With culminating celebrations done at the cusp of December… the celebratory interlude had technically segway-ed into the next chapter of everyone's lives.
After all, it was the New Year.
Which meant that 1986 was finally here!
New resolutions, new goals, new missions, and a new path in life for a person in his re-life.
From what Alexander remembered, his 1986 was filled with reclusive drawings and code tinkering.
Then there was school and back again to his room to go about with his introverted ways.
There was some variety in that mundanity here and there. However, it is mundane for a reason, so it wasn't anything special.
Of course, he did take note of some noteworthy 1986 events movements from the olden timeline. This was especially relevant information… even more so now.
After all, for him to gain an edge over everyone, he had to keep track of historical events.
Hopefully, his knowledge of noteworthy happenstance would still be valuable and the progression of events wouldn't be too messed up with his existence.
His figurative Chaos Butterfly wings had already made one major flap after another… and the effects of Chaos Theory had long been underway.
Uncontrollable deviations were less than optimal for Alexander but his own manufactured deviations were a welcome change.
That's just the hypocrisy of things.
The chaos of others was distasteful while the chaos he's made would be a 'pièce de résistance'.
In any case, Alexander's next projects in 1986 were so many things and should hopefully spawn societal chaos of its own.
This was a new year and it meant a new project. It just so happens that this new field to tackle was quite an ambitious and grand spectacle that he can't afford to be lax about.
This was why he had to go over some of the drafted plans and proposals that he had racked up in preparation for everything.
Volume Books, toys, and the December crossovers were good and all, however, the 1986 Creed projects were going to be something else.
Thus, re-checking and polishing stuff were needed to not miss out on a single detail.
Of course, as he was doing so… an inquiry popped up. "Alex, what are you doing?"
This happens to come from Milla. The stay-at-home running buddy, classmate, and the daughter of Alexander's "nanny" or whatnot.
She is usually the one that is quite curious about a lot of Alex's activities and frequently asks about them.
Anyways, her Alex-intrigued seems extra-piqued this time around. Especially so… when she saw him diving into quite a pile of papers these past few days.
She knew Alex would do this from time to time… but he seemed more focused on what these papers had. He was so busy that she wasn't able to get a peek at all. "It must be super important that you did it throughout the holidays."
Alexander explained. "Well, there's no getting around it. I have to prepare a lot of things so that everything will work smoothly."
Milla was intrigued. "Is it about the Terminator?"
"Unfortunately, it's not."
"Oh." Her depression was apparent.
"Why the disappointment?" Alexander offhandedly asked while reading and re-checking the response plans that he missed.
"You're just doing other matters again." She pointed out the obvious.
"What's wrong with that?" Alexander inquired with suspicion. "Don't tell me that you're going to snitch to grandpa again. I'll have you know that he already knows about this."
"It's not that." Milla sighed with melancholy in her expression. "I just miss the good old days. The good old comic-booking days when you just drew and drafted comic books and I get a lot of exclusive spoilers."
"You make it sound like it was decades ago when it's not." He pointed out. Perhaps Old Sullivan's elderly melancholy was infecting her. "Besides, you already know the reason why I have to slow down on the comic book-making side for a bit."
"I know about that…" Milla understood that but she also can't be blamed for the misunderstanding. "… but I also know that you publicized the whole Terminator thing. I just thought that you'll work on that this January. Your fans are probably thinking the same."
Alexander could only shake his head at that. "I want to work on Terminator as well."
He believes in things like the earlier, the better. However, he had his hands tied. "Too bad that I happen to have made a deal with Director Cameron, stipulating that we have to work on it together. With Top Gun still at its critical production stages, Terminator will have to wait."
It's one of the qualms of co-creating. The co-creators have to find a middle ground and compromise.
Milla just sighed at having to wait long for a new comic title to read. Of course, she was also quick to move on with "Then, what are you so busy about?"
"The usual." Alexander replied whilst he checked some charts in the papers he had in hand.
"It's going to be Usual January then." She said in assumption.
"Usual January?" It was his turn to be curious.
"It's the naming thing you do every month. Like how September was Stuffed September because of stuffed toys." Milla hummed. "Since you said it's the usual this new January… wouldn't it be Usual January?"
"Well, yeah, I get that…" Alexander reasoned. "…but I'm kind of ditching that whole monthly model now."
"Why?"
"It's bound to be overused at some point and should totally be a thing for last year." It was a quirk he had for 1985 and it was time to move on.
Alexander also felt that it was silly in retrospect. "Besides, from what I remember, I didn't even have a moniker for last year's January."
Mysterious February, Bizarre March, Easter April, Musical May, Preparatory June, Theatrical July, Splashy August, Stuffed September, Progressive October, Nosy November, Interlude-y December. Poor Old January seems to have been singled out to have no special moniker.
Anyways, as Alexander listed those out in his head, he got a bit reminiscent of how such an entire year had gone by and how interesting it was.
Of course, as he thought back on it, he found something fitting to call that poor moniker-less January.
"I remember that it was the month where we said goodbye to the old and welcomed the new, so New January seems fitting enough."
Of course, it wasn't just the time when he bid farewell to 1984 to welcome the new year of 1985. It was also the month when he bid farewell to Old HQ and welcomed himself to the new CREED HQ.
"Then again, Old January seems more fitting now. Given the truly new January we are at." January 1986 is clearly newer than January 1985 after all.
"You are pretty confusing, Alex." Milla could only comment
"Yeah… maybe that's the reason why I ditched the whole monthly moniker thing." It would surely get a whole lot more confusing if he were to run out of adjectives or re-use them in other months to come.
Theatrical July seems perfect for Back to the Future back then, however, 'Theatrical' was also going to be perfect for the other months that Creed Pictures are going to theatrically release new films.
'Progressive' seems fitting for October at the time… but what about the other months that Creed Entertainment would become even more progressive.
Alexander expected it to just be a hassle when moving forward, so it's best to ditch it now.
Milica seems to put the whole confusing month-naming matter behind her as well.
Of course, she also moved on to her next question. "Aside from the usual, what are you really going to do, Alex? Even when you said it is the usual this and usual that, you're so focused on these papers that I know it isn't going to be usual at all."
True. His new New Year projects weren't going to be. It was the usual but also more than usual. "I guess you're right about that."
"What is it then?!" Milla seems excited about his acquiescence. Something that Alex was serious about must be exciting!
Alexander thought on it a bit and just gave out one word to appease the curious girl.
As for what that one word is… it's simply… "Games."
"Games?!" Milica was quite surprised.
"Yes. Games." Alexander reiterated.
"I thought you were going all in with music." She still distinctly remembered that wig costume she wanted to be a part of.
"I could still do that… but games would be taking most of my focus." Alexander had long set his mind on that.
1986 was going to be his jump into the realm of games and there's no denying that.
Clearly... it's a new year and new projects. Which also meant... new industry and new games.