I'm sure we're all aware of what the Angel Arm Cannon is--specifically the 90s anime version. Vash's pistol normally shoots bullets, but can be activated to transform into a big laser arm cannon that goes all like "Pewww!". When it was first fired, it destroyed the entire city of July, marking Vash as the $$60,000,000,000 man in an event known as Lost July.
Now, I'm an author who currently has four, soon-to-be five, books under my belt, and as the finishing touches are being put on book five, I've already started working on what will hopefully end up being book six.
In this sixth book of mine, there's a special kind of weapon known as an Ambrosia. The gimmick behind an Ambrosia is it fires bullets under normal circumstances, but it can be "burned" to transform into a crazy powerful energy weapon. The most basic version of an Ambrosia is the Candlewick Rifle, which is a full auto rifle that can transform into a big laser arm cannon. I'm sure you can see the similarities.
Now, originally the inspiration was just going to stop there. While the Angel Arm Cannon was definitely the biggest inspiration behind the Ambrosia, I didn't plan on solidifying the reference any further... But then I thought, wouldn't it be really fun to pay a little homage to Trigun and drive the callback a little deeper?
So, I decided to slip in a chapter where there's a meeting being held on whether or not Ambrosia should be made illegal, and during the meeting all the big Ambrosia companies decide to stage a terrorist attack on the city where it's being held, and end up destroying the entire thing. And of course, I wanted to call this event "Lost December". And there we go, fun nod to Trigun complete.
Except, like, I couldn't think of a reason they would actually call it that. Unlike Trigun, the city itself isn't named December, it would just take place during December, but nothing about December itself is lost?
So, I thought, instead we run with the Ambrosia theme and call it "Bitter December". And it is a real neat name, I do like Bitter December, but I'm not sure it has quite the same vibe to it...
Then I figured the best way to really know how best to pull off this reference would just be to ask fellow Trigun fans what they think. So, here I am.
Tl;dr: Imagine a story where anyone could theoretically use an Angel Arm Cannon, except using it kills you. Some people gather together to discuss whether or not to make these weapons--called Ambrosia--illegal, but during the meeting the Ambrosia companies stage a terrorist attack to scare the council into making Ambrosia illegal and it works... At the cost of the entire city being leveled to the ground.
This event is supposed to be a bit of a reference to Lost July, and I want to name it in the same vein.
Question A: Can you think of any reason they might actually call it "Lost December", since in this case December isn't the name of the city?
Question B: If it was instead called "Bitter December" ('cause Ambrosia), do you think that captures the same vibe that Lost July does?
But that is all. Thank you in advance for any input! Buh-bye now!
(and if this all sounds too similar to Trigun, don't worry, the book is pretty radically different besides this one plot point, haha)