Comment Ficathon

[goodbyebird]

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
<center><a href="https://the-old-guard.dreamwidth.org/5965.html"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/TC6d5Xp.png" width="500" alt="the ancients standing in a line, the old guard comment ficathon written underneath"></a> <a href="https://the-old-guard.dreamwidth.org/5965.html">COME JOIN</a> the comment ficathon for <i>The Old Guard</i>!</center>
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.

CLOSED for prompts and fills

Comments

Questions? Feedback?

[goodbyebird]

First ever comment ficathon, I probably bungled something lol.

Re: Questions? Feedback?

[lailah_tov]

Are crossover pairings/prompts welcome?

FILLS

[goodbyebird]

Stick em here :D

Re: FILLS

[lailah_tov]

Quynh, rescued by mermaids

[likewithjetpacks]

Nile, blink once if God, twice if no God.

[static_abyss]

St. Joan's, Nile Freeman, past relationships, Andy & Nile, PG

[goodbyebird]

Nile & Andy, face masks mess with facial recognition software.

[lailah_tov]

Nile & Booker, she stays in touch with him and Joe doesn't like it.

Family portraits

[mrstotten]

It takes Nile a while to get used to the dynamics, to feel part of the team. It happens over slow shifts and sudden movements.

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.

[lailah_tov]

Keane, he wakes up as an immortal.

[lailah_tov]

Andy & Joe/Nicky & Nile, Nile introduces them to FPS video games.

[beanside]

His love is a sore winner, Nicky quickly realizes. Nile starts them on Call of Duty, which she says is classic.

Joe takes to it like a duck to water, and proceeds to crow loudly every time he makes it past a particularly tough opponent. It's oddly charming, and Nicky finds himself smiling.

"Damn, you two can even make video games sappy," Nile observes. "You're supposed to be shooting the bad guys."

Nicolo, on the other hand, is...not good. He dies several times before handing the controller back to Niles. "You two go. I will watch."

[saiditallbefore]

Andy/Celeste, patching up wounds

[zully]

Filled here!

[saiditallbefore]

Andy/Nile, mentorship

[saiditallbefore]

Andy/Quynh, sex in the aftermath of a battle/fight

[beanside]

They had fought a thousand battles together, but of all of them, this was Quynh's favorite type. Just her and Andromache, slicing through the opposing force like a scythe through wheat. Today, Andromache had been magnificent, and more than once, Quynh had paused in her own battles to watch the beauty of her.

When the final warlord had been dispatched, her labrys embedded firmly in his spine, Andromache turned to her with a wild smile, the kind that thrilled her to her toes.

Ignoring the bodies strewn on the ground, Andromache advanced on Quynh, eyes dark with something near battle lust. She braced against the rough wood of the warlord's cart, lips curling into a taunting smirk.

Andromache's body slammed into hers, an almost feverish heat through her clothing. Strong hands dove into Quynh's hair, holding her still as Andromache's mouth came down on hers.

It only took a moment before Andromache's other hand was wandering, snaking between them to fumble at the ties of her brais. Quynh tilted her head back, laughing, and Andromache took advantage to nuzzle her throat, dropping tiny bites on her jawline.

The tie finally gave, and Andromache's callused fingers slid down, finding her already slick. Quynh gasped as her fingers crooked, finding a rhythm as Andromache pressed against her thigh, grinding down with a soft gasp.

"Just like that," Quynh gasped, arching against her, shivers already spreading through her. "Harder."

Andromache obliged, growling a guttural phrase that Quynh didn't need to understand to feel down to her bones. Her nails dug into the back of Andromache's neck, pleasure tightening down, pulling her in its wake.

Through it all, Andromache's hips pistoned against her thigh, keeping an inexorable drumbeat. She stilled a moment before the pleasure burst over Quynh, muttering a curse against her throat.

Quynh shuddered, pressing into Andromache's fingers as the waves rushed over her. When it was past, Andromache licked her fingers clean, and bent to kiss Quynh, letting her taste her own pleasure.

Of all of Andromache's smiles, the little self-satisfied smirk was her favorite.

(posted here.)

[saiditallbefore]

Nile/Quynh, they dream about each other's deaths

[xenakis]

Nile, and how her new companions are actually kinda terrible at passing for 21st century humans.

[mrstotten]

Joe/Nicky snippets through major points of history

[extrapenguin]

Andy/Nile, sparring turned sexual

[lailah_tov]

Joe & Steve Rogers, taking an art class

[mrstotten]

I love this and totally taking a stab at it

[lailah_tov]

Andy & Wolverine, drinking buddies

[petra]

Andy/Nile, learning the ropes

Quynh, rescued by mermaids

[lyssie]

Quynh, rescued by mermaids

Because I just thought of it, and I crave it.

Re: Quynh, rescued by mermaids

[lailah_tov]

She's never alive long enough to think clearly—her body's stubborn magic pushes the water out of her lungs, but there's only water there to breathe back in—so it's a great surprise to her when she claws her way out of the blackness, coughs and heaves, and finds her head above the waves and sweet air filling her aching lungs. Her arms are slung over the strong shoulders of two... women? They have the heads of women, but their hair is like seaweed, their necks are gilled, and beneath the water she feels the powerful movement of their tails.

They stare at her, puzzled, concerned. She croaks out her name. They frown and shake their heads. Human language seems unknown to them.

But they saved her, somehow. They saw her and saved her. They understood that like them, she is something different.

She turns her face to the sun, which she thought she'd never see again. Strength comes back into her legs and she kicks slowly, doing her part to keep herself afloat, though the mermaids still hold her up effortlessly as they bob in the ocean currents. There's no land anywhere in sight, but perhaps her rescuers will guide her to shore. It doesn't matter where, as long as there's a boat she can take to England and Andromache.

As though they've read her mind, one mermaid guides her onto the back of the other. She grips with her knees as she would on horseback and her... mount? makes an amused sound. They begin to move through the water at a surprisingly fast clip.

Her chemise is in tatters and the sun beats down on her bare back. She's desperately hungry, and thirsty for fresh water. She might die again before they get where they're going. That's fine. Worse things have happened.

This will do nothing to convince them I'm not a witch, she thinks, smiling, as she rides the mermaid toward an unexpected future.

[glassesofjustice]

Andy: Discovers her love of Baklava

[glassesofjustice]

Any: Discovers they have a deadly allergy (similar to the new Jumanji where even though whatever they are allergic to is deadly, obviously they come back from it).

[saiditallbefore]

Andy & Quynh or Andy/Quynh, Quynh discovers that Andy is mortal now

[saiditallbefore]

Andy & Quynh or Andy/Quynh, language barrier

When they finally meet in person, they don't have any languages in common, and have to overcome that barrier

[glassesofjustice]

Any or All: Returns to an old safe house/cache and something new is in it's place. Heist to retrieve it, or mourn the loss of their personal items. Bonus if this happens more than once and finally they end up jackhammering up the floor of a Walmart in the middle of the night because they just can't let x thing go.

[static_abyss]

Safe House, ensemble fic, gen

[suncani]

Nile standing outside her family's window. how she ended up there and what happens next.

[spikedluv]

Joe/Nicky & Ardeth Bay (The Mummy), their first (or 21st, whatever) time in Egypt they meet a group of Medjai. (Bonus points if you can include background Ardeth/Jonathan and Rick/Evie.)

[pameluke]

This is the most beautiful idea ever and I second this so hard.