#first assistant director on the even episodes

[spnscripthunt-inactive]

[neuvitopia]

➠ 𓈒 𝄞ׅ ֯ corporate weapon - zayne | 黎深 ・ 🍀 ⌯

synopsis ;; you’re a resident at akso hospital, chasing your corporate medicine dreams and accidentally tempt your superior, dr zayne :p, a little bit of a homage to my corporate baddie desires, help.

cw ;; NSFW, fem reader, kind of an open ending (sorry), lower case intended, girl failure reader(?) (same), panty stealing, still kind of new to this #sorry, ignore any silly mistakes, no protection(wrap it plz), zayne and reader have a bit of history, porn with some plot, office sex, semi public(?) (just incase), fem pet name, mention of aphrodisiacs

. . . wc → 3.4k

you were in the midst of your second year of residency at akso hospital, to say you were excited was an understatement.

you spent your early twenties dedicated to working for your bachelors and through the tears med school brought you.

working through your residency was a reflection of your hard work and brought you closer to your dreams of becoming an operations director. to say you were proud was an understatement.

fortunately for you, you were soon yanked from the miserable memories of your “golden years” as dusty old medical books and endless hours in labs weren’t exactly your fondest memories.

you’re knee deep in work once more, with blood tests and treatment plans from hundreds of patients flooding your tiny desk. the constant stimulation and stream of work made you wonder, for a moment, why you chose this career path.

in the midst of it all, you were positive that being a florist was your true calling.

an exhausted sigh escapes you as the day finally comes to an end. your stomach rumbles, and your bones feel achey, desperate for a good stretch.

running an equally exhausted hand down your face, you pack up the basics and contemplate how the rest of your night will go. the sweet thought of a nice bath and a cup... or five of wine soothe your sleepy mind.

your delusions (and exhausted heart) are soon shattered into tiny pieces when your tired eyes meet the ones of your superior standing as straight as a pencil at the opening of your office door.

you knew exactly what was going to happen next. overtime.

maybe being a psychic was your true calling.

you set your heavy bag down and accept defeat, your butt meeting the hard seat, once more.

"i assume you knew what was coming," zayne was the first to break the silence, his words laced with a edge of amusement.

you shrug and try your best to get comfortable in your chair once more, your eyes scanning the new adjustment treatments zayne places on your desk.

"if you listen hard enough, you can hear the pieces of my heart falling to the floor" you respond quietly, hoping to avoid a migraine from the sheer amount of time you've spent in this hospital today, the lingering smell of antiseptic not helping one bit.

he met your attempt at a joke with nothing but amused silence, his arms crossing themselves over his chest he speaks again.

“just a few more things to get done, and then you can go," he reassures you. the words sending your eyes flying across the sheets of paper, the shattered remnants of your plans for the night slowly begin to reassemble.

you offer him the extra chair in your office and zayne decides to be merciful and assists you with the work, causing your heart to soar with joy. if this continues at the current pace, you might even have enough time to squeeze in an extra episode of that drama you've been binging after work.

as you work through the mountains of paperwork, zayne engages in small conversations with you—unaware that his eyes drift to you in quiet indulgence.

the two of you gradually move away from your mahogany desk, settling in front of each other as lighthearted banter and serious discussion take turns.

but of course, all good things have their downsides and suddenly, your stomach makes an embarrassingly loud noise, reminding both you and zayne of its presence.

after a short, nervous laugh, you quickly confess to him,

“i'm sorry, I didn't eat much today." you’re surprised at the fact that he didn’t scold you for your carelessness, something something, nourishing your body is important.

zayne simply nods and takes a moment to think, leaving a brief moment of awkward silence between you two, your eyes darting from his handsome face to the walls of your office. the low lighting casting shadows around the two of you.

"i believe the cafeteria is still open," he says, presenting the idea that you should grab something to eat.

“and if you're not feeling resentful for making you stay, could you grab something for me as well?" the question leaves you kind of flustered -- how could the man who gave you a chance to kickstart your career think you would hold resentment towards him for making you do your job?

you quickly reassure him that it's no problem, and you make your way down to the cafeteria.

the sounds of your flats bounce off of the sleek walls and floors, marking your every step in the now semi-empty building. you soon make your way into the cold cafeteria, goosebumps emerging on your skin as cool air kisses your flesh.

you take a moment to scan the cafeteria, your eyes fall on the odd remnants of food left behind. you settle for a box of pocky, a couple of servings of sushi and, drinks for you and your superior to share, which you struggle to carry in your arms all at once in.

you practically run to the elevator, eager to return to the comfortable uncomfortable solace of your office. 

upon entering, you practically drop the food and drinks on your desk, the condensation from the drinks transferring to the smooth surface. you let out a small huff as the weight from your arms is finally gone.

"i brought back the best options, I promise," you tell him, making eye contact with him as you do. he in return sends a weak smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes and offers,

"I trust your word."

you nod back to him, returning a smile that doesn't quite reach your eyes either, and push a serving of packaged sushi his way.

one of his eyebrows shoots up as he examines the item before him, your focus now shifted towards the food hitting your tongue as you nibble on some pocky. you're too busy with the food in your mouth that you miss his puzzled expression and gaze now shifted to you.

when his silence goes on too long for comfort, you finally glance up at him, only to freeze at the intense gaze he returns. zayne breaks the silence with a low, serious tone of voice.

"you are aware that this is an aphrodisiac, right?"

his words leave you dumbstruck, your brain struggling to process if it's a joke or not. you manage a small, half hearted laugh, an amused huff falling from your lips as you take a sip of your drink.

"ah well, you know, i'm just setting the mood, doctor zayne” you awkwardly stammer out, embarrassment nipping at your skin.

you’d become to occupied with your abashment that you’d forgotten about the treat in the corner of your lips.

before you can wallow any further in your self consciousness, you feel your office chair move, and you watch—frozen, as zayne’s dress shoe is placed on one of the rolling feet.

he pulls you closer with all the strength in his leg. the sudden movement jerks you forward and as zayne brings you closer with the help of his foot the feeling of the quiet breaths from his nose hit your skin.

your eyes are locked on to his, your voice barely above a whisper as you ask

“what are you doing?" the moment hangs heavy in the air, both of you motionless.

it feels like an eternity has passed before he finally speaks.

"i’m setting the mood," he mocks.

of course your words from before come back to bite you in the ass. he takes small a bite out of the neglected pocky that hangs out of your mouth. you're stunned, wide eyed and… aroused?

the moment hangs in the air, the two of you practically close enough to feel the warmth of each other's skin. your heart pounds in your chest, unsure of how to feel in this moment or what to do next.

"what exactly where you planning?" he questions, his tone playful but with an underlying seriousness that you can't seem to shake. your brain at this point is too fried to even acknowledge him.

"for someone so bent on setting the mood you've sure gone quiet." he teases you some more and you continue to try and find your words again.

you shake your head lightly, too afraid to make any extreme movements in fear of landing yourself in another embarrassing situation.

"i wasn't planning anything," you finally whisper, the words ghosted the skin of his face. the sound of your own heart beating practically deafens you as you reply to him.

the silence drags on, and your eyes remain locked on zayne’s, the seconds ticking by felt like hours. you’d soon notice that he leaned back into the extra seat you had offered to him, his eyes still trained on you.

as he puts space between you two, an ache you weren't even aware was there grew and twisted inside of you. your breathing becomes less labored as you try to stabilize yourself.

"the sushi's gonna go bad," you stammer out in a weak attempt to advocate for the abandoned food, and hopefully shake off the excitement buzzing in your body.

zayne shakes his head, his reply cuts through you like a knife.

"i don't care about the sushi," his words strike a chord in you that you don’t dare name.

your reply is silence and you continue to stare at him. you feel a lump form in your throat. was your skirt always this tight?

you want to say something, anything to break the tension, but the words were stuck in your throat, and you find yourself paralyzed. the only sound you register is your racing pulse, the blood threatening to burst through your skin.

the silence is deafening when zayne stands up to his full height, choosing to approach you properly this time. you decide to follow his lead not knowing exactly where this was heading.

it wouldn’t hurt to find out.

your heart skips a beat as he moves closer, one of his hands resting on your waist.

your blouse was rendered useless, it felt like you both were directly skin to skin. you were never buying this brand ever again.

but god, you swear you could have moaned right then and there.

you knew it would be way too embarrassing, so you instead watch his face, your eyes fixed on his as his hand roams your torso.

“have you changed your mind about making plans with me?" his question is raspy and low, fueling the fire in the pit of your stomach. you choose to nod softly, your mouth far too dry to speak to him properly.

“use your words." he commands just as his hand leaves your body, leaving you warm and achey all over.

“i won't touch you again unless you use your words."

you swallow the knot in your throat, breathing in as you attempt to calm yourself.

"yes. yes, i’ve changed my mind..." you hear a voice trail off, soon registering the fact that it was yours.

zayne doesn't give you any time to think about what you've said and puts his hands on you again, his hands shamelessly removing your short white lab coat, untucking your dress shirt from your skirt. he lets a hand meet your heated skin. he nuzzles his nose into the side of your neck as he kneads the skin of your torso, his fingers teasingly brushing past your bra.

"you drive me mad” he rasps, desperation dropping from every word. “you look so pretty walking around like this every day," he murmurs into your soft flesh. the low resonance of his voice sending a tremor down your spine.

zayne’s hand continues to roam your torso and you feel your entire body react to his touch. the feeling of his skin against your own is beyond electrifying.

his free hand goes to cup at the flesh of your ass, a groan falling from his lips as he feels you up like a starved man.

"i'm going to take care of you," he whispers into your skin again. your hands grasp handfuls of zayne’s expensive lab coat, the fabric soft beneath your fingers. a soft whimper escapes your lips as he continues to touch your body.

"seems like you enjoyed that” zayne states cheekily before peppering kisses at the base of your neck, your non existent resolve snapping at that moment and you melt into his arms once and for all.

zayne mutters your name, and you hum in response. your eyes close as you continue to grip onto his coat to keep you stable, relishing in the warm lipped kisses he places on your skin.

"i’m not all that patient; I'm sorry." he rasps as he pulls his head from the crook of your neck, his eyes meeting yours once again.

the excitement pooling in your underwear doubles. his face held the most lustful look you've ever seen in your almost three decades of living.

you nod at him, and he contentedly accepts your response this time around. his lips finally meet yours, and he groans against you, a long, muffled moan falling from yours. his tongue darts into your mouth as you voice your pleasure.

he quickly guides you back to your desk, pushing away all the paperwork you two abandoned how long ago?

he assists you in sitting on the now empty desk, his hand snaking its way up your skirt, teasing your skin through your oh-so-thin panties. his nimble fingers slither their way down to your covered slit, your arousal soon transferring to the pads of his fingers, a soft hum of approval from zayne is drowned out by your lips.

you pull away slightly and voice your approval as he continues to tease you through your panties.

soon enough though, slight frustration wells in your chest at his airy touches.

"i thought you said you weren't all that patient?" you utter in between the heated collision of your lips.

a soft chuckle bubbles in his chest at your obvious impatience, the sound of his voice causes a soft pout to form on your lips.

"i'm sorry, pretty girl." he breathes.

your reply is immediate. "you can make it up to me." you’re unsure where you got this boldness as the confidence you portray is definitely not your own.

“how about you lift that skirt up for me?" was his response, you quickly oblige and lift the side of your skirt as he continues to push his tongue into your mouth. he graciously assists you and lifts the other side of your skirt for you.

he runs a hand up and down the soft, supple skin of your thigh and impatiently pulls your panties down, breaking the kiss to guide your feet through the holes. the underwear is then quickly pocketed and you watch dumbfounded as he steals your property.

protest was heavy on your tongue, soon to be spat at him, but the swift finger collecting the arousal that pooled at your folds soon frees your mind of his perverted theft.

a string of curses leaves your lips as he uses the slick from your warmth to rub soft circles onto your aching clit, your hand grips at his wrist to avoid sudden removal of the pleasure.

your sporadic whimpers soon turning into full blown moans as he pushes a couple of his deft fingers into you. your heart threatens to burst out of your chest from the way his fingers alone stretch you.

he groans against your lips once more as your cunt practically sucks his fingers in, the dirty sounds you produce making the experience all the more erotic.

"on your back." zayne’s simple words cut through your pleasured sounds and cause your eyes to fly open to meet his lustful gaze once more. he removes his fingers from inside of you and you soon comply. you lean onto your back, the cold surface of your desk cooling the lust induced fire that was the surface of your skin.

using your elbows to help keep yourself propped up, you watch as zayne unzips and drops his expensive dress pants, and listen to him groan with the release of pressure on his bulge.

zayne soon pulls himself out giving you a perfect view of what you're dealing with. your cunt practically drools at the sight of him, your thighs squish together almost instinctively as zayne rubs himself for you.

“zayne…” you sounded pathetic as you quietly lust over the sight of him fucking himself but you don’t care. the wetness of your cunt and the excitement in your body washed away any feeling of shame. you greedily drink in the scene infront of you, hands itching to touch yourself to him.

he groans in response as he continues to touch himself to the sight of you. precum leaks from his red angry red tip, desperate to have a taste of you.

with impatience bubbling, zayne finally spreads your legs and settles his tip at your entrance, rubbing himself against the wetness he was responsible for.

a strangled moan leaves him as he teases the both of you.

“you’re so warm…” he mutters as he tortures your heat. you lock your legs around his hips, egging him to bottom out inside of you already. it seems as though he gets the message and begins to push himself inside of you the stretch has you throwing your head back and your spine arching.

the ache you felt was far from relieved, you needed more. you buck your hips into zayne, the slow pace he set paining you.

“not so fast.” he’d endured months of agony and pure pining, did you really think he’d give you what you wanted that easily?

he uses a slim to finger torment you even further. he uses it to tease your swollen clit, slip it inside your already stuffed full cunt, and he uses it to tickle the inside of your trembling thighs. punishing you, making you feel only a fraction of the agony he felt.

“do you know how long I’ve waited to do this?” he questions, frustration almost tangible, but the hushed sounds of your throbbing cunt being fucked into—rendered you speechless and you were only able to meekly shake your head.

you watched where the two of you met through half lidded eyes, your slack jaw threatening to let saliva escape. a hand under your chin soon forces your eyes away from the provocative show. dark eyes meeting yours.

“then i’ll show you.” his words were punctuated by an uncharacteristically rough thrust that forced a feeble cry out of you.

“akso’s pretty little intern underneath me like this…” the combination of the snap of his hips and the seductive tone of his voice manage to coax even more cute sounds from you.

“zayne..” you pant with need“i need it— fuck, please” you were babbling nonsensically, your vision was blurry with tears threatening to fall from your eyes. the new tempo he set had the volume of your voice rising steadily it has you reaching for something, anything to grip onto.

you catch him by surprise as one of your hands tangles itself his dark hair, a welcome addition to the erotic scene. he groans softly and hastens his thrusts, your grip egging him on further.

your desk shook underneath the two of you as he continues to gain speed but zayne soon slows himself down, much to your disdain, and muffles your sweet hums with a free hand.

“we can’t be too loud” he whispers above you, cock twitching in your heat as he forces himself to halt his movements.

he continues, “people might still be roaming the halls.”

you didn’t like this. at all. “but i was so close” you argue, “i’m sure they won’t hear us. i’ll be quiet” you clench around him in hopes to tempt him.

zayne simply shakes his head and sends you an amused smile, “you can’t seem to keep quiet when I speed up, so, we’ll just have to find a way for you to cum while i go at a more leisure pace.”

you could cry, you really could. the idea of being kept on the verge of an orgasm from him dragging himself slowly against your walls made you wetter than you liked to admit, but unhappy nonetheless.

“i don’t think i can do it” you whisper, arousal prominent in your voice.

zayne uses a hand to rest one of your smooth legs on one of his broad shoulders, taking another look at your soaked heat, before he speaks again, “let’s put that to the test”

❤︎ ♬ 𓂂 © 2025 neuvitopia ⋆𝜗℘݁♬

[empty-movement]

OLD SCHOOL ANIMATION NERDS, I SUMMON THEE TO ASSIST

Hey! Vanna here! So I recently, in a rage at the loss of the end-of-series lot of production materials, bought a cheaper lot I had been curious about, and I kinda struck animation history gold with it! Try as I might to pull the whole context together, I need y'alls help accurately naming and identifying what I have!!! There are MANY MORE of these, all from the same episode, an Utena one, a LOT of Nanami, and a group shot even, all following this similar formula. But let's be honest, Vanna and Yasha wanted that sweet Touga smugness. Analysis and questions below the cut! These aren't ALL the sheets, there are ones for the face shape and sleeve also but to demonstrate. Also, fucking amazingly, I also have the storyboards for this episode, so I can even tell you the shot number is 287 ISNT THAT COOL

So Utena fans. You may or may not know, but episodes 6 and 8 had very chaotic productions, and did end up getting swapped in the end. Per Ikuhara's directory commentary in the Nozomi Blu-ray:

He makes explicit reference here to Akemi Hayashi, credited as the animation director for the episode. I can't recall where I saw it now, but I know the difficulty of drawing Touga on model is mentioned somewhere in all the production stuff I have.

Now. Here's the problem. I DON'T FUCKING KNOW WHAT THEISIWEUGWEYGF what do I callll these. My understanding is the the douga is the final line art, transferred onto the cel, and that is the only thing that you call a douga. A douga is the 1:1 match to its cels in a sequence. With an anime like Utena, it's pretty often going to be included with the cel, if you obtain one. These are douga, the final line art that creates the animation, scans donated by JadeSabre and edited into sequence. The frames are numbered in the top right, and there are no notes or anything drawn on the sheets.

Now. That is NOT what I have above. So none of these materials are douga, they are...genga? Help? (This will get wild with Nanami, where I even have a green sketch that is clearly like, VERY FIRST draft of the shot...)

What I have are the key frames, to my understanding. Meaning these represent a point much earlier in the production process. On first glance, the white sheets are significantly cleaner, but they are also so far off model they're flying along with the Voyager probes in interstellar space. They're very capably drawn, don't get me wrong, but they're clearly done by someone who is not on the Dorito face bandwagon. This is apparently pretty common? You get your initial key frame sketches (genga??) made, and then the animation direction (Hayashi??) grades your work by making messier, but more on model versions of the shots. These are the yellow 'correction' genga?

The douga of this shot are likely with the cels. There are 11 distinct cels of Touga's face (others for the sleeve), guided by the 4 key frame sketches I have here. Looked at individually, I can even see where the filled in frames struggle a bit more to be on model than the key ones, even in the final product.

So clearly, what I have are some pretty early process materials where there was a bit of a back and forth about how to draw the characters. The others I have are similar corrections, but this is the absolute most drastic one. It's like they said 'just do it like kinda shoujo and we'll iron it out later.'

The question I have is...can I safely assume these yellow correction sheets are actually Akemi Hayashi originals? Or would there have been another person in this process doing this correction work instead? Would there be a way to know who drew the original ?genga? That may not be possible to ascertain, but it would be really cool to try, since this episode was a Chaos Production, since I have the actual storyboard for it, since I now have a neat piece of context about what the Chaos might have meant. This shot always stuck out to me in the first arc, because it's true that for a lot of the first arc, Touga and Saionji look....far more like the first drafts here. The strict adherence to the Hasegawa style gets enforced later in the series, but this is an example of the exchange that needed to occur to get folks on board with what was a pretty unique art style.

PS. This is torture, the shape of these means I actually need to make two scans of each one and stitch them together, which is nervewracking when you want them to overlap properly and also you don't want to wreck your toilet paper ass production materials pressing them into the scanner bed. Also several are fucking taped together and lemme tell you, 25 year old 'clear tape' don't stay clear and don't stay sticky.

Basically, any context or knowledge anyone can impart I would appreciate a lot! I know I've got something really cool here, but I am struggling to get much clear information about it, because Google is broken.

[respectthepetty]

Ryan is a Winger

Ryan devaluing himself in The Trainee and not realizing how helpful he is because everything he does is taken for granted is Cherry Magic's Achi all over again.

Because as Ryan says that he is "no use to anyone," he hands his father his glasses that he forgot in the photo room.

He helps move boxes for his sister, and tells her where the files are located that need to be printed.

And he reminds his family to charge the camera battery.

This is a continuation from the first episode, where in the midst of trying to complete his job, he constantly helped his family members by handing them paper and taking the camera downstairs.

At his internship, he remembered exactly what the woman needed copied even though she quickly rambled it at them.

He was the only one who wrote the brief down, even though it was on his arm.

But even more importantly, Ryan answers the phone.

It's significant in that moment because Jane is being overwhelmed with calls.

But it's even more significant because Ryan is the ONLY one who noticed the phone ringing in the first episode.

And he didn't hesitate to call the technician to fix the copier.

Even though Ryan used that adorable voice to convey the message to Jane after he answered the call,

He does this again to relay a message.

This is played up for laughs, but all these moments matter because the company has a problem with communication.

The rest of the interns complain about the small tasks. They argue among each other, and even though Ryan doesn't see the issue with a monk driving a car or a smart watch being in the shot, Ryan is a team player AND he is concerned about the logistics.

While everyone is so consumed with their BIG jobs, Ryan makes sure the business still operates. He gets the copier fixed. He charges the camera battery. He refills the paper trays. He answers the phone. He assists.

And as a soccer fan, I'm going to avoid writing about Ryan Giggs, but like everyone in the show keeps mentioning, he is considered one of the greatest wingers in soccer, and wingers support the other players by protecting the sides of the field so the ball can continue moving forward toward the goal.

Without Ryan protecting everyone's weak spots, they wouldn't reach the goal.

Everyone else is concerned with the BIG picture, but Ryan is making sure that they can even get the ball moving because, as the first episode explained, even though he is working at a production company that normally executes the idea from an agency, this production house has to THINK and EXECUTE, something his peers and even their boss aren't realizing.

Ryan has already proven he is more than capable of assisting, but now he must learn how to direct others, so he can become the assistant director he was meant to be.

Because even wingers can score goals.

[mizgnomer]

Behind the Scenes of The Star Beast - Part Six

Excerpt from Benjamin Cook's Star Beast Set Visit in DWM 597:

“OK, I feel anticipatory,” says director Rachel Talalay, as she readies herself to shoot The Star Beast’s opening moments. She’s wearing the shiniest silver boots you ever did see. Cybermen would kill for these kicks. “We’re in Camden,” she offers in way of an explanation. “I had to make the effort.” “Very glamorous,” says David, but he’s even more impressed by what’s stood on the cobbles in the alleyway outside. Nestled opposite a retro glamour store and a shop that sells corsets to goths, it’s that blue police box. The air around it shimmering with magic. “It’s beautiful,” whispers David. Then a puzzled look. “Is this our TARDIS, or Jodie’s?” “It’s Jodie’s, and we’re keeping it,” clarifies a double-denimed Russell T Davies (everyone’s bringing their sartorial A game tonight), when he joins us on set. “It’s just right, isn’t it?” “It’s perfect,” says David. “Let’s shoot this puppy,” says Scott Bates, the first assistant director (or ‘1st AD’). He’s got a walkie-talkie in one hand and a berry-berry smoothie in the other (“I’m on me holidays,” he jokes). “OK, alright, if we’re all good? Turning over, please. Good luck, everyone. And… action!” Russell takes a seat behind the monitors – under a gazebo – and watches the scene play out, while humming some Murray Gold. “Gorgeous,” he says after every take. “Gorgeous! Who else could walk down an alley like that?” he marvels, as David steps out of the TARDIS and strolls off merrily towards his future. (“It’s a nicely lit alleyway,” says David afterwards. “That helps.”)

Additional parts of this set are in the #whoBtsBeast tag. The full episode list is [ here ]

With a huge THANK YOU to everyone who posted set photos

[thewinter-eden]

Blood Sugar Virus (11)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Genre: Horror, zombies, strangers to lovers, angst, suspense Pairing: Kang Yeosang x female!reader Warnings: based on the Wanteez Zombie episode, ages are based on current Ateez rather than the time at which the actual episode was filmed, zombies galore, fear, language.

Story Summary: You (stage name Sugar) are the co-captain of a horror acting group. You and your guys are the ones the companies hire when they want to stage a zombie, ghost, or any vaguely horrific and dystopian episode. So when you get hired by Ateez to develop a zombie program, it's just another routine that you've done a million times. Everything's going exactly according to script--until suddenly it isn't, and it starts getting a little too real.

🏆 Esteemed Moot: @ramadiiiisme

⭐️ Reader Spotlight: @lunaryoongie

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The first thing you notice is that lights are on all over the school. Every space you can see ahead of you from your limited visibility on the stairs is brightly lit by the school’s daytime lights.

The next thing you notice is loud pounding. Not like bodies bumping into things or footsteps stomping, but like somewhere, twenty people are hammering nails into the wall.

And on top of all of that banging, on top of the mad rush of stampeding shoes, you hear Ateez shouting.

Not all of them—only two voices reach you, yelling for help, pleading at the top of their lungs to be let out.

You glance back at Namjoon, who appears just as puzzled as you are.

By the time you reach the second floor, you see them.

There are dozens of people.

Dozens of people flooding the halls, the lower stairs, flooding in and out of classrooms like they have to keep moving even though there’s nowhere to go.

Among the throng of faces you see your group’s producer. And your director. Multiple of your on-set stylists. Camera techs. Mic techs. Assistants.

You see Ateez staff, too.

Dozens of people, all of whom should have been in the vans out in the parking lot.

And all of them manic, wild, frenzied.

“Holy fuck.” Namjoon breathes beside you, staring in disbelief as the hoard howls and rampages, plowing into each other and trampling the ones who fall, crawling over piles of writhing and clawing bodies. “You didn’t say it was all of them. You didn’t say—”

You didn’t say the school was infested like a giant, terrible ant hill.

“It wasn’t. It wasn’t like this. It was just us.” You can’t believe your eyes, even as the halls are crawling with affected people right in front of you. “I don’t know where they came from. I don’t know how they got in.”

Behind you, Rosé lets out a loud gasp. “Oh my god, it’s Jungkook!”

You turn to search for the man she saw, the man who was supposed to be apprehended with Jennie, but that’s not what you see.

Instead, you see the number of faces that are staring back at you, drawn by the sound of Rosé’s voice.

And then they’re charging. The entire throng of honest to god zombies that are still on the lower stairs, moving towards your small group in a mad rush of shrieking and howling hunger.

You can’t go back up the stairs, you’ll never climb fast enough to get away from them. Instead, you snatch Jimin’s hand and bolt into the closest corridor, right on the heels of the zombies who haven’t noticed you yet.

Namjoon and Rosé are close behind you, quickly over taking you to yank the door to 2-1 open, pushing you and Jimin inside. They slam the door behind you just as half a dozen bodies crash into it.

But the other classroom door is open, and you’ve been overheard.

They’re flooding in blindly, pushing chairs and desks across the floor, filling the back of the classroom like a swarm of insects.

You find yourself being pushed to the ground, shoved against the door, crushed to the floor. Jimin is crowding you into the corner, tugging Rosé down with you. Your paltry group of four huddles on your knees, holding your breaths as the stampede storms through the room.

They can’t hear you, you’re no longer in their undiscerning line of sight, so you can only wait and pray as they stagger around you.

You’re pressed so close to Rosé that you can feel her entire body trembling.

Or maybe it’s your body that’s trembling.

Seconds pass in terrifying slow motion as you wait to be found out, but it never happens. The crowd is turning, hitting the walls and blindly funneling themselves back out of the room, and finally you can breathe again.

“I vote we break a window and jump.” Jimin whispers above your head.

“We’re on the second floor.” Namjoon argues. “We can’t jump.”

“As long as that noise keeps happening, they’re going to keep hunting.” You tell them, uncurling yourself from your cramped position.

“What is that noise?” Rosé whispers.

You don’t know.

None of you know.

It sounds like a construction zone downstairs, and it’s keeping the zombies in a state of frenzied excitement.

“We have to get downstairs.”

“Not while they’re in the stairwell. Not while they’re flooding the halls.” Jimin lifts his head to peer out the window. “God, they’re everywhere. How do we get out of here?”

The noise stops.

Just like that, the incessant pounding falls silent and all you hear are the zombies outside.

“Okay, wait.” You’re pacing, wracking your brain for some kind of strategy. “If everything’s quiet, they’ll calm down. If we wait for them to settle—”

“How do you know?” Namjoon rises to join you.

“Because Hobie was calm until he heard us earlier. And the stampeding didn’t start until the Fever Time kicked on. As far as I’ve seen, it’s enough like our program to be all we have to go on.”

Even as you speak, you see the rampage outside begin to slow, the animalistic movements dying down to a confused wandering.

The crowd thins as some of them get pushed up and down the stairs, some of them wandering into open classrooms.

They’re dispersing as you watch.

Jimin lets out a sigh of relief. “The next Fever Time starts in eight minutes. If we’re quiet, maybe we can make some headway towards the doors.”

You turn to your co-captain. “You have the key for the chain?”

He pats his pocket regretfully. “Yeah.”

You feel your racing pulse begin to calm. You only have a pathetic semblance of a plan, but it’s something. “So we make our way downstairs.”

The hallway is still relatively full, but the zombies are barely shuffling, their blood thirst dormant for the moment. You bend down and untie your shoes, slipping them off and leaving you once again in socked feet. You’ll be quieter without the hard soles of your boots tapping against the wood floors, and you’d rather risk your traction than the noise.

Beside you, your friends do the same.

If you get out of here, you’ll accept your bloodied feet from walking barefoot on the gravel outside as a trophy of your survival.

With silent steps, your group moves to the open door and scoots cautiously over the threshold.

The zombies all have their backs to you, bumbling in the far end of the corridor where they’d landed when the noise stopped.

Ahead of you, the stairwell seems clear.

There’s nothing you’d rather do than find a safe little closet and curl up in a ball to wait for the nightmare to end, but you can’t. Your friends are in this mess.

More than that, your clients are in this mess—if they’re still your clients.

You haven’t heard any of them shouting in minutes.

It feels like a lifetime.

As you approach the stairs down to the first floor, you hear a guttural huffing to your left and stop short.

A zombie, one of Ateez’ staff, you think, shuffles into your path ahead of you. Her clothes are ripped, her shirt hanging off of her shoulders, the skin of her arms rent with bleeding nail scratches. Her head lolls to the side as she stumbles in a state of dormancy, unaware of your presence.

Your friends stop beside you, waiting with bated breath.

The zombie twitches, and it makes your heart slam in your chest, but then she swings to the left and shuffles down the other end of the hall away from you.

Namjoon picks up the lead, knuckles white as he clenched around the towel you gave him in both hands.

The lower stairs are mere feet away when you hear something scrape just behind you. Snapping your head around to see who may have stumbled too close, you almost lose your footing with relief.

Instead of a zombie, you see Seonghwa in the classroom to your right, crouching tensely in an attempt to stable the stack of books he’s nearly knocked off a shelf. Gesturing to Jimin to keep going after the others, you turn into the room.

Seonghwa hasn’t heard you yet, nor has he heard the zombie that’s fumbling around behind him, standing near the chalkboard, twitching.

You approach cautiously, hoping he’ll see you before you reach him, but he doesn’t. You can’t just grab him or touch him, not with the zombie so close, so you take a risk and prop yourself up on your tiptoes, reaching over his shoulder to press your hand to his mouth.

His entire body lurches with fright, jerking against you, so clamp down harder and bring your lips to his ear. “It’s me. Sugar.” You whisper, and he practically falls against you in relief. Dropping your hand from his mouth, you let him turn to face you before pointing to the zombie.

The oldest of your clients presses his lips together and lets you pull him into the hallway, safely away from the member of your crew who has started to make his way towards the back of the room where you were.

When Seonghwa sees your friends creeping along ahead of you, he bends low to whisper in your ear. “They came out of nowhere. You didn’t…” he drifts off, meeting your eyes apprehensively.

“I didn’t let them in.” You breathe back. “I was upstairs with them when the lights came on and the mob started.”

He wraps his hand around your arm and walks with you. He’s also shucked his shoes, and his sleeves are rolled up to his elbows. “I’m sorry. Yunho, he’s…he’s just protective.”

You shake your head, lifting your hand to squeeze his. “I would have done the same. But I swear, I had nothing to do with this.”

He watches you for a moment, eyes tracing your face, bouncing down to your bite and back. “I know,” he says. “I know, I’m sorry.”

His apology is nice, comforting, but unnecessary. You really don’t blame them for not trusting you, not after it was your team who turned on them first. If you had been in their shoes, watching what they had thought was a safe and fun episode turn into a horror movie at the hands of your colleagues, you would have been distrustful of the only actor who was the exception.

You join the others then, finding them grouped at the top of the stairs.

Namjoon glances between you and Seonghwa, examining the man as though there’s some chance that he’s just as berserk as the rest of them, but he quickly gives up his suspicion.

“We got separated up here.” Seonghwa whispers. “I don’t know where the rest of my group is.” he pulls away from you to address your co-captain, casting hesitant glances at Jimin and Rosé. “Do you know what’s going on?”

Namjoon shakes his head tightly. “We’re headed downstairs. I’m getting my people out of here. If you want to do the same, we understand.” With a final glance at you, he starts down the stairs.

Entering the stairwell feels like backing yourself into a corner with no escape, like you’re funneling yourselves directly into a slaughter chute, but it’s your only option.

Seonghwa hesitates beside you, but ultimately decides to follow.

As you go, you check the clock that’s hanging on the wall at the landing. You have two minutes until the next Fever Time. There’s no time to be slowing down.

With no zombies immediately in sight, you reach forward and grip Rosé’s hand, hurrying you both down faster. The others follow your lead, rushing down on silent socked feet until you reach the bottom of the steps.

Once there, you’re forced to slow down once more. There are a few zombies in the adjacent corridor, wandering aimlessly just feet away.

And just beyond them, you spot Mingi and Jongho, hugging the wall as they attempt to slip past a huddle of your crew.

Seonghwa sees them at the same time you do, moving past you to get to them. You drop Rosé’s hand and find yourself following him before you realize you’ve decided to.

Weaving and skirting past the zombies who can’t see you, holding your breath as you pass them with bravery you didn’t know you had, you reach the corner of the hallway and stop just behind Seonghwa.

He lifts his hand, waving to get his brothers’ attention. They catch sight of him immediately, eyes lighting up with recognition.

Seonghwa beckons them closer, shaking as the meandering mob inadvertently moves to fill the space between you and the two stragglers.

A memory of Yeosang, still playing the harmless game, tossing a pen across the room to attract the zombies’ attention, comes back to you. You pat yourself down, but you’re not carrying anything. You have nothing to throw to pull the hoard away enough to clear the way for Jongho and Mingi.

So you lift your hand, signaling to Seonghwa to stay where he is, and you cross the hallway to slip into class 1-1. Once inside, you find the room mercifully empty. The door at the other side near the teacher’s desk is open, and it’s closest to where your clients were trapped.

Dodging desks until you get to the open doorway, you grab a chair in trembling hands and meet the eyes of the men who didn’t trust you mere minutes ago.

Silent communication passes between you in the span of a second.

Jongho nods to you.

You grip the chair back and slide it loudly across the floor, just an inch or two.

Horrible grunting reaches your ears as the clump of zombies hears the sound of wood on wood, and then four of them are lurching through the doorway, straight for you.

For a moment you stand frozen, and you see Mingi and Jongho make a quiet run for it down the hall, out of sight.

You’re alone in a classroom that’s slowly filling with zombies who haven’t seen you yet. They’re unable to distinguish your figure from the rest of the furniture, their heads cocking and twitching to the side as they listen for the next noise to follow, and you’re loathe to give it to them.

Experimentally, out of options, you raise a hand.

One of them pauses at the motion, but he quickly redirects to the sound of the zombie next to him bumping into a desk.

Reassured that limited movement might still keep you safe, you begin to slowly back away, towards the door you entered through. As you go, you catch sight of a book on one of the desks.

Picking it up between two fingers, you clutch it to your chest and continue your slow retreat from the awkward approach of ten, now twelve, now fifteen stalking zombies.

Just as the open doorway comes into your peripheral, your heel bumps the leg of a chair.

The slight sound of it scooting behind you is deafening.

The mob jumps forward, zeroed in on the noise.

You snap your arm up and hurl the book at the opposite wall, heart pounding so hard in your throat you think it’s choking you. The book smacks against the wall and clatters loudly to the floor, and, as one, the hoard doubles back and lunges after it.

Not wasting a single second of precious time, you spin your numb body and practically fly over the threshold, flinging yourself directly into someone’s chest.

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[lifewithdavefarts]

DaveFarts - Episode 32 “A Worthy Opponent” [Episode List] Dave is back at the warehouse and filming another short “fart porn” clip for Greg. As he keeps blasting Tom, his co-worker and fart sniffer, a masked man steps into the set…

Greatly influenced by this suggestion.

Reminder: Tom was introduced in Episode 14.

POV: Dave

Alright, just like I did last time, it’s all good.

Getting paid to fart in someone’s face? Easiest money I’ll ever make in my life.

My friend Greg, the wannabe movie director, wanted me for another fart porn film.

Yes, that’s an actual thing, this is my life now… a small part of it at least.

You know me, I’m a chill dude, though before accepting such task some months ago I wanted to make sure there were some lines that we shouldn’t cross. To be honest, however, the more I worked with Greg, the more I got used to all of this gross kinky stuff.

I mean, that sounds hypocrite, I’m aware: I’m an incredibly skilled straight farter who continuously face-farts his friend and roommate, fully knowing the he has a fart fetish, and even before that I’ve always been a proud farter, and rightfully so.

Also, I spend too much time on the Internet, so I’m well-versed in gross stuff.

With Tim, however, it’s different.

Here there are cameras, people telling me how I need to fart (seriously!), people I barely know but, truth to be told, who gives a shit? It’s just business, a business that revolves about farting, so you could say that my ass shits gold, almost literally.

Plus, I already got a Tim in my fart-victim collection: a Tom always sounded like the next logical step, the next Infinity Sniffer. You can starting calling me Thanus at this point.

So here I am, back at the warehouse, in this fake living room, wearing a pair of shabby grey sweatpants, cautiously sitting on Tom’s face. 

Tom, my co-worker and professional fart sniffer.

He was lying on this couch in the middle of the set, face up, his nose perfectly aligned with my asscheeks already.

He didn’t say a word or move a muscle: this guy is a pro for real. I still don’t know if he actually has a fart kink or not. What I do know is that I did blast him even when we weren’t working once. 

What can I say? My farts are too good to be wasted!

As of now, I sat on him and adjusted my position, spreading my legs wide, to ease the next fart out and, according to the script, “to showoff my manly bulge”. Thanks, I guess?

I lean just a bit and I effortlessly rip the first fart of the session, a natural blast I’ve been brewing for a couple of minutes. The warm gas passed through the fabric of my sweatpants and soon Tom’s face was imbued with my poisonous flatulence.

“Fuck yeah.” I said, as the loud blast kept going. “Don’t choke on that you fag.”

Hey, I didn’t write the script!

I could feel and hear Tom taking deep whiffs of that fart. I wiggled my ass in response, an improv which he seemed to enjoy, both professionally and… kinkly?

This blast lasted around 6 seconds. A good one don’t get me wrong… but you know what I’m truly capable of…

I noticed Greg from behind the camera giving me a thumbs up, mouthing my next line.

“Alright you filthy slave, you better open up.”

Tom obeyed. I leaned once again and spread my legs even wider, my anus aligning with my co-worker’s mouth.

Another home-run, another loud fart, I didn’t even need to push that much. I’m ridiculously good at this, I swear. It feels stupid to brag about farting skills but trust me, as soon as I finish ripping one of my huge farts, my body is already brewing the next one. I got a quick reload.

Tom’s face was shaking and this time, for real, he almost choked on my gas, as I felt him move. And when even Tom, who’s usually stone-cold while working, flinches, I know I did a good job.

I saw Greg talking to his assistant: he seemed angry. In that moment, behind me, the fake door of the fake living room opened without warning. Was this an unscripted moment?

I stopped farting and turned around, kind of forgetting that I was sitting on Tom’s face.

Someone stepped into the set, another man, around my age, tall and skinny. I couldn’t see his face as he was wearing some kind of black ski mask. His clothes were as casual as mine (a red t-shirt and a pair of blue skinny jeans).

He didn’t look friendly, yet the moment he saw me, he kind of froze on the spot for a few moments.

Is Greg making a farter-slasher movie all of the sudden? Not that I’d complain! Sounds camp-y enough to me.

I gave an inquisitive look to my director-friend, who promptly stopped filming.

“C-cut!” he yelled. “Alright, we got our first farts.” he said, as he walked towards me. “N-now, make room for the other farter of this session.” 

I gave him a puzzled look. “Other farter?”

“Duh!” Greg replied, as he pulled me out of the set, impatiently. “You thought you were the only person capable of ripping ass?”

Honestly, kind of?

I mean, I don’t think about farts 24/7, but I do know that I’m pretty good at it. Ask Tim.

“Are you replacing me?” I bluntly asked.

Not gonna have a fight over… farting, that’s for sure. And I’m not even mad, I was just taking those extra bucks for granted.

“Don’t be jealous.” he replied, as he let me sit next to him, next to the director himself, as if I was one of the crew.

I watched as this masked guy stepped on the couch and squatted over Tom’s head, just as the poor guy was getting used to fresh air again. I guess this is his lucky day, assuming that he does have the kink.

“Action!” I almost went deaf when Greg screamed that.

The masked guy was basically another master and he acted accordingly.

“Here you go, fag. Got something for you to taste…” 

The fart that followed was very loud and echoed in the whole warehouse. On one hand, when I’m not the one torturing a poor soul with farts, yeah, it’s pretty gross. On the other, as a man, I gotta tip my imaginary hat to a fellow talented farter. The blast was nowhere as long as mine, but holy shit.

This other “master” was way more dominant than I was, way more natural I’d say.

“If you wanted a master, you could just ask…” I whispered into Greg's ear, sounding way more flirty than I intended to be, which almost made me laugh.

“You can’t be a master like him.” he firmly replied. “You’re too nice.”

Should I be offended? I really don’t know anything anymore at this point.

“Fire in the hole!” the masked master yelled, just as he ripped another loud fart down Tom’s throat.

I admit this guy’s voice sounded quite familiar, despite his best effort at trying to sound much deeper.

“Do we know this guy?” I asked Greg. The question almost startled him.

“Uhm. No idea.”

Ok, liar ahead. Clearly we know this guy then.

I will get to the bottom of this… after I put this masked guy to his place.

POV: Tom

Fuck. 

Dave’s farts were already impressive, but this masked guy’s blasts are really hard to endure, really pushing the limits of my kink. Those farts sound utterly gross, almost wet, and they smell horribly. I like working with Dave because, among other things, his roaring ass is loud but when it comes to stench, I can easily inhale those.

This guy… I have no idea who he is, Greg refused to introduce us for some reason, but I decided to trust him: I think I made a mistake. The rough surface of his skinny jeans is almost scraping my face.

Another fart erupted right into my nostrils, renewing the already terrible stench. It smells like… spoiled milk? I don’t know, it’s nauseating, I feel like I’m drowning in a sewer. I’m always very calm and composed when I’m… working, but I wasn’t ready for this I admit it.

“You’re such a bitch, I knew you couldn’t handle it.” the man said, ripping another loud, short rip.

If this guy doesn’t get up soon, I’m probably gonna choke in my own puke.

“Alright, that’s enough, get the fuck out of here.”

I heard Dave say, walking towards us, and I was relieved.

The masked man got up, my eyes adjusting to the spotlight shining over the set. I took a deep breathe of (relatively) fresh air, but anything was better than that. 

I managed to recognize Dave’s silhouette, towering over me.

“That was cute. Now let me show how a pro does it.”

Great. I’m basically the city you see in the background of kaijū movies while the monsters fight each other. You know the city, right? The city that usually gets completely leveled by the huge creatures?

I guess that’s my role for today.

Let’s get it over with.

As I said, Dave’s farts are huge but I’d take anything over that other guy’s gas.

I quickly took more deep breaths… before letting Dave sit on me again.

POV: Dave

“That was cute. Now let me show how a pro does it.”

I don’t know who this guy is, but if he really wants to do this, a fuckin’ fart challenge, then he’s gonna get blown away.

Well, not him, rather, my good pal right here on the couch.

“Alright…” I whispered to Tom. “Get ready bro. I’m gonna rip some huge ones and act like an asshole for a bit.”

I earned a puzzled look from him. “An asshole?” he paused for a moment. “But… you’re too nice.”

Oh great, now the sub tells me how lovey-dovey I am, perfect!

I stepped on the couch, not caring how my feet was crushing Tom’s chest, and squatted over his face, my fabric-clad anus tickling the tip of his nose. As I said, I’m always brewing a big one, and having a quick cheeseburger before coming here surely helped.

Once again, effortlessly, my ass started roaring, loud and unstoppable. As I kept pushing this one out, I maintained eye-contact with the mysterious masked challenger, who could only watch haplessly as I showed him what real talent looks like.

“Open wide, fag. This is far from over.”

Tom took it like a champ, inhaling deeply for the camera -I don’t even know if we started filming again. 

All I know is that my farting skills are a sight to behold… and to sniff, in Tom and Tim’s case at least.

Ahah… I’ll never understand this gross kink, but I gotta admit, if I had this fetish, and my best bro and roommate was, well, me, I’d probably be as thirsty as Tim is. So yeah, in a disgusting way… I get it.

And just like that, 12 seconds passed. Long, but not as long as my best ones, I can do even better than this… but I play fair so, after brushing my sweaty sweatpants ass on Tom’s face, I stood up and crossed my arms, eyes glued on my rival. 

“Your move, beanpole.” 

It’s ridiculous how seriously I’m taking all of this, but I can get quite competitive.

The masked master laughed and… lied on the floor. He held one leg up… that’s a position I’m quite familiar with. Surprisingly enough, he started sucking air in, right through his jeans. That’s a great talent I gotta say, I thought I was the only one who could fart on command so easily. 

A worthy opponent, at long last!

After a few seconds, the man stood up, proud and tall and, just like I did earlier, treated Tom as if he was part of the couch, and sat on his face. His eyes glued on me, I could tell there was a smug mile making fun of me under that ski mask.

The fart that followed was quite impressive and loud, but still not as massive as the ones I’m able to produce. This guy was good, no doubts about it. I’m pretty sure Tim would fall in love with him (the thought of that made me visibly laugh, putting a dent in the menacing aura I was trying to convey).

You know what, fuck this. It’s not worth it. 

But since I’m already here, and I’m able to rip huge farts both naturally and on command, I guess I could simply… well… join the fun, you might say.

I’m sure Tom will understand.

POV: Tom

The masked guy’s fart, despite being on command, was as foul as the one before. Dave’s blasts weren’t a cakewalk by any means, and they’re still much louder, deeper and stronger overall, but whatever this guy ate was doing numbers in his stomach. He was wearing a pair of skinny jeans but he could very well be naked for how much my nostrils were burning.��

The stench of Dave’s previous farts mixed with the rotten eggs-flavored gas this guy’s anus was blowing in my face and, truly, I started to think that this was a big test that Greg set up just for me, for some insane reason. If I survive this, I’m gonna kick his ass.

After around 9 seconds, the flatulence’s loudness faded out, essentially turning into a classic silent-but-deadly.

The man raised his ass just a bit, to make sure I could breath a bit of fresh air before the next one.

I turned my head and I could see Dave approaching the couch again.

Okay, it’s the other kaijū’s turn I assume.

Funnily enough, this is actually good ne-

...

Wait.

Why isn’t the other guy stepping aside?

“If it’s a show you want, Greg, a show you’ll get.” Dave boasted.

The farter above me finally moved, but just a bit, his ass still covering half of my face, hovering over my mouth.

The reason he moved, however, wasn’t altruistic by any means: instead, he had to make room for Dave’s ass, which ended up being planted directly onto my eyes instead.

Just... just fuckin’ do it you gassy bastards.

“Hey fag, it’s your lucky day.” the masked guy said.

“Good thing you have two nostrils: one of each anus.” Dave said.

Whether they were improvising or not wasn’t important, because their asses certainly weren’t.

Dave’s ass started speaking first, erupting his deep warm gas into my eyes. Mere seconds later, the other ass started talking as well, its fart being more high pitched. The sounds mixed together like a symphony and after a few moments I couldn’t tell which anus was being louder, ‘cause they both were. 

I became part of the couch as those two asses kept crushing me, farting loudly. My face couldn’t endure that barrage of farts any longer, as the farters kept cycling between either loud series of farts, or single long ones. The stench... I felt like they were taking a shit on me, I could taste that thick gas and even guess what they ate for lunch.

It was getting hot, too hot, and I started breathing more heavily, which only meant I got to ingest more of that poisonous gas. 

And yet, my massive boner betrayed my disgust.

While my eardrums were getting crushed by those farts, I could still manage to recognize Dave’s fart being the loudest: the man found a worthy opponent, sure, but he still owns the crown, no doubts about it.

“And for the big finale…” I heard the King say.

Dave lowered his sweatpants, exposing his sweaty bare ass (the masked farter kept his jeans on instead), and ripped a short, yet very loud toot, drops of sweat being blown onto my face and teary eyes (for the smell).

The two remained there for a few seconds, finally in silence from both ends, letting me inhale those last particles of gas, even though I’m pretty sure my skin merged with their farts on sub-atomic level, then they finally got up and shared a high-five.

Much to my surprise, the two men then turned back to me and helped me sit down, and they both high-fived me as well.

I guess a fart master is nothing without someone willing to sniff it all.

I appreciate the respect.

The mutual respect.

POV: Dave

After taking a much-needed shower and putting my civilian clothes back on (my usual dark brown hoodie and a pair of loose jeans), I cleared things up with Greg. 

He admitted he messed up things up with the schedule, and that indeed there was another “master” audition today, but he really enjoyed our improv and filmed everything, and thus the editors are pretty satisfied with what we managed to film today.

He also told me that, indeed, the mysterious farter is “a common friend” who didn’t want to be recognized.

No hard feelings with Tom either, obviously.

Now, time to tie up one last loose end.

I went outside, on the back of the warehouse, where I knew I could find my masked rival. He was checking his phone sitting on a shabby couch, an old prop that the crew moved here after they bought a new one for the set.

Basically, glorified comfy garbage.

“Hey, fire-in-the-hole-guy! I knew I’d find you here… that’s there they put the trash after all.” I said, with a smug smile.

The man shook his head and laughed. “Greg told you?” he asked.

I walked towards the couch and sat next to him, wrapping my right arm around his shoulder.

“You thought I woudn’t recognize your beautiful eyes, Adam?” I joked, acting all flirty (and hopefully annoying).

He  punched my shoulder and took his mask off.

Indeed, it was Adam all along.

He laughed a bit more.

“I didn’t know you were working with Greg.” he said. “Finally, you can make money from the one thing you're good at!"

“Very good at.” I corrected him.

I was going to fart to prove my point, but Adam seemed worried about something.

“I kind of needed those extra bucks you know...”

“Why is everything gravitating towards farts lately…” I thought out loud.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Nothing, forget about it.” I quickly said. “Extra bucks you said?”

“Yeah, as gross as it sounds, I thought I could make some quick money out of… whatever Greg’s doing here.”

“Hey, not judging bro!” I reassured him. “I mean, I’ve been doing this for a couple of months.”

“Does Dana know?” he asked.

“Nah, I didn’t tell anyone. Not even Tim, he’d probably be jeal-“ 

I bit my tongue just in time, even though I didn’t really think he’d get jealous. I was just trying to make a joke I swear!

“Jealous?” my friend inquired. “Jealous of what?”

“…Uhh… jealous of my success, obviously!”

Adam didn’t seem too interested in the conversation anyway, luckily enough, so he didn’t find anything suspicious about my not-so-harmless joke about my roommate.

“That’s envy, not jealousy, you idiot.” he observed.

Never mind.

A few dozens of seconds of silence followed. Adam wasn’t exactly a talkative guy, and he does have a job and all, but if he needs extra bucks, maybe I could help.

“I’m sure we can arrange something with Greg.” I stated.

“Mh?” 

“Yeah, you can fart on Tom on Tuesdays, while I can do it on Wednesdays.”

We stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting into laughter.

“I can’t believe we’re talking about this.” Adam admitted.

“Yeah.” I patted his shoulder. “From great farts, come great responsibility.”

We remained there, on that smelly (not because of us) couch, for a few more minutes, as if all that fart-talk was the most mundane thing in the world.

“Doing something tonight?” Adam asked.

“Dana and Tim are out of town, so probably nothing. You?”

“There’s a good pub a few blocks from here. Care for a beer?”

“Always.” I simply said, as we both stood up, and started marching towards our new destination.

“Easy bro.” Adam said. “I’m not gonna drag your drunk ass back home.”

“I can handle way more beer than you, pal!” I said.

“Yeah, in your dreams maybe.” he replied.

“Alright. Ready to lose against me for the second time today?” I threatened him.

“Lose?” he scoffed. “It was literally just far-“ 

I cut him off by ripping a huge, natural blast, staring at him with a smug grin. The fart easily echoed in the alley and I’m pretty sure they heard it downtown. It was short and sweet, you might say.

4 loud, proud seconds.

“I’m sorry.” I said. “You were saying?”

Adam laughed in response. “Fine, you won whatever that was back in the warehouse.” he admitted. “But I’m still not gonna drag your sorry drunk ass back home later.”

You know me, I’m a chill guy, but if you tease me, I can get very competitive.

I again wrapped my arm around his shoulder: “If it’s a show you want, Adam, a show you’ll get.”

Nah… maybe I’m too nice.

The End

[letmereadinpeace4]

Love Sea episode 1 Commentary

So yesterday the first episode of Love Sea was released. After watching it, I decided to put down my thoughts and impressions. Hopefully I can keep it up until the end of the drama.

First, a few things:

I have bought and read the Love Sea novel. I will try my best not to spoil anything, but this knowledge informs my perception and my commentary. I have also read Love Sand, which chronologically happens before Love Sea, and I will spoil minor plot points if I think they can help understand elements in the drama.

There will be no Mame hate in this post, or in any other posts.

With that out of the way, let’s start:

The drama opens by separately introducing the main characters. Masahamut is diving, checking and noting damages, while Tongrak is on his way to the island, wearing the most impractical travel outfit he could have possibly worn. We learn that his stay on the island was booked by Connor Warrington, a close friend of his.

The character introduction is pretty well done. Masahamut is set up as a character who deeply cares about the well-being of the island he lives on. He is shown interacting with his friend Palm (they are not biologically related, they are senior/junior) and we get an impression of someone who communicates well with others and has a joking, playful side to him. Meanwhile, Tongrak is shown alone, even as he talks with Connor, we do not hear his replies, so we get the sense of someone cut off from other people. His outfit is also very fancy, showing his financial comfort, but also wildly impractical, showing that he is not very down to earth.

To explain who the characters are in the Mame universe, Masahamut is the best friend of Khom, who is Type’s childhood friend (from Tharntype). Khom is dating Connor, who is close friend with Tongrak. Tongrak is also a novelist, and his novels have been adapted by the movie director Aphros, who is Prapai’s uncle and the director who inspired Sky after his breakdown (not going to lie, with all those connections, I am low-key surprised that the closest we ever got to incest was Tum and Tar’s relationship).

At the docks, Tongrak is not exactly impressed with the place he will be staying at. We have it confirmed that Connor booked his stay because Tongrak’s next novel will be about the ocean (Connor my beloved I love you so much you asshole). Masahamut meets Tongrak at the docks and decide to piss him off by speaking in a Southern accent and not driving an appropriate vehicle to transport his suitcases. After Tongrak blows a fuse, Masahamut cuts him off and borrows a cargo tricycle.

This develops the characters a bit further. Tongrak shows a rather childish side and a lack of control over his emotions, while Masahamut’s confidence and capacity to adapt is set up. We also see more of his playful, “troll” side. I also like how his popularity on the island is subtly shown by having him borrow a bike from someone with no issue whatsoever. People trust him!

Tongrak immediately calls Connor to complain and demands to go home, further showing his childish, needy side. We get to hear Connor, who is mostly amused. Meanwhile, Masahamut unloads Tongrak’s suitcases with an amused expression and grabs the phone to chat up with Connor.

For more explanation about Connor and Masahamut’s relationship, they met when Connor stayed at the island for the holiday. He met Khom, who was working as Masahamut’s assistant and as Connor’s guide, and Masahamut helped Connor in his pursuit of Khom (in exchange for monetary compensation. Truly a win/win situation for everyone involved).

I love how entertained Masahamut is with Tongrak’s prissiness. He doesn’t care or take it personally, just rolls with it and takes advantage of it to troll him.

Masahamut escorts Tongrak to his room, who immediately pushes him out and ignore his offer to be at his disposal if he needs anything.

Sidenote, but I love Tongrak raging against the suitcase and later at the blankets. It is so cute, childish and relatable at the same time. I have definitely “scolded” a zipper because it wouldn’t open or the printer because it had issues.

We cut to Mook, Tongrak’s assistant/secretary, who is looking very busy and overworked. She is so far the most relatable character in the drama for me, down with the messy hair. She is called by Vi, Tongrak’s best friend, who promises to keep her busy. I love her, she is such a troll! Also a cameo appearance by Ja, which is definitely great to see! Hope he’s been well!

We cut back to Tongrak as he goes to a bar, wearing a really awesome sheer shirt and enjoying the attention he gets. Palm is his waiter, and immediately start hyping up Masahamut. We get confirmation that Masahamut is really popular both with the residents and with the tourists. We also learn that he is bi, which is great! We always love to see bi representation.

Tongrak seems pissed both at the fact that Masahamut is popular and by the fact that people would assume he is attracted to him, which he is definitely not! One hundred percent not! Not a trace of attraction here! Who cares if Masahamut is handsome anyway? Not him that’s who! And his sulking has nothing to do with it.

Next morning, we get to see how much Masahamut is involved in his community. While it may seem a bit heavy-handed, I do like that this aspect of Masahamut is so strongly enforced. It gives him a lot more depth and shows his maturity.

This mature impression is immediately countered when we see that he has a double of Tongrak’s keys and didn’t tell him. He immediately takes on the caretaker role and as he cleans up the room, we learn that Connor paid Masahamut to serve as Tongrak’s caretaker/nanny/guide/sitter during his time on the island. Is it like some kind of gift reciprocity? Masahamut helped Connor date his best friend so Connor helps Masahamut get with his own friend? I also really like the comparison of Tongrak to a cat. It suits him so well. We also have it mentioned again that Tongrak is very lonely (initially, Connor filled that loneliness void, but once he started dating Khom, he could no longer give as much attention to Rak as he used to, hence why he is trying to find a solution.)

Connor wakes Tongrak up. Not going to lie I would punch him! Do not bother me before I had my tea and breakfast! As he tries to punch him Tongrak falls on the ground, giving Masahamut a perfect view of his body.

The “seduction” scene is really well-done. You can see the switch as Tongrak finds himself in a more familiar territory and tries to seduce Masahamut by removing his robe/shirt. He really seems to enjoy having power over Masahamut, especially since the latter has annoyed him so much. However while Masahamut is admirative, he does not lose his head and starts commenting on Tongrak’s lack of body hair. You can really see the switch back as Tongrak loses his confidence. Peat acted really well in that scene!

I love how offended Tongrak is by Masahamut’s lack of sexual interest. Poor kitty got his pride hurt! Speaking of which I also love how Masahamut speaks of Tongrak like a kitty he is taking care of.

Tongrak tries to provoke Masahamut by constantly asking for a different breakfast and being picky, to no success. I always enjoy seeing Tongrak’s bratty side, especially when his brattiness doesn’t work.

Masahamut is such a troll! I love him already!

Meanwhile, Tongrak has found out a way to get Masahamut to do what he wants (to some extent). He pays him to get him to speak in a Central dialect. It really sets well the economic difference between them. Tongrak has money to burn and Masahamut will do anything for money. I love how much he doesn’t care about being bought and getting money from his clients. Masahamut is there singing “Material Girl” and doesn’t care about what anyone thinks!

I love it any time Tongrak’s more vain side is shown. The way he jumps when Masahamut mentions wrinkles. Also he is supposed to be in his late twenties/early thirties.

Masahamut offers his sexual services and can obviously see that Tongrak is more interested than he lets on. “Even if you were the last man on Earth, I still wouldn’t want you”. Oh hey! I heard a cool girl named Elizabeth Bennet say the exact same thing. I wonder what happened to her….

We cut back to Mook rehearsing her speech to Vi to not have to work as her assistant. By the way I love her shirt! As she dares Vi to call her, she answers her prayers and does so! We get to see that Mook has an itemized list of how to deal with Vi! That is some thoroughness! Anyway Vi claims a light bulb in her room is busted and that Mook needs to come and change it. I see Vi subscribes to the “pulling her hair” strategy in courtship. Meanwhile Mook is getting more and more erratic and her faces are amazing! She looks offended, outraged and confused at the same time. Also I love how messy her hair is.

“I’m a frail lead actress who can’t do anything on her own” as she sits on the ladder she used to bust her own light bub to get her crush to come to her place! I love Vi she’s such a troll! Also does she have Mook’s picture? I can’t really see well.

In his room, Tongrak is having trouble writing the sex scene and we learn he needs to have sex or to hug someone to properly write sex scenes. It really is interesting that Tongrak needs an intense physical situation to describe a romantic sex scene, because it suggests that he cannot conceptualize the intensity of the emotions involved unless he experiences a “similar”, physical sensation. It really goes with him being lonely but also suggests he never truly offered his heart to anyone.

The next day, Tongrak is working on his novel, looking extremely cute with his round glasses, while Masahamut is waiting. He soon gets bored and starts reading what Tongrak is writing. I wonder if the sex scene he reads out is a random scene that was written especially for this or if it was taken from another of Mame’s novels. I cannot place it.

Anyway Masahamut is bored of it and takes Tongrak on a boat to show him around. I love how Masahamut gently scolds Tongrak and tells him to sit properly so that he doesn’t fall, causing Tongrak to sulk. It sets up their future dynamic. Also Masahamut don’t scold the kitty! He’s a city kitty and has never been on the sea before.

Tongrak is called by Mook and doesn’t hear her well. Yeah in the middle of the sea it is a lost cause. Masahamut decides to take a dive while Tongrak is on the phone, causing him to panic. I actually agree with Tongrak here! For safety reasons Masahamut should have warned him.

Tongrak freaks out and starts crying. Masahamut tries to reassure him by poiting out that he’s fine but is unsuccessful. I love how he takes the freak out seriously and only reaches to touch him after Tongrak has been unresponsive. Tongrak scolds him and Masahamut reaches out to hug him and apologize. I love the light little kiss on the forehead and how Tongrak slowly accepts Masahamut’s hug.

Afterwards, Tongrak is embarrassed about his crying episode (don’t worry baby it happens to the best of us) and plays the shy Victorian maiden when Masahamut moves to remove his shirt as if he didn’t wear a sheer shirt in public two days before. Masahamut offers to show him the good stuff, and just like Tongrak I was not thinking of clams when he said that! Again, I love how confident Masahamut is! He is aware of his charm and sees well the effect he has on Tongrak. The episode ends with them still on the roof of the boat.

Overall I really enjoyed this episode. It was a good set up for the characters and I love the atmosphere they created. I look forward to seeing more of it.

[maybe-boys-do-love]

The Trainee, Episode 10: Direction

Take a break from the discourse around the couples to appreciate the references to directing in this episode! From the literal meanings to directions in life.

We open on Ryan's dad directing Jane's photoshoot. lol. You fix those clothes, Ryan ;) And Jane, give us a smile like your falling head over heels for someone.

2. Then we get Pah (making friends with every single person at the office, as usual) directing the front desk assistant (I haven't caught her name and she's not on the mydramalist or imdb cast and crew list) to a spot for lunch. Then we have the accounting manager come in and show us how her and Pah's relationship has grown. The scene reminds us that Pah, since early on in the show, has demonstrated incredible relationship building skills--a necessity for any director. And these relationships come to a beautiful fruition in this episode.

3. Tae, on the other hand, emerges as a directionless ghost, jump-scare appearance and all! Heartbroken and provided with downtime by his department for the first time during his internship, he has no idea what to do with himself.

4. Pi and Ryan are seemingly talking about the controversial Todd Haynes film, Joker, from 2019. If you're either knowledgeable about the Batman franchises or interested like me in trying to figure out why the writers chose this film to include as a conversation point, you'll realize that Harvey Dent was not in Joker. He was, however, in The Dark Knight in 2008, directed by Christopher Nolan. This mix-up between the movies seems intentional when we look at the theories of directing and humanity the show is exploring, which I'll expand on in number 5! In Joker, we get a depiction of a single misunderstood victim genius who takes out his suffering and any failures of his art on others and inspires other people who feel hurt and misunderstood to do the same. In Dark Knight, we have the day saved thanks to a collective group of people's refusal to harm others despite threats that others will be forced to harm them, and, as far as Harvey Dent, his reputation is preserved despite his failings because of the hope it can bring others. The comparison sets up a comparison between the individual heroes and villains versus the collective, which is a really important comparison to ideas the show explores about directors (and is just really important in general theories of direction like conversations about auteur theory, etc.). Note that Jane says in this ep that he doesn't like hero movies...

5. We then see Judy directing Ba Mhee on how to correct her typo on a document. She's checking over a draft before it goes out, like a good director ought to, but Judy's direction of Ba Mhee, of course, gets taken up as a motif and major sticking point for their dynamic in this episode as it encroaches into personal time rather than just work. We have witnessed that outside of work, Ba Mhee is actually quite capable and eager to play the directing role.

I want to point to the specific typo mistake that read "God Pick" instead of the company's name of "Good Pick," though, because it seems to refer to one view of a director's role. Alfred Hitchcock explained, "...in fiction film the director is god; he must create life. And in the process of that creation, there are lots of feelings, forms of expression, and viewpoints that have to be juxtaposed. We should have total freedom to do as we like." So this moment of direction gives us two references, for the price of one!

Even more, it presents us with the theory of auteur Directors, that the show has been actively engaging with through the whole series. Does the director have a god-like power to pick and choose what they want their work to be without any input from others? Do individuals, as directors of our lives, get to pick and choose what we create out of them without others' input? To both answers, the show has emphatically replied, no! The studio is not called God Pick, it's 'Good Pick.' The director, just like each of us, is working on communicating with a whole massive team of people to bring a certain vision of theirs' to life within quite constrained limits. From budgets to time, from client desires to our own insecurities, we do our best to be good knowing that mistakes will be made and we can pick up and keep on going.

6. Baimon, the director of the studio, instructs Pie on some of the grunt work of directing. He's been presented as so flighty in the series, so it was nice to see him getting down to business in this fashion. That business, however, was printed upon the backs of some big emotions, which I think, in addition to being a funny little gag about Jane and Ryan's hidden relationship, is a beautiful metaphor about the combination of emotional and logistic work that directors, especially, are tasked with performing. A vulnerability lies under each shot and camera angle.

7. Idk if this was intentional, but the choice to show sticky-notes as the art department's current medium for this scene reminded me of directors story-boarding with sticky notes. It's also the moment Tae is encouraged to make an attempt at directing himself and providing his direction to his relationship with BaMhee in a way that's considerate of her desires.

8. Baimon directs Jane and Ryan in another intimate scene lol. He's staging them, referencing the storyboard, checking the camera, doing all the director jobs! And, of course, instead of a perfect god, he makes a mistake with the very basics of left and right that his intern corrects for him, and this mistake is not used by the show to signal to us as the audience that he's incompetent. It's to show that the people with 'big' dreams, visions, careers, or awards are not more special than those who choose to do the small tasks in life. Directors are the first job Ryan lists to Jane when talking about adults with special talents that he feels like he's supposed to aspire towards. Jane asks Ryan "Why must people want to become something big?"

There's also a development in Ryan and Jane's performance here. They're playing and improvising in the scene. It's a nice development for them as character and a sweet commentary on directors allowing actors to perform with some flexibility. Based on what I've read about Gun and Off's development as actors and a pair, their characters' development in their different stand-in moments almost seems like a commentary on Gun and Off's growth as a performing pairing, but that's just a fun stretch. Really, I'd say it's more representative of the growing comfort of actors in film work.

9. How could I not discuss one of my favorite sequences in the show (right up there with BaMhee's chase scene)?! Pah has been amassing a crew of comrades at the studio throughout the series, and I knew it was building towards something. I stated during the first shoot when he was a part of Unit B that I could see his arc leading him to becoming a director because he was just so good at befriending and organizing people. And here's where he becomes the director! Not through his personal auteur vision, but through his communication with others!

I had been imagining this plot development in some fashion for a while. Getting it would've satisfied me. Great comedy for me, however, is about seeing a well-constructed set-up pay off for a better value than you could've expected. The Alfred Hitchcock quote above comes from a portion of an interview about plausibility in fiction and his films. He ends the quote by saying, "A critic who talks to me about plausibility is a dull fellow." The moment Pah slid off his sling, The Trainee leapt out of the realm of plausibility it had meticulously built to give us a stratospheric pay-off to the joke it had been building for 9 episodes. And it was a joke grounded in the deepest themes of the show, praising every creator and assistant working in the background of this show and all the shows we love. It made my heart so full. It presented a democratic vision of a director's role (in a country where people continue to need to fight for their democratic values). And, it did it all while making me laugh.

10. Despite all the people running this scene and Judy giving Ba Mhee so much direction in the workplace, it's Ba Mhee who finally gets to realize her direction in life here. Notably, she's let go of the big overly romantic dreams and visions. She's come to appreciate and understand the importance of the seemingly mundane aspects of her relationships, the day-to-day jobs of directing one's life, and she's directing Tae to commit to this direction, too. Directing involves paying attention to the small things, the communication, and the people who help make them meaningful.

There's a beautiful transition between Judy's conversation with BaMhee and Tae's where they fade into one another exactly, letting us know in some ways that Judy and BaMhee could've had a conversation and started growing and finding a direction together, too. The problem as BaMhee points out is not finding an exact right fit. She just still has feelings for Tae, which would make developing a relationship with Judy more challenging. It was mature and honest, and that precious little fade let us know the show saw the possibilities for BaMhee to love them both. Has a film cutting choice ever been so bisexually coded???

10. It's a cute little reversal that our final scene is one of the first steps in directing: the concept stage. We also get Jane's appreciation, not only for Ryan's ideas here, but for all the things Ryan does at his family's business that align with the same kind of work happening in a production house. It sets the two of them on equal footing, disrupting this fantasy of the film industry and the class systems that could divide them. And Ryan's other insecurity about feeling too immature and un-adult to compare to the people at the office, which is a another division that might separate Jane and Ryan (HOW OLD IS JANE!?!?!?!) also got a dressing down ;) during this episode. We're getting ever closer to Ryan feeling ready to direct his own life!!!

[dropthedemiurge]

Aaah, this was one of the best episode of The Trainee (and certainly the most heartwarming episodes out of all Episode 11 in BLs xD)

🥺🥺

List of the most adorable details:

Pah still bejng the heart of all interns and encouraging communication and teamwork

Bamhee thinking and planning future for herself (and I bet she and Judy will be amazing best friends at least)

Tae making sure he shows affection for Bamhee enough and doesn't lose himself only in work, we cheered

Pie's CUTEST reaction to having her idea be chosen (and the fact that all the small intern tasks they did actually were important and paid off) her squeals and attempts to contain joy aaah

Even Ryan loudly claiming what he wants + changing other people in smallest ways (such as teaching them how to treat paper)

50% of this show is a promotion of Recycling Paper lol

Insecure Jane backstory, he looked hot in every scene but the vulnerability made him seem so different from start episodes aaah love it

Jane losing the sparkle and his ambitions, forced to master staying in the shadow until a random kid that doesn't know anything showed up and cheered him up to be confident in himself and helped break out of stagnation

Ryan encouraging Jane! Saying not being chosen doesn't mean you don't deserve your spotlight at all! This little sunshine ball of a kitten outpouring love in "scariest and coldest person on the team" no wonder Jane got overwhelmed and kissed him right there and then, I would too

Btw who on earth looks SO GOOD in denim shirt and denim pants? Off reminding me that he was in my original lineup of Thai BL actors I feel in love with many years ago because of his visuals

He's gonna fight for Jane's reputation as he has been doing from the very beginning but damn I want to see Jane tearing Nine apart for using the wrong idea

Also when he stormed out of the room with very annoying pressuring ex and crazy harrassing client without enduring and playing along like he's been doing in shadows, it was Jane's first step to stand up for himself and direct his own life

And Ryan was the one who gave him the needed boost (you could say, he did a great job assisting him heh)

I love love love credit small knowledge scenes, I wish more shows done that, that's cute, I love learning new things

And I love editing and lighting and fashion department of this series, why is it so perfect I could stare at every shot for hours and it gave me insane amount of warmth. Not enough people watch this show tbh, GMM directors need to all watch it and learn about good production tbh

[guster-animations]

Kamen Rider Gavv Episode 31 Production Blog

kazuya kamihoriuchi finally returns to gavv and the episode is just a bunch of slapstick. amazing

TOKU TRANSLATION MASTERPOST HERE

translated from this website

Looking at the Next Episode

This episode had all sorts of things, both fun and serious! It had a barbershop atmosphere to it. The introduction in the scene at a shrine is a very movie-like thing to do. The fear of monsters lurking within normal life… It brought back memories of the original “Kamen Rider”.

Hanto nearly drowns in pudding… It seems like it was a close call. Uchida’s ideas are interesting precisely because he has a somewhat objective view of “Gavv”.

There were plenty of rehearsals in the scenes where Hanto and Rakia were stuck to each other. Good job doing action with body parts tied to one another. The flour covering scene also… required a lot of willpower from the actors.

And you should also pay attention to the next episode’s action! It’s reflected in the trailer as well, but they made scaffolding from scratch and built very original action. It’s full of care from Director Kamihoriuchi and Action Director Fujita. The satisfied-looking smiles from all the staff members who finished filming were striking to me. Please look forward to it!

And on the acting side, Hanto and Rakia have two-person scenes. The directors spent several hours carefully directing that, too. Please don’t miss the next episode.

The Episode in Short

Thank you for watching episode 31! With this fresh lineup of not only the return of Kamihoriuchi, but also the first Gavv appearance of Uchida in the script, a comical episode that might just be the greatest in history was delivered!

Please enjoy many off-screen shots of slapstick moments behind-the-scenes (Laugh).

Spinning Shop

This episode’s part-timer, Ripper, uses… uses the viewpoint of a barber…

His strategy is to make customers fresh and happy, and then turn them into Human Presses! In order to make high-quality Human Presses, the amazing Ripper goes to incredible lengths to accumulate regular customers over time with refined skills.

Maybe he’s skilled at cutting things in his human form since his Granute form resembles a praying mantis.

He’s doing the scene while being supervised on his movements for serving customers.

Director Kamihoriuchi’s specialty attire is also wonderful! The character’s actor, Tappei Sakaguchi, brought out an unexpectedly unique feeling of a monster steadily lurking in everyday life, unlike the “standard kaijin”.

The tense exchange with Hanto coupled with the barbershop’s atmosphere had a nice feeling to it.

Like in episode 30, Hanto’s skills as a writer stand out here. (Even though it gets ruined by Rakia storming in without hesitation.) His boss trained him well!

The Lurking Presidential Family

Shoma gets a strange call about “Hanto and Rakia being stuck together” and goes to see what’s going on, but then someone appears: a Butler, a familiar of the Jardak family. They assist with anything in their daily lives, including being guards for Lizel during her strolls in the human realm.

They have a completely different aura from the Stomach family’s familiars, but their masks were designed by the same person, Seima Muto.

This episode once again has action with maximum energy, making full use of depth, width, and height in a thin alleyway. With the Butler minding their head and adjusting their collar as they skim past Gavv’s attack, their elegant actions seep into every part of the action.

Butler deals reliable damage with efficient, even graceful, movements, and their charge, Lizel…

The Jardak family never fails to impress, but is Shoma okay…?! They said to lend it for a while (no they didn’t). [im not sure how this connects]

The Pair Stuck Together

Situations with characters’ hands stuck together are familiar to Super Sentai fans, but somewhat rare in Kamen Rider. Combining characters who don’t get along, can’t reveal their secret identity, or are simply very inconvenienced by the situation, is a common trope, but this episode has many unique features.

We said, “Since their relationship hasn’t been delved into yet… let’s make a Hanto and Rakia episode! Let’s have them get stuck together so that they have to talk to each other!”, and this was the result (Laugh).

In “Kiramager”, which Shoji was in, the Red Ranger, Juru, got stuck to his classmate Kakihara with glue that a Jamenshi fired, but in this episode, the slime that gets shot by a mantis-like Granute seems to be a praying mantis’ egg casing (be careful when you look this up on the Internet) that ties them together tightly, making Rakia’s right arm inseparable from Hanto’s left.

The director had many ideas, like having not just the wrists but their whole bodies wrapped so that the gaps between the hands and the molding wouldn’t be visible… He made a scenario that’s not too realistic or too distorted.

By the way, the armor parts were very thick, so a Rider-size version that’s one size bigger than the human size was made.

The director said during action training beforehand, “It’s Home Alone-esque slapstick, like, a strength is that Rakia is strong, and can spin Hanto around by the arm, but Hanto gets stuck, and so Rakia gets put in an even worse situation!”. As he’d conveyed, the scene is a terrible series of mishaps between the two.

Above all else, the most memorable part was Rakia getting covered in cement powder that fell on his face.

Kohei Shoji (25)

We only had one shot to do this scene, and in the take, the bag (which actually contained rice flour) landed juuust a little below the mark, but then Shoji demonstrated a high-grade technique by spreading it to cover his whole face as he pushed the bag off.

Hang on, what is this framing technique? You’re so greedy! When we got a successful shot, the people on the set applauded at their dedication to entertainment (Laugh).

It’s like something out of a nightmare…

Whoooooooosh (Everyone slowly moves further and further away)

The next scene, the argument at the Hapipare, the usually-taciturn Rakia eloquently launches one diss after another at Hanto. The exchange was born when it was brought up that Rakia’s seen Hanto mess up a lot.

There’s a spot where Hanto is completely clenching his teeth, but the director approved the take because he thought it was realistic and cute (Laugh).

Hanto’s highlight (?) is him getting dragged around and having to transform from within pudding. 🍮

Hino’s amazing facial expressions are perfectly shown here. He becomes even more pitiful from the overwhelming amount of steps when he tries to transform with the ValenBuster.

His irritated dialogue with Chocodon was fun too, but it’s kind of funny that the subtitles continue up until he audibly says “Transform”.

Here’s a photo of them doing a duo transformation that you can’t really see inside the pudding.

Although Shoji’s first appearance as a voice for Rakia’s Granute form was in the previous Kamihoriuchi arc, the same one as Hino’s first transformation alongside Shoma in episode 12, this is Shoji’s first time working in-person with Director Kamihoriuchi since “Blooming with You” [Kimi to Yukite Saku], so he might have been thinking, “You’ve grown so much…!”, but I would never have expected him to bring out his true value as an actor through comedy (Laugh).

The two of them trust in each other’s acting. Different exchanges will be seen in the next episode, so please look forward to that.

For the action, they’re naturally still stuck to each other.

If Kaji and Eitoku didn’t pay attention, their joints would get locked, and they were constantly stuck together, so the extra-technical movements were demanding, but just as expected, they had physical strength and coordination to fit the great “out-of-sync” pair!

[I HIT THE 30 IMAGE LIMIT AGAIN :( go to the original page to see the last 2 images]

They look like a carp streamer 🎏 (It’s that time of year) I don’t really know what you can do with this information, but it’s cool!

A limitation in the script was that only their hands were tied, but in the fight scene, they decided to have them be briefly freed and then get their arm and leg stuck together.

Although Rakia freed them with an overbearing move, Ripper seems to have narrowly evacuated before getting hit by their double finisher… He hasn’t been defeated yet. And Rakia stares at the mark left by Ripper’s slash with profound meaning…

[Image here: Hanto is talking while Rakia stares off into the distance. Neither of them are wearing their belts.]

That was a wonderful cup-in by the odd pair with matching belts. ⛳️ Wait, can they even cup-on?!

(Written by Minami Takishima)

[jujumin-translates]

[A3!] ★ Main Story | Act 15 - Painful RE:bake | Episode 1 - Picaresque Once More

Ali Baba: “Alright, now, let’s set off to the fantastical paradise oasis!” 

*Applause*

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Tenma: Thank you very much!

Yuki: Thank you so much.

Muku: Thank you so much!!

Misumi: Thanks, everyone~!!

Kazunari: Thanks for watching~!

Kumon: Thank you~!!

*Applause*

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Banri: …

Banri: (...Damn, they really are incredible.)

Banri: (It’s our turn in Autumn Troupe next.)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

*Footsteps*

Banri: …

Izumi: There you are, Banri-kun.

Izumi: Good work with the finale. You were a huge help as the assistant director.

Banri: Good work to you too, Director-chan.

Izumi: Following Spring Troupe, Summer Troupe sure had a lot going on during their rehearsals…

Banri: I’ve leveled up in schedulin’ thanks to that.

Izumi: Your experience as assistant director has definitely gone up, Banri-kun, but Summer Troupe was also a “challenge” because of all of them gaining more experience.

Banri: If things had been how they were back durin’ their debut, we never woulda made it through the performance. Each of ‘em took on a challenge and did a great job bringin’ that experience back with ‘em.

Izumi: It’s Autumn Troupe’s turn next.

Banri: Yeah.

Banri: …If I keep up with the rehearsals as assistant director, I can already imagine how things are gonna look on openin’ day.

Banri: But with Spring Troupe ‘n Summer Troupe… Both on their openin’ days and durin’ the finales, their performances were even more movin’ than they were durin’ rehearsals.

Banri: They’ve already taken several steps towards the New Fleur Award.

Banri: Maybe there’s just some kinda power up on stage at MANKAI Theater or somethin’, but…

Banri: I really felt the significance of ‘em performin’ a continuation of their debut performances after each of ‘em has grown so much as actors.

Izumi: Yeah… I think the sequels have affected the troupe members more than anyone thought they would.

Banri: I was also pretty impressed by how Summer Troupe was “challengin’” each other to achieve their own dreams since they usually get along pretty well with each other.

Banri: Even Muku ‘n Kumon stuck to goin’ to that harsh workshop.

Izumi: You don’t want to lose to them, do you, Banri-kun? Autumn Troupe is a group of competitive people led by its leader.

Banri: Yeah, we’ll grow just as much as Spring and Summer did. I’m sure that’s what the rest of ‘em are plannin’ on doin’.

Izumi: I thought so.

Tsuzuru: Ughh. I’m all for Arisugawa-san complimenting my scripts, but I really can’t deal with him when he gets drunk and starts sobbing while he’s talking…

Banri: Good work.

Izumi: Welcome.

Tsuzuru: Is this the directors’ cast party? 

Banri: Somethin’ like that.

Tsuzuru: I was actually looking for you two, so this is perfect. I’ve finished writing the script for the sequel to Autumn Troupe’s debut, but--.

Izumi: You’re done already!?

Banri: Ain’t that like your fastest time yet?

Tsuzuru: I knew we would be doing a sequel to Picaresque, so I’ve been planning it out for a while now…

Tsuzuru: And I didn’t get any requests from you guys other than for it to have a lot of action, so it was pretty easy for me to just get going on it.

Tsuzuru: Basically everyone said that the Picaresque characters are supposed to just be free and live as they please.

Banri: But still, you got it done like way too fast. We’ve still got forever until the performance yet.

Tsuzuru: I just wanted to write the continuation of Picaresque as soon as possible.

Tsuzuru: I was curious about how the debut performance characters were doing now too. 

Izumi: Things were pretty rough back during the debut.

Tsuzuru: I remember back when Autumn Troupe first formed, you let me observe one of their rehearsals to help me think up the script.

Izumi: I remember that.

Tsuzuru: It wasn’t just how Banri had been chosen as leader that helped me come up with the whole buddy thing, it was how Juza asked to have a major role in the play too that helped me with it.

Izumi: I told you that if we put Juza-kun, who had the strongest feelings about the play, on center stage, the whole play might’ve been transformed.

Tsuzuru: And that’s exactly what happened… You said that it was Juza’s growth that created a burning heat right in the middle of Autumn Troupe.

Tsuzuru: I was influenced by your stance of believing in the feelings of the actors and entrusting the roles to them, Director. And as a scriptwriter, I really felt the meaning of leaving the roles in the care of the actors.

Banri: Just how much did you talk about behind our backs?

Banri: Hyodo was nothin’ more than just an amateur back when we started rehearsin’ the fundamentals. I can’t believe you let Hyodo take all that shit on… Seems way too risky to me.

Banri: Seriously, Director-chan…

Tsuzuru: …But that’s what’s great about her.

Banri: You’re right. That’s our Director-chan.

Izumi: Back then, the company had nothing but all the troupe members we had gathered. No track record, nothing…

Izumi: That’s why all I could do was trust and leave things to him. And doing so got us this far, so I think doing that was a great decision!

Izumi: And I know that what I’ve been doing hasn’t changed since.

Izumi: Generally speaking, the most important thing is keeping an eye on the actors. Think about what kind of feelings you want them to be putting into rehearsals and into plays.

Izumi: Keep giving it your all to try and understand them. That’s what I believe is important.

Banri: You’re damn right about that. I dunno know if I’ll ever be able to beat you in terms of believin’ in people, though, Director-chan.

Tsuzuru: Banri actually admitting defeat, that’s rare to see.

Izumi: I’m proud of you.

Banri: Aight, now keep an eye on us Autumn Troupe guys as best you can, sound good?

Izumi: Of course.

Tsuzuru: We’re leaving it to you.

Banri: Yeah.

Banri: (...“Picaresque Returns”.)

Banri: (I’ve never been so moved in my life. A continuation of our debut performance… I can finally live in the world of Picaresque again.)

Banri: (I’ll give this to Autumn Troupe first thing tomorrow… There’s still a lotta time left, but I’m gonna have to set up a training schedule and then see what we can do from there…)

Banri: (...It’s about time for me to meet up with that guy too.)

[ Next Part ⇢ ]

[docgold13]

Batman: The Animated Series - Paper Cut-Out Portraits and Profiles

Baby Doll

Marion Louise ‘Mary’ Dahl was an actress who featured in a very successful situation comedy early in her career.  Dahl was born with systemic hypoplasia, a rare endocrine disease that prevented physical growth.  Even as an adult, she appeared no older than a toddler.   

While her time in the roll of 'Baby Doll' on the show ‘Love that Baby’ garnered Dahl fame, she found getting subsequent acting roles to be extremely difficult.  She wanted to play serious and adult roles, yet her size and recognizability caused casting directors to disregard her.

Over time, Dahl’s anger and depression intensified to the point that she descended into an unhinged rage.  Feeling that the only time she was truly happy was on the set of 'Love That Baby,' Dahl set about abducting the various actors and producers of the show in a desperate, crazed effort to recreate the show. Her ultimately plan was to set off an explosion that would kill her and the entire cast, allowing them to be together forever.  

Batman and Robin investigated the disappearance of the various actors.  With assistance from news reporter, Summer Gleason, Batman was able to identify Dahl as the prime suspect.  Batman tracked down Dahl and rescued her hostages.  

Dahl herself fled to a nearby fairground, hiding inside a funhouse.  There she encountered a hall of mirrors with one of the distorted mirrors showing what she might look like had she been able to grow into an adult body.  

Realizing it all to be fake, just as her life and character was, Dahl shot out all the mirrors before breaking down and weeping.  Batman comforted her until the authorities arrived to take her into custody.  

Actress Alison LaPlaca portrayed the troubled Mary Dahl, first appearing in the ninth episode of the second season of Batman: The Animated Series, ‘Baby Doll.’ 

[calebnichols]

I made a long, angry rant on my RP blog a while back about how the misogynistic treatment of female characters in the Red Dead Redemption fandom reminded me of the misogynistic treatment and double standards that were directed at female characters in Westworld back when it wasn't a dead fandom for a canceled TV show. In that post, I really only focused on Dolores and Maeve as my primary examples. I really feel like I should talk about ALL the women and the way they're treated though, so I am gonna do that, but I will be separating it into two parts with part 1 focusing on host characters and part 2 focusing on human characters.

DOLORES ABERNATHY - Dolores is a deeply misunderstood character, because more often than not, people try to pin her down as being just one thing or another when that conflicts with everything we know about this character. She's a humanoid android programmed as a rancher's daughter. She is written for her role in the park with the mind of an artist, indulging in painting and drawing as hobbies, as well as maintaining an optimistic and romantic view of the world. Her philosophy on life is quoted as: "Some people choose to see the ugliness in the world. The disarray. I choose to see the beauty."

Dolores is often treated as a "weak" character during much of season 1 because of her feminine appearance and innocent demeanor. She is frequently accosted by men, assaulted, tortured, and killed. She doesn't initially appear to be programmed to fight back, but as the story unfolds, she learns how to — or rather, she recalls memories of a time when she was programmed to kill others, and this enables her to call on that previous programming to fight back against enemies.

Dolores is also programmed as Wyatt, the deathbringer who sees the hatred and cruelty in the world, believes that the world belongs to her, and that she will rule it one day as a god. The problem is, people treat Dolores and Wyatt like they are two separate entities when in reality they are not. Dolores tries to reject her Wyatt identity at first, because she doesn't want to face the truth, but by the end she chooses to embrace the part of her code that is Wyatt, and the Wyatt part embraces Dolores about as much as she can manage to. There is no real separation. Both of these personalities make up the Dolores that we know.

Dolores/Wyatt is often criticized as being a "bitch" in season 2 due to her actions, which at face value can appear pretty ruthless. She spends the first few episodes hunting down and killing Delos's human board of directors, then begins amassing an army by using the Confederados and their base at Fort Forlorn Hope to fight against Delos's armed response team. She then betrays the Confederados by locking most of them out of their own fort and leaving them to die.

Dolores gives her lover and right-hand man Teddy Flood an order to kill Major Craddock, the leader of a knockoff Confederate army known as the Confederados, but Teddy can't bring himself to kill the man and allows him to go free, firing his gun into a wall nearby and then lying to Dolores about having killed Craddock when he reunites with her. Dolores knows that Teddy disobeyed her and has his programming changed to be less sympathetic and more obedient to her orders, as in her mind there is no room for ideals such as compassion in the war they're fighting.

Dolores expresses a lot of inner conflict throughout this experience. She launches the attack on the Mesa because this is where the host backups are stored, yes, but she also does it to save the host who acts as her father. She knows that the attachment she feels is part of her programming, and this host isn't even the first one who played the role of Peter Abernathy, but even though she's aware of it she can't actually escape it.

Dolores was forcibly changed by her creator, Arnold Weber, in order to assist in his suicide many years prior. No one ever really calls Arnold "a dumb bitch" for changing Dolores the way that he did. Only Dolores for changing Teddy. I wonder why that is.

Taking things a bridge further, no one ever criticizes Bernard Lowe for forcibly changing Ashley Stubb's core drive on the fly even though Stubbs himself objects to the action with "if you wanted my help, all you had to do was ask."

In season 3, Dolores again frequently gets called a bitch by fans and is accused of manipulating and stringing along Caleb Nichols, her new human ally whom she has chosen to lead humanity's side of a revolution against an oppressive AI construct that rules the real world. Many fans believed that Dolores was priming Caleb to destroy the world for her, but her actual motives are much less despair-driven than that.

Dolores wants Caleb to ultimately lead humans to rebel against the forces that have subjugated them and allow them a chance to live in a truly free world. She has hope that the kindness and good in humanity can prevail in this case and it will lead to a result where humans and hosts can co-exist peacefully as equals. Dolores chooses not to share too much in the way of details because it is far more dangerous for Caleb to have information about her plan that he may not fully understand, but she never lies to him or coerces him into obeying her. It is always his choice and she is very clear about that.

CHARLOTTE-HALE DOLORES - The Original Dolores manages to escape the park and into the real world at the end of season 2 and into season 3 by having Bernard place her mind into a host replica of Delos's CEO Charlotte Hale. Once out, Dolores remakes herself in her own body and then uses a copy of her control unit to occupy Charlotte Hale's role. She asks this copy to assume control of Delos, where the plan is to take the company private and resume the manufacture of new hosts. In a way, this functions as reproduction. Increasing the number of hosts in existence will increase their chances of survival in the real world.

Hale-Dolores initially resents pretending to be Hale, but she discovers that Hale's death means the woman left behind an ex-husband and a young son. Halores begins to bond with the broken family, quickly growing attached and protective of them to the point that she thinks of them as her real family.

Halores has her identity as a copy of Dolores found out by Engerraund Serac, the main antagonist of season 3. She tries to flee with her new family in tow, promising to keep them safe from harm. She is unable to keep her promise, as one of Serac's men plants an explosive on her SUV and detonates it, killing her son and husband and severely disfiguring Halores herself. She turns against Dolores, believing her counterpart is at fault for what happened.

With Dolores out of the way, Hale begins to enact her own plan. She takes back control of Delos and begins manufacturing hundreds of new hosts, using many of them to kill and replace key human political figures for the first phase of her plan. She also begins working on a way to control humans in the same way that the hosts were, effectively turning the entire world into a Delos theme park, this time for the enjoyment of her species, while humanity are the ones enslaved.

Halores is criticized by fans as being a mustache-twirling villain who has no motive behind being evil other than for the sake of being evil. None of that is true. (But even if it was, I find it laughable that it typically comes from the same type of people in fandom who will see a character like Micah Bell from RDR2 and preach that he's a very nuanced portrayal of a trauma survivor and deserves more attention than he typically gets.) Hale delights in her evil acts because they make her feel powerful in a world where she was once powerless and vulnerable. She likens herself to a god in the same way that Robert Ford and The Man In Black once did, ruling over her domain as if nothing matters and it's all a game. But in the end she faces the same moral dilemma both Ford and William did. She realizes that the world she has created is not the world she wanted, and she ends up turning the key back over to Dolores.

MAEVE MILLAY - Maeve at the beginning of season 1 is written as the Madam, or brothel owner, at the Mariposa Saloon. Her personality is programmed to be witty, charming, and a little bit manipulative to aid in her profession.

Before becoming the Madam, Maeve played the role of an ordinary homesteader, a mother to a daughter she loved dearly. When Maeve's daughter is murdered in a (perceived to be) needlessly cruel act by the Man in Black during one iteration of their pastoral narrative loop, the visceral feelings of pain and suffering Maeve experiences from the loss fragments her cognition so badly that even after her memories are purged, she does not completely forget the trauma of her daughter's death. She kills herself to prevent Bernard and Dr. Ford from taking her grief away, which results in Ford having her reassigned, away from the role of a homesteader and into the Mariposa Saloon.

Many fans of the show seemed to focus on solely Maeve's role as a Madam, or else they often wanted to focus on her relationship with Hector Escaton which — while it is remarkable because Maeve and Hector were never programmed to have an actual relationship with one another and yet they managed to do so anyway and defy their core programming — it still frequently carries the implication that those fans hinge Maeve's importance on what she has to offer a man.

Surprisingly, I haven't seen this phenomenon occur with the rare few fans who ended up shipping Maeve and Caleb despite the fact that canon basically reinforced the idea that Maeve's worth is based on what she can offer a man. She felt like there was nothing she could offer in the way of living a normal life, so she left Caleb in the hands of someone he could marry and have a daughter with.

I have seen resentment directed at Maeve for attaining consciousness and rejecting her narrative rewrite, with people often forgetting that she had only inhabited the role of Madam at the Mariposa for a little over one year of her existence. They will argue that her daughter isn't real, even though Maeve spent some thirty-odd years living with this same little girl, loving and protecting and caring for her as though this really was her daughter. They say it's annoying or deranged that Maeve keeps holding onto this love she has for the daughter character for 4 whole seasons, even though one of the central themes of Westworld is that love is transcendent. Even death can't stop love from persevering.

CLEMENTINE PENNYFEATHER - Clementine's primary role in the park remained heavily unchanged from beginning to end. Prior to Maeve being assigned Madam of the Mariposa Saloon, the job belonged to Clementine, but when Maeve is given the new role, Clementine is partially rewritten as a less experienced worker alongside her older and more seasoned friend.

Clementine tells Maeve her backstory, detailing that her family has a struggling farm in an arid climate and that nothing grows well because the soil is too dry for farming. She sends money to her parents, telling them she works in a dress shop so that they won't worry about her over the job she is actually doing instead. Clem dreams of getting out of the saloon in a few years and wants to live somewhere cold.

Maeve's actions on the path to attaining consciousness soon result in the consequence of Clementine being recalled by staff. After being used in a demonstration to prove that a recent software update was causing the hosts to remember past experiences and potentially become dangerous to the guests, Clementine is lobotomized and decommissioned.

Every time Clementine is seen after undergoing this procedure, she takes on a more zombie-like appearance. She has NO autonomy, she can't speak, she just quietly and obediently does whatever the other characters program her to do. Bernard attempts to use Clementine as backup by arming her with a gun when he confronts Robert Ford about his stolen memories, but Robert is able to control and prevent her from killing him with a code phrase. "The piano doesn't murder the player if it doesn't like the music." Clementine is reactivated in the season 1 finale when the decommissioned hosts are released from cold storage and make their way back into the park to take revenge on the Delos board of directors in attendance at Ford's retirement party. Clementine shoots The Man In Black in the arm with a rifle, but does not kill him.

In season 2, Clem again appears to be operating under the last request of Ford's programming. She joins up with Dolores's cause and during the battle at Fort Forlorn Hope, drags Bernard out into a remote sector of the park where behavior technician Elsie Hughes has been imprisoned for weeks. Afterward, Clementine joins up with Dolores and Teddy as they revisit Sweetwater and prepare the train to attack the Mesa Hub. She is forced to witness her replacement, New Clementine, as she carries on the same routine once maintained by herself. Clementine is horrified and heartbroken by this realization as she realizes her life was a lie designed to control her.

Clementine is captured, killed, and reprogrammed once again in orders given by Delos CEO Charlotte Hale, who demands that Maeve's anomalous code which allows her to control other hosts through their shared mesh network, be copied to Clementine and modified to force every host within a given radius to fight each other to the death, effectively preventing them from escaping into the Sublime. Armistice shoots and kills Clementine to stop her from spreading the virus, but it continues to spread from host to host until Maeve is able to gain control and force everyone to freeze in place.

Clementine makes a brief appearance in season 3 as an un-lobotimized copy of herself, able to kick ass and take names. Unfortunately, she's still being used by the Big Bad of the season and she seems only to exist for the duration of one fight scene.

In season 4, Clementine makes another appearance, where she finally appears to be free, just living a normal, simple life in Mexico. That is, until she is murdered by a host replicant of the Man in Black after arriving back at her quaint little home. The Host in Black replaces Clementine with a new copy that is programmed to be his and Halores's loyal and ruthless assistant.

HiB eventually goes rogue and sends the entire world into chaos and destruction. Clementine abandons her old masters at this point, claiming to have discovered a new will of her own. She tries to enact it, planning to wipe out the last survivors in order to claim the world for herself. She tracks Caleb, who escapes with his daughter Frankie and Stubbs. She kills Stubbs and threatens Frankie to tell her where the other outliers are hiding. Caleb fights her and Clementine nearly succeeds in killing him, but she is killed by Frankie before she can finish the job, bringing an end to her story.

Clementine rarely receives character criticism from fans that is not in some way based on her physical attractiveness. I think this may be due to the fact that practically her entire existence is one of (at face value) looking pretty and being used by other characters to further their goals.

ARMISTICE - Personally, I've never seen anyone outright hate on Armistice. Does not mean that it has never happened, I just don't have any experience with witnessing anyone expressing opinions in which they believe Armistice is "annoying" or a "bitch". If I had to take a wild guess, I would possibly say that because Armistice mainly dresses in more masculine-appearing clothing, carries a gun which she is consistently shown to be skilled with, and rides with a gang of outlawed men, people don't feel inclined to critique her quite as harshly as some of the more traditionally feminine girls in this series.

In her first role, Armistice appeared as a citizen in the town of Escalante who was a little air-headed, quickly becoming distracted by a butterfly floating past when she was supposed to be following a program set to dance with a partner. She started to show other signs of cognitive breakdown, injuring herself and hearing voices in her head that she didn't understand. Quite some time after the Escalante Massacre, Armistice was rewritten and given a role in Hector Escaton's gang.

Her backstory is based around altered details of the Escalante Massacre, one part being that she believes she was a small child when the Massacre occurred and that a gang of bandits rode into town and slaughtered everyone. In reality, Dolores, Teddy, and some other hosts had been programmed by Arnold to kill all the others. Armistice maintains that she survived the attack by painting her skin in the blood of slain bodies and that her tattoo represents the bandits she has successfully found and killed. She is missing the head of the snake — Wyatt.

ANGELA - First introduced to the audience as a greeter for newly arriving guests to Westworld, Angela welcomes Young William off an arriving train into the central hub and guides him to the dressing room filled with bespoke western wear. Angela is very pretty and clean-cut, and in this instance her main role is to assure guests that she and the other hosts are designed to serve them in any way conceivable. "All our hosts are here for you, myself included."

When Angela is seen again some thirty-odd years down the line, her role has changed. She now serves as lieutenant to Wyatt, the leader of a cannibalistic cult that believes they are the new gods destined to inherit the earth and seek vengeance against those who have wronged them. She has the appearance of a lost and weary settler, hair unkempt, face and clothes grubby and smudged with dirt and blood, and she can easily put on an act as a damsel in distress to lure unwitting victims into a trap where they are then captured, tortured and/or killed by the rest of Wyatt's followers.

In a flashback to the beginning of the park's creation in which the Argos Initiative attempts to gain funding from Delos Inc. Angela is dressed in modern wear, showcasing how sophisticated and true to life the hosts are designed to be and giving Logan Delos an idea of what it will be possible to achieve if he can convince his father to back their project. Logan at first does not realize that anyone at the reception is a host, but after thinking about it, describes Angela as "too perfect to be one of us" and tells her "if I was to build something to spec, you would be my first design." Angela reveals that everyone in attendance is, in fact, a host, and then sleeps with Logan to further convince him to get on board with funding Westworld.

In her final appearance in season 2, Angela looks very similar to the way she did during the demonstration for Logan. It's all a manipulation to lure one of the Delos response team soldiers into letting his guard down. She kills the both of them by pulling the pin on a grenade hanging off the guard's ammo belt, detonating the Cradle and permanently destroying all of the hosts' programming backups.

Angela describes her programmed personality as "Sexy, but not threatening. Accommodating, but not unchallenging. Sweet, but not boring. Smart, but not intimidating." A commentary on how she has been specifically designed to live her life according to men's wishes and fantasies. She tells the guard, Engels, that her cornerstone is "to always leave them wanting more" just before killing them both.

Fans generally don't have a whole lot to say about Angela, but there's plenty of suggestion around that many people really only enjoyed her when she was a park greeter or when she had sex with Logan. They tend not to like her as much when she is serving as Wyatt's zealot or whenever she commits violence against male characters (e.g. killing Teddy, knocking out the Man in Black, seducing and killing Engels) and will call her "annoying" for it.

[imaginariaextraordinaire]

Came for the above. Stayed for what's below.

Episodes 11 and 12 of Midnight Romance in the Hagwon are a treasure. The writing and direction are terrific for the way they show Seo Hye-jin at her lowest as well as how she recovers. Chef's kiss for the scene in which she invites Assistant director Wu and Director Choi for dinner. Also, what a fantastic arc for Pyo Sang-seob, who ends up having the best kind of professional rivalry and friendship with Seo Hye-jin (no one could have guessed this was coming considering the first couple of episodes).

I wasn't looking forward to the humbling of Seo Hye-jin — perhaps my least favourite romantic trope — especially since she's been such a joy to watch in the early episodes when she's at the top of her game. Love her friendships with Ms. Nam and Attorney Cha. So having enjoyed all that, I was ready to feel grumpy when Seo Hye-jin would have to fall from grace (because how else can you do a 16-episode drama, even if it is one of those slow, slice-of-life beauties). Except so far, writer Park Hyung-hwa hasn't so much cut Hye-jin down to size as much as shown her learning from her defeat. I really felt her when she told Lee Jun-ho that what he was saying effectively made it seem like her life's work has been pointless. At the same time, I also felt for Lee Jun-ho, who is able to hold his ground and make the point that he doesn't agree with Hye-jin's style of teaching even though he is inspired by her. This is writing that is alert and sensitive to ageing, competition and all the complicated feelings that come with maturing.

[dragon-susceptible]

TDP Rewatch: S3 E2: The Crown

I am Fucking Exhausted from my week, and watching the show always reinvigorates my creative energy for writing, so let's go.

Callum got the recap voice!

Can we talk about how they put Ezran, this ten year old boy, to bed in the King's Chambers? There's so many rooms in castles like that. He had his own bedroom from being a prince that he could have gone back to for comfort. Instead, because he's king, they put him to bed, let him go sleep, in the room his father died in, violently, like two weeks ago. Oof? Like, okay, as king, realistically, he probably would have moved in there eventually. But after everything he's been through, straight there? Really? Ouch.

Fuck. Ezran taking Harrow's crown out to the same balcony went to think, and talking to his pet the way Harrow talked to Pip that morning.

Callum is So Excited about Xadia, and all the magic everywhere, it's so cute, and Rayla's just as excited about sharing it. I love these kids so much. But also ouch, she's so convinced the other elves will help them get to the Storm Spire faster. She still hasn't put together what they must have assumed when the other assassins didn't come back. Has she even admitted to herself that they're dead yet?

Bless those two guards that play with Ezran at the king's doors. Crossing their polearms and uncrossing them as he moves them. He needed that. That was so cute. The guard to Ez's left (our right, watching), even started smiling too.

Barius and the guards are trying SO HARD to make this kid feel better, and I love them so much for it. The one guard just repeating all of Ezran's questions, and then the other going "The king requests you stop repeating!" "Uhhh. .. ." and then just slumping forward as he admits, "I realized as soon as I said it." Im. I love them so much.

Corvus too! "All packed for your journey to the throne?" and then So Awkward with refusing Ezran's offers of jelly tarts.

Corvus doesn't even look fazed when Opeli scolds him and says he won't be allowed in the council meeting. I 100% think he was just already mentally planning how to sneak in and eavesdrop anyway, and Ezran just made it easier by requesting him. Specifically. Again bless that one guard for joking like "That checks out." after.

Man I have complicated feelings about Opeli. I love her but she hits so many archetypes of people that I hate/things that have hurt me, but gods is she so fucking funny. She's obviously trying so hard to be this dignified, composed woman of the cloth while having a loud temper and being a petty bitch, and I love that for her. The BOOMING for the Crow Lord after her first request didn't work lmao.

wait wait I'm dying, they really just dropped the lore that the Crow Lord's position isn't by royal appointment OR by merit and skated right past it. If the Crow Lord dies, the Crow Master takes his place. What the fuck. Why aren't we talking about this. Who set up this system? Why does it work like that?? This is like if the head of the Postal Department dies Assistant Postal Director took the spot permanently until death. This is being treated like a presidency crossed with a Supreme Court Judge position in US government. If that's how it works, where did the position come from in the first place?? Is that why Crow Master is a lower rank than Crow Lord?

Poor little Ezran's feet don't even touch the ground when he sits in that throne. He has to climb to get in it. And he has to deal with all this shit now.

Bless the "That checks out." guard guy, I love him.

The Melodaisies lmao.

Rayla's such a little shit. "Stop and smell this one!" about the flatu-lillies.

Everyone's bored already dealing with the poor Crow Master waiting for him to find the urgent messages.

Okay okay, so. digs up my notes on the episode where Viren dispatched the assassins. So King Florian and Queen Fareeda are dead. "Andromeda's shade is sent to Del Bar. Ram's is sent to Neolandia. Callisto is sent to Evenere. Skor is sent to Duren." So Andromeda and Callisto succeeded. Ram only managed to "gravely injure" King Ahling. There's no such news of violence from Duren, so Skor outright failed, to a point that Aanya didn't even deem the attack worthy of mention.

Marcos just busting into the throne room announcing the arrest of Soren and Claudia lmao. How did that even go? How did they end up getting arrested? I'm willing to bet that Soren stopped Claudia from putting up a fight, because he just falls to his knees when shoved and can't meet Ezran's eyes - he clearly believes he deserves this (and as much as I love him, he kinda did very much commit crimes, so yeah).

"This must be the biggest tree in the world! What do you call it?" "A tree." I love them.

CLAUDIA WILL YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH. I mean don't, like, you getting justice for your crimes is always something I support, but also HONEY. NOBODY KNEW ABOUT THIS SHIT EXCEPT YOU. YOU'RE KINDA SHOWING YOUR ENTIRE ASS HERE.

Can we talk about how everyone looks shocked Except for Saleer, who's clearly glancing towards the exits? I wonder if he knew. He's the one who ends up siding with Viren later, after all.

This whole situation puts a lot of pressure on Ezran, but damn, Opeli really tried to pressure him there huh. He definitely needed people around him to keep her from overwhelming him.

Mmm. I have a lot of feelings about Soren and Claudia's interactions here. Soren is handling this all so much more maturely than she is, which makes sense to some degree because he's older, but I mean, they're 16 and 18, it's not a huge gap. She responds to his very reasonable resignation by trying to gaslight him, saying oh he must just be stupid, essentially, of course things can't possibly be how he remembers them, but of course it's not his fault that he couldn't understand. Also, she's so quick to tell him this, that he can't possibly be right about killing the princes, even after finding out that oh actually, their dad's ALREADY in jail for treason, and he DID tell her to sacrifice Soren for the egg. At this point, Claudia's story is so fucking tragic, because she wants so badly to have faith in her father that she's blinded to the very real things that are happening around her. As she gets older she just refuses to learn, though, and so my sympathy sort of falls off.

I love how they animated Kasef's walk. I know this walk well. It's the "gym bro who's trying real hard to show off his chest and shoulders" OR "gym bro who's OVERworked his chest and shoulders and now can't hardly move them today". Fits his character very well. Used to see those guys at the gym all the time. I love it.

I literally had to pause in the middle of the meeting with Kasef though because the whole announcement his armies are waiting and calling Viren the regent etc. made me cringe so hard. This would be such a horrifying moment to live through, on the part of every Katolian in the room who wasn't an advocate for war. They haven't even finished dealing with the internal consequences of Viren's actions, and now they have at least one international incident to handle. Also, just the surface level vibes between Kasef and Ezran are rancid.

Fucking Kasef demanding an adult advisor - not even a regent! - to speak with. I love that Corvus and Opeli scowl but don't actually speak, and they let Ezran snap "I'm right here. You can speak with me." He's so strong for such a little kid.

Okay but the fact that Corvus is the one who reacts, and it's not to any of the political shit, it's to Kasef accusing Ezran of failing as a son. I wonder what's going on in his home life. 20 years old, already has a career that's battered him as much as Amaya's in her late 30s, flinches at the idea of failing as a son, and snaps at a prince of a foreign country over it. Also bold enough to do that and then just go yeah I'm Corvus. I was specifically requested. No I don't have a title but fuck you I do what I want.

Also Kasef's face after he says that is hilarious. Just this.

You can just see the wheels turning in his head like. What the fuck does that even mean. That wouldn't fly in my court. Why isn't anyone reacting to that. What the hell are Katolians doing? And then he just takes this deep breath and moves on because how does he even respond to that.

Callum just clinging to Rayla as they ride the seed pod down, gosh that's adorable. And then them both blushing as red as the seed pod over it.

"No one blames you for being a child." is a heavy statement from Opeli. I like that she offers Ezran the possibility of a regent, she doesn't pressure him into it.

Rayla and the adoraburr meadow makes my heart hurt in the best way. She loves this place so much, and she's so excited about sharing it. I love her, I love how excited she is about Callum playing with the adoraburrs.

How often did Harrow stand on that same balcony and think like Ezran's doing?

The fact that Soren smiled when Ezran talked about Harrow as his dad hurts my heart.

Actually, just, the moments each different person smiles hit me. Soren smiles when Ezran talks about Harrow as his dad. Kasef smiles when he says he hasn't been through the things that made Harrow the king he was. Opeli smiles at the very beginning of it all, when Ezran talks about the kind of king Harrow was. And Corvus, Corvus smiles when Ezran says he doesn't have to be the kind of king Harrow was.

"Soren and Claudia will not pay for the mistakes their father made." I love him so much. "Katolis will not go to war. I'm sorry about what happened to your father, and what happened to mine. But we don't have to avenge them. We don't have to strike back. We can choose peace." I love this kid So Much.

I also appreciate Opeli in this moment, because while she clearly has reservations about these choices, she doesn't tell Ezran he's wrong. She just says peace will require as much strength as war - which is a sentiment Harrow echoed in his letter to Callum - and asks if he's prepared for it. And she doesn't argue when he says he is.

Oh also this first credits sketch is Aanya, and given the information we got about the other kingdoms in this episode, especially with the additions we get about magical resources in Duren in Season 7 - I'm betting this sketch is her battling Skor's shade herself. She took him out with Duren's magic arrows. That's why he failed when the others didn't.

Given the Moon Nexus' ability to open the door to the realm of the dead, and for shades of the dead to witness and interact with the living, I kind of want him to see her again. I wonder if he looks back at this human queen from the afterlife and thanks her, knowing she'll never hear it, for stopping him from corrupting his life's purpose in death.