#needleandprick series

[caldefrance]

Many thanks to everyone who read, left kudos, or wrote a kind comment. You can find and read all the stories I published to archiveofourown.org this year, here.

[caldefrance]

Joe's eyes met Nicky’s. He’d purse his lips whenever he recalled his tumultuous memories of the time when they’d met. “Nicky and I met in the Crusades.”

“The Crusades?” Nile asked, incredulous.

Nicky almost gave a smile as he remembered how much he’d learned from the man he’d come to love as they’d travelled together through the Levant. "The love of my life was of the people I’ve been taught to hate.”

Nicky and Joe told Nile how they’d killed each other—many times—when they’d met in 1099. They neglected to mention all that happened afterward: how they’d travelled together through the Arabian desert, each desperate with feelings of lust for the other.

This photo-set reimagines this scene from the movie as it might have been screened on an old analog television set. When Joe and Nicky begin to reminisce about the early phase of their relationship, the film rewinds to play back two episodes they still remember vividly: when Joe taught Nicky how to ride and when Joe gave Nicky some advice on how to negotiate in Arabic.

Image description and “behind the scenes” look at the design of the cover art for the Needle & Prick series below the cut—

[Image Description]

“Behind the cover” series header image; white text over an image of a canvas covered in dark blue paint with visible brush strokes.

Still from The Old Guard (2020), of Joe's expression as he stares at Nicky, with his head is tilted to the side, giving him a half-smile; the image is over-laid with horizontal lines to make the still look as though it was screened on an analog television set or a warped VHS tape.

Still from The Old Guard (2020), of Nicky as he looks back at Joe; his head is also tilted to the side and he has one arm over the back of his chair. This image is also over-laid with horizontal lines to make the still look as though it was screened on an analog television set.

Still from The Old Guard (2020), of Joe’s expression, overlaid with warped horizontal lines—as though the still were captured as the scene was rewound.

Cover-image for Riding Lessons, of a sepia-toned image two horses with their heads meeting in the centre of the image, overlaid with six orange ‘x’s, and the words “Riding Lessons” in orange capital letters.

Cover-image for Negotiation Advice, of a sepia-toned image of two hands—one dark, the other light—grasping each other, overlaid with orange loops that resemble ties and the words “Negotiation Advice” in orange capital letters.

[Design Statement]

This photo-set was designed using Canva, a free website that allows you to manipulate images with clip art elements and other effects like analog distortion or “BadTV.”

The cover-image for Riding Lessons, in which the image of two horses is overlaid by a row of ‘x’s, is a visual reference to the fact that Nicoló’s horse remains unnamed in this story—to preserve her anonymity—given that no one bothered to ask for her consent before Yusuf affixed a dildo to Nicoló’s saddle.

The cover-image for Negotiation Advice, in which a looping squiggle appears to connect two grasping hands, is a visual reference to the rope that bound Nicoló when Joe negotiated for his ransom and the first time they had sexual relations.

You can read both stories in this series here, on archiveofourown.org.