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the_old_guard2020-07-23 10:44 pm
goodbyebird) wrote in the_old_guard2020-07-23 10:44 pm
Entry tags:
Comment Ficathon
Hey all, and welcome to the very first comment ficathon at
the_old_guard! How better to celebrate that the posts have already crawled off the first page, and we're sitting at exactly 69 members (nice). Prompts will be accepted from now through Friday 31st, and fills for another two weeks after that.
PLEASE DO INVITE YOUR FRIENDS
Tumblr post, reblogs appreciated.
HOW TO PROMPT
• Leave a comment with either character(s) or ship, and a prompt.
Example: Nile & Andy, face masks mess with facial recognition software.
• Only one prompt per comment, but leave however many prompts you'd like.
• This is open to anyone with a dreamwidth account (it's free).
POSTING GUIDELINES
• Limit fic to one comment (16,000 characters inc. spaces maximum). If it's longer than that, you can post the fic in your own journal/new post to the community/AO3, and provide a link to it in the comment. All fic or links to fic should be posted in comments to this entry.
• Prompts can have multiple fills.
• Please stick to the pairings and prompts given.
• Please format your subject line as follows:
Title (if you have one, Untitled if not), characters/pairing, rating.
Example: Chains, Andy/Quynh, PG.
• If you write about anything that would typically warrant a warning note (i.e., graphic violence, non-con, racism, body horror, etc.), please include one at the top of your comment.
Example: [warning: sex with dubious consent].
• Please link to your work in the Fills thread.
Family portraits
She learns how to fit in with the quick pace of Andy’s rapid fire movements. To recognise the feeling of eyes protecting her as Nicky has someone close to them in his sights. She comes to admire the way Nicky and Joe work in tandem. They move through people quickly, incapacitating and trusting the other will finish the job without hesitating. She starts to appreciate the quieter moments , jokes shared over dinner and wine. Watching the way they all move in and out of each other’s spaces. Touch is new and welcome. Strong Hugs and quick laughter. Shared jokes and a growing history in this new family she has found.
She becomes smarter, stronger.
She learns more from Andy in six months than four years of combat had taught her. Nicky teaches her Italian and French, he is impatient and quick but he laughs as Joe tries to teach her the swear words claiming they are all she needs to know.
She works through Andy’s art collection. Learning the pieces from the stories they share. Joe teaches her how to sketch, how to map bones and sinew with a pencil and then how to use that to her advantage with her hands.
His sketch books are filled with drawings. Nicky features most of all, but there are others. Faces she doesn’t know. Locations she’s never seen and of course they all feature.
Andy looking strong and fierce but love and trust shines in her eyes. Nicky sleeping and laughing. Nile looking tense and alert and then others of her, softer and more pliant, a grin and a wicked gleam in her eye. There are pictures of Quynh. She is small and fierce and her smile is wide and open. Nile prefers this image to the ones that haunt her dreams.
And there are pictures of Booker. His body slouched and his smile soft. There is an openness that Nile didn’t get to see in him. In these black, whites and greys he is happier, less defeated. There is love in every line that Joe draws. Even with Booker. Andy tells her that’s why he is so angry, why he remains so resolute in his unforgiving stance.
Andy looks sad the first time Nile mentions who she is texting. As though she is already grieving for the friend she may never see again. The third time Nicky tells her to say ‘hi’ helps her pick out a picture to send. It becomes a common part of their weeks Small moments shared with the brother they sent away.
The only one who never caves is Joe. His shoulders tense every time at Bookers name. He swears under his breath his eyes angry and jaw set. Nile gets it, she does. Loyalty is everything and this family have only had each other for so long. Booker could have killed Andy, his actions could have killed them all.
But she also knows what it’s like to miss a family. She misses the sound of her moms laugh. The smell of the kitchen during Sunday dinner. She misses family jokes, stories woven through years of shared memories. She knows what it is like to feel lost and adrift. Even in a sea of people.
So if the odd photograph, some quick texts and sparse phones calls can stop Booker feeling so alone then it’s the least Nile can do. To keep that connection alive for them all.
It’s nearly six months later that she is choosing a picture to send. They were at dinner in a French restaurant. Andy had mentioned it was one of Bookers favourites. They had just returned from a mission that hit too close. Andy’s body is stiff as she masks the pain. There was a moment where Joe was slow to rouse, Nicky has remained close for hours. His hands twitching as he reaches out constantly to touch. To feel to reassure himself that Joe was still here. Joe watches Andy carefully. The worry in his eyes clear. It was too close. It is always too close.
She distracts herself by typing a text to Booker. A warmth settling in as she lets him know they are still here. Reminding herself that they were all still here. She a group picture and prepares to send when a finger hits the screen. It shifts sideways quickly before stopping on a picture of them all. Similar to the one Nile has stopped on but in this one Andy looks less tense. Her body more relaxed. Nicky’s smile is soft his eyes on Joe who is leaning backwards on his chair seeming happy and relaxed. It’s perfect.
Joe pulls his finger back without a word. Gives Nile a quick smile and a nod before settling back down next to Nicky.
Nile hits send and puts the phone face down on the table and gives her attention back to the new family around the dinner table. It’s not till several hours later she sees missed calls from Booker and a message that changes everything.
‘Quynh’s Alive. I need Andy’
They head out immediately. The world moving like shifting sands beneath their feet but she can see reassurance in the tilt of Joes head as he watches Andy, in Nicky’s soft reassuring hug around her shoulders as they are leaving.
They will get through this. Will figure it out. All of them together.
That’s what families do.
Re: Family portraits
Re: Family portraits
Re: Family portraits
Re: Family portraits
Re: Family portraits
Re: Family portraits