidelining the protagonist in favor of the antagonist? Even then, a protagonist being used to make the antagonist more interesting isn’t bad

34. Fuck not having perspective shifts: I don’t know if she means characters (which is easily countered through first-person stories like memoirs, diaries, etc) or if she means thematic perspective (which is countered by the fact that static protagonists who change those around them exist and aren’t inherently bad)

35. Writers, and not story boarders, should write: Yeah, and the actors should act, the director should direct, and the sound designers should design sound. She’s not wrong, but this advice is completely worthless

36. Fuck will-they won’t-they: Agree, but I give negative 2 shits about romance anyways

37. Making a romance tropes gay doesn’t improve it: I’ve never seen anyone say it makes it better

38. “We need more lesbian noncon” is a bad take: Huh? I don’t see the point in this piece of advice. Is this an actual thing that is common enough to include here?

39. Fuck women who fetishize abuse in media: Relationships are narrative tools that don’t have any inherent morality to them. I admit fans can be annoying as hell, but that’s not something the creator should be concerned about (unless it’s your job and that’s how you pay rent)

40. Don’t listen to abuse fetishists: I’ll take this a step further. Ask yourself why do you write. I write for myself, for the catharsis of exploring different parts of the human experience. If someone doesn’t want to read that, they don’t have to, but I won’t stop writing. If you write to engage an audience, then you do what you can to engage the audience. It comes down to purpose (writing as a hobby for myself vs writing as a job and you need to sell books vs writing as a hobby to share with the world). Some purposes let you alienate readers. Others don’t

41. Never write rape victims as villains: I made a villain protagonist who was a rape victim. His story is that he tracked down the woman who raped him and killed her, but realized that didn’t cause his trauma to go away. So he doubles down and starts murdering anyone who he suspects of being a rapist (even when there’s no evidence other than a hunch). Is there an issue with this? Because I find the idea of a victim who becomes a villain due to the lack of a proper support system to be more about the failures of our system than about the villain himself

42. If straight men hate a character but lesbians love them, they’re a great character: Not writing advice and also pulled out of her ass

43. Fire any writers who have a certain take on Infinity Train: I never watched Infinity Train so I can’t respond

44. Solve love triangles with polyamory: Or don’t have love triangles if you can’t make them work

45. If a male character is called a simp for respecting women, they’re great: Refer back to point 42

46. Disregard “Mary Sue” criticism: The term “Mary Sue” is so loosely defined that criticism using it is about as useful as “it was bad.” Still not writing advice. I have made attempts at defining “Mary Sue” but eventually came to the conclusion that writing a paragraph explaining why a particular character is bad is better than using a vaguely defined buzzword

47. Emotional vulnerability doesn’t make a female character antifeminist: Do people really claim otherwise? She’s not wrong, but I don’t think this needs to be said (but I don’t use Twitter so idk)

48. Goblins are inherently anti-Semitic: I took all of 10 seconds to come up with a subversion of it. Picture a fantasy world where Jews are discriminated against and goblins exist, with anti-goblin groups comparing goblins to Jews (which then raises questions with Jewish discrimination and how it’s so acceptable in the setting that the characters don’t bat an eye because they’re used to it). This idea can be expanded upon to other groups. Using a real life example, “transgenderism is a mental illness” is rooted not only in transphobia, but also in ableism, and this story idea lets you tackle multiple forms of bigotry at once

49. Making bigoted tropes “work well” is missing the point: Metacommentary on bigoted tropes isn’t missing the point. It’s literally pointing out the issues with them in the first place, while often showing how/why these tropes can be seen in reality (whether it be selection bias, a self-fulfilling prediction, or otherwise). Most bigoted tropes can appear to be true irl on the surface, and being able to look at what makes the bigotry superficially convincing while pointing out its deeper flaws that aren’t immediately visible is certainly not a bad thing

50. Writing a relationship around a particular dynamic or trope is bad: She’s right but only if you confine yourself to that trope or dynamic. It can be used as a springboard for something great. Understanding established tropes and playing around with it is what led to Don Quijote

51. Don’t tone police criticism: Not writing advice

52. Don’t tell your fandom to stop fighting: Not writing advice

53. Don’t say every headcanon is valid: I’ll do you one better. Never interact with your fandom. Most of it is probably shit. Also not writing advice

54. Speak up against toxic people in your fandom: Refer back to point 53

55. Forget about fanservice: Agree. Just fucking write and ignore what readers think (assuming it’s a hobby and not your income. If it’s your income write whatever pays the bills)

56. If your fandom is dominated by shipping, it means your character dynamics are the most interesting part: Don’t look at your fandom. Ever. Fuck your fandom

57. If there’s “too much negativity,” there’s a root cause for it: Again, fuck your fandom

58. Cancel culture isn’t real: Didn’t Johnny Depp lose roles because of false allegations? And, reiterating this yet again, fuck your fandom. Also not writing advice

59. Own up to mistakes and don’t make excuses: Fuck your fandom. Actually. Ignore their existence. Also not writing advice

60. Forced diversity isn’t real criticism: Outside of historical context, forced diversity is a meaningless term. And yet again, fuck your fandom

61. Never include reclaimed slurs: My faggot ass made a character who always says “my faggot ass” and the story was better for it. “I dragged my faggot ass to the middle of bumfuck nowhere" is a good line of dialogue because of how it reflects the character and his views on things

62. Oppressed groups fighting back aren’t villains: They’ve been heroes in a thousand stories and villains in a thousand others. This is such a broad concept that you can have them fall anywhere on the hero-villain spectrum and make it work. What about an oppressed group being taken advantage of through misinformation telling them they’re fighting against their oppressors and not for them? That’s a cool idea I might use

63. Heroes who don’t kill being indirectly responsible for future villain acts is an interesting story idea: It is interesting but based on the previous 62 tips, I would not trust her to write it

64. Fuck not having poc in a fantasy work: Every element that deviated from the real world needs worldbuilding. Anything that doesn’t have worldbuilding tied to it should align with reality, so by all means include poc in historical periods they weren’t in. Just say “alternate history migration,” but address it. As a bonus, a vague fictional migration that isn’t detailed enough to be put under real scrutiny will, at worst, amount to nothing, and at best make readers appreciate your fantasy world a little bit more. If it’s a completely different setting from reality (like the galaxy in Star Wars) you don’t even need to address it. So outside of historical contexts, Lily is right here

65: Sexual tension and chemistry are not the only things in a relationship: Agree. The primary factor in a fictional relationship is what each character is willing to do for the other (which makes “my partner’s safety/ happiness/ etc” into a character motive)

66. Best potential romantic partner is the best friend: Hard disagree. Friendships irl aren’t “romance waiting to happen,” Platonic relationships exist, and both in my works and irl are some of the strongest I’ve had (granted, my stories lack romance so I don’t have the best sample)

67. “I don’t want the character to be defined by relationships” is stupid: When your character only exists in relation to others that’s not a character. That’s an extension of other characters. What is their relationship with themselves? That question should come first. Then you ask about relationships with others. Put simply, I, as a person, am not merely “[my dad’s name]’s son,” or “[my brother]’s brother.” I am those things, but those descriptors don’t define me

68. If you don’t want a character remembered by a romantic subplot, don’t make it the finale: If you dedicated time to a subplot and don’t want it to be greatly remembered, don’t include it in the first place

69. Slow burn doesn’t mean taking forever to get together: Refer all the way back to point 36

70. Sexual awakening is not a character arc: Hard disagree on the basis that, going back to point 25 where I mention one of my stories, a woman’s sexual awakening being the catalyst to break free from societal ideas to become a happier person is a character arc

71. Fuck boob armor: Boob armor is stupid from a practical perspective, but a character saying “I use it because I like the look” is a good enough justification for its inclusion. And in some ways it adds realism because if I could wear boob armor irl I certainly would

72. Bow and arrow are strength weapons, not dexterity weapons: True, even if not very relevant for writing as a whole. But I will say, Soul Knight’s 40m Long Blade requires more strength to wield than most bows

73. Avoid tokenism by having multiple characters: If you need a band-aid solution for tokenism, your story has deeper issues

74. Increase diversity by only one having straight, one white, and one cis character (or one character that’s all three): If you need this tip for diversity, your story has deeper issues

75. Don’t be afraid of failure and backlash: I agree. Fuck your fandom

76. Poc and queer characters can exist without the story talking about bigotry: She’s right, but this is one of those basic things that I wouldn’t call writing advice

77. Wanting the audience to have fun is good: If you write as a job, yes. As a hobby, you choose why you want to write. Personally, I don’t think about the audience at all when writing, but that’s just me

78. Slice of life is more popular than action/ adventure: Look up the wikipedia list for top grossing movies of all time. And for best selling manga of all time. This is blatantly wrong and also not writing advice

79. Don’t cram every idea into your story: Agree, and it’s a genuinely good tip for beginner writers

80. D&D alignment charts don’t work outside of D&D: Any game will simplify it’s character creation for the sake of being playable. It’s not just D&D. Though alignment charts aren’t bad as long as they’re paired with more things to make the character

81. Fuck Rocky Horror Picture Show: I don’t know enough about the creator of it to confirm nor deny her claims that it was made by a terf. Either way, not writing advice

82. Don’t call queer character queer: My faggot ass is queer, and when I make a queer ass faggot character, their faggot ass is also queer. Get over it

83. Rape is unforgivable: Irl? Definitely. In fiction? Write your world with its rules. What are the laws in it? Social norms? How do characters feel about it? If we have a dystopian world where rape isn’t considered bad and a character engages in it because they’ve been told their whole life it was ok to do, how accountable should we hold the rapist vs the system? That’s yet another cool story idea that explores how we should address large cultural issues and hoe responsible any one individual is for reinforcing the system. And if you can’t blame any individual, who do you hold accountable?

84. Sex scenes are unnecessary: Going back to the woman with the sexual awakening, the sex scenes are important. It’s her indulging in so many things she were taught were wrong and realizing how much happier she feels afterwards while also growing spiteful of the people who spent years keeping her down

85. Vulnerability is not a character flaw: Who ever said it was?

86. “Peak tv” means “addiction-fueled misery porn:” Huh? What? Also not writing advice

87. Addiction-fueled storytelling relies on keeping audiences hooked on what happens next: Audiences only care about what happens next when they’re invested in the story already. The Walking Dead lost a fuck ton of viewers after the season 7 opener, despite it starting off one of the storylines that relies the most on twists and turns in the series. Viewers cut their losses

88. Game of Thrones and Steven Universe were only as long as they were because of sunk-cost fallacy: Not writing advice and also pulled out of her ass

89. Continuity isn’t the most important thing: Consistency matters. Consistency is what keeps the illusion that is a story from shattering in front of our eyes. We know fiction is fake, but we’re happy to pretend it’s real while we read, watch, or play it. But we can only pretend as long as consistency is present

90. “Too political” isn’t real criticism: Agree, but this goes back to fuck your fandom

91. Little Mermaid and Cinderella are more feminist than Beauty and the Beast: Not writing advice, and I don’t have any of these movies in my recent memory so I can’t comment on this unless I rewatch them

92. Change a trans character’s pronouns the moment they realize they’re trans: Not a bad idea, but not the only one that works. First-person narration for example is a notable exception. One other exception in my works includes a trans woman who the narrator refers to with she/her pronouns in scenes when she’s alone but uses he/him pronouns in public until she comes out and the narrator switches to exclusively using she/her

93. You don’t have to justify story decisions unless it’s harmful or bigoted: This is true assuming writing isn’t your job. I still justify every story decision because I want everything to have an underlying reason, but that’s just my style

94. Vampires and werewolves aren’t queer-coded and work better as metaphors for the aristocracy: You can make vampires and werewolves anything-coded and with some effort make it work fairly well

95. Some of the best stories were written out of spite: True, but not writing advice. The Divine Comedy (specifically Inferno) is just Dante going “ha, I’ve portrayed you as the soyjack and me as the Chad” except “soyjack” is replaced by “damned soul punished in hell.” Don Quixote is Cervantes doing the equivalent of shitting on the MCU nowadays. But spite alone won’t make writing good. Both Dante and Cervantes are masterful writers whose greatness comes from a number of factors, not only spite

96. No government system is inherently good or bad: In fiction, I agree. Any decent writer can make any system good or bad within a story. She uses irl examples but that’d be getting into my political beliefs of inherently bad government systems and that’s not what we’re here for

97. Lesbian being on good terms with ex boyfriend from before coming out is a cute trope: Yeah, it can be. Again, any decent writer can make this cute, creepy, happy, terrifying, etc.

98. There is functionally no difference between a close platonic and a romantic relationship: I won’t go into detail about my love life, but hell no. Touch some fucking grass

99. Normalize friends saying “I love you:” This can work when done by a skilled writer

100. If you write a 100-tweet long writing advice (debatable) thread, go outside and touch grass: I swear I didn’t read this before writing my response to point 98

Conclusion: Lily Orchard either lacks critical thinking skills or assumes her audience does. Either way, don’t take her advice. If this is the best she can do, she’d fail any literature class I took in high school. She should learn Spanish if she hasn’t already and meet my 12th grade Spanish literature teacher. She’d fail the class but she’d hopefully learn something

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lucky-sevens · 4 years ago

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mechanisms basics & lore

welcome to my updated mechanisms intro post! this post will cover both the topics discussed in my mechanisms basics post, which is geared towards people who don’t know what the mechanisms are, and my deep lore post, which aimed to be a comprehensive compilation of all the important character and world lore. this post should serve the above group, but it’s geared towards people who have listened but feel there’s a lot of lore that seems to be common knowledge they’re missing. we’ll start out with a basic introduction, and then go into crew lore and a semi-comprehensive guide on where to go for further information.

basics

the mechanisms were a steampunk concept band, known for their queer representation and their tragic stories. they are no longer together, their last performance being january 2020, but several of their members are still creating related spinoff content.

they follow the trope many steampunk bands do, which is albums that tell a story; think similar to listening to a musical soundtrack, but geared to a visual-less experience. what distinguishes them is 1) narration tracks between each song, making the plot very easy to follow, and 2) being meant to be watched live, meaning there’s layers of meta that are more easily understood by watching recorded gigs rather than studio recordings of albums. specifically, there’s a focus on the narrators, known as the mechanisms or the crew of the aurora, who are immortal space pirates telling the stories and occasionally inserting themselves into them. though they are tragic figures themselves, their banter serves the purpose of bringing a lightheartedness and dark humor to the stories. if there’s an aspect of the lore you’re confused on, it’s probably related to the narrators!

to watch the mechanisms live, you can find recordings on youtube, dropbox, google drive, soundcloud, or vimeo, which are all compiled in this post (including transcripts!). if visuals aren’t your thing, i’ve linked the studio recordings later on in this post when they come up, and here are the mechanisms’ official spotify, bandcamp, and youtube, as well as an unofficial comprehensive lyric videos channel.

the albums

regarding the albums specifically, there are 4 main ones (once upon a time (in space), ulysses dies at dawn, high noon over camelot, and the bifrost incident), 2 that are compilations of miscellaneous songs (tales to be told 1 & 2), 1 single (frankenstein), and 1 album that’s a high-quality recording of their last live show, including an alternative performance of the bifrost incident, 2 songs only performed at live shows, and 'the deathsong’, which details how they all eventually die (death to the mechanisms).

as you might have been able to tell from the titles, they’re all based off of various myths, folklore, literature, and/or fairy tales, using different genres on top of a sci-fi setting to add a fresh twist to them! for example, high noon over camelot is a western based on arthurian mythos, set on a space station. (the albums are known for all ending in tragedy, so be careful if that isn’t your cup of tea!) if your goal is to get into the mechanisms, i’d suggest sitting down and listening to them all in full; links will be provided below, or alternatively you can watch once upon a time (in space) live here, ulysses dies at dawn live here, or the bifrost incident live here. (there is no full live recording with visuals of high noon over camelot, sadly, but there are partial and audio only recordings.)

once upon a time (in space) - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

ulysses dies at dawn - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

high noon over camelot - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

the bifrost incident - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

tales to be told, volume 1 - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

tales to be told, volume 2 - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

frankenstein - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

death to the mechanisms - edited video with the stream corruption fixed + subtitles / stream / spotify / bandcamp / youtube / transcript pt. 1 / transcript pt. 2

reading the fiction is integral to understanding both the albums and the mechanisms themselves. the fiction is a collection of short stories set in the mechanisms universe posted on their website here and compiled by me here, with an extra high noon over camelot story here. (there are also audio versions for ‘mirror mirror’ and ‘a rebel yell’ included on both the website and the compilation).

the crew of the aurora

as for the crew, at their peak there were nine members played by people, as well as the ex-member dr carmilla, who has extensive solo lore and is still active (which we’ll touch on in a few paragraphs). there is also their ship, the aurora, who is sentient and has her own lore. in fact, every member of the crew has their own backstory, set in a different genre or historical period; for example, nastya rasputina's is historical, jonny d’ville’s is a western and marius von raum’s is a mecha anime. however, they’re all still different flavors of steampunk! below, i’ll list each member, their performer, and the main sources of lore about them. for the majority of them, they have their own song in tales to be told, but there are a few outliers. everyone also has their own bio up on the website, which can all be found here.

the aurora (n/a, ship)- on aurora (meta)

jonny d’ville (jonny sims)- one eyed jacks (song), jonny before he was mechanized (meta)

nastya rasputina (anonymous)- cyberian demons (song)

ivy alexandria (morgan wilkinson)- archive footage (fiction), crew bio

ashes o’reilly (frank voss)- lucky sevens (song)

drumbot brian (ben below)- lost in the cosmos (song), crew bio

the toy soldier (jessica law)- the story of the toy soldier (fiction)

gunpowder tim (tim ledsam)- gunpowder tim vs the moon kaiser (song/minialbum)

marius von raum (kofi young)- the death of byron von raum summary (blog post)

raphaella la cognizi (r l hughes)- crew bio

if you’ve noticed the crew bio doesn’t say much about raphaella, that’s because we know little to nothing about her backstory. the only thing we have to go on is a quote from the tv tropes page, which looking at the edit history, was likely written by one of the mechanisms. the quote is ‘Science officer who may or may not have cheated her way onto the ship after becoming a little too interested.‘ and the page is here.

the majority of fandom content is about the crew, working off of what we get from the tales to be told songs, the live gigs, and the fiction.

dr carmilla

speaking of characters with obscure lore, let’s talk about dr carmilla! rather than linger, i’ll just link my carmilla basics post, which is a comprehensive summary of who she is in and out of universe. to summarize, she’s a character based on the novella ‘carmilla’ by sheridan le fanu, commonly regarded as the first vampire novel, but her lore has diverged heavily from that original starting point since then. she is the oldest out of all of the crew, and made the majority of the other crew members immortal. she, as well as aurora, is from a planet called terra, which was destroyed partially as a result of her actions. her character is defined by her immortality and how she deals with it, her experiences on terra, her relationship with the mechanisms, and her dysfunctional relationship with her ex-girlfriend loreli, the last of which is the most covered by her songs. out of universe, she is played by maki yamazaki. all her lore lines up with what happened out of universe, and ties to the fact the mechanisms were originally dr carmilla and the mechanisms. she has two solo albums and two singles, which i’ll link below.

ageha (prototype edition) (album)- bandcamp | youtube

exhumed and {un}plugged (album)- bandcamp | youtube

the city {nex:type mix} (single, in-character cover)- bandcamp | youtube

eleven (single)- bandcamp | youtube

the majority of her lore is still to be officially revealed, and will be in the trilogy of albums maki yamazaki is working on.

further reading

if you’d like to delve further into the lore, there are a few sources i use! there are official, in-character, blogs, as well as things that are harder to dredge up; i won’t link them here, but some sources include @/thedreadvampy (the band’s artist, as well as morgan wilkinson’s sister and kofi young’s partner; don’t bother her for lore or anything, but she’s previously made posts sharing previously unknown information), old websites and deleted content found on the wayback machine, the tv tropes pages, and most notably the lore doc.

the ‘maki forbidden lore doc’ is an archive of all the lore maki yamazaki has shared on the mechscord, the official mechanisms discord which she’s on, and her own personal server, where she’s running an arg (alternate reality game) as a way of relaying more lore about the dr carmilla universe. for an idea of the scale, the doc is currently 91 pages and 28346 words, and recontextualizes much of what is known about dr carmilla and maki’s canon of the mechanisms universe. it is confidential to anyone not in her discord or the mechscord, as she’s said that this lore isn’t thought out nearly as much as the albums and is subject to change, so she’d rather it not be out in the open. however, information on how to join the mechscord can be found here. there is also a non-canonical fan project based on the arg in progress, but information on it is also confidential for now.

with regards to the above phrase ‘maki’s canon’ it’s worth noting that all of the individual band members have their own idea of what counts as canon and what doesn’t, and as you foray deeper into lore that division becomes more and more apparent.

with that, here are the mechanisms’ blogs. they are all both run in-character by the main nine band members and inactive unless i note otherwise.

twitter

tumblr

facebook

website/wordpress (run ic by tereshkova’s ghost, the blogbot, for the most part)

carmilla twitter (active, run ic by dr carmilla)

conclusion

now that we’re coming to the end of this, i’d like to thank whoever got this far, and to say a few words. my interest in the mechanisms has been slowly fading, and i’ve been writing less and less meta and lapsing in keeping up with new lore myself. honestly, i’m pretty worn out by how much i’ve done on this blog and in this fandom, and the commitments i’ve assigned myself. i do have plans for future meta, but it’s unlikely they’ll come to fruition. so, i thought i’d do a new version of my two oldest posts on this blog, and hopefully enable other people to look into the lore and theorize themselves with the new information.

to find more information, remember there’s a mechanisms wiki, and that my askbox is always open.

thanks for reading!

#the mechanisms #the mechs #meta #my posts

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memento-morri-writes · 3 years ago

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happy sts morri!

What is your writing process like?

Are you a planner or a pantser or a bit of both? If you do outline, how in depth are your plans? What is your drafting vs revision vs editing process? Do you have any writing tricks that you stand by? Basically share anything you’d like about your process!

[@rodentwrites]

Hi Harrison!! Happy STS, but on a Sunday!

My writing process is a bit of a mess. I tend to write things when they interest me, rather than in chronological order. In fact, the first scene I ever wrote for ATQH was The Incident, which happens about halfway through the book! I have almost all of the 2nd half (basically everything after The Incident) planned out, but very little of the first half. Which is where I'm struggling, trying to figure out how to get to the second half.

I'm a little bit of both, a planner and a pantser, but mainly a planner. I like to have things well planned out before I write, but sometimes that winds up making me write myself into a corner, or feeling stuck. But usually I know who's in a scene, and the gist of what's happening at minimum before I start writing.

I tend to write a scene whenever I have the inspiration for it, which might be at any time. Literally, any time. I wrote the first two drafts of The Incident back-to-back between 3 and 5 am in early January. After I finish writing a scene once, I tend to set it aside for a little while. Then I'll go back and re-read it. If there's just small tweaks to make, I'll make them then, but if I still hate it, I'll take a blank document and start over. I might do that 3 or 4 times before I have a result I'm happy with. With some of the scenes from ATQH, I sent them to a friend to edit, and that was very helpful. I pasted the scenes into a google doc, and she made suggestions there. After that, I retyped the scenes, with the changes that I agreed with, or new ones I thought up after seeing her comments. By retyping, I still had the old versions, and I also had to think about it more, as I went line-by-line, rather than just copy + pasting and only worrying about the bits that she had suggested edits for. Sadly, I haven't talked to her since I got done with school, so idk that I'll be able to continue with that set-up. It was so very helpful, though, and she was a good editor.

The writing tip I swear by is: if a scene isn't working, rewrite it from memory. I mean it. Open a new doc, and start writing the scene from scratch. Your brain will remember the parts you liked, maybe even word for word, and put them back in, but gloss over the bad bits, and let you try again. This has made me SO much happier with my scenes than just trying to tweak what I already had. I think I wrote The Incident 4 times or so? And I love the final result.

Oh, also I have my planning and notes all done in Milanote, and do my actual writing in Scrivener. But none of that is necessary, at all!! I just tend to be over-organized and like making ridiculous layers of folders and stuff.

#Anonymous #rodentwrites #Morrigan replies #my writing #my writing process #sts #sts asks #storyteller saturday

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veeranger · 5 years ago

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So you want to watch Precure!

Version 1.3

(Google Docs Vers & Changelog)

Maybe you follow people who like it, maybe you just love magical girls and never got into Precure, but there are over a dozen seasons and you don’t know how to jump in. Never fear, this masterpost is here to give you a rundown of Precure, and hopefully by the end you’ll have an idea of where you want to start.

What Is Precure?

Precure (short for Pretty Cure) is a Toei Animation franchise started in 2004 and has been on the air nonstop since then. It’s a magical girl franchise, y’know like sailor moon or ojamajo doremi or other such shows. The main demographic is children so you don’t have to worry about any weird “fanservice” or panty shots or anything nasty like that, it’s very G rated.

What Are The Shows About?

In a general sense, Precure is about a team of 2-6 middle school age magical girls fighting bad guys and giant monsters and saving the world on a weekly basis with pretty outfits and big flashy finishers and the power of love and friendship. Each season follows a pretty standard formula (toku fans should be pretty familiar with it for the most part), and each season is around 48-50 episodes long.

In keeping with this toku-esque formula, most seasons will feature mid season additions to the cast, in the form of new precure heroes. For the sake of not spoiling these shows, these mid season cures will not be mentioned in our plot overviews unless they appear extremely early or something like that. Just know that almost every season will feature an additional cure joining the team later in the show.

Additionally, every season has at least one movie, these days there’s usually two per season. Usually you’ll find the movies are a standalone self-contained romp, and a crossover movie with the preceding seasons, with a focus on the most recent 2-3 teams. These movies might as well exist in a continuity of their own, and have absolutely no bearing on the plot whatsoever, save for one except which I’ll mention when we get to that season.

Why Should I Watch Precure?

Because it’s good. It’s a really stellar franchise with a ton of content and genuinely engaging characters and stories. Also this isn’t your mom’s magical girl show, these girls throw punches, and kicks, and big lasers. Precure is pretty well known for being extremely hands on with its combat compared to other magical girl shows, though don’t expect the same kind of fights you’d find in kamen rider or anything. Also a main draw for a lot of people is the amount of gay subtext in, frankly, every season. While there’s only one season with an explicitly confirmed gay relationship between two cures, every season has varying levels of subtext between cures, it’s pretty cool. We won’t discuss the subtext in every season overview but trust us, it’s in there.

What Show Should I Start With?

It doesn’t actually matter which season you watch, every season is a new setting and with new characters and set in a new world (except for two sequel seasons i’ll explain later), so you’re free to watch whatever you want in any order! We’re going to spend the rest of this post talking about each season to give you, the beloved reader, a glimpse at what each season has to uniquely offer. Don’t worry, there’s no spoilers down there.

Futari Wa Precure (We Are Pretty Cure) & Futari Wa Precure Max Heart

The original precure show that aired in 2004, and even received an english dub. Misumi Nagisa is a star lacrosse player living a normal life until one day a shooting star she wishes on turns out to be a fairy that careens right into her room, or rather, smacks her right in the face. The fairy, named Mepple, explains he comes from the Garden of Light, another world that’s been taken over by the evil Dark King and his Dark Zone in order to capture the Prism Stones, a number of heart shaped crystals that, if collected, could give Dark King the power to destroy not only the Garden of Light but also the Garden of Rainbows, Earth itself. Meanwhile, Yukishiro Honoka finds a box in her grandmother’s shed containing an item just like the one that smacked Nagisa in the face, and inside is the fairy Mipple, who explains the situation to Honoka. The two fairies, seeking to be reunited, drag Nagisa and Honoka along and the four of them end up meeting up, but are attacked by an emissary of the Dark Zone. Mepple and Mipple grant the confused duo the power to transform into the warriors of legend, Precure. As Cure Black and Cure White, Nagisa and Honoka manage to fight off their attacker and protect their new fairy partners. The girls are then more or less dragged into the battle against the Dark Zone, as the only hope for both Gardens, they fulfill their duty as legendary warriors despite their hesitations and desires to go back to being normal teenagers.

Futari Wa doesn’t exactly have any major themes to speak of, it’s just your standard magical girl vs evil bad guys kind of thing, forgive it for being the first season. What it does have to offer is the relationship between Nagisa and Honoka, as well as the action in fight scenes. The girls don’t start the season as best friends, in fact they barely even know each other’s names when they’re first flung together. It takes a few episodes and a major fight between the girls for them to really start opening up to each other, but soon enough they become inseparable and support each other in everything they do. It’s clear, especially near the end, that the girls cling to each other for support and strength in the face of the increasingly overwhelming odds they face as the Dark Zone gains strength. It’s very compelling to see their relationship deepen in the early season and see how deep their bonds truly go near the end.

Futari Wa received a sequel show, Futari Wa Precure Max Heart, picking up the story where it left off in the first season’s finale. Honoka and Nagisa are still the main characters, and they’re still fighting the Dark Zone, but this time they’re joined by a mysterious girl named Hikari, who can transform into Shiny Luminous, not a precure but precure-ish. This time the girls are trying to recover the heart and soul of the Queen of the Garden of Light, before the Dark Zone can recover and destroy the queen in her weakened state. Also their precure costumes have changed slightly.

The first season (that is to say, not max heart) is currently one of the few seasons available with official english subtitles on the streaming platform Crunchyroll

Futari Wa Precure Splash Star

Hyuuga Saki (Cure Bloom), a tomboy who loves playing softball, and Mishou Mai (Cure Egret), a quiet transfer student and aspiring artist, meet each other by chance one day under the Sky Tree, where they discover two creatures from the Land of Fountains named Flappy and Choppy. The two girls transform into the legendary Precure and are tasked with restoring Princess Filia and the Seven Holy Fountains, which were sapped of their power by the evil forces of Dark Fall.

Splash Star's main theme is the appreciation of nature. The main focus is on the girls rediscovering their relationships with their town and the nature and people in it. You get to meet a whole cast of characters in their community, who have a lot of heart and charm behind their writing and the show does a good job of getting you genuinely invested in their stories.

Unfortunately the romance in Splash Star isn’t much better than Futari Wa's (sorry to any Fujimura/Kazuya fans), but the main girls themselves are so engaging that it's easy to ignore. The villains are pretty goofy, but entertaining if you can accept that the show doesn’t take itself very seriously. There are two villains in the latter half of the season that really stand out, though. Without spoiling too much, I can promise you their character arcs will tear at your heartstrings in the best way.

If you've watched Futari wa Precure, Splash Star will probably feel familiar. Although it's the first "reboot" series in the franchise with completely new characters, Toei overall played it safe and Saki and Mai in many ways still feel like "Nagisa and Honoka 2.0". Splash Star is different in enough other ways to make the show stand on its own merits, but if you watch it immediately after Futari wa you might find yourself feeling some deja vu. Personally, I think it's interesting to see what Splash Star builds on and explores when compared to Futari wa, since it has many of the same themes and character archetypes but they play out quite differently.

Yes! Precure 5 & Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!

Nozomi is a cheerful, carefree girl, but she doesn’t have a dream. One day she meets a hot guy and finds a mysterious item called the Dream Collet, capable of granting any wish once all the fairies known as Pinkies are gathered inside it, in the school library. She discovers that the hot guy is actually a tanuki from Palmier Kingdom named Coco, and that the Kingdom has been destroyed by the Nightmare. Coco’s dream is to restore his kingdom using the Dream Collet, and Nozomi decides to make it hers as well.

She’s joined by her jock friend Rin, Urara, an aspiring actress, Komachi, a writer, and the rich student council president Karen. Together they form Yes Sentai Fiveranger Yes Precure 5 and work together to prevent Nightmare from obtaining the Dream Collet before they can gather all the Pinkies. They also save Coco’s “”””””friend””””””” and fellow hot guy squirrel, Nuts, and he joins them as the second mascot/handsome love interest.

The theme of Yes is dreams and heterosexual furry romance. It pulls off the dreams part very nicely. The het furry romance is bad, mostly because Coco is Nozomi’s teacher at school and also her love interest. However, Coco and Nuts are fairly gay and if you look past the romance part they have very good dadly relationships with the rest of the team.

Yespre, like Futari Wa, received a sequel show, Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!. After the defeat of Nightmare some time ago, a new faction called Eternal rises up and starts stealing treasures from various dimensions. When Eternal targets the Rose Pact belonging to the Cure Rose Garden, the precure are called back into action to fight against Eternal, with new cure outfits, a new fairy named Syrup, and a new cure-like teammate named Milky Rose.

Fresh Precure!

Fresh is sort of the defining series for modern Precure, introducing a lot of plot and thematic elements to the franchise that would be used repeatedly later on.

A concert Momozono Love attends is attacked by a monster called a Nakewameke. When Love stands up to it, she is nearly killed, but is saved when she is chosen by a mysterious power to become Cure Peach. She is joined by Inori and Miki as Cure Pine and Cure Berry, and, together with the talking ferret from the Kingdom of Sweets, Tarte, they have to prevent Labyrinth, a grey world led by Mobius, from taking over the Parallel Worlds and transforming them into identical, machine-like dictatorships, and also figure out the secret behind the Magic Baby, Chiffon, that Tarte is entrusted with.

Fresh’s themes are happiness and nature/technology and donuts. The donuts are important. Labyrinth operates by gathering misery; the Nakewameke are created from it and their function is to create more of it and fill the Sorrow Gauge. All the girls (and the mascot) have love interests and their familial relationships are explored a lot to bring out the general stakes and emphasise what they’re fighting for.

While Fresh is very strong in characters, plot, and thematics, its lack of budget is very apparent. It looks terrible. Fortunately, it isn’t that difficult to get used to the bad animation once you get into the show, although the lack of means tends to show up at inopportune moments, like new powerups.

Heartcatch Precure!

Featuring character designs and art direction from Ojamajo Doremi’s character designer Umakoshi Yoshihiko, and written by Ojamajo Doremi and Onegai My Melody writer Yamada Takashi, Heartcatch should look and feel familiar to fans of either franchise, especially Doremi.

After having a reoccurring dream about someone called Cure Moonlight being defeated trying to defend the “Great Heart Tree”, the shy and reserved Hanasaki Tsubomi moves in with her grandmother and ends up inheriting the will of Cure Moonlight and becomes the newest precure, Cure Blossom. Finding out her grandmother used to be the legendary Cure Flower, Tsubomi vows to protect the world as a precure and learn to change herself for the better. She’s joined by her new friend and the first person she saved as a precure, Kurumi Erika, a loud girl with a big heart who means well, but doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind. Erika becomes Cure Marine and the two become Heartcatch Precure, the newest precure in the long legacy of those who have stood up to the evil Dune, a mysterious invader who destroys planets and turns them into lifeless deserts. Heartcatch Precure fights against Dune’s minions: the mask wearing Professor Sabaku, his Desert Apostles, and the mysterious Dark Precure. Along the way they meet the former Cure Moonlight, now stripped of her power, and try to help her cope with her defeat.

Heartcatch Precure’s main theme is flowers and flower language. Everyone has a “heart flower” that the Desert Apostles take and use to create their monsters every week. As an interesting result of this, the monster of the week will be the main character in the plot of the week and often their big monster form will vent about their issues which will usually lead to a resolution when the precure return them to their regular bodies. Heartcatch also has a very nice backstory and lore to it. Unlike most iterations of precure, the Heartcatch girls are not the first precure to exist in their world, there are dozens maybe hundreds of precure that came before them, fighting against Dune and his forces for hundreds of years. It adds a lot to the narrative in small ways, especially later on in the season. Also the fight scenes are extremely excellent, especially when Moonlight is involved.

Suite Precure♪

The musical paradise of Major Land falls under siege by the forces of Minor Land, led by King Mephisto. His goal is to steal the living notes of the “Melody of Happiness” and remake them into the “Melody of Sorrow”, throwing the world into a permanent depressive state. As a last resort, Queen Aphrodite scatters the notes into the human world and tasks Hummy, the cat-like fairy, and the Fairy Tones, to find the notes before the forces of Minor Lands can capture them. In the human world, Hummy meets Hojo Hibiki and Minamino Kanade, two girls who were best friends as children, but drifted apart as teenagers because of their tendency to bicker with each other. The two find themselves thrown together again by fate and transform into Cure Melody and Cure Rhythm to protect the things they hold dear. Not long after, the two rekindle their relationship and become closer than before, despite their bickering. Soon the girls run into the mysterious Cure Muse, a girl who appears to be a precure like them, but hides her face with a mask and refuses to join in their fight, claiming to be neither friend nor enemy. Melody and Rhythm battle against Minor Land and the giant Negatones they create from the notes they gather, as well as Siren, another cat-like fairy who used to be Hummy’s best friend before turning to evil and joining Minor Land.

Suite Precure’s main theme is music, and it is a very encompassing theme. Hibiki and Kanade bond over their piano practice, the town they live in celebrates music frequently and is aesthetically music themed, and their powers take the form of musical instruments. Harmony is also a large theme for the two girls. Their precure power increases as they harmonize with each other, and the early season is very much about them learning to harmonize with each other. Suite also features several extremely well done mystery arcs, about the identity of Cure Muse, and various other things that I can’t very well talk about without risking spoiling things myself. If you manage to go into Suite not knowing anything consider yourself extremely lucky and be super sure not to get spoiled. The show staff went to great lengths to hide certain things, including leaking fake cure designs, and creating a second version of the second dance ending to further mask the identity of Cure Muse until her true reveal.

Also something to note, usually precure movies have nothing to do with the plot of the show itself and can be watched whenever but the Suite movie is best enjoyed right after the arc revealing Cure Muse’s identity is concluded, it has a nice resolution to plot elements in that arc and sets the stage for the last few arcs of the show, so be sure to watch it then.

Smile Precure!

Written by Kamen Rider Kabuto head writer Yonemura Shoji, Smile Precure is the second season to feature a 5 girl team after Yes! Precure 5 Gogo!. Running late to her first day of school, resident happy-go-lucky klutz Hoshizora Miyuki runs face first into a small creature called Candy, a fairy from a place called Märchenland. The two are attacked by an anthropomorphic wolf named Wolfrun, and Miyuki transforms into Cure Happy to fight against Wolfrun and the big clown faced monster he summons called an Akanbe. After Candy explains that the legends say there are five precure, Miyuki recruits four new friends: the hot blooded Akane (Cure Sunny), shy artist Yayoi (Cure Peace), responsible older sister Nao (Cure March), and refined student council vice-president Reika (Cure Beauty). The five of them become Smile Precure and fight against Wolfrun and his allies in the Bad End Kingdom, who attempt to revive the slumbering Pierrot by trying to put the world in a “Bad End”.

Smile Precure’s main theme is fairy tales, in a general sense. The Bad End trio are based off of the big bad wolf (Wolfrun), the oni from Momotaro (Akaoni), and the witch from Snow White (Majorina), and Miyuki herself is utterly captivated by fairy tales. The secondary theme is happiness, and the happy go lucky tone of the series often turns on its head during serious arcs to deliver extremely powerful emotional moments. Smile Precure is light on plot, and most episodes are an ultra happy experience, but the show knows how to get serious when it needs to and Smile is exceedingly competent at pulling off drama when the time comes. Smile knows how to get you invested in its characters and use that to pull on your heartstrings during the big moments. The last 10 episodes of the show are the absolute pinnacle of the show’s emotional drama, and each cure gets her own episode for closure before the finale sets in and emotionally destroys you. Also you get to play rock paper scissors with Cure Peace during her roll call so that’s always fun.

Doki Doki! Precure

Doki opens with Trump Kingdom’s destruction by the Selfishness as Cure Sword looks on, helpless. Switching to our world and brighter topics, we meet Aida Mana, Student Council President of Oogai Middle School, whose dream is to become the Prime Minister of Japan. Whenever Mana sees someone in trouble, she’ll help them out, so when a monster attacks the city, Mana does the obvious and tries to stop it. And when, chosen by the fairy Charuru (Charles? Cheryle? Cherry?) to become a Precure and defend the world, she meets Cure Sword, she has to befriend her and help her restore Trump Kingdom and find her happiness.

Mana (Cure Heart) is joined by Rikka (Cure Diamond), her studious companion and supporter, and also the immeasurably powerful and rich (in that order) Alice (Cure Rosetta). Together they have to unravel the mystery of the man who gave them their transformation items, the missing princess of Trump Kingdom, the strange, evil girl called Regina, and Ai, the chaotic neutral baby who hatches out of an egg.

Dokipre’s theme is love and selflessness. It also has Deep Lore, a lot of which is established in extra-series material. The show does try to explore concepts like past cures and manages a very nice repeating pattern effect with the plot, in terms of past and future happenings. There’s a lot of foreshadowing. Compared to most Precure seasons it’s very plot-heavy and even the filler usually ends up being plot-relevant.

Happiness Charge Precure!

The 10th anniversary of Precure! The Phantom Empire is spreading across the world, and Precure are rising up all over the globe to fight them off. In Japan there are two active cures, Cure Fortune, strong and capable, and Cure Princess, scared and unsure of herself. As Cure Princess, Shirayuki Hime, struggles desperately to do her duty as precure, Cure Fortune refuses to work with her for reasons Hime doesn’t fully understand. Realizing her only hope is to find a partner to work with, Hime bumps into Aino Megumi, a super friendly girl who has a tendency to drop everything and help others any time she sees someone in need. Megumi becomes Cure Lovely, and bolstering Hime’s confidence, the two of them become Happiness Charge Precure, tasked with protecting Japan from Queen Mirage and her Phantom Empire. The two are joined by Cure Honey, and eventually Cure Fortune, and the four of them receive support from Blue, the God of Planet Earth. As the girls continue to fight and defend Japan, they are assaulted by Phantom, the ruthless Precure Hunter who has defeated and trapped countless Precure in his Precure Graveyard, and the Oresky Trio, the Phantom Empire generals who oversee the invasion of Japan.

Happiness Charge Precure’s themes are romance and happiness. There are several arcs dedicated to the budding romances of the cures, and the backstory of the show is heavily tied to romance. Happiness might as well be Megumi’s middle name, she makes it her business to spread happiness to as many people as she can, and takes every chance she can to help others. Happiness Charge is also the first season to have form changes for the precure, each cure has a small selection of forms they can change to for different big attacks, and this concept would later be expanded and used as a core concept in Maho Girls Precure. Like Heartcatch before it, Happiness Charge exists in a world where multiple precure exist, but unlike Heartcatch all those precure exist at the same time in the present day. Other precure teams make cameos every so often and the concept creates a great world in which the whole planet is being protected by teenage girls with superpowers, creating a wonderful sense of scale that really makes the big victories of Happiness Charge Precure feel even bigger.

Go! Princess Precure

The first precure series to take place at a boarding school! Years ago, a young girl named Haruno Haruka meets a very royal looking person named Kanata who gives her a Dress-Up Key, a big key shaped like a dress. A teenager now, Haruka starts attending Noble Academy, a prestigious boarding school, all the while holding tight to her dream of becoming a true princess, in a quasi-literal sense. Not long after starting the school year, Haruka meets Pafu and Aroma, two fairies from the Hope Kingdom desperate to revive the legendary precure to fight back against Dyspear and her minions who steal dreams to create their giant Zetsuborgs. Realizing what her Dress-Up Key is meant for, Haruka uses it and the Princess Perfume to become Cure Flora. Together with student council president Kaido Minami (Cure Mermaid), and Amanogawa Kirara (Cure Twinkle) a fashion model with huge aspirations, they become the new Princess Precure, tasked with learning to become true princesses along with protecting the Dress-Up Keys from Dyspear’s forces.

Go! Princess Precure’s main themes are princesses (duh) and dreams. Dreams are a driving force behind all of the cures, and most of the plot of the week characters. Dyspear steals dreams to make monsters, and the precure fight to return those dreams. Characters follow their dreams with conviction, pride, and full commitment. This is also where the princess theme intersects, since it’s Haruka’s dream to become a true princess. One should note that princess is used sort of liberally in this series, it’s not that Haruka wants to somehow become someone of noble birth or have political power, she just wants to be strong, kind, and beautiful, the traits of a true princess in Princess Precure’s own terms. Also she wants to wear pretty dresses and such but who can blame her really.

Mahou Tsukai Precure! (Maho Girls Precure!)

Quite literally putting the magic in magical girls for the first time in the franchise, Mahou Tsukai Precure was the first season to have its cures be actual magicians. Izumi Riko lives in the magical world, a world where magic is real and she attends a magical academy to hone her craft. She leaves the magical world to travel to the “non-magic” world, to search for a legendary item called the Linkle Stone Emerald. In the non-magic world she ends up catching the attention of another girl, Asahina Mirai, who sees her using magic. After trying to show off some magic and messing it up, Riko is attacked by Batty, a servant of the dark wizard Dokurokushe, who is seeking the Linkle Stone Emerald as well. As fate would have it, both Mirai and Riko carry stones that turn out to be the Linkle Stones Diamond, and the two of them use them to become Cure Miracle and Cure Magical, the legendary Mahou Tsukai Precure. Additionally, the power of the Linkle Stones grants life to Mirai’s lifelong companion, a teddy bear named Mofurun. Having discovered the world of magic and become a precure, Mirai is invited to spend time in the magical world learning magic alongside Riko, before the two, joined by Mofurun and a baby fairy named Ha, return to the non-magical world to search for the Emerald and protect it from Dokurokushe and his minions.

Mahou Tsukai Precure’s main themes are bonds and separation. It’s strengths lie in how it shows the relationship between Mirai and Riko. The show takes its time building their relationship in the first dozen or so episodes of their adventures in the magic world, highlighting their similarities and differences as they grow closer and learn to live with each other and fight as precure together. Well before the halfway mark it’s clear how strong their bond is and how deeply they care for each other, and the lengths they would go to for one another. Mahou Tsukai is an emotional ride in so many ways, every emotional moment hits its mark and the more you get attached to the characters the more the show will hit harder and harder with its moments, both sad and happy. Even side characters get satisfying and emotional conclusions to their storylines outside of the episodes they’re introduced in, it’s all wonderfully crafted.

KiraKira☆Precure A La Mode

Another return to the five cure format, Kirapre is also the second season to feature a sixth team member after Yes! Precure 5 Gogo!, as well as the second season to feature high school age precure after Heartcatch Precure. Usami Ichika is in her second year of middle school and loves sweets, especially making sweets. One day a hungry fairy named Pekorin finds her way into Ichika’s kitchen, and after being fed teaches Ichika about Kirakiraru, an energy source that exists in all sweets, and something that can be stolen and used for evil, leaving the sweets gray and tasteless. Utilizing the power of kirakraru in the shortcake she baked for her mother, Ichika becomes Cure Whip, one of the legendary patissiers, Precure. One by one other precure appear, the smart but shy Arisugawa Himari (Cure Custard), the rock band headliner Tategami Aoi (Cure Gelato), the fickle catlike Kotozume Yukari (Cure Macaron), and the responsible and helpful Kenjou Akira (Cure Chocolat). The five of them fight against the evils of Noir and those he has influenced: Julio, the mysterious masked boy who runs “experiments'' using kirakiraru, and Bibury, a mean spirited girl who uses her talking doll to steal kirakiraru and create monsters.

Kirapre’s main motifs are sweets and animals, and it has a pretty general togetherness and happiness theme going on, the standard precure stuff, mostly viewed through the lense of sweets and sweets-making. All the precure work as patissiers for one reason or another and it’s the main way the team bonds early on. The team, as well as the people of their small town, love sweets as a part of their culture and sweets maintain an important role as the emotional tie that binds most things together in the story. Overall Kirapre is a wonderful show with a great cast on both sides of the conflict, and a lot of care has been put into the show to make sure characters have their moments to interact with each other as well as have their own stories , even on a team of six every precure gets more than enough time to shine on her own. Kirapre is at it’s best when it takes two girls and puts them together for an episode, letting each unique dynamic play out in a fun and satisfying way. Kirapre is also noteworthy for the almost inarguably canonical relationship between two of the cures. It's not exactly explicit and it does leave something to be desired, since this is a Toei children's show, but there’s not really any other way to read the evolution of their relationship or their duet song, so I’m more than satisfied calling it canon.

This season is currently one of the few seasons available with official english subtitles on the streaming platform Crunchyroll

HUGtto! Precure

Precure’s 15th anniversary! This season is in many ways a celebration of all things Precure, bringing together a lot of familiar elements from past shows into one. Hugtto! is another five cure season whose main themes are destiny and future. Nono Hana (Cure Yell) is a thirteen-year-old girl whose dream is to be a "cool and stylish woman," although she worries that others see her as childish. One day, a hamster named Harryham Harry and a magical baby named Hugtan fall out of the sky into Hana's house. They're being chased from the future by an evil organization called Criasu Corporation, who are trying to use Hugtan's power to freeze time forever. Hana makes friends with two of her classmates: the responsible class representative Yakushiji Saaya (Cure Ange) and the reclusive ex-figure skater Kagayaki Homare (Cure Etoile), and together they fight Criasu while taking care of Hugtan and figuring out the many mysteries surrounding her. Expect some light sc-fi elements and an emphasis on modern technology/social media.

Hugtto! explores its themes primarily through the lenses of childcare and the workplace, giving us a look at how each girl comes to terms with the transition from childhood to adulthood. This season does a good job of letting each member of the team shine; you spend several episodes with each girl (or duo of girls) and there's a real sense of a complete character arc for all of them. The romance aspect is, unfortunately, pretty bad: there’s a return of hetero furry romance between Harry and Homare, and Hana’s love interest exhibits some really creepy behavior towards her. There’s uncomfortable age gaps in both of these relationships too so it’s a just a bit…. Yikes. Thankfully, it’s fairly easy to ignore like past seasons, but a warning for it nonetheless.

Something that makes this season stand out is its LGBT subtext; there's a TON of it even compared to the normal amount that Precure is known for. Without giving away too much, two of the cures this season are heavily coded as lesbians (though not with each other per se), and there's a subplot concerning a side character who is pretty explicitly (well, as explicit as Toei dares to be) a gender non-conforming man/nonbinary person in love with another man, and it's all very wholesome and presented in a positive light. Again, this is Toei, so don't expect anything too radical, but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with how Hugpre handles it.

Finally I'll just say that while Hugpre is a fantastic season on its own, I would personally recommend waiting to watch it after you've seen some other seasons (notably Futari wa). It's not required, but since Hugpre is an anniversary season, there are a few episodes (especially near the end) that will really hit different if you have an emotional connection to the franchise already. Ultimately though this is a fairly minor part of the show, so watching this season first won’t ruin it or anything like that, it’s just something to keep in mind.

Star☆Twinkle Precure

Precure… in space! Our protagonist, Hoshina Hikaru (Cure Star) loves space and cryptids, to the point of drawing her own constellations. One of her constellations is an adorable alien puffball, who warps into Hikaru’s room almost immediately after she draws it. The puffball quickly befriends Hikaru, who names her Fuwa. They are later joined by Prunce, the team dad friend/alien mascot, and Lala (Cure Milky), a humanoid alien who is an adult in her own culture. After our initial duo gets off to a bit of a rocky start, they are joined by the student council president, Kaguya Madoka (Cure Selene) and a biracial upperclassman who is considered to be the “sun” of the school, Amamiya Elena (Cure Soleil). Together, they explore the universe and befriend all sorts of aliens, while also defending them from the Notraiders, who want to rid the universe of all imagination. On top of that, the universe is dying and the cures need to find the 12 astrologically themed Star Pens to save it and the 12 Star Princesses. This series is notable for attempting to break the “monster of the week” format, instead making it a “fight of the week”.

The major themes of Star Twinkle are space, imagination, and maturity. The cures have to explore the universe to find the Star Pens, and in doing so, visit a bunch of different planets. About half the series is spent on Earth, but the world still feels developed! Honestly speaking, the theme of imagination is forgotten pretty quickly and I’d refer to it more as free will. The theme of maturity is where Star Twinkle really shines. All of the cures have had to grow up too fast in some way, and the series is partially about just allowing them to goof off. Lala is considered an adult on her planet, and this plot point is treated realistically. Well, as realistically as it can be. This is one series I’d recommend avoiding spoilers like the plague for, because part of the fun is in how the plot twists are pulled off. Also Star Twinkle is notable for featuring the first ever dark skinned precure, as Elena is half-hispanic.

Healin’ Good Precure

The currently airing Precure season, as of this writing. The Byogens seek to revive their king by inflicting viruses on Earth, the Healing Garden sends three medical interns to combat them. These interns, fairies named Rabirin, Pegitan, and Nyatoran, along with a baby fairy princess named Latte, journey to Earth to find partners to become Precure. They end up meeting Hanadera Nodoka, a kindhearted girl who was hospitalized for most of her young childhood. After Nodoka risks her life to protect Latte, Rabirin chooses her to become Cure Grace. Joined by older sister type Sawaizumi Chiyu (Cure Fontaine) and the outgoing Hiramitsu Hinata (Cure Sparkle), they form Healin’ Good Precure, and defend their friends and the Earth from the Byogen’s newest wave of attacks.

This season is currently one of the few seasons available with official english subtitles on the streaming platform Crunchyroll.

Where To Watch Precure Online

Unfortunately for us, Precure isn’t really a thing in the west. There was a dub of Futari Wa back in the early 2000’s and Smile and Doki both got “adapted” into Glitter Force over on netflix (I don’t really recommend checking those out), but really Precure just doesn’t exist over here.

However, as mentioned above, there are currently three seasons avalible for streaming on crunchyroll. The original Futari Wa Precure, Kira Kira Precure A La Mode, and the current season, Healin’ Good Precure.

Beyond these isolated examples of official releases, you can really only watch precure online on streaming sites or through torrents. You can find precure pretty much on any major anime streaming site, kissanime, gogoanime, the works. You can also try your luck torrenting the seasons, i’ve found that pretty much every season has a working torrent you can find on sites like nyaa.si or the like. For more recent seasons you should have little difficulty getting torrents, and last time i checked every season was on one of the aforementioned streaming sites. What I’m saying really is there’s no single place to find precure, but it’s not impossible to find for sure.

Thanks for reading this post, I hope you decide to check out precure and I really hope you end up loving it.Thanks to my wonderful friend @meltorights for writing the sections on Yespre, Fresh, and Dokipre, to @wonderlilane for writing the sections on Splash Star and Huggto, and @cure-cosmo for writing the segment on Starpre.

If you have questions feel free to drop me an ask I’d be happy to help. I will literally go out of my way to help you if it means getting someone new into precure so please do not hesitate by any means.

#Apple Post #precure #pretty cure #magical girl #anime #toei animation

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jimmymcgools · 4 years ago

Note

Can you do a directors cut for they pay me a golden treasure?

hi! this has been in my ask box for like two weeks! i'm so sorry! my brain broke and i forgot how to think about things!

i'm glad you asked for this one, thank you so much 🙏 i'd had the first ~500 words of this sitting in a google doc for so long -- i was originally thinking of posting after i finished slip and fall season. but then my brain did that thing where i wanted everything to be exactly perfect and i kept working and overworking the first few paragraphs until way too much gluten had formed in the dough and it was chewy and terrible.

but then i took a step back and just tried to write a thing that captured all the little interesting ideas i wanted to include, and that helped me get the ball rolling.

commentary below! 💖

Two points of pressure weigh down his shoulders, as heavy as the bags of cash had been—heavier, even. It feels like he has two hands locked on either side of his neck. He can feel the man who owns the hands standing behind him, and he can hear the echo of the word wife.

this idea was one of the first things that made me want to write this oneshot -- linking this physical sensation of carrying the bags with this metaphorical way he feels lalo's control over him.

He swallows. His mouth is tacky with a sugary layer of Gatorade.

i wanted the whole thing to hopefully be SUPER sensory and way deep in jimmy's head. and this is the kinda shit that takes me longer than it should to remember. sometimes i have to just sit and think through every part of my body as if i'm in that situation and see if anything good leaps out.

He’s just standing there outside the apartment and his arms are so heavy and his shoulders are so heavy and his head is so heavy he feels as if he’s going to fall right through the ground, as if he’s going to plummet into the earth before she can even open the door.

this is one of the sentences that previously died to being overworked. i kept changing it and changing it until eventually i looked back at my very first version, which was more brainstormy note than intended prose, and i thought it was better than anything else i'd managed. so i used that!

There’s a bang and his eyes snap open. The door is widening to a square of light and his hands are in front of his chest, curling into balls.

this part is a reverse of the previous example, though! here i kept an earlier version for a while, something that started like "The door opens with a bang etc etc" and then i realised it DID need more work, it needed to be more in jimmy's head and not tell the reader exactly what was happening in the first three words.

A square of light—sand and sky and space blankets—and then she’s there, silhouetted against the white, and he takes— —one step, then the next, then the next— —through the bright doorway.

fuckin' love an em dash, mate

His legs, having delivered him here, to this final glowing space, give up.

another one of the ideas i was very excited about for this one-shot was comparing kim to the golden glowstick he holds that night in the desert! i always think about it when i watch that scene!

here's my first shot at making the comparison -- this final glowing space. for a while i wanted to include the memory of him holding that glowstick right here, so that people might link it with him holding her in the entryway, but it didn't work with the pace.

Her voice sounds like it’s coming down a long phone line, traveling through thousands and thousands of copper-lined miles. Crackling and cracking.

i'm a self indulgent lil shit so i put some references to my other fic in here. hopefully if youve read acb, this specific description makes you think of baby kim and jimmy talking softly on the phone at night.

Kim’s fingers are razors in his hair, crushing his head close against her shoulder.

another metaphor from early acb used here, which in itself is a reference to a song by the national, of course. all my fics are just a bunch of national songs stacked inside a trenchcoat

As soon as his chest touches hers, he’s clawing with tight fists at her back, holding her faster and faster, like he’s scrabbling for purchase over screaming dirt

i loved the idea of drawing all these parallels between the desert experience and his experience here. it makes me think of the split-screen opening. jimmy's dry tongue sticking to his mouth is like him trying to say the first part of kim's name. the way he hugs her is like the way he scrambles towards the esteem.

it's all entwined forever now.

From down the long crackling line, she says his name again. Jimmy. He almost can’t hear it. Jimmy.

god, i'm such a writing nerd and i love thinking about writing so much and it's like -- what does not having his name in speech marks add here? in my head it adds so much. is it real, is she really saying it? is he just thinking it? yet he says he almost can't hear it. somehow not having the speech marks also makes it feel far away to me. intangible. if she's really saying it, it doesn't feel real anymore.

i love writing!!!!

“Hey,” Kim says, her voice quiet, her eyes locked on his. The dry skin on his lips stretches with his smile. “Hey.”

would die for these two softly exchanging "hey"s.

It’s good to be close because he knows there’s something horrible trapped between their chests. Something he can feel running warmly down his white and unblemished t-shirt.

jimmy brushing his hand over the spot as they sit together on the sofa.

Like he’s something that might burn her, or something that might break. Or both—like he’s fragile and electrified.

i kind of want to do more with this duality at some point. i think they both feel this about the other. that they could burn them or be burned by them.

He wants her to cradle his cheeks the same way she always does, or stroke her thumbs over his mouth, or curl her fingers around his ears, but she doesn’t. She just holds him in her fingertips. Like water in her hands, he thinks.

more of that wild self-indulgency, but god i couldnt resist linking this moment with the first time they makeout in acb:

"Then she pulls back, breathing heavily, looking down at him. She frames his face with her hands. Gasping for breath, staring up at Kim from between her palms, Jimmy feels like she’s the only thing holding him together. Like he’s water in her hands."

the only thing holding him together.

the ", he thinks." i added in the one-shot makes me feel like jimmy's making the link too, not just me as the writer.

The apartment smells of smoke. Another thing he’s dragged with him over the threshold from the desert: one hundred thousand dollars in cash and the word wife and the smell of dust burning beneath a high sun.

of course, it smells of smoke because kim's been smoking inside, but jimmy doesn't know that

Boxers picked up and then put down in almost the same spot on the bathroom floor.

this moment always gets me. these actors are incredible. there's so much goddamn emotion in one little action.

In his hand now, the ache of a yellow glowstick. The edges of his fingers are made red with it, and his skin and bones and all the gaps between the different parts of himself are marked out with the light. He’s awake, and the yellow stick is fragile in his grasp. Glowing through the cold and the dark. Burning a ghost on his retinas. His suit jacket is thin above him, a loose sheet. The desert is loud with lizards and wind and tires wheeling over dirt roads. The glowstick is golden.

and now finally i get to this glowstick moment. i'm really proud of how i executed this paragraph. it's the writing nerd in me again. i love what the present tense does to it. to me, it makes it feel eternal, ongoing. this is how i felt okay about not setting up the glowstick thing earlier. this paragraph makes me feel like jimmy's been thinking about this the entire time.

all the gaps between the different parts of himself are marked out with the light

also the thought of like... jimmy sitting awake in the desert thinking about the jimmy vs saul of it all.

Burning a ghost on his retinas.

"Did I dream it or did I have $1,600,000 on my desk in cash? When I close my eyes, I can still see it. It's burned into my retinas like I was staring into the sun."

Kim’s face is warm against his spine. Her heartbeat seems to pulse through his skin.

more of my stolen acb lines, this from the final chapter:

"He can feel her breathing, her knees pressed up close behind his, her chest against his back. Her heartbeat seems to pulse through his skin. If he didn’t know better, he’d feel like the Sandias, like a line of protection between her and the world."

When he closes his eyes, he’s walking, he’s still walking.

returning to the first sentence here gave it all a terrifying feeling to me. like -- does jimmy feel like this moment of getting home is the dream? this looping dream?

thank you so much to everyone who read this one-shot, by the way! i was super nervous about tackling canon times, and everyone's messages have been so reassuring. i really appreciate it 💖

#asks #anon #directors commentary #that got SO long

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luxekook · 5 years ago

Text

love bites | ksj

*written for the FWL luv library project*

⇥ pairing: kim seokjin x reader

⇥ genre: non-idol au, co-workers to lovers, smut, fluff

⇥ summary: you’re stuck working the evening shift on valentine’s day at bangtan bistro. as the city’s most expensive and exclusive restaurant, the bistro draws in couples both old and new with partners looking to propose or to impress. your tolerance for PDA and cringey lovebirds has never been lower. throw a flirty chef into the mix and you’re in for a bumpy ride that might just conclude with a happy ending.

⇥ word count: 5.4k

⇥ warnings: 18+, smut, cursing, bad puns from jin, numerous health-code violations (from fraternizing all up in that kitchen), oral (m + f receiving), protected sex (wrap it b4 u tap it, folks), workplace romance, threats of violence from yoongi

⇥ beta'd by the amazing @shadowsremedy (thank you, heath! could not have done this without you, your feedback, and your general support!)

“Will you marry me?”

I screech to a halt, completely astounded at the goddamned audacity of the man kneeling before me. Did he really just ask that? At a time like this?

I shift my weight from one foot to the other as I try not to outwardly show my disgust over the scene unfolding before my very eyes.

“Oh my god, Chad!” The date of this Chad finally launches herself from her seat and into his arms, “Yes!”

The restaurant breaks into applause. My forehead breaks into a sweat.

My left arm feels like it might snap at any moment under the weight of the tray of food that I’m meant to be serving this goddamn theatrical couple. The thought of quitting crosses my mind for the umpteenth time that evening.

A camera flash temporarily stuns me, and I feel a tiny twinge of satisfaction. My looming presence in that commemorative photo will hopefully be a reminder to let servers do their damn job before launching into a whole ordeal.

God, I must have been off my fucking rocker when I agreed to work the Valentine’s Day dinner shift. At least the tip money would be worth it.

Gritting my teeth, I flash my best fake smile and offer words of congratulations to the sniffling couple who finally reclaimed their seats.

“Enjoy your meal,” my mouth says with a smile.

“I wish I could sear you like that filet mignon you ordered, Chad,” my glare says with promise.

Thirty seconds later, I’m in full whisper-rant mode at the corner server station. My friend and fellow server Tabby half-listens as she punches in an order at the kiosk.

“And then this Chad in his fucking khaki suit flails to the ground to pop the question like he didn’t see me walking towards them with all seven entrees they ordered. So then I’m stuck hovering over their table with a giant-ass tray of food while they cry and hug and kiss until, finally, finally, they park it back in their seats so I can serve them.”

I groan, hitting my head against the wall, “What did I do in a past life to deserve this?”

“Kill someone, probably,” a voice pipes up from behind the station’s kitchen window, “Oh wait, you would do that in this life, too.”

Kim Seokjin, head chef of Bangtan Bistro and my partial employer, is leaning over the window’s counter, eyes full of mischief as he watches me.

“Oh, what’s this? Are you volunteering to be my very first victim?” I mirror his position leaning over the window’s counter and give him my best side-eye, “I’ll send you my application for victims on Google Docs.”

“Sounds kinky,” Seokjin grins, “Count me in. My Gmail username is Hugh Chefner. No capitals or spaces.”

“I despise you,” I say biting back a smile.

“You lo-o-ove me!” He sings, heading back into the depths of the hectic kitchen.

And, unfortunately, he’s right. Damn Kim Seokjin and his insane level of gorgeousness, charisma, and dramatics.

Against my better judgment, Seokjin has shimmied his chaotic self right into my well-guarded heart. Despite all of the prickliness my typical demeanor displays, I can’t help but melt under the warm gaze of such a handsome man.

Seokjin is the first person that has ever been able to pique my interest lately and keep it. Yes, it might have something to do with his extreme attractiveness; but, it more-so has everything to do with his genuine kindness and weird sense of humor.

Shit, I’ve gone soft. If we’re arguing Nature vs. Nurture here, this is totally Nurture’s fault.

Bangtan Bistro is co-owned by seven men - each as fine as the next. Being surrounded by good-looking and kind-hearted men day in and day out will definitely fuck with your brain, your body, and eventually even your fucking heart.

Kim Namjoon, a tall, dimpled sweetheart of a man, acts as general manager. Namjoon typically resides in the back office of the restaurant running numbers and going over other business ventures. He used to frequent the front of the restaurant to check on customers, but Jimin has since banned him from that activity after the infamous Spaghetti Incident of 2019.

Park Jimin, as the overseer of staff and servers, commands the restaurant floor with a crinkly-eyed smile and a ferocious temper. Fortunately for his direct subordinates (READ: me), his temper is most likely to be focused on rude customers and his messy business partners. Jimin honestly is the ideal boss because he has our backs and will never hesitate to help anyone out.

Late one Saturday evening, a man refused to leave the restaurant after being cut off from his bar tab. Jimin full-on squared up with him in defense of the poor server who had to break the news to the drunk patron. Luckily, the Bistro’s head of security, Jeon Jungkook, took over before Jimin actually popped off.

Jungkook, as the youngest partner, is shockingly tall and muscular. He definitely provides the intimidation needed for those types of escalating incidents. Despite his tough exterior, Jungkook is a complete softie.

I once caught Jungkook in the kitchen after close attempting to make cookies for a girl he had a crush on. I walked in to see Jungkook standing over a tray of the unidentifiable charred monstrosities and pouting in the most ridiculous way. Needless to say, I helped him bake a new batch with the oven not turned up to 500 degrees so that “they would cook faster”.

Min Yoongi had found the pair of us bickering and had just rolled his eyes and scooped a mouthful of raw cookie dough. As the head bartender, Yoongi is the absolute best at mixing drinks and the absolute worst at customer service. I swear the man gets far too much pleasure from getting people thrown out. He’s also notorious for watering down the drinks of customers he doesn’t like. He’s petty like that. I live for it.

Once, Jung Hoseok tried to take a picture of Yoongi for the restaurant’s website, and Yoongi threatened to shove a sharpened cocktail umbrella through Hoseok’s eye. I had never seen the Bistro’s head of marketing and resident sunshine flee so fast. Hoseok later ended up using an old picture of Yoongi in retaliation; rumor has it Yoongi is still plotting his revenge to this day.

Kim Taehyung often grumbles about how he’s going to be put out of a job since the restaurant naturally provides daily entertainment. As the head of entertainment and events, Taehyung helps to secure live music and special guests. He’s also the most handsome man I have ever seen - with the exception of one Kim Seokjin.

Seokjin, as head chef, is responsible for planning the seasonal menus, overseeing the kitchen staff, and preparing the more challenging dishes. He’s even taken it upon himself to be the resident comedian, which the other six partners vehemently and openly detest. Still, that backlash has not stopped him from naming each evening special with puns. His last Seokjin Special was called “Chicken Pot Bye Felicia”. It had resulted in Yoongi banning Seokjin from the restaurant for a full week. He still hasn’t dared to make another pun, but I can tell it will only be a matter of time.

Basically, Seokjin is an entirely goofy and beautiful mess of a human. Yet, I can’t stop myself from falling deeper and deeper into the trap that is loving someone outside of your league.

When I first arrived at the Bistro for my inaugural shift, I was greeted enthusiastically by Jimin, who I’d met previously in my interview. Jimin had introduced me to each of his partners - each as handsome as the last. Honestly, my eyes and nerves had been exhausted after meeting almost all of them. Then Jimin had ushered me into the kitchen.

“Hey, Jin-hyung!” Jimin had yelled over the cacophony of sizzling pans and murmured conversation. I had watched in awe as the hottest man I’ve ever seen entered my line of vision and stopped before me. Tall and broad-shouldered, he had a face that could inspire priceless works of art with full pink lips, high cheekbones, and devilish dark eyes.

“You summoned me, Jiminie?” The man had laughed in a slightly squeaky manner before he noticed my presence, “Ah, who might this be?”

I had cleared my throat in hopes that my voice wouldn’t crack under the sheer weight of this man’s attractiveness, “Hi, I’m (y/n). I’m starting today as a server.” and thrust my hand out with a shy smile.

He had blinked. Slowly, a smirk eased onto his face as he grabbed my hand. Instead of shaking it, he had brought it to his lips. “A pleasure. I’m Seokjin,” he had murmured, lips brushing against my knuckles. My cheeks had felt like they were on fire as Jimin screeched at Seokjin for harassing me.

“It’s her first day, Jin! Lay off the theatrics,” Jimin had turned to me, “Sorry about him, (y/n). He’s a desperate flirt.”

“Desperate? Me?” Seokjin gasped, “Worldwide Handsome does not do desperate.”

“Did you just refer to yourself as ‘Worldwide Handsome’?” I had gaped at his open arrogance.

Seokjin proudly had puffed up his chest, “Yes. What else could I possibly be called?”

“Well, definitely not Worldwide Humble,” My mouth had said before my brain caught up.

The room had seemed to pause before Jimin erupted in peals of laughter as Seokjin spluttered, “Yah, Jiminie, you can’t let her talk to me like that!”

Still laughing, Jimin had choked out, “(y/n), you officially have a job here until you die.”

Ever since that first encounter, Seokjin and I have established a working relationship based on banter or what Tabby refers to as ‘flirting’. I refuse to believe that ridiculous notion.

Tabby finally finishes entering her order into the kiosk and turns to me, “So, any hot plans for tonight?” Her eyebrows wiggle up and down suggestively.

“Does solo Netflix and chill count as hot plans?” I deadpan as I peer around the server station divider to covertly check on my tables. I lock eyes on Chad and his fiancé, who already seem to be arguing, and I make an executive decision to not go check how their meal is going.

“No!” Tabby’s whisper-yell commands my attention, “That definitely does not count, (y/n). Why didn’t you find someone on Tinder? I even made you that bomb-ass profile.”

I pointedly look everywhere but at her.

“You deleted the app, didn’t you,” she glares at me, arms folded, “I slaved over that profile! There were only so many tasteful cleavage shots of my best friend that I could stomach in one sitting!”

“What the fuck, Tabby! Since when do I have any—”

“Tasteful cleavage shots?” Seokjin’s elated voice practically shouts from the kitchen, “Let me at ‘em.”

His hands launch towards us through the kitchen window and make grabbing motions.

“Seokjin,” I tsk mockingly, “Are you trying to grab my tits again?”

“Again?” Tabby cries, whirling on Seokjin, who looks at us in horror.

“I wasn’t! I swear! I just wanted to see the pictures! I didn’t want to grab your boobs…” He trails off, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like ‘not any more than usual, anyway’.

“Seokjin-hyung! (y/n)!” Jimin blazes into the service station, “I’ve had it up to here with your bickering. You’re both on closing duties tonight - alone.”

“What?” I exclaim as Tabby slinks away. Traitor. “We’re just joking with each other! Right, Seokjin?”

Jimin’s gaze swings from me to Seokjin, who is suddenly suspiciously calm. My eyes narrow. A silent conversation is definitely happening without my participation.

Finally, Seokjin just shrugs with a grin, “Sounds fair to me, Jiminie! (y/n) and I will work hard all night if we have to.”

“Fair?” I choke, “All night?”

Jimin, following Tabby’s lead, scurries away as my attention is diverted by Seokjin’s idiocy. “Scared to be alone with me, (y/n)?” Seokjin’s lips break into a sly smile, “Don’t worry, I don’t bite… much.”

With that parting remark, Seokjin winks at me and disappears back into the kitchen.

“Fuck me,” I breathe out. How would I survive this?

Five hours later, the last patron has been ushered out of the restaurant with the staff right on their heels. I curse as Yoongi waltzes out the door, fanning himself with a crisp fifty-dollar bill and winking obnoxiously. “Have fun!” He cackles, locking the restaurant doors behind him.

“No, please don’t offer to stay and help,” I grumble, sweeping stray pieces of lettuce out from under a table, “I am more than happy to stay here until the ass-crack of dawn with the biggest idiot on the face of the earth.”

“The biggest, huh?” The voice chuckles right in my ear, “How did you know?”

“Goddamnit, Seokjin!” I slap a hand to my heart, “Don’t sneak up on me like that, you oaf!”

Whirling to face him, I stutter to a halt. He’s taken off his heavy chef’s coat and is now left in a tight black t-shirt that clings to his body in a manner that has to be illegal.

I swallow hard, and for a split second, I swear Seokjin’s gaze latches onto my throat.

“Is it hot in here?” I mutter distractedly, tugging at the collar of my stiff white button-down.

“Yes,” Seokjin practically purrs, “It’s scorching.”

Choosing not to acknowledge him, I spin on my heels, grabbing the full dustpan of debris I collected and head towards the back of the restaurant.

Emptying the dustpan in the trash, I walk over to the supply closet to return the broom. The restaurant floor is finished. Now, I just had to see how much of the kitchen Seokjin actually cleaned.

Pushing through the swinging doors of the kitchen, I screech to a halt as I’m faced with a complete and utter miracle.

“What in tarnation?” I gasp, taking in the pristine kitchen full of glistening stainless steel and sparkling countertops. “Kim Seokjin!” I yell, “You damn wizard! How the fuck did you clean everything this fast?”

“You could say I was motivated,” his reply sounds entirely too close. I spin to face him and gape as I notice the bouquet of red roses that he’s holding out to me.

Taking in my speechless appearance, Seokjin smiles smugly and opens his mouth to continue.

I cut him off, “Tell me those aren’t the roses from the fucking table centerpieces... I threw those in the trash, Seokjin!”

His ears turn an alarming shade of magenta, “Yah, just accept the gesture, (y/n)! This is peak romance, you know!”

“They are covered in filth, dude!” I squint, peering closer, “Is that a piece of spaghetti in there?”

Seokjin yeets the makeshift bouquet back into the garbage, “Why can’t you just appreciate my efforts?” He pouts excessively, “Don’t you like me?”

Red alert. Red alert, my mind whirs.

“Sure,” I let out a nervous laugh, “We’re friends. Of course, I like you.”

He steps towards me, “Sure, we’re friends, (y/n), but friends don’t usually want to fuck each other.”

That bitch said what now?

“Did you inhale too much Clorox?” I panic, “Quick, how many fingers am I holding up?” Thrusting three fingers in front of Seokjin’s amused face, I widen my eyes as he suddenly grabs my hand.

“Baby,” he says lowly, sending a delicious shiver down my spine, “If you keep being so adorable, I may just have to keep you.”

Well, shit, okay. “Say less,” I breathe and then immediately slam my mouth shut.

I receive a classic Seokjin grin in return for my idiocy, and my knees shake. Honestly, who the fuck allowed him to be that devastating?

Slowly, his grin slips away, and his eyes ignite with raw desire, “Tell me what you want from me, (y/n).”

My mind short circuits, automatically reverting to my default mode of sass, “Uh, peace and quiet?”

“Really?” Seokjin murmurs, stepping even closer still, “So you don’t want me to kiss you? You don’t want me to turn you over and fuck you until you scream?”

My breathing is ragged. His eyes burn with a hunger I had never seen before, and I’m crumbling.

“Answer me,” Jin demands, desperation seeped in each word, “Please.”

“Seokjin—” I gasp, dumbfounded, “Where the hell is this coming from? We’re coworkers! You’re my boss!”

His eyes flashed darkly as he moved his head closer to mine, “That’s all irrelevant, baby.”

“Irrelevant—!” I stab a finger into his firm chest, “Oh, you little shit, you can’t just say that you want to fuck me and then say that our working relationship is irrelevant! I could get fired. You could get fired!”

“That’s highly unlikely given the fact that everyone else knows my plans to ask you out right now.”

“Hold on a second,” I narrow my eyes, “Are you saying that you purposefully planned for us to stay late tonight to clean the entire goddamn restaurant just so you could ask me out? Are you fucking insane?”

“I prefer the term ‘quirky’,” he quips, “But, yeah, I may have paid everyone $50 to leave us alone for the night.”

“Well, that explains Yoongi… that shady motherfucker,” I internally make note to plot my vengeance. “Why couldn’t you have just slid in my DMs like a normal person, Seokjin?” I groan, “I would have responded to a ‘you up’ with a ‘yes, come over’.”

Seokjin whips out his cell phone. “Does this apply to right now?” he asks, typing furiously.

My phone dings with several Instagram notifications.

hughchefner: u up

hughchefner: wyd

hughchefner: date me?

(y/n): bet

Seokjin’s eyes shoot up to mine after he reads my response, “Really? You agreed to date me by saying ‘bet’ in an Instagram DM?”

“Yup,” I shrug, “No take-backs. Also, to answer your previous questions: Yes, I do want you to kiss me with your insufferable mouth, and, yes, I do want to sit on your dick. Okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“Say less,” Seokjin echoes my earlier statement and captures my mouth with his. I wrap my arms around his neck, kissing him back with equal fervor.

“(Y/n),” he groans right as my tongue swipes teasingly against his lower lip.

His hands slid down my body, pausing only to squeeze my waist gently before settling firmly on my ass. His fingers dig in hard and I let out an embarrassingly loud moan.

“You like that, baby? You like when I’m rough?” Seokjin pulls his lips off mine and murmurs sinfully, “God, I want to devour you.”

I lift my chin up and challenge, “Do it, you won’t.”

His eyes flare, “Oh, babygirl, you were made for me.” Seokjin’s lips return to mine, moving at a slow but ravenous pace.

Still kissing me, he picks me up and places me on one of the kitchen’s stainless steel counters. His hands grab my thighs, tugging them apart to make room for him to stand between them. A harsh groan rises from the depths of his chest as our bodies align.

I hook one leg around his waist and tug him closer still. Pulling my lips away, I lean my head back as I slowly trace his muscles through his shirt. He watches me with his puffy lips parted, his breathing hard. His eyes are wild and I’m loving every second of it.

The room suddenly feels too hot. My hands dart up to shakily begin undoing the buttons of my shirt. Seokjin’s eyes follow my movements with fascination. “Let me,” he purrs and proceeds to rip my shirt from my body. Buttons scatter on the floor with sorrowful little bounces.

“You bitch,” I yank his hair, “That was my good work shirt.”

“I’ll buy you ten more,” Seokjin’s voice is rough and full of desire as he takes in my lacy white bra. Suddenly, his mouth descends to suck at my nipple through the thin lace.

“Damn, you are so fucking sexy,” he pulls his mouth away, “Can I take this off?”

I nod like a bobblehead in 60mph winds, reaching around my back with one hand to undo the clasp and then throwing my bra clear across the kitchen. It lands on top of one of the fridges and I shrug. I’d retrieve it later.

Seokjin tugs off his own shirt, revealing planes of tanned skin. I don’t hesitate to run my hands up and down the definition of his abs and watch in fascination as his muscles constrict under my touch. I run my hands lower, tracing his defined v-line.

No wonder they call it the Adonis belt, I muse, pondering if he’d let me lick it.

Huffing in impatience at my slow exploration, Seokjin returns his mouth to my nipple and sucks hard. My eyes nearly roll into the back of my head. He bites down gently and then blows on my nipple slowly. I moan at the sensation. I watch him through unfocused eyes as his hand slides down the front of my body. He reaches the button of my pants and pauses.

Seokjin pulls his mouth away from my nipple, his lips swollen and pink. “You have to say yes, baby.” His breath hits my ear, making me shiver.

I hold out my hand for a high-five and declare, “We stan a man who asks for clear consent.” Chuckling, Seokjin slaps my offered hand and then links his fingers with mine.

“Also,” I continue, looking into his eyes, “It’s a fuck yes.” I pull our linked fingers close to place a kiss on his knuckles.

“Cute,” he grins, “Now, can I take off your pants?”

“Take off yours first,” I order.

“So eager,” he laughs, making quick work of his black jeans. My mouth instantly waters at the sight of his hard cock straining to be released from the confines of his bright red Versace boxer briefs.

“Why am I not surprised that even your underwear is extra?” I mumble, flicking the button of my pants open.

Laughing, Seokjin takes over, tugging my pants down my legs. He then pushes my matching white lace panties aside and cups my pussy, applying pressure. I roll my hips into his hand.

His fingers trace lightly up and down my pussy, before one dips inside me. “Fuck, you’re so wet for me,” he groans.

“Always,” I breathe out. Suddenly, he pulls his hand away from me. I pout. Seokjin laughs at my expression and then licks his finger.

“Jesus fuck, (y/n), you taste so sweet. Let me eat you out,” he pleads.

I smirk, saying, “I thought you’d never ask,” and then gasp as he kneels before me, grabbing my hips. Seokjin moves to tear my underwear off, and I’m quick to place my foot on his forehead to stop his approach. “I swear to god, Seokjin, if you rip these, I will get Namjoon to permanently ban Seokjin Specials.”

“You’re evil,” he grins, “I love it.” He makes a show of slowly taking my panties off before throwing them carelessly behind him. He then yanks the same leg I had used to thwart his panty-tearing plans and throws it over his shoulder before returning his fingers to my pussy. Seokjin’s thumb circles my clit while two of his fingers thrust into me at a maddening rate.

My fingers grip his hair when I finally feel his tongue licking up the juices that have started to run down my thighs.

After sucking what will probably become a massive hickey onto my left inner thigh, his tongue licks a path straight up my folds until it circles around my clit maddeningly. “Goddamnit, Seokjin, stop teasing,” my voice cracks in desperation, but my plea works. His tongue flicks at my clit lightly before his lips close over it and suck.

“Fuck,” I moan, “I think I like you eating me out more than I like eating your cooking.”

He pulls back to briefly land a light swat on my pussy and I choke on air as painful pleasure shoots through me. “Take that back,” he growls, “My cooking is second only to my handsome face.”

“God, I fucking hate you,” I drawl. The emphasis in my words portrays the exact opposite.

Seokjin sends me a shit-eating grin before his tongue returns to lick at my swollen clit, up and down, and then in a slow circle. His fingers brush open my folds just enough for him to sink his tongue into me. “O-oh,” I throw my head back, one hand moving up to pinch one of my nipples while the other latches back into Seokjin’s hair.

“I’m s-so close, baby,” my words slur as I shamelessly beg, “Don’t stop.”

He immediately pulls away.

“Oh, fuck you,” I seethe. I yank his head back by his hair until his neck is stretched in a long line. His hair is a mess, and I’ve never seen anything hotter.

“I just want to feel you come when I’m inside you, baby,” he smiles, my wetness glistening on his lips.

“Fine,” I shimmy off of the counter onto shaky legs, “Two can play at that game.”

“What?” Seokjin’s brows furrow in confusion.

It’s my turn to drop to my knees. “Oh, shit,” he curses as I tug his boxers down to reveal his hard cock. It’s silky and gorgeous, and I can’t stop staring at it. Seokjin, of course, notices. “You like my cock, babygirl? Take it. It’s yours.”

It already was, I think, as my gaze darts up to meet his.

Without breaking eye contact, I lick his reddened tip, almost moaning at his taste. “Fuck, babygirl,” Seokjin throws his head back. I smile wickedly. I could definitely get addicted to ruining this beautiful boy. “Look at me,” I command, feeling so powerful when he immediately listens.

Slowly, I suck down on his length, hollowing out my cheeks. My eyes stay on his as he groans, and I can tell he’s straining to keep from thrusting into my mouth.

“Please, baby, fuck—!” He moans as I swallow around him and then release him from my mouth with a pop. My hand darts up to grip him tightly, pumping him. Moving slowly, I suck one of his balls into my mouth, rolling my tongue around it gently. Seokjin chokes, “Fuck me.”

“We’ll get there, baby,” I tug my mouth away and grin up at him.

I suck him as far down as I can. His control snaps and he begins to thrust wildly into my mouth, panting.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” his eyes scrunch up as he chants, “I’m gonna come.”

I release him ruthlessly.

“Goddamnit,” he cries, “I knew that was coming, but it still hurts.”

“Well,” I wiggle my eyebrows at him, “If only you had a pretty little pussy ready for you to fuck… Oh, wait.”

Seokjin chuckles, “I see I wasn’t able to fuck some of the sass out of that mouth. We might have to try that again later.”

“Gladly,” I grin back at him, “You have a condom?”

Seokjin picks up his discarded jeans from the floor and digs around in the back pockets. “Aha!” He yells, hoisting up the glimmering gold foil in triumph.

I roll my eyes before snatching the condom from the idiot. Tearing the foil packaging open with my teeth, I grab Seokjin’s length and pump him a few times in preparation.

“Stop being a tease,” he mumbles, thrusting shallowly into my hand.

“Stop being so hot,” I challenge, leaning down to lick his pre-cum dripping from the reddened tip of his cock.

“Impossible,” Seokjin smirks before tugging me back up to face him.

He drops his lips to mine and sucks on my bottom lip. Pulling away slightly, he tugs at it in a stinging bite. Withdrawing his mouth from mine, he spins me around and bends me over the counter.

I feel the head of his cock running teasingly over the folds of my pussy and I gasp, “Please, baby, I need you inside me.”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

He thrusts into me in one sharp movement. We both gasp as he fills me, gliding in and out.

“Harder,” I moan.

“Fuck,” he mutters, “I’m trying to last over here.”

“Why? We have all night,” I pout before an idea pops into my head, and I taunt, “Wait, are you telling me you’re a one and done type of old man?”

“Oh, you’re going to regret that,” Seokjin mutters darkly.

His hard cock fills and stretches me, pleasure emanating within me from every sharp thrust of his hips.

“Your pussy is mine,” he growls, “I’ll fuck you from against the wall after this. I’ll fuck you until you can’t sass me anymore. And I’ll fuck you all night, baby, and every night after that.”

I clench around him as his dirty words wash over me. “Those are all great ideas in theory,” I gasp out, “But I really want to ride you first.”

“Oh, babygirl wants to fuck herself on my cock?” Seokjin slaps my ass before pulling out, “Well, come on.”

I stand upright and turn to see him walking towards the large island in the middle of the room. He hops onto it and lays down, placing one arm behind his head, and the other one slowly strokes his cock.

“You better get that hand off your cock before I decide to never let you into my pussy again,” I say darkly as I move towards him.

His hand flies off his dick at the speed of light, his eyes wide as they focus on me.

When I get close enough, I climb up onto the island and kneel with one leg on each side of his tapered waist. I slowly sink down so that just his tip is inside me and squeeze.

A garbled moan escapes Seokjin, his hands shooting out to grab my waist in an attempt to push me down further.

“Someone’s eager,” I whisper, bending down to press a quick kiss to his lips.

“I’ve been fucking eager since you were hired.” He smacks my ass and then groans as I reflexively sink down another inch.

“Yeah?” I question, sinking down another inch as his eyes squeeze shut, “You should have said something sooner, baby. I could have been riding you hard for months.”

Seokjin pouts, “Well, there’s no time like the present?”

“God, you’re such a dweeb,” I grin before taking him to the hilt. We both let out strangled breaths as I shift slightly, before placing a hand on his neck.

Keeping my hand there, I lift up and begin riding him hard. My body slides up and down onto his cock at a fast pace. Sweat drips down my back. Seokjin grabs my ass, his fingers gripping my skin, and pounds up into my pussy with brutal and possessive force.

“O-oh, fuck.” There’s something about riding Seokjin that just feels so good. My hips swivel and roll against his. The pleasure steadily builds, and I try to distract myself by biting down on Seokjin’s neck.

“I’m gonna come,” he moans, “Are you close?”

I pull away from his neck and sit up, arching my back to give him a deeper angle. He thrusts up into my g-spot and I gasp, “Shit, yes, I’m close. Come with me, baby.”

I clench my walls around him. Seokjin’s eyes are scrunched shut as he continues to pound into me with harsh strokes.

He shifts one hand from my ass to gently circle my aching clit, and I light up. My walls clench and pulse, locking down on Seokjin so tight that he comes, his hot seed filling the condom as he shudders.

I collapse against him and shove my face into his sweaty neck.

I can feel his laugh bubbling up from his chest before I hear it. “What’s so funny?” I ask, lips brushing his skin.

“Namjoon’s going to kill us for the number of health code violations we just committed,” his laughter causes his cock to shift within me, and I bite back a moan.

“Well,” I lift my face up from his neck to look at him, “We have nothing to lose at this point then, huh?”

I slowly lick my lips, and his eyes drop to them. The only noise left in the restaurant is our heavy breathing. “Round two in Namjoon’s office?” he suggests.

“Bet.”

a/n: this was so fun to write :) hope you all enjoyed it! happy valentine’s day!

#fwlproject #luvlibrary #bangtanhq #bangtanarmynet #btsbookclub #btswriterscollective #btswritingcafe #hyunglinenetwork #ksj #ksj x reader #seokjin x reader #jin x reader #bts #bts smut

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