#it's not helping that i do try to name my character desmond if i could get away with it XD

[teecupangel]

I have been violently gripped with the idea of a CODxAC Crossover, where Ghost and the 141 stumbling across an Isu facility. They spread out to search the ruins and Ghost ends up in a vast open room containing pods. There are hundreds of them in neat rows, but only one seem to contain something. Infant twins bearing the numbers 16 and 17 on their right and left shoulder respectively. On the side of the pod there is some text carved into the metal itself. '16=Clay 17=Desmond. TRUST ONLY 141'. Reading it gives Ghost a deep chill. Before he can think further on it, the pod starts to empty and open. The kids open their eyes and stare at him with eyes he swears glow, but in a blink it's gone. Must have been his imagination. The place suddenly rumbles and his radio comes to life.

"Ghost, get out of there! Think we might have activated a self destruct sequence!"

Before he can think too hard about it, Ghost grabs the kids and starts running while chunks of the ceiling falls down around him. Strangely enough the kids don't make any noise at the rough treatment or the violent shaking and noise.

---------

So yeah, thanks to Saberamane, i have gotten into reading CoD fanfics. XD I remembered your fic on it and then i was just violently gripped with the image of a baby Desmond reaching his little hands up at Ghost and when he holds Desmond up to his face, the baby just places his hands on the mask and stares at it while smiling. Anytime anyone, besides 141, tries to take Desmond or Clay they start to fuss and/or scream bloody murder, so the gangs kinda stuck baby sitting. Well, more like Ghost with Soap's help. Price is busy trying to figure out why the General(idk enough about the lore, so unnamed General it is XD) is really interested in taking the kids. They lied about them being found inside the pods and said they found the dead body of a woman with the kids, so the interest in them is strange. Plus the ominous message written in the pod seems important. Ghost hates him, gets a strange sense of... Red??? from him.

So yeah, another hyperfixation it is. XD

If this is the reboot, he started as Lieutenant General and ends up as a General. In the OG though, Shepherd was Lieutenant General until his death.

We can set it up that Desmond and Clay are testtube babies Elijah created but Abstergo was hot on his tail so he ‘tipped off’ 141 of the location and lying of its connection to a secret terrorist organization.

Well…

It wasn’t necessary a lie because 141 is trying to find the Brotherhood. In the eyes of the world, the Brotherhood is a terrorist organization and 141 is tasked with finding their operations and stopping them.

In this one, Shepherd could either be a Templar, an ally of the Templar or (use the setup of The Shadow’s Endgame) a disillusioned Assassin gone rogue.

He doesn’t immediately clocked the babies Ghost took in as Desmond and Clay. Hell, Ghost knows well enough not to officially call them Desmond and Clay, instead going nicknames like ‘D’ and ‘C’. Soap and Gaz had been calling them different names to try and find out their actual names and they haven’t hit any jackpot yet.

Shepherd is interested in taking in the kids because he learned that the facility they attacked (which was nearby the supposed village that got wiped out during the operation) was Elijah’s secret lab.

Although they all believe Elijah to be dead so the place is actually for an unknown ‘third party’.

Abstergo believed that person is the current Sage, having awakened Aita’s memories after Elijah’s death.

So the question becomes why did Elijah decide to entrust Desmond and Clay to 141?

Because he was planning to infiltrate 141 later on.

As the new recruit of 141: Gary "Roach" Sanderson

[menticidemushroom]

Project Eden's Garden Theories + Minor Analysis 🍎

Not a specific death order theory, just an excuse to yap because I'm hyperfixating

This is very long and it probably doesn't make sense.

🐍 Damon Maitsu- Ultimate Debater

Obviously everybody has the mastermind theory. It's the garden of eden and Satan was the snake. I do agree with the Satan analogy, but more so as an "outer" symbolism as opposed to an "inner" symbolism. Let me explain that better. I think that Damon will come of as antagonistic to the group because he says the right things in the wrong way. Like how he was trying to help everyone by telling them not to trust each other, but he was a dick about. Damon will play the Devil in the perception of the cast, but I don't believe that he will be actually behind the Killing Game.

🐦‍⬛ Eva Tsunaka - Ultimate Liar

I understand the first culprit theory. Eva is a similar name to Eve, Eve is the first human to sin, Eva is the first cast member to kill. That makes sense, but I see her taking on a more Kirigiri kind of role. Smart girl sort of side protag actively tries to hunt down the mastermind. However, since she's the Ultimate Liar and the cast already seems distrustful of her, I could see Eva discovering the secret to the killing game or the true mastermind but no body believes her which either leads to Eva killing the mastermind, or the mastermind killing/framing her. (Like Junko trying to frame Kirigiri in chapter five.)

🦈 Desmond Hall - Ultimate Marksman

I don't have much for Desmond. I feel like he'll either be a victim or a survivor. I can't see him as a culprit. At least not intentionally. I could see him trying to protect someone and killing their attacker in the process on accident, but I lean more towards a victim for him.

🦢 Eloise Taulner - Ultimate Fencer

I see Eloise as a survivor, but I lean towards a culprit. It's not a strong theory, but I see them trying to flip the shrinking violet trope on its head. In the chapter one preview from the San Antonio game expo we see Wolfgang trying to "help" Eloise by offering to walk with her before they go exploring and she seems to get annoyed with him. I could see this being a way to show that Eloise isn't a fragile as she let's on.

🦩 Toshiko Kayura - Ultimate Matchmaker

I want to believe that since she's literally a baby that she won't die, but part of me believes that since she's so young she will die. My current theory is that she's either the chapter one or two victim. I could definitely see the team choosing to kill her off early as a sort of "shock value" for the cast. Because I'm sure seeing a child get murdered would be more psychologically damaging then seeing an adult die. I'll be honest my Toshiko theory is kind of weak.

🐻 Wenona - Ultimate Entrepreneur

I see Wenona as a kind of Celeste character. The whole "if you do not adapt, you will die" mindset. I could see her staying distant from the group the majority if the time. I think that she will be a culprit, chapter three specifically. In the chapter on trailer we see during her free time event that the bear symbolism they gave her represents strategy. I feel like she'll have a really complex murder plot since she's obviously smart. She's also a Native American woman in the field of business. That's obviously not something easy. I highly doubt that she would give it up so easily. Plus, she's a billionaire. As much as I love Wenona, she's evil.

🦉 Ulysses Wilhelm - Ultimate Historian

Let me start by saying tat he is my favorite. Unfortunately, that means he's going to die. He writes everything in his notebook, if that doesn't sound like a major point of discussion in a trial, I don't know what does. I could also see him surviving, but I lean more towards a victim for him. The only reason I seem him surviving is that there could be this big moment in the final trial where they have to connect several seemingly unrelated notes in his notebook to find the big mystery or whatever. Anyway, I love him and if he dies I will lose it.

🐊 Mark "Mayhem" Berskii - Ultimate Music Producer

I can see Mark as a victim or a culprit and both of them revolve around Jett. As we see in the prologue, Mark is a very shy and reserved person. Obviously this paints a target on his back and any character who has a close friendship is another death flag. I could see him being killed and Jett falling into despair, or killing somebody with Jett.

💄Diana Venicia - Ultimate Cosmetologist

Diana is a character who I feel very strongly about as a survivor. It's not a strong theory, but it's just what feels right. Most people take the chameleon symbolism to be negative, but I don't see it as good or bad. I think it just emphasize that Diana is your average sixteen year old girl blending in with the crowd. She'd not a threat, she isn't aggressive, she just a teenaged girl. She is kind, she is helpful, she loves makeup. She just wants to love her life. She's so plain that she'll blend in and she will live.

🐑 Wolfgang Akire - Ultimate Lawyer

Oh boy, here we go. This is the big one. I believe that Wolfgang will either be a victim or a survivor. He will be the antagonist, but he is not a villain. Like I said for Damn who says the right thing in the wrong ways, Wolfgang will say the wrong thing is the right ways. I truly believe that Wolfgang has good intentions, but he is so optimistic and passionate that he lets his savior complex to bring everybody into a more vulnerable state. Like Damon's snake symbolism alluding to him bring the "devil" to the group, Wolfgang's sheep symbolism shows him as the "angel" to the group. The lamb of God, the Messiah, the guardian angel. He wants to save everybody, but he can't because he doesn't accept the horrible truth of the group's situation. He wants to believe that he can bring them to salvation, but a man can never be a God. My other theory is that he will be a final chapter sacrifice. A death is necessary for the group to escape and he will accept his new role of Martyrdom. Letting him finally become the savior he wanted to for the entire game.

🦋 Kai Monteago - Ultimate Influencer

Butterflies represent change, the butterfly effect. Kai will be the first culprit and this will lead to more fear without the group causing more people to want to kill. The flap of his wings will cause the tornado of death that will plague the group for the rest of the game. Short theory, but I feel strongly about it.

🐺 Jett Dawson - Ultimate Drag Racer

As I stated with Mark's theory, I see Jett as a culprit. Either Mark will be a victim and Jett will fall into despair driving him to murder in a later chapter, or he will kill somebody to escape with Mark. The only way this would work is a motive we're the backend can bring one person with them to the outside or they find a way for Jett and Mark to both equally be held accountable as the culprit. Though I'm not sure how something lijrme that could happen since the only instance is in SDRA2 chapter three and the plan behind that was bizarre (in a good way) and I doubt they could replicate anything similar.

🦁 Ingrid Grimwall - Ultimate Blacksmith

Ingrid is the only character I can't really think of anything for. I just have a strong feeling that she won't survive. Sorry.

🐲 Jean Delamer - Ultimate Ship Captain

I can see Jean as a chapter five victim. Since we see in the chapter one demo that he takes the hope speech guy role, I can see him dying fairly late in the game either as an "easy target" or since he's getting in the way of more murders happening.

🕷 Cassidy Amber - Ultimate Pro Gamer

I see Cassidy as a survivor, but I don't have any evidence. I just can't think of a theory for her as a victim, or as a culprit. She could also be the true mastermind, which is a fairly popular theory. That makes some sense considering her spider symbolism and the whole "tangled in a web" metaphor.

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to tell me any other theories you have!

[sulfies]

So Altaïr and Ezio use terms of affection all the time with Desmond, but it doesn't look like Desmond uses any back to them. Like Altaïr and Ezio call Des Habibi and Tesoro all the time but he never calls them by cute pet names.

When Connor shows up, before they realize Connor isn't his given name, do you think they get confused when Desmond calls him Rathonhagé:ton? Like they think Desmond is calling him something sweet because they don't realize that's his name? I think Ezio would be especially bitter about it.

Anyway hope you're having a good day! 🩶

Not the call out, didnt realize yall noticed💀 I just dont like english pet names that much😭 I sadly dont see him the type to use "babe, hon, sweetheart, love etc" He probobly would actually I just dont like writing it lol He does enjoy getting called petnames tho

rather than pet names I like to think he on rare occasions (being drunk, wanting to annoy them, make them do smthn for him) uses the Shortened names like Connie/Radoo, Ezy/ez, Alty (never rlly normally tho) or If he really wants to rile em up "Mentor/é" "My prophet/s" "assassin" their own nicknames back at them" etc

Oh and.. "sir/s" tho thats just me wanting that kink in there :9

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That Idea is so smart tho and fun do

imagine with Ezio going "so when will I get a cool cute name from you like Connor? Ive been here longer than him :'(" and Desmond just looks at him unimpressed and maybe calls him fucking stupid in Connor's language.

realistically 2 smartass assassins would figure it out themselves that its probobly his real name💀 but its fun for dynamics so I dont think dumbing characters down is bad I just try to keep it away from becoming idk too... Ooc and trope-y? Even tho they are litterally ooc antime I draw them interacting lol

They would probobly be more jelous that they cannot pronounce it also (the accents dont help....Connor doesnt even want to hear Ezio try it tho he does appriciate them not giving up)

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I think Connor also wouldn't use petnames(esp english ones) but maybe he would give Desmond a Kanien'kéha name? Bc he knows Ezio and Altaïr would not be able to pronounce it (I am not sure tbh I have not researched the language or the native-culture on how love language works yet)

Maybe he would call Desmond "spirit" the first time he appears and just stick with it sometimes

----

And ty I had a great day❤️ ate good food that I didnt have to pay for... What more could I ask🥹

[qhazomb]

i really like this one theory i saw here that brought up the idea that rainbow isn't really desmond's "shadow." or at least, he wasn't originally, and isn't JUST desmond's shadow.

because when you compare rainbow to the other characters' shadows, he's VERY different from all of them. the other shadows often felt like they were one and the same as the people they represented the negative parts of. rainbow meanwhile feels entirely unique from desmond. some notable differences being his disdain for cats (whereas desmond clearly loves cats), he plays piano instead of guitar, and heck, dude also seems to be a way better artist than desmond is, when you compare the various doodles he includes on his notes to the faces desmond drew for the mannequins.

thinking about my spin on what exactly rainbow's deal is. maybe he was an entirely new consciousness that came into being as a result of so many people's minds becoming connected by the rainbow chemical. all that mental energy just kinda... coalesced into a brand new entity.

and then, for whatever reason, he found and attached himself to desmond. desmond's mind definitely influenced the way rainbow appears in the mindscape, and maybe his personality didn't fully solidify until he "settled down" in desmond's head. maybe he took on the role of desmond's "shadow" as the main thing the chemical was being used for was inducing extreme fear/mentally breaking people by bringing out their "shadows" to the forefront. he took on the role of desmond's shadow and also a representation of the psychoactive chemical that more or less created him. he did steal its name for himself, so.

basically, rather than truly being desmond's shadow, he's more like a... mental parasite, i guess you could say.

...and comparing him to a parasite feels pretty apt, imo. having him around actually helped desmond, in the end, and they do say that having parasites can actually be beneficial, as they help to calm down an over-active immune system and such. all the pushing and prodding rainbow had been giving desmond's brain finally pushed des to get his act together.

also, when considering the "not really a shadow but a mental parasite" idea, maybe a reason rainbow's so worried about mayer being stopped and the rainbow chemical being rid of, is because it might mean he'll be gone, too. if he truly was just desmond's shadow, then yeah he would still definitely be a permanent part of desmond's mind. but if he's actually something foreign, that was only able to get into desmond's head due to the chemical agent? then i could see why he'd have concerns about... being evicted, so to speak.

that said, i think des' brain has been so damn saturated in the stuff (that 'brain pulsing' comment at the end) that his brain chemistry has likely been forever changed, and rainbow might not actually have to worry about no longer getting to live rent-free in there. (especially if he continues to push the idea that oh yeah he's totally a natural part of desmond's mind, same as anybody else's shadow, don't worry about it, please put the mental de-wormer away, it's fiiiiiine.)

kinda but maybe not really?-related: i dunno if i just missed a note or failed to trigger some dialogue, but as far as i can tell, rainbow never seems to acknowledge rosemary, even once? like, not even when she completely foils his attempt at wasting desmond's time in the crypt. he never offers any reaction to that. and like, i feel like he couldda used her as further demotivation for desmond, like "if even the head researcher for this project was murdered for trying to stop it, what makes you think YOU'LL fair any better?" or something like that, but no. he never says or writes a word about rosemary.

not sure where i'm going with that bit, but i just thought it was interesting :U

[berkchuu]

The Agreement

Viktor x Fem. Reader

I've literally never posted on her rip. This is just a little fanfic I thought of a while ago!

Tags/Warnings: Slow-burn| Manipulation| Corrupt Government| Mega girlboss| OCish not really| Fluff| someone prob dies| Magic

Series Synopsis: As your country's ambassador, you've been sent to Piltover to oversee some of their newfound success. While trying to create good relations with Piltover, you meet some very interesting characters along the way; one in particle truly catches your eye. What will happen when ill intentions, manipulation, love, and magic come head to head?

Chapter Synopsis: You've arrived at Piltover! Have fun doing ambassador shit.

Chapter 1

Arrival

“Shit…” I hissed. 

I stumbled onto my feet as the boat rocked. We’d been traveling for 3 days now. I swayed back and forth and couldn’t help myself from getting a little nauseous. 

After I got myself stable, I smoothed the black cotton that hugged my body with my equally black leather-gloved hands. I checked my (H/C) hair making sure it was in perfect condition. Today I’m going to the University of Piltover. I am here as an ambassador of my country, Toriana. Toriana wanted to talk about meticulous little things with Piltover. We’d also been noticing their conflict with Zaun. We could spare a few men and women to help their cause but for a price of course.

“On your feet boys,” I called out to the soldiers accompanying me, “we have a job to do. Let’s do it perfectly as our King and Queen expect.”

“Yes, Mrs. (L/N). Captain Rhames and I will be by your side while the other 4 stay at a distance.” Corporal Desmond said as he put his hand on his heart. 

I smile as I make my way out to the top of the boat. Smelling the fresh air gave me a sense of excitement. That wasn’t the only thing to excite me, though. Piltover was magnificent. The buildings were so unique and interesting. I gasped when I saw where the hextech ships were coming and going. The city was lined with shimmering glass and life. I couldn’t believe how unorganized it looked. I couldn’t help but giggle. Piltover was very different from Toriana. Toriana prided itself on being perfect and organized. This was not the case for Piltover. I had to admit, there was some type of order to this bustling city. Of course, I have to keep in mind that Toriana is a country with tightly ruled cities. The country of Valoran, where Piltover is a city,  is more vast and random. Each city feels like a completely different world.

I shook my head and made my way off the boat. I looked around to see many Piltover guards searching our boat and my men.

“Excuse me, ma’am, we must do a protocol check on you,” I stopped and looked up at a man with sleek brown hair with some gray in it. He had an interesting-looking mustache that I couldn’t help but stare at, “Please state your full name, where you come from, and your intentions here.”

“(Your full name), I am an ambassador from the country Toriana. I’m here to talk relations with Piltover.” I stated.

“I’m commander Marcus. It’s lovely to have you here. I can escort you to your destination.” He gave me a smirk and bowed slightly, classy.

“No, that’s alright. My men and I can find our way.” I smiled and tried to make my way past him.

Once my men were searched, we went on our way. We made our way to the University, trying not to get dirty from the overabundance of people in the streets. This will get hard to get used to. If relations go well, my duty is to live here to ensure things stay that way. I’m not looking forward to that. The sun was hot. Too hot. Maybe it wasn’t a smart idea to wear all black. It’s uniform, though.

Finally, after walking for a good minute, I made it to the university. Inside was stunning. I was shocked. This place is organized. After gazing around for a few seconds, I made my way to the big map of the uni. I traced my fingers along it to try and find where we needed to go. I needed to find Mr. Heimerdinger's office.

“You must be the ambassador from Toriana!” I heard someone exclaim from behind me. “Oh, are you looking for somewhere? I can help show you around!”

I spun around to see a pretty girl in a lab jacket staring at me.

“Oh yes, I’m (Y/N), pleased to meet you. And you are?” I smiled.

“Sky! I work as a scientist. I’m part of Mr. Heimerdingers' team. He told me to find you as soon as I could. This way, miss.” She spun around excitedly and started up some stairs until she was stopped.

“Excuse me, Ms. Young, I’ll take them. Heimerdinger wants you to go make sure their rooms are prepared.” A broad man smiled and motioned her away. 

“Hello, Ms. (Y/N) was it? I’m Jayce, head scientist and creator of Hextech. I’ll show you to Heimerdinger.” He gestured for me to follow him. It took me a few seconds to recover. I was not expecting a scientist to be that well-defined. I cleared my throat and went to walk next to him.

“So, you invented Hextech?” I questioned him as we walked.

“Yes, I had help, of course. My partner Viktor and I have been working endlessly on it.” He moved his body as he passionately talked about his work. I couldn’t help but giggle.

“You’ve made some incredible things at such a young age. It must be tiring.” I inquired.

“Yes, but it's worth it to keep Piltover safe.” He stuck his head up triumphantly.

“Oh, how noble!” I giggled.

“Okay, noted, Torians have a sense of humor…” He giggled, “So, are you coming to hear my speech tonight for progress day? You’ll get to see Hextexh up close!” He smiled.

“Progress Day? Hm… that must be why I meet with the council tomorrow morning.” I noted to myself.

“Oh, we’re here! Find me during the dinner after my speech. We can talk some more. You must tell me all about Toriana.” He waved goodbye and headed down the long hallway.

I sighed. What an annoying man. Are all the people patriotic? That will get old very fast. With that in mind, I knocked and opened the door to Heimerdinger's office. I have met him once before so I was, prepared to look down to make sure I didn’t step on him

“Oh (Y/N)! You’re here! Wonderful.” I saw a tuff of fluf appear from behind a desk, “You have not changed a bit, my dear! Still perfect as ever.” Heimerdinger smiled as he gestured me towards a seat in front of his desk. When he stopped me, I began to come forward with my men in tow.

“Oh, they can be escorted to their rooms. I’d just like to speak to you.”

“Of course, Mr. Heimerdinger.” I motioned my men away as I sat down.

“But Ms. (L/N), I am supposed to be with you at all times.” Corporal Desmond protested.

“I will be fine, Corporal. Go to your room. Don’t make me say it's an order.” With that, they left, and it was just me and Heimerdinger.

“Let’s talk, my dear. Today’s a big day for Piltover! It’s Progress Day! I want you to enjoy yourself. We can talk about relations tomorrow. I want you to meet everyone and see our great city for yourself. Then you can make your statements to the Council tomorrow.” Heimerdinger beamed with enthusiasm.

“Of course, Mr. Heimerdinger. Shall I change it into something more formal? This sounds like a quite…elegant night.”

“Yes. I want you to wear something that makes it known where you’re from. So you won’t blend in as much. Now then, that’s all I’d like to discuss. Ms. Young is outside my door waiting to escort you to your room. I’ll see you later (Y/N)!” He rolled back his chair and walked me to his door.

“See you soon, sir.” I smiled and waved as I walked out. 

The walk to my room was silent. Sky was not as vibrant as the last time I saw her. I sensed something was up. Once we got to my room, I turned and thanked her. She just mumbled a little, 'you're welcome,' and walked away. I sighed at the rude gesture and went into my room. It wasn't much. Just a bed with a wardrobe and mirror. There was a bathroom on my left and a small kitchenette on my right. It smelled of must. Gross. My stuff was already in my bag on the bed. I have a long night ahead of me, I thought. I made my way and started to get ready for this "Progress Day."

[ninadove]

17, 22, and 35 if you please

17. Do you have any headcanons? If yes, what?

I have many, actually! Pick your favourite:

Let's start with the obvious: none of these characters are straight. Specifically, Clive is demi and Emmy is pan.

Emmy's parents are both from Peru, with her mum being of Japanese descent. Her dad was an archeologist conducting research on Inca sites, and whose work eventually landed him on Targent's radar.

Clive's dad was an engineer; his mother worked for the National Gallery and restored paintings for a living. She spent a couple of years in France during her studies and fell in love with the culture.

People assume Clive's impressive artistic knowledge and fluency in French come from his posh education; he doesn't correct them.

Clive's first fictional crush was Emma Peel from The Avengers. If you know, you know.

Clive's current fictional crush is Edelgard von Hresvelg from FE3H. Again, if you know, you know.

Clive is very particular about his apparence and would never be caught dead in anything other than a suit. Paradoxically, he doesn't make much of an effort to hide the burn scar on his forehead, as it is a reminder of his growth throughout the years.

After his release, Clive becomes Hershel's assistant as part of his plan to atone for his crimes. He quickly realises that the Professor needs the company as much as he does, and finds himself in an unexpected rivalry with Emmy, who just came back to London and doesn't appreciate a terrorist hanging out with her friend and stealing her job.

Of course, Clive and Emmy end up getting married, and Clive becomes a stay-at-home dad to their children (both loosely named after important people in their lives), while still helping out Hershel regularly.

There's many more than I could possibly fit in this post, but rest assured that I WILL rant about them on this blog.

22. Do you have any merchandise? If yes, what? If no, would you like any? What would you get?

I don't have any official goodies, but I was able to buy a few trinkets from artists at conventions including some badges I had planned on bringing back with me but left at home again !

It's not much, because the offer is quite limited compared to other fandoms - but I do have the aforementioned badges, some nice posters, and a lovely mug with a spelling error in which I keep my pens. I'll try to post some pictures when I get the chance!

35. What Layton meme did you enjoy the most (Clive and the snails? Desmond’s bread hair?) ?

So here's the thing: after years of writing Clive and developing an entire universe around him, he has taken on many of my likes and dislikes. One irreconciliable difference between him and me, though, is the snail bit.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I loved snails as a child - my grandparents even let me keep a "snail farm" (basically, a big tank with plenty of food and humidity) in their garden when I would come visit. And, for some reason, I find it hilarious that my favourite character of all times hates them with a passion.

The fact that Emmy shares this hatred of gastropods makes it even better. Both of their kids LOVE snails, of course.

("Descole, you pompous *ss. You haven't masterminded sh*t" is also an unbeatable classic.)

[clarktooncrossing]

Giraffe's Eye View | Spy x Family REVIEW (Kind of)

Hello there people of today and robots of tomorrow! It's me, Clark, here with another rambling collection of my opinions. When last I did this it was in regards to Komi Can't Communicate, my favorite anime that actually originates in Japan. I have since watched all of Season 2 of the show, which amplified the adorable factor with all the times Komi had full conversations with Tadano. Seriously, my heart melted knowing whenever I saw her overcome her phobia. That said, Season 2 had by far the worst moment on the show, one I saw coming thanks to the manga. While on a school trip to Kyoto, Stalker McGee (Amai Ren to the people who somehow like her) plans to gaze upon Komi's breasts when they the girls have to share a bath house together. I was already annoyed by how Agari's seemingly gigantic boobs were once again acting as the butt of the joke, so seeing Stalker salivate at the idea of touching Komi's boobs made me physically uncomfortable. Heck, considering how much of a psychotic pervert she is, I'm surprised she even asked. To top it off, the next episode has Komi interacting with two very sweet students that I wish the show would focus on more. One's a busy body named Katou Mikuni and her yo-yo loving friend is called Sasaki Ayami. They treat Komi to a fun day at totally not Universal Studios Japan, never once trying to grope their new friend. Why this series puts so much focus on Stalker McGee as apposed to any of these characters is a mystery to me, but following this episode I pretty much fast forwarded through every scene she was in. Their White Day episode took place on Friday the 13th, leading me to hope Jason Voorhees could show up and shut this creep up! No such luck.

The one time this guy doesn't wanna introduce a horny teenage idiot to his machete, unbelievable! And no, I don't actually wish horrible things upon this character, I just wish she'd go away!

Needless to say I was feeling pretty annoyed when I decided to check out another anime that had been gaining popularity ever since it started streaming on Hulu.

Every where I turn on the Internet there's clip compilations of Anya being cute or inappropriate fan art of Yor on deviantART, and of course none of my friends on Discord will shut up about this show. Being the fan of the found family trope myself, I finally caved in and gave it a watch myself.

The show centers around Michael Weston, a recently burned spy who's forced back to his hometown of Miami, Florida due to unforeseen circumstances. There he's joined by retired Navy Seal Sam Axe, ex-girlfriend and explosives genius Fiona Glenanne, and even his mother, who all help Michael clear his name over the course of eight seasons.

No wait, I'm thinking of a different spy show.

It's called Burn Notice and all of you should totally watch it! If the compelling ongoing story of what happened to Michael doesn't draw you in, the promise of eight seasons worth of Bruce Campbell should!

Back to the show we were talking about, it centers around a super-spy known only as Twilight!

Out there is a universe where this guy has the codename Agent Rainbow Dash. In this universe Twilight / Loid Forger is tasked with stopping a war between two countries. How do they intend on him doing that? By turning him into a family man of course! In order to prevent war Loid has to deal with a man named Donovan Desmond, who only appears at social gatherings held at his son's super-elite school. Twilight accepts, adopting the most adorable little girl known as Anya, not knowing that the pink-haired cutie can read minds.

Anya uses her Professor X style powers to get out of a lot of scrapes, such as reading her potential new dad's mind in order complete a crossword puzzle. This convinces the super spy of the girl's intelligence, being the fifth person to adopt the poor little girl. Given how utterly depressing Anya's backstory is, rooting for her proves to be no problem, even when she does act somewhat bratty. If nothing else this show does a terrific job showing how unpredictable children are. She's never a little devil in disguise, nor is she a fallen angel. She's just a decent kid who loves peanuts, penguins, and anime. She also hates carrots and wishes bakery sold bacon. Heck, I'm with Anya on that last one, why don't bakeries sell bacon!?

She also figures out pretty easily that Loid is a spy, a factor she loves considering her favorite show is all about spies.

Her excitement only grows when she meets her new mother, an assassin known as Thorn Princess/ Yor Forger.

Behold, the subject of so much fanart online! I kid but honestly Yor's the most likable character on the show. Despite her night job as an assassin, she tries to be as good a mother to Anya she can be. She's nurturing, supportive, and kicks the ever-loving crap out of anybody who'd dare harm her baby. Yor Forger has the best Momma Bear Mode in all of freak'n fiction.

Along with her relationship with Anya, Yor's relationship with Loid is pretty sweet too. Like so many rom coms, the two get together under contrived circumstances. The school Anya needs to enroll in excludes single parents for whatever reasons, meaning Loid needs a mate in order to achieve world peace. Meanwhile Anya needs a cover up to her assassin job, plus she doesn't want her somewhat creepy brother Loid to find out she was lying about having a boyfriend. The two find each other with Anya's help, forming a fake bond with some very real at its center, regardless of whether or not they want to admit it. Yor gives Twilight the best advice she can, Twilight tries to navigate Yor out of awkward situations, and both act as protective parental units for Anya. A good example of this comes during Anya's entrance exam, one obnoxiously rude headmaster asking Anya if she prefers her new mom or her old one. With tears dripping down their baby's face, you can believe that Yor or Loid would've killed this pompous ass-wipe for saying something so cruel.

Luckily Anya is accepted, which is only half the battle. From there she has to contend with homework and Desmond's second son Damian. If my exposure to the DC Universe has taught me anything, it's that spoiled rich sons called Damian are the biggest brats of them all. While this Damian never gets his butt handed to him by the Ninja Turtles, Anya more than picks up the slack due to training from her mom.

As someone who was bullied extensively when he was younger, scenes like this always feel like karma finally being fulfilled. Unfortunately that's the one kid in school Anya has to befriend. And despite the weird feeling in his heart whenever he's around her, Damian refuses to play ball. Unlike Becky, the daughter of a military contractor who immediately forms a friendship with the Forger kid. Honestly it's so nice when anything good happens to Anya, considering this is the first time a family hasn't returned her. Seeing how all the Forgers help support each other despite continued claims that they're a 'fake family' is beyond heart-warming. It's easy to see why everybody's addicted to this show.

However, that brings me to a major problem. Not with the show mind you, but with Hulu. Back with my Princess Mononoke review I made a big stink about subs vs dubs, rambling on about why I prefer dubbing over subtitles. It all boiled down to me not wanting to read anything at the bottom of the screen when my full attention should go to the bigger picture as a whole. This wasn't a problem with Spy x Family, their first 12 episodes dubbed over. Then came episode 13 and all of a sudden every other episode was subbed. The heck? What happened to the dubs?

My friend Alec explained there are dubs for the rest of Season 1, all of them locked behind a paywall on Crunchyroll. Anybody who's about to type how I should join their premium service can stop right now. I'm addicted to four animes out a billion. Why would I sign up for a service I'd rarely use? Bad as I am with saving money, I ain't that financially foolish. Now I tried to watch the version with subtitles, but I realized how that wasn't gonna fly when a scene with multiple people talking at once played out. Yeah, nope. So for now I have to track down the mangas while waiting for Hulu to get the rest of Season 1. This is really a bummer considering I know who was joining the family come the later half of the season...

What a freak'n tease! For now though, I can confidently say that Spy X Family is fun for the whole family! Grab yourself a bag of peanuts and go check it out for yourself.

Meanwhile, wanna know my thoughts on other anime content? Check out my previous reviews for Komi Can't Communicate and Princess Mononoke! Until then; may the glasses be with you!

NEXT TIME ON GIRAFFE'S EYE VIEW...

[depressed-deranged-clown]

I appreciate you (and your questions) so much! These are making my mind come up with more and more ideas! This will be very long so I hope you enjoy

Yuri and Yor before Desmond

Their parents died (because of the war) when Yor was two and Yuri was six

Yuri would ask their neighbors to watch Yor from time to time so he could run errands for people

This continued for three years and Yuri was pretty used to working hard to make sure his sister was fed and happy

That was until a big black car pulled up in front of their house telling them that they were going to be sponsored by one Donovan Desmond

Yuri, being very suspicious and protective of his sister, tells them to go away and come back with a contract and a lawyer

They do exactly that

Yuri looks through it and thinks that this would give his sister more advantages in the future so he agrees and they get taken to the Desmond mansion

Damian’s backstory

I put a surprising amount of thought into this one because I had to logically explain it to myself

Instead of being Donovan’s kid, I was thinking that Damian and his older brother were the sons of Donovan’s brother instead (to put it simply, they are Donovan’s nephews)

But even though Damian had a wealthy family, he was neglected a lot and when he did try to make friends they simply used him and his last name to better themselves and not help him

This leads to him being very confused on how to show his affection cause he was barely shown any in his life (this is the reason why he is a tsundere)

His family is all these famous people and he feels like he is less then them

He is always torn from wanting to detach himself from the family and doing something that would prove his worth as a part of the family

That led to him one day being recruited by Garden when some muggers were after him (it was like a test of sorts)

Instead of fighting them head on, he used his surroundings to his advantage (Btw I also see him as very agile and not super strong but I think he can take a few hits and still be on his feet)

He ducked and slid underneath low hanging signs and other obstacles, pushed things in front of the attackers, even did some parkour just to get away

And all without dropping anything from his satchel

He was then trained and he took a liking to the poisons and daggers and all that fun stuff earning him the name Nightshade

But though this job helps him feel like he’s doing something that helps the world instead of just helping himself like everyone else in his family prioritizes, it still doesn’t help him get away from his family and the weight that comes with the last name Desmond

This is another reason why he agrees to marry Anya (his family would get off his back and if he takes the Forger name, he can cut some ties with the fame and infamy that comes with his maiden name)

Handler

This is the one part that I am the most confused on honestly

I can’t think of a good replacement for handler

I personally love her character so I don’t know

I was thinking previously that maybe she would be a teacher?

Maybe Mr. Henderson and Handler are switched?

I don’t know

If you have any ideas I would love to hear

Becky and Franky

Here are the things I was thinking

Becky’s father was really good with tech and taught her all that he knew and that’s why she is so good at it

But even though he was good, his creations were stolen from him before he could announce they were his so he never got rich and so neither did Becky

In this AU, Franky is rich

His parents own a very successful newspaper company

This is very important information for Anya because if Loid gets close to Franky then Anya could get close to his parents and have a contact to get information from

And finally

The bolt

That night, Yor returns to the dormitories very crestfallen

After dinner she receives a phone call from Yuri

He tells her that he heard she got a bolt but she shouldn’t worry and that she simply has to try her hardest

He will always protect her from Donovan so he tells her to do what she thinks she needs to and let him take care of the rest

From then on she still tries to do better and get stars to seem more favorable to Donovan

But one of the reasons why Yuri did his hardest to be an imperial scholar was so that Donovan would see that even if Yor was a bad student, he gained some reputation from Yuri

This would also give Anya a chance to talk to Donovan later on by talking about how Yor received the bolt by protecting her son and that Loid is very thankful for her

I really enjoyed answering these so thank you again for the questions

So,

This is literally for no one but me but I don’t really mind much.

This is a hell of a post for my first actual one that isn’t a reblog, but here you go.

My interests switch every other month at least but I’m really invested in Spy X Family rn and for the past six months. And while scrolling through tumblr today I found the Spy X Family swap AU. So I wanted to put my own thoughts down for anybody to look at and comment as they please. Enjoy :)

The beginning of the mission

Code name: Agent Starlight

Specialty: Disguises, infiltrations, cons

Despite how clumsy she is, she is the best spy from Westalis

Her clumsiness actually helps her in her missions sometimes by leading people into a false sense of security

Sometimes it leads to a setback

But she always gets the job done

That leads her to her current mission: infiltrate the prestigious Eden Academy to get close to Donovan Desmond, a man so suspicious of others he is almost a complete recluse

This leads to her needing a child to have a way in

Her disguise for this mission: Anya Forger, loving mother and wife and hardworking psychiatrist

She goes to a really sketchy orphanage to get a kid for the mission

When she said she wanted a smart child, the director lead her to a boy playing by himself with a small penguin plushie

This young boy’s name is Loid

He’s a telepath

He reads Anya’s mind and is able to find out she’s a spy fairly quickly

But though that interests him, he just wants a family

He (like canon Anya) is obsessed with the show Spy Wars once he sees it but not because spies are cool, but because his mama is a spy and he wants to understand her job and her thoughts better

Loid (like canon) is still really smart and perceptive, but he’s also a child so Anya isn’t able to make sense of everything he does and everything he does isn’t calculated but more of a spur of the moment thing

Of course there has to be that one moment where Loid reads Anya’s mind where she thinks, Basic diplomacy states that understand the other party is the first step to peace.

And Loid hears this (thinking, understanding me means world peace?) so he stands as tall as he can and says “I really like to eat strawberries. But broccoli is gross. Oooo! Bacon from bacon-ries!!”

“I’m sure you means bakeries, and sadly they don’t sell bacon” Anya replies, leading Loid to continue on their shopping trip

Getting into Eden

Anya goes to her best friend and coworker Becky Blackwell to get a copy of the test to get into Eden

Becky specializes with electronics and gadgets but she is able to get information when needed

Anya makes Loud memorize the answers to the best of his ability (which is better than she expected and it makes her pretty proud)

On the actual test, though Loid memorized it all, all the other kids and their panicked thoughts overwhelm him

He does pass (are we surprised) but barely due to the fact that he couldn’t differentiate his own thoughts from others at times

Then Anya received the letter detailing the second part of the admission

There has to be an interview with both parents. No exception.

And as Loid states “but there is no papa”

The next day, Anya calls Becky over and dresses her up to look like a man

Doesn’t work (Loid: I don’t want this papa)

Becky gives her stacks of papers of any single man in the area who Anya could possibly marry, but at least half of them had some crime to their name and she needs a husband with a flawless record

She and Loid later go to the tailor shop nearby simply because they needed some air and because they both needed some outfits for the interview (if they could even find a man willing to marry her to go to the interview with)

Then enters Damian Desmond

He had to go to the tailor shop because the night before he ripped the pants to his only nice outfit while on his main job

Name: Damian Desmond

Job: civil servant

Actual job: Assassin

Code name: Nightshade (named that due to his tendency to use daggers covered with poison)

He became an assassin do to wanting to make the world a better place where children wouldn’t have to be neglected or taken advantage of like he had in the past

His older brother called him the day previous cause he heard Damian promised some people at work that he was going to go to a party of one of his coworkers with his girlfriend

He doesn’t actually have one and hasn’t dated anyone his whole life so his brother truly was happy to hear he was bringing a date

Upon seeing Anya he was ready to ask if she wanted to pretend to be his girlfriend when Loud ran up to her

He thought in his head, of course she would be married. How despicable am I, ready to ask a married woman to date me just because she’s beautiful?

Loid, hearing Damian’s thoughts, decides to put on the show of a life time

He tugs slightly on Damian’s pant leg asking “are you going to be my papa?”

Anya goes wide eyed and lifts up Loid saying, “it’s rude to ask people to be your father”

He sniffles in response, fake tears welling in his eyes as he speaks “but there is no papa”

Damian perks up “you aren’t here with your husband”

Anya puts Loid down again. “No, my husband died a while ago so it’s just me and my son now”

Damian and Anya have a talk and decide to help each other

Anya then last minute has to go on a little side mission and arrives late to the party with the classic “I’m Damian’s wife” “I asked for a girlfriend, not a wife”

And it leads to them deciding to just stick to that cover story and living together

Damian of course is like canon and goes total tsundere whenever Anya shows affection because of her mission and when she wants to

I have so many ideas with the tests and the interview but I’ll leave that out for now cause this is already very long and I’m not done

Just know that they did pass

Honestly just give me an episode (I haven’t read most of the chapters of the manga so please no spoilers past what is also shown in the anime) and I’ll change it to this AU with pleasure

[mads-weasley]

Love & War Pt. 1: New Beginnings

1940s!Bucky x Medic!Reader

Series Masterlist

A/N: This is going to be a series about the Howling Commandos during WWII! It’s going to be slightly non-canon because we don’t know much about their different missions. I’m such a sucker for 40s Bucky! Sadly, I do not own any of these wonderful characters except (y/n). Bucky isn’t in this chapter btw, but it’s important for the rest of the series. I hope you like it!

Summary: When she volunteered as a combat medic in the war, (y/n) (y/l/n) did not think that she’d end up working with the Howling Commandos. Most of all, she definitely didn’t think she would fall as hard as she did for a sweet brunette from Brooklyn.

Warnings: angst, fluff, mentions of blood, gunshots, World War II, mentions of death, descriptions of injuries.

(y/n) - your name

(y/l/n) - your last name

(y/n/n) - your nickname

(y/h/c) - your hair color

1943

As (y/n) is packing her small bag for overseas, she can’t help but feel excited and terrified at the same time. Since the attack on Pearl Harbor, she wanted to do her part for her country, so when she got the opportunity, she took it.

“Why do you have to go, (y/n)? There are plenty of other girls who are nurses.” Her best friend, Allie, asks.

Taking a deep breath, she speaks passionately. “Well, Alls, if not me, who? I’m sick and tired of sitting on my butt at home knowing I could help so many people over there!”

“You could work in the factories like the other women! They’re doing their part! You could so do that!”

“No! I want to save people, Allie! I can’t do that here.” Her voice softens to just above a whisper, tears welling in her eyes. “Please, I don’t want to fight during my last day here.”

Allie walks up to her and envelopes her into a big bear hug that made both of them start crying. After many, “I’ll miss you’s,” the girls broke apart and went to have dinner. Being from North Carolina, (y/n) wanted to have some bbq as her last meal before she shipped out.

Laughing inside of Gary’s Diner, they drank milkshakes and reminisced from their childhoods. As both of them were about 25, they had a good bit of funny memories to share with each other, many involving the other. After stuffing their faces full of food, they walked arm in arm back to (y/n)’s house.

Looking at her watch, Allie sighs. “Less than 12 hours, (y/n/n). I’m going to miss you so much. Please, please, please be careful. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

Wrapping her arms around her friend, (y/n)’s voice betrays her by cracking before correcting itself. “I’ll miss you too. You know me, if I got hurt, I’d just patch myself up and I’d be fine.”

Seeing Allie’s lower lip tremble, she realized she should not have let that slip out of her mouth. Trying to backtrack, she sputters, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine! I’m not going to be on the front lines anyway. I’ll be far, far, far away from the front.”

The new nurse sends her friend a sweet smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. With one last hug, the duo says goodbye and (y/n) walks into her house. She gathers the last of her things and goes to bed thinking of all the things that could happen in Europe.

6 Months Later

Above the chaos of battle, bullets, and heavy artillery fire, “Medic!” Can be heard around the battlefield. A young woman with a bloodstained uniform runs to the man who called out. When she reaches him, she immediately sees the empty space where his forearm was supposed to be. Biting back the bile that rose in her throat, she shakily tried to sooth the soldier while giving him a shot of morphine.

“Hey, kid. What’s your name?”

“D-Desmond.” He replies with a pained sound.

“Well, hi there, Desmond. I’m (y/n) and you’re going to be just fine.”

She applies a tourniquet to his bicep and places gauze to the bloody stump of what used to be his arm. He cries out at the action, resulting in her apologizing for the pain it caused him. Quickly calling for a stretcher, she reassures him and moves on to the next man who needs her help, crouching to avoid the bullets flying above her head.

By the end of the day, her once spotless uniform was littered with dirt and blood. While in the field, she can’t let her emotions show, but when she is alone, she lets them flow freely. The death that surrounds the young woman is enough to break the strongest men, but she refuses to crack. The last place (y/n) thought she would be was on the front lines in France.

The place her unit, the 107th, is currently residing in is an old abandoned school. The classrooms are still intact, minus a few that were destroyed during different bombings. Normally, (y/n) would stay with her friend Betty, who was also a medic. Tonight was different though. She had lost more men today than she had in quite a while.

The Germans rolled out a new weapon that took out soldier after soldier, leaving them screaming in agony in the mud. Seeing this day in and day out took a toll on her, and she often isolated herself to deal with it. With a soft “Goodnight” to her friends, (y/n) found herself wandering the school to find a empty classroom where she could be alone.

When she finally finds one, she closes the door behind her and sinks to the floor, knees pulled up to her chest. Every time she closes her eyes, she just sees the men she couldn’t save; the ones begging her to save them. It becomes too much and she starts to sob quietly.

Suddenly, the door opens and an middle-aged burly man with a mustache walks in. The man looks familiar, but the absence of light in the room made it hard for her to make out his features. His eyes soften when he sees (y/n) against the wall.

“Hi there.” He says softly, bending down or her level.

Sniffling and looking up at him through her lashes, she replies. “Hi. I’m sorry. I’m such a mess. I’ll be ri-“

“It’s okay, sweetheart. Don’t worry. Everyone does this, even us men...You’re a medic right?”

She nods, her mind thinking back to the day. “I’m sorry if I couldn’t save someone you knew. I-I really tried, and th-there were ju-“

“Hold your horses. I watched you save so many men. Our squad has been needing a medic, and I think you’d be a great fit. What’s your name, kid?”

Head shooting up in confusion, she replies.“(y/n) (y/l/n), sir. What unit are you in?”

“Let me introduce myself. I’m Dum Dum Dugan, and my unit is the Howling Commandos.”

__________________________________________

Tag List:

@confusednerd09 @ahahafudge @bluemoon-icecream @lunamadhatter99 @thatfangirl42 @fionanovasleftnut @youcanstandundermyamberella @friendly-letters @caritobbg

[edens-serigala]

I posted 383 times in 2022

That's 242 more posts than 2021!

181 posts created (47%)

202 posts reblogged (53%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@mintytrifecta

@anilesbian

@fairy-serigala

@yamikarasue

@edens-serigala

I tagged 372 of my posts in 2022

Only 3% of my posts had no tags

#one piece - 124 posts

#spy x family - 112 posts

#edens-serigala - 79 posts

#loid forger - 68 posts

#black leg sanji - 64 posts

#yor forger - 53 posts

#edens zero - 45 posts

#jujutsu kaisen - 38 posts

#anya forger - 36 posts

#roronoa zoro - 28 posts

Longest Tag: 118 characters

#could make this a meta about twilight's default being to make the character he's playing more believable when stressed

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

something about loid rushing in to save the little boy who was about to be stampeded over... i don't think that was an attempt to pass an exam, i think that was an extension of twilight's desire to protect children

528 notes - Posted May 2, 2022

#4

*bangs on table* loid getting bridal carried *bangs louder* LOID GETTING BRIDAL CARRIED BY YOR

543 notes - Posted May 9, 2022

#3

hc - when and if damian and anya get married, damian takes the forger name instead of the other way around. sure, the desmond name has power behind it, but the forger name belongs to an actual family, and damian would rather have a family than political power

927 notes - Posted May 25, 2022

#2

i have so many feelings about this panel

1,171 notes - Posted July 26, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

yuri doing the whole "if you hurt her, they will never find your body" at loid, but a year down the line, whenever the truth gets revealed, or loid's cover gets blown, what if yuri is the first one to find out?

loid is terrified and at first yuri thinks loid is scared for himself, and he's beYOND pissed that loid was using his sister and can't even bring himself to feel remourse- but no- as he interrogates loid in private, trying to come to a solution that will cause yor the least amount of pain, he realises that loid's first and primary concern is yor and anya.

he's terrified that in his cover being blown that they will get caught in the crossfire. he doesn't care what happens to him, he just asks yuri to please get yor and anya somewhere safe before the info goes public.

and it's then that loid finally wins yuri over.

and against yuri's training and protocol, since the interrogation is still a private matter, yuri decides to help loid out. he promises to help loid keep his secret, until loid can get to a place where yor and anya won't be in danger any more.

because at the end of the day, the briars are just like agent twilight. compassion is the reason they started their careers, and if it's what ends them too, then so be it.

1,931 notes - Posted May 2, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Retrospective Review: Dalton and Brosnan Bond Era

So finally I am at the era of Bond films that I know a bit more of. I had not seen The Living Daylights or License to Kill in their entirety before, but I had seen all 4 Brosnan movies. He was the Bond I knew first before I saw Casino Royale. But I was looking forward to seeing Dalton's Bond movies because I had heard they were more serious and grounded.

For me, the both the Dalton films are really solid Bond movies. They are a refreshing break from what the Roger Moore had become towards the end. Not to mention, Dalton actually looks like he's in the type of shape and age to be a secret agent, running from country to country. The Living Daylights is good. There is immediately a more grounded story of espionage. But the better Dalton movie imo is License to Kill. Which is the revenge movie that we never got after Tracy Bond's death. License to Kill is really good. There is less romantic entanglement because Bond is more focused on what he wants to accomplish. And there is a slightly unhinged edge to him. Plus, you can tell that the movie is going into some darker stuff compared to previous Bond movies.

When it comes to the Brosnan era, I have a bit of a bias since he was the first Bond I ever saw. I genuinely like 3 out of the 4 Brosnan movies. GoldenEye is arguably one of my favorite Bond movies. It is fast paced, it has a good villain, it moves away from the stereotypical cold war era Bond plot, the Bond girls are good, and the action is splendid. Its the best of the Brosnan era. Given its made by Martin Cambell who also made Casino Royale, it doesn't surprise me. I know people aren't necessarily big fans of Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough, but I like both. Tomorrow Never Dies is really fast paced. There are some really solid action sequences, including a big bike chase which is quite fun. I actually liked the news mogul as villain idea. Its maybe more relevant now with the idea of 'fake news'. The World is Not Enough is more classical Bond. Its a more personal plot because M and Bond are more intricately involved with some of the players. Bond also has more of edge and is harsher in this movie which is actually pretty cool to watch. There is also a really disturbing element with the relationship between Renard and Elektra King which is also interesting. Die Another Day is unbelievably dumb for sure. To be fair, its fun in a dumb way but it goes into full blown science fiction with the whole idea of DNA being changed and a Korean man becoming a white british guy. Then there is the whole beam of sun villain plot. It is incredibly cartoonish. Its also the most effects heavy of the Bond movies and the effects have not aged well at all. The Brosnan era is one full of really cringey double entendres from Bond. In every movie, there are at least 4-5 and everyone of them is just so cringeworthy now but it seems that the writers were so proud of themselves when they wrote those lines.

The Bond girls across all these eras were a mixed bag to be sure. Kara Milovy, the Cellist from The Living Daylights is a bit on the dimmer side for sure. But there is some humor there because you see Dalton's Bond get really frustrated with her at times. Pam Bouvier is a pretty good Bond Girl because she is actually quite important to the story and plays an active role in rescuing Bond. Lupe is also not bad. In the Brosnan era, Natalya was pretty good. The romance between her and Bond wasn't really necessary and could have been taken out, but she is at least a competent person who is not dependent on Bond doing everything. We also get maybe the hottest side villain of all time in Famke Janssen's Xenia Onnatopp. I loved how sexually charged and batshit crazy she was. I had a crush on Teri Hatcher in the 90's when she was Lois so I always love seeing her even though she's there just to be killed off in TND. Michelle Yeoh was a badass even then. So she was cool. TWINE has the first Bond girl who is the main villain. I loved Sophie Marceu in that role of Elektra King because you are not sure how much to feel sorry for her in how her mind was warped by her trauma and how much to be a bit disgusted by her. Denise Richards on the other hand is perhaps the most hilarious piece of miscastings in a movie that I have seen. She is so completely wrong for the role that its almost entertaining to watch how bad she is. I would love to hear the casting director try and justify her casting for the role in any way other than to say that she is hot. Rosamund Pike and Halley Berry are probably the biggest names out of all the Bond girls. They have done much bigger and better things since but in Die Another Day, they are basically just there to fight each other and be bedded by Bond.

The villains are similarly a mixed bag. In The Living Daylights, the villains are nothing much to speak of. License to Kill has some good villains because Sanchez has some menace to him as does a young Benicio Del Toro as Dario. I think Sean Bean is one of the best Bond villains. Jonathan Pryce seemed to be having a ball in Tomorrow Never Dies. And I already mentioned that Marceu was damn good as Elektra. Renard is more the physical villain in TWINE but he feels more like a henchman for Elektra by the end. Gustav Graves is just completely ridiculous an a villain that just can't be taken seriously. He also wears a power rangers looking suit by the end of the movie which doesn't help.

One of the big plusses of the Brosnan era is the inspired casting of Judi Dench as M. She was so good that they kept her in the rebooted Craig era, despite a possibility of confusing the audience. M in the past was just a figure who gave Bond the mission and occasionally told him off. Judi Dench brings a personality and a weight to the character. She has a combative relationship with Bond but you still see that they share mutual respect, especially when you see where she admits that he's the best agent she has in TWINE. After the Roger Moore era, there was a refreshing in some cast such as Moneypenny which changed to Caroline Bliss under Dalton, and then to Samantha Bond under Brosnan. We also got the introduction to John Cleese as the new Q in the last two Brosnan films, taking over from Desmond Llewelyn. Robbie Coltraine has an entertaining supporting role in GoldenEye and TWINE. The Dalton era also saw the last use of Felix Leiter until the Craig era.

When it comes to the Bonds themselves, I think Dalton is extremely underrated. I think he is a precursor in spirit to Craig's Bond. I love the darker edge to his Bond. He gets angry and frustrated. It humanizes his Bond so we see he's not a superhero. He doesn't have the suaveness and charisma of a Moore or Connery but he has the physicality for it. He sells the action scenes far more than Moore did. He is really good in License to Kill which played to Dalton's strengths as an actor. Brosnan's portrayal split the difference between Moore and Dalton. He feels very much like a mixture of the two. He has the suaveness and charm to feel like the womanizing Bond, but he also brings out moments of anger and harshness. Even in the goofiness of Die Another Day, you always feel that Brosnan is giving it his all. I really like him particularly in GoldenEye and TWINE. I do feel both Dalton and Brosnan are underrated as Bond because they were both very good.

Anyways, now only the 4 Craig films, coupled wit No Time to Die. Not sure if I should do a restrospective on the 4 Craig Bond films and then do a separate one for No Time to Die or just include them all together to do a Craig era review since those films are so interlinked.

[teecupangel]

Hey Tee! I did an ask about this for The Witcher fandom a while ago now it popped in my head for AC and-

Studio Ghibli AUs. All the Studio Ghibli AUs!!! Which pairing do you think fits best with each movie?

I was wondering if you meant Desmond pairings or if you meant like… non-Desmond pairings but, fuck it, my default setting is that you meant Desmond pairing so here’s some Desmond pairings for you XD

(I will try to add a spin to it or something, we’ll see)

AltDes: Spirited Away

In this setup, we’ll change the parents to Shaun and Rebecca and the idea is Desmond and the two of them are on their way to their next mission. This one will not have any Animus BS in it but they’re still all Assassins.

The same setup as the beginning of Spirited Away but I kinda wanna make them into turkeys instead of pigs so we can have a reference to the Assassin Turkey XD

Anyway, Al Mualim would be the owner of the bathhouse that Desmond works with and Altaïr would be the mysterious employee whose name nobody knows. 

One of the main themes of this movie is losing one’s identity so we’ll have Desmond only be called 17. Every employee is only called by number and Altaïr would be called 1. The other main characters would take the other numbers (2 for Ezio, 3 for Ratonhnhaké:ton, etc) with Clay being 16 because he’s 16. 

Altaïr will be one of the employees helping Desmond but he’s the most distant of them. Maybe that would be the reason why Desmond would notice him because he can feel a familiar loneliness clinging onto Altaïr and he’d be ‘curious’ about it. Their budding closeness would be the reason why Altaïr would be the one to go ‘fuck all of this’ and leave his ‘post’ to help Desmond and Desmond would realize who Altaïr is because of the small details he could remember (and how Desmond had learned about the Assassins of old)

Anyway, it ends in a similar way as Spirited Away with Desmond realizing that all of the employees were Assassins and the bathhouse is meant to be a stop point between living and afterlife. Al Mualim used a POE he found using the Apple that was one of the failed solutions to the Solar Flare to create that pocket dimension and he’s been hoarding these Assassins as a way to have his own army (with defective memories that would make them easier to control) and the pocket dimension would pierce reality and revive them into the current timeline.

Everyone had been helping Desmond because they believe Desmond could still leave if he remembers he’s Desmond, not knowing that only meant that Desmond would pass to the afterlife and not actually return to his old life.

Desmond being Desmond fucked that up because his very existence and his belief that all of these people (employees + Al Mualim and the guests which are actually just passing ghosts that Al Muliam didn’t take) are real jumpstart the reality bending power of the POE but that also meant Desmond has become the singularity, not Al Mualim.

Then the twist would be the reason why the three got into the pocket dimension is because the car they used exploded thanks to a bomb that Lucy placed (orders from Vidic) and their mission had been to investigate Clay’s death.

So… either go for the afterlife peaceful life ending or the ending where the reality bending POE does success thanks to Desmond. 

EziDes: Honestly, I was thinking either Howl’s Moving Castle or Castle in the Sky but I decided to go with Howl’s Moving Castle instead

In this one, Desmond would be Howl so we can have AC Revelations!Ezio hahahaha

No, seriously.

Anyway, the witch is Juno (of course), Calcifer is Clay and Turnip Head would be Suleiman who does fall in love with Ezio but… yyeeaaahhh.

So, Desmond is cursed to not have a heart by Juno (and it’s shaped like the Apple of Eden and is Juno’s main ‘weapon’) and he can transform into a similar bird creature but this one is bathed in white and have gold lines all over (Ezio would realize the gold lines are very similar to the gold lines of the Apple) and he does transform to keep the two warring side in check even if it’s taking a toll on his body. The more toll it takes, the more golden lines appear on his body, all originating from the scar where his heart had been taken.

Clay tells Ezio he can free him from his curse but he wants to be freed first. This is all a big gamble because Clay knows the only way to free him from the life connection he has with Desmond is if Desmond regains his heart before Clay’s fire is completely snuffed out.

The ending is similar to Howl’s Moving Castle but Ezio would steal Juno’s Apple because he knows it’s connected to Desmond but don’t know how while Juno is punished by the king she ‘sided’ with. (Lorenzo, maybe?)

ConDes: Princess Mononoke

I’m going to be completely honest here, Princess Mononoke is my favorite Studio Ghibli film and I was tempted to make this the AltDes one but ConDes just fits soooo much more so, yeah, let’s start this.

Ratonhnhaké:ton would be our Ashitaka and he’d be ‘banished’ from his village because he was cursed after killing a demon before it could reach his village. His grandmother (the clan mother as well) tells him to go west where the demon (which they had realized was a corrupted boar god) had hailed from.

Along the way, he meets George Washington who suggests that maybe the Great Forest Spirit could cure him… if he was to find it anyway.

So Ratonhnhaké:ton reached Iron Town that is under the control of the Templar Order with Haytham Kenway as the leader (up to you if we’re keeping their familial relationship or not)

He also sees the town be attacked by wolves and a man in a hood and a mask that rides one of the wolves and attacks the townspeople as well. 

Okay, for this one, Desmond is obviously the San of this AU and his wolf brethren would be Altaïr and Ezio. 

Can we keep Gillian Anderson as Moro? No? Fine. Maria Auditore or Minerva gets the role of mama!wolf god. Take your pick.

Yeah, George Washington’s gonna steal that head. XD

Alright, so those are the main three done and here are some more Studio Ghibli AU ideas that I’m just throwing out there:

Fuck it. I want a Castle in the Sky one so here: Arno x Desmond with Laputa Castle in the Sky with Desmond being the mysterious man everyone wants to abduct and Arno helping him try to escape and also looking for the mythical Laputa that his father had been searching until his untimely demise.

My Neighbors the Yamada with the Kenway family. Either this is a sweet AU where nothing bad happened to them OR this is like the exact opposite of My Neighbors the Yamada and is just pure Kenway Family Drama all the way. Either way, the fic would be set in Desmond’s POV who is neighbors with the Kenways and it’s up to you if this is gonna be EdDes, HayDes or ConDes (or even JenDes)

Kiki Delivery Service with Desmond being Kiki, Clay as Jiji and Leonardo being that kid that is absolutely enraptured by how Desmond could use a broom to fly. The bakery is absolutely owned by the Auditores with Maria Auditore pregnant with Petruccio. (this can either be EziDes or LeoDes)

Only Yesterday AU where Jacob returns to his childhood rural town after a very bad breakup and tries to ‘repair’ his relationship with his sister that shattered after their father’s death. She’s married and has a child and her husband’s cousin, Desmond, is also a distant childhood friend. 

The Cat Returns would be so fun for Desmond and I kinda want it to be Eivor x Desmond with the Cat King being Odin. I don’t know why, it sorta kinda fits? Baron could even be Basim and Toto would be Hytham, why not?

I kinda wanna make a joke and say Graves of the Fireflies with the Frye twins but just remembering Graves of the Fireflies makes me wanna cry so no, we are not using Graves of the Firefly in this one unless the AU has Desmond save the kids. 

I gotta end it there because if I don’t, I’ll be stuck here thinking of AU ideas for every Studio Ghibli film I’ve watched and I’m pretty sure I watched almost all of them. God, I wanted to make a Nausicaa Valley of the Winds AU but all I can think of are the Templars using ancient weapons to control the world and Desmond being Nausicaa. That’s as far as I got.

[w-ngs]

jan22

i almost typed jan21. it is jan22. and i still have no clue what i'll be doing after i graduate college. whew. life is a doozy.

***

evicted, matthew desmond

books like this where inequality and systematic oppression are so blatantly written on the pages are the hardest to read.

it be the privilege check for me. seriously, though. the life i lead is so lucky and i’m not grateful enough for it.

other than that reason, there were a few others that made this book harder to get through. i don’t have any knowledge about the housing crisis for those below the poverty line or about the organizations desmond would sometimes name drop, and some of the governmental jargon i kind of glossed over (sorry). but this kind of knowledge wasn’t necessary for me to understand the one point of the book, which was that america has the means to fix the issue, but they won’t.

at first i couldn’t help but blame the landlords. how could you live that way when right in front of you there are people who literally don’t have homes? but it’s not about the individual people (i mean it is, but the issues are rooted much deeper) but about the failings of our country as a whole. i knew it was wrong to by angry at people who were just trying to make a living like anyone else (i’m not much better) when the issues are so steeped in cultural values and the way we view poverty as an individual issue when its really a collective. we’re all affected by poverty, either by exploiting from it or our purposeful ignorance of it. what i’m trying to convey is that while the people themselves are individuals within poverty, it’s not an individualistic issue, it’s systematic and the people in power who have the power to change things don’t.

from this book, i learned that one of the causes and effects of poverty is lack of housing. public and private housing for the poor are both inadequate because the tools that are supposed to function as a service to pull them out of poverty only help a select, lucky few. and once again, i was reminded that race and gender always play a role and they cannot be ignored when studying poverty.

i’m still learning. i think everyone should study sociology because this is a lens that shows you the world and all its ugly, the sides of the world that a lot of people generally don’t think about.

***

we hunt the flame, hafsah faizal (DNF)

a tiktok recommended book, probably. booktok now has a track record of recommending quite underwhelming books, and i’m starting to lose trust in it…

idk i couldn’t really get into it. the story was a little hard to follow with random info dumps that made it hard for me to get what was going on. but maybe that’s because i couldn’t get the energy to follow through with it.

my rule is that if something makes me want to do something else, it means it wasn’t good enough. this made me want to read ember in ashes by sabaa tahir and finally get around to finishing the series. oopie

a 5/10.

***

the secret history, donna tartt

wow! this was fantastic.

i like the classics. i like the myths, i like the legends, and i like the way the language flows. i’m not a classics nerd by any means (sometimes i wish i was, there’s so much untapped there i could use in my own writing), but i do like them and have a appreciation for them that sits near and dear in my heart.

the characters were very much real but also so obviously impossible and yet relatable as fuck. killing someone that constantly gets on your nerves? goals.

francis was, i think, my favorite character. him and henry be fighting for that top position. i thought he was hilarious. i had to stop reading once or twice to laugh in incredulity at something he said that came completely out of left field. he wasn’t even that genuinely funny, but his comedic timing was impeccable. he was like a cheap firework that blasts off once or twice and creates the most beautiful sparks but dies out just as quickly. you get immense joy from those scarce seconds but once it’s over, you’re left with this feeling of emptiness.

henry was such a mammoth of a character. physically, cuz he’s a giant, but also contextually. he was all of their moving forces, the one who orchestrated and planned and executed. without him, that group wouldn’t have been much. and of course his power to attract and pull people to his rhythm was essential. so at the end, it had to be him. he had the most to lose and had already lost it all. the story had to end with him because as long as he was around, it would keep continuing.

and bruh don’t even mention him and camilla to me. i’m so bitter at the fact that this entire story was told through richard’s perspective because he’s such an outsider it’s almost painful. i wanted to pick apart each character’s head but instead i was just stuck in the drugged haze of richard’s brain.

i didn’t quite like richard that much, mostly because i wished he would get out of the way and let me into someone else’s, probably more interesting brain, but i did somewhat understand where he was coming from, his desire to fit in and belong to something so extraordinary and surround himself with extraordinary people.

ugh. when first person is done so well you would do anything for it to be done through another perspective. sigh.

maybe i’m taking it a stretch too far but at some point i felt like each student represented a different aspect of greek culture. richard is the storyteller, the scribe who recorded everything for posterity. henry is the academic and the general, everyone’s leader. francis is the gay element prevalent in every greek myth. camilla is the repressed feminine. charles is the guy that commits the rapes in greek myth. someone else could probably interpret it much better than my extremely roughshod way of doing it, but something along those lines.

if there’s one thing i can’t find fault in, it would be the ~mood~. this book is essentially dark academia wrapped up in one, neat, slightly bloody, bow. the college in the northeast neighboring a forest and hills of greenery and weird locals with the greek literature and old money students mixing with regular students in one big hodgepodge of college life… good stuff. the constant air of drunkenness and being hopped up on drugs also helped make it all hazy and dreamlike.

the plot isn’t perfect by any means. i know i thought a book was good if i spend extra time online looking things up about it and reading others’ analyses about it, and these people articulated my sense of some strings not being completely tied up (julian??? wtf lol). but when i learned this was her debut novel that she wrote in COLLEGE, i was totally blown away. it’s better now, but i used to feel like i barely had the time to even sit down and allow myself to think. the fact that she managed to even write a portion of this as a student is a wild notion to me, and something i wish i had the capacity to do.

anyways, this was a great start to 2022. i hope i read even greater books this year.

a 10/10 (i changed my mind, this is deserves its own post and i regret not doing it).

***

the night circus, erin morgenstern

i picked up this book not only because it’d been on my tbr for quite a while now, but beacuse i knew it would be a much simpler read than the secret history, which after reading, was something i definitely needed a reading break from.

the mood-setting was very cool. the atmosphere was insane, it almost almost felt like i was in the circus. the double almost is not a typo because although the writing was good, it wasn’t divine. i still felt like an observer, like i was standing outside the gates rather than inside them. i was drawn, but not drawn in. but props to her for creating such a detailed place and making it come alive like that. i’ve only been to one or two circus-like events in my life but i would very much like to go to one of these.

the romance didn’t hit that hard, which i was expecting. i wanted to see a little more yearning, some more interaction, but that was fine. i liked the integration of multiple and various characters, as diverse as the circus itself. the magic was magical, obviously, but it was also somewhat rooted in reality, which i thought was cool. it wasn’t impossible magic, like harry potter, but kind of like an elevated everyday kind of magic. very sick.

now the problem is what i’m supposed to read next…

a 6/10.

[foxymoxynoona]

Amended Ch. 1

SUMMARY: Getting into a bar fight is the least surprising part of Isabella's return home. She sure doesn't expect to run into her childhood friend turned high school enemy, now not just surprisingly a law-abiding citizen but a police officer. Things seem to be going great for him, but Isabella is struggling with more than a bar fight. A single mom with a sick grandmother, an alcoholic mother, an abusive ex, and a short fuse herself, matters are not helped that Jungkook seems to be everywhere. All the time. Especially every time Isabella messes up. Can she really believe him when he says he just wants to help?

Police officer! Jungkook x Single Mom Childhood Friend Named OC

CW: abusive parents, alcoholism, abusive exes, descriptions of childhood abuse, domestic violence, sexual abuse, illegal acts, side character death, discussions/references to underage sexual activity/alcohol use/drug use, teen pregnancy, explicit sexual content

Also hosted on AO3. Not sure if I’ll keep posting on tumblr or not, but I thought I’d try it out!

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Isabella honestly couldn’t have said who threw the first punch. She was drunk, certainly, but she didn’t tend to throw punches first, though it wasn’t entirely unheard of if the other person was mouthy enough. And Brianne was definitely mouthy, and also drunk. Still, Isabella was certain Brianne had slapped her first, after Isabella had grabbed her arm and muttered a threat --but even that had been in response to Brianne’s unending cruel remarks. Those had grown louder over the evening until the whispered gossip wasn’t, was just full on taunts. And really Isabella thought she’d done a remarkable job ignoring it until Brianne had mouthed off about her children and what kind of mother she was… could anyone have expected her to stay quiet? So maybe she’d grabbed Brianne’s arm and then Brianne had slapped her and then Isabella had punched her right in the jaw and things had exploded from there.

Brianne was an idiot and Isabella was a scrappy fighter by this point. If the bar patio hadn’t been so crowded she probably would have managed to throw Brianne further away more quickly. Instead Brianne’s friends grabbed Isabella, interrupting her swings and kicking at her, only for her to twist away and throw herself back at Brianne until she didn’t even remember what was said. She was just drunk and angry and fighting.

The fight was broken up after only a few minutes, strong arms wrapping around Isabella’s chest and dragging her backwards while someone else did the same with Brianne. Isabella thrashed and struggled but the hold was crushing.

“Let go of me you motherfucker or I’ll bust you up next!”

“Careful, it’s a bigger deal to threaten a cop.”

“Like I give a flying fuck, let go of me,” she hissed, trying to bash her head back and kicking her feet, lifting them to use her whole weight to try and break free. Unfortunately the person was stronger than she was and it made no difference.

“Stop resisting or I’m going to have to take you in.”

“Stop holding me. They let her go!”

“She stopped resisting.”

“Motherfucker, let go of me--”

“Ok, she’s disorderly, I’m taking her in,” he announced, dragging her backwards.

“Let go of me!”

He ignored her, dragging her backwards still until they were clear of the bar deck, and then still in view of everyone began reciting her Miranda Rights.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” she demanded. “She threw the first punch! That bitch has been after my since we were sixteen and now I’m the one getting arrested? You can’t arrest me, I have to get home.”

“Then you shouldn’t have been fighting, ma’am,” the police officer sighed, turning and shuffling her forward to the cruiser parked on the side of the road. The lights weren’t on or anything.

“You don’t understand, I have to get home. I have to let the babysitter go.”

“Your husband will have to take the kids tonight.”

“Don’t be a piece of shit, I don’t have a husband.”

“Do I have to handcuff you or will you behave while I unlock the car?”

“Do not handcuff me.”

“Please don’t make me handcuff you…” He let go of her, which surprised her, though kept one hand clenched around her arm. He had a key fob to unlock the car and pulled open the door to the back seat, shoving her in with a muttered, “Watch your head.”

“This is bullshit,” she scoffed, glaring at his back as he slammed the door and walked around. She felt panic rising as she realized she was getting taken to jail. She was going to spend the night in jail. There was no one to bail her out unless she wanted to call-- no, absolutely not. She’d have to call the babysitter and beg her to spend the night…

She started crying angry tears as the police officer slid into the driver’s seat, “This is bullshit. She talked shit about me and my kids all night and assaulted me and I’m the one you’re arresting.”

“She settled down.”

“I’m settled down now.”

“Are you?” he asked, turning in the seat as he turned the cab light on. They both froze in shock.

“Jungkook?”

“Isabella Desmond?”

She stared, too shocked to even answer. She had not been prepared to see him, certainly not in this state, and she didn’t know which was more shocking, to find herself suddenly face to face with him or to realize…

“You’re a cop ?”

“Yes,” he answered, giving her a crooked grin. “What the fuck are you doing back here? Why are you fighting in my bar?”

“Your bar?”

“What are you doing here?” he asked her again, staring. It had shocked her sober, seeing him. She still felt fuzzy and amped up but winded now. Her face hurt. Her hand hurt.

“My grandmother is sick,” she explained. It felt silly to give him that answer when he’d just dragged her out of a bar backwards. “I came home to take care of her.”

“I didn’t know you were back.”

“You know everything that happens?”

“Pretty much, yeah. You’re staying at her place?” She gave him a short nod, annoyed that he apparently knew where that was. But of course he did, he’d lived next door a lifetime ago. When they were friends. “Isabella,” he sighed, shaking his head and looking out the window. He turned to face forward in the car. “Shit. What are you doing back here?”

“I told you, my grandmother is sick.”

“I know.”

“Yeah, yeah, you know everything it seems,” she retorted.

“So why are you out drinking and brawling instead of home?”

“It’s been a long week.”

“Are you an alcoholic?”

“Fuck you,” she glared, kicking the back of his seat.

“It’s just a question.”

“I know what a question is, I taught you to speak English, you fucking asshole. I’m not an alcoholic, I’m just drunk.”

“Ok ok, it’s just a question.” She saw his sigh, saw the way his gaze narrowed as he stared out the windshield into the night. He was surprised to see her and even though her head was spinning with shock and adrenaline, she knew this was an opportunity.

“I need to go home,” she said again. “I’m sorry for fighting. I’m just drunk and tired but I need to go home.”

“That’s the first rational thing you’ve said.”

“Woah, you’re a cop and you use three syllable words? Jesus, you’ve really changed, huh?”

“Shut up, Isabella,” he sighed, a deeply annoyed sigh.

“Ok, I’m sorry. Just let me go home, ok? My kids will freak out if I’m not home when they wake up.”

He let his head fall back, “Isabella…”

“Come on. Let me off, just this once…”

“Isabella,” he sighed again, turning in the seat. “You fought, threatened a police officer, resisted arrest, and bashed me in the face with your stupid hard head.”

She glared, “My head isn’t hard or stupid.”

“Tell that to my bruised jaw.”

“Did I really get you? I didn’t even feel it… guess I’m invincible right now…”

“Do you feel that gash on your cheek?”

“Huh?” She shifted in the seat, trying to see in the rearview mirror but she couldn’t get the angle right. Gingerly she reached her fingers up but everything just felt fuzzy and numb as the adrenaline began to seep away, leaving her drunk and tired. “Eh,” she shrugged. “I’ve had worse.” She giggled suddenly, “Your best friend gave me worse.”

“He wasn’t my best friend.”

“Aw, shit, that would hurt his feelings.”

“Do you still talk to him?”

The question surprised her. It made her laugh even though she didn’t like the question. She leaned forward, pressing her face against the metal grating separating them.

“Not by choice,” she said. Then, “Jungkook.”

“Isabella.”

She let her voice be small and quiet as she asked, “Please just take me home. I promise I’ll be good.”

He didn’t look back at her but he looked serious, staring down at the steering wheel. It pissed her off, actually, him acting all high and mighty just because these were their seats in the cruiser. He’d been a dirtbag in high school. It ought to be him back here. It had been on numerous occasions.

He didn’t say anything, just started the car. She didn’t know if that was a good sign or a bad sign, so she stayed quiet, watching him as he drove. It was disorienting, actually, to see him after all this time. It would make her feel shy later, she thought, but right now she just felt curious and angry. His face had finally grown around his nose and eyes, but they were still strong in profile, his jaw still sharp, his hair still a bit unruly. Or maybe that was her fault, from the struggle, what little struggled she’d been able to maintain against him.

Without meaning to, she dozed off, leaning forward against the grate. He woke her after parking, shaking her shoulder.

“Hey. We’re here.”

“No,” she groaned. “It’s not fair, Jungkook, I was just defending--”

“You’re home,” he interrupted her. “I’ll let you off with a warning this time. But this is your only warning. You’re a mom. You’re better than this. Don’t pull shit like this in my town,” he scolded as she stumbled from the car. She fell on her knees and pushed him away when he tried to help her to her feet. Instead she straightened and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

“Don’t lecture me,” she scoffed. “I never lectured you.”

“I’m a cop. It’s my job to lecture you.”

“You’re really proud of being a cop, huh? You’ve said it multiple times. I’m stunned your ego fit in the driver’s seat.”

“Inside the house, Isabella,” he said with another sigh, nudging her towards it.

“I’m going, I don’t need your help. I can do it on my own.” She glared at him over her shoulder and trudged forward, reaching the door before she realized she didn’t have her purse. It was still at the bar, with her wallet, keys, and phone. “Fuck.”

“Missing something?” She turned to see him holding her purse out. She didn’t know when or how he’d gotten it, but she stomped back to him and took it.

“You’re real smug for a delinquent.”

“I’m not a delinquent anymore.”

“Yeah, I heard you’re a cop?”

“And I heard you’re a mom, so act like it.”

She glared at the sting of his words but turned away, scoffing, “I am.”

“Better than your mom, I mean.”

“Fuck you. You don’t know anything about me, Jungkook,” she said, walking back to the door. “So don’t act like you do.” She started to dig for her keys but the front door opened, the babysitter stepping out with her backpack and shoes already on.

“I heard you get home,” she explained. “Um… hi Officer Jeon.”

“Hi Tara.”

“Hold on, I’ll get your money…” Isabella dug her wallet out, grabbing the three twenties she’d set aside for tonight, for what was supposed to be a rare fun night out. She shoved the bills into Tara’s hand, then stepped inside and shut the door without a further word to either of them. Because she needed to throw up and quickly.

**

Isabella Desmond. Isabella Fucking Desmond.

Jungkook couldn’t believe it as he drove himself home. It was supposed to be his evening out but he didn’t much feel like returning to the bar. Instead he parked in front of his house and just sat there for a few minutes. Reeling.

Isabella Joy Gertrude Desmond. The first love of Jungkook’s life. The girlfriend of his best friend in high school. The arch-enemy of his girlfriend in high school. The brightest star in his sky, who he’d watched wink and twinkle and fade until she’d crashed to earth, burned upon entry, and then fled their hometown, never to be heard from again.

And now she was here again. Living with her grandmother and children, apparently. More than one, he was certain she’d said children. And she was spending her nights getting into drunken brawls at the bar.

He wondered if Landon knew she was back. Maybe not. It wasn’t any of his business but he felt stressed about it, about her being here with Landon around. It didn’t seem like things were going well for her if she had multiple children and no husband and a drunken bar brawl on a Thursday night.

Isabella Desmond. The smartest girl he’d ever met. So much potential, fucking wasted. What a tragedy. It wasn’t any of his business. But what a tragedy.

Read Chapter 2

[manychocolatefactories]

CatCF: White Chocolate

And here is my White Chocolate retelling!

About this version: This version could take place in something between the 90s and the 2000s. It has been strongly inspired by both the world of cartoons in general, and "A Series of Unfortunate Events", as strange as it may seem. In this version, you have Seven Platinum Tickets.

Reinterpretation of Augustus Gloop:

Augustus Gloop, first Platinum Ticket winner. This Augustus, I imagined as a bully.

Physically, he is a very round boy. His belly is round, his torso is round, his face is round, his arms and legs are round, he basically looks like a bunch of balloons tied together, or a mass of spheres/globes. He has two great "beaver teeth". In terms of clothes, he eithers wears hoodies too small for him and of bright, vivid, flashy colors (orange, yellow, pink) or he wears striped shirts that are not slimming at all (such as the red and white stripes shirt of Augustus Gloop in the 2005 movie).

To all adults, Augustus plays the part of the cute, happy, innocent boy. But to all the other kids, he is a horrible, nasty, brutal and greedy bully. He likes to torture and dominate others - though he is not a sadist. He just seeks power and dominion, he loves to strike fear and submission in the heart of other children. A good exemple of his double-faced nature are his beaver teeth - he can actually speak perfectly fine with them, even though they gave him a slight lisp that is quite cute to adults. But with children, he worsens his lisp on purpose so that he would spit and splutter all over their faces, and when said children complain, the adults keep saying things like "He can't help it, he is just different, don't discriminate".

Augustus actually used to be a regular-sized kid (even though taller and bigger than his comrades, but not that fat). He regularly beat up, gave wedgies or other typical bully tortures on his peers to get their money or their toys. But it all changed when one day a boy had the idea to offer him his lunch instead of his money. Augustus was a big eater you see, and he seized the opportunity of having a free lunch. And since all the other kids preferred to give up their lunch rather than their money of their toys, they all started to "encourage" (as in, subtly manipulating him) so that he would racket lunch and food instead of money out of them. As a result, Augustus grew immensely fat on all the free food he got each day - and with his bigger size he could intimidate and crush other kids more easily. But at least, they didn't had to steal money from their parents anymore.

His demise will be with the Exploding Candies (remember those?). I think they would be going by a section of the Factory where some of Wonka's candies are stored, and Augustus would see another kid holding an Exploding Candy. Not knowing what it is, he would bully said kid (maybe Charlie?) into giving it to him. He would swallow it and then...

BOOM! HE EXPLODES INTO LITTLE PIECES!

No, I'm kidding Xp Actually I went with something much more cartoony (this Augustus himself being cartoony - in fact I based him in "fat Chuck with beaver teeth" from the cartoon "Chuck's Choices". It may sound weird but it makes kind of sense in the series Xp). He would  suddenly be all distended and inflated like a balloon, and then deflate completely (again, like a balloon), reduced to a flat, pancake-like boy, with smoke coming out of his mouth, nose and ears.

Reinterpretation of Violet Beauregarde:

The character is named Violet Strabismus, second Platinum Ticket winner. For her, I tried to think about what kind of people/archetype/stereotypes were seen chewing gum all day long, and I ended up finding this idea upon seeing a girl on a train that corresponded exactly to that.

This Violet is the typical embodiment of the cynic, "pseudo-edgy" teenager that seeks everything that is bleak and dark. She is a mix of goth, of emo, of punk and grunge. She only wears and surround herself with things dark, creepy, sinister or sad. She romanticizes notions such as despair, death, suicides, and the like. She is the kind of teenager that claims her whole life is just a series of pains and losses, that she seeks comfort in the darkness and the morbidity, and she disdains everything joyful, innocent or happy. Her two favorite hobbies are chewing gum, and trying to destroy other people's dreams and hopes with depressing talk.

The irony in all that, however, is that despite Violet's claims that she has a miserable and sad life, she actually has a very happy one. She has loving parents that support her in everything she does, and siblings that also love her. She comes from a wealthy background, which allows her to buy all the chains and piercings and extremely complicated goth/punk clothes she wants at specialized stores. She is quite a pretty and good-looking girl, even with her creepy clothes and dark makeup. She even has a huge house, and in fact despite her claims to adore death, never went to a funeral ever in her life, and never knew anyone that died. Still, she keeps repeating that she is a "misunderstood, bullied, rejected loner". And she is not suicidal herself, mind you, nor depressed. She is perfectly fine. She just wants to look like she is, to "fit her style".

Her demise, as with all the Violet variations in my stories, relies on the Three-Course Meal gum. But here, the dish used is the ice-cream. I had the idea that the gum would actually turn Violet's flesh into ice-cream. As a result she is immediately put inside Wonka's cold storage room and freezers, so she doesn't melt. And she is condemned to live her life alone, in dark, cold, locked up places, exactly as she pretended and wished to.

Reinterpretation of Veruca Salt:

Now, I am not much satisfied with this Veruca Salt, but well, it is still worth a shot, even though the idea itself may be not so original.

Veruca Salt, third Platinum Ticket winner. For this Veruca, I envisioned actually a character based on Darla Dimple from "Cats Don't Dance". She is a small, cute and child-like girl, that looks almost like a pretty little doll, but who is able to scream with an insanely powerful voice and can act like a total brat by throwing extremely destructive tantrums and breaking everything everywhere if she doesn't have what she wants.

Her demise was actually suggested by ArtMakerProductions - the Geese Room. The Geese Room from the 70s movie would return, with a full room having geese lay chocolate eggs for Easter (I also think Wonka would be disdainful of this silly idea according to which rabbits laid the Easter eggs). And when Veruca would throw one of her usual tantrum, one of the goose would believe her to be one of her children (due to Veruca's screams sounding like a goose' screams) and just sit on her, crushing the little girl. (Not to death of course, but that's one big goose Xp).

Reinterpretation of Mike Teavee:

This one was hard to think about, but I finally found something I'm quite proud of.

Mike's character is obsessed with television, right? And he wishes to be INSIDE television, right, that's the core of his demise. Well... what about a Mike Teavee that is obsessed with television not as a watcher but as an actor?

Henry Trout, fourth Platinum Ticket winner, is a former child actor who used to be the star of numerous teenager sitcoms and other televisions shows by Disney-like productions. All this fame turned him into a spoiled, arrogant and selfish brat, and when he was kicked off the shows, for both being too old AND being just too much of a jerk, he couldn't let go of the past. He believes that everyone knows him through his work as an actor, and that everyone is a fan of him. He spends a lot of his time looking at his old television shows, and television is his only topic when speaking with other people. He still dresses and acts like a star - and never once realizes that a good lot of people don't know or even remember him. As per ArtMakerProductions, his parents are also his agents, and they desperatly try to find back their son's former glory, by "overselling" him to get a lot of media exposure, and still doing a lot of advertisement and promotion despite him not getting any real work - the finding of a Platinum Ticket was another attempt at becoming famous once more.

Take the characters of "fallen stars" such as Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard" and Jane Hudson from "Whatever happened to Baby Jane?". Mix them with the former Disney or Nickelodeon child and teenage stars, especially if they had a dark turn in their life (the Spouse twins, David Henrie, Cameron Boyce, Zac Efron...). And you get Henry Trout.

His demise is still the Television Room, like all the other Mikes. However his variation is that the television Wonka used was prepared to teleport and air objects, such as Wonka bars. It is still a technology in working, and they only focused on the material and visual parts. They haven't worked on the sounds. As a result, once Henry Trout gets on TV, he is insanely happy because now everyone will see him and nobody will kick him out... but then he realizes he can't speak, because there is no sound. And when rescues from the television, he discovers he turned completely mute.

Reinterpretation of Charlie Bucket :

Charlie Bucket, the seventh and last Platinum Ticket winner.

For this one... I actually don't know. I wanted to do a Charlie based on the "brown-haired Charlie" as illustrated for exemple by 2005's Charlie. But I hesitate. On one side, I haven't used yet the idea of "the too-saint Charlie", aka a Charlie Bucket so good and so perfect he becomes a male Mary Sue, unrealistic and annoying, an exaggerated caricature of a good boy. I thought I could potentially use this with the brown-haired Charlie, especially since 2005's Charlie was criticized for being a too-perfect child.

On the other side, I also liked the idea of a crippled Charlie, in the mind of "Tiny Tim" from A Christmas Carol, and I also thought it would be fitting for him...

So I'll let it float for now.

Reinterpretation of the deleted kids :

# Terence Roper. Since this one had barely any personnality in the original drafts, I decided to include him (especially since I already reinvented the two other kids part of his trio - Clarence Crump and Bertie Upside).

I think of Terence Roper as the typical "hot bad guy" archetype. He is a criminal kid, and a little delinquant, that drives despite not having a permit, that steals, that robs, that like to spread chaos and destroy shop windows and tag walls etc... I think he is the son of two famous criminals, and thus thinks of crime as the "family business". But he is also a very good-looking, very charming, and very popular boy, which resulted in him not only being leader of gangs and the like, but also having a sort of cult or worship around him - similarly to how "bad boys" in high schools can be idolized. I think something very similar appened with his parents - I want to explore with this character how people worship criminals, with very successful bandits, mafioso or drug dealers ending up as popular and romanticized and idolized as movie stars, singers or the like.

He is the blousons noirs of the 50s and 60s, the old-fashioned troublemakers pachucos, the greaser delinquants of the movie Grease, and all other fashionable kind-of-criminal groups you could think of.

But the irony here is that Terence actually got his Platinum Ticket by legal means, by buying a chocolate bar - and in fact, for him to have found the Golden Ticket and not stole it is a great disappointment and shame.

For his demise I thought of re-using the Fizzy Lifty Drink. He would stole it in an act of bravado, and drink it without realizing what it was - which would result in him getting a perpetual case of bad gazes (frequent burps, farts, and other stomach noises). This would completely ruin his cool and good looking image, as well as any kind of grace or discretion he may have.

# Miranda Mary Piker. Sixth Platinum Ticket Winner (Terence Roper was fifth). She is based on the character as most know her : a school-obsessed, fun-killing girl. The original incarnation was a stern, no-nonsense, very strict girl that basically acted like any cruel headmistress or teacher from those horrible British boarding schools. However, given that this character was alreayd beautifully reintepreted by Danguy96, I wanted to do something slightly different. This Miranda is more like an "annoying moral guardian". She is still obsessed with school, good work and being an obedient and good child, and she still disdains silly things such as games, entertainment or fun in general, but instead of being a stern and harsh girl, she would rather be a nagging and annoying pest, that keeps giving speeches and sermons to everyone about why you should act a certain way and not another, a walking moralization that keeps trying to teach "proper manners", "maturity" and "basic knowledge" to everyone in a very condescending way. I also thought she would try to dress up as an adult, and thus with adult clothes - but since she is just a cild, said clothes are much too big for her, resulting in her looking kind of ridiculous.

Her demise would, of course, be the Spotty Powder. I can't remember if this was an idea that was suggested to me, or one used by someone else in their reinterpretation, but I like the concept that instead of falling inside the machine and being crushed to death, Miranda (and possibly her school director father) would actually fall into a big pile of the Spotty Powder, and thus develop all the symptoms of a contagious disease and be forbidden from setting a foot in school for a very long period of time.

Reinterpretation of the rival chocolatiers :

This is the big defining feature of White Chocolate. In this version, the rivals of Wonka have a big part to play.

They don't appear in themselves - but they sent emissaeries, messengers and spoekpersons to contact each of the kids that won a Platinum Ticket, in a similar way to the 70s movie, and each chocolatier tempts the kid with a different "treat".

Slugworth seems to be a chocolatier involved in the criminal underworld - his emissaries at least seem to have some criminal undertones, and act through fear and violence rather than seduction. In fact, I think his chocolate and candy business may actually be a "cover" for darker criminal activites, and "washing" of dirty money.

Augustus Gloop receives the visit of a man with "icy blue eyes and nasty purple scars on his cheeks". He passes off as a waiter in the restaurant in which Augustus is celebrating, even though it is just a disguise. He tries to convince Augustus by both subtle threats, and the promise of a free pass and unlimited offer in all the restaurants and buffets of the town.

And Terence Roper, due to his criminal connections, actually is invited to the house of a wealthy man with ties to the criminal world, a creepy man in fancy, wealthy suits, but stuck in a wheelchair and with a fake eye shining like a silver dollar.

Slugworth's purpose seems to be the destruction of Wonka. He tries to convince the children to sabotage or put maybe bombs and things like that inside the Wonka factory, or to ruin batches of candy, stuff like that.

 Prodnose rather keeps sending women as emissaries. In fact  even thought of making Prodnose actually a female chocolatier, but I don't know yet... I thought of Prodnose as some sort of media mogul, that tries to spread their brand to everything (there are Prodnose television shows, book series, toys, sport equipment, gardening tools, etc...) including candy-making and chocolate-making.

One "messenger" contacts Veruca Salt. She is one of the journalists interviewinv the young girl after she found her Ticket. Based on Cherry from the musical, she is a happy, charmant, pleasant woman. But her face has something... weird to it, almost unnatural, as if she had a bad surgery job done to it. And she keeps smiling all the time - her smile seems completely stuck.

Henry Trout is the other one to receive a messenger from Prodnose. As Henry goes to have a new suit tailored for him (because of course Henry only had tailored suit perfectly to his size), the tailor reveals herself as a messenger of Prodnose, who could easily bring back Henry in Prodnose-made television series and shows. The tailor herself is a tall and thin lady all dressed in black, and with long, spindly fingers with long and pointy nails - her hands in fact look like creepy spiders.

I thought of probably Prodnose trying to cause a huge scandal inside the Wonka factory, and thus asking the kids to find out Wonka's dirty secrets, and if not, to invent some that they would "reveal" upon leaving the Factory. Where Slugworth tries to ruin physically and economically Wonka, Prodnose tries to ruin his reputation and to discredit him on moral ground.

 As for Fickelgrubber, he is actually envious of Wonka. I think he is a very young person hailing from a very wealthy and powerful family, and his dream was to become a candy-maker, but he was very bad at it. However he refused to give up - especially when seeing how Wonka was succesful. Fickelgrubber is an envious and jealous child-minded young person, and he refuses to admit Wonka can succeed where he fails. Fickelgrubber has tried to copy and steal Wonka's inventions for years now, but all his attempt ended up failing miserably - he copied the ice-cream that never melt of Wonka, but they had a tendency to turn into rock-hard material. He copied the gum that could create gigantic balloons of Wonka, but he mixed up the recipe, and the gum actually made kids inflate and pop like balloons. And when Fickelgrubber released glow-in-the-dark candies, it was later revealed they contained a huge dose of radioactive components.

Fickelgrubber's emisseries are creepy kids (I still don't know if they are "friends" of his or merely all sorts of cousins of his real family - as I said, Fickelgrubber is quite young, both in spirit and mind).

Violet, upon visiting her local cemetery, is contacted by a beautiful blond teenager standing on the wall of the cemetery. He acts flirtingly, seductively, playing the "good cop" (and he also actually acts like a cat, meowing, purring and sometimes even moving like a cat - I thought of him as a parody of Cat Noir from Miraculous). And when Violet is not receptive to this, the boy presents his sister, that is waiting behind Violet. A big, burly, muscular girl with a bulldog-like face.

Miranda is also contacted by Fickelgrubber emissaries - twin girls, identical, but "perfect", as in with perfectly clean and ordered clothes, identical beautiful hairstyle, and the like (I thought of them as inspired by the twins from The Shining). They are basically the kind of "perfect" and "proper" kids Miranda seeks to create in the world. And they try to convince her to join them (they even have prepared for Miranda clothes identical to their own so that they would become their new sister). I don't know however how would Miranda react to that - either she refuses, due to stealing secrets being perceived as cheating and she is against it  ; either the sisters actually convince her to go along with the plan by the simple argument that Wonka is an excentric, ridiculous man that gets success without hard work, and Miranda hates both goofy/clownish and not-hard-working people.

As for Charlie Bucket, he will actually be visited in turn by one messenger from each chocolatier (in fact, he may even escape them when they start fighting each other).

Slugworth's emissary... I actually don't know. Xp I thought of maybe a kind olf man, almost grandfather like, that acts all nice and doting, but then reveals that inside his cane, there is a blade.

Prodnose's emissary is a loud-talking woman with a lot of makeup and wearing a huge coat made out of crocodile (I thought of her as a mix of Cruella and Ursula).

As for Fickelgrubber's emissaries, Charlie meets at first a beautiful Japanese teenager (male or female?) dressed in a refined suit, something between a fashion model and a succesful business owner. And when their smooth talk fails, they present their brothers - because they are triplets. And appear from the darkness two huge sumos, teenagers yes, but the size of elephants. (This was again inspired by usual sumo appearances in cartoons, from JCA to the Simpsons passing by Shuriken School).

[nonokoko13]

I'm so happy that my 100th post is my first one-shot released in Tumblr! It's been a while since I wrote something like a fic so don't be shy about saying mistakes or things that are good or can improve! It helps me a lot to know what others think. Maybe I'll post it as the first chapter of a sxf one-shots compilation if many people like it.

❝A for Anya❞ (1/2)

Second part here

Summary: Anya decides to discover her name meaning.

Characters: Anya Forger, Loid Forger (mentioned), Yor Forger (mentioned), Yuri Briar (mentioned), Becky Blackbell, Damian Desmond, Emile, Ewen, Henry Henderson, Anya's classmates.

-

One more day at school, Anya was sleepy. Her eyes were closing when Becky nudged her to pay attention.

It's not her fault that professor Henderson, with his endless explanation, make somebody fall asleep! If she couldn't read minds she would think that he's a sper. His power is the...the...amnesia? No, pa said that's not the same.

If -tion and -er are for words like domination, assassination, killer, sper... maybe it's sleeption? Yeah, that sounds better. He has the power of sleeption, he's a sleeper; no wait, that's when you're already asleep. Damn it! Think is hard!

"As I was saying..." Oh right, the teacher keeps talking. "...the meaning of each thing can give value to the history, even your names have a meaning. But you are the ones who give meaning to yourselves."

Anya tilted her head. Her name has a meaning? She though Anya means Anya. Well, when she studied with uncle Yuri he said that not in all languages ​​a name is said or written the same way. Was that what the professor was referring to?

"Sy-on boy, do you know the meaning of your name?" asked. His cheeks flushed slightly at the surprise of that question, not because she looked interested in him of course.

"As if that concerns me." he replied quickly. "Oh, I know it meaning Lord Damian, it's 'One who tames; subdues'."

"Maybe it's because he should tames a wild animal like you, shrimp." other added, followed by the giggles of both.

"Sure your names mean dumb and moldy." Becky snapped, "Let's go Anya, don't listen to them." The two friends left class under the gaze of the boys, "And you Becky? Do you know the meaning of your name?"

"Captivating, beautiful." She smirked, proud. "Of course, my name is according to my appearance."

"Hmph" Anya put a hand on his chin to think, that's what pa does, which make him look very cool and thoughtful. Maybe she could investigate her name and its meaning, just for curiosity.

"Becky, would you help me?" ┉┅━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┅┉

Thanks to Becky's help, she had a very large (and very heavy) dictionary that contained the meanings of many names from a to z; and another with the meaning of words and adjectives in case she didn't know them.

She wasn't sure if it was from the school library or a possible library like 'The Beauty and the Beast' style from Becky's house mansion, due the only kind of books her friend would like to have must be smooching stories, she thought in the first option.

Locked in her room, no one could bother her. Alright, let's see.

Anya opened the giant book and turned a few pages; unlike the names, the meanings weren't in alphabetical order.

Anton...Annie...Anya! Wow, her name has more than one meaning.

'Bringing goodness'

"Heh, that's true." She helps pa a lot. Telling that to him would be funny 'cuz he always makes a weird face, though his mind was empty each time she said how good she is. "Next!"

'Merciful'

This time she opened the other dictionary in the letter m.

'Merciful: (of an event) coming as a mercy; bringing someone relief from something unpleasant.'

Unpleasant...okey dokey, that's merciful, what was...

'Mercy: compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm'

At that moment, Anya trembled with the memory of that distant sensation of her skin and eyes burning. Without thinking twice, she shook his head trying to forget that and moved on to the next word.

'Form of Anna'

For one second she remembered someone, and something she forgot.