#LYKON DESERVED MORE

[ma-du]

@teecupangel What if instead of drowning for 500+ years, Eivor was pinned to a rock with venom dripping into her face like Loki after killing Baldur?

And yes, Sigurd would definitely be the one who trapped her in the stone at the center of the Isle, inaccessible and lost to all but Basim, who is the only one who keeps pouring venom into her face – in modernity, the Isle of Skye is a mythical lost place like El Dorado, and Kass despite knowing where it is can't go there because of some magical nonsense or something, and in the end Eivor has to save herself.

Ezio and Altaïr keep drifting apart and getting back together for about...a thousand years? It's terrible, mainly because they're on their honeymoon when they get back together for the 27739101631910 time, and Arno/Haytham shares a wall with them on the group hideout AND BY GOD, WHY ARE THEY LIKE THIS?!?! *barely muffled sounds of screams and angry make-up sex in the background*

My secret guilty pleasure is to make Arno suffer as much as possible because he is a poor little wet mew mew who deserves good things but unfortunately for him the universe is a bitch who hates him lmao

Haytham as Booker is also *chef's kiss* even more so if instead of killing Connor, he dies in the village fire with Ziio and Haytham is the only one to find them.

Bayek and Aya as Andy and Noriko is also beautiful, especially if Khemu is Lykon and Aya ends up mummified and sealed in a sarcophagus and buried – and lost – in the middle of the desert by Cleopatra and/or Caesar. Just... Look at that fucking parallel. It is tragically poetic.

The first time Ezio and Altaïr set eyes on Desmond Miles, he's beating the shit out of a bunch of Vidic's henchmen, because fuck, he's an Black Ops SEAL traumatized and who hasn't been sleeping since that FUBAR mission three days ago where he should have died but for some fucked up reason he got up again, he's not going to get kidnapped like that without fighting back, dammit.

Like

Desmond:

Altaïr & Ezio:

Kass, on the background:

Arno, predicting that he will be (s)exiled from his own room in the very near future:

Lucy. Definitely Lucy.

And just because Idunn didn't fuck up as much as the Capitoline Triad did, doesn't mean she can't publish – so to speak – some of her work, okay?

I'M WILL GOING BUCK WILD WITH THIS PLOT LMAO

Ah, ah! I was reading stuff on The Old Guard tag and now all I can think of is

Kassandra as Andy cause she is literally older than Jesus fucking Christ

Altaïr & Ezio as Nick & Joe cause WHY NOT

Arno as Booker cause he's a bloody drama queen

F!Eivor as Noriko cause DRAMA

Desmond as Nile cause they're BAMF and all come together on a AltEziDes with Arno suffering on the background and Kass looking like a proud lesbian mama lol

Bayek would be a good Andy too, and Connor and Shay also give me NickJoe vibes lol

Ooohhh, I’m always game to think about immortality-based plotlines XD

Kassandra as Andy would be spot on, especially if F!Eivor is Noriko/Quynh. Although, instead of a Labyrs, her main weapons would be the pointed tip of a spear and a Viking axe. She’d also be more on the calm chill side and happens to like to tease her fellow immortals. (To make it more interesting, maybe F!Eivor and her also met in the Isle of Skye and their relationship blossomed there as well)

Altaïr and Ezio as Nick and Joe would be a pretty fun pairing as well, especially if we keep Altaïr’s whole ‘distant and kinda arrogant’ personality. Ezio would be the one to remind him if he’s being too rude, sometimes with just a touch, because, even if they’ve been immortals for so long, some habits are hard to let go of. Ezio likes to joke that Altaïr is a work in progress which everyone knows is his way of saying Altaïr is trying. Altaïr, on the other hand, may act aloof most of the time but he’s quite protective of Ezio and there is no one in the world he trusts more than Ezio. Their personalities tend to clash at times and everyone knows that they sometimes spend half a century or so apart because of some dumb fight neither of them wanted to acknowledge responsibility with. It’s just become part of their whole deal that everyone just nods along to. Then Desmond comes in.

Arno as Booker would work. Just replace the death of Booker’s sons with Élise’s death (for more pain, maybe imply that Élise may have been or may have not been pregnant during the time of her death).

But you know who else could work as Booker? Haytham Kenway. Instead of being part of Napoleon’s army, keep his whole deal, including his actions to help the British Empire. But this time, he is the one to kill his own son instead. The American Revolution still played as history had recorded it so Haytham has to live his immortal life with the guilt of killing his son for nothing. He’d also be the most aloof of the Immortals and perhaps even be jealous of how ‘easy’ it is for everyone to move on. (Plus points if he treats Desmond the way he treats his son before and he only realizes it when Desmond tells him to stop treating him like an idiot, only digging in the guilt of how his relationship with his son was).

Eivor as Quynh/Noriko also gives us an excuse to… well, torture Eivor. While her imprisonment would be of a similar fate to Quynh/Noriko, we can include her being subjected to a blood eagle in Odin’s name. If you want to hammer in the angst, make Sigurd the one to do it. Of course, if Eivor and Kassandra met on the Isle of Skye, the events of Eivor’s life would have to be shuffled around to make it more coherent. Her imprisonment could be because of Sigurd or because of the Saxons.

And then there was Desmond. One main difference between Desmond and Nile would be their attachment to people. If we keep Desmond’s strained relationship with his parents, he would actually be more open to being immortal. He would hide his desire for a connection with practiced smiles and his chill personality although he wouldn’t fool Kassandra. It would be his desire for a connection but hiding it from everyone that makes it easy for him to fall for both Altaïr and Ezio. Neither of them planned to fall in love with Desmond, maybe they even started out a relationship with him as more of something fun and uncomplicated (like having the immortal version of an ongoing sexual and emotional threesome) which Desmond was cool with (he didn’t expect to fall for them too) while they’re teaching him the ropes and helping him acclimate with his newfound immortality. It would only be later that they would realize that Desmond is like the missing piece in their life.

Other possible ideas:

Ratonhnhaké:ton and Shay giving off Nick and Joe vibes? Color me intrigued. This one also has the additional emotional baggage of Shay being employed by Haytham who Ratonhnhaké:ton killed so, like… they say their relationship is ‘complicated’ and that would be an understatement.

If Arno is Booker, he would have had a relationship with Jacob Frye. Maybe his relationship with Jacob is what helps him move on from the pain of Élise’s death but Jacob isn’t an immortal soooo… (holy wow, Arno has, like, the short end of the stick in this one if he’s an immortal. Haytham doesn’t count, he deserves to feel the guilt)

Bayek would definitely be a good Andy as well. If you go for Bayek instead, Quynh/Noriko would have to be Aya. Although, if you just want Bayek to be included in the plot, he could be Lykon instead? Another possible Lykon is Alexios/Deimos as well and that would definitely be some angst for Kassandra.

Of course, Merrick would be Vidic, hahaha. Maybe Copley could be Layla or even Lucy?

Why are they immortals? Why do we need to explain that? Let’s keep it a mystery but make vague points of how it might be connected with some kind of Isu research to achieve eternal life.

[lady-writes]

So I was reading fic, as one does, when I had a characterization idea, as one does, that dropped me into a wiki hole, naturally. So now I have meta, tentatively titled:

Or How to fuck up a team

Bear with me here, Everything that happens in The Old Guard can be blamed on the Church of England and a critical lack of Respecting Women Juice.

I would “In this essay, I will,” But that would be an insult to essays. What follows is a ADHD ramble that keeps pinballing into even higher scoring holes in my head. I apologize.

Looking at most teams in media you have tropes and those tropes kinda make up the way we read characters. This isn't a bad thing, I’m not saying anything new here; much like DND alignments tropes kinda help you build characters, and figure out paths that they should take. 

So The Old Guard, I fucking love this movie, the comics are an imperfect delight, All of it is living rent free in my head for the foreseeable future. Love is stored in The found Family Trope! I’m writing fanfiction for the first time in a fucking Decade and I Hate It! Which is fitting because its Book of Nile and that’s in the Manifesto!!! I’ve been ruminating on why Not Enough People Love Nile Freeman apart from the obvious (misogynoir) and myself struggling with my my brain cant get over the sad french rat man WHen! NILE! IS! RIGHT! THERE! I will come back to this point.~

SO Tropes, for groups tropes exist two, dynamic duos, golden trios, etc. And the Old Guard was fucking with me because the tropes kept falling like one or two hairs off. For the purposes of this I am ignoring Lykon***, because I need to sleep at some point tonight and I cant characterize him the best based on 15 seconds of screentime. 

The big group tropes that suit the canon here are: The Five Man Band, The Command Crew, Damage-Healer-Tank and its variants, The Four Temperament and the Four Philosophy Ensembles. They’re all linked and none of them are perfect but together they do the damn job.

(sweet jesus im making graphics quarantine is a bitch i need my fuckin job back)

The Guard at its Largest and Earliest is a quartet. Andromache, Quynh, Joe, Nicolo. They Work: a head, a heart, and two arms, which is more or less my conception of the Guard. The problem comes when the Church of mother fucking England comes along and tells a bunch a folks that the weird lady on the edge of town isn't touched in the head nah she's a whole ass witch, we’re gonna kill her. That's Just Not On, enter our dudes. 

The other point about the guard here is that when split they form pretty solid and clean head and heart couples, which wouldn’t you know the mix-match of those seem quite well liked by the fandom at large. Anyways CoE is shitty and removes Quynh from our team and this is where everything goes to fuck.

Basically, as soon as Andy loses her second/emotional support everything falls out of alignment and the team isn't self sustaining anymore so to speak

The team loses its proverbial heart yes, but that shouldn't be insurmountable, in all of the various group trope set ups heart (The Chick, The Medic, The Optimist, Choleric, center column for RPG) is never really the top of the list, usually second some times further down. The key is that everyone of these has something/someone at the center, a fulcrum or balance. That should be Andromache, the oldest, most objective and experienced  etc etc. But unlike less human hero’s Andromache kinda goes to shit, which is what makes her a fun character to watch, she's struggling that’s relatable, we all know how it works.

But She falls out of the leader position in all the emotional ways, from what we see, and in just about all configurations, she falls into the least stable trope. The only one where she doesn’t is The Command Crew, which of course that grouping is all about Function and obviously Andromache the Scythian has all her function based cylinders firing. Possibly too much even, at the start of the film the team is regrouping after a break, they needed R&R, the work was getting to heavy. And we see Andy’s fatigue repeatedly in the film but she’s the Captain, She Goes First. Injury and exhaustion don’t matter, because she has to function and there’s no one in the second position to take that burden off of her.

By my estimation the Guard is working in this sorta configs for the majority of the movie

(im on a roll and I’ve accepted my fate)

Where I doubled thing up the “natural position” is first and the Post Quynh position follows

So now things are outta whack and Booker comes along. Now pls understand the this is Not Making excuses for, or Woobifying. Booker failed to communicate and chose to treat his team/family as collateral.* This entire motherfucking thesis essay came about as me trying to figure out why Booker fits into the team so awkwardly and Lo! So anywhere from 150-60 years after Quynh is sunk, The team dreams of a new dude. The fandom has made a lot of the fact that Booker was a conscript not a fighter of his own will. And depending on Quynh’s origns he may be alone in that. So a dude who was stuck in a war he didnt choose finds out hes immortal while hanging from a noose in the ass end of Russia. Not a good day. 

We know when the team finds him he insists on going back to his family, beyond all counseling then within 50 years give or take he’s back and he’s the New Guy, The New guy is always gonna be 2 things, full of shiny new skills and with not a clue how things work . That character become a bit of dead weight that needs carrying but also a resource in all the places they have new information. And here’s the second really unfortunate thing. Altogether TOG fandom knows 3 overarching things about Booker: He loved his family to the point of despair; he’s cares about his family’s opinions, wellbeing, and happiness; he’s lonely alcoholic, and depressed as fuck. As torn up as he stays about his family (nearly crying in a cave talking to Nile more than a century later!) its a fair assumption that he would throw him self into the team when he returned. 

I am not going to assume from the outset that the dude who sat at his son’s bedside and tried to be a good Father after he literally died, jumped headfirst into the bottle at the first chance (also the makeup doesn’t support it and the makeup dept. did a fair amount of the work of making booker look like an alcoholic) My guess is his first move after grieving was the distract himself with the team, learning and teaching in kind. They don’t have the relationship that Joe Nicky and Andy are so upset about him destroying outta know where. Booker probably wanted to make himself as useful as possible and knowing about Quynh he knew that his presence was the thing that made them a foursome again.

In short, Booker picked up every single fucking role he saw empty and tried to fill it because it would distract him from his pain (it didn’t that’s what talking/therapy is for but oops 1812) and because it made him needed and useful again. The guy’s quintessential character trait is grieving Father. He was determined to provide for his first family, which is how he ended up in the army anyways and it stands to reason that he would do the same for the Guard. It’s no mistake that the thing that hooks him on his suicide attempt is the idea of saving other people from pain/grief.

So this guy is putting all his familial angst on the team (silently) and picking up what’s needed, Like finding jobs, a task that probably used to be Joe’s, staying up on current tech, forging, fighting. And eventually drinking when its not enough to deal. So the teams proverbial squishy wizard (the only who had no formal fight training before he died) is pulling double duty, which isn’t a problem unto itself. 

But he becomes Andy’s Partner. Joe and Nicky are a pair she clearly doesn’t begrudge them that. She and Book are the spares, on and off the job. I’m sure the idea of a 70 year old immortal trying to comfort a 6000 year old immortal on losing her  wife sounded ridiculous to him too, so he empathize and followed her lead(new kid) And Andy, fairly given both loss and the relative span of time for her, Is still out of alignment, She’s not necessarily acting as a leader, though I’m sure by this point Booker clearly regarded her as one. But instead of moving past the tragedies of his mortal life Booker is still living with that grief (it was all the two of them had as he said)

This is not a good look. Andy lacks emotional support and the team props her up where they can but none of them have anything close to the literal scale of experience she’s working with. Yusuf and Nicolo pick up slack in certain places, but have each other to retreat into and importantly an Idea of the Before times. They know exactly which niches to fill or leave empty. Booker lacks emotional support (his fault), is floundering at how to deal with/fit into the team (everyone’s fault) and most likely trying to overcompensate for feeling out of place by doing As Much As He Can (not a bug but a feature)

ENTER NILE FREEMAN: THE PERSON WHO MADE IT ALL MAKE SENSE

(YA’LL THOUGHT I WAS DONE????)

Bookers exile is reflected here and the Grey roles in Niles chart  represent the places where his absence affects her entry to the team

As soon as I came back to Nile It made sense, Bookers ungodly block of meta and analysis of how this sad white boy got broke is a direct result of the moment I realized how much Emotional Labor and Weight just got dropped on Nile’s sweet 26 year old shoulders. Because the facts are:

Andy is just now in the year of No Lords 2020 pulling her head out of the 500 year funk that she and then she and Booker wallowed in. For 500 years the team functioned around her warped heart. For me this is not a Fault of Andy, its quite squarely on the Goddamned Shitshow of the Medieval Church of England.

Because to be quite frank, a 6700 year old woman is allowed 500 years to mourn her 2500 year old relationship. Looking at those numbers Andy was doing fine on the getting over it front.

Nile and Booker’s fuck up (and arguably her mortality) woke Andy up to herself again, but had that not happened; Nile’s first century would have been unbearable, The New Kid in a team where now Everyone is emotionally traumatized, you’re picking up the slack of the Heavy they just had to exile.**  Hopefully bringing in Copely removes Navigator from her row, but instead of that she gets the honor of Andy proverbially passing her the torch. 

The Movie makes it clear as do the Comics that Nile is going to be Andy’s Second if not eventually her replacement. Not as a replacement for Quynh though, Nile doesn’t have the temperament for that. Which means that Nile ends up in a different awkward position to Bookers. The hero in training, who doesn’t have a “sidekick” to balance the load with. To be fair Andy was a lone hero for 3000 years, but that was a very VERY different world. Andy literally could not know 1/4 of the scope of the problems that Nile will “inherit.” The scope of the current world would have been like looking out the other side of a black hole to that Andromache

And Nile is no less compassionate than Booker, pragmatism would have said to leave the person, who 1) shot your boss 2)abandoned your team 3) wants to die 4) asked you to leave him there. So that is the terrible horrible no good very bad predicament that Nile Freeman undeservedly finds her self in that leads to having to use her own body to turn Dudley Dursley into a pancake.

~ This is where the point about why the Frenchman when Nile is right there pops back up. The coda puts a close on Nile’s Story to an extent. One way or another Nile in the next 6 months to a year in universe is going to have some amount of the excess weight taken off of her. Quynh’s reappearance in any function makes that inevitable even if it comes from Andy’s Death, because if Andy Dies the table is wiped clean and rearranges itself especially I would imagine if that death comes before Nile even turn 50.

Nile has baggage, Nile has a carry-on and a pair of checked bags and she’s checking in for a first class delta flight. Armed with her headphones of emotional awareness and well being she gonna get through the turbulence of her first lifetime almost certainly

Andromache is promised much of the same. Especially in a world where she and Quynh are afforded the grace of getting to fight and sit and talk and find absolution and resolution for the Literal Worst We’re On A Break/It’s Long Distance of all time.

Yusuf and Nicolo will get over this shit together and fuck off into the sunset, as has been written many mmmmany times.

Booker on the other hand is taking off from Kitty Hawk, in a Wright Brothers replica with 2 moving trucks worth of luggage. He is a flaming human disaster heading for the water. And people fucking love looking at Crash wreckage and flames.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In a just and perfect world with out the Church of England these fuckers would be a Well Oiled Machine though, like FUUUUUCK

(ONE LAST TIIIIME)

There are some question marks as to where people will fall in a post crisis setting, I’m taking the most optimistic view myself.

Ultimately Booker, should be the universal heart of the team, they just need to let him be Q/Ops because THATS A VALID TEAM POSITION TOO. And then he’s always perfectly positioned to be Nile’s emotional support person as well.

TL: DR 

- Give Nile a Fighter Jet instead of the Axe**** 

- Booker’s grief counselor says house husband would be the best occupation for him, 

- Andy needs Therapy more than Booker but Maybe some day he’ll be equipped to give it, 

- Quyhn should be allowed to ritually destroy the Church of England and drown the Pope because they nearly destroyed her family

Fin.

*In a perfect world based on this meta, Booker would have called everything out and spilled his guts after the Sudan shitshow pushed Andy to call it Quits or most Certainly after dreaming of Nile, but alas, The Plot! 

**Potentially I like to think Nile has the good sense and emotional literacy to say when its to much for her unlike certain french folk

*** Lykon I’m sorry. Your Smile is Radiant and you are clearly Heart/Smart Guy/Sanguine/Optimistic/Tank. YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN TO BE A BOISTEROUS BRUISER. You deserve better and someday perhaps I will write an epic about how this never happened if you had been around

**** I fully accept the headcanon from the glorious ionsquare fic that Nile inherits and wears into battle Bookers Napoleonic sabre. But let my good bitch fly some planes and spaceships too. Its the millennial dream

[sandada-heart05]

[jamsenpie]

headcanon that a legit romantic relationship did not really start until lykon came along and played emotional translator and dedicated wingman to andy's emotionally inarticulate ass

[regina-del-cielo]

I am a simple woman with simple pleasures, one of which is Harmony and Symmetry

I know that consistent usage of surnames is a pretty new development in human history and it is logical that the oldest members of the Guard wouldn’t have one (and some may even argue that even Nicolò’s di Genova and Yusuf’s Al-Kaysani could, technically, not be considered surnames in modern terms)...

...but why is Andy the Scythian/of Scythia, while Quynh and Lykon have No Addition to Their Name???

Did they spring up from the ground? Forged by ether and clouds?

Andy’s toponymic makes her name sound so badass, I want it for Quynh and Lykon too!

LET QUYNH AND LYKON HAVE A COOL TOPONYMIC 2021

[moonlightperseus]

manifesting more flashback scenes in 2 old 2 guard

[andrea-lyn]

The Recs (Less Travelled)

I’m excited to bring you the first installment of my ‘roads less travelled’ recs! I will be doing another round of this, probably once the Ted Lasso fic tag hits about 25 pages, and then I’ll also grab a couple more fandoms to collect in there! 

The Rules:

Each fandom/pairing was sorted on Archive of Our Own by completed works. Anything recced here was not in the first ten pages when sorted by kudos at the time of reccing. There may be some more well-known authors on this list, but the specific fics I’ve picked are ones that didn’t crack that top ten or just didn’t get much traction and I think deserve it, so hopefully I have also balanced it out with other under the radar (and still great!) works. As ever, I have a pinned post of my other recs (none have been duplicated from there), so you can also check those out! Under the cut you’ll find 10 recs in each fandom for:

Raven Cycle

Roswell New Mexico

The Old Guard

Inception

Star Trek (mainly Kirk/McCoy)

The Raven Cycle

savor all the little pieces by littlelionvanz

“Since when do you garden?”

Ronan snorted, “Since I grew up on a fucking farm, genius. Jesus who gave you permission to pursue higher education.”

the old grip of the familiar by littleseal

"There is a single black feather and a printed out picture of Gansey, Blue and Cheng standing in front of some fucking monument Ronan didn’t care enough to remember the name of. Gansey sent it to Ronan’s phone some time ago, but it sat in his messages until Adam picked it up and grinned at it so hard that, one afternoon later, Ronan cursed and kicked and glared his old printer back to life in order to print it out.

Fuck, he thinks, I’m in love with a hoarder."

Adam collects things. Ronan is in love with him.

No Sweeter Innocence Than Our Gentle Sin by gansey_is_our_king

Ronan Lynch has wanted to kiss Adam Parrish for a long time.

(alternately titled: four times that Ronan could have kissed Adam)

Cheers to Another Seven Years! by skyermirth

Adam left Henrietta for Harvard and never returned. Now, seven years has passed, and an unexpected work assignment has brought him back to a place and people he hardly recognizes.

Row, row, row your boat by emmerrr

“What. Why are you smiling at me,” he says suspiciously.

Adam shrugs. “You’re cute.”

“I’m not cute, I’m terrifying.”

“Terrifyingly cute,” Adam says.

and now the world is ours to take / and every single move is ours to make by thatlittleblackcat

"Adam was the scientist, Ronan was the data, and Orphan Girl was the key that explained the strange outliers that Ronan presented, his previously unexplainable actions."

//

Adam sorts out his feelings, Ronan helps him, Gansey is the number one dad friend, Blue is the number one mom friend and Henry tries to make Ronan smile. Otherwise known as the story of how Orphan Girl became Opal.

All These Things You Make Me Feel by SilverOpals394

It was late. Adam could feel the long day catching up to him as he left Boyd’s, all his energy exhausted. When he started his car, the tape deck whirred to life once more. He sighed and raised his hand to turn it off, but before he did a soft melody began to play.

AU in which the mixtape Ronan made for Adam only plays the murder squash song until Adam realizes he's in love with Ronan, too.

Ways to Communicate by Jalules

Blue Sargent reflects on an early memory (and gets busy with her boyfriends.)

(The two things are related, trust me.)

Hold Me Closer, I'm Safe in Your Arms by actuallyronanlynch

“You wanna tell me why I had to hear from Henry Cheng that my boyfriend was at the hospital?” Adam hissed, though his voice wasn’t as acidic as it could’ve been. Ronan took small victories where he could.

“You don’t have a cellphone,” Ronan pointed out flatly. “It’s not like I could’ve gotten a hold of you.”

arts and crafts and the inevitability of death by sunshineinthestorm

Adam comes to the public library in search of a study spot, not a boyfriend. 

But it must be his lucky day—because he ends up with a bit of both.

 Roswell New Mexico

a conversation between insignificant others by Bellakitse

“Hey…have you noticed that our boyfriends are madly in love with each other?"

“You noticed that too, huh,” she answers dryly, letting out a huff of reluctant amusement.

***

Forrest and Maria share a drink and a conversation and start a friendship.

Own Personal Hell by BeStillMySlashyHeart

Now that Isobel's getting the hang of her telekinesis, Michael decides to test out his telepathic abilities. It backfires. Badly. Now Michael's trapped inside his own mind and only one person can break him out.

Drop the Hammer by brightloveee

Max makes a new friend at the shooting range, who turns out to be even more bad-ass than he expected.

(Takes place mid-S1)

Boys Like You by forgadgetsandgizmos

Curly, dirty blond hair (the mere description ‘curly’ felt like an injustice) twisted in every direction off his head, a sharp contrast with the scruff darkening his strong jawline and scowl-ridden face.

Alex made a mental note to compliment Maria on her excellent taste in men.

—

Or, Alex has coffee with Maria's one-night stand, a man who he definitely does not have a crush on.

let's exchange the experience by lostin_space

Michael decides they need to quarantine.

OR

Michael floods Alex with love and care over and over and over.

This Is Hardcore by Anonymous

Michael makes a proposal. Alex accepts. Michael wonders what the hell he’s gotten himself into.

i don't know what to think (but i think of supernovas) by Milzilla

michael discovers that the console can talk. then, he discovers it can do far more than that.

iridescence on skin by Lire_Casander

In a world where (almost) everyone has a tattoo on their right wrist with one set of coordinates that point to the place where their soulmate is born, Alex thought he wouldn't be any different. He couldn't be more mistaken.

He has two.

The Real Thing by elliebird

Max checks on Michael the morning after Michael saves Max’s ass from Wyatt Long and his dumbass buddies. He sees more than he’s supposed to.

Written for a Tumblr anon who one of their friends walking in on them or anyone of them finding out about Michael and Alex in an interesting way 

Sundering by romancandles 

“You know it was just an Air Force balloon, right?” says Alex.

Michael smirks. “That’s what they want you to think,” he says, with a wink.

The Old Guard

Peer Reviewed by ishandahalf

[From:] Journal of Medieval Studies (jms.eds@jms.com)

[Subject:] Ad-hoc note from the editor

I have noticed an uncommon level of animosity in your responses to your reviewers (or rather, one reviewer in particular). I am writing to ask if you would please do your best to keep your interactions civil. In fairness, I have also sent a similar request to the reviewer you seem to have this friction with. I trust you will both try and remain more professional in the future.

Again, thank you for submitting your work to this journal.

Sincerely,

James Copley, PhD

Editor-in-Chief

Journal of Medieval Studies

An (accidental) academic epistolary romance as (inadvertently) documented via a (theoretically) rigorously blinded peer review process.[citation needed]

third for a word and the song keeps going Macremae

It was honestly shaping up to be a pretty uneventful year before the Vatican got on Nicky’s bad side.

Or: three times in 2008 that the team genuinely thought about killing Nicky if only to get him to shut up about the changes to the Catholic English Mass and his unrelenting opinions on them, and one time Nile did.

Apex Predators In Island Ecosystems (Freeman et al., in press) by Sixthlight

Palaeobotany PhD student Nile Freeman and her supervisor Joe al-Kaysani are invited to billionaire Stephen Merrick’s new project – a theme park full of cloned dinosaurs. What could possibly go wrong?

This Rough Magic by Marivan

When Joe came to Scotland to study the sea, he did not expect to also encounter a beautiful man claiming that A. he’s a selkie and B. they’re married because Joe picked up his scarf.

It sounds like a fairy tale and that’s a problem. Because Joe’s a scientist. And selkies don’t exist.

Wars for the broken by Yuliares

Five years into his exile, Booker is joined by a companion he never expected to meet. Together, they try to work on healing.

Sometimes they go down to the sewers just so she can scream and scream. “I like to hear it echo,” she explains. “Underwater, you can’t hear anything. Here, at least I can be heard.”

“I don’t feel like a warrior anymore,” she tells him, throwing bread crumbs at pigeons. “I feel broken.”

“You’re still a warrior,” he says roughly. “This is still fighting.”

a good (eighth) impression by deanniker

Over the next few months, Joe runs into Nicky every so often at the farmer’s market. Some weekends Nicky doesn’t make it, because of his work schedule - Joe doesn’t understand it because he doesn’t ask, though he does start to recognize when one of those missing weekends is coming up because Nicky will stock up on things with longer shelf-life. When they do run into each other, they make small talk and move through the stalls together.

Joe doesn’t mention it to Lykon when he stops by, because it is kind of weird, that Lykon’s ex-boyfriend texts Joe things like - If you’re here, the apples look particularly good this week and thank you for that recipe, I did not know what I was going to do with that much couscous

Or,

Joe wouldn't usually consider starting anything with his best friend's ex, but as long as they keep it casual, it shouldn't be weird... right?

get back to where you once belonged by tenderjock

Nile takes a sip of her cappuccino and closes her eyes.

(Booker and Nile get that coffee. Life happens, along the way.)

a house; a home by mehm

“Is this a kidnapping?” Joe asks as Nicky checks both their seat belts. “Like, I don’t mind. It’s just not quite what I expected for my birthday.”

In which Joe gets a birthday surprise, because that’s the stuff you have time for when you and the love of your life become mortal at the same time.

the ties that bind by damaskrose

“There’s a story I heard many times,” Andy begins, “in the Mediterranean. Threads of fate and three sisters. One to spin, one to measure, and one to cut.”

Clutter And Croutons by flawedamythyst

Joe and Nicky have an argument, and then Nicky talks to Nile about what it really means to be in a relationship for 900 years.

Inception

My Big Fat Slightly Annoying Wedding by jibrailis

Arthur and Eames elope for ~tax reasons. Certain people in their lives are not happy at the lack of a wedding.

Remember Sydney by pathera

When Eames shambles into the safe house outside of London, he finds a red light blinking on the phone.

For the inception_kink prompt:

Arthur is on a plane which is about to crash. No way anyone is going to survive. Instead of panicking he calmly calls the team's office and gets the answering machine. He hangs up before the plane crashes.

Give me Arthur's last message to the team.

 (TW: Character Death / Angst)

Of Such Deceitfulness and Suavity by delires

In which emotions manifest themselves in unusual ways.

YO, K2tog (it's like a code) by lazulisong

“Oh my God,” moans Arthur. “I’ve paid less for Somnacin. Good Somnacin.” A horrible thought strikes him. “How much is the yarn --”

“I want you to have an unguarded reaction,” Eames tells him, and pulls him up from the floor.

(They run an extraction on a knitter.)

hit the ground running by orphan_account

"I travelled halfway around the world for you. I dealt with the French for you."

Valley by wldnst

It's an old story: a knight, a prince, a kingdom in peril.

If This Is Rain Let It Fall On Me and Drown Me by Brangwen

We used to be so brave, Eames thought. Of the two of them, Arthur had always been the more fearless.

a gentle familiarity by jollypuppet

Two weeks later, Eames is on his doorstep with bad Italian takeout and a grin, and Arthur tells him he can sleep on the couch.

Your Crisis Cannot Be Completed As Dialed by sevenimpossiblethings

Arthur doesn't do snow, Ariadne is determined to be as Midwestern as possible, and blizzards make cell phone service unreliable.

Let’s Say I Do (I Do) by xsilverdreamsx

There were, perhaps some things worse that this, Arthur thinks, as he glares at the letter in his hand with his name printed clearly in bold ink, indicating his presence in two weeks for his esteemed marriage to one William H. Eames, III, at St. Catherine's Church in London, England.

Star Trek (predominantly Kirk/McCoy)

Show the World That Something Good Can Work by knune

Leonard McCoy is a doctor, not a personal assistant, and maybe that's why he can't stand working for Jim Kirk.

It's in the little things by winterover

Bones is bemused by a persistent secret admirer.

"Wedding" Away with It by pendrogon

One morning, Bones wakes up and he's single. By the same afternoon, he's married to Jim Kirk for Arbitrary Fic Reasons(TM).

How Long Will You Stay (For Your Whole Life) by withthepilot

Jim Kirk, deputy director of the Enterprise parks and recreation department, sees all of his hard work fall to pieces when budget specialist Leonard McCoy arrives from the state capital to cut Jim's budget and threaten the livelihoods of his colleagues. But thanks to a major parks project, Leonard finds a place in the department, as well as in Jim's life—and when all is said and done, Jim doesn't want him to leave.

All-Time Favorite by mardia

What to do when your best friend suddenly starts making new friends. 

Joy Ride by Cards_Slash

While running for their lives from an alien species Kirk had accidentally enraged, they come across a car. And well, if you were to come across a car while being chased by aliens that wanted you dead, and you possessed some lingering knowledge of how to drive a car similar to said car, you would have decided to drive it toward the nearest cliff too.

Also a gunfight.

Syncytia by epistolic

He’d signed up for Starfleet on an impulse, but Starfleet meant James Tiberius Kirk: the first – and second, and third, and fourth – big mistake of Leonard McCoy’s life.

Renovation by canistakahari

Jim has a whammy put on him by an alien death ray and he suddenly craves domesticity. He's crazy with longing to shop at space!Ikea and get potted bamboo and he starts looking into adopting AND HE HATES HIMSELF AND CANNOT CONTROL THE SHIT. Luckily, McCoy is drunk all the time and plays house.

17:08 by butterflycell

She'd watched the news holos with a sick feeling, searching for information that was completely obvious in its absence. Amidst the reports of the the Enterprise's miraculous recovery and the damages sustained, there had been next to nothing about the crew or her captain. Jim had been mentioned only in passing, his name shied away from as his first officer limited interaction to the bare essentials.

The Honey of Hybla by shrift

"Bones, prepare to be my date."

[kill-your-authors]

I’ve thought a lot about The Guard and their immortality. They don’t know why they have immortality and they don’t know why they lose it, but there is the underlying implication that there ARE answers even if The Guard doesn’t know them. I’m going to attempt to offer a theory that would answer these questions.

We know because of the script reveal that there is nothing biologically different between them and the rest of humanity. There’s also this implication of destiny, that they are meant to find each other because of their dreams, and if we are to believe that destiny is such a thing within this world, then that means EVERYTHING that happens is destined. We know Lykon lost his immortality even though he became immortal after Andy, so what determines when they lose their immortality has nothing to do with being the oldest. We also know Andy lost her immortality after she learned that Quynh is still drowning. Obviously, I am choosing not to consider the script here, because the script would suggest she lost it when Nile became immortal, not after Nile’s dream. (And I’m choosing to take into consideration parts of the screenplay and not others for a reason even though it could make my theory less credible.)

That being said, my theory is this means that all of them are “chosen” by destiny to be immortal because of their capacity for goodness and faith in humanity. When they lose one of these two things, the capacity for goodness or more likely their faith in humanity, they lose their immortality. This is why Andy outlived Lykon, despite having been alive long before him, and why she loses her immortality now. Her faith in humanity was already on its way out, and then Nile has that dream, confirming that Quynh has not escaped, and has not died, and is still drowning over and over drowning, 500 years later. This drains her of any remaining faith, and she loses her immortality.

This brings me to why Joe and Nicky become immortal at the same time rather than centuries apart like all the others.

First, there’s Nicky, who was not good when he died. But if we believe destiny exists in this world, then it doesn’t matter that he wasn’t good when he died - all that matters is that he would BECOME good.

And the reason they come into immortality is not just because they died at the same time, but because individually neither of them fulfill the requirements for immortality, but together they both do. Nicky would not have become good if it weren’t for Joe and Joe would not have the faith in humanity that he does if not for witnessing Nicky change. They both together had the capacity to fulfill the requirements eventually, but apart wouldn’t have, so they became immortal together.

This is why I believe they will lose their immortality together. This fandom likes to headcanon about what will happen when one loses it before the other, when one dies before the other, and that can be interesting to theorize about, but I really believe that won’t happen. If one were to lose what makes them good, or what gives them faith in humanity, the other would immediately lose it too. They are both good people who have faith in humanity directly BECAUSE the other is also good and also has faith in humanity. They can’t fulfill both requirements without the other doing so too.

That brings me to Booker, Quynh and Nile.

With Booker, it’s obvious he doesn’t want to live, but I don’t think that means he’s lost his capacity to do good or that he has no faith in humanity. He betrayed the guard in the movie, but he believed he was doing good and he believed millions of people would benefit from it. Plus, he immediately acknowledges his mistake. When Andy tells him how long his exile is, he says, “Hoped for less, expected more” and when Andy tells him Nile wanted to let him off with an apology, he says, “Give her time,” as if to suggest she will one day understand, just as he does, why an apology isn’t enough. This means that his capacity for good is completely unbiased, even for himself. He is not even his own exception to doing the right thing. So, whether you like Booker or not, it is clear that, at heart, he is still good and still has faith in humanity.

Then there’s Quynh, who we don’t know a lot about yet, from the movie. In the comics, when she resurfaces she believes that The Guard exists to make humanity suffer. I think it’s safe to say that if the sequel, assuming there is one, goes in that direction, Quynh isn’t good and doesn’t have faith in humanity. If she immediately lost her immortality in the sequel, that would lend credence to my theory, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. So if she believes it’s her purpose to make humanity suffer, and she doesn’t lose her humanity, then my theory is arguably wrong. But I feel the need to bring up destiny again, and the fact that when Nicky became immortal he was also a bad person doing harm to humanity. Since that’s true, I think it stands to reason that if Quynh both intends to make humanity suffer AND keeps her immortality in the sequel, it is because that is destined to change, just like Nicky was destined to change. Also, the fact that when Nicky was doing harm to humanity, he honestly BELIEVED he was doing what he had to do, was meant to do, was right to do - and the same thing would be true for Quynh, I think it’s possible beliefs play a role in their ability to gain/maintain immortality too. Even misguided beliefs. They are allowed to make mistakes and lose their way as long as it’s destined they make up for those mistakes and find their way back.

That leaves Nile. When Nile dies, Andy says something along the lines of, “Why now? It’s been over 200 years.” (This has always stuck out to me. Why would she say it’s been “over 200 years” like that’s an exceptionally long time to go without a new immortal? There was 700 years between Joe and Nicky and Booker. It’s implied there were hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of years between Andy and Quynh, and then Quynh and Lykon. What she really should be saying is, “Why now? It’s ONLY been 200 years.” But either way, this line helps make my case, so…)

I bring this up because it makes it clear that when new immortals show up is completely random. There is no way to predict when a new one will arrive or why or IF there’s a why, though it’s overtly implied there is at this exact moment because Nicky answers Andy with, “Everything happens for a reason, Boss.”.

But if it really is determined by capacity for goodness and faith in humanity, then that’s obviously why it’s random. It will only happen when someone who is born destined to be good and believe in humanity dies. Even if when they become good and find faith in humanity is well after initially gaining their immortality, and whether it’s been 200 or 5000 years since the last. So the reason it’s Nile when it’s Nile is because Nile has that capacity for goodness and faith in humanity and she died when she was destined to die.

But why was she destined to die then? Like I said, if one thing in this universe is destined, then EVERYTHING in this universe is also destined because that’s how destiny works.

Andy tells Nile, “I think I lost my immortality when you showed up,” and then explains to Nile she thinks that was so she could be “reminded of what it’s like.” I believe Andy believes that, but I don’t agree. I think the real reason Nile died when Nile died, and not earlier or much later, is because Nile is the one who revived Andy’s faith in humanity. She tells Andy as she’s rescuing her, “I’ve seen it, Andy” in reference to Copley’s board, and she says to her later, “Maybe this is ‘the why’ Andy,” meaning, the reason they don’t die is because they are the only ones good enough to help humanity for millennia, even when it’s not obvious they’re helping for literal centuries, and even when it appears that humanity doesn’t deserve it, or isn’t getting better. They are the ones who have this great capacity for good and who have enough faith in humanity to DO good FOR humanity even when there’s no obvious proof they SHOULD have faith in humanity and they are the only ones who would not do nothing with their immortality, or worse, consciously harm humanity with their immortality.

Which brings me to one last thing: why does it matter if Nile revives Andy’s faith in humanity after she already lost her immortality?

Because…maybe…if she’s still good…and rediscovers faith in humanity…she can get her immortality back.

I hope there’s the tiniest possibility my theory is right for this reason alone.

[nevermindirah]

director's cut: not a gentle laughter, anything you'd like to talk about!

It took me like a whole damn week to reply to this ask (I'm sorry about that!) because I just have so many feelings about this fic.

Quarantine has been really, really hard on me. I think it's zero percent an accident that The Old Guard spoke to so many of us so deeply last year — their tragedy is that any social contact they might have with a mortal could lead to a picture or a story on social media getting picked up by a CIA agent that could lead to them getting locked in a cage for eternity. Social connections outside their group are high-risk, just like in-person social contact is high-risk for us these days.

Booker speaks to me so much as a character because he was profoundly isolated even before he got exiled. Booker struggles to actually communicate about his needs with the people who care about him. Jewish Booker speaks to me so much because it's the mark of antisemitism to assume you won't be wanted, to assume you'll be exiled if you're not useful enough or entertaining enough or whatever enough. I'd love to not know so intimately how depression and trauma fuck with your brain and make it hard to believe people care about you, let alone ask them for what you need, but I do, and here's this character who's seemingly hand-made for me to work out this shit through.

And Jewish Booker speaks to me because I don't have much in the way of Jewish community these days. I'm coming up on another High Holidays that I'll be spending alone, when there are certain prayers you can't say by yourself, and knowing that this niche headcanon of this fictional character is alone too makes it a little easier.

So I sat down to write "5 times Booker gets wasted on Purim and one time he doesn't" and instead all these FEELINGS came pouring out. Feelings about what it would mean for a small group of immortals to be the only long-term source of human connections for each other. Feelings about being able to spend time with an ancestor who survived. Feelings about how beautiful it is when we get creative and find new ways to keep going, as Jews in the face of violence and erasure, and just generally as people in the face of traumas big and small.

Once I accepted that this wasn't gonna be a silly romp and started writing in earnest, I started having a lot of feelings about how Nile might relate to all this. Which led to one of my favorite passages in the fic:

There's a hell of a lot more between the two of them now than just the shared life experience of modern immortals who carry the weight of their ancestors, but it's still one of the things she treasures the most about their friendship. Sometimes she carries her ancestors like a teddy bear, dangling them by the hand as she runs off to explore everything the world has to offer, or clutching them to her chest for comfort. Sometimes it all feels like an albatross around her neck, all these boundaries and expectations for her life set long before she was born, and to ignore it would be naive or a betrayal but maybe a relief as well. It's not the only or most important thing about her, but it's there, all the time, an essential part of her. Booker is the only one of their little family who understands.

That imagery is inspired by this post by @victimhood that I like to think of as the Book of Nile Manifesto 2.0. So much of our understanding of ourselves and our experiences of the world are intimately linked to our context, what's happening around us in the times and places where we live. Booker and Nile were born into a world that had so much context foregrounded for them, and Nile and Jewish Booker are members of diasporas who were forcibly disconnected from so much of their peoples' original contexts. That's a RADICALLY different experience of the world than Andy and Quynh and Lykon, or even Joe and Nicky. The older immortals lived through things that were foregone conclusions before Booker or Nile were even born, and now they're each a diaspora of one as a result of their immortality, but first living a mortal life of longing for impossible connections? It all hits different for our baby immortals.

Telling stories is the very most human thing. Telling stories about what awful things happened to us and what we learned as a result and how we're choosing for it to shape us — that's the crux of so much Jewish storytelling. And I think that survivor's outlook on telling stories would speak deeply to Nile.

It's not an exclusively Jewish way of telling stories, of course. And we even get some of it in the movie, when Andy tells Nile, "You come from warriors." I don't think she's talking about the Marines there — she's talking about what it takes to fight for your survival.

Anyway, I just have a million diaspora feels, and I think that Nile would learn from Booker about Jewish rituals and Jewish ways of telling stories and she would have her own pile of diaspora feels about it. Nile walked into a family in crisis, and she shouldn't have to fix anyone else's shit, but she deserves agency in shaping the next iteration of this little broken family she's been forced into, and I think she'd see all the mess that came from people not fucking talking to each other, and she'd continue to be rightfully pissed that Andy welcomed her to immortality with a bullet to the forehead, and she'd take everything she learned from her parents and grandparents and church elders and everyone else she might've looked up to growing up, and she'd take everything she's learning from Andy and Joe and Nicky, and she'd take what she's starting to learn from Booker, and she'd start building into her life rituals to help her feel connected.

And as much as there's pain in diaspora, there's beauty in it as well. Writing non-Jewish Nile seeing the value in these Jewish practices makes me feel a little more understood and wanted, a little more connected myself.

Thanks so much for asking about this fic, friend. <3

[cryhardanddanceharder]

TOG immortals x Of Monster and Men songs

Album 1: My head is an animal

1. Dirty Paws: I feel this song gives so many Andy's vibes. Fetus Andy, before being immortal. There's something mystical and old in this song, just like Andy. She became the best fighter of her tribe, she quyckly overcome her older sisters and her mom started to see her as a threat. "The dragonfly it ran away, but it came back with a story to say". Andy ran away after being killed by her own people, but she came back to regain her place and show everyone she is still alive. "She ran down the forest". Mood! Very aesthetic of Andy. "The bees had declared a war". Of course, her mother wouldn't give her tribe to her without a fight. "But she and her furry friends took down the queen bee and her men, and that's how the story goes, the story of the beast with those four dirty paws". Andy won, but she probably felt like a beast for going against her own mother and her people. There's heartbreak in the betrayal, on having her first death done by her mother's orders.

2. King and Lionheart: this is a Joe and Nicky song. "Taking over this town, they should worry. But these problems aside I think I taught you well, that we won't run" Okay, this is them in the cruzades era. Listen, that's them just after they finally fall in love. "We're here to stay" They were in different sides of a war, but once they realised they are immortal and once they fall in love they decide to stay there, still fighting for their people. "We're still the same" Yes, they are immortal and in love, but they are still their own person. Joe is muslim and Nicky is catholic. "Howling ghosts they reappear, in mountains that are stacked with fear, but you're a king and I'm a lionheart" the ghosts are their religions and their stories with them, it's a topic that is always going to reappear between them because is part of who they are. But still, they love each other. "And as the world comes to an end I'll be here to hold your hand" just them and their pure love prevailing.

3. Numb bears: this is a Joe song. I feel this song is about when he left his home to go to the crusades. "Can't remember when it was dark or the sun coming up. Far across the ocean alone, while numb bears at home". The joerney is long and he can't keep the tracks of the days, and once he is in Jerusalen to keep track of the time it becomes worst. "Said I could never get there" His family probably believe that it didn't make sense to go fight a war long away from their home, believe that he wouldn't get there. They think Joe is only a merchant, just like everyone in his family. He is not a soldier. But Joe gets to Jerusalen and fight a war he believed in. "While numb bears at home said I could never get there, but I'm already there. Already there" this could be also a metaphor about the muslims. Catholics thought they would never get to Jerusalen and fight the war. But they did. And in some way they were already there, before the war, because it was their land first.

4. Sloom: this is a Nile song. I feel it could be about her relationship with her father. "The books that I keep by my bags are full of your stories" She keeps her father's books/diaries, those who he wrote while he was in the navy. She takes them with her when she decides to enlist herself. "A little dream of mine, a little nightmare of yours", She knows that her dream about following his steps would be a nightmare to him. He wouldn't want her to be a soldier, he would want her to choose any other profession where she could be safe, but not the one he did. "To be asked to take this plunge, to forgive and forget, and be the better man", This is about forgiving his father from for dying. She feels the responsability to be better than him. Her mind tells her: forgive him, but don't die, don't abandon your mom and brother like he did. "And I'll meet your eyes for the very first time, for the very last" Still Nile thinks she probably is going to die like him, in action. And when that happens, she will see him again. "So love me mother, and love me father, and love my brother as well" Nile loves her family so much, and just want to be loved in return by them, despite their choices and mistakes.

5. Little talks: this is a Booker song. This is about him and her wife. How the truth about his immortality changed their relationship. "And some days I can't even dress myself" "It's killing me to see you this way". How Booker saw her grow old, but he didin't, he stayed the same. "There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back" She stopped talking to him about the things that matters, because she started to see him like a different person. Part of herself resented him for his immortality. "Well, tell her that I miss our little talks", Booker missed her. They were still together, but they were not. They couldn't talk anymore like they used to. Something in their trust broke, because for her wife his immortality changed him. "Soon it will all be over, and buried with our past" She will die, and he will not :( "We used to play outside when we were young and full of life and full of love" They were happily in love once, before he was immortal, before he went to war. "You're gone, gone, gone away, I watched you disappear. All that's left is a ghost of you" Booker was with her until she died :( "I'll see you when I fall asleep", that's the only way that he gets to keep her, in his memories and his dreams.

6. From Finner: this could be Andy/Lykon/Quỳnh song, but also a Andy/Quỳnh/Joe/Nicky song. There is something chill about this song. I feel like is them, just relaxing and being themselves. "And we are far from home, but we're so happy. Far from home, all alone, but we're so happy" They are all far from their homes, they had leave them behind. They are all alone, because there is no one else like them. But somewhere along the way, their concept of home changed. They are happy to be far from what is it supposed to be their home. The whole world is their home now, as long they have each other. They are the safe place to always come back to. Home is not where they came from, is where they are. Family is not only their blood ancestors, they are their own family because they love each other. "Keep your heads held high".

7. Six weeks: this is a Quỳnh song. Is about how she handled immortality at the beginning. "We fall to the ground" and "We crawl on the ground" are perfect quotes to express how she was feeling. She felt like everything she did was a effort and no matter how hard she tried she felt down again. "Alone, I fight these animals. Alone, until I get home" Quỳnh feels alone and she feels like she has to fight against all the pain immortality brings on her. The animals are her dark thoughst, her anxiety, her grief, her mental health. And Quỳnh wans to go home, but her home as she has known it doesn't exist anymore, nor the poeple she had loved. "A wolf, wolf and I, We share the same cold meal. I float on, float on down. We ride, we ride, we ride, we ride it all out" The wolf meaning her worst moment, when she finally gives up and put herself in the middle of a dessert. She rather be there, in the middle of nowhere, alone, dying constantly... that having to keep dealing with the pain of living an immortal life sorrounded by mortal people. "Coming back, I'm coming back. She follows me into the woods, takes me home" Andy follows her into the woods dessert, founds her and takes her back to the world. Now Quỳnh knows she is not alone, there are more immortal people after all.

8. Love Love Love: this is an andromaquynh sad song. Is about Andy and her guilt. "Well, maybe I'm a crook for stealing your heart away. And maybe I'm a crook for not caring for it" This is Andy's pain when she thinks about Quỳnh in the bottom of the ocean, waiting to be recued by her. She feels guilty for had given Quỳnh the hope that she could be capable to save her from anything. "'Cause you love, love, love, when you know I can't love you" Andy feels like Quỳnh stills love her, but she can't, she can't love her the way she wants because Quỳnh is not there, she can't because she is the one who left her in her prision and stopped looking for her, because Quỳnh deserves to be loved by someone who wouldn't give up. Andy wishes she couldn't love her cause it hurts too much. "So I think it's best we both forget before we dwell on it, the way you held me so tight, all through the night" Andy wishes she could forget Quỳnh and Quỳnh could forget her, because maybe, if they both forget about how much they love each other, being apart wouldn't hurt so much. Andy hopes the few minutes that Quỳnh gets to have alive under the ocean she doesn't remember her, because if she does and everytime she wakes comes alive realises that Andy still didn't save her, that would be too heartbreaking.

9. Your Bones: this is a Lykon song. Is about how Andy and Quỳnh said goodbye to him. "In the spring we made a boat, out of feathers, out of bones" They made a boat and put Lykon's body on it. "We set fire to our homes". They set the boat on fire. Home, they are each others home. And Lykon was like a home to them. I feel that ritual could be something old or folk. Maybe Lykon's people used to that as a way to grief the people who died in battles. "Hold on to what we are, hold on to your heart" This is the first time that Andy and Quỳnh lost someone as them, an immortal. They weren't supposed to die. So they hurt and they rage. But at the end of the they, they have to hold on to each other to move on and keep living. "Said goodbye to you my friend, as the fire spread. All that's left are your bones, that will soon sink like stones" The only way to move on is to say goodbye to him. This is so sad :( But they hold on, they keep him in their hearts.

10. Lake House: this a song about Andy and her boys. Is about their safehouses they have around the world and what it means for them when they are together in one of them, reunited for a job, but still feeling like a family. "I miss the comfort of this house" They miss the safehouses and their time together when they are apart. They miss each other, because when they are together they are happy. "Can you chase the fire away?" This is part of how their relationship is, they help each other to chase the "fire" away. Fire meaning the things that hurts and haunts them, the things that holds them back and don't let them live in peace. Fire meaning the disasters of the world. No matter how much fire there is and how bad it gets, they keep fighting against it, they keep fighting to make things better. "In the fall, we sleep all day" The fall meaning the missions and sleep the breakes they take from them. They need to take care of themselves too, so sometimes they stop doing missions and take time to heal. Like at de beggining of the movie, they were on a break. But fall ends at some point, and they have to go back to do things. They give each other time to heal, but then they are back doing what they do. They have to remind each other that doing things is part of being okay too.

11. Yellow Light: this is an andromaquynh song. "I'm looking for a place to start and everything feels so different now" This is when Quỳnh is finally out of the ocean. When she goes back to the world, everything is different. 500 years is a long time and everything is new to her. "Just grab a hold of my hand, I will lead you through this wonderland" This is what Andy offers when they are reunited. She still loves Quỳnh, so she will hold on to her and never let her go again. Andy will guide her in her descovery of this new world if she lets her. "But sharks are swimmin' in the sea, just follow my yellow light and ignore all those big warning signs" They are in love, but there still obstacles in the way. There's pain and trauma to deal with. There's Andy's mortality and Quỳnh's ptsd. "The earth is shaking and I see a light, the light is blinding my eyes, as the soft walls eat us alive" I'm gonna take this is as a kind of a happy ending. Even thought there's pain, trauma, anxiety, fights and dark thoughts; there's still light, there's still hope. That's their love. They gave into their love once again. They let their soft walls love eats them. Bye darkness and hatred, hello forgiveness and bright yellow light of love that blinds them.

BT. Mountain Sound: this is a happy song about Andy, Lykon and Quỳnh adventures together. "I heard them calling in the distance, so I packed my things and ran far away from all the trouble I had caused with my two hands" Yes, they are a chaotic trio. I imagine them causing troubles along the way and having to go away before things can get worse. Quỳnh did you just stole the wife of the Sir X of this village? Andy did you just killed that man because you didn't like the way he tame the horses? Lykon did you steal that honey from the market? "Hold your horses now, we sleep until the sun goes down. Through the woods we ran, deep into the mountain sound" Horses!! Andy loves horses aksjdalksd. That's how they travel, horses with them all the time please, Andy needs them to be happy. Lykon likes walking better and Quỳnh is secretly a little jealous of the horses because Andy gives them too much attention. "And as I looked around, I began to notice that we were nothing like the rest" Of course they are not like the rest, they are immortal! They found each other and they are their own little family, traveling around the world together.

BT. Slow and Steady: this is an angsty Andy song. "I am all alone" Yes, she was alone for like 3000 or 4000 years. That's so long!! So much loneliness and pain! :( I think most of the fandom forget this and don't realise how much she must have suffer in her alone time "I spend my night dancing with my own shadow", I can totally imagine Andy dancing alone, in the middle of nowhere, lot of times. "I'm letting go, but I've never felt better, passing by all the monsters in my head" She had to learn to let go and move on so many times, she had lost so many people that she loved along the way. Her mental health is constantly a challenge. Her anxiety, her depression, her fears about time concepts and love. She feels alone and misunderstood. No one knows that she will keep living and outrunning generation after generation, and she will keep testifying how societies destroy themselves and others. "And I move slow and steady, but I feel like a waterfall. I move slow and steady, past the ones that I used to know. And I'm never ready, 'cause I know, I know, I know that time won't let me show what I want to show" I feel these are the best words to describe her and they hit so deep in the worst way. Andy is old and tired, in every sense you can be tired: emotionally, physically, mentally... but she just keeps living.

[lady-writes]

Romance is amazing but lets go deeper

Yeah, yeah, yeah, immortal husbands and immortal wives. Please for you consideration:

Immortal shitstarters Andy and Nile

Immortal Trolls Nicky and Quynh

Immortal dumbasses Lykon and Booker

Immortal rabid socialists Nicky Booker and Nile

Immortal chaos generators Quyhn Joe and Lykon

Immortal saps Andy Joe and Booker

Immortal Party animals Quynh Joe and Nile

Immortal rage monsters Nicky and Andy

Immortal Book hoarders Booker joe and nile

Immortal football hooligans Booker Joe and Quynh

Immortal speed demons Andy and Booker

Immortal animal whisperers Quynh and Booker

Immortal accidental Disney Princesses Nile and Lykon and Joe

Immortal iron chefs Nicky and ANDY (how is the dominant headcanon that she cant cook??? Shes 6000??The baklava scene??? Can you imagine what that woman could do with a clay/brick oven or a barbeque???)

Immortal gambling addicts ... I mean all of them in Monaco/Vegas? A NIGHTMARE

Immortal accidental inspiration machines The entire guard cuz fuck you space opera fic where nile has become some kinda god of miracles for space travelers thanks to a PERFECTLY timed airlock incident is what we all deserve

FEEL FREE TO ADD ON.

FANDOM NEEDS MORE WHOLESOME SHENANIGANS.

NO AUS ARE NECESSARY WHEN YOUR TEAM ARE IMMORTAL FIXERS/SPYS/HUMANITARIAN WORKERS/WARRIORS

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

(THIS IS NOT INTENTED TO BE CRITICAL OF WRITERS/CREATORS. I am a simple untalented gremlin with a keyboard spitting ideas into the ether. You are all rockstars of creation. I will love whatever exists! These are merely my humble offerings.)

[sixth-light]

the more I consider immortality and the Old Guard as a metaphor for academia the more I know I have to write a proper academia AU someday. Nicky and Joe are those assholes who have permanent positions less than five years out of their PhDs AND have solved the two-body problem, and everybody both admires them (because they deserve it, they’re sweethearts) and resents them for it. Andy wants to get out even though she has a permanent job, but doesn’t know any other life. Booker is the eternal postdoc, too tired to even contemplate the possibility of a long-term position. I have never seen a character who exudes more postdoc energy. Lykon quit for industry right after his PhD and honestly? good life choice. Quỳnh is stuck overseas because her contract keeps getting renewed and, well, it’s a job. One day she and Andy are gonna solve the two-body problem. One day.  

Nile is a PhD student who didn’t realise what she was signing up for and wants to leave, but Andy keeps persuading her that there can be good things here, and Nicky and Joe want to fix academia, and maybe she can save these guys from themselves...? hope springs eternal! 

[regina-del-cielo]

Immortal Siblings AU | Four, then three, then four again

I mentioned that the bulletpoint post describing how the Guard from the Immortal Siblings AU found Joe had totally run away from me. It has, in fact, become a study on them grieving over Lykon and then finding Yusuf. 

I have, somehow, reached a sort of natural end to the amount of bullshit my mind can add to this list/fic draft. So, if you want to give it a read... grab a snack. It’s long. I’m sorry.

Warnings for Wikipedia levels of historical accuracy - I added links to the relevant pages when quoting historical events, but since I was just trying to work out a timeline (famous last words), the research wasn’t extensive. There’s a lot of hand-waving.

By the end of the 11th Century, I think Andy, Quynh and Nico haven’t been in Europe for a while, not really. They moved south, and then east, after the sack of Rome of 410 CE. Seeing the great cities fall has become hard for them, especially for Nico, who is a nomad at heart but has a soft spot for cities, together with Lykon, the true city boy in the group. He’d seen it happen to Athens, he wasn’t sure he could deal with seeing Rome wilt.

For reasons I cannot fathom, my mind is settled on them having been in India when Lykon dies (possibly sometime around the middle of the 6th century, in the mess that was the crumbling of the Gupta Empire???)

Seeing him die destroys them, and they take a break from any battlefield to grieve their friend and brother. They wander, occasionally helping but almost never raising their weapons, too leery of injuries and of losing each other.

(Quynh, who was the first to notice Lykon’s wounds, has nightmares that make her cry in her sleep. Andromache holds her so tight Nico can feel the tension on her muscles against his back. He and his sister barely sleep, scared of the open spaces of Asia as they’d never been before. Lykon was the youngest of them and he died, what if they stop healing too?)

(If Nico stands guard over his sisters and feels an ache in his chest seeing how they hold onto each other, he’s never going to say it out loud. His Mache deserves the love she shares with Quynh. But sometimes he wishes he had someone to hold him like that, one he can call his heart.)

The first time they go to battle again like in the old days it’s almost the end of the 10th century, and they’re helping Quynh’s lands gain independence from China. They have a reason and a specific side to root for, and it’s the kind of cause Lykon would have approved of. They find purpose again.

They are distantly aware of how things are holding up in the west – they know Constantinople has crowned itself capital of the Roman Empire (what is left of it anyway); they know of the new religion, Islam, and how it was brought further east with the armies conquering Persia. They met the Varangians on the Northern Plains of the Rus’, when Andy insisted on going back to their steppes for a while.

They acquire new swords, repair the old weapons, make improvements on their bows. They travel, and help, and listen. They learn new languages. They heal.

They’ve just spent the winter in Samarkand when they hear merchants newly come from Constantinople talk about the Frankish armies that took Antioch and making their way further into Palestine. 

The words ‘freeing Jerusalem from the infidels’ make Andy sigh in exasperation and twist Nico’s guts. The three of them don’t really understand the point of going to war for a god, but Jerusalem is old, and she’s been coveted by many throughout their long lives. Things like this never end well, they know it intimately.

But they’ve been away for a long time, centuries at this point. Things are very different from when the Romans had the power. They are less eager to throw themselves into the battlefield now, and there’s much they don’t know about the dynamics of Europe and the Levant. Still they’re worried, and decide that they’ll move west to see if something can be done, for the civilians at least.

At first they travel slowly, keeping an ear out for gossip spoken by the caravans coming from the west. Things radically change, however, when they dream of a new immortal (a man, with a curly black beard and shining dark eyes) dying on the walls of Jerusalem and reviving to an unprecedented slaughter – said man is, obviously, absolutely terrified and they feel it.

He’s also woken up surrounded by living enemies, with high risk of being killed or injured multiple times, and of being seen.

They are still too far away to do anything more than hope that the new guy is clever enough to keep himself alive until they can reach him, but now Nico is all for moving west at full speed to get him out.

“What the everloving FUCK is happening over there?!” is the common theme in their thoughts; nothing about this war they’re walking towards is making any sense.

Yusuf al-Kaysani is, in fact, clever enough to keep himself (and a few other civilians to boot) alive and get out of Jerusalem when it becomes clear than no matter how many Franks he kills he can do nothing to stop them alone. (It’s a fucking carnage, and he’s so tired). He walks away from the battle and tries to reach some sort of safety in the desert.

When he’d decided to stay in Jerusalem and fight instead of escaping the siege, Yusuf had considered the possibility of dying. He had not accounted for waking up from a fatal wound with no sign of having been hit in the first place.

And then there are the visions. Or dreams, he’s not sure. They don’t seem to make any sense? Who are those people?! Is his mind so addled by the war that he’s conjuring scary warrior women and a stupidly handsome man, armed to the teeth and camping in the desert?

(fantasizing about handsome men in his sleep isn’t exactly news for him, but there were never women in those. And none of his usual dreams involved weapons. Something is definitely off)

For the following days, Yusuf makes sure to stay away from human settlements while putting as much space as possible between Jerusalem and himself – the last thing he needs is to become a potential target for any invader that may cross his path.

But he’s alone, having nightmares, constantly on edge, and in a body that suddenly doesn’t feel like his own anymore, since he doesn’t even have the scars to prove that the injuries he sustained were real to begin with.

After a couple of weeks, the appearance of the strangers in his dreams starts feeling safe and comforting; they seem to operate like a little family, and God knows how much he misses his own.

(should he try to go back home? Would news of the siege reach his family before he does? Would he be able to go back to his previous life in the state he’s in? Could he keep this secret from them? Would they still love him or think him a monster?)

Despite their impressive warrior appearance, they feel... kind. And gentle. Sometimes, it feels like they’re trying to reassure him, even. Especially when he dreams from the perspective of the man.

The sensation those dreams leave on his skin is like a cape. You’re not alone, it whispers. Wait for us.

Andy, Quynh and Nico have just left Baghdad when the dreams change, and not for the better - Yusuf was passing through a village when a band of marauding Franks started harassing the locals. He moved to defend the villagers, but was overwhelmed and what’s worse, the Franks saw his wounds close too fast. Their reaction was vehement: they called him a demon, incapacitated him and then brought him back to their garrison, with every intention of ‘properly getting rid of him’.

Nico wakes up screaming and Andy has to sit on him so he doesn’t just sprint ahead without actually knowing where the fuck he’s going.

“We can’t just raid every single Frankish encampment in a twenty mile radius around Jerusalem, Nico!” “TRY ME” *Aggressive Sibling Bickering follows* *Quynh doesn’t bat an eye and just rolls out a map of the area she purchased and starts mapping out the fastest routes*

Yusuf is having a Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week at the hands of his captors, who are getting disturbingly creative in their tortures, but whenever they let him fall unconscious he sees the people of his dreams travelling much faster than before, looking Royally Pissed Off, and the surroundings are... starting to look familiar too? 

If he tries to pay more attention to the conversations his torturers are having with each other outside of the tent he’s in and hoping the dreams go both ways, so the maybe-real trio can find him easier, now that’s nobody’s business but his own.

(spoiler: it works)

When they are in sight of Jerusalem, the immortals find a drunk “pilgrim” boasting about his band capturing a ‘pagan demon’ while coming back from their victory at Ascalon, follow him back to his camp, and as soon as it’s feasible they attack.

(Andy will later gripe that Nico didn’t leave her anything to do because he just paved his way through the Franks like he was harvesting wheat.)

seeing the Stupidly Handsome Man of his dreams standing in front of him covered head to toe in blood, with a double-bladed axe in one hand and a sword in the other, staring intensely at him as if to peer directly into his soul is... an experience for Yusuf.

(he may have composed a lot of poems about that first vision of Nico through the centuries. The words ‘avenging angel’ have been used quite profusely, too)

The protective instinct that Nico has felt for the newest immortal since the first dream clutches at his throat when he finally sees him, chained to a pole and so thin his clothes barely cling to his body, but with the softest dark eyes staring back with a glint of recognition when he comes closer.

(he could cry with relief at the knowledge that he’s not scared of him. Nico has seen the faces of the men that were keeping him captive, he knows he looks a lot like they did, and that he paints a gruesome picture.)

“Are you alright?” Nico asks first, in Greek. (He knows, from the dreams, that his captors prayed in Latin. He wants to make sure that the other knows that he’s not like them.)

“You were in my dreams. You came.” Yusuf answers back in the same language, although his sounds much newer than Nico’s.

“Of course. We’re not meant to be alone… and no one deserves to be in a cage”.

Nico uses the axe to break the chains, and by the time he’s done Andy and Quynh have reached them and his sister throws the keys at him to open the shackles.

“Couldn’t take a moment to get them yourself, little eagle? You wanted to show off your skills to the new one?” Quynh teases, just to see Nico blush. Andy stares at her brother and their new companion for a few beats, before finally asking his name.

“Yusuf ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad Al-Kaysani, known as al-Tayyib” he answers, letting out the first smile in weeks at the raising eyebrows of his saviours. “Just Yusuf is fine.”

“You have a sense of humour, brother. I like you!” Andy snorts, before cutting her palm with the edge of her axe, and showing him her fast healing.

“We are like you, Yusuf. That’s why you dreamt of us, and we of you” Nico adds gently, while Quynh offers her waterskin to Yusuf. They also offer their own names.

“We need to clean up this mess and move away from here” Andy says, while Nico helps Yusuf up. “One of those fuckers was boasting about an undying demon with others in a tavern, the last thing we need is to fight our way out against their whole army because someone else decided to come check if he was saying the truth.”

“It’s been a long time since we were in Kush” Quynh whispers, and Yusuf sees their faces open in a look of affectionate grief he remembers seeing on his Baba’s eyes when he talked about his own mother.

“We can talk about it more when we’re somewhere safer” Andromache suggests, before moving to set up the stage of an ‘accidental’ fire.

As they’re riding away, Yusuf turns slightly to watch the camp burn, leaving no trace of the invaders that hurt him. Jerusalem looms in the distance - lost, and wounded. If he were a little less exhausted, he could  easily work out a metaphor about his own situation.

But then he looks at the three people of his dreams – Quynh, Andromache, Nikolaos – that came for him. Who are the same as him, immortal.

His world has turned upside down, and there are so many questions to ask, and he could sleep for a month straight – but one thing is certain. 

He’s not alone anymore.

[scimitar-and-longsword]

I just read your long post about Booker and Nile and it gave me all the emotions but i wanted to add on one of my favorite moments, which is that Booker tries to convince the team not to find Nile after they dream about her. And it could be because he doesn’t want her to mess up his plans or that she doesn’t deserve this nonsense but like he does try. Long story short I just really love booker and think he’s such an interesting character

Me too nony!! [icymi: Original Post] (Which kinda touched on your point of weather or not Booker tried to to keep Nile away out of care or inconvenience)

Booker disclaimer: He fucked up. Not excusing it, but I just really love his character. He's written/acted in a way that I find so fascinating. Booker apologist is mostly a joke

I've been thinking about the father/daughter dynamic for a while and trying to decide if I'm just seeing things because I have a very close relationship with my own dad and tend to really gravitate towards those relationships in media.

But the more I watch it the more I am convinced that Greg wrote it that way on purpose.

Booker doesn't talk about his wife dying, even though we know he had a wife. What he talks about is losing his son.

Nile and Andy discuss her family and all that time leaves behind. Andy laments not remembering what her mother and sister’s looked like just after Booker has done the same about his sons. Really driving home Nile’s loss of them.

I think a lot of people take this line to mean Booker was jealous of Nicky and Joe's romantic relationship. Which is valid, I just don't see any real evidence for it.

We don't have scenes of Booker sleeping with people or staring longingly at other couples showing affection. Or even if him looking jealous of Nicky and Joe.

In fact, when we DO see Booker react to Joe and Nicky's dynamic he appears to be extremely fond of them.

So I just don’t feel like he needs or even wants a romantic partner, he just wants to feel like he has SOMETHING. 

The other thing I find interesting is that at this point in time there are 6 immortals, with 2 sets of romantic partners. Of course up until recently Quynh was stuck at the bottom of the ocean, breaking up that support structure.

And the order in which they appear is very interesting.  Andy > Quynh > Lykon > Lykon > Joe & Nicky > Booker > Nile

They touch a few times in the movie on weather or not they think there’s a purpose to their immortality. Weather it’s destiny or random or God. Personally, I categorically reject it being random. And anything more than random means that there HAS to be some design to it all.

So Andy was alone for thousands of years then whatever force creates them brought her a companion in Quynh.

Lykon is interesting cause he’s there for a fucking blip! 331 bce - ??? but i would guess not later than 500 ce, though it seems to be implied as much earlier. He is brought into their lives and then taken fairly quickly. Now IF there some kind of force making decisions behind the scenes it seems like something went WRONG here. Weather that was Lykon losing faith like Andy eventually does, or it was on the back end I’m not sure. (a meta for another time lol. Something I think/hope they’ll explore in the sequel or at least in the 3rd comic run)

Joe & Nicky come together (da dum tss)  After Lykon dies alone without a partner (and I’m using that to mean NOT just romantic partner), I 100% believe Joe and Nicky showing up together is by design.

Then we get to Booker. If Quynh had still been there he would have come into a family of pretty content immortals imo. All 4 of them happy to spout things about destiny, and probably even assuring him that someone will come along to fill the hole left by the death of his family.

But as it is Andy is missing her partner and depressed af. Joe and Nicky lost a close friend too, and I’m sure, that even with them seeming more well adjusted than Andy that they would still have their moments.

So that leaves Andy to be depressed with Booker. and they kinda spiral together, both shown to rely heavily on alcohol.

ONLY 208 YEARS LATER Nile comes along. That is a very short amount of time for them. Maybe not yet to Booker, but how long his life will (probably) be, 200 year is nothing.

It appears to be speeding up, or the *entity* that makes them is getting better at it? idk

- Tangent over lol-

Nile is already shown to still be dealing with the loss of her dad at the start of the movie. She keeps his picture by her bunk, and on her phone. And him (and the rest of her family) are obviously the most important thing to her, and the hardest thing for her to lose with this new gift of immortality. Sound familiar? (cough*booker*cough)

I think it’s pretty brilliant to have this concept of found family and exploring that in it’s different forms. And from a representation standpoint it’s great to have two queer romantic couples and then a child/parent dynamic that places the only two straight characters in a decidedly NOT romantic relationship. (presumably straight, based on Booker’s past with his wife and Nile’s mortal love interest in the comics) 

Further more putting both of them in a position to buck stereotypes. The straight white brooding action hero guy who would probably have been the main character in a less nuanced movie get’s to have someone who he cares about and gets to show real vulnerability with. We don’t see him show this emotion with ANYONE else. And Nile who could have been boxed into the trope of “Black women only being stoic and strong,” gets to have someone who cares for her and that she can lean on.

Now this COULD create a weird power (not to mention racial) dynamic if done poorly. BUT I think Gina/Greg have proven that they can handle complex relationships well that had the potential have been big on the yikes scale (Joe & Nicky)

And even in this movie we see that in action: Nile saves them after Booker gets them captured. And she is the only one really who calls him on dragging his feet while looking for Copley (this is less obvious in the movie than in the comics) 

Andy does this KINDA, but it doesn’t seem like she’s questioning Booker’s methods and more just that she’s frustrated (and distracted obviously). Nile actually pushes back and it throws Booker off his game. 

Bringing this ALL THE WAY back to your original point Nony: The fact that the Nile & Booker sub-arc starts with him being like “We should leave her” and ends with him comforting her and telling her she’s a good kid. And with Nile advocating for him not leaving at all is just *chefs kiss*

It starts with Booker, who is shown to have real issues with watching his Son die and not being able to help him, feel Nile die. This time? He can help, he rejects that at first, but I think he starts to see could help Nile, and how Nile could help him by the end. And their last moments have them displaying peak parent/child vibes:

idk I just find their dynamic really interesting and I hope it get’s expanded on in the sequel!

-fin-

[even-after-a-millennia]

the water will not claim me (she already has)

Andromaquynh fic about them and water throughout the years.  Huge thanks for 1k followers!

Read below or on ao3 here.

 I.

Water was hard to come by in the desert, but Andromache couldn’t let the woman she had found die from dehydration again.  Tilting her head back, she gave her the last bit of water from her waterskin.  Andromache watched as the woman swallowed weakly, eyes fluttering.  

Standing, Andromache grabbed one of her arms and hefted her over her shoulders.  She felt the woman’s weak exhalation of breath against her arm.  

And she walked.

Step after step, she moved closer to her destination.  On the way to finding this woman, unable to resist the despair she felt from her every time Andromache dreamt, she had found a small green area a day’s walk away.  With the added weight on her back, it took two mind-numbing, grueling days to return.  

Andromache kept moving, even as she felt the woman waste away on her back.  It would do no good to stop and check on her.  What could she do to help now?

She kept walking.

Finally, they arrived.  Andromache laid the woman gently propped up against a rock, then went to refill her waterskin.  The woman didn’t wake as she returned.

“Hey,” Andromache said, shaking her shoulder lightly.  No response.  Putting some water into her hand, Andromache brought it to the woman’s lips.  They parted, taking in the drink.  

Dark eyes drifted slightly open, unseeing.  Undeterred, Andromache lifted the waterskin to her lips and tilted it, letting the water dribble in.

The woman coughed, eyes coming alive as she realized what was happening.  She lifted an arm to reach for the skin, but Andromache easily batted it away.

“Slowly, slowly,” Andromache encouraged.  

Her voice must have cut through the haze of the woman’s mind, as she looked up at Andromache.

Their eyes met and Andromache felt the loneliness that she had worn as a shroud for centuries fall away as they gazed at each other.

II.

After the battle, they were all covered in filth and sweat.  Lykon was the only one of them that hadn’t suffered a fatal blow at some point and he loudly complained about their stench, laughter in his eyes.  They were all so used to one another that it was nothing to all undress and climb into the gentle river they found together.

“I will look for a meal,” Lykon said, clean long before either of them.

“Thank you, brother,” Andromache replied, taking a moment to just float in the slow movement of the water.

“I expect to see you for food before sundown!  Do not get so distracted you disappoint me!” he called as he walked away.  Andromache may have taken him more seriously if laughter hadn’t rang through his voice.

“Yes, yes, we promise…”

As soon as he was out of sight, Quynh pushed through the water towards Andromache, who turned instinctively to receive an armful of her love.

“Do you think we will actually get back for the meal?” Quynh asked.

“If not,” Andromache said, pushing Quynh’s long, wet hair away from her face, “we are lucky Lykon is more forgiving than we deserve.”

III.

The fact that Cairo’s public baths were divided for females and males was not a deterrence to Andromache’s little band of immortals.  In fact, it was somewhat of a blessing.  Despite loving each other for over three hundred years now, Yusuf and Nicoló still acted as if they had just wed yesterday.  

After they parted at the entrance, Andromache turned to Quynh and asked, “We were never so caught up in each other, were we?”

Quynh smiled, but her eyes were sad.  Andromache knew what she was going to say before the words left her mouth, as she knew who brought that look to her love’s face.

“I think Lykon would disagree with you, trái tim,” she replied.

Andromache scoffed, but moved to hold Quynh’s hand only to have their hands meet halfway.  They looked down, considered their intertwined fingers, then burst out laughing.

“Very well, I am bested.  We are just as bad,” Andromache said, pulling Quynh further into the bath.

IV.

England was dreary.  There was no other word for it.  Clouds hung above them with weak sunlight poking through.  It drizzled most days without end.  And people were dying of false accusations of witchcraft.

Their tiny house in the woods was their only sanctuary from the madness of the world around them.  Every day, they tried to help those they could.  And every night, they retreated back to their small one room with walls and a roof and collapsed together, soaked through and exhausted.

In the middle of the night, Quynh shook Andromache awake.

“What?  What is it?” Andromache demanded, instantly awake and weapon in hand.

“It is finally really raining, ánh nắng của tôi.  It is like a monsoon out there,” Quynh said, looking outside with a soft smile gracing her lips.

Andromache groaned and fell back into bed, dropping her ax back onto the floor.  “Wonderful, I am very glad.  May I sleep now?”

Quynh turned to her and shook her head, pulling her long nightgown off until she was just in her shift.  “We should not waste this weather.”

“What do you mean?” Andromache asked, instantly more awake.

Quynh walked slowly towards her and leaned down to whisper in Andromache’s ear.

“Dance with me.”

She turned and walked out the door.  In a moment, her shift was soaked through but she merely lifted her arms and face to the sky, letting the rain cascade down her.

Then she turned her head to look back at Andromache, sitting stunned in their bed as she stared at the woman who held her heart.

“Are you joining me?” Quynh asked.

Andromache had lived over five thousand years and over the millennia, she had developed a grace in her way of moving that came from battlefields and training.  That said, she scrambled out of bed and her nightgown in her rush to get out to Quynh.

In that moment, the ugliness of their day to day work faded from mind and all Andromache knew was Quynh’s laugh, her cold lips curled into a smile even as they kissed, and her arms around Andromache as they danced in the downpour.

V.

Andy hated coming back to England.  The rain seemed to mock her.

Of course, their assignment had been on the coast.  It was finished now, but still, she had come back to the water.  The vast ocean stretched out in front of her, crashing into the shore and soaking her bare feet.  Her shoes lay forgotten in the sand.

It had been two hundred years since they had given up the search.  More than that since she and Quynh had danced in the rain that night.  The ache was old, but here, in the ocean where somewhere in its depths, Quynh lay trapped and dying… that ache turned into a burn in her chest.

The waves at her feet were the closest she had gotten to touching Quynh in a very long time.

She knelt in the water, uncaring about the ridiculous clothes this century required her to wear.  When she got back to their safe house, she would don trousers and be freer.  For now, she let the layers of fabric soak through around her, weighing her down with each wave.

“Anh nhớ em,” she whispered, and the burn in her chest flared into an inferno.

Joe and Nicky found her there hours later.  The tide had gone out but still, she sat, soaked through and staring blankly out towards the ocean.

+1

As she settled into the jacuzzi bathtub in their latest Air D and D, or whatever Nile called it, Andy let out a deep sigh of relief.  While her muscles had already recovered from the strain of the mission, she still let the warmth soothe away any remnants of pain.  She leaned back and closed her eyes.

The bathroom door opened and closed but she didn’t have to look to know who was there.

There was a rustle of fabric and that, that made Andy turn to watch as Quynh took off her dirtied outfit.  Some things never grew old, no matter how much time had passed.

“Baths have truly come a long way in the time I was gone,” Quynh said, settling into the v between Andy’s legs.  The water splashed a bit as she moved, but as she settled, so did the small waves.

“The world is definitely better for it,” Andy agreed, dropping a kiss on her love’s bare shoulder.

It took them a long time to get here, Quynh’s back to Andy’s front, submerged in warm, scented water in the 21st century.

Andy may always resent the centuries taken from them and the pain they had both gone through to get to this moment.  But now, her arms around her heart long gone from her, she let those feelings fade away in the water and pulled her closer.

They soaked together, unspeaking, as calm as the water around them.

Translations thanks to @hottopicmonk on tumblr: trái tim - heart

ánh nắng của tôi - my sunshine

anh nhớ em - I miss you

[inheritorofmemories-archive]

Andromaquynh Tomb Raider AU

I keep seeing those Indiana Joe fics and Mummy au post for joe/nicky and they are all very nice and cool but you know which galaxy brain idea no one has explored yet? Tomb raider AU for andy/quynh. Luckily I have nothing but time on my hands so strap in.

I re-watched the first tomb raider the other day (yes, the 2001 movie. Yes it’s 20 years old.) and the Croft universe can actually fit pretty well with Andy and Quynh with some tweaks and changes. I’ll preface this post by saying that raiding tombs and any ancient place really is not ethical At All and stealing artifacts shouldn’t happen in any way and the black market for cultural goods is an enormous spider web with ramification all over the world that is actually incredibly nefast to pretty much everything from sciences to culture to human societies and economy (look it up, it’s way bigger than just a stolen vase sold in a small market) so I’ll refer to this AU as Tomb Raider but know that what I really mean is Andy and Quynh protecting ancient sites and relics from companies and museums and the likes.

Go under the cut to read the rest of my detailed idea of what it would look like.

As much as I like the sci-fi and magic elements of the series, I really think a more grounded feel for this AU would fit them better. So no gods or illuminates or magic relics, sorry. Instead, I see this as them being adventurers who decide to put their skillset to good use and protect sites and places and objects and cultures from capitalism, stealing, overexploitation, appropriation and destruction.

Andy is Lara Croft obviously. She’s the daughter of an archeologist who mysteriously died during an excursion and fueled her will to go in the same field as her parent. Because we like complex characters in this house, I want Andy to start by actually raiding and selling from ancient sites at the beginning of her career because she's young and never learned better before she comes up close to the direct consequences of that particular market and she decides she wants no part of it. It allows for an exploration of real-world issues but it also gives her a deeper backstory and a proactive choice in being the character she is because I’m a sucker for the idea that you are not born good but you chose to be. After that, she'll keep the exploring part of her job but instead of stealing relics she’ll find lost places and give the coordinates to scientists. Daytime she uses the fonds of her family to support initiatives to protect places and restore art and goods to their rightful owners, the rest of the time she goes on cool adventures all over the world to get her hands dirty when legal means cannot get it done.

This is where Quynh comes into the picture. She’s one of Andy’s associates but not really they're in love and married. In the series, Croft has numerous allies that help her out either by giving tips or identifying objects, etc... I can totally see Andy going to Quynh for information about a particular site or object and them sticking together for the rest of the adventure and not leaving each other. Or, even funnier, Quynh has her own little business of going in the field to get things done, they run into each other and then keep running together. I really want Quynh to be a marine biologist and environment activist that also has a background in law because I think she deserves the right to legally bankrupt assholes, as a treat. Andy is exploring an underwater temple when she runs into Quynh doing plant analysis right there, they realize the site and the entire ecosystem is endangered by X industrial complex throwing their waste in the water and they bring it down while flirting and then it takes a year of adventures together and Andy who keeps finding excuses to go seek Quynh's counsel before they get together. And then, power couple who by daytime do activist work and advocate for the protection of sites and the environment and who by night dress in black and go sabotage factories, steal info to leak as whistleblowers and give various object and art back to their owners.

As a side plot that (kinda) follows canon, one of their mission goes wrong and Quynh doesn't get out with them, she's missing and they cannot find any trace of her for months/a few years and they think she's dead until Lykon locates her and they find out she's in prison somewhere. They go break her out and there's angst because Quynh believes she was forgotten by them until they talk it out and also deal with the trauma by going to therapy and bringing down the corporation that had Quynh thrown in jail. Power of love and bombs baby. After that they are much more careful but they keep doing it because they believe in the good of their work.

Also, a thing you don’t see really in the movies but is very present in the game series, about half the story if not two-thirds is spent on resolving enigmas and mysteries, not action. Sure Croft knows how to shoot and is a good fighter but the most important part is her brain and knowledge and associate in various fields (and that she seeks the help of, she's not a mary sue she has limits and has people who assist her). She thinks more than she fights and I really want to see that on Andy and Quynh, them thoroughly researching a subject, planing their op, getting info on people, going to recover intel and tools and associates and also using legal means to get things done and only going to the illegal method in last resort, and even then I want to see stealth mission with no big fight like Sudan in the movie rather than going in with a boom. Basically, show how important their brains are to the overall plot.

I also really want to add Lykon to the mix because their dynamic seems really cool from what we've seen in the movie and also from fanon and he deserves nice things okay. So he’s the tech genius that comes in the team a few years later when they're well established but technology starts to evolve and they're not the best at navigating it but Lykon is, he's the best at electrical systems and robots, internet and all the new tech. He'll help them break into places and do recon op. And then they become this tight-knit family of multiple doctorates and scientists and activists that also have a side business no one knows about (except the world knows there are people protecting the environment and cultural goods from destruction and their nickname in news press totally is The Old Guards okay).

And to end it beautifully, Andy Quynh and Lykon are a badass team for 20 years until Lykon decides to have a family so he cannot keep getting in danger and he retires to teach (happy AU, no death) and Andy and Quynh at 40 and some years old stumbles upon Nile who is starting in the field of archeology and art history and they’ll work together, thus passing the torch down to the newest generation. And you can even have a crossover with Indiana Joe and Nicky doing their things in their corner and they met on one mission, Booker can be a forger they hire from time to time to get false papers, all of them can meet and work together to fight Big Bad Guy Merrick, the possibilities are endless really once you get into the Archeological Actions Cinematic Universe (which is a genre on its own apparently).

Maybe one day I'll get to write this who knows, but I really needed to get the idea out of my head so this post shall be enough for the time being. Feel free to write or draw something from this, there's never too much Andy/Quynh content. And also, add to this post! These are just my thoughts and ideas but I would love to hear more if you have them, consider this an open discussion board about this very specific AU that has been living in my head since late summer.