#loyaltyvalue

[kingsmanne]

❝ i’m not changing my mind. ❞

Having a choice, it was something that didn’t mean much for either of them. - You always have a choice, she would’ve thought earlier, you have the choice to pull the trigger, you have the choice to say no. No more lives lost, until it was her own that had been caught in the crossfire, a life that had been taken and now the body was led to the darkest corners of the Cambodian Jungle. He didn’t have that choice either, even less so, considering. Walking away with one arm and vocal cords burned, it became more and more clear about how this story should go. Broken corpses don’t get to rewrite their fate.

She studied his face for the moment, hard and handsome, the scruff making him seem older now than he probably was. A pretty boy, she would’ve called him if they had met before, but not considered him to be much else. It was a circumstance that made him attractive; his intent even more so. Well, it was less attraction that bound them together. Something that excited her, that made the tips of her fingers tingle like when she sees a skull explode from sheer force, a job well done. She wasn’t attracted to him; but moreso to what they had become together, and how they’d probably end together too. A display of loyalty and devotion to a cause, someone - Well, her loyalty to Ms Adams was debatable. To him?

You will die, pretty boy.

Probably what he wanted, too.

They would die, as sure as they broke through the gates and wrought havoc on Poppy’s minions, as the panic ensued outside and the fantasy tumbled down like a house of cards. It only took two well-equipped agents, sadly. Anne bared her teeth as she spotted that all too familiar face, aside from that missing eye, and that one new one they’d have to actually thank for this plan coming into fruition. She twirled the bullet between her fingers, jaw clenched, seemingly focused on what was happening outside rather than inside. Poppy seemed unfazed and rather optimistic about their chances, but even she should see that they were nearing the end, that they had no choice but to surrender to the thought of their demise.

Right where you should be. 

You can still go. I’m taking care of this.

It would be oh so ironic, that he showed such loyalty in the face of death. If they would only see - but they shouldn’t. Pulling the old dog’s other eye out and the puppy down, like the mongrel he was, before they could bite. Jet and Benny would take care of the rest, if she would get there first- but why rob him of his well-earned vengeance too? She looked at him with an almost saddened expression, just knowing that this would be the last time, and even then, she could not-

A smile came and faded quickly as she raised her hands to merely brush the hardened jawline with her calloused knuckles.

“Of course you aren’t.”

source: THINGS THAT ARE HARD TO HEAR (accepting) | @loyaltyvalue

[embercrested]

@loyaltyvalue​ ❤︎'d | a perfect circle - judith

"You never thought to question why?”

[kingsmanne]

You've often referencing literary or philosophical concepts in your headcanons regarding Anne (the Apollonian and Dionysian, Macbeth, Faust) - does she do that as well? Does she see, think herself in certain patterns, as certain figures? Has she tried to live up or adapt to the name she's been given by Kingsman?

Mmmh.

My reply to this would be yes and no, for different reasons. 

You are what you read, with your identity being a complex amalgamation of all the media your consumed; an idea I would say holds true in general, but also for Anne. Her mother loved the classics and also made her read more than enough, and it’s easy for a young girl to find herself in literary figures of her childhood, male or female like she loved Lucy Pevensie and Bilbo alike. She never truly related or identified with them, though. More a role model, to be as loyal as them, as brave as them, as clever as them.

It was Andromeda that reminded her of her constraints. Andromeda was the lamb to the slaughter; the princess to be sacrificed because of her mother’s hubris, the archetype of the princess and the dragon, hoping for the hero to swoop in. Anne chose to refuse that name, she didn’t want to be the princess about to be devoured by a monster. They named her twin Alexander, defender of man, the conqueror. She? Not so much. Like a path that was laid out before her, until Perseus, in the form of her mentor, swooped in to save her from the monster of monotony and unhappiness that was her life.

It was also Andromeda who kindled her love to the stars. Andromeda, the Chained Maiden, a constellation and galaxy in the sky, that the Old Greeks had already seen. She became interested in it beyond the meaning of her name, in the mind of a man, and it opened the sky above her. 

Being Welsh, she knew of Yvain, of course. Or Owain, as he is known there in the Mabinogion. It’s an irony she only learned later when she tried to remember it under layers of pain and loss of consciousness, that Yvain had also fallen from grace and needed to get back into it, and became an insane hermit in the woods as he wasn’t allowed back in his lady’s favour. But the fact that he, one day, regained her love, and that was something that kept her going. One day, it would all turn for the better, despite the trials she had to go through, despite it making her insane. Yvain managed to do this. So she had to, because she was Yvain.

But someone who had always been defined by other people, an extension of them, part of them; a twin who was now without a twin, a knight that had given up every personal belonging, never been her own person since she could remember, always doing what she was told to do; defining herself by other people, concepts and names is something she hates, to an extent. She wants to be Anne, she doesn’t want to be a symbol or a name or anything like it; she wants to be her own person that isn’t a literary device.

tl;dr: I use literary figures, especially in regards to names for her, and she notices that too.

source: UNPROMPTED ASKS (always acceptiong) | @loyaltyvalue

[kingsmanne]

Now, we know that the new candidates are suggested by the current title holders/agents, and that they most likely have a selection of possible candidates in advance as well: who are Anne's candidates and why? (If she doesn't have any, why not?)

I honestly always imagined Anne would be the type to make a huge deal out of it.

I envisioned her making a Cicada 3301 style of ARG that would sort her candidate, which she would be going to present, out. Starting with the first hint, the starter, all over one place, most likely a campus. Can you spot something when it’s hidden in an obvious place? That would lead to other riddles checking their skills in problem-solving, teamwork and loyalty, everything it takes. I have several notes about what this might look like, but since it’s mainly brainstorming and nothing too concrete, I won’t publish them... yet. But in the end, it’s about speed, who solves the final part first, who’s skilled enough to make it there?

For those not succeeding, it’s a fun game with nothing coming out of it. For her candidate, and it can be only one, it’s the most fitting and in her opinion also the most likely to succeed because they have what it takes to become a Kingsman. The seed is there, and they’d just need to cultivate it. You can’t implement things like potential.

Now, we also know that at least in TSS, the agents had only about one day to present their candidate, and of course there wouldn’t be enough time for it. So she succumbs to the way they always did it, with a list of possible candidates as a backup. Those candidates do not only consist of upper class white men, would she aims to have a wider array and pool to chose from, with them still fitting into the general vibe at Kingsman, and she sort of imitates the way she herself was chosen: by talking to one of her (old) professors, an associate, who can tell her about possible candidates beyond a dossier and background check. So she mostly focusses on academics like herself but disregards factors like race, gender and socio-economic background, if they have potential.

source: UNPROMPTED ASKS (ALWAYS ACCEPTING) | @loyaltyvalue

[kingsmanne]

Does Anne have any fantasies or dreams that she resorts to for comfort, even though she knows they will never come true? Did she have any during her time tracking Alex down?

“I don’t sleep very well, not at all really. I lie in bed and I stare at the canopy and imagine ways of killing my enemies.” - Cersei Lannister

Dreams are telling. Not in the way you’d expect, like oneiromancy or any type of oracle. They can tell much about the dreamer’s mind, how they dream, what they imagine, what they resort to when their mind is at its bleakest.

Anne didn’t sleep much during those years and still doesn’t. It has gotten better, thanks to mandatory therapy and medication she got from Kingsman, but it still remains. You can’t just switch off trauma when you go to bed, and it has its way of creeping up on you in your darkest moments. Even then, it’s always looming in the back of your mind. And keeping it at bay is something different entirely.

But to get her through almost three years, it took a lot to be able to sleep at night. But we have to start somewhere else.

Anne has always been very focused on a goal. If I get to x, y happens, to put it very simply. A very scientific and pragmatic approach to a situation, to keep a goal in mind and not drift off too much or lose sight of it. If I fulfil my mission, I can go back home. To fulfil my mission, I need to make sure that those people can’t harm anyone. To make sure of that, I need to kill them. But it would go like this

Imagining the ways and plan how you’d do it may seem a big comfort. It gives your mind something to do. It distracts you from the fact that you have lost everything, your home, your friends, your family; the one you loved betrayed you in the most horrible way and the people you’d consider even as some sort of a replacement family, they left your corpse to rot in the desert. But you need to get back home. You need to get back to them. You need to finish what you started and maybe, maybe, everything will turn out for the better again. And what’s with Kingsman, well... you need to get there, but you can’t show yourself there. You’re not allowed to imagine what it would be like when you return to London, and you’re certainly not allowed to imagine that anyone would be happy to see you.

Not that the desire of vengeance wouldn’t play a role; you want to hurt those who hurt you, and they have one face: your brother. You’ve never met his colleagues. But you know how he looks, the wrinkle he gets between his eyebrows when he’s distressed, that one lock of hair that gets always in the way, and how you’d plant a knife right there in his forehead, where this lock is. Well, she didn’t kill him like this, but it got her through, imagining all the different ways she’d destroy his face once she’d get to him.

Anne’s dreams are violent. Anne dreams of massacres. And those give her comfort, because it’s the only time she experiences justice; vengeance. The only time the scales are evened and she isn’t caught up in this perpetual state of being a victim, that she can never get rid of. She doesn’t want to be a victim anymore, but as I said prior, those dreams have a nasty way of slithering into your mind when the nights are the blackest.

source: UNPROMPTED ASKS (always accepting) | @loyaltyvalue

[kingsmanne]

loyaltyvalue asked: “ i want my life back. ”

What are you doing here?

A seemingly innocent question that would better remain unanswered; because on the surface, it was obvious, even with the cool professionalism they still hadn’t forgotten now, it didn’t warrant to be talked about. He knew, she knew - and this was more than enough. 

Still, after cleaning wounds and idle games with frayed cards, it was something that came up so suddenly, so naturally. What’s your stake in it? Why are you willing to die here?  Two of her own lost their lives when they were attacked earlier, blood seeping into the sands and soon, there would be no trace left. This could be either of them, too; to even be here, even without orders, it must’ve meant there was something more to find here.

But what was a life worth, the one they could never go back to? It figured, she thought, no one is here on their own volition. This was the place people came to die, not to live, or get their life back. There had been something waiting for her, too, but even the suggestion of returning - it was gone, suddenly and brutally, as she died here. Moonshine and heat scratched something in her that could be described as sympathy; pity. Something rare enough in a woman who would’ve laughed it off with get used to it. 

“Oh, you will.” 

She cupped his face in her hands; stubbles of a beard that got to worrisome to be properly kept, but the one protection against a burning sun and harsh desert winds. Burnt skin that would’ve been so fine and smooth in another time but this; a shattered marble statue left to be forgotten. Look upon my works, ye mighty-

“You will.”

source: A MEME | @loyaltyvalue​

[kingsmanne]

(The) Phonoi: *Excluding* battle and self-defense, when can you excuse murder?

All the time. 

It’s a profession sickness, I suppose. While Kingsman in theory only supports murder to save another life, Anne is often employed when negotiations fail, considering that’s her special skill. So it’s easy to pick a reason for it, not just to calm nerves or conscience. We know in practice that they have little problems with killing in general or at least severely hurting somebody, so in theory is a bit iffy.

On one hand, it’s of course “doing as you’re told”, as in: when Arthur tells you to kill someone, you do it. It’s not unreasonable, after all, since by taking a shot, you could save many people from death. On the other, with her low inhibitions and being ready for violence at any given moment, it’s also easy to find a reason that’s just a “because he talked to me in a way that I didn’t like” at the very worst. 

In the end, it’s also less about excusing murder for her. She completely accepts it as part of her profession that she chose and literally killed to come back to, so if asked, she would give an explanation as to why someone had to die. Excusing implies that she would ask for forgiveness and that’s something she doesn’t do anymore. Likewise with other people and their motives. 

source: MYTHOLOGY HEADCANONS | @loyaltyvalue

[kingsmanne]

💃- For a talent that they like to keep hidden from others

It really depends on who she’s with. The few civilians she’s interacting with don’t need to know how she can differentiate between calibres by hearing a shot, or tell a type of engine by sound too. She could always explain it by being a military brat but that explanation only goes so far.

Other than that? She can quote Titanic entirely by heart. It isn’t any surprise she keeps that a secret, I suppose.

source: HEADCANON QUESTIONS | @loyaltyvalue