#Everyone thought it was because he was playing a double agent role
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I can't find it now but a post popped up on my dash under the recommended tab about spoiler culture and the argument was it's the MCU's fault that it exists, while there were people quite rightly pointing out that it didn't start with the MCU. Spoiler debates have existed for ages and YMMV on how much you want to be spoiled or what you think people should do to not spoil others.
BUT one thing where I do agree there's MCU rot is when we got to this really unfathomably stupid situation where actors weren't given full scripts, didn't know who they were acting with or if they did know their scene mates, they didn't know the full context of the scene. It was one thing to airbrush characters our of a trailer but to give actors one side of a conversation and expect them to do something with it? Nah.
The reason I am always exasperated with this is that there are days, such as today, where behind the scenes images from the final scene of The Avengers crosses my dash and it's always fascinating.
BECAUSE here were the OG6 and Loki cutting about Central Park in broad daylight and we have all these wonderful images, plus I have seen some lovely stories from fans who got to interact with the whole spectacle in some way.
Nobody gave a shit that you knew that for some reason those seven characters were in Central Park.
Bring back that sort of set up to be honest. All this "we're not even telling you if a character will even be in this" stuff is getting old.
For example: I am fed up of seeing (mostly younger) Loki fans getting themselves all excited and wound up because they think he'll be in Avengers 5/6 in a big way. Marvel, just admit any plans that he is/isn't, stop allowing these people to crash down the highway of inevitable disappointment. We're done with it.
#Marvel Cinematic Universe#Spoiler Culture#Loki#Remember how for a brief moment we thought there wasn't much Loki in the IW trailer for a cool reason?#Everyone thought it was because he was playing a double agent role#And then the film got nearer and there was no merch#Not even any leaked merch#And it became obvious they were going to do the most boring thing ever to Loki#AND THEY DID#The Avengers
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*SPOILERS*
Aaron Schimberg kept it brief in his introduction before A Different Man had its world premiere January 21 at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival: “This is the one time I have to be able to show a film without anybody knowing anything about it.” A hush fell over the Eccles audience as the writer-director said that. It’s true. There’s before you see A Different Man, and then there’s after. The before is full of anticipation for the complex drama starring Sebastian Stan, Adam Pearson, and Renate Reinsve. The after is a rush of heart-clenching realizations about your own sense of self-worth, the true values of society, and questions about the ownership of your identity and story — even if you aren’t sure you want to own it yourself.
Edward (Stan) is an actor...
with a facial disfigurement who sticks to himself, doesn’t fix the leak in the ceiling of his apartment, and books parts in training videos for companies to learn how to treat people with disabilities just like everyone else. When his doctor tells him of a new experimental procedure that can “cure” his appearance, he decides to try it so he can be treated normally, like the people in the horrific training videos he shoots.
As Edward’s facial growths start to peel off — in a scene one can only describe as a moving Francis Bacon painting — instead of feeling relief, he still feels the need to hide who he is from everyone. That includes his playwright neighbor Ingrid (Reinsve), who has thrust herself into Edward’s orbit without fully letting him into hers.
His solution? To fake his own death and reemerge as a new “normal” guy hastily named Guy. This shedding of his skin seems to be working — he gets a new job as the most shiny of real estate agents and has a new, fancy loft apartment — until he sees that Ingrid has followed through on her goal to write a play with a part for him. Unfortunately, the play is about him, her dead neighbor, and their relationship through her eyes.
This is where A Different Man starts to fold in on itself in a brilliant meta statement about representation and authorization within the entertainment industry.
“[The film] is playing with various disability tropes,” explains Schimberg during the post-premiere discussion. “Like the sad disfigured man in his apartment, and playing around with those elements.” Since Edward’s story starts with that trope, it leaves the viewer uncomfortable and upset when we see Ingrid using these same tired storylines. It proves that she never really knew Edward, but had no problem using his disfigurement to push through a play about her being a “good person.”
But, wait, weren’t we introduced to Edward in the same fashion? The film doubles down on this complication by having Edward-presenting-as-Guy beg his neighbor to let him play her version of himself within her off-Broadway show. Even with the face of an actual Hollywood movie star, Edward is bending his life around the preconceived notions of others. His desire to be both the before and after Edward is complicated further when Oswald (Pearson), an effervescent and charming man with similar facial disfigurements as the original Edward, enters the theater during rehearsal and proceeds to take his role and his relationship with Ingrid away.
On the subject of casting this complicated weave of an identity story, Schimberg recalls how thorny that was even within his own singular vision: “I thought you’re caught in a bind because some people said that casting Adam was exploitative, and then on the other hand casting a Hollywood star and putting him in prosthetics is also the opposite of what we think of as representation, even though it’s still very commonly used. So I was caught in a bind and I just thought: I’m going to do a movie that does both. I’m going to have a Hollywood actor in prosthetics, I’m going to have Adam be Adam and see what comes of it and build some kind of path forward.”
That path forward is a masterful film filled with tension. But while it might seem like the struggle is going to be between Edward and Oswald, A Different Man’s only true tension is within Edward himself. Stan excels as he wrestles with embarrassment and longing for his former face. Every time someone comments on Oswald’s appearance to Edward while he’s passing as Guy, you can feel the hot anger within him because they assume he agrees with their vile opinions. “Suppression is a really bad thing,” Stan says, passionate about his character and this creative journey. “That was my take on [why Edward hid his true identity]. But I think, sometimes, when you spend so much time denying yourself you don’t have the courage in those moments to speak up.”
“That was kind of the hook we gave to Sebastian,” Pearson continues. “Yeah you don’t know what it’s like to have a disfigurement, but you do know what it’s like to not have privacy and to have your life constantly invaded, for better or worse.” Stan nods his head emphatically, “Public property, right?”Pearson nods back at him down the line. “Yeah, those are the kind of chats we had to get it right.” He pauses and chuckles.
“I’m glad it wasn’t a physical battle because I would have lost that one.”
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@beeisblue Huginn and Muninn try to spoil Three when they can in their own pathetically middle of the road—thanks for trying way. But more often than not, they’re on babysitting duty to make sure Three doesn’t blow up his own lab—which can be pretty dangerous so they’d much rather keep their distance, but they do feel bad about not doing more to help. They’ll make a little appearance along with Shelldon in Donnie’s interlude, which is coming up next, after we conclude Mikey’s rescue arc!
That is definitely not sanctioned, but yes—Draxum is just too exhausted with Three’s antics at this point. The child used to be at least respectful out of fear, but it seems like ever since a few years back when Three hit some kind of mental, pain threshold, Draxum has had a hard time controlling and understanding his thought process.
The boys do change things up by way of casual clothes around the lair, just wearing whatever’s comfortable—pretty close to the show with Mikey and Donnie probably wearing more sweaters and joggers and hoodies than say Leo or Raph. As for missions I might change my mind if I can come up with something else fun for them to wear, but as for now…most of them change pretty quickly to their movie look as soon as they each unlock their ninpo. I’ve put Leo in 2012!Leo’s white vision quest hoodie until his finally moves on to his black and blue ninpo gear just because he’ll struggle with it the most so he’s kind of the only one who takes a while to switch over to his finale look. But I might throw them in something extra if I change my mind!
@artoflittleowlbird Just a little song I made up! 😅 I really struggled with whether I wanted a real song or if I wanted to just make something from scratch. It’ll play a role later on so I hope I didn’t make it too weird sounding! I wanted it to have a non-rhyming feel like it’s something old which Splinter might’ve sung them.
Leo does meet Hueso eventually. He’s super polite when Raph, Mikey, and April first bring him to Run of the Mill, but there’s something so tired in his expression that Hueso can’t put his phalanges on. It makes the man wanna feed him, wrap him in a blanket and plop him on a comfy sofa where he can’t get hurt.
@sskurwysyn I’m sorry I’m so bad at this part. All the names I’m thinking of sound so stupid 🫣 If anyone else has one they’d like to suggest I’m all ears 🤣. And Mikey swapped out his nunchucks once or twice, but would always go back to them as soon as he could. I do like the idea of him wielding a comically huge kanabo like it’s nothing. Little man does not skip arm day.
@little-banjo-frog Leo is a little too high up in the ranking for them to be close friends, but he has gone on missions with her as part of her training. She respects him much like she does Foot Lieutenant and Brute in the show, but once she really meets Raph, Mikey, and April and hears their story and connects the dots of their missing brother being Leo, her conscience takes over and she can’t help but see how screwed up Leo is from what Shredder’s done to him. BUT THAT’S OKAY—cause you can’t get any cooler than being a double agent!! She just needs to find the perfect time to get Leo to meet his brothers, and they can both leave the foot clan behind! Plus once she’d started sneaking out of the compound at night to play vigilante with Raph, she was done for—way too much fun! Good thing she’s so good at being quiet…be a shame if she were followed…..
Aside from accidentally blowing up a Chee-Z ball factory in one of his first times out, Donnie’s gotten away with: taking apart half the tech in the lair and leaving the parts strewn all over for someone to trip on, snapping at his brothers and saying things even he knew at the time he’d regret saying, being an absolute shit to April when he first met her, testing a stimulant on himself and scaring the bejesus out of everyone when he had a tiny case of cardiac arrest…And probably the most glaringly obvious time Splinter was mad at him, but held his tongue—when Donnie needed the wiring in the projector tv and tore the whole thing apart so they were all left without any entertainment for two days while he built them a new one from scratch. Yes, they got something much nicer out of it, but he could’ve at least warned them! Raph thought Splinter’s fur was gonna be dyed perma-red from how much he looked like a tea kettle about to explode.
Raph has to get a handle on Savage Raph pretty soon after Leo and Mikey get taken, just out of necessity, but he doesn’t get rid of the fear of being alone completely. Meeting April helps even more, but once they’re all back together it does become a bigger struggle for him to not panic when they leave his eye-line. It’s not even something that registers as an issue at first cause as long as one of them is with him, he can stay pretty calm, but eventually they do all have to split up for some reason or other, and he goes full Savage Raph for the first time in YEARS. It’s only top-side though, he’s fine being alone in the Hidden City and the sewers. April is always their best bet for calming him down though. They make a joke out of it later like maybe next time she should say something like “Sun’s going down big guy!” But it’s the simple fact that a part of Raph might be scared to lose his brothers again, but April has always been his biggest source of comfort and safety—she’s his big sister.
100% yes April and Raph can totally mind meld 🤣 i love it.
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Do you also feel that the power to make sentimonsters could have easily been another power for the butterfly and no one would have batted an eye?
I mean technically the Butterfly kinda has done sentimonsters in a sense, as some akumas do get extra outside of them to act as a means of transportation and a boost of power and it works along their agenda.
Take something like Refleckdoll and you got to wonder, why is that a sentimonster and not just an add on to Refleckta? Because it acts as something for Reflckta to pilot so... why is it a sentimonster?
Another factor is that sentimonsters are tied to emotions and Butterfly's power has long been tied to emotions, to a point I considered it more for Emotion than Transmission. So sentimonsters didn't really bring in anything new, aside from sentipeople which I really hate, especially the insistence that they're actually people. It kinda brings about a can of worms to question, like should a miraculous really have the power to just casually make life? Especially knowing that everything made is allve. Also if terminating that sentimonster is terminating life, does that make you a murderer? And the leads take out sentimonsters too so...
I just find it to be a really iffy power in how they went about it and how Thomas clarifies it.
I really think it would've been better for them if sentibeings (or whatever a friendlier term for them is) were just animated dolls/puppets, and depending on their creation can depend on how "alive" they are, but they're still not truly alive. They act out the role they were made for, they could be complex mentally and emotionally, but they're not truly alive. They don't need what true living things need, like eating and sleeping, nor do they fear termination, if anything may just stress about not continuing the role they were made for if it's not "done" for them. They're not flexible enough to deviate from what they were made for. And depending on the complexity of their creation and the role they're to play, they could end up quite problematic for their creator.
Like, I'm half joking and half serious of maybe thought that Lila should've been confirmed a sentibeing with all her wild lies and how everyone's IQ drops and at this point her lies are just off the walls bonkers (like seriously she's just a 13-14 yo what is going on with her???). Could be a Peacock was rivals with that ancient Fox, so made Lila in her likeness to cause her problems in her civilian life, and Lila never got dismissed so she existed on lying and being antagonistic and chaotic as that's what she was made to do and given this magical purpose, everyone is compelled to believe her and not think too hard about what she says. And she drifts to Paris drawn in by the miraculous activity, she works with HM cause he's causing chaos and may secretly plan to double cross him, she picks on Marinette as Marinette caught onto her lies, she targets Adrien cause Adrien's an easy target, ect..
Like, of all the characters to be confirmed to be a creation of the Peacock, I vote it should've been Lila cause everything with Lila is just wild. Her being this immortal gremlin and agent of chaos and made out of peer spite would make more sense than whatever is even going on with her.
Side note, this power is tied to making "life" which is form of creation, so, why isn't making sentibeings actually a Ladybug power as that's literally Creation? And can you imagine the relief Marinette could get learning that she could just make this efficient Ladybug doll that could do her job for her, she could take a break, keep the earrings safe, and just destress cause Sentibug is made to be the best LB hero out there and she's nailing.
Marinette just catches up on a week of sleep.
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I think I have ideas for the world you are building here, in the UTY-TMA crossover AU.
(…I hope I managed to get my eye-hands on everything you publically wrote about this. and that my takes are compatible with the rest of what you thought of)
I think I want to put one 'solid' divide between the surface (eyepocalipse) and the underground: while the surface has a clearer-than-ever distinction between Agents and Victims of That Which Is Fear, the underground should have this line as blurred as possible: people who have fear-based abilities are those who are still losing the most from it.
You mentionned Ceroba, because of course, but I think we can do the same for the others.
Dalv: …yeah the Lonely is kinda doing its usual stuff here.
Axis: He will outright tell you he will be here, ready to exploit any obscure loophole in his code to capture and/or kill you… if he chooses so.
Completely unpredictable source of violence, requiring both cold logic and the whims of a (semi?)-sentient being.
At the same time, following his programming is a duty Axis cannot sidestep, and it often forces him into hurtful and/or painful situations.
The Slaughter gets to be a double-edged sword here.
Martlet: I think you've assigned the Spiral to her (or is it the other way around? :) ). I see her both making confusing DIY projects, puzzles, wooden architecture, and getting you lost if you try to follow her.
But I see her getting often lost herself, forgetting what she was supposed to do, mixing priorities up.
I suggest an often-self-contradicting Royal Guard Handbook she tries to follow. Either because said book was not fully proofread before being sent her way, or because the Spiral itself saw an opportunity in it.
…Martlet is forgetting something. Something powerful, something dangerous, something sharp as metal points and broken glass thrown off a building, something as smooth and soft and malleable as… as… who was she talking about?
Flowey: pulls strings from behind the scenes, not realising that even if he wished for time to continue onwards, he would find himself unable to resist. Does he really just want those souls, or did he get addicted to the power to affect everyone else so subtly?
Clover: As you've said, they have been pursued by a terrible fate from the Surface, and they are sure it can and will track them down.
At the same time, they know those who live in this Underground are culprits or accomplices in the murder of six children before them (yes, that includes the whole misunderstanding with Chara).
Clover will find the ones responsible, no matter how they hide. It's a matter of justice. Right?
Starlo and the Wild East: to entertain themselves, the spaghetti western antics have only grown stronger as a way to forget the intrusions of Fear in the underground.
Inhabitants would find themselves spectators one day, acting as bandits the next, as victims the one after that. And if they play especially well, they might find themselves in the coveted position of temporary sidekick to the Feisty(j) Five. Swapping roles as easily as clothes. Seeing others in the position they should have held as a 'civillian' while playing bandit.
The saloon's bartender is not Dina today. Right? She calls herself Dina, but she's not the real deal, unlike yesterday, and probably tomorrow. Right? You can't remember her face, but it will come back, in time. Hopefully.
In the Wild East, Sheriff North Star chooses who plays what role… but can Starlo recognise his friends anymore? can he recognise himself?
Asgore: Sooner or later, humans who have fallen down in his kingdom will have to meet him, and meet their end.
Sooner or later, he will have seven souls, and the barrier will open. Despite the hope this fact brings to his subjects, he knows that getting out of the underground cannot be done without a painful confrontation with the humans of the surface.
One way or another, when the barrier will open, he will be judged for his actions, and pay for them with his life. It is not a matter of "if", but "when".
Kanako: the blue-souled human was a good singer, she is sure of this. how else would the burning blue substance in her soul sound this beautiful? She already convinced some fellow goopy monsters to listen to it, and they agree. That ringing blue sound is… the only thing left in this old, abandoned, humid laboratory.
…okay that last fear-assignment is kind of a stretch but still. I think the festering EXP/LV from that soul would be quite the Corruption/Slaughter mix. …but the amalgamates do scream "Flesh"… meh.
Decibat, El Baillador, Guardener:… I have no clue? Decibat sounds like a candidate for the Dark but even then…
ok sorry for procrastinating answering this i just needed the time to actually read and answer this /lh
so! most of the stuff yeah you got it! especially flowey - hes definitely an interesting one in this au :p but the only thing thats different actually is the feisty five and the wild east
in terms of plot, the main turning point occurs at the wild east where starlo is able to stop clover's murder spree through the power of Telling The Kid That They Are Just A Kid. cue clover finally having a break where they arent. you know. being hunted or hunting monsters down. the dunes as a whole is mainly occupied by the Vast (people get lost in the sandstorms. a lot.) but the town itself is mostly safeguarded from the fears - is it because of their optimism, or the oppressive heat that always hangs in the air whenever a servant of a fear attempts to approach? nonetheless, this becomes a (short lived) safe haven for clover, free from the fears save for their surroundings and the voice in their head urging them to keep going, to finish their mission - and, perhaps, a little string-pulling by a certain flower
#this is a really good compilation of the au though!! im happy to see that people like it as much as pluto and i lol#ask/answer#tma x uty au
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Shoujo Thoughts - Basara
Basara, from what I've seen, is a highly coveted series so I felt like I had to check it out. I've been slowly but surely reading it since last year (fell off for a bit for whatever reason) and finally finished it. This is also my first series by Yumi Tamura (since starting, I also read a couple volumes of 7 Seeds and plan to continue it eventually - it's just such a long series!). This'll have a couple spoilers (including a panel), but I'll keep it as light as I can.
Basara is essentially a really great fantasy epic with a large scope. Politics and war, world sprawling adventure that takes you through regions with their own cultures, tons of characters, etc. (as an RPG fan this series' structure is right up my alley).
As I said, the series has a ton of characters that you meet, many of whom are introduced and become a part of the story due to joining the Tatara army. Not all of them feel used to their full potential or overly significant, but it's a colorful cast that's nice to see coming together the further you get (and the further Tatara travels).
Sarasa is an interesting lead. Obviously not dealt a favorable situation, yet she assumes the role of being a leader. However, for a good chunk of the series she isn't very reliable at fulfilling that role; she's at times reckless, selfish, and overly reliant on others. To be frank, there were times where she would frustrate me, though this was probably intentional since the characters around her would often react the way I did (the part where Ageha gives up on her after she takes "the easy way out" is a good example). I might be remembering wrong or am simply being too hard on her, but there were also a few too many times when she'd just collapse and call for Shuri in the first half or so (for me, at least). Her development and growth is a slow-burn that accelerates after finding out the red king's identity, which given her age and the rapidly changing situation she's placed in, makes sense but can still wear on you as a reader. Overall, I did really enjoy her character though.
Shuri, on the other hand, is opposite to her in many ways. The second half sees him mostly learning about the people at the bottom and truly learning more about his country, as well as how harsh their lives are in times of war. I think Yuna and especially Nakijin are instrumental in his growth because they are willing to stand up to him and tell him things without any fear of his position of power (granted he technically doesn't really have one at this point but he still has a reputation).
The manga itself takes you through a land riddled with cruel realities and is pretty brutal at many points throughout. The art in this was really well done (character designs might not be for everyone I guess) and illustrated this post-apocalyptic world that is rebuilding really well. There were many panels that stuck with me in just how strong of an image they presented.
Favorite character : Asagi (HB: Ageha)
He was a fascinating character for pretty much the entire series. He does things for his own amusement, be it cruel or simply trying to delay things because he deems them boring. He's psychologically troubled, which is why he is manipulated by the white king because she'll play into his inferiority complex toward Shuri (who is the epitome of what he'd like to be in many ways). He's a double agent who at times helps more than he means to and at others, disappears or becomes entirely hands-off. His arc seems to boil down to the idea of self-acceptance, which he struggles with. He's raised as the "true" blue king (despite his origins coming into question later) but he also watches someone else use his position for years. By the time he's in Tatara's fold, he finds the comradery suffocating because he's not used to genuine interest and affection toward him. He's unpredictable, which always made him interesting to have around, especially with how he contrasts with characters like Sarasa and Shuri.
On a whole, Basara is one of my favorite shoujo (and just general) manga. It was a ride worth being on from beginning to end and there are moments and characters that I'll remember for a long time. It, among other series, definitely solidifies that shoujo isn't only romance with a school setting. There are many things here that feel more "shoujo" like the art, some of the character tropes and humor, etc. yet it still is a fantastic fantasy adventure series with a ton to offer. Definitely recommend!
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Thorns and Ink Actor AU-- part 1 Prologue
When Twisted Wonderland was pitched as a show the main character Yuu was supposed to be one person and they had no set gender for the role. However they had seven girls audition extremely well and since they planned on seven seasons after the pilot episode cast all seven to be the focus each season
Since they didn't have names outside of Yuu they went with using the actresses actual names for the characters out of laziness
Like most TV high school dramas none of them are actually teenagers and are in fact early to mid twenties
Val is the newest to stardom and this is actually her first roll in showbuisness. She was super nervous considering the big names but was comforted when she saw the guys cast as Deuce and Ace were also in their first roles starting out
Kris actually got the audition on complete accident. She was usually a stunt double but the casting director remembered her from a previous action film she doubled for and thought she would be perfect for the role with the amount of stunts there were
It's Anne's first acting role but she's been in Hollywood for a bit. She was a break out singer on a talent show and her agent thought it would be a good idea to branch out. While it's several of her male costars that sing the opening she will occasionally sing a ballet for slower or more romantic moments in the series
Jude is actually the adopted daughter of some pretty famous costume designers so she got into acting early and was a child actor along with her adopted brother who plays Banjeet. She had taken a hiatus to finish high school early and graduate with her bachelor's in theater and this was her comeback role.
Kimberlee was actually a model before auditioning for the show. A complete lady killer Sailor Uranus style. Her popularity among fans for her looks was what convinced her agent she should try acting as well.
Eva is another child star like Judith, but she was more on the theater side of things. She worked on voice acting for a while and this was her first break back into film.
Fiona is currently the top start and Hollywood sweetheart. She had several offers for more serious projects but turned them down for this instead. She just really liked disney movies as a kid and wanted to be party of a fantasy show like this since she usually did sitcoms or dramas.
The very first filming of the scene where the puppet of Grim chased Val was done in one take because she wasn't supposed to crash into a coffin but she did and accidentally broke it. So they wrote in Kimberlee to that scene
The actor who plays Malleus was on set that day on accident cause he didn't realize he wasn't in that first scene so he sat on the side and made faces at everyone causing them to break character
Out of this group only Vil's actor and Kris knew each other because they were from the same agency. (Other agencies would come in later that people knew but not until later seasons)
Kim forgets her lines the most out of everyone but she always makes a good blooper out of it to make up for it
Despite their character drama the girls did all actually become pretty good friends on set.
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Of everyone in the castle, Julius had always felt he could be his real self around Manny, he didn’t feel like he had to say or do anything specific to get the other shifter to like him, and that made him really happy. For so long he had to keep up a facade for his fans, and PR people, but here he could just be himself. They were currently laying in Manny’s bed together, legs entangled Manny’s head on his shoulder, they were watching one of his artistic indie films. Financially it didn’t do that great but it won him his first Oscar. That meant his paydays got a lot bigger.
“So this film I actually fought with my agent over. They thought the idea of me playing a young gay man who owns a horse ranch would end up coming back to bite me in the ass, and getting me like cut out from a lot of leading roles, but you know, as you’ve seen the big blockbusters still came hunting after me, and because of this film, I was able to negotiate that my pay be double what they offered. Ya know the power of an Oscar in Hollywood is crazy.”
@mannythejaguar
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Question, what's new with Night now? What has the development been like for them?
Oh good question! Thank you mate ✨ Sorry if its a biiit long~
İ made few major changes in Night's story.
First one was deciding Rowan will not be the one who dies in sixth year. No i didnt take this decision simply because i want them alive or they deserve to live more, but because there is someone else who will jump in front of Night to protect them. Someone who is way closer to Night than Rowan.
With Cordell's death, things will hit Night more personally than others. Ben will be less asshole to everyone else but will be more focused on Night. Charlie and Penny will be more worries about their siblings being close to Night, Talbott will promise Penny that he will look after Bea, Andre will be trying to convince Penny and Talbott that no its not a curse Night carries, Merula will be trying to comfort Barnaby because he is trying to.... Not blame Night, lets say.
And with everyone turning to theirself, Ben will realize Night is now standing alone in everyone. No one really abandoned them dont get me wrong, but they are not with Night too.
Night were always telling the cursed vaults are their responsibility so they will make sure everyone is safe. They will be the one who protects.
Ben never thought they will need a protection, let alone that will cause their saviours life.
Thats why he decided to take the role from now on. Not out of anger he feels of being useless, but the feeling of need to protect what he holds precious to his heart. İf no one does, then he will. And damn he will make sure he will be succesfull.
(hah ironic isnt it)
Second one is my new oc Cyrus. A hufflepuff in Bills year, who we only will see in war, under a mask. İ havent fully decided either he will be "evil" or not. İ guess he will tell me himself. But he will play a major role in Night's surviving in and after war. So thank you Cyrus, see you soon.
And and last but not least, the Rhea curse. İm happy i was able to develop it more. Because this curse is the reason why Night became a Death Eater. İts the reason why Night was able to protect Yakup from becoming a double agent. But also its the reason why Night isnt simply a double agent theirself but more like a real Death Eater on Resistance's side.
We cant just say "Oh they were playing a role it was acting they did it for the greater good!" No no it wasnt like that. Everything started with something as simple as "I wont be able to take the guilt if Yakup does that, so i will do it myself." and continued with "I can't remember what was good what was bad so i will let go of myself for the sake of people who will find theirself. "
Let's play an ask game!
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Rookie-Critic's Film Review Weekend Wrap-Up - Week of 5/1-5/7/2023
Somewhere in Queens (2023, dir. Ray Romano)
This was way better than it had any right to be. I'm not sure what I was expecting from a Ray Romano-directed picture, but for some reason it wasn't this. Just an unendingly sweet little slice-of-life film that analyzes the dynamics of a very messy, but loving family. Romano, who also stars in the film as the lead, plays Leonard, a man who's always late, generally says the wrong thing most of the time, and is just kind of awkward, but he loves his son Sticks (yes, that's a nickname), and he supports him with everything he's got, to a degree of fault, really. Romano isn't afraid to push his characters' faults into the spotlight, and he never tries to excuse them, but he also never loses sight of the fact their hearts are always in the right place. Laurie Metcalf also stuns as Leonard's wife Angela, a cancer survivor and a mother who's jealous of her son's secret girlfriend. The movie is basically a 1 hour and 46 minute, R-rated episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, but honestly I'm not complaining. The format difference allows Romano to explore his characters with a little more depth than a 22-24 minute TV episode would have allowed, and it breaths life into everyone on screen. I was super impressed with Somewhere in Queens, and I actually find myself looking forward to whatever Ray Romano decides to direct next, which is not a sentence I ever thought I'd hear myself say.
Score: 9/10
Currently only in theaters.
Police Story 3: Supercop (1992, dir. Stanley Tong)
I have always been a fan of Jackie Chan, having grown up in his heyday in the States, but my fondness for the actor has never extended past his popular American films like the Rush Hour or Shanghai Noon/Knights series of films. I've always known about to slew of Hong Kong action comedies he starred in prior to breaking out over here, but I've just never made the time to watch them. So, I was more than happy to oblige when my older brother wanted to come over to my place and do a double-feature night with this and Drunken Master II (or Legend of the Drunken Master, depending on who you ask). This also doubles as one of Michelle Yeoh's earliest starring roles in a film, so I was doubly interested in watching this. Needless to say it is amazing. The story is decent enough, a police detective (Chan's Ka Kui Chan) is tasked with traveling to mainland China and pairing up with an Interpol agent (Yeoh's Chien Hua Yang) to take down a drug kingpin. Sounds pretty basic, and the nature of the story allows for a lot of Jackie Chan-style hijinks to ensue, but the real meat of what makes Supercop so incredible are the stunts. The things that Jackie Chan does in this movie make Tom Cruise look like a toddler playing in a sandbox. One stunt in particular was so unreal we thought there was no way he was doing it without a harness (turns out he absolutely was doing it without a harness). I won't spoil any of it for you (even though I'm the one who's late to the party here) because, if you haven't seen this, you must. It is one of the most incredible stunt spectacles I've ever seen put to film, and hands down the most impressed I've ever been with a Jackie Chan film, and that was already a pretty high bar.
Score: 9/10
Currently streaming on The Criterion Channel.
Drunken Master II (1994, dir. Lau Kar-leung)
I've always heard that this is one of the, if not the, best Jackie Chan movies there is, and it's easy to see why that's the consensus. The hand-to-hand fighting choreography is, without question, the best I've ever seen. The final fight sequence (or series of fight sequences) alone, which takes up the last 20 minutes of the film's runtime, is an absolute wonder to behold. There were things I was seeing in this film that I didn't think was possible to do with the human body that put my jaw firmly on the ground. However, the film as a whole definitely has its weak moments and parts that drag, and a surprising amount of melodrama that I was probably being played for laughs, but it just wasn't landing with me. Which isn't to say that the film isn't funny, most of the physical comedy bits land, which isn't uncommon for a Jackie Chan vehicle, there were just a handful of moments that felt like they were trying too hard. Overall it's just a more uneven viewing experience than Supercop was, but its strengths more than make up for any of the film's detriments.
Score: 7/10
Currently available to rent/purchase on digital (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, etc.) and on Blu-ray & DVD through Warner Bros.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023, dir. James Gunn)
I won't belabor the point on this one too much as my full review was posted literally yesterday, but I was left deeply emotionally affected by this by the time the credits ran. I thought that almost everything about it just worked, barring an under-use of the Adam Warlock character, and the decision to make Rocket the focal point of this film's story was a stroke of genius on the part of writer/director James Gunn. Maybe I'm the lone wolf on how much I loved this because of my bias towards these characters, but I think Gunn knocked it straight out of the park and into the next galaxy with this. It's a wonderful film about finding the strength in your flaws and imperfections and the power of moving forward.
Score: 9/10
Only in theaters.
You can read my full review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 here.
Carmen (2023, dir. Benjamin Millepied)
By all accounts, this is not my kind of movie in the slightest. I've heard of the opera, but other than that I couldn't tell you one thing about the story before a few hours ago (I got home from the theater about 4 hours prior to writing this). The story is pretty basic and it definitely takes a "style over substance" approach to its visual storytelling, both things I tend to not be a fan of, but against all odds I have to say I did enjoy my time with Carmen. For one, I love both Melissa Barrera and Paul Mescal and they both kill it in their respective roles, even if I thought their romance moved way too fast to be truly believable. The dance numbers, while sometimes hard to follow the symbolism of, were wonderful. I was impressed with both Barrera's dance ability and voice, and Mescal, for what little dancing he does in the film, is better than you would think he would be. Where I think the film fails is in its message. It does seem like it touches on a lot of things that could have been really interesting (the central romance is between a white "all-American" veteran who clearly, regardless of his own beliefs, comes from a background of racism towards Hispanic people, and an undocumented immigrant), but it never really goes beneath the surface of any of its themes. There are also a handful of loose ploit threads that just kind of irked me. In a movie filled to the brim with extended interpretive dance numbers, they could have devoted at least a few seconds to throwaway line explaining some things and providing a little more context to Carmen's situation. It just seemed like there was a large section of the story that we just didn't get to see and, frankly, it felt like the filmmakers forgot about it, as well. Taking all of that into account, though, I still was drawn into the world of Carmen. I can't fully explain why I think that is, but something about it just grabbed me. I'm not sure I could tell you the greater purpose of everything Carmen throws at you in its 2 hour stay onscreen, but I can tell you that I was mesmerized by most of it, and that's gotta count for something.
Score: 7/10
Currently only in theaters.
#Weekend Wrap-Up#Somewhere in Queens#Police Story 3: Supercop#Police Story#Police Story 3#Supercop#Drunken Master II#Legend of the Drunken Master#Drunken Master#Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3#Guardians of the Galaxy#Marvel#MCU#Carmen#Carmen 2023#Ray Romano#Stanley Tong#Lau Kar-leung#James Gunn#Benjamin Millepied#Laurie Metcalf#Jackie Chan#Michelle Yeoh#Chris Pratt#Melissa Barrera#Paul Mescal#film review#movie review#2023 films#1992 films
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Vancouver has stood in for many cities in films and TV series for decades - Seattle, New York, and even the fictional world of Fantasia in the 1984 film, The NeverEnding Story.
But one of its most iconic roles began 30 years ago as Washington, D.C., in the hit series The X-Files, which ran for nine consecutive seasons and was revived for two more in 2016.
The series follows Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, two FBI agents with very different views of the world. It went on to win several Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards and received praise from audiences worldwide. Vox has said The X-Files "invented modern television."
"I owe it all to Vancouver," series creator Chris Carter told On The Coast guest host Michelle Eliot. "When I think about the crew and all the people that came to work on the show, Vancouver is second to none. Whenever I come up with an idea, I try to figure out how I can shoot in Vancouver because I love the city so much."
William B. Davis, who played the iconic smoking man, said the cast and crew were committed to producing a good show. "Whether it was the focus puller or whether it was Chris Carter or whether it was the actors, everybody wanted to do their very, very best," he said.
B.C., particularly the area in and around Vancouver, has become popular for filmmakers in recent years. When Carter considered places to shoot the show, he said Vancouver was at the "forefront" of his mind.
"I had been to Vancouver for the first time in 1986, the Expo year. My wife was making a Disney Sunday movie in Vancouver, and a lot of the shooting was done in the forest. I spent a lot of time in the beautiful Vancouver forests."
Carter says Vancouver can double as almost anywhere, even the dry deserts of southwestern U.S., with the right set of decorations. But it's also the people who made filmmaking in the city so easy, he added.
"Almost everyone opened their door for us. Let us shoot their house, on their street, at their location," Carter said. "It was special. It was an amazing time. Everyone was kind of excited about the show and working together."
During his interview on CBC's On The Coast, Carter said there's interest in rebooting the series once again. "We're so steeped in conspiracies now. The X-Files dealt with central conspiracies, but now the world is so full of conspiracies that I think that it would be a different show."
Carter said Ryan Coogler, director of hit films like Black Panther and the Rocky spinoff Creed, plans to "remount" the series with a diverse cast.
"He's got his work cut out for him because we covered so much territory." The original X-Files series is available to stream on Disney+. CBC News has contacted Disney Canada for more information.
Original series producer JP Finn, who has since worked on shows like Arrow and The Flash, said a reboot would be "fantastic" but isn't sure whether they'd return to Vancouver for filming.
"I hope Ryan [Coogler] considers it, at least," he said. The show's impact was far-reaching and inspired many women to move into male-dominated fields, particularly STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).
A report from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media found that Dana Scully, a strong, intelligent scientist, increased 50 percent of female X-Files viewers' desire to enter STEM.
Among them is Kelsey Short, who lives in Whitehorse, Yukon, and is working toward a Master's degree in global health policy at the University of Edinburgh.
"I just always thought [Scully] was infinitely cool, and she was just very smart and commanding of the situation but also very passionate and really gave herself to the whole job," Short said.
She remembers watching Scully perform autopsies — even on an invisible character. "I always loved the medical aspects of it. I think that is part of why I went into the healthcare field. I think bodies are so weird and wonderful."
A documentary about the show is set to release this fall, 30 years after the show premiered. Superfans Lauren Krattiger and Carly Blake have created The X-Files Fan Retrospective, where they conducted more than 90 interviews with crew members, cast members, and fans to memorialize the show and its impact.
Krattiger was nine years old when she watched the X-Files pilot with her parents. "It's just been a really fun part of my life," she said. "I liked the scary element, and I also really enjoyed watching Scully."
Krattiger, who lives in New York City, says The X-Files is a comfort for many fans she's spoken with, offering a sort of constant during difficult times, and that some people have moved to Vancouver because of the show.
"It was a ground-breaking series."
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Tanizaki is going to switch sides, and it’s not because of The Deal™
I know some of you guys have been waiting for this one and it’s finally here! I’ve been thinking about a possible Tanizaki corruption arc for such a long time now, seeing it being talked about by @spixi (here) motivated me to finish this analysis. I need to share my thoughts on this subject because if I’m correct, it might become one of my favourite arcs in bsd. This one is a mixture of me analyzing Tanizaki and the events we’ve seen so far and my speculations on how his corruption arc may develop.
As always, more under the cut:
The Deal™, its validity, and why I think it's just a part of a bigger plan
I want to start with that deal because first of all, I'm pretty sure ADA is going to call the deal Fukuzawa made with Mori invalid due to the circumstances. Mori was supposed to give the Agency members protection, but as we know, they didn't really use it and left. From Mori's point of view, the deal is valid because he tried to keep his end and did in fact help the ADA a little, but from the ADA's point of view, he didn't offer them the protection they needed, so it's invalid. If there comes a time when the discussion surrounding this topic arises, it can get really messy. It's a complicated situation and a lot will depend on how much both sides are willing to cooperate and who will give up first. Personally, I see no use of having the Port Mafia get into a fight with the Agency to get a member to switch by force. It makes no sense to make someone switch sides against their will because said person isn't going to be loyal. Having a double agent like Tachihara can be useful and even working with a spy like Ango may have some uses, but as we’ve seen, it can end in an unexpected way, and Mori knows that.
Switching sides
We've already seen one person switch sides and leave their organisation to join the PM. And I'm talking about neither Tachihara, who was spying for so long, he got attached because that's a different case, nor Ango, who was being a triple spy and Ango-ing around like he does because he’s the spider Georg of Yokohama (the average person doesn’t work for a million organisations at once, Ango who gets no sleep is an outlier and should not be counted). I'm talking about Chuuya (of course). Chuuya used to be a leader of Sheep and Mori didn't force him to join. Instead, he chose to cause the inevitable betrayal of Sheep which made Chuuya join the PM more or less willingly (at least in the anime because I haven't read Fifteen yet). Mori is someone who creates – often risky – strategies to get what he wants. I’m pretty sure his deal with Fukuzawa was only a bait to make the ADA members think about who'd be willing to switch and question their loyalty towards the Agency. That’s why he said that it’s Yosano who’s supposed to switch, even though that was an obvious lie. Yosano staying with the ADA was a part of the deal, so he had to know that even if she switched to the PM, the ADA would come back for her after talking with Fukuzawa. But hiding this information from the Agency members lead to the 3 of them who know to talk about it. Yosano didn’t want to switch, but someone else was willing. And the key word is willing because once the idea is planted inside said person's head, they're bound to think about it AND they're going to be an easier target. That’s how you manipulate someone to join you, you make them see themselves joining. And who was willing to take Yosano's place? Tanizaki.
Tanizaki in his corrupted state so far
Not everyone has to have a redemption arc. Some characters can have a corruption arc. And I think Tanizaki fits this narration amazingly. When we're introduced to him, he's playing a role of a bomber, someone willing to kill others and afterwards, he turns out to be a quiet guy. He himself stated that his ability was useless in combat, but this statement has been proven wrong multiple times. We've seen him snap a few times since the beginning of the manga. At first most of them occur when Naomi is in danger. During the fight against Higuchi and Akutagawa, he’s more than willing to kill Higuchi not because Naomi is in danger but as an act of revenge. I haven’t seen this pointed out, but he could’ve used Light Snow to take Naomi and Atsushi and escape, yet he chose to attack Higuchi. The next time we see him become this corrupted self is during Tanizaki and Kunikida’s fight against Steinbeck and Lovecraft, when he’s willing to not only kill his enemies but also innocent people just to save Naomi. He literally says so himself that she’s like a God to him and he’ll burn the world down if that saves her. And then he makes a truck crash into trees to save her. It’s one of his darkest moments so far and here we see for the first time just how much his moral compass is messed up.
But now I want to pay more attention to the cannibalism arc because it’s the first time we see Tanizaki fully lose himself. I’m talking about chapter 48, to be precise. He’s calm until Hirotsu threatens to hurt Naomi. Tanizaki then goes berserk as he does, but this time he’s visually framed as evil. His eyes are fully black, not just slightly bigger pupils, no no, they’re plain black, which Harukawa stated means someone has gone too far. What is more, in one frame he looks like Tecchou in his most terrifying state. Are these mirages made by his ability? Yeah, but Tanizaki is the one creating them. This is the moment when Hirotsu says that Tanizaki’s ability is perfect for assassination and he’s absolutely right. The more you think about Light Snow, the scarier it gets. Not only is it perfect for hiding, but in some ways, it distorts the space around and the mirages it creates are able to act like people. Tanizaki can simulate bleeding, getting shot, create multiple mirages at once and possibly hide anything. I’m pretty sure that in the manga, when Higuchi was trying to shoot mirage Atsushi, Tanizaki hid the real bullets and created mirage ones that weren’t piercing the tiger because Higuchi and Akutagawa didn’t notice bullets flying through the tiger. So to my understanding, Tanizaki had to recreate the whole motion, which is wild. The amount of control he has to have over his ability must be enormous. He does really complicated stunts compared to any other character and because this ability is so versatile, it can be used in more than just assassinations.
But Hirotsu’s words aren’t the end of this chapter. Right after them, we see Tanizaki sneaking out of the room with these huge black pupils. This time it’s really him, not just a mirage. When he stands next to Mori’s bed and takes out his knife, his pupils (or at least the one that’s visible) are fully black as well. Tanizaki’s mission was to keep the PM members waiting, but the second this plan fails, he goes right into Killing Mori Mode. At this point, he’s not protecting Naomi anymore. Before it was his refusal to work as a double agent for the PM leading Hirotsu to threaten to hurt Naomi, but this time it isn’t about her. Tanizaki wants to kill Mori because he believes it’s the only way to end the war and that someone has to die, so it'd better be Mori. The only thing that stops him is Kouyou’s intervention, but if it wasn’t for her, Mori would be dead for sure.
The only people in the ADA who are willing to resolve the conflict by killing the enemy right away are Dazai and Kyouka who used to be in the Port Mafia, and Yosano who worked under Mori during the war, but she heals her victims (or at least she healed Kajii), so really the only ones who are 100% willing to kill are people affiliated with the PM and Tanizaki. And what’s important, the falling of domino blocks has already started. When Yosano was thinking about switching sides, Tanizaki said he was going to take her place because he knew his ability would be useful to the PM. That’s a pretty big change for someone who was saying his ability is useless in offense 60 chapters ago. He knows what the PM does, so he must realise that his ability has a huge assassination potential just as Hirotsu stated. I personally believe the realization hit him when he decided to kill Mori. The way he acted in chapter 48 clearly shows he’s fully aware of how to use his ability to kill. He also treats switching sides very lightly, saying something along the lines of, Well if you don’t want to join that badly, I totally can. That’s not something a person who has strong morals would say. They all know what the Mafia does, that they hurt and kill people, yet he doesn’t seem bothered by the thought of changing sides. He went from fighting the Black Lizards not to join to saying that he could. And of course, he might be acting like that purely to save Yosano but I find this change in his mindset and Yosano's reaction a red flag.
The logistics of Tanizaki in the PM
There were previously situations when the Port Mafia tried to get the ADA members to join their forces. They tried to get Dazai to come back and failed. They also didn't want to let Kyouka go, but it was mostly Kouyou and her doing. It makes sense for the PM to want strong ability users, and there hasn't been an instance when the ADA member switched sides yet. If people betray the PM to join the ADA, then it makes sense for someone to leave the ADA to join the PM. Logically and narratively.
I think it would be really interesting from a narrative point of view to see someone new join the PM and see more of the inner workings of the Port Mafia. I can see Tanizaki with a corrupted mind becoming either a lone wolf like Akutagawa, someone with their own team/subordinates or a member of the Black Lizards. The last option would be interesting to see since he tried to kill Gin, Tachihara and Hirotsu back in the cannibalism arc. Would they be welcoming or, on the contrary, treat him similarly to how they used to treat Higuchi? If Tanizaki were to join the Black Lizards, we would see more of them and I’d love to see more of their interactions. Furthermore, Tanizaki becoming an assassin would be a perfect moment to bring Paul Verlaine into the main manga. For those who don’t know/don’t remember, Paul Verlaine is an ex-assassin whose role in the PM is training future assassins. Gin was one of his students, and you have to know that this guy was amazing at this job and all of his students are crazy skilled. That’s why if Tanizaki were to join the Mafia, he’d without a doubt be sent to Verlaine for some training. Just imagine, it’s the end of the volume, last scene, we see Tanizaki about to meet him, everything is mysterious with either a shadow person or just Mori’s smile/Tanizaki’s shock when Mori says something like, Tanizaki-kun meet a former spy and an ex-assassin… Paul Verlaine like I’d scream.
Now, how would they get Tanizaki to join?
That’s the tricky part, because who knows? I’m neither Asagiri nor Harukawa, so I’m not doing their job for them. But I will speculate a little and analyze what we have so far. The easiest way would be to do something with Naomi, like having her switch too, because Tanizaki would follow her, but we know that Tanizaki goes berserk whenever she’s in danger, so I have no idea how they would even achieve it. A safer way for the PM to handle this situation is by making Tanizaki doubt his place in the Agency and giving him some kind of a deal, like ensuring that they’ll protect Naomi better than the ADA. Naomi has already been on the verge of dying like 3 times in the manga and she has no ability, so giving her the protection would be one way to make Tanizaki consider the offer. They could also just straight up create a scenario where Naomi is killed by someone from the ADA, so Tanizaki would want to avenge her and therefore join the PM. Now this scenario could easily ricochet if Tanizaki found out, but there has been so much imagery with Naomi and death, people have been theorising that she’s been dead all along, so it wouldn’t suprise me if she was to actually die. I also hope that Tanizaki has some dark stuff going on that we, as readers, don’t even know about yet, because his past is way too mysterious for Tanizaki to just be a random dude. C'mon, he can pilot a helicopter. Which 18-year-old knows that?! It’s highly possible that bsd Yokohama has different laws, so I’m not questioning the probability of him having a license or how much it would cost. What bothers me is why a seemingly random teenager would even have a license. For fun? Did his parents teach him? Tanizaki’s arc could answer these questions, because I’m sure there is a reason.
Tanizaki fits the PM
A trigger warning, I’ll mention Tanizaki and Naomi, and Mori and Elise. Not too much because both relationships are messed up and I don’t even wanna think about them, but I cannot analyze Tanizaki without mentioning it once.
Okay, this one might be up for debate and easily countered because bsd shows that we can chose to be good even if your personality doesn’t fit this image, like Kyouka, who’s still learning to become better and Dazai, who isn’t good per se but still tries to be on the good side even if his moral compass is pretty much nonexistent. Long story short, you can choose to do good, even if you’re more morally grey than good. Like yeah sure, all of this makes sense, but I’m here to talk about Tanizaki’s corruption arc, so let’s put this argument aside for the sake of the analysis.
Let’s get the elephant in the room out for a walk first. That is the weird relationship between Tanizaki and Naomi. They both keep saying that they’re siblings, yet people in the ADA say that they don’t even look similar. So either they are siblings, which gross or they pretend to be. It doesn’t seem like there is any problem with getting into the Agency if someone wants to, so why would they pretend? What would they gain? As much as them pretending to be siblings because they’re into it is messed up, it’s still slightly better than them being actual siblings, which once again – gross. The way the members of the ADA react to their relationship seems to be negative too. They either pretend it doesn’t exist or see it as gross. But there is someone who’d understand them and that is the grossest man of them all (at least for now, hopefully, we won’t meet a worse one) and that's, of course, Mori. Mori is an absolute trash for treating Elise like his wife and making her a kid modeled after young Yosano. I’m talking about this subject just to say that Mori would enable their behaviour because he’s way worse and that would give them the comfort they shouldn’t get. Okay, I’m done with this subject. Let’s go back to things that don’t make me wanna throw up.
Tanizaki definitely has good acting skills and works well under pressure. The ADA could've chosen anyone to play the intruder, but they chose Tanizaki, which tells us they know how scary he can get. He’s willing to kill to achieve his goal and is quick to adapt to new places. He got to the room where Mori was kept during cannibalism with ease and wasn’t caught once from the moment he escaped until he was attacked by Kouyou. That’s a huge achievement. He’s also calm and collected and even if he’s nervous, like during the time he was transporting Atsushi to Moby Dick, he still does his job. He doesn’t let panic get the best of him and that’s valuable to the PM. As I said before, he can act well enough to work as a distraction or bait and the PM uses both of these tactics frequently. Of course, he has his ability as well, but we’ve already talked about it. He can blend well into a crowd, and his personality is quiet enough, he won’t pick useless fights. He’s the type to quietly do his job and just take care of himself for the rest of the day. He can work solo or with other people with the same level of professionalism. The only weakness I can really think about is that he has no combat training (that we’d know about), so if he ended up in a situation where his ability was useless, he’d be done for it. But that’s what his training would be for, preparing him for direct fights. But personality wise, he fits the PM even as his usual self and in his corrupted state? He’s perfect by their standards.
And listen, it’s not like I want bad things to happen to Tanizaki, but this evil development could be brilliant. Seeing a character, a person we know and like, go through a corruption arc is something still unexplored in bsd. It’s always people becoming better or people we’ve just met turning out to actually be bad and yeah, I like how bsd is a more hopeful story, BUT some Tanizaki angst wouldn’t hurt, especially because he’s not one of the main characters, so his arc wouldn’t ruin the story or change it drastically. There’s for sure enough foreshadowing, whether Asagiri and Harukawa did it accidentally or on purpose. Asagiri has also said that Tanizaki is the closest one to being evil in the ADA according to this translation by @popopretty (so it's a very trustworthy source), which for me is the biggest proof that Asagiri is planning something (thanks @jolionio for telling me!). It's screaming corruption arc. If I had any doubts before, now I'm 100% sure. And I also want to see him main, stab, choke and kill with his adorable hairclip intact. Is it not enough to want to see a fictional young man go feral? The manga has already gone into some gore territory, so we might as well see an unhinged Tanizaki in action.
In conclusion
I hope Tanizaki’s storyline is leading towards a corruption arc because it would both enhance his character and bsd as a whole. We haven’t seen people from the Agency switch sides to the Port Mafia and I think Asagiri is saving this plotline for Tanizaki because it would be a shame if these waters stayed untested after already hinting at it chapters ago. Tanizaki has been shown to have some contrasting personality traits, which I believe is no coincidence given that events in BSD tend to come back in some form or have huge consequences on the current timeline/characters themselves. I don’t want to put too much pressure on the Asagiri-Harukawa duo, but just think about the outfit change Tanizaki could go through and all the different conflicts we could see both externally and internally AND the new relationships being explored. I simply want them to happen. I think this arc has enormous potential, and I want to see it. At first, I put the word probably in the title, but when I was writing this analysis, it became apparent that it’s the most logical path for Tanizaki to take. And if it ends up being Kenji who switches because his pupils are big, I’ll come back to this analysis and write in bold well guess who’s the clownest of the clowns. Mark my words.
#this last paragraph was so dramatic and for what#I love being a drama queen#bsd#bsd spoilers#bungou stray dogs#bungou stray dogs spoilers#bsd original#bsd manga spoilers#bsd analysis#bsd tanizaki#is this more than you bargained for yet? (sugar we're goin down by fall out boy hijacking this analysis)#3k words I can't believe it#junichiro corruption arc#<joining this tag made by spixi because I like it and at this point our ideas go hand in hand
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Why isn't Nightwing a bigger deal? He has all of Batman's skills and Superman's faith in humanity and is arguably the most beloved hero in the DCU, but most people seem to know him either as the leader of the N̶o̶t̶ ̶J̶L̶ Teen Ttians or just Robin.
Thank you for asking me about Nightwing, I've been wanting to write a piece about him for a while now. The short version is that everyone who claims Dick becoming Nightwing was him "moving out of Batman's shadow and becoming his own man" is completely wrong.
Dick Grayson is a fantastic character, someone who saved Bruce Wayne in-universe both by forcing Batman to grow up a bit, and the countless times he saved Batman's life as his partner whether as Robin or Nightwing. Dick saved Batman in the real world as well, hard to believe but Batman was actually in danger of being cancelled due to poor sales early on. Enter Robin, a young daredevil audience stand in the creators hoped would get kids interested in reading Batman. And it worked! Sales on Batman doubled once Robin showed up which is crazy to think about, but Dick Grayson has always been a popular character. Cartoons like Teen Titans, Batman: The Animated Series, and The Batman only helped grow his audience.
Character-wise, Dick Grayson really does fill a number of crucial roles in the DCU. For Batman, Dick is proof that Batman is a positive force. Meeting Batman helped change Dick for the better, helped him heal after his parents died. With Dick, Batman can take comfort in knowing that yes, he has made a difference in the world for at least one orphan boy, which is all he wanted when he lost his parents himself. To the wider DCU, Dick is a friendly face who convinces others that Batman is competent and not a complete asshole. He took this kid in, trained him to be one of the best heroes the DCU has seen, and did it all out of the kindness of his heart. That someone like Dick can confront the evils of Gotham and not break means there's still hope for that city. As Robin, Dick has led the Titans and is an icon in his own right as The Sidekick, the original, the one every other Robin is built around copying or contrasting. The one all other superhero sidekicks are drawing on as a basis. As Robin Dick Grayson is very much on Batman's level.
Just not as Nightwing. As Nightwing, Dick has been a second rate Daredevil which means he's a third rate Batman (fully prepared to get hate for this but I've read and enjoyed the Miller and Bendis DD runs so I feel entitled to my opinion). A typical Nightwing run tends to go like this: Moving to Bludhaven (which is Gotham... but WORSE!), Dick Grayson usually enrolls in a pointless job we don't care about in order to provide some meaningless soap opera drama that doesn't go anywhere. Patrolling the city as Nightwing, he fights a variety of bad guys who are usually rather lame and unthreatening, with his big bad being a Kingpin knockoff called Blockbuster. Villains are fought, long running plotlines are set up, then everything is abandoned because it's Batfamily event time, and Dick has to run back to Gotham in order to play sidekick again. Usually his involvement is completely superfluous and it would've been better if the writer had gotten to opt out. By the time we finally get back to Nightwing's solo plotlines, the audience has usually ceased to care and the run gets cut short.
That's how Nightwing has been since the New 52 at least. Anyone who thinks that's "becoming their own man" is out of their mind. Dick is so thoroughly in Batman's shadow that he got shot in the head and spent a longer time as "Ric" which everyone fucking hated and sold like shit, than he did as Agent Grayson which was extremely well-received. Reiterating: Ric went on longer than Grayson because of a fucking Batman plotpoint Tom King wanted where Bruce was sad and cut off from the Batfamily because of Dick getting shot. Not just calling out King either, how many times was Kyle Higgins Nightwing run derailed because of Scott Snyder's crossovers? Or how about that entire run getting dumped to the side because Johns wanted to out Dick during Forever Evil, a Justice League/Lex Luthor story? DC has repeatedly made their contempt for Nightwing clear, he's Batman's sidekick still in their eyes, and he serves whatever story role the Batman writer wants.
Hell his best stories tend to have been the ones where he's not Nightwing. He was Robin in a good chunk of the Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans run. Morrison really showcased his depth as a character when they wrote him as Batman, their time with Dick under the cowl was actually one of the first Batman runs I ever read, and no Nightwing run has ever matched it in terms of quality in my humble opinion. Scott Snyder's work with DickBats also was a high point for the character, showing Dick as competent and examining his relationship with Gotham and the Gordons. King and Seeley gave him one of the best comic runs with Grayson, a series where he wasn't even a "superhero" technically! When it comes to actual pre-New 52 Nightwing runs that are highly recommended where he *is* Nightwing, there's Chuck Dixon and uhhhhhhh... Tomasi's brief run before Dick became Batman? It's not exactly an overwhelming list.
Look there has been good work done with Nightwing, I'm not claiming there hasn't been. Tim Seeley wrote a great run with Nightwing Rebirth. Seeley fleshed out Dick's Rogues Gallery with cool new ones like Raptor, he brought back old foes like Dr. Hurt (why oh why couldn't you have brought back Flamingo too?), he gave Dick's world some character it solely needed. Bludhaven under Seeley is pretty much the only time I've really felt like it lived up to being Dick's city.
The problem with fictional cities is you have to put in the work to give them the character of real cities. You have to make the cities feel like characters in their own right. Gotham is the best example of this, it's a character all it's own, one that tells you a lot about Batman and his cast. In contrast Bludhaven is usually one of the worst. Any place that wants to claim to be worse than the city that is built over the gate to hell and gets wrecked every other month by the Arkham freaks has to really put in the work to compete. Simply put, Bludhaven typically fails utterly. There's nothing about it that makes you really buy it's worse than Gotham, I mean does anyone really think Nightwing's Rogues wouldn't get their lunches eaten by Batman's? No, no one genuinely buys that. When Bludhaven claims to be worse, it just comes across as tryhard, an attribute that does end up telling you about Nightwing in unintentional ways.
So Seeley didn't do that. Instead he created a city built for a hero like Dick Grayson. Someone who is bright and flashy, but does have an element of darkness to him. Someone who loves the spotlight, but often uses it to obscure. Seeley turned Bludhaven into Las Vegas, and that was the fucking best concept for Bludhaven I have ever seen, it makes so much sense. Las Vegas is the "Entertainment Capital of the World" and isn't that the perfect city for a hero who got their start working in the circus? Isn't the aesthetics of the gleaming casinos, the glamorous sex appeal of the performers, and the spectacle of the shows, all being used to cover up the seediness of mob bosses meeting backstage perfect for Nightwing? It's so utterly unlike New York City, yet Las Vegas is still dangerous, it's got a crime culture all it's own. Seeley used it to great effect, as did Humphries during his brief run, and I will always be pissed that DC didn't continue to use it. That should have stuck around and been the definitive look for Bludhaven.
How Seeley's take on Bludhaven was treated feels like a small scale version of how Nightwing in general gets treated. Whenever creators pitched ideas for him, if editorial thought there was potential to break big, they asked for those ideas to be repurposed for Batman instead. Anything big or good gets repurposed for Batman or tossed to the side so Nightwing can go back to his default: having irrelevant adventures in a city that is supposedly worse than Gotham but can't live up to it. Just like how Nightwing is supposedly better than Batman but never gets to show it. Goddamn it's so frustrating seeing his potential get wasted like that.
The Nightwing book should be one of DC's most ambitious books in terms of storytelling. You can go from traditional superhero stories, to romantic soap opera, to spy stories, to crime noir, to horror, to cosmic adventures, and ALL of them would fit because Nightwing is someone who has a foot in both Gotham and Metropolis. He's got friends everywhere on every team, and has been a hero longer than most Leaguers have at this point. No reason DC should still be afraid to let him loose and insisting on hewing close to what Dixon established almost over 30 years ago is only holding him back. At the very least get him some better Rogues, why the hell didn't he get to keep Professor Pyg? That's Dick's villain not Bruce's! Bullshit that they didn't let Dick keep him. Hopefully Flamingo comes back, with a slight revamp I think he'd make a great reoccurring Nightwing Rogue.
Luckily it does look somewhat like Nightwing fans have reason to be optimistic. While Taylor isn't to my taste, DC clearly views him as a "big" writer, and that they put him on Nightwing says a lot. Taylor has been selling well so far, so hopefully he gets to tell his story, hilarious that even he lampshaded having to write Dick running over to Gotham for another tie-in after Taylor's big opening arc was all about Dick committing himself and his money to Bludhaven. Scott Snyder is apparently working on a Black Label Nightwing book which will explore how he's a different detective than Bruce. The Gotham Knights video game has him as one of the main stars, and while Titans is... controversial, it's one of the most popular streaming shows and Dick is the main character. There's a lot of content coming that features him in the starring role, and that will only help his star rise further.
For the first time in, well, ever it feels like DC may be serious about elevating him. Time will tell if it pays off, but I for one choose to be optimistic that the 2020s will be a turning point for Dick Grayson where Nightwing becomes hugely popular in his own right. Not just as Batman's sidekick.
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Distraction
Summary: As a junior CIA agent you are added to a mission to help with scientific analysis, but when half the team are hospitalised you have to suddenly become a hands on field agent, alongside August Walker and Will Shaw.
When the final part of the mission at a tropical plant glass house has an unexpected side affect, you have to work as a team to survive the night.
Pairing: August Walker x Female Reader x Will Shaw
Fandoms: Mission Impossible: Fallout (Movie), The Cold Light of Day (Movie), Henry Cavill - Actor.
Warnings: NSFW, 18+, Sex Pollen, Threesome, Oral Sex, Unprotected Sex, Vaginal Sex, Blowjob, Cum Play, Double Penetration, Anal Sex.
A/N: This is my first time writing the Sex Pollen trope, so i hope you like it.
Fic is unbeta’d; only the finest free range organic typos for me.
I do not run a tag list, but if you follow @angryschnauzerwrites and put that blog onto notifications, you will then get an alert when i post something new.
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Distraction
If there had been someone narrating a movie of this mission, the first line would have been ‘it was a simple mission’. However, they would have been lying. The mission was far from simple, it was convoluted, complicated, and the team fucking hated each other.
The team were scheduled to arrive via two flights, from opposite directions of the globe as not to arouse suspicions that a large team would do if anyone was picked up on facial recognition. You had been brought on board because of your scientific and tech background, and as the team were tasked with retrieving the formula for the most dangerous biological weapon in the world, you were the one that would check they had the right thumb drive before the mission was able to be called a success. There would be multiple extraction points, numerous undercover assignments that would all lead to the final extraction at the gala dinner.
That was the plan. What actually happened was the half of the team coming in from Dallas ended up with severe food poisoning and were currently being hospitalised in a local treatment facility. That left just your half of the team, and the senior agent now in charge was none too happy about it;
“I’ve got a fucking chemistry nerd and a number cruncher for a hands on mission that requires multiple scenes where infiltration and distraction are needed, and neither of you have any fucking field work!”
August Walker hated everyone and made sure he did everything he could so that everyone hated him in return. The other member of the team quietly ground his teeth, Walker never once let him forget that he came into this agency completely by accident following a rogue faction and a situation that started with the death of his CIA Agent father, and resulted in smashing up half of Madrid’s traffic in a 24 hour long series of car chases;
“I was a stockbroker, and i didn’t hear anyone complaining when i discovered the currency discrepancies that found us the targets insider trading”
Will Shaw was so similar yet so different to Walker it was startling, you even thought they looked similar enough to be long lost brothers, but never dared to mention it.
The hotel suite had all the facilities you needed to set up a small command post, with enough counter space to set up the laptops and work-stations, whilst not getting under each other's feet. However it was still small enough for the two men to continually bicker and make snide remarks at each other, and you had to push the earpiece of your surveillance equipment closer to your ear to hear, finally you heard what you needed to, holding your hand up and clicking your fingers at the two men who immediately silenced and crossed the room;
“They’re going to be at the MMA Gym in thirty minutes”
“Okay” Walker huffed; “We need to extract the codes from his device that will give us access for the holding location. You and Shaw take the gym and cause the distraction, i’ll get the codes”
Will shook his head;
“Not gonna work”
“It's not?” you were surprised
“The gym is men only, the only women are administration and janitorial”
“That’s fucking antiquated” August spat out in disgust.
You had to hide the smirk that tugged at the corner of your mouth, that August Walker of all people would be an advocate for equal rights, but nonetheless started to prepare for the first distraction.
-
Walker and Shaw had entered the building separately but within 5 minutes of each other, signing in under false names and keeping it simple and silent as they started training on the weights and cardio machines in the gym. You had already entered through the basement deliveries door which you’d been able to pick the lock of, finding a staff uniform t-shirt in the storeroom and pulling it on over your top. You could hear both men through their hidden comms, and within a couple of minutes pretending to sort out a cleaning kart that you knew the morning crew had finished with, you heard the code word that the target had entered the weights room.
Seconds later you were tentatively pushing the door to the locker room open, calling out;
“Housekeeping!”
You had no idea if they called themselves housekeeping or janitorial staff or whatever, but when you didn’t get a reply you quickly entered the room and did what needed to be done.
Through your ear piece you could hear the first stage of the distraction starting, with your two fellow agents starting to challenge the other to out lift each other, and from the muffled background noise you could tell that they were drawing a crowd of onlookers.
Tapping your comms you alerted Walker and Shaw that you’d been successful, and that it was time for them to leave. But as you got no response you quickly made your way out of the locker room through the other exit, only to find yourself in a glass walled corridor, the gym on the other side of the glass. What surprised you however was that there was now a huge crowd of spectators as they watched your two agents try to pull out more reps on the bicep curl machine. Scowling you grabbed a cloth and bottle of spray cleaner and squirted the glass, glaring at the two of them before they finally saw you;
“Its time to go, dumbasses. Finish the contest. I’ll be in the car in the street behind the building”
-
Pushing through the door of the hotel suite you scrunched your nose as Will pushed past you, August not far behind;
“You two need a shower… did you really need to get that sweaty?”
“Well… you wanted the distraction to look convincing, didn’t you?” Will shot back, stripping his t-shirt off, already halfway to the bathroom.
A quiet cough behind you drew your attention away from Will’s sculpted back muscles;
“When you’re done staring at Shaw…”
“I...I wasn’t stare…”
“Whatever sweetheart, either way; you two need to change”
Looking down at your outfit you pulled at the gym t-shirt;
“Yeah, i can just find a utility shirt or something…”
“No, you’re front of house with me. Will’s taking the extraction of the thumb drive”
“But...I didn’t bring an outfit…”
August nodded to a pile of bags in the corner of the room from the agents that hadn’t made it to the mission but their luggage had;
“So check Marianne’s, she is about the same size as you. Either way its you and me sweetheart, now get dolled up, you can’t go to a gala looking like that”
-
Twenty minutes later you took a deep breath; you’d found Marianne’s bag and had found that although she was a similar size to you, it was one size smaller. She also had a completely different taste and style to makeup and you were now way out of your comfort zone. The red lipstick however seemed to work, a touch of gold bronzing powder across your shoulders and chest made the red silk dress really work for you. Adjusting the straps so they sat over the top of your bra, the pretty floral pattern hopefully not too noticeably jarring against the sultry silk. Taking a deep breath you stepped out of the small dressing room and came face to face with Will;
“Oh hey” he looked you up and down before clearing his throat; “Looks good”
“Yeah?” you smoothed the dress down over your stomach
“I mean… the bra kinda takes away from the look… but yeah, it looks really good”
“I...I didn’t have anything suitable for a gala, this is Marianne’s… from her bag…”
Will stood in front of you, reaching his hand around your back and with a quick snap of his fingers he’d unfastened your bra;
“It really will look better without the bra… trust me…”
Without another word he turned and crossed the room, pulling his tie from his bag, fastening it as August emerged from the other room;
“Agent. Bra off, now”
Shimmying the offending garment down your arms you pulled it out of your dress as he crossed the room;
“I don’t see why…”
“Because the people at this gala have got so much money they flaunt what they’ve got. You’ve got to fit in” He held his finger out and you hooked it over the protruding digit.
“We’d better get going… the gala is about to start”
With a nod August grabbed the keys to the BMW you’d been assigned and tossed them to Will; he was taking on the role of Driver and Bodyguard to your’s and August’s ‘couple’, the three of you filed out of the room and into the elevator.
The ride down the highrise hotel was slow, and you could feel both men’s eyes on you as they stood behind you, before the doors finally opened to the basement parking. You struggled to keep up with them as they strode out with their long legs, the heels of your stiletto sandals clicking on the cement. Finally as you reached the car you were surprised as August opened the door for you, not uttering a word as he watched you climb in before he rounded the car and slid into the back seat beside you.
You’d barely had time to fasten your seatbelt before Will was peeling out of the hotel parking with a squeal of tyres and you were heading to your destination.
“Panties, off” August’s words surprised you
“W-WHAT?!”
“Panties. Take them off”
“Agent Walker…”
“They dig into the meat of your hips and take the attention away from the sexiness of the dress. You need to fit in tonight”
“B-b-but…” you attempted to stall, but without another word August pulled your knees towards him and slid his hands beneath your dress. He grasped the thin elastic straps that ran over your hips and pulled hard, snapping the fragile pieces of fabric and pulling the now ruined undergarments. Glancing at Will he had a brief smirk on his face but quickly looked away, concentrating on the road ahead.
-
The gala was amazing, and it was hard not to get absorbed into the evening as if you were a real guest. You could hear everything through the hidden comms units in your ears, and apart from the occasional grunt as Will silently passed the guards as he made his way further into the underground chambers that ran below the massive glasshouse the gala was in, it seemed to all be going exactly to plan. The host had announced for everyone to celebrate, and you had found yourselves being swept onto the dancefloor, and suddenly you were in August’s arms as he held you close, the music thankfully loud enough to drown out your conversation from the ears of others;
“Do you think he’s getting on ok?”
“He’d say if he wasn’t” August assured you as he moved in time to the music, his hand on your lower back pulling you closer to his body. At that very moment you both heard a guttural cry through the comms, your eyes wide in panic as he grabbed your hand and you quickly made your way through the crowd;
“Shaw, come in… are you ok?”
You heard gurgling on the comms and watched as August pulled out his phone and activated the trackers that you all wore, the two of you coming up together on screen, but the third - Will’s - showing as on the level below and not moving.
-
The stairs had been hell in your heels, eventually you’d kicked them off and had run barefoot behind August, chasing him around corners and along corridors, before he’d finally come to a halt in front of a sealed door, his phone showing that Will was in the room behind it.
“Stand back”
You took a couple of steps back and watched as August kicked the door, the deafening bang as it broke from its hinges and splintered in was immediately forgotten as a sudden rush of air came out of the room, covering him in a dusting of strange grey-pinkish powder. He fell to the floor coughing and you rushed to his side;
“Check on Shaw! I’m fine!”
Quickly entering the room you looked around, finally seeing Will laying on the floor, he too was covered in the powder. Kneeling at his side you checked his pulse, relieved to find one as he opened his eyes and groaned.
“What happened? Are you ok?”
“Stop fussing, i’m fine… we gotta get out of here. Security will be on their way…”
At that moment August appeared at your side;
“Did you get it?”
“Yeah, i got it”
Will held out the thumb drive and pushed it into your hand as August pulled him to his feet, and they attempted to dust themselves off as the three of you staggered down the hallway and out of the fire exit.
-
Pushing into the hotel room, both Will and August had already shed the majority of their clothing, now dressed in just their smart dress pants and under shirts, still coughing from the dust cloud that lingered in their airways. You’d run the briefest of tests with the tiny blood monitor that you’d kept in the car to ensure it wasn’t a known nerve agent or poison before you’d even left the extraction point, thankfully the results being negative, but both men needed to wash off whatever it was as soon as possible. But first, you needed a proper sample;
“Agent Shaw, i need to take some blood, hair and saliva, run it through the test software, to see if whatever it was has synthesised into your bloodstream” you nodded to the small scientific station you’d set up at the end of the table, the case having contained tiny gadgets that amounted to a microscope, a mass spectrometer, and other testing equipment… the whole point of why you in particular had been placed on this mission.
A minute later you’d collected the samples, trying hard not to get flustered as Will had stood in front of you bare chested and in just his underwear, heat radiating from his body;
“So what do you think it is?”
“I have no idea”
“Well i’m burning up, i need to take a shower”
Quickly loading the samples into the rapid mass spectrometer you turned to Agent Walker to check his vitals and let out a tiny squeak of surprise when you saw him sitting on the edge of the bed in just his underwear. His chest was flushed and he had a sheen of sweat over his entire body;
“I guess i’m next?”
Pressing your hand to his forehead you could feel he was burning up;
“I’m going to check your temperature first”
Quickly using the thermal reader you could see that his core temp was heading towards fever;
“I’m going to take the samples then as soon as Will is out of the shower you need to get in there”
“Yes Ma’am” he chuckled, closing his eyes as you pushed your fingers through his hair to pluck a sample strand. The powder had caught in the strands and it was only as you combed your fingers through the dark locks did you realise he had soft curls. As you tried to separate them he let out a groan as you stroked his scalp. He swayed a little even though he was sitting down, and before you could do anything his hands were on your hips to steady himself, the heat almost searing through the silk of your dress.
Finally having got all the samples you needed you reluctantly pulled away, not saying a word as he simply flopped back onto the bed with a smirk on his face. You busied yourself preparing the test samples from Agent Walker, the machine finishing with Shaw’s. You were vaguely aware of the shower being turned off and the men moving around the room, before the shower was on again and you presumed it was August in there.
Peering at the saliva samples through the microscope you frowned, the particles present completely organic and very familiar.
“So what is the diagnosis Doc?”
Will’s voice surprised you, and as you jumped and turned your eyes went wide when you saw he was in just a towel, tied low on his waist as he drank from a bottle of water.
“Y-You don’t want to put some clothes on?”
He looked down at himself, almost surprised to find he was only wearing a towel and shrugged;
“No point, the way i’m burning up i’ll be naked soon” he nodded to the screen; “So?”
Turning your attention back to the screen you swallowed hard, your throat suddenly dry;
“Well… it seems organic, spores of some kind. Its hard to tell what they are from, but their chemical make-up is unique. The only time i’ve seen anything similar is in isolated microclimates that are cut off from the rest of nature… there was this one… in a volcano… a pollen from a plant that grew in tropical climates…” you trailed off as you sensed another presence now flanking your other side, glancing away from the microscope, taking in the sight of August in an identical outfit to Will, his broad expanse of chest at eye level as he bent down to look into the microscope.
“Hmmn… so, how’s it gonna affect us? The gala was in a fucking giant greenhouse; you saw the plants they were growing there, some of them were 20ft tall and looked like they’d come from another planet. Do we need to pop an antihistamine or something, what’s it gonna do?”
Standing you quickly slid out from between the two barely dressed men, checking the mass spectrometer and frowning;
“It seems to be elevating your testosterone levels…” you peered at the saliva results; “...and pheromones… your bodies are heating up where your body is fighting against the pollen, its affecting all your hormones...”
“Pheromones…” Will mused; “... that’s the sex hormones, right?”
“Urrr…” you faltered, looking up at the two men who were now looking at you like hungry wolves.
August stepped closer;
“Sweetheart, i think you’d better get yourself tested too…” he paused, his finger hooking beneath the thin strap of your dress, making you acutely aware you were completely naked beneath it; “... cos’ i could smell you from across the room… and you smell so sweet right now…”
You went to take a step back, only to bump into the hard expanse of Will’s naked chest, his hand curling around your arm;
“C’mon, lets get you tested…”
You were suddenly putty in their hands, your head swimming and it was only then that you realised you were burning up. It felt like you had a core of lava within you, and the only thing you could liken it to was a hot flash, your body flushed with heat. You recalled the time you’d overheard a much older agent talking to her friends, unaware you had been in the room and she’d spilled the beans on how she would recover from an episode and calm her hormones down... with the help of her husband.
As your head had been swirling, Will had taken your blood sample and had loaded it into the mass spectrometer, having watched as you’d shown him before the mission. But you could barely concentrate;
“I...I know how to counteract the affects of the pollen…” you panted out, unsteady on your feet as you swayed and August caught you in his arms
“Oh yes?”
“En… Endorphins… they counteract… they burn off the pheromones…”
You felt hot breath on the back of your neck as Will pressed against you;
“I’m not a scientist, but i know how to create endorphins…”
His lips made contact with your neck and you turned to jelly, your head resting against his shoulder and your eyelids drooping, barely open, yet you had enough of your senses to be aware of August in front of you, pulling the straps of your dress down your arms, you pliable in his hands as he stripped you of your only remaining garment, pressing his lips to your over heated skin as went as the silk pooled at your feet;
“So beautiful…”
“Absolutely” Will agreed from behind, his lips grazing over your jawline as his arms reached around you and cupped your tender breasts; “We need to work as a team to get through this… what are the hazards of hot flashes then Doc?”
“Y-Y-You can over heat your brain… your heart could give out…”
“Uh-huh… and endorphins will help stop this?” August enquired, his breath hot on your naked chest
“Y-yeah…”
That was the last word spoken for a very long time. From that point on the only sounds in the room were hums of pleasure combined with the carnal soundtrack of three bodies moving towards the inevitable. By the time you got to the bed both men had lost their towels, hard naked bodies pressed against your soft curves, sculpted hard muscle available everywhere you touched, and oh did you touch… and caress and stroke, the second you’d reciprocated their affections they had softened to your touch, sighs of pleasure as your fingertips gave them just the slightest relief.
You found yourself sandwiched between the two men on the soft covers of the king-size bed, each taking turns to capture your lips for searing kisses, each having their own unique talent and style with their tongues. When you were deep in August’s embrace you felt Will move down the bed, his hands pulling your legs apart before he pressed kisses up your inner thighs and his mouth made contact with your soaked folds. The cry of pleasure that erupted from your mouth broke the kiss, yet August didn’t seem to mind as your hand had found its way to being wrapped around his weeping shaft, tugging him sloppily as you struggled to concentrate;
“That’s it Sweetheart, you don’t need to be gentle… i like it rough…”
You tried to answer, but Will’s tongue had found your soaked entrance as his hand curled around your thigh and sought out your clit, the pleasure he was giving you was too intense to allow you to form coherent words. August claimed your lips again for another searing kiss, humming his appreciation as you worked your hand over his heated flesh.
Before you knew it you were coming hard, your orgasm tearing through your body as you ground your core against Will’s face, his eyes sparkling from between your thighs, and as you were floating on the high of the afterglow you could feel the two men moving you, adjusting you to suit their needs.
On all fours on the bed you were faced with August’s dick, opening your mouth instinctively to take him deep, the heavy weight on your tongue a welcome feeling. Saliva spilled from the corners of your mouth as you struggled to stretch around his girth. At the same time you felt Will’s powerful thighs pressing against the back of your own, the velvet touch of his bulbous crown pressing to your still trembling hole before with a grunt he thrust into your soft body.
There were only grunts and gasps of pleasure, the two men rocking your body between them as they defiled you in the basest of ways, but that you were eager to participate in, the mixing of pheromones in the room removing your inhibitions, knowing that it was an act of survival. You could feel your body climbing again, your orgasm imminent. You felt the first salty tang of August’s seed on your tongue, the tensing of his muscles as his body prepared to release into the welcome warmth of your mouth. His massive hand cupped your chin and pulled your head up to look him in the eye as he finally reached his peak, grunting curses as he pumped thick ropes over your tongue, raining praise upon you as you swallowed everything he gave you.
August fell back onto the pillows, but before you could let gravity take hold of you too Will wrapped his arms around your torso, pulling you upright until you were pressed against his chest, his hips thrusting as he filled you so deliciously from behind. Through lust soaked gaze you watched August watching the pair of you as you fucked in front of him, his eyes travelling down your heated body until he was watching where your bodies were joined, how Will’s thick cock stretched you out so well.
“Get your finger on her clit Shaw, i wanna watch you make her come undone”
Doing as the senior agent instructed, Will snaked a hand down your stomach, rubbing tight firm circles against your sensitive bud as he continued to fill you, until you were shaking, hanging onto the precipice of pleasure and that final flick of his finger was enough to set off another orgasm.
The vice-like grip of your velvet walls was the final trigger for Will, and with a sin filled groan he pushed in one last time and you could feel him spilling deep inside you.
Finally he pulled out, carefully setting you down onto the soft bedcovers. Your eyelids felt heavy, but the burning deep in your body seemed to be sated. You felt the men moving around the bed, a large hand cupping the back of your neck before lifting you from the bed a little;
“Drink…”
Opening your eyes, you watched as August lifted a water bottle to your lips, making sure you gulped down the chilled water before pulling away;
“How… how are you guys feeling?”
He turned and sat on the bed beside you, his finger trailing down your neck and between your breasts, and only then could you see the sheen as his skin glistened with sweat, a droplet running down his abdomen to where his cock stood hard and proud from a thatch of dark curls;
“Not… not quite done yet…”
Gently pushing you back down onto the bed he tossed the empty bottle aside before crawling atop of you, capturing your mouth with his as you felt the nudge of his hardened dick breach your body, his wide expanse of chest pressing you to the bed. He didn’t start out gentle and it only got rougher, ploughing into your body as he sought to relieve the effects of the pollen coursing through his veins like fire, burning within him until all that was left was red hot embers of passion. Your body writhed beneath him, begging for more, eagerly taking whatever he could give.
He hit spots you didn’t know existed, your back arching with pleasure as he filled you, your hardened nipples almost too sensitive from his chest hair roughly rubbing against them, the stimulation almost too much until the levy broke and you came hard, your fingers digging into his back to leave dark welts, the pain his trigger for the final thrust as he pumped you full of his seed.
Finally he rolled off you, laying at your side as your chests heaved, struggling to catch your breath when you felt another hand grasp at your wrist;
“Babe… please… i need you…”
Looking to Will you saw a pained look on his face as he sat partially propped up against the pillows, his chest soaked and his dick standing hard and proud;
“Please…” he begged.
Somehow you found the energy to move, your body still shaking but yet you straddled his lap, pushing his sweat soaked curls from his face;
“It’s going to be ok Will, i’ll take care of you… its ok…”
You sank down onto his waiting body, taking him where August had been only a minute before, the comingled seed lubricating you as this new angle found yet more pleasure points that had remained undiscovered until then. Wills hands moved to your hips, his grip tight as he gritted his teeth and moved you on his lap, rocking you to ride him like a rodeo stallion. Sweat dripped down your body, rivulets running between your breasts as you threw your head back and basked in the flood of pleasure chemicals soaking your brain. The haze of lust clouding time and space as you came to another orgasm, Will filling you with another load of his thick cum, your cries of pleasure finally ebbing away as you collapsed on his heaving chest, his hands stroking your back whilst your bodies stayed joined.
A pair of strong arms lifted you off of Will and set you down on the mattress, August’s dark smile haunting over you as he parted your legs and kissed down your thigh, before with a smirk he bit the soft flesh. It wasn’t enough to break the skin but the pleasure pain receptors in your mind were immediately set off again, and you knew that even if you couldn’t see the mark you’d feel it for days to come. He lifted your legs and parted them, his face at your centre, yet where his tongue ended up you let out a squeak of surprise as he circled your back entrance.
“Oh, OH… August…”
“Mmmnnfff” was all that could be heard as he pushed his tongue at your asshole, his thumb pressing against your clit as he worked you open, your body deceiving you as a fierce orgasm washed over you almost immediately. When he pulled away he had a smug look on his face;
“Thought as much… hold tight…”
He quickly disappeared to the bathroom, before returning with a small bottle in his hand. Pouring some of the liquid contained within on his fingers, he worked the oil over your skin before pushing his thick finger into your ass, eagerly praising you as he worked your body until you were ready.
“Walker… hurry up and fuck her… i’m burning up here, i need another round…” Will gasped out as August moved you.
“C’mere then Shaw, we’re never gonna get this out of our systems if we have to wait to take turns…”
Even through the haze of the pollen Will immediately got what August was saying, the pair of them pulling you from the bed before Will took you into his arms;
“Jump…”
With a surprising amount of strength Will pulled you up, your legs hooked over his forearms as he angled his hips to push his dick back into your cum soaked cunt, letting gravity help as he sank deep. Just as you thought you were about to overbalance a hard chest pressed against your back, August stooping behind you as he took his iron hard dick in hand and sought out purchase on your ass;
“Gonna take this as slow as i can Sweetheart…”
Slow didn’t seem slow enough, and you cursed Newton and the laws of physics as the same forces that had pulled you down onto Will did the same with August, leaving you gasping for air as you were filled in both holes. The boys held you up, in place and still whilst they resisted ravaging your body, fighting against the pollen until they could no longer hold back and they unleashed their raw power upon your body. Fucking you in tandem with the thinnest of walls separating themselves inside you, they defiled your body as you begged for more; harder, deeper, faster. It was never enough.
-
The night ebbed away into the mists of time, each sex act more depraved than the last, the three of you driving the deadly force of the pollen from your bodies in an endless battle of lust.
The last thing you recalled was the sun rising as the two men stood before your kneeling body, spraying your face and breasts with a final load before sleep finally claimed your sated body.
-
Bright light streamed in the window and you winced as your head pounded. A deep voice could be heard but you weren’t listening. A warm body beside you shifted and a large warm hand pressed to your aching abdomen, soothing the overworked muscles. A soft pair of lips pressed a kiss to your shoulder, and the lack of moustache told you it was Will that was spooning you.
“C’mon Agents, rise and shine” August barked from the bathroom doorway, packing his things; “Got a flight to catch in two hours, debriefing in twelve”
-
Closing the file you nodded at your superiors, their approval of a good job done ringing praises in your ears as the debriefing ended, people pushing their chairs out and making small talk as they were dismissed for the weekend and a well deserved rest.
Walking to the elevator you didn’t make eye contact, trying hard not to wince as your thighs rubbed together and you felt the bite that August had given you, wanting to avoid any probing questions. You’d skimmed over a lot in your report, mainly the sex-pollen induced orgy that had taken place, but as the thumb drive with the vital data on had been recovered no-one was concentrating on the part between the retrieval and the debriefing.
The elevator dinged as the doors opened, and absentmindedly you stepped in, looking out of the glass windows as you were only partially aware of just a few other passengers. It was only when you realised you were flanked on both sides did you look up and see that August and Will were either side of you.
With a smirk August handed you a file;
“This wasn’t needed for the debriefing”
You flicked it open and saw that it was the mobile test data from the hotel room;
“Yes, probably for the best” you agreed, your throat dry.
As you held the pages Will pointed to a trio of lines towards the bottom. For a moment you stared at the numbers before you recognised what they meant;
“That’s our results…”
You felt August’s breath hot on your ear as he whispered;
“Look at yours…”
You saw the readings of Will and August’s blood count, of the pheromone saturation… then you saw yours;
“But… but that can’t be right…”
“You know that equipment better than anyone else… when has it ever been wrong?”
The elevator reached the Lobby and everyone filed out, August and Will stopping and nodding to the bar across the street;
“We’ll be catching a drink or two… you’re welcome to join us once you’ve taken in the test data…”
You nodded, speechless, staring at the data in black and white. It couldn’t be wrong; it was never wrong. It was clear as day.
You hadn’t been infected by the pollen.
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Why Dazai is a complex character
We all know how hard it is to get in this man’s mind, right?
First, let’t take a look on what makes a character complex:
- Conflicted or contradictory motives
- Change or grow as a result of the story’s actions
- Decisions advance the story’s plot
- Create conflict in the story’s plot or theme
- Learn something about themselves
It fits Dazai perfectly, right? Now let’s take them one by one.
1. Conflicted or contradictory motives
- to die/to find meaning/to save others/?
What the audience is given to realize is that Dazai wants salvation through death. His desire to die comes with a shade of humor to hide how sad and tragic it really is. Other than that, one motive of his is the promise he made to his friend who died on his arms. You see it right? Dazai’s motives are contradictory because he saves people but can’t really save himself. Although Dazai is on the side of ‘good’ which is actually something that doesn’t really exist in BSD world because everything is more like in a gray area, his motives are more focused on others rather than himself. While on the mafia, his focus was on himself, his doom and suffering. That’s what made him so miserable. People aren’t sure whether Dazai has changed, and they question his conflicted motives. But in reality, it’s very simple. Dazai has no hidden motives other than the ones we already know. He’s not the type to aim for power and fortune. Dazai just wants a bit of happiness, he wants to answer questions that are impossible to answer. I’d like to quote a Dostoevsky saying:
“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
2. Change or grow as a result of the story’s actions
Dazai’s grow is something people fail to see. I’ve read thoughts on this matter and some claim that Dazai hasn’t changed at all. That is partly true.
Before Oda’s death, Dazai was not open to people (and still isn’t) but the difference stays on how he dealt with it. In the dark era, Dazai drowned himself in misery, seeing only darkness and claiming that this is how it always has been for him. Whilst in the time being, Dazai hides his misery behind a smile and happy facade. Bsck then, he made no attempt to change, nor did he tried to look things differently. Dazai was alone, completely. There were times he was surrounded by people he genuinely cared about, like Oda. Now, the thing is, without Oda, Dazai may have never gotten the development he got. Hardly would the things lead differently if Oda was still alive.
With Oda, Dazai felt comfortable, not judges. He felt like he could open up with him because Oda would always listen to Dazai without joking around or judging him. That’s the reason why Odasaku was the only person that came close to understanding Dazai, because he was the only one Dazai opened up to. I believe that is becuase in reality, Dazai trusted Oda. We know how easily he can see through people. Perhaps, he saw in Oda that kindness and goodness that intrigued him. He saw such integrity and selflessness that made him lower his guard.
Their relationship was beautiful. They let aside the ranks and always had each other’s backs. Sometimes, between two people, it just clicks. It feels like you’ve known each other for a long time and you find yourself comfortable, you let yourself be. That’s how Dazai was. Maybe, the only thing that kept him happy, was his friendship with Odasaku and Ango. Because those were two people that accepted him the way he was, people who appreciated life and had dreams and goals, something that Dazai longs to have.
When Odasaku died, Dazai’s hope died with him. Although extremely intelligent, Dazai is optimistic. He had hope that he’d find a solution to his problem, but Oda’s words shattered him.
Dazai did not cry. But you can tell that he’s ready to. Look at his face and tell me that that’s not the most devastating Dazai you have ever seen. His lip trembles and his eyes give away how hard it is for him, how hard it has always been. This is the moment that Dazai takes the decision to change, keeping the promise of his friend to become a good man and protect others.
3- Decisions advance the story’s plot
Dazai is the one who comes up with brilliant strategies, but that’s not all of it.
- He took Atsushi under his mentoring and hired him as an agent in the ADA.
Atsushi plays a very important role in almost every mission or situation that ADA is in.
If Atsushi wasn’t in the ADA, things might have gone completely different.
- Dazai decided to join the good side.
Yet again, if Dazai didn’t join the ADA, there would be no Atsushi, no shin-soukoku and probably the ADA would have already fallen due to the immense power the mafia would have with Dazai in it. More people would die, wars would destroy the city and things may have gotten to be worse.
- The creation of shin-soukoku
The plot goes around Atushi and Akutagawa as the new generation of the double black, a powerful duo brought together for the good of the city, to defeat the greater evil. Their mentor, who sees the potential in them better than everyone else, has forcefully made them work together, which had successful results. If Dazai didn’t make such decision, Atsushi and Akutagawa may had already killed each other.
- Dazai decides almost any plan and strategy there is. He plays his cards well and the way he thinks and acts determine the aftermath.
4- Create conflict in the story’s plot or theme
- Dazai’s a problematic character for a lot of reasons. He’s lazy, distracted, unbothered, mysterious and secretive. Sometimes, unwillingly he creates conflicts that sometimes as viewed lightly by the audience. Like the shin-soukoku conflict. A part why Aku hates Atsushi is because he is Dazai’s junior and that he gets almost everything that he himself once desired. He gets praise and acknowledgment from Dazai. The latter, has not acknowledged Aku that way he wants to, but surely he has acknowledged him on his own way. Dazai made him part of the new double black and puts his trust in him and Atsushi. Dazai too believes in the quote that ‘only a diamond can polish a diamond’.
Furthermore, we have the conflict between the mafia and the ADA. You may think that it’s not directly tied to Dazai, but he plays a major role. Having Dazai in the opposite team, makes it harder for the mafia to create successful operations. Not only Dazai’s intelligent and cunning, but he’s an ex-member himself which makes him even more of a threat to the mafia.
His suicidal tendencies is the reason why he met Atsushi in the first place. So in a way, Dazai drives the plot of the story.
5- Learn something about themselves
I believe that this is the point we are all looking forward to. Although we have already caught a glimpse of Dazai considering his worth as a human being in the Dead apple movie, but also in the manga countless times.
Just look at his expression. How his eyes close so peacefully when Atsushi claims that he does things that let him know that Daza’s a good guy (visiting graves and also in the end of the movie...)
Dazai sees himself rather harshly. He judges himself for his past and puts himself in constant misery. Maybe he doesn’t accept the fact that he’s a ‘good guy’, but he’s desperately trying to be.
Take a look to the following panel (chapter 50)
You can tell how much Dazai wants to help and this warms my heart so much.
“Yosano could heal me and I could help in the search”
He clenches the sheet because of the frustration of not being able to help; that his ability is holding him back.
HE’S BLAMING HIMSELF.
Like one would say that he’s injured, or that he was shot, but no. Dazai puts the blame on himself like he always does.
I’d like people to acknowledge Dazai’s growth because our boy is trying so hard. Dazai literally went from hell to salvation. He has already found his salvation but he hasn’t recognized that yet.
In conclusion, Dazai is the complex character we so much love. In the future, maybe we’ll be able to see him a bit more happy. Genuinely happy.
(sorry this was very sloppy but I hope you get the point)
#bungou stray dogs#bungo stray dogs#bungou stray dogs dazai#bungou sd#bungou stray dogs analysis#bungou stray dogs theories#dazai#Dazai Osamu#dazai analysis#being a dazai stan is hard#dazai manga#dazai san#dazai scenarios#bsd dazai#bsd dark era#bsd anime
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Cox: I bought a giant octopus
Metro UK ~ Thursday 21 Feb 2008 9:38 am
Actor Charlie Cox, 25, is doing quite well for himself. He played the lead role, Tristan, in recent fairytale flick Stardust and finds himself treading the West End boards in a Harold Pinter double bill of The Lover and The Collection, not bad considering it’s only his second stage performance. Stardust is out now on DVD.
What is the secret of your success?
I’ve been lucky but I take my job seriously. I work hard and do a lot of text work. You hear some actors say you either can or can’t act but I sit down with the text and write a lot of notes. I don’t just rock up to the audition and blag it. My career has been about being in the right place at the right time. I got an agent because I met someone when I went bowling.
When did you realise you were good enough to act for a living?
I thought I was terrible at drama school. There were a lot of times I wanted the teachers to put me out of my misery and tell me to leave because the other 12 people in my class were so much better than me. I’ve now done work which I’m proud of but I find it hard to watch my own work critically. It’s cringe-making and, of course, you never believe your own performance. I know I’ve got a lot better and learnt a lot. I can see how far I’ve come.
What other careers did you consider?
I wanted to be a football player. I was the top goal-scorer at my school. Maybe I’d have liked to have been a gardener, I like the idea of it. I’ve never grown a plant but you get to work outside and you can travel all over the world. It’s very creative. It seems like a very peaceful job, the opposite of being in a celebrity-type job.
When are you moving to LA?
Never. I really struggle there. I love London, I love the weather. I’ve never got a job from auditioning in Los Angeles. I don’t think my American accent is very good. I don’t like living out of a suitcase and not knowing anyone. It’s like living in the office. Everyone’s an actor in LA and everyone talks about films. It consumes everything. In London I’ve got friends from school and they’re bored of me talking about acting. We talk about football.
Do you like being recognised?
It’s mainly children who recognise me from Stardust and that’s nice. When a little boy or girl comes up to me they think they’re talking to the character in the film. That’s sweet. It’s nice to be able to say hello. When someone approaches me like that I know that I’ll be polite and kind and sign something. I’ve seen some celebrities be rude to fans and it’s not nice.
You’ve got five tattoos. What are they of?
They’re just random thoughts. I’ve only got them because my best friend, Scott Campbell, is a well-known tattoo artist. My last one was a funny-shaped pattern on my arm. It’s quite intricate. Scott did one for my mum. It was her 61st birthday and she had her first tattoo; it was of a sweet pea flower.
You’re pals with Sienna Miller. Is she misunderstood?
Yes, she’s a lovely person and a terrific actress. Maybe she’s made some bad decisions, it’s not my place to say, but she does get a hard time. She’s a nice girl and does a lot of work for charity.
Has she made you wary of the pitfalls of fame? What won’t you be doing?
I’ll try not to fall out of clubs naked and drunk. I’m not suggesting she does that but I’ll try to behave myself.
Do you have to be posh to go to Sherborne School [in Dorset], as you did?
Yes, relatively posh, or your folks have got to have enough money. I was at a day school in London and asked to go to boarding school. I had friends who went and heard stories about them pillow fighting and all the sport seemed better. I went and never had a bad experience at school.
What was the last thing you bought on eBay?
It was by mistake, I accidentally clicked on it. It’s a big octopus that hangs on the wall and it’s got “head” written on it. Apparently it’s something to do with boats. It looks awful but it’s quite funny.
~*~
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