#because he saw desmond

[teecupangel]

From @saberamane’s reblog of this majestic leucistic moose

@teecupangel Desmond as a big ass white moose walking through Masyaf/Firenze/Boston looking for Altair/Ezio/Ratonhnhaké:ton because he needs to figure out where in the timeline he is so he can plan his next step. ...after he finds out if he can return to a human form. Being this big and blatant is attracting too much attention. (Surprise! He's stuck as a moose.)

“Good morning, Altaïr!” The informant cheerfully greeted him, either not caring or not seeing the darkness on the face of the Master Assassin turned novice.

‘Ah, he must have talked to Malik.’ The informant noted, deciding to just ignore the murderous air around Altaïr.

He knew Altaïr wouldn’t attack him. For all the bad rumors going around about his personality, everyone knew that Altaïr didn’t attack without a good reason.

“I assume you wish for information about a certain someone?” The informant asked lightly, “I may have something that may be of use…”

Altaïr’s eyebrow twitched when it became clear that the informant was not going to continue talking. He took a deep breath before he asked through gritted teeth, “What do you need from me?”

“A little of your time and talent, my friend!” The informant patted his shoulder and kept the hand there. When he saw Altaïr glare at the offending hand, he simply patted him again.

Perhaps he should care more about his life but he trusted Altaïr not to do anything.

He did pity the next man that Altaïr would have to ‘interrogate’.

“The guards have captured an animal. A supposed sacred animal from God.”

Altaïr’s lips curled into a frown.

“The guards have been guarding-” He waited for a reaction but just shrugged when Altaïr just glared at him, “-this sacred animal west of here, in the guards’ main base of operation.”

“Malik believes that I can slip inside and find out what this animal is supposed to be.” The informant continued, placing his other hand on his chest as he said with a nod, “I am honored by Malik’s trust of my abilities.”

“Yet here you are, asking me to be the one to slip inside and find out what this animal is.” Altaïr reminded him dryly.

“Knowing people who could do a better job and having the means to make them do it in your stead is also a kind of ability, my friend.” The informant countered with a smile. He patted Altaïr’s shoulder once more, ignoring the way Altaïr looked ready to smack it off hard enough to topple him to the ground, as he said, “All I need is to know what kind of animal it is, Altaïr. I will wait for you here, my friend!”

He placed his other hand on Altaïr’s shoulder, ignoring the warning glare Altaïr gave him as he said cheerfully, “I believe in you, Altaïr.”

.

20 minutes later, the entire city is engulfed in complete chaos as news of a hooded man, rumored to be an Assassin, was riding the sacred animal all over the city to evade the guards sent to hunt them down.

The informant paused and asked the most important question.

“And what is this sacred animal supposed to be?”

[teatitty]

Do you ever think about what it must be like to relive the memories of your ancestors and experience the emotions they experienced? Do you ever think about Desmond going to Italy and being hit by waves of nostalgia for a place he's never been himself but Ezio's hold is so strong on him he cannot help weeping at a picture of the Auditore home? Did he ever wake up in the dead of night wracked with grief over the death's of people he's only ever seen in another man's memories? When he comes back from the memory of Malik's death does he feel the loss just as heavily as Altair did?

Is this what the bleed does to you? Is this how it sends you mad, little by little, in the same manner as the artefacts of Eden? - Burdened with knowledge you were never meant to have

[cloggedarteri]

ubisoft

imma hold you by the hand when i tell you this but

you clearly overestimated my intelligence when you gave me those 'find the apple' and 'decode the message' puzzles in 2

dont get me wrong, i did them

but know I took longer than I should have😐

[loosescrewslefty]

This was absolutely brilliantly done.

Because this isn't Anya's most closely guarded secret being discovered by accident without her consent. She made an active, CONSCIOUS choice to tell Damian that she is a telepath. Something that she was previously terrified would lead to her being hated if someone happened to find out. And throughout this little prom arc we slowly get fed the reasons that lead up to this moment. First being that while she initially saw Damian as a bratty, self centered jerk, Anya has slowly come to know him better and see a more noble and compassionate boy under all that cocky bluster.

Then there's the way Damian also mentions to her that many people try and use him in order to get close to his parents-- which she sees for herself when the other girls start swarming him demanding to dance-- hence his suspicions of her own intentions.

And the finally is the fact that, despite his own admission that his parents barely acknowledge he's alive, Damian still loves and admires them and is desperate to earn their affection.

In fact, during the Damian quiz, it's implied that Anya didn't use her powers to figure out who Damian's most beloved person was, because she already knew the answer just from knowing him. It's the only question we don't see her telepathic 'sparkles' or hear her listening on the answer.

It happened slowly and subconsciously, but despite the unflattering first impression Anya has come to care about Damian. She doesn't want him to be hurt or sad. She doesn't want to use him or take advantage of him the way she sees others try to (and the way a small subset of the fandom accuses Anya of trying to since they can't seem to grasp that Anya is at most six years old and hasn't thought as far as to how the fallout of Twilight's mission will affect the Desmonds). And she understand him a lot better than she ever realized. She trusts him with her deepest, darkest secret despite her fear and the uncertainty because she genuinely WANTS to be honest with Damian. It's her olive branch to him, after HE was vulnerable with her time and again when it comes to his family and his fear of letting others close after so many people tried to use him for his name.

Because more than anyone else, Damian has noticed her, and how intuitive she is of the thoughts of others.

And despite denying or deflecting it time and time again-- including intentionally bombing a few questions in this chapter to avoid standing out too much after Damian called her out again-- Anya FINALLY came clean to him about her powers.

And, of course, he thought she was messing with him, which in turn pissed HER off because this is her biggest secret, dammnit! XD

But despite Damian's refusal to believe her ATM, this isn't something Anya can take back, and Damian is perceptive enough of Anya that sooner or later he's going to realize that Anya was being honest with him. And it'll be a wild ride to see where things go from there.

[sy-on-boy]

Real talk: the fact that Anya expects to read Demetrius’ mind but sees nothing is kind of sad because Demetrius saw his 6yo brother approach and congratulate him, and had zero thoughts in his brain. But that doesn’t mean Demetrius doesn’t care about him. When Damian stutters, Demetrius initiates conversation by talking about Damian’s grades, showing that he indeed pays attention.

Demetrius seems almost resentful by Damian’s insistence to impress Donovan, giving out a snarky, passive aggressive, teen appropriate response: “How would I know? It’s not as if I’m in regular contact with him.” This is like the passive aggressive version of whatever is going on with Melinda. Damian is a relatively innocent 6yo kid seeking his father’s approval, but both his mother and his brother appear to be seriously affected (in a bad way) by Donovan, and they avoid talking about Donovan even as Damian repeatedly mentions him. Demetrius doesn’t understand Damian’s desire for their father’s approval. He also doesn’t understand his father, hinting at some sort of disconnect between them.

What also saddens me a bit is how Demetrius barely acknowledged Damian’s friends talking to him. Like, they’re six year old kids trying to make a good impression. Still, Demetrius didn’t completely ignore them, just gave a meaningless “oh” and decided to stop thinking about people. It’s very much giving “stressed (and depressed) to the point of apathy”. When facing the innocence (ignorance?) and optimism of 6yo kids, Demetrius doesn’t understand. (And maybe he doesn’t understand friendship, which is what Damian has?)

I mentioned before that characters Anya met are probably “good” characters on the side of Forgers or at least are sympathetic to readers. Because if Anya met a “bad” character and read their mind, she would be too OP and the plot could be quickly solved. It’s like how we all thought Melinda was suspicious when she met Yor, but then Anya met Melinda and read her mind to reveal that she cares about Damian (even if it’s in a twisted way). Demetrius is interesting because he subverts what I said above by thinking very little, so Anya cannot really read him. But so far, I think his portrayal is that of a typical middle schooler with middle school angst, and he cares about Damian even if he has zero thoughts on his brain (and doesn’t like the way Damian craves fatherly approval). He is still a child and presumably a victim of his father’s parenting.

The framing is also interesting. Damian telling his friends to go on without him while he waits for Demetrius. The panel of Demetrius towering over a stuttering Damian. Demetrius going away, showing a panel of him as a small figure in an otherwise blank background. That panel when Anya thinks Damian’s relatives are weird has her looking at Damian while he’s some distance away from her (and the rest of his friends). The brothers feel disconnected. Damian is both eager and nervous to talk to Demetrius. Demetrius is nonchalant and apathetic, but not impolite or outwardly wholly dismissive.

Given Damian’s wacky family situation, I’m glad he has friends at Eden. Ewen and Emile of course are steadfast and loyal companions, always eager to back up their beloved boss man. Anya can read his mind and she knows about his insecurities (and also his weird family).

Becky is also good as a friend because she doesn’t care about sucking up to Damian, she often calls him out, but she also supports Damian when he deserves it. A sweet scene here is Damian saying he’s a Desmond so he’s expected to get a star, and Becky adding “it’s still a great achievement. Congrats!”. Becky is validating his success and telling Damian it’s okay to be proud and happy for himself. Even though she’s usually judgemental towards Damian, she’s still kind to him because that’s who she is as a character.

In the end, Damian still wants his father’s attention. He had no idea Demetrius wasn’t that close to their father… I would assume Demetrius spent most of his time at Eden and this is Damian’s first year at Eden, so he actually gets to interact with his brother instead of hearing things about him?

So far, Demetrius seems like a very jaded character in contrast to Damian who feels like a beam of sunshine now. He’s the heir so he’s got more troubles. But it’s nice that he’s finally debuted and no longer in mystery. Can’t wait to see what Endo has in store for him :)

[whateversawesome]

Spy x Family Ch. 110: Is Donovan Desmond a Mind Reader and Most Importantly, Is Twilight Doomed?

Nah.

Twilight isn't doomed, this isn't the end. Calm down, there's no need to panic about that.

Think about it for a second, if Donovan Desmond could read minds, the SSS would have arrested Twilight the minute he said bye to Desmond on that first meeting.

A few months ago, when we saw a young Donovan Desmond appear, I did a poll/analysis about whether or not he could read minds.

Even after the most recent chapter, my opinion is still the same: No, he can't.

Some people think that maybe he can get a glimpse into people's past. Although that would be a super awesome power (and it would be one hell of a plot), I don't think it's the case, because that wouldn't really tell him much and I don't think it would have affected him to the point of forcing him to distance himself from everyone.

I do have a theory about him. I've mentioned it before but here it is again:

I think he can tell when someone is lying.

Yup. That's it. A human lie detector. It made sense a few months ago, it makes even more sense now.

It fits his personality, his fixation with liars as a child, it also fits the theme of the whole story (everyone is a liar in sxf, everyone has something to hide) and most importantly, it fits his behavior.

We know that Donovan Desmond did not initiate war with Westalis. Chapman was Prime Minister when the war started and Desmond followed after him. There's a big chance war ended while Desmond was in power. If I'm not mistaken, the war has been over for about 10 years. I have the feeling that Desmond may have launched Project Apple as a means to protect peace.

And how would someone who is obsessed with lies do that? Of course, by wanting to know how others really think at all times.

My guess is that he volunteered himself to participate in the experiments, that would also explain the scars he has on each side of his head (which he didn't have as a child). It's unlikely he was a war veteran, because politicians and people in office never go into a battlefield, so he didn't get those scars in battle.

I think he really tried to obtain mindreading abilities and he failed, but not completely.

Imagine how it would be to have that awareness of people lying ALL THE TIME. How awful it must have been for him to get this power and realize than even his family, the people he felt closest to were lying to him. I think that's the reason why he isolated from everyone. It also fits what Melinda describe in the last chapter:

Let's look at that Desmond family dinner from that perspective. He cannot read minds but he can tell his wife is lying (because she's scared of him and doesn't want to be there!). It also makes sense that Demetrius keeps his mind blank because he suspects his father knows what he's thinking, so he's train himself to not think in front of others.

His behavior shows a person who has completely lost faith in humanity. He pushed everyone away because he didn't want any more lies, and to protect himself but, by doing this, he also ended up hurting his wife to such an extent that she doesn't recognize him anymore.

Since another theme of sxf is getting closer to and relying on people while forming bonds despite their masks and lies, I can totally see this could be Donovan's story, also parallel to Twilight's by the way: You can distance yourself from others to protect yourself but it'll be a lonely life.

Yes, Donovan is safe, guarded from everyone's lies, but he's also missing out on his family's love and also on the possibility of changing the world for the best.

Twilight is going in exactly the opposite direction of him. He's becoming alive, tearing those walls down, learning to rely on others, and loving his family.

Another Important Thing to Consider...

Everyone is so worried about Donovan Desmond possible mindreading powers that no one has mentioned one very important thing: Twilight's purpose for Operation Strix!

THIS is what WISE and Twilight really want to do: to find information that would allow them to remove people who seek war from power.

It's one hell of a strategy and a tough one for sure. And I agree; scandal, especially in such a conservative society like Ostania could do a lot of damage to politicians like Desmond, parties like the National Unity Party, and institutions like the SSS.

It wouldn't surprise me if at some point in the story it actually works. However, I don't think Westalis is as clean as we think. Food for thought.

[suzukiblu]

WIP excerpt for inkwell; Billy adopts Conner and it actually goes pretty good! (( chrono || non-chrono ))

“Oh, you don’t have to do those, you’re the one cooking,” Billy says. Lynn pauses again, then looks up again with another frown. 

“What?” he says. 

“Um–if somebody cooks for you, the polite thing to do is do the dishes for them after. So I can do ‘em,” Billy clarifies, because probably Cadmus actually wasn’t really very interested in teaching Lynn, like, normal manners and stuff, come to think. Because Lynn wouldn’t have needed to know that, if they weren’t ever gonna be letting him go be normal. 

Jerks. 

Lynn stares blankly at him again. He’s holding a dish. Billy hopes he’s not embarrassed or anything. It makes sense that he doesn’t know, obviously, and even if it didn’t make sense it’s not like Billy’d hold it against him, but, like–obviously Lynn doesn’t know that kind of thing yet. 

It’s probably gonna be a while before he does, Billy figures. Though Lynn’s technically still really little, so he might have an easier time letting his guard down a little? He hasn’t really had much life experience to tell him he shouldn’t, so . . . 

Billy . . . well, he learned pretty quick not to let his guard down too quick in a new foster home. Or, like . . . ever, really. At all. 

He’d like it if Lynn just . . . didn’t have to, though. Didn’t have to learn that kind of thing, he means. Like–yeah, definitely Lynn should keep his guard up on patrol and missions and stuff, but not at home. 

There’s not any kryptonite in the apartment for a reason. Pretty much the same reason Billy wants Lynn to be able to let his guard down. 

“You want to . . . do the dishes,” Lynn says slowly. 

“Yeah,” Billy says. “I mean–if you like doing them yourself it’s fine, just since you cooked I thought I should at least, you know, offer?” 

Lynn stares blankly at him some more. He does that a lot. Billy wonders if Lynn’s maybe just not very good at using facial expressions yet, come to think. That might make sense, right? He saw some pictures of the other genomorphs in the mission report, and most of them didn’t have very expressive-seeming faces either, and almost nobody actually human-looking spent too much time working down on Lynn’s sublevel, it seemed like. And also the head security guy apparently wore a helmet with a half-mask involved, and Dr. Desmond was, um . . . maybe not a great person for Lynn to be taking any cues from, considering–plus who even knows how hands-on he was in the lab anyway–so maybe Lynn just still hasn’t seen all that many expressions yet. Like, outside of his uploads and stuff, anyway. Or maybe he just didn’t see all that many of them “growing up”, depending on how awake he was for that? 

Or both, maybe. Maybe just both? 

Cadmus did not do a very good job teaching Lynn how to be somebody outside Cadmus, Billy is pretty sure. Which, well–yeah. Of course it wouldn’t have. 

Cadmus didn’t want Lynn to ever be somebody outside it, or even be outside it at all. 

That’s just so, so messed up.

[saberamane]

So I'm nearing the end of Valhalla (I already have the main map fully completed) and just saw the scene with The Reader and just...

Damn, Desmond was hiding some pecs under that hoodie. Being built of pure light energy now, I really should not have been able to notice his Tiddies, with a capital T because, again, damn. DId he have those before the Animus?

I'm seriously losing my mind right now over this very minor fact.

[spyxrambling]

I find the discussion around chapter 109 interesting because a lot of people seem to think that Twilight will be a good therapist and help Melinda Desmond and honestly...I'm not so sure about that.

Melinda is already estranged from her husband and lives apart from him and her sons, yet she's still terrified of him to a degree where she apparently doesn't even seem to believe he's human anymore.

While it's not part of Twilight's job as a fake psychiatrist to tell Melinda to get a divorce, removing Donovan from her life as much as possible is probably the best advice one could give Melinda in this situation.

But I don't think Twilight will do that for multiple reasons.

1. We already saw him telling a patient who was utterly terrified of his wife to talk things out with her instead of seperating before the Mole arc:

And we have to remember he gave this advice to a couple whose relationship he doesn't have a vested interest in.

2. We know that Loid's colleagues and previous patients think he's an amazing psychiatrist, but until recently Loid was kept away from VIP patients so he had very little reason not to give his unimportant patients the best treatment he could think of to eventually qualify for VIP patients. He had no reason to manipulate them to gain intel.

3. Twilight has an interest in getting the Desmond family closer together again even if its not good for them. Anya getting close to Damian and Yor getting close to Melinda is kind of pointless if neither of them can get Twilight into Donovan's social circle.

4. Some people think Twilight will try to gain intel from Melinda but then stop to genuinly help her once he realises how much she is suffering. With the way Twilight has been acting since the Mole arc I can't imagine his human side getting the better of him.

Twilight thinks that he lost to Wheeler because his emotions stopped him from killing Yuri, leading to Twilight getting injured before facing Wheeler. He doesn't know that strong emotions (Nightfall's love and rage) were also the reason he was saved and Wheeler defeated. Twilight is currently at a point where he noticed that he has developed feelings for his family, but he sees it as a weakness that needs to be eliminated.

And while we see Twilight feeling slightly bad for viewing everything through the lense of intel gaining instead of forming genuine bonds:

But so far these feelings of shame have not yet lead to a change in his behaviour:

In fact I wonder if the only thing that could get Twilight to seriously overthink his approach would be if his fakeness and manipulative behaviour for the sake of intel lands him in serious trouble.

[yumeka-sxf]

Today's new chapter continues the Henderson x Martha angst 😭 In just a couple chapters Endo has done an amazing job conveying how much Martha loves Henry, how volatile the war-torn world they live in is, and how Henry's ideals about education shaped who he became...but also led to regret. If Endo can weave this much of an engrossing side story about minor characters, I can't wait to see what he'll do with the main characters!

A lot of people have pointed out parallels between Henry and Martha's relationship with that of both future Twiyor and Damianya. They definitely have similarities, and while there's no guarantee that Henry and Martha's story has any bearing on the outcome of the other two relationships, my interpretation of it, at least right now, is that it's a cautionary tale...it's showing that this is what could happen to Loid/Yor, Damian/Anya, and honestly any future couples, if things don't change for the better. What we're seeing from Henry and Martha's story is how relationships can get so easily torn apart from war, as well as how clinging so hard to one's ideals - like what Henry has been doing - is also a recipe for tragedy. I mentioned in my last chapter review that I see this as a parallel to Twilight holding on so hard to his spy persona and ideals that he could be doomed to lose out on potential happiness if he doesn't realize his true feelings.

Also, if Twilight fails his mission and another war does break out, the consequences would be extreme both on a worldly and personal level. We saw in this chapter that Martha's path in life was greatly altered as a result of the war (she changed from wanting to be a ballerina to joining the army) and thus she and Henry were torn apart further. What would happen to the characters in the current generation if Desmond does do something to entice war again?

I also really liked the below panel showing what's probably the last scene of where Henry and Martha spent their most pleasant times - now it's empty, one chair has fallen, and a bird chips while war planes fly overhead. Such a great use of subtle symbolism to hammer in the tragic mood.

The chapter ends with mention of Henry potentially getting married due to pressure from his parents than because he wants to. I'm really curious how that turned out, plus how Martha ended up working for the Blackbells. Looks like their sad story will continue for at least one more chapter 😢

[ethan-acfan]

DESMOND HAS TERRIBLE TASTE IN FOOD

He drinks his coffee black, not for the energy or to be pretentious, but just because he genuinely fucking prefers it that way. He prefers the taste of strong alcohol, give him a can of 4loko, and he will drink it like plain water. He eats overly spicy food (like so spicy it just straight ruins the flavor), not even just because he has a high spice tolerance, just because he likes it???? He eats canned soup straight out the can without even heating it up, actually, he refuses to heat up any kind of leftovers and just eats them cold even if it's something that absolutely should not be eaten cold. Everyone refuses to eat at his house after they saw him throw back a can of cold baked beans without even blinking.

[teecupangel]

What if desmond was reborn as the 5th auditore child? Like he was just a baby/toddler when the auditore were executed

Hey, nonny.

We can make Desmond be born on March 13, 1476 so he would only be months old when the Auditores are executed.

Wanna fuck with Desmond and the Auditores some more?

What if we keep Maria’s mental state after the execution and make her believe that the baby in her arms is Petruccio.

The only person who could remind her that she was holding and caring for her fifth child was Claudia and it was becoming harder and harder for her to keep trying to stay strong when her mother treating Desmond as Petruccio makes her think that she’s in the past and asking when her husband would be back or if Federico and Ezio be back from playing outside.

The final nail in the coffin is that Maria mistook Claudia as someone else, maybe an older sister that was already dead or even her old nanny who died when Petruccio was just born.

Ezio saw what was happening and pushed Claudia to managing Monteriggioni to keep her from spiraling.

It becomes apparent that Maria sees Giovanni in Ezio and Mario tells him that it might be better if they slowly separate Maria from Desmond.

It’s not doing either of them any good and making Desmond replace Petruccio was a fate that no child should ever shoulder.

So Ezio pretends to be Giovanni taking Petruccio for walks and tries to be there for his younger brother.

But being an Assassin made it hard for him to return home frequently.

He tries his best and he knows Claudia also tries to make their younger brother understand that they don’t see him as a replacement and that their mother is simply… confused at the moment.

That’s how Desmond grew up, pretending to be Petruccio when he’s with Maria Auditore.

Mario trained him while Ezio was running around but he couldn’t leave Monteriggioni because Maria starts to ask where Petruccio is whenever she doesn’t see Desmond for a few hours.

Ezio went to Firenze after journeying to Spain (and got entangled with Bonfire of the Vanities) when Maria finally realized that Desmond isn’t Petruccio. To be more exact, Desmond had turned 21 and Maria cried as she remembered that Petruccio would have never grown as old as Desmond.

At that point, Maria’s relationship with her youngest child was strained by her own guilt and grief while Desmond just accepted it because he loved Maria and a part of him believed that he should have done something more (even if he was still a baby, guilt does not care about one’s age)

Desmond starts doing Assassin work as well but goes rogue for a few months, returning with the remaining seals for Altaïr’s statue.

Desmond takes the armor for himself and just shrugged it off as Ezio’s birthday present or something equally unimportant and Ezio returned to Monteriggioni with… well…

A very awkward family reunion, that’s for sure.

So many things have happened at that point and, as much as he is happy to see his mother healing, he feels guilty for not being there for Desmond who just shrugs it off and tells him “I understand.”

“I understand.”

That was the worst phrase Ezio heard.

He kept hearing it from his younger brother.

At first he was relieved that his brother understood.

Then he realized that the phrase meant more than that to Desmond.

It was a resignation to his current situation.

And Ezio wasn’t really in the best place himself.

He was still grieving the death of Cristina who died while Ezio was in Firenze for Savonarola and his men so there was also a bit of guilt there.

So Mario suggested Ezio takes Desmond to the Vatican with him as a ‘trainee’ and Ezio agreed.

He tells Desmond that he never wanted him to be an Assassin, that he hoped he was the only one who had to carry the blood that drenched the Auditores’ blade.

Desmond just stares at him and goes…

“I understand.”

And Ezio knew that he failed being a brother to his youngest in this bloody path of vengeance he had taken.

[sadboytournament]

FINAL ROUND

Propaganda

Jean Discole: (Via @mistresshasty; tw kidnapping)

Saw his parents kidnapped. Violently. Then he was left alone with his kid brother to report this to the police when he's all of 8yo. This man's name isn't even Jean Descole. Descole is an alter ego for his other alter ego, Desmond Sycamore. Why? Because he GAVE HIS NAME AWAY to his younger brother so said younger brother could be adopted in his place after their parents were kidnapped. Like legit, people came and said they could only adopt one kid and Descole straight up said, yup, my kid brother, this is Hershel, not me, nope (shut up Theo, you're Hershel now.)

Then fast forward to adulthood where he's finally healing some of the Trauma, only for his wife and daughter to die mysteriously (though its heavily implied it was by the same people who kidnapped his parents.) Then, as he's getting his revenge on that organization, guess what? The leader is his long lost father who went crazy after his wife (Descole's mom) died in captivity. Descole has 0 chill because he has had 0 breaks in life.

Oh, and one last kick in the face. The titular character of the series, and Descole's arch nemesis, Professor Layton, yeah, that's the kid brother Descole gave up his future for. He deserves to be a dramatic bitch. He's earned it.

Lockwood:

[haunted-glassesgurl]

I have this illusion that when Anya is older, 15 or 16 (operation strix is still ongoing, but everyone is aware of their identities) she is still trying to pretend not to like Damian. All her efforts to get close to him are still "for the mission" but she started to truly enjoy Damian's company.

And obviously our boy is now very much in love with Anya and has come to terms with that information, but, to his displeasure, Anya has stopped insisting on going to his house because she already is an imperial scholar and there is no need for her papa to go the the Desmond house.

And so, Damian is determined to spend time with Anya outside of school. His plan? To ask for him to go to HER house. Anya accepts and invites him to one of their family ootings.

They spend the day at the park, they go to a museum (because despite everything Twilight is still a spy and a spy maintains his cover, so he insists on going to the museum so as not to look "uncultured" in the Desmond's eyes, even if Damian doesn't care that much), and they end up again in their house, all four of them sitting around the table, drinking tea and telling silly stories.

Night time comes around and a car comes to pick Damian up, the Forger family greet him at the door and Yor insist that Anya walks him to the car. She takes Loid inside to watch them through the window (because they deserve privacy but they're still her parents). And when Damian is about to get in the car he turns around to face Anya.

'I really enjoyed spending time with your family, I hope I can come back for another "ooting"' He finally musters up the courage and hugs her. Short and quick, but both of them can feel their faces turn red. Damian lets her go and jumps in the car with a final goodbye.

Once he's gone Yor and Loid come down to the street to get Anya, only to find her standing there, crying. Their first instinct is to try and kill whatever made their baby cry, but when she starts smiling and hugs them their worries die a little. They hug their daughter back and stay there a few minutes, and after Anya stops crying they ask what happened. She simply replies with 'Anya's just happy to have this family'.

Okay so, I know this is super messy and probably not that good, but it's actually based on something that happened with me and my friend a couple of weeks ago. She only ever saw my parents two or three times before and one day I invited her to spend the day with us, and when we were leaving my parents house she said to me exactly what Damian says to Anya. I actually started crying because I think it's the first time one of my friends tells me that about my family. So yeah, just, Anya appreciating her family.

[smiletimeisrunningout]

She looked away for a moment, trying to press her lips together to stop smiling like the complete idiot she felt. He made her feel almost like a girl dealing with her first crush, or like she guessed she would have felt if she had been torn apart by her actual first 'love'. "I thought you'd say something like: 'Emma, we must find a way home', not that you'd enable me. You are supposed to be the brain of the two," she pointed out amusedly, happily resting her cheek against his palm. Almost sighing over how content she felt, she reached out to touch one of his curls, wondering what that future could have been like - she didn't trust Naomi, the freighter, not like this, not now, but deep down, as weak as that made her, she knew she wanted to be where Sayid was. As long as Claire and Aaron were safe too, at least. "But that's... that's all that matters to me, you know? That you are happy. Wherever we go."

@smiletimeisrunningout asked: ‘ could you be happy here with me? ’ to SAYID

HE WOULDN’T CONSIDER THE ISLAND to be a very happy place… but Sayid would be lying if he said it didn’t have any perks. No one from his past was here. He was one of the GOOD GUYS now; people seemed to understand him more here than anywhere else.

They sat on the sand, the sound of waves crashing creating a serene atmosphere. And as Sayid turned to look at Emma, the moonlight casting a soft glow on her skin, HE KNEW THE ANSWER.

“I could be.” There was a small pause before Sayid’s gaze briefly drifted down to her lips. One hand rose to cup her cheek, fingers lightly tracing the skin. “I AM.”

[sy-on-boy]

"Anya, are you... feeling okay?"

Anya stared at Becky with with big, blank, buggy eyes. "I don't understand," she said in a monotone.

Becky squinted at Anya. Anya was usually weird, but Becky knew her well enough to discern Anya's different types of weirdness. "Are you trying to be like Damian's creepy older brother?"

Ewen and Emile heard and quickly turned around to defend their best friend's brother. "Oy, don't insult Demetrius!" "He's not creepy, he's a genius! His mind operates at levels we cannot understand!"

"You guys are talking about my brother?" Damian's voice came. "What's all this fuss?"

Becky sighed, then deadpanned, "I think Anya's trying to be like your brother. For some reason."

Damian jumped and instantly scowled. Anya continued to silently stare at Damian with her buggy eyes. Damian backed away, weirded out (and oddly jealous) by Anya imitating his own brother. "Ugh, what's wrong with you, Forger?" he spluttered out, cheeks turning pink.

Upon seeing Damian's distaste, Anya blinked, dropped the act, and looked normal again. "Super Sy-on boy is a genius so I'm going to be like him until I become a genius. I wanna get stella stars like Super Sy-on boy."

"But Bossman also has stella stars," Ewen said innocently.

"But Super Sy-on boy has more stella stars," Anya interjected just as innocently. Damian's face instantly darkened.

Becky noticed and nudged Anya. "You didn't have to rub it in his face!" she hissed to Anya.

"Rub what in Sy-on boy's face?" Anya might not understand the saying, but now she knew she shouldn't had compared Damian with Demetrius even if it was unintentional. Anya gulped and nervously glanced at Damian, who was looking solemn and suddenly older than he was.

"Of course my brother is always better at everything. Even an idiot like her can see it. I don't like how she's imitating Demetrius (hah, a commoner like her would never come close to us Desmonds) but I see her point. Maybe I should be more like Demetrius too..."

Anya blinked. Becky's earlier words of "rub it in his face" came back to her. Face, face... Sy-on boy's face? In her mind, she superimposed Demetrius' buggy eyes and slicked back hair on top of Damian's. Hmph, a bit off-putting, but this was actually fine because Damian still looked stupid and snot-faced as he always did.

But then Anya imagined Demetrius' complete lack of expression on Damian— no more taunts, no more temper tantrums, no more of his silly red faces, but also no more smiles, no more tears, no more of that unadulterated fear she saw during the bus hyjacking, no more of that determined face of his when he shielded her from the dodgeball, no more of Damian being his annoying, crybaby, sometimes heroic self. A Damian with barely any thoughts. A Damian who didn't understand people and didn't bother with anything at all. No more Sy-on boy being Sy-on boy.

... And Anya didn't think she liked that.

"You don't have to be like Super Sy-on boy," Anya blurted out. She felt bad for making Damian feel down earlier, because she was supposed to be friends with him, and friends didn't make each other feel bad.

Damian looked at her, bewildered and somewhat taken aback. "Huh??"

What Anya thought was "your mom is weird and your brother is weird and your dad is an evil super boss. You're a jerk sometimes but you're not weird like they are, and I feel bad for you", but obviously she couldn't say that, so she simply said, "Sy-on boy is Sy-on boy. You're not Super Sy-on boy and you don't have to be like him (because I need to read your mind for the mission)."

Damian blinked, his heart warmed by Anya's unexpected sincerity. Anya wanted him to be himself? And not like his brother? She... didn't expect that from him?

Becky, intuitive as always, chimed in. "Damian, you're a bit of a brat, but don't turn into a creep like your brother."

Damian scowled. "My brother's not a creep!!"

"I'm just making a honest statement! It's for your own good!"

Anya stepped aside to let Becky and Damian bicker. Her eyes flitted over to Damian— Damian without those buggy eyes, Damian with long eyelashes, Damian with anger and scowls, Damian with thoughts and feelings and fears and likes and affection.

Then she thought of Damian's mother and brother with the odd, mysterious, and almost chilling darkness in their heads. In some way, Demetrius' apathy was easier to stomach than Melinda's tornado of chaotic and contradictory thoughts, but both of them threw her off. Damian, despite being Damian, despite being the son of the evil boss, was still... relatively normal. He smiled. He loved his dog. He was protective of his friends. He wanted stella stars. He threw temper tantrums. He wanted his family to love him. (He was scared of being abandoned.) Despite everything, Damian was still like Anya.

... Yeah. Anya hoped Sy-on boy would stay Sy-on boy for as long as he could.