#this started as me trying to figure out how old andromache was at the end of the war

[astrothii]

i have tried to go and research the trojan war timeline and am now more confused than when i began. how is anyone the age they are. send help.

[solosvejs]

The Old Guard, and subverting expectations

I remember when I first watched this movie - I didn’t know much about it. I had seen the trailer about a month prior, was immediately on board to add this to my collection of Movies Where Charlize Theron Beats Up Dudes. Like, I was sold just on that. And then, you know, there was that shot of Nicky and Joe spooning on the train from Sudan. And I thought... Huh. You don’t know see that every day. I kept watching. I remember asking some fandom friend or other if the movie was gay. (I expected, like, maybe some subtext between Charlize’s character and the new girl, but that was the height of my expectations going in). They said it was. I got to the Van Scene. Ah yes, I thought, these are The Gays of the film. (I did not know yet at that point that everyone in this movie is gay) And then... And then I got to the scene in the lab (the That Time in Malta scene), and something.... something twinged inside me. Because I had seen enough movies now to know that if people are in dire circumstances, and they mention some happy prior event, AND there’s some form of “that was nice, wasn’t it?” or “we should go back there”, there’s.... well, it’s usually a good sign that the character(s) will NOT get to to do that thing again or go back to that place. There’s almost always a finality to it. A sense of regret. I heard that in Nicky’s voice, and I heard it in Joe’s reply. And I thought, well. They gave us these gays, at least; so maybe they won’t make it out of this movie alive, but at least it was nice while it lasted. It’s not the first time that has happened and sadly it will not be the last. You see, I’m a fic writer. I am well-versed in the language of “that didn’t happen” and “Alternative Universe - Everybody Lives” tags. I am fully prepared at any given moment to ignore every part of canon I do not, as the kids say, vibe with. They almost had me in that scene where Nicky gets shot in the head, I had to admit. It happened fast enough and brutally enough that I got flashbacks to Star Trek Discovery’s similarly-framed killing of their lauded gay character. I think I literally yelled NO!!!! at my TV. There’s about 35 seconds of Nile-Booker-Andy badassery between Nicky getting getting shot and his gasping, breathless, bloody return. They’re a good 35 seconds. Andy gets a fireman axe and goes to town. On my first watch, I couldn’t really enjoy them, because I was kind of.... riding out the disappointment. I thought, well. At least Andy will be okay, right? She’s the main character, right? But, you know. When she grabs that axe and she says “enough of this shit” and starts cutting down dudes, I thought...what if she’s not talking about their current situation? What if it’s addressing the narrative and the place the viewer is at that moment - a viewer who has probably seen other movies where the queer couple is given some cute screen time, maybe they teach the protagonist or the audience about love and tolerance, and then they are killed off for cheap angst. That viewer is probably expecting that same thing, not hopefully but with cynicism. Here we go again, the viewer sighs But then... Enough of this shit, says Andromache the Scythian... and Nicky wakes up. And they get their revenge on Keane, they get to come away from this together, with their found family, reaffirmed in their love and their place in the world. There's been a lot of talk lately about viewer expectations and whether creators should or shouldn't try to subvert them. Usually it's been used when writers are afraid someone has figured out their plot, and have to scramble to try and change it up in service of some "zomg twist ending!!!". But I think The Old Guard did something different. Like Andy, we had grown cynical and weary, tired from years and years of being promised "representation" that ultimately leads to disappointment. Enough of movies where queer characters are dangled around in press hype as "representation" only to be done away with to show how "dark and gritty" the world is. Enough of that shit. We lived, bitch. 

[elizabeth-mitchells]

Prompt: Even though both of them are really, really old, Andy has a few thousand years on her wife. Quynh sometimes teases her goodnaturedly about it, maybe she even ropes Nile into it when she settles back into the family :3

Presenting... my #101 Andromaquynh prompt!!! they were supposed to be just 100 but 101 looks even better and I’m glad this last one is from you liz <3 this is supposed to be my last prompt, but I’m well aware of my lack of self-control so who knows, maybe I’ll be back on my bullshit next week, when the new comics come out, or if we ever get that sequel!

anywaY it’s been so much fun taking these two incredibly old, powerful, complicated, and loveable women, warriors, and lovesick fools and putting them in the sweetest, silliest, fluffiest and only occasionally angsty scenarios. If you’d like to read more of my prompts, all 101 of them will be on AO3 here.

thank you so much to everyone who read, liked, relogged, sent, or interacted at all with my silly little prompts <3

At first, Andy didn’t even think twice about it. She could be in the middle of a training session with Quynh, and after landing a particularly good punch Quynh would smirk and say, “You’re getting too old, my heart” or “Age has made you slow, Andromache.” It was fine. In fact, it was good, and meant to be affectionate. She had been saying things like that in every language known to man for almost as long as the two of them had known each other. Which, really, was an eternity in itself. It was a little detail that Andy was glad to experience again after such a long separation. Their love was something capable of always growing and never changing at its core. However, little changes were unavoidable. And now that their family was bigger, it was just a matter of time before some harmless, affectionate teasing would get out of hand.

The three of them were sitting on the couch watching a movie and almost as soon as it ended Andy was out of her seat and stretching.

“Where are you going?” Quynh wondered with a slight pout, while Nile added, “We can still watch another!”

Andy scoffed, “I’m exhausted, I’m going to bed.” Without waiting for further approval she started walking toward the room she shared with her wife.

Quynh, who wasn’t exactly happy to lose the shoulder she was comfortably leaning against during the movies. “I get it, you’re too old for this,” she called after her lover’s retreating figure. Andy shook her head fondly, and smiled because the others couldn’t see her. But there was just something about how loudly Nile laughed at that joke that just sparked a hint of worry in the older woman’s mind. She tried to ignore it, as long as she could.

--

A few days later, after a couple of minutes of lying awake in bed, Andy turned to her side and happily devoted herself to trailing feather-light kisses on Quynh’s bare shoulders to get her to wake up. Her fingertips were starting to dance in secret patterns on the soft skin of the other woman’s back, when Andy’s ministrations were interrupted by Quynh, who quickly moved so she could capture Andy’s lips with her own and give her a real good morning kiss. Though, after pulling back, she went back to lying on her stomach and said, “I know you’re old, my heart, but do you have to wake up this early?”

“Excuse me?” Andy laughed, not at the joke, precisely. But there was just something too sweet about the sight of Quynh, unable to hold back a smile, even if trying to hide her face in the pillow, but stubbornly keeping her eyes closed.

“Let me sleep!” Quynh mumbled against her pillow, and she had to bravely accept a kiss on the cheek, but she was finally granted extra time to sleep.

Still wearing a content smile on her face, Andy walked to the kitchen. She was half-way through her first cup of coffee, which she almost dropped, when Nile walked into the kitchen and without even looking Andy in the eyes said, “My grandma also used to wake up before everyone else.”

--

Soon enough, their teasing became a constant in their lives.

“I don’t get it,” Nile complained, dropping her head in a book written in Russian and groaning loudly. 

“It’s not that difficult!” Andy insisted, in perfect Russian.

Nile, assuming what she’d just said, protested, “You only say that because you’re older than the entire language.”

“That’s complicated,” Andy sighed, still in Russian.

“No, she’s right, darling, you’re that old,” Quynh blurted out in matching Russian, with a few struggles, from her place reading a different book a few feet away on the couch.

After Nile burst out laughing, Andy looked at her with a frown, “Oh so that you understand?!”

--

Even during moments that could have been emotionally difficult, Andy was caught off guard by the ruthlessness of the women around her.

“We can’t do it, it’s too risky,” Andy insisted, about a new sketchy mission offered to them that the youngest member of the family was determined to take, “Listen, Nile…”

“What? I’ll get it when I’m older… than civilization?” Nile crossed her arms defensively, as if that could hide the hint of a smile showing in her lips.

Quynh absolutely failed as stifling a laugh. And when she received a pointed look from her wife, she returned the expression in kind and said, “Was that not the point of whatever you were about to say?”

“We are not taking this job,” Andy stated through clenched teeth, right before learning a valuable piece of information about the mission that they would, in the end, successfully complete.

--

“Quynh! Please tell this crazy old woman to give me back my phone!” Nile stormed into the safe house.

She was quickly followed by Andy saying “We have rules about social media, Nile! To keep us safe.”

Quynh strolled into the living room with a smile on her face that everyone else might have assumed was patient or gentle, but Andy knew it was the kind of smile that would bring trouble for her specifically. “Nile, you have to understand,” Quynh said slowly, “She’s too old for this kind of thing.”

As she finished talking, Quynh reached out to take Nile’s phone, Andy quickly blocked her and laughed, “Are you serious?” It started an impressive duel where they fought for the cellphone, with Quynh coming out as the winner for being just slightly quicker, something she would probably remind Andy of for years.

“It’s just a different generation,” Quynh continued to laugh, tossing the phone over to the younger woman a second before Andy captured her in her arms.

“You’re literally older than everyone else in our family combined!” Andy protested as the two of them playfully wrestled in the middle of the living room.

“And you are twice as old as me!” Quynh replied, followed by a yelp of surprise as the love of her life lifted her up from the floor.

The two of them were only stopped by a flash coming from the camera of Nile’s phone. “Hm, you’re both right,” Nile smirked, quickly sending the hilarious picture to their family’s groupchat, “The two of you are ancient.”

Nile walked away from them, leaving behind two women wearing shocked expressions, though Andy was delighted, and Quynh appeared deeply betrayed. “Hey!” Quynh tried to protest, but she was happily interrupted by a kiss from Andy, who a moment later started tickling her, just to start their joyful and loving battle all over again.

[qqueenofhades]

meeting/retrieving booker?

It’s not as if the year 1812 doesn’t have enough going on already. The war is in full swing between Britain and its newly-independent colony, America, and all across Europe, in the Iberian peninsula against Lord Wellington and elsewhere, Napoleon’s Grande Armée seems to advance almost unchecked. Andromache the Scythian, Joseph Jones and Nicholas Smith have worked mostly at the outskirts of this war, avoiding involving themselves directly in combat, but sometimes it’s been unavoidable. They’re in Madrid, it’s been about two months since the Battle of Salamanca won by Wellington,  and they’re all asleep in a grimy hotel room in one of the lower-status districts of the city when --

Joe and Nicky are curled up together as usual, and so it wakes them together. They’ve never felt like this, never experienced the first death of another one of their kind, and their hands rove frantically over each other in the darkness, trying to make sure that it isn’t them that was hurt. Andy is nodding off by the peeling-plastered window, but she also starts upright when it happens, her eyes wide and shocked in the low light. “It’s all right,” she says, seeing their faces. “It’s not -- it wasn’t either of you. There -- there must be another one.”

“Another what?” Joe hasn’t quite let go of Nicky, in case his guts might still spill out on the wrong end of a cannonball. "What just happened?”

“You felt his death.” Andy remains in shadow, her expression hard to read, until she nods for Joe’s notebook on the side table. “Can you draw what you -- what any of us -- saw?”

Confused, Joe nonetheless gets out of bed and goes to fetch it, and they try to reconstruct what they saw, what they felt, in the dream. A burning city, a blond-haired man in a French uniform falling at the boom of a cannon, shouts in Russian. They know that Napoleon has marched with all his strength on the Grand Duchy of Muscovy; they will learn later that the Russians set their own city on fire and took massive losses in order to drive him out, then proceeded to teach everyone, in the course of Napoleon’s long and bitter retreat, that old saw vis-a-vis invading Russia in the wintertime (or really, ever). “It has to be somewhere near there,” Andy says, squinting, even as she still has not entirely explained to Joe and Nicky what’s going on. It’s just been the three of them since that terrible year, 1526, and this --

“Wait,” Joe says. “He’s another one of us? Do we really think it’s a good thing if Napoleon has an immortal soldier?”

“Probably not,” Andy says, still somewhat too coolly, her expression too composed, her voice too tight. “That’s why we should find him.”

Joe and Nicky exchange a look. The wisdom of this plan is perhaps questionable to them, but at least not too different from what they’ve been doing anyway, and they all get up, dress, get their things, and truck out of Madrid, most likely the only people intent on going to the Russian front rather than fleeing from it. Travel is slow and bumpy, and they have to fight their way through several skirmishes, including those with the Grande Armée itself. They cannot simply ask them if they know of a colleague of theirs who might no longer be dead. They’re having dreams of him again: he’s frightened, upset, confused, in shock, just like they all were the first time. He usually seems to have a book in hand, as if riffling through them in search of answers, and so even before they meet him and learn that his name is Sebastien le Livre, they take to calling him “Booker.” He never ultimately protests.

It’s turning to winter, the snow is coming down heavily, and Andy, Joe, and Nicky are freezing, tired, and ready to get out of Russia yesterday by the time they finally find the man. He’s dressed in a tattered uniform, staggering along a road with barely any care for where he’s going, eyes vacant, a little too mad, staring. They intercept him, there is a brief and short engagement in which the French soldier gets his arse kicked by the three of them (they are sympathetic to his predicament, but they cannot let him put a bayonet through Nicky, at least if he doesn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with Joe). They sit him down on a stone and read him the riot act. Sebastien le Livre blinks, stunned. “I am -- ?”

“Immortal, yes.” Andy hasn’t exactly taken the time to hold his hand over it. Her breath steams in the freezing air, even as Joe and Nicky can hear her voice trying not to shake, to remain even and calm. It’s just been the three of them for almost three hundred years, since they lost Quynh. They might welcome a fourth part, but it’s not the fourth part they want. They will have to remember not to hold it against Booker, not to punish him for not being Quynh, figure out how to make space for him in their family anyway. “I’m Andromache -- Andy. That’s Joseph and Nicholas. We’re like you.”

“You came...” Booker stammers, hugging himself against the chill. His blue French army jacket is torn, and Nicky silently offers him one of their blankets. “You came all this way to find me?”

“We did.” Andy considers him a moment longer, then steps forward, holds out her hand -- and at last, when he clasps it, pulls him to his feet. “Welcome to the Old Guard.”

[rhythmelia]

The Old Guard liveblog thread

@rhipidurafan finally has me watching The Old Guard with her, so that I can properly appreciate all the fics I’m soundboarding for her lolololol. Blacklist #liveblogging with mel if you don’t want your feed drowned. Spoilers ahoy!

~Pre-watch preparation:~

Okay, what I think I know about The Old Guard and what it's about based on:

that baklava guessing game clip @rhipidurafan sent me

the love not!confession not!declaration exactly maybe love... recitation? love aria? love exhortation? in a van with Joe and Nicky

fandom osmosis from @rhipidurafan‘s blog and the odd post elsewhere

Who I think is in it:

Joe aka Yusuf, a passionate, artistic dude who may have been a merchant? Probably from around the area of Tunisia/Morocco? Probably Muslim, definitely knew about the value of baths, in a romance with Nicky, they're the OG enemies to lovers trope. Immortal?

Nicky aka Nicolo (sp???), a scruffy dude from Genova??? who may or may not have been a member of the clergy, participated in the Crusades. Killed and got killed by Joe a bunch of times, now in a romance with him. Immortal? The opposite of bury your gays trope

Andy aka Andromache(sp???) - name sounds kinda Greek but apparently she's super ancient so maybe saying she's a Scythian horsegirl is inaccurate for being too recent? So probably somewhere Central Asia-ish Europe-ish somewhere in that giant landmass whatever. Has a giant fuckoff double-sided axe, enjoys baklava in a way that's dangerous for my blood pressure, may be in a tragic romance with Quynh???? Immortal?

Quynh (sp???), a warrior from the Vietnam peninsula area??? Battle-wives with Andy, possibly a tragic romance? Immortal? Currently unavailable because she's been lost at sea??? Seen only in flashback?

Nile - US soldier from the modern day(?) Audience stand in/way into the lore in the movie. Has an interest in antiques and history/historical items? Antiques Roadshow fan? New bb immortal? She's a quick tactical and strategic thinker and very adaptable. Wants to learn to use a sword because it's cool

Booker - no idea. Is he supposed to be a French soldier from some past era? Looks like a generic white dude because they gotta have one of those in a super hero movie to get it made in hollywood. Immortal?? He's one of the crew who has history with the rest but ends up Doing a Betrayal, a common trope in various comics/movies? *coughLoserscough*

What I think the movie is about/what happens:

Group of immortals who... do things. Heists? Save people? Try to help folks throughout history?

Nobody knows why the immortals exist, how they are transformed from regular mortals into immortals

They dream about each other when one gets transformed

Nile is the newest one, so at least a chunk of the story is probably about her trying to figure out wtf is going on

Plot????

someone knows generally who they are and that they're immortal, and is trying to extract essence of immortal to figure out what makes them tick. I've seen the red yarn Conspiracy Wall (which I always associate with that meme screenshot of that one guy from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia now) and a shot of a bunch of the immortals in medical beds hooked up to IVs and whatnot

scenes of found family and flashbacks to show us how they know each other

plot???

shenanigans happen so there are a bunch of battle and fight scenes because action movies - lots of shooting people with guns and stabbing them with swords and whatnot

immortal doesn't mean they don't feel pain, but they do regenerate (I guess everyone has nicer teeth than what era they started out with then?)

more plot and shenanigans and gunfights? I have no idea what the overall plot arcs and resolution might be lol

there's some stinger or open-ended finish that means Quynh might come back from where she was lost?

I think I've reached the end of my osmosed knowledge and misinformation about this movie lololololol

[wisteria-lodge]

Character Analysis: Sorting The Old Guard

@sortinghatchats has a brilliant personality/character analysis system based on the four Hogwarts houses. At this point it’s become much more interesting and nuanced, which is part of why I’m moving away from using the names of the houses.

Here’s how it works. Everyone gets two houses – a Primary House and a Secondary House

YOUR PRIMARY IS YOUR MOTIVE. IT’S WHY YOU DO THINGS.

LION Primary’s sense of morality and ethics comes from inside. Things just feel right or they feel wrong.

BIRD Primary gets their morality and ethics from the world outside them. They decide what they think is right.

BADGER Primary is focused on the good of the group. Who cares if something is technically “moral” if people are getting hurt?

SNAKE Primary is a lot like Badger, but instead of protecting the group, their highest law is the well-being of the individual people they love.

YOUR SECONDARY IS YOUR METHOD. IT’S HOW YOU DO THINGS.

LION Secondary gets their power from being direct, honest, completely themselves. Their “plan” is just keep going until someone stops them. If they see a locked door, they kick it in.

BIRD Secondary collects tools and skills. They build things, find things, learn things. If they see a locked door, they go through their box of keys until they find the right one.

BADGER Secondary is fair, hardworking, and shows up. They’re good at getting people to trust them, and good at getting people to help them. If they see a locked door, they knock.

SNAKE Secondary knows the right mask to wear for each situation. They’re adaptive. They go in the back way. They find the third option.  They’re the ones who know how to pick the locks.

And now let’s talk about The Old Guard. Also, SPOILERS.

***

Nile Freeman is a bright Badger primary, defined by her groups. “I’ve got people who love me,” is the first thing she tells the team. And follows that up with, “I’m a Marine.” We meet her in uniform, part of a squad. Getting back to her family is her main motivation. (And it’s a “my family” thing - not a “my mom” or “my brother” thing.) Family continuity and family history mean everything to Nile, and that’s so Badger. Religion is also used as visual shorthand for “Badger” a lot, and Nile’s got her cross necklace. And she doesn’t want to kill people. Doesn’t matter if they’re the bad people who killed her, they’re still people. Badgers can’t ignore that.

Nile’s challenge is figuring out a way to separate from her family (and become an immortal commando) while still keeping her healthy, shining Badger intact. And she does it by expanding. It’s not just about protecting America and her family anymore. She looks at the wall outlining all the good the Old Guard has done, and her community expands to include them, and all of humanity.

She’s definitely got a Lion secondary. Yes, she’s willing to run into the villain’s stronghold with a bag of guns and not much plan - but this is an action movie, that stuff is kinda a given. I’m thinking more about when she has to lie and say her miraculous healing factor is an experimental skin graft – she hates doing it, she’s so bad at it, you can see her skin crawl. Nile is powerful when she is able to just lay out what she believes. People like Agent Copley and the Afghani women just feel the honesty and conviction bleeding off her, and come around to her way of thinking. 

Nile also has a Bird secondary model. Smashing down walls isn’t appropriate all the time, so a lot of Lion secondaries learn to use one of the mellower secondaries as backup. Nile’s Bird is subtle, but it’s there. She applies her anti-militant training to the situation, and thinks they should “follow the money.” She can identify a Rodin sculpture across a dark cave. And she spends a while trying to reason away the fact that she’s immortal (considering hypnosis, drug trips, all that fun stuff.)

Andromache the Scythian aka “Andy” is also a Badger primary. But a very old, very tired, very burnt one. She’s been protecting humanity for about ten thousand years, and she feels all the people she wasn’t able to save. Andy starts off the film doubting whether any of it mattered, if she was actually able to protect her community at all. Because she can’t protect everyone, she is forced to shrink that community down. She can protect Nile, Joe, Nicky, and Booker – and that has to be enough.

The situation with Quyhn is a good look at the sort of darkness that can live inside a Badger Primary. Because Andy stopped looking. She could have spent hundreds of years pouring money and time into finding Quyhn - and neglected the rest of her team, and by extension humanity. But Andy’s a Badger primary. That’s not a thing she can do.

(A Snake primary would never have stopped. Someone like Nicky would burn the world, if that’s what it took to get Joe back.)

If your preferred weapon is an ax or a hammer, then you’re a Lion secondary. That’s just how it works. You are too direct and too smashy to be anything else. Ms. “I always go first” Andy, leader of the group she thinks of as an army? Even when she’s discouraged and exhausted, her Lion secondary is still so loud. She has a bit of a Bird secondary model: she sets up rules like “we don’t do repeats, it’s too risky,” and establishes code words linked to specific maneuvers. But you can tell she’s a little uncomfortable with that kind of thinking. She wants to hit things with an ax and give inspirational speeches. And also threaten people.

Which means that Andy and Nile match perfectly. They are both Badger Lions with Bird secondary models. And that makes perfect sense. Nile was “born” at the same time Andy lost her immortality. They are both warriors. Nile is the one who will “go first,” when Andy isn’t able to anymore. She’s the one who gets Andy’s ax at the end. She’s the new Andy. Andy’s redemption comes with waking her Badger primary up, and training a replacement. Or as she puts it, “I think you showed up when I lost my immortality so I could remember what it was like (…) that there are people still worth fighting for.”

Nicolò di Genova aka “Nicky” fights for Joe. It really is that simple. His backstory tells you everything you need to know: he fought in the Crusades until he fell in love with a Muslim, and had to choose. On one hand - religion, country, job, society, security. On the other hand - the man he loves. For Nicky the answer is obvious. Because he is such a Snake primary.

As long as he’s with Joe, he’s fine. Agent Copley is trying to explain himself, Nicky doesn’t care. “I’m sure you’re bringing us to the person who paid for your betrayal. There’s a TV [on this plane] Joe!” The villains can talk all they want about the greater good and moral imperatives and changing the world. Nicky is just bored. “A fine justification. I’ve heard it so many times before.” None of that stuff matters to him.

His secondary is harder to spot, underneath the really loud primary and the really loud Lion secondary model. But I think I see a Badger secondary. Nicky’s a caretaker. He brings Andy her favorite candy, sets up Nile for the night and shows her where to sleep. Joe says that Nicky’s heart “overflows with a kindness of which this world is not worthy,” and I get that they’re in love, but that’s still some serious character testimony. I’m also going to throw in the fact that Nicky’s a sniper. Being a sniper is not like hitting things with an ax. It’s all about getting in place and being careful and patient. Badger secondary traits.

Yusuf Al-Kaysani aka “Joe” actually takes the time to lay out rules he lives by. Which is interesting, because the only other people in this film who do that are the villains. Those guys are not motivated by personal loyalty: they’re either Lion or Bird primaries motivated by “the greater good.” The Old Guard is a very Loyalist movie. When we get our big Theme Scene, the French shopgirl tells us, “Today I put this on your wound. Tomorrow you help someone up when they fall. We’re not meant to be alone.” That’s the ethos of the movie. It’s very Badger.

Joe gets how Badger Primaries work. He gets Andy, and the best example of this is when he comforts her by saying Quyhn “would be insane” by now. He’s basically saying, “you don’t have a responsibility to her the way you have to the rest of us, because she’s not really a person anymore.” It’s dark, but so is Andy, and that line of reasoning would make sense to a Badger primary.

Joe also understands Nicky’s Snake primary. He  knows he’s Nicky’s world, and he never stops demonstrating that. He has Nicky’s back when they fight (Nicky passes things over his shoulder without looking). He has Nicky’s back when they sleep (as the big spoon). He learned Italian for Nicky, and when Nicky is freaked, Joe just shows up with that “his kiss still thrills me, even after a millennia” speech. But that speech is also him explaining his worldview to the guards, the same way he bothers to tell them, “You shot Nicky. You shouldn’t have done that.”

When Nile asks, “Are you good guys or bad guys?” Joe responds, “Depends on the century.” He is interested in those large moral questions, and the answer he has decided on is a combination of Andy’s Badger morality, and Nicky’s Snake morality.

And to go with that really complicated Primary, I think Joe really is just a straightforward Lion secondary (another reason he gets Andy). I mean... he literally headbutts people. 

Sebastian “Booker” Le Livre, whose nickname is a very silly pun, is the most vaguely drawn character. I’m not sure if he turns Nicky and Joe over to Merrick because he wants to die, or because he wants to find a way to help Andy die. Or both. But either way, he is a very burnt Snake primary.

Booker seems to be the only one who kept up contact with his family after learning he was immortal. As a result, he got to watch his son die painfully with “hate and despair in [his] eyes,” blaming his father for not loving him enough to save him. It’s been about 150 years, but Booker is not over this.

That is a very Snake primary love, and when it comes down to it, Booker is a Snake with no people he can throw himself into loving the way he loved his son. (No wonder he drinks). He wants more emotional intimacy from Andy than she is able to give him - not in a romantic way, they have more of a sibling dynamic. But look at the betrayal in his eyes when he learns she’s lost her immortality: “Andy, look at me. Why didn’t you tell me?”

This is the exchange right after Booker betrays the team:

JOE: You selfish piece of shit. NICKY: Joe, leave it, please… BOOKER: What would you know of the weight of all these years alone? JOE: You’re a very pathetic man Booker. NICKY: Joe, stop. BOOKER: You and Nicky always had each other, right?

Nicky is sympathetic. He’s a Snake primary like Booker, he knows what living without a Person must be like, he knows exactly why Booker did what he did. Joe doesn’t. He only sees how Booker has failed to look at the big picture (like Joe would have, because he’s a Bird, that’s how he thinks) and that he made an objectively dumb call. Joe is angry at him for the rest of the movie. But the others, who know what it’s like motivated only by personal loyalty… they kind of get it.

To round things off, Booker is a Bird secondary. You can tell by the way he collects skills. He’s the operation coordinator, the quartermaster, the driver, and the tech guy. He’s also not afraid of a plan with steps. Nile calls him, “the brains of the operation” (although she’s probably being nice). Still, Booker is a good example of the way Bird secondaries aren’t always smart. His plan was pretty objectively terrible, but that was because his primary was so compromised.

tl;dr

Nile – Badger/Lion (Bird model)

Andy – Burnt Badger/Lion (Bird model)

Nicky – Snake/Badger (Lion model for fighting)

Joe – Bird who has built Nicky’s Snake morality, and Andy’s Badger morality into himself/Lion

Booker – Burnt Snake/Bird

[fangirlsovertoomanythings]

The Fake Redcoat Bloodstains

The Old Guard, NickyxJoe, CW's: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH (sort of) /// GUNSHOT WOUND, angst/whump ;;

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The year was 1776, the country was yet to be itself. The American War of Independence was as it's start and the crew had to stop a plot to assassinate general Washington. Thus, the three of them enlisted themselves under fake names as spies and were now in New York City. Andy disguised herself as a man, just as Deborah Samson would soon do.

Of course, they were not together. Andy and Joe had enlisted as Washington spies, whereas Nicky was a redcoat. The plan was simple: Nicky would gain the trust of his fellow 'compatriots' and pass conspiracy details to the others, and thus they would be passed to general Washington. Joe objected to Nicky being the one at the enemies' side, but since his opinion was minority he could do nothing to stop it and once again both of them were on different sides at a world-changing war.

That day, it was raining as they waited for a signal. Andy and Joe remained quiet as mice, and the turkish man silently prayed that Nicky would make it safely to them. As soon as they saw movement, the prayer in his heart stopped and he could feel everything around him stop with it. Nicky appeared.

"So what's new?" Andy questioned as soon as Nicky approached enough to hear her.

"Can we not visit an english-speaking country ever again? This is still news to me." Nicky begged, looking around "Either way, I do have something new: they plan an attack on him, the troops are at Trenton at the moment."

"When are they planning to move?"

"At Christmas of all days!"

"And what can they do?" Joe questioned, sarcastically but calmly. "Cross the Delaware? In this cold day?"

"If it kills their enemies' leader, yes. It will take some time before they can find anyone else to take general Washington's place."

"Yeah, the Continental Congress has had enough issues by now... what do we do, Boss?"

Andy was thinking in silence. Then she broke it: "We do what they plan to do, but quicker."

Joe wanted to laugh. He really did. But she was talking seriously. "An entire troop? Crossing a river? Tomorrow?"

"Do you have a better plan?"

"No, I just don't see how this is possible without any deaths. And deaths are the last thing we need at the momen-"

"Shhh." Nicky whispered suddenly, eyes widen. "Zitto."

There was movement nearby, he could hear tiny footsteps slowly approaching. Joe did not finish his sentence and did as his lover asked. Following his gaze, he barely saw a figure with a large red coat and black hat. He touched Andy's arm slowly, although she did not need a sign to know she needed to move carefully now. The enemy knew he had been spotted, but still did no harm. Not yet.

"Go." Nicky ordered in a soft whisper.

As the two 'colonists' ran in a direction, a gunshot was heard. And another. And another. Multiple ones until the english gunpower ended. As he ran away, Joe took his own gun, aimed and pulled the trigger. His arm was wounded, but he knew it was bond to cure itself naturally. What worried him was the possibility of Nicky being shot. He could not let it happen.

Once the gunshots fell silent, Joe felt free enough to breathe normally and by that time his arm was already cured. He took a few steps back at where he came from, but Andy took his arm.

"We have to leave." she said.

"I have to see if he's okay."

Andy wished to have told 'he is alive', but she knew how hard it was to believe that. She knew because she felt it herself - with Qynh. She let Yusuf go, only warning: "Go back before sunrise. Bring Nicky with you; it is not safe for him around that camp anymore. Tell the others he's a traitor of England; they'll be pleased to have him as soon as they know that."

She soon disappeared and Yusuf went his way, his heart pounding rapidly on his chest.

He first saw tiny drops of blood laying on the snow, all of which he half-hoped were from the evil man he shot dead. And then he saw him. The love of his life, the fake redcoat covered in multiple bulletholes. Those bullets obviously entered vital organs and Yusuf could not bear to imagine the damage they done. Unable to think rationally, he just kneeled beside his lover and took him in his arms.

He called him Allah knows how many names, hoping he would wake up and call him out on the absurdity of some of them, but it didn't happen when he expected it. Nicky just remained silent, his eyes focusing on something in a death-like daze. That made him cry.

"It's not your time yet, is it, Nicólo? Tell me it's not your time yet!"

The holes on important organs perhaps were the thing that was taking so long to heal. It had to be. Andromache was alive yet, how could Nicólo not be?

"Nicólo, come on! We are not finished here yet, you can't go and leave me and Andy alone! Your God can wait some more to have you in His arms, you still have space in mine..."

Hugging would do nothing to help, and yet that's what he did. He regretted all the deaths he made Nicky waste during the first years of their association - if only he hadn't killed him that many times, he would still have strength to come back to him right now and...

Then there was movement. The wounds were starting to close and the cold body had a small spasm, trying to breathe again. That paralised Joe for some seconds, not knowing how to react.

Nicky's gaze gained some colour and he looked up, his eyes meeting Joe's. He blinked several times, feeling that his eyes were unnaturally and uncomfortably dry from the time spent... well, dead.

"You said something?" Nicky asked, patting his arm. "I couldn't hear it."

"Is that the only thing you have to tell me?" Joe wanted to speak calmly as normally, but his voice got out as a scream instead.

Nicky stayed quiet. "I'm sorry?"

"Next time, I'll be the one to betray a nation not you! I ain't having any of this again."

Nicky gave out a weak laugh. "We are still immortals, aren't we? 'Still too young to be our final time."

"Seeing you die is still one of the worst experiences I ever submitted my eyes to. Just the sight of your completly helpless, lifeless form when you mean so much to me..."

Nicky got up and looked at his uniform, not really pleased at the sight of his own blood marking it. "Do you have any spare clothes?"

"I will once I take you to our camp. Andy ordered me to tell them you are a british traitor, you should know that."

Nicky nodded and started walking slowly, Joe going right by his side.

"It's good to be back to you." Nicky commented, in a low tone of voice.

"It's good to have you back."

[cinaja]

Before the Wall part 11

An acotar fanfic on the time of the War. For summary and the entire fic, click here

Disclaimer: The world and the characters of acotar belong to sarah j maas

----

Miryam tugs at the sleeve of her dress, frowning. I's not quite long enough. At least it covers the brand on her left forearm, but the scars on her wrists are painfully visible.

The opening of her tent flaps and Miryam looks up, expecting to see Jurian. Instead, Helion enters.

"Oh, don't look so disappointed", the male drawls, "I might get the feeling you don't like me."

"You'll find that few people take kindly to being called a witch."

Helion has been hounding her these past days, ever since the incident with the wards. Trying to get answers out of her. So far, Miryam has managed to avoid him.

Helion just huffs a laugh and points towards Kiel. The falcon's wing is almost healed, it puffs his feathers and clicks its beak at Helion. "It's not like you're trying hard to hide it."

Miryam glares at him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She tries to shove past him, but, quick as lightning, Helion grabs her arm. "I'm not your enemy", he says softly. Miryam can see his magic moving through the air. Her sleeves begin to grow, covering her wrist. "I don't know why you think I am."

Before Miryam can reply, Helion lets go of her arm and takes a step back. A second later, Jurian and Mor enter the tent. Jurian frowns at Helion, Mor winks at her.

Both of them are dressed in their finery for the meeting, Jurian in light leather armour and Mor in a red silk dress that is far more revealing than anything Miryam could ever wear without breaking down.

"Everyone ready?", Helion asks, "Then let's go."

Hesitantly, Miryam takes his arm. This time, she pays close attention to the way the strings move around him, trying to figure out what they mean. But he winnows far too quickly for her to make sense of the glowing lines. They land in the garden once again. Miryam steps away from Helion and closer to Jurian.

"Everything fine?", he whispers into her ear.

Miryam nods and gratefully takes the arm he offers her. She tries to pretend she doesn't notice the encouraging look Mor shoots her.

Then, Andromache rushes down the palace steps towards them. She pauses for a moment to smile at Mor. "How's training going?"

"Oh, fine", Mor replies. Miryam wonders if she imagines the colour staining her cheeks.

Andromache smiles. "Maybe one day, we can train together." Then, she turns to Miryam. "Come on, the meeting starts in an hour and there's so much to discuss."

The queen falls into step next to her. "I missed you during the meetings, it's so much harder without you here. You're the only one who can really deal with the Fae."

Miryam wrinkles her nose. When did she become the expert for Fae? Oh, right. When she thought it was a smart move to announce that she was the one who knew them best.

"What's going on?", she asks.

"Is Nakia still being a pain?", Jurian cuts in

"She isn't a bad person, you know? Just hard." Andromache sighs. "And yes, a real pain sometimes. Most times. Anyways, most days, this council argues three quarters of the time. We can't seem to agree on anything."

Miryam stifles a groan. "Any good news?"

"You're the only one both us and the Fae seem to respect, so that's good." Andromache grins. "And we now control the Callian Pass."

"What?", Jurian asks, "You're serious?"

"What's the Callian Pass?", Miryam asks.

Jurian says, "It's one of the only ways through the mountains. An incredibly important strategic location. Who got it?"

"Erithia", Andromache says and Miryam freezes, "It's funny, really. We kept sending out messages to them and they kept refusing. And then, they take the Callian Pass from Rask and send a message the same night, telling us they'd like to join." She shakes her head. "Did you know that their Prince was engaged to-"

"So Prince Drakon will be at the meeting today?", Miryam asks, before Andromache can say that cursed name.

She wonders if the Prince will recognise her. Probably not. Chances are he already forgot about the slave girl she helped escape. Maybe it would be for the best. But somehow, Miryam knows she'll still try to thank him, no matter what.

"No", Andromache says, "He sent an emissary. I heard politics isn't his strong suit."

"Oh, that certainly is true", a new voice says from behind and the Grand Duke of Sangravah steps next to Miryam. He bows to the waist. "Lady Miryam. A pleasure to meet you again."

"The pleasure is mine", Miryam replies and returns the gesture, "How do you know the Prince?"

"Knowing is too big a word", the Grand Duke replies, "We met a few times, but I mostly just heard of him and read his texts. I'm quite fond of some of his ideas."

Miryam wants to ask another question, but the Grand Duke already turns to Mor. "So you're the one from the Night Court?", he asks.

"Yes, Your Grace." Mor inclines her head (not deep enough by far).

"Prythian, hm?", he says, "I always felt you guys take yourself quite seriously for such a little spot on the map."

Helion and Mor exchange a look.

"Let's go to the meeting room", Miryam says before one of them can start an argument and walks ahead.c

The meeting room is different from the one Miryam remembers. Mostly, the table is bigger and there are more people sitting around.

"You ruined my fun", Jurian whispers into her ear, "I would have loved to see that fight."

"Sorry. But I would have hated to pick up the pieces afterwards."

Jurian rolls his eyes and kicks a Fae soldier out of his usual chair. The male lets out a growl and Miryam offers him an apologizing smile, making him calm down a little.

She leans on the back of Jurian's chair. "Can you manage the hour until the meeting starts without getting into a fight?", she teases.

"Sure." Jurian smiles up at her. "Since I have no interest of meddling with the Fae, I'm staying right where I am."

Miryam doesn't have the same luxury. But fortunately, she likes several of the Fae in this room. During her time as an emissary, she met most of these royals and some of them were alright (cutthroat, with words like knives, but not bad people)

Still, it's weird to have these conversations. One moment, Miryam's perfectly at ease, sometimes she even enjoys herself - the next second, it takes all of her self control to keep smiling and not break down.

She manages to get a grip of Mor for a moment and make sure she's doing fine. It's the female's first time in foreign politics, but the High Lord excused himself, so Mor had to step in. As far as Miryam can tell, she is doing well (messing up the rules of Continental politics so badly that Miryam has to suppress a wince whenever she says something, but since she's from Prythian, no one minds). Either way, Miryam has only exchanged a few words with her when another Fae royal wants to talk to her.

Eventually, she ends up in her seat next to Jurian and the meeting begins.

The first one to speak is a white-winged Fae male who serves as emissary to their newest member. He gives a brief summary about what happened in the Callian Pass and officially informs them that Erithia would like to join the Alliance.

"And your Prince couldn't be bothered to come himself?", one of the present royals asks.

Another one laughs. "He was probably scared to mess up again after that incident with Queen Ravenia."

A few people chuckle. Miryam honestly wonders why Prince Drakon sent an emissary. He may be bad at Continental politics, but surely he must see that staying away only makes things worse.

The Seraphim emissary bristles. "Prince Drakon is understandably busy with his army. He sends his regards."

A Fae female smirks. "Or he thinks he won't be able to resist all these pretty mortals on the council. After all, I heard a rumour that he broke his engagement with Ravenia over one of her slaves."

"And I heard", Miryam says lightly, "that spreading rumours about your allies is frowned upon in polite society. At least it's not a very nice way to thank them for winning us an important strategic location."

"Thank you, My Lady", the emissary says and inclines his head

Miryam smiles at the male. "I apologize for the incident. Do tell your Prince that we are grateful for the assistance."

To her surprise, there are no more teasing comments after that. Does she truly have such power over these centuries-old royals?

The vote on accepting Erithia's wish to join the alliance is pure formality. For all their cruel jokes, no one is about to reject an ally this powerful.

After that, the floor is given to a female from one of the countries south of the Black Land. "I'm afraid I don't have good news", she says, "We lost 1500 soldiers yesterday."

Jurian frowns. "What happened?", he asks.

"The Black Land tried to invade, we sent an army to meet theirs. At first, we were holding our own, but then, something changed. I still don't know what exactly happened, but suddenly, our magic stopped working." She shakes her head. "Our soldiers were slaughtered. Less than two hundred made it out alive."

"What do you mean", the Grand Duke of Sangravah asks, "your magic stopped working?"

The female shrugs, looking a bit helpless. There are shadows under her eyes. "It just vanished. High Witcher Artax was at the battle, I assume that he cast a spell."

It's all Miryam can do not to flinch at the male's mention. She takes a deep breath and slips on a mask of neutral interest. She keeps a tight grip on her emotions, refusing to let the sheer terror that's flooding her at the memories appear in her scent.

Helion is watching her closely from the other side of the table. She wonders if he thinks she could have stopped it, if he truly believes she could have gone up against Artax and saved these soldiers.

Queen Nakia shakes her head. "You mean to tell me that one witcher could do this to an entire army?"

Helion snorts without taking his eyes off Miryam. "They could do worse. Artax, especially."

Andromache asks, "Can't we get some of them on our side?"

"The witcher's Guild isn't exactly known to care for mortals", Helion says, "And joining our side would mean giving up on the Sacrifices, which isn't likely. Especially with Artax as the High Witcher."

Miryam wishes she could vanish. Her power is whispering inside her and the fact that this room is full of powerful Fae, all of whom make no effort to dampen their power, isn't helpul at all.

"So", Jurian says (and Miryam doesn't want to hear what he has to say, but she can't stop him), "Nothing we can do about this. Unless someone knows a way to kill all these witches."

A few people laugh. Miryam doesn't.

Fortunately, the conversation turns away from the Guild after that. Instead, they argue endlessly about everything from chains of command to strategies. Miryam doesn't feel like she's entirely there. Even as she navigates the conversation, wielding words like knives, working together with Andromache and the Grand Duke, her thoughts keep drifting back to those dead soldiers.

And finally, the meeting is over. She is so very tired.

Helion winnows all of them back to the camp. Miryam brushes off Jurian's worried question if she's fine and hurries off to her tent.

----

Rhys is having a horrible week.

The flight from Prythian to the Continent with his soldiers was already difficult. It took two days to get to where they were supposed to be and during that time, he had to get through a total of fifteen dominance battles with the Illyrians.

By the time they reach their designated camp, Rhys is done. He's about one insult away from snapping.

This straw is an Illyrian male who somehow thinks it's a good idea to insult a bunch of mortal soldiers and then get into a fight with them. Fortunately, Rhys arrives before someone ends up dead. His power slams through the male's shield and Rhys grabs him by the wing. The male whimpers as he drags him off.

The mortals, however, don't look scared, even though they quite obviously lost the fight. If anything, they seem angry.

"Sorry about that", Rhys calls out to them as he drags the male towards their camp, "That one isn't trained yet."

He doesn't let go of the male's wing until they have reached the Illyrian camp that's still being constructed next to the main one. A part of him wants to shrink back from the cruelty, but these Illyrians understand nothing but brutality.

All around them, Illyrian soldiers stop their work to watch. Rhys drags the male to the centre of the camp.

"Stay away from the mortals", he snaps, loudly enough that everyone can hear him.

He releases the hold on his power enough to let the Illyrians around him feel it in the air. Turns around slowly to hold all of their gazes.

Then, he lets go of the male's wing and stalks off.

Even after his declaration, he spends the day breaking up fights and dealing out punishments (ordering the beatings makes a part of him shrink back each time, but it's all the Illyrians know. Anything less and they won't take him seriously). To make matters worse, after a few hours, the mortals are fed up with the Illyrians' attitude and are tired of being pushed around and start fighting back.

By the time everything is finally settled, Rhys is done. Done with acting so cold and cruel, done with the Illyrians sneering at him. He just wants to go home, back to his family. Or at least, he wants a moment of peace in his tent.

But when he enters the commander's tent, he hears voices. Inside, he finds the Ironcrest Lord, Marek, and a male he never met, though his dark skin makes it seem likely that he's from the Continent.

"What's going on?", Rhys asks sharply.

The male arches an eyebrow at him. "I'm having a meeting with the commander."

"I'm the commander", Rhys says, a growl escaping his throat. He jerks his chin at Marek. "Out. I'll deal with you later."

The male looks inclined to object and Rhys lets his power rumble through the air. Malek bares his teeth, but is smart enough to do as Rhys says.

"As I was just telling that other one: Your soldiers", the strange male hisses, "are a menace. Since you arrived, there were 36 fights. More than in the last two months in total."

Rhys winces. "I apologize for their behaviour. I gave them orders to stay away from the mortals."

"Well, you're not a very good commander, are you?", the male (likely the general in charge of the camp) asks, "Letting your soldiers walk all over you. How did you even get the position, a green boy like you?"

Rhys bristles. "My father, the High Lord, appointed me."

"Oh, wonderful", the General drawls, "A prince. Grown up rich and thinks he deserves everything he got. You probably never even saw battle. You know, I just love kids like you."

Rhys glares at him. "I trained for years to earn that position."

The male laughs. "Then I have news for you, little prince. Your father, apparently, doesn't recognise you as a son. Meaning, no protection for you. So you'll see your fair share of battle." The male brushes past Rhys. "You know", he says as he exits the tent, "I've always wanted to make a privileged little prick like you learn what life is like for normal people."

----

"You're dead", Jurian drawls, "Again."

"I'm sorry", Mor snaps from where she's lying on the ground.

"Don't be sorry, do better."

"I'm trying!"

Jurian glares at her. "No, you aren't. Because your mind is elsewhere." He sheathes his sword. "Either focus on what's going on, or stop entirely."

Mor glares right back. "I just heard that my uncle sent my cousin and one of my best friends to the Continent to fight. And I'm not allowed to contact them, so I have no way of knowing if they are alright." She shakes her head. "They could die and I wouldn't even know."

Jurian doesn't really know what to say. He hasn't had any kind of family beyond his soldiers since he was a child. If Mor wants sympathy, she should go to Miryam. However, Jurian may be able to offer some advice.

"They send out casualty lists", he says, "You can check there."

Mor bites her lip, then nods. "Good idea. Thank you." She hesitates. "You want some advice?"

"What kind of advice?"

Mor looks torn for a moment. Then, she says, "You know, the entire camp noticed what's going on with you and Miryam by now."

"This isn't the kind of thing I'm discussing with you."

Mor shakes her head. "Just make a move, Jurian. Because she isn't about to."

"What did she tell you?"

"Talk to her." With that, Mor turns around and walks off.

For a moment, Jurian considers running after her and making her answer. But somehow, he doubts that would be win him any favour with Miryam.

He straightens. Truth is, he should have talked to her long ago. It's been months since he realised what he feels for her. But better now than never.

He only remembers that his timing is off when he enters Miryam's tent. She's been in a bad mood ever since the meeting. (At least that's what Jurian thinks. But with Miryam, even he sometimes has a hard time telling.)

At the moment, Miryam is standing at her work table, sorting through herbs. Which means she's upset over something. At least she turns around when Jurian enters.

"Did anything happen?", she asks, "You look a bit pale."

Honestly, he considers running off. But that's what cowards do.

"Everything's fine", he says, "Let's go for a walk." Miryam doesn't move and Jurian adds, "Come on. You can't hide in here the entire evening."

It isn't the first time this happens. Miryam thinks no one notices when she has a bad day, but Jurian sees. He can't usually tell why (and asking, he learned early on, is not helpful) but he usually finds some small way to help.

Miryam puts down her herbs. She follows Jurian out of the tent and through the camp.

The sun already set, but the camp is still full of soldiers sitting around campfires. Miryam, once again, is all smiles and kind words, addressing most soldiers by the name. Jurian, too, calls out greetings left and right, but he leads Miryam towards the edge of the camp.

"Where are we going?", she asks once they reach the trees at the edge of the camp.

"It's a surprise."

Jurian thought long and hard on where to tell her, until he finally decided. He prays she'll like the place he chose.

It's a walk of fifteen minutes from the camp. They spend the time talking about this and that - how Kiel's wing is healing, the newest rumours going around the camp, why Queen Nakia has a stick up her ass.

Finally, they reach their destination. Jurian goes first, pulling the branches of a tree apart for Miryam to go through. She pushes past him and goes entirely still, staring at the waterfall before them.

The moon is standing high in the sky and its light reflects on the water, transforming each drop into tiny diamonds.

"It's beautiful", Miryam whispers, awe on her face. Jurian loves that about her, how she treats everything like a precious gift.

Carefully, he reaches out and tugs a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You are beautiful", he says softly, "And kind, and smart. And so very brave."

"Jur..." Miryam turns to him, a thousand feelings reflecting on her face. "I'm not sure if I can do this."

Jurian doesn't know what to reply to that, so he just waits in silence, holding his breath. The waterfall is loud enough to drown out the sound of his racing heart.

Finally, Miryam says, "There's just so much..." She takes a deep breath. "There's so much I never told you. And I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to. But I'm a mess, Jur, I don't think you know how much of a mess I am."

It breaks his heart, to hear her say this. To see her so unhappy. He reaches out for her hand.

"I know that things will be hard", he says, “and that you can't tell me everything, but that doesn't change anything. Because even if I could have every girl in the world, I'd always choose you. You're all I want, all I ever wanted and there's nothing I wouldn't do for you."

There are tears shining in Miryam's eyes. "I-", she says, but then she freezes, her eyes fixed on something behind Jurian.

He's about to turn when he feels the sting at his back. A sword point pressed against his back, hard enough to draw blood.

"Don't move", a voice hisses from behind him.

Jurian is an idiot. Such a Cauldron-damned idiot. He just berated Mor for not paying attention, and what does he do? Run right into an ambush because he can't take his eyes off Miryam.

"Run!", Jurian snaps at her.

Then, he darts aside, narrowly avoiding being pierced by the sword (those Fae are always surprised when a human fights back). He draws a dagger, but before he can swing at his attacker, ropes of fire wrap around his wrists, climb up his body.

Jurian gasps in pain, the dagger falls out of his hand as he is forced to his knees. The fire isn't hot enough to truly burn his skin, but it hurts. Then, there is cold metal at his throat.

"Don't!", Miryam screams. She is being held by two red-skinned faeries with horns, one male, one female. She's fighting in their grasp, kicking and thrashing.

"Stop it or he dies", a female voice says from behind Jurian and the knife presses harder against his throat.

Miryam freezes. A moment later, the knife vanishes from Jurian's throat. The ropes of fire remain, though, singing his skin. A High Fae female, her skin the same light brown as Miryam's, steps between them.

She laughs softly and points her bloody dagger at Miryam. "You're a wild one, aren't you?" She nods towards her companions.

"Stay away from her!", Jurian shouts. (A nightmare. This is a nightmare.)

No one listens to him. One of the faeries grabs Miryam by the arm and pulls back her sleeve, revealing the brand on her forearm.

"Look at that", the female drawls, "Isn't that just lovely?" She steps closer and runs a hand through Miryam's hair. "You're going to make us very rich, dear."

Jurian is shaking with rage, but also confused. If this is an ambush, why are they only focused on Miryam? They don't even seem to know who he is.

"What are you talking about?", Miryam asks. Her voice is shaking.

"What if she isn't the one we're looking for?", one of the faeries asks, almost worried, "You know what happened the last time a bounty hunter brought the wrong girl."

The High Fae turns to Miryam. "Who was your owner, mortal?"

Miryam just shakes her head wildly. "Please, please, I never did anything, I'm no one, just-"

One of the faeries hits her in the face. "Answer the question, scum."

Jurian strains against the ropes binding him, but that just makes the fire burn more.

Miryam is crying and her voice shakes when she replies, "The crown. I worked in the kitchen, I'm no one. Please, I don't know what you want from me."

Jurian is going to kill these Fae. Slowly. (He knows it's far more likely they'll kill him, but he still imagines the end he'll give them if he gets free.)

The female steps closer to Miryam, who shrinks back. Runs a finger over her cheek. "You're very convincing, dearie. But my guts tell me you're the one."

"No, no, I just worked in the kitchen. Under the cook, Dalior. He always hit me with his spoon, I don't know why-"

One grabs her by the neck, hard enough to make her whimper. Jurian growls softly. But the Fae lifts a hand.

"This is useless", she says.

She turns to Jurian. He has a moment to brace himself before the ropes begin to burn. Pain shoots through him. He grits his teeth, trying to keep from screaming.

"Stop!" Miryam shouts, "Don't hurt him, please!"

"Oh, I don't want to hurt him. Just tell me the truth, then I'll let him go", the female says, "Because you are the girl who stole Queen's lover, right?"

"No", Miryam whispers, "I never even met the Queen, I-"

The pain intensifies and now, Jurian does scream. He can barely hear Miryam begging, the Fae refusing.

"Alright!", Miryam finally shouts.

The pain stops. Jurian falls to the ground, panting. Groaning in pain, he manages to rise to his knees.

Like someone turned a switch, Miryam stops crying. She holds her head high and stares at the Fae. Jurian could have sworn her eyes are burning from within. But maybe, that is just the moonlight playing tricks on him.

"You are right", she says, voice cold as ice, "I was one of Queen Ravenias' personal slaves for three years. I am the one you're looking for. But I didn't steal Prince Drakon - he left because no one in their right mind could stomach being with that monster you call queen for an hour, let alone eternity."

Jurian stares at her, not quite able to hide his shock. Cauldron. He knew she belonged to Ravenia, but he always thought she was one of the thousands of slaves owned by the crown. Not...

"Thank you", the female drawls, "Like I said, you'll make us very rich."

She takes a step towards Jurian. He tries and fails to get up. So this is it. The end. He always wanted to die in battle. Not like this.

"No!", Miryam screams, "You promised to let him go!"

"Oh, hush", the female says, "Once we deliver you to Ravenia, you'll envy his quick death." Then, she draws her dagger.

----

This is mean, I know. I'm sorry. To be fair, I went 10 chapters without a cliffhanger. I'll try to get the next part up as fast as possible.

[greywolfheirs]

Old Guard medieval AU - you know they were there!

The thing is, I haven’t watched Leverage in years, and I never finished it, so I didn’t feel like I could do that prompt justice, so what I did was make it a heist set in the medieval time period. Also, I wanted to have ALL the Old Guard interacting, so I put all of them in the same time period. This obviously isn’t canon compliant and I took a lot of liberties. Basically: it’s fiction shhhhhhh just enjoy it.

Background: Quynh (a member of vietnamese nobility) and her “bodyguard” Andy are visiting Britain, where they discover a church (where Nicky’s a priest) has a rare Vietnamese book, and she works with Nicky, Booker (a forger who works at a print shop), and Yusuf (a local merchant) to steal it back.

-----

It is the dead of night when Nicolo finally slips into the back room of the Hound & Ingot. He is met with the tense faces of Yusuf, Sebastian, Andromache, and, most importantly, Nam Quynh. 

“Good, we’re all here,” Quynh said when she spotted Nicky. “Sebastian, do you have the copy?”

Sebastian nodded and rummaged in his bag. He brought out the book and handed it to Nicky, who began examining it.

“Well?” Quynh asked Nicky, who nodded.

“The cover looks exactly the same,” Nicolo said. “Though of course I don’t speak Vietnamese and I don’t know what the original contents said. But neither will my colleagues.”

Quynh nodded. “Your part is done, then Sebastian. You will receive your payment within the week.” She looked to Yusuf. “And your men? They can ship it safely to my country?”

Yusuf also nodded. “They won’t know it’s value, only that it is an important delivery to Vietnamese nobility. It will reach its destination.”

“Good. Now everyone here knows their role?” Quynh asked. “I ask that we run through the plan one more time.”

“I will work as usual, placing myself in position to receive you once you arrive at the church,” Nicolo said immediately. “You and Andromache will arrive, and I will show you the book.”

“While you’re doing that,” Andy interjected, “I’ll start an argument with the guards, distracting them until they escort me out.”

“Meanwhile,” Nicolo continued, “I return the book to the storeroom, switching it for the forgery. Then I pass it to Yusuf later that night, and he adds it to the shipment for the morning.”

“It’s a good plan,” Andromache said. “The bastards won’t know it’s gone.”

“Those are my colleagues you’re disparaging,” Nicolo sniffed.

“Yeah and if it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Sebastian pointed out.

“No one asked your opinion,” Yusuf defended Nicolo before he could even open his mouth.

Sebastian shrugged and sat back in a gesture of innocence.

“I know the sins of my church well, Sebastian,” Nicky said quietly. “I need no reminder. But my colleagues are close friends of mine.”

“And if we’re done bickering at each other,” Andromache said, “I believe that is the end of--”

Andromache was interrupted when someone opened the door, and everyone tensed. When they saw who it was, Nicky immediately stood up.

“She’s one of the guards for the church!” he announced to the group.

The woman held up her hands after shutting the door behind her. “I come in peace!”

“Nonsense!” Quynh exclaimed. “How long have you been listening at the door?”

There was a pause. “Not long. But long enough.”

“We are ruined,” Yusuf sighed.

“No, you misunderstand,” the woman said. “I have come to help.”

“Help with what, guard?” Quynh asked.

“My name is Nile,” the woman said. “And do not play innocent with me. I know of your plot. I would like to assist in any way I can.”

“Why would a guard for the church want to help us?” Andromache asked.

“The church has been no friend to me,” Nile answered. “I am in debt to them. Anything I can do to ruin them will be a blessing.”

Quynh nodded and sat down, prompting the others to do the same. “I am satisfied. I look forward to working with you, Nile.”

“It is beautiful,” Quynh breathed. “The history of my country as compiled by Do Thien. How did you come into possession of such a rare copy?”

“I am not sure,” the bishop sniffed. “Perhaps it was donated to us by one of your own.”

Quynh gave Nicolo a wide-eyed look but didn’t linger, lest it raise suspicion. Instead, she returned to perusing the book. “Thank you so much for allowing me to see it.”

“Will that be all for your visit?” the bishop asked, just as shouting began in the other room.

“I--oh, what is that shouting?” Quynh looked around and made as if she was surprised. “Oh! What happened to my escort?”

“I believe she is squabbling with our guards in the next room,” the bishop said in an annoyed tone.

There came a loud thud from the hall, and Quynh and the bishop rushed out, leaving Nicolo alone with the book. When they entered, Nile held Andromache in her grasp. The other guard was on the ground. It was easy to parse what had happened.

“I have restrained the Nam’s escort, bishop,” NIle said. “She and the other guard got to physical blows.” 

“Oh!” the bishop exclaimed angrily. “I must ask that you take your escort off of our property, Nam Quynh. This behavior is unacceptable.”

“But of course, bishop,” Quynh breathed. “I do apologize, and I assure you it won’t happen again. Come, Andromache.”

---

And that was it, right? Plan flawlessly executed, as long as Yusuf’s men were trustworthy. Nile was sure glad it went as well as it did. Still, there was something itching in the back of her mind as she spent the rest of her time guarding the storeroom.

She wrote it off as nerves--that is, until after her shift was over. She rounded the corner to see Sebastian talking fervently with the guard who had been on shift during the exchange. He looked up and walked away as soon as she spotted him, but something about it made her double back to the storeroom.

“I need access to the storeroom,” she demanded. “Now.”

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that,” one of the new guards said.

“I have reason to believe that something was stolen from the storeroom today. I need access.”

“Nile?” Nile almost sighed in relief at Nicolo’s voice. “What’s going on here?”

“Father Nicolo!” she exclaimed. “I must ask for entry into the storeroom. I believe something has been stolen.”

Nicolo’s eyes flashed through a hundred different emotions. “I will check, Nile, but I assure you, there has been no suspicious activity all day.” To the guards, he said, “Allow us inside, please.”

They nodded and allowed Nicolo and Nile inside. The second the doors closed behind them, Nicolo hissed, “What are you playing at?”

“I saw Sebastian here today,” Nile said. “I need to know why.”

Nicolo seemed to be at war with himself for a very long time, but eventually conceded. “Fine, we will look, but I don’t see how his presence means anything.”

“Just one more look at the book is all I ask,” Nile said.

Nicolo nodded and led her to it. She flipped through the pages, not sure what she was looking for. She flipped to the first page, where the first letter F was larger and more stylized than the others, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary. She began to search more, but Nicolo’s eyebrows furrowed.

Nicolo frowned. “Wait a minute. Quynh has been teaching me the Vietnamese alphabet. There is no letter F.”

Nile’s eyes widened and she flipped back to the first page. The rest seemed to be in Vietnamese, and Nicolo noted there was nothing else interesting. She flipped to the next section, where there was a stylized A. The next section, a K. Then an E.

Nile blinked. Fake. It was a code. A very, very obvious code but unless you knew to look for it, it was there. She flipped more frantically, ignoring Nicolo’s questions. When she finished the whole book, she had it figured out. The code read: “Fake. Nam Quynh Not Truthful.”

Nile had to laugh at the formal title still used in the code, but she looked back up at Nicolo. “Sebastian sold you out.”

“What?” Nicolo gasped. He looked horrified as Nile showed him the code. “What do we do?”

“I have an idea,” Nile said. “But we have to leave now.”

---

“Nam Quynh!” The bishop’s men pounded on the door to the noble’s door. She answered it easily enough.

“Is there something urgent?” She asked.

“Yes, you must come at once,” the men said. “It is about the Do Thien’s history book.”

“Oh,” Quynh gasped, quickly following them out.

When they got to the church, Quynh was led to the storeroom, where the door was knocked off its hinges and the book was missing.

“Oh dear!” Quynh exclaimed. “What happened?”

“We believe someone knocked out our guards, broke in, and stole the book,” the bishop said. “Do you have any idea who would have done this?”

“No, I--” Before Quynh could answer, the doors burst open and Nile walked in, dragging an unconscious Sebastian.

“I found this man handing the book to another outside,” she announced. “I tried to catch them both, but the other ran off with the book while this one attacked me. Luckily, I bested him.”

The bishop turned to Quynh. “Well, if the book is gone, at least we have a culprit. Do you know this man?”

“I don’t--wait a moment,” Quynh said, pretending to get a closer look. “I do believe this man works at the print shop.”

“Perhaps he was trying to make a profit from a rare book,” the bishop mused. “We won’t allow him to collect his money. Nile, take this man to our chambers. The law will deal with him in the morning.”

Nile nodded and left.

“I do offer my condolences, Nam Qyunh,” the bishop said. “It is a shame such a rare book has been lost.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ve done all you can, keeping it locked up as you have,” Quynh assured him. “I shall leave knowing there was nothing more that could have prevented this tragedy. I blame you not.”

“Very well,” the bishop said. “I shall have you escorted back to your rooms. I apologize for the late hour.”

“Do not think on it anymore,” Quynh assured him. “It is done. Good night bishop.”

Later that night, Quynh entered the back room of the Hound & Ingot to cheer of a job well done.

-----

Notes:

- The history of Vietnam written by Do Thien is one of the first historical books written in Vietnam and has since been lost to time, only mentioned in reference

- I know there’s probably some historical inaccuracies in this so feel free to correct me if I’ve done anything glaringly wrong

- I couldn’t fit it into the fic but Booker betrayed them because he was offered more money from the church. He’s not a total asshole in my head, I just had to make a plot happen.

- I have a whole backstory for this whole thing, so if you want to discuss details/something didn’t make sense to you, feel free to message me about it!

[writing-after-midnight]

Dreams of Darkness

Part 7

WRITING MASTERLIST

Hello peeps, I have posted a load of parts in quick succession lately, but they’re probably gonna start becoming less frequent  :( but I’ll try my best! Thanks for reading, and if you wanna be tagged, drop me a message :) Thank you! x

**********

Feyre sat behind the counter, sipping a cup of tea that Andromache had brewed her. Her broken arm was in agony, but she could do nothing else but cradle it with an ice pack, and wait for Mor. Poor Andromache didn’t know what to do to help Feyre, apart from retrieve a blanket from her apartment upstairs and ask if she needed anything. Feyre was happy to just sit there and think about the last few weeks, to take her mind off the throbbing on her right side.

Feyre had heard about the analogy about the frog in boiling water, where the frog will jump out of the cooking pot if put into boiling water straight away, but will boil to death if the water is slowly heated up. What she hadn’t realised, however, was that she had been the frog, and Tamlin had been the water.  She had been wasting away into nothing, bit by bit, because of Tamlin’s watchful eye. Thank the Mother she had been dragged to that party weeks ago and met the Inner Circle, otherwise she probably wouldn’t be alive by next month. Rhys had been her conscience, that encouraged her to jump out of the slowly boiling pot.

The night wore on, and Feyre’s adrenaline petered away slowly, bringing waves of pain down her arm. Andromache had offered to take her straight to the hospital and meet Mor there, but Feyre had insisted through her pain-fogged mind that she wouldn’t put Andromache out of her way. Andromache didn’t know what else to do but respect Feyre’s wishes. The poor girl had been through enough already. Andromache thought.

Finally, there was a tinkle of the door and two figures entered. One with wavy blonde hair, and one with inky-black hair. It was Mor... and Rhys. What had happened to Rhys? He had looked troubled when she saw him earlier that day; his eyes had been looking into a far-away place, and his features were pulled into a worried frown. But now... he looked distraught. His hair that was usually smoothed back had been roughly pulled by fingers running through his scalp, and there was a lingering terror in his deep blue eyes. He had become pale, making his features more harsh-looking. He stood there staring at her, frozen to the spot.

“Feyre!” Mor cried, rushing to her side and pulling her into a tight hug. She heard Feyre’s groan when her arm was caught between the two of them, and immediately let the hug become less firm, so she could move her hand. But Mor wouldn’t let go. The hug seemed to benefit Mor as much as it did Feyre, as Mor was starting to shake, and repeating to Feyre, “You’re free, you’re free.” A tear slid down Feyre’s cheek. She was free, not to be controlled.

Rhys was still glued to the spot, probably more in horror than Feyre at that moment. Feyre watched his fists clench and unclench, like he was trying to calm himself down. “I’ll go get the car started, Feyre needs to get to the hospital.” He said to no one in particular, and walked out.

Mor finally let Feyre out of the hug. “You’re going to be okay, Feyre. We’re going to the hospital to get that arm set, and we’ll take you wherever you want to go. Rhys says you’re welcome to stay at his, of course.”

“Thank you, Mor.” Feyre said, unable to express the amount of gratitude she wanted in this moment. Her brain felt like it was on auto-pilot, just so she was able to process that the people in front of her were not figments of her imagination.

**********

Every little bump of the car on the road sent waves of agony down Feyre’s arm, as she had to keep it steady to cause less damage. She hadn’t dared look at it, until she got a glimpse in the flashing lamplights through the car window as they drove through the streets. She wished she hadn’t looked. Bent at a funny angle from the lower arm down, her right arm hung uselessly. Part of her skin was straining from where the bone was starting to poke through. She let out a whimper of pain anytime the car made a turn.

Mor was sat in the back with her, offering a gentle hand on her good shoulder, still shaking slightly. From what she heard the last time she was at the house with them, Feyre thought something similar must have happened to Mor with the man she mentioned, Eris.

Rhys, however, kept his eyes focused on the road, and had still not spoken to her. His initial horror of seeing her in such a state at the launderette must have still been reverberating in him, as he was still pale and had shadows swimming in his deep blue eyes. Feyre felt a little bit hurt, as she had wanted to talk to him mainly to see why he looked so haunted, but she understood his shock from the first time she had seen him that day, and let it pass.

Feyre still had tears trickling down her face, even though she felt like she had at least recovered a little bit from the trauma of that day. These people, who she had known for a day and a half at the most probably, had wondered where she had gone for those weeks, and cared that she was in trouble. Once they had heard the news that she was with Andromache, they hadn’t hesitated to come for her and help. The few times her sisters had come to visit in the past few months since she had been engaged to Tamlin, they didn’t notice or bother to point out how much weight she had lost, because they probably couldn’t have cared less. But the Inner Circle had noticed immediately. Feyre would be forever grateful for them.

**********

They eventually reached the hospital, and Mor lead Feyre in through the doors, taking care of keeping her arm steady. Rhys went to park the car. After about half an hour, the doctor welcomed them into a room, where he started to plaster Feyre’s arm. Mor and Rhys sat with her through the procedure, Mor offering words of encouragement, and Rhys keeping quiet, watching.

“So, Feyre. How have you ended up like this?” The doctor asked, trying to make conversation.

“We were climbing trees like 6 year olds. Quite silly of us really.” Feyre was also grateful Mor was thinking quick on her feet, using the leaves still caught in Feyre’s hair and the cuts across her face to her advantage. Feyre couldn’t process conversation like that at the minute

“Can I write my name on it?” Mor asked, looking at Feyre’s new cast, trying to lighten the mood slightly.

“Uh, yeah. If you want.” Feyre replied, not really caring as a small pulse of pain  quickly swept up her arm. It hurt significantly less than it did an hour ago, so Mor’s attempt at lightheartedness worked a bit. Unfortunately, Mor couldn’t find a pen, but vowed to draw lots of love hearts and stars all over it when they returned to Rhys’ house.

Their drive home was quiet, as Rhys still seemed to be in his own world, and Feyre was content to sit and just think.

They arrived at the gates of Rhys’ house, and Feyre could finally breathe a sigh of relief. She was free. She was safe. She wouldn’t be hurt.

Mor, Feyre and Rhys walked in through the door, to be bombarded by a massive hug for them all by Cassian. It was a strong but surprisingly gentle hug, bearing in mind it was from a muscled and excitable man like Cassian; Feyre was happy to be welcomed back.

“We’re so glad to see you Feyre; we’ve been wondering where you’ve been!” Cassian said. Feyre felt a pang of guilt, knowing that he was wondering why she hadn’t bothered to contact them yet. Rhys mustn’t have told them yet.

“Well, she’s here now, so that’s what matters.” Mor replied, recovering Feyre from her stuttering. Amren and Azriel appeared from around the corner, both quiet, but Feyre could feel the quiet joy radiating off of them. Azriel smiled at her.

“Good to see you again, Feyre.” He said.

“Mother above, Feyre. You’re a mess! We’ll have to clean you up and find you some new clothes!” Feyre knew Amren meant this in a kind way, as she was fussing over her, already picking brambles out of the scraps of cloth left on her.

Feyre smiled at them all. The first genuine smile she had given to people in weeks. Mor gently took her shoulder.

“Good idea, Amren. Feyre, I didn’t have time to bring any spare clothes of mine, so you’ll have to borrow Rhys’ again for tonight. I’ll go home tomorrow and get some for the next few days.” Mor said. “Rhys, did you hear that? Feyre needs clothes please! Pronto!” Mor added, waving her hands in front of Rhys’ vacant expression. He blinked, processed it in his brain for a second and looked at Feyre once more before leaving the room.

“Is he alright?” Azriel asked.

“I think he’s just a bit shocked. He’s been like that since this afternoon.” Replied Mor quietly. She didn’t retell the events from that day, in which Feyre was grateful. As happy as she was to see them all again, she really wanted to go to bed. She was physically and mentally exhausted. Mor turned to Feyre and saw this tiredness in her eyes, so excused them both to sort out Feyre and left the room.

**********

Showering with a cast was a new experience for Feyre. She had been advised to keep it out of water, so was stressing about getting it wet; and after a while, her arm started to feel really heavy. Why did she have to put herself through these situations for other people, especially Tamlin? Why did he say he loved her, then did everything that indicated he didn’t? Why did he have to control when, where and who she went out with? Suddenly, salt tracks were mingling with the water, and Feyre was sobbing. Her legs went weak, and suddenly she was on the floor, water pouring down her face. The sobs wracked her body and she was shaking from head to toe. She realised that the shock had been the only thing keeping her together before. Her emotions were going up and down like a roller coaster. 

She made herself switch off the tap and get herself out of the shower. Mor was waiting patiently outside. She dressed into the cozy jumper Rhys had found for her and walked out of the bathroom.

The look of concern on Mor’s face at her blotchy face sent Feyre into more tears. Mor was immediately there to guide her to sit on the bed in the bedroom. She wrapped her arms around Feyre’s frail body.

“He hurt me. He said he loved me and he hurt me.” Feyre wept.

Mor just hugged her tighter. They stayed like that for a long time.

**********

Tagging: @call-me-amissa @illyrianbeauty@l0sts0uls1128 @musicmaam @ame233 @pleasantclamwriter @massiverockcollection @dreams-of-feysand @callie-bear15 @huntress-of-velaris @writtenwordheart @rolltide7 @reading-and-regretting @ellenoftroy @kingdomofbrokenhearts @girlgotattitude448 @anr2332 @amylolysis @amazinginglyawesomeperson @tothemaas @feyrecursebreaker

[ladyhavilliard]

Since Before We Met

Part 1

--> Next Part

My Masterlist

Summary: Feyre Archeron is moving to Velaris to study art at Velaris University. Not only can her dream of becoming an artist come true, but she’s finally meeting her best friend- Rhysand, a boy she met through Tumblr three years ago.

Pairing: Feyre Archeron x Rhysand 

If you want to be tagged in this fic or any of my works, send me an ask. 

This is the first multichapter I’ve ever written and even though I’ve already posted it on my old blog, I’m still excited to show it to you again. For everyone who’s reading it for the first time, or if by any chance some of you decide to read it again - Thank you. I really hope you like how this turned out. There are 8 parts in total. I’ll upload twice a week.

I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, inhaling the sweet scent of overpriced coffee and butter croissants. The sound of people dragging their suitcases, the loud talking and the flight announcements could be heard from everywhere around, making the airport too noisy for anyone‘s liking. But there was something else, something new, but somehow familiar, that made this place so very wonderful.

Velaris. I had finally made it to Velaris, the city where dreams came true.

The city where he lived.

And just when I thought about him, my phone buzzed from inside my pocket. I smiled, already knowing what I would see.

1 unread message from Rhys

I clicked on the notification, then bit my lip to hide the ever-growing smile.

Hello, darling. Welcome to Velaris.

I rolled my eyes at the name he always called me, but couldn‘t stop the heat that crept its way to my cheeks.

Is that it? I asked. I expected a welcome party. Or at least a wonderful present. Where‘s the fic you promised you‘d write me?

I didn‘t expect him to do anything, if I was being honest. Though I wasn‘t lying for the fanfiction- he promised to write me one months ago. I couldn‘t blaim him, I still hadn‘t shown him the fanart I did for him, either.

It was partly how we met, though I don‘t know if „met“ was the right word. We have never seen each other.

Three years ago, he found my blog on Tumblr. I had made it after I read the „Throne of Glass“ book series and started painting characters and scenes I liked. Rhys had a fandom blog too, but instead of painting, he loved writing. One day he saw my art and was inspired to write a multichapter, which I turned out to be obsessed with. At first, we talked about the books we loved. Later, this thing between us grew into a real friendship, we texted each other every single day ever since and had often talked trough video chat. He helped me trough the worst time of my life and became my closest person. Not even my sisters knew me so well.

And after three years, I was finally going to meet him in person.

Isn‘t seeing me a present good enough? Rhys typed back.

Prick.

Always for you, darling.

Then the three dots, announcing he was writing something, appeared. They stayed for a minute, too long for the few words he ended up sending me.

I‘m sorry I can‘t meet you at the airport.

I rolled my eyes. He had told me the night before, that it was his cousin‘s birthday and he had promised to give her a ride.

It‘s fine, Rhys. I‘m not a damsel in distress and you don‘t need to pretend to be the prince in shiny armor. I‘m perfectly capable of going to the university myself.

I know that. And you have to admit black suits are much more handsome than shiny armor, so I may not be a prince, but you still won‘t be able to take your eyes off of me.

You are impossible, I replied, trying- and obviously failing- not to smile.

It isn’t a bad thing, you know? Because I won’t be able to look at something that’s not you, too.

I blushed once more, happy that he wasn‘t there to see it.

I‘ll see you soon, was the only thing I texted before shoving my phone back into my pocket.

 The ride to the college was a fast one. I took a cab from the airport and after around 20 minutes, I was standing in front of Velaris University of Arts.

For years, I dreamt to go here. Even before I knew Rhys or the fact he was living here.

Finding my dorm room was difficult. The building was much bigger than I thought and I got lost in the same corridors at least four times. But at the end, I made it.

I was to share a room with two more girls and it looked like they were already here.

There were three beds next to each other, a window over the one in the middle, a door to what I assumed was the bathroom next to the one on the right. A girl with short black hair and unnatural silver eyes was laying on the bed on the left side, a book in hands.

„You‘re Feyre, I assume,“ she said when I walked trough the door. No one told me my roommates’ names, so how she knew mine, I had no idea. „I‘m Amren. Mor is in the bathroom. The middle bed is yours“

The girl didn‘t even look at me as I started unpacking my things.

Then, a girl stormed out from the bathroom, almost jumping on the bed to take the phone she had left there. Her blond hair was tied in a braid that fell beautifully down her back. Just when I thought she hadn‘t noticed me, she looked at me and before I knew it, she pulled me into a bone-crashing hug.

„Why didn‘t you say you were here! I‘m Morrigan, but you can call me Mor.“ She told me. “I‘d love to get to know you, but I‘m in a hurry, because my stupid cousin was late again“she almost shouted the last words. Confused, I raised an eyebrow in a silent question, but it was answered when I heard a male voice speak from inside the bathroom.

„If you hadn‘t insist I braid your hair, it wouldn‘t have mattered“

I knew that voice. There was something so familiar about it, but Mor interrupted my thoughts before I could figure out what, screaming at the man again.

„Since you were so late anyway, you could‘ve at least brought your girlfriend“

„She‘s not my girlfriend“, he answered.

Mor shook her head, as if to say Sure, I believe you.

I heard steps moving closer, than the bathroom door closing.

„Anyway, what‘s your name?“ Mor turned her attention to me once more.

I opened my mouth to answer, but the man was faster than me.

„Feyre?“ he whispered unbelievingly.

I snapped my head to the direction the voice was coming from. My gaze landed on the most beautiful man I‘ve ever seen.

I wasn‘t prepared for it.

For a second, I didn‘t move. My eyes couldn‘t leave his. Suddenly, without even realizing it, I was moving towards him, then I was wrapping my arms around him, breathing him in.

„Looks like I got to see your pretty face, after all“, he laughed.

My lips twitched into a wide smile, but I didn‘t say anything. Instead, I buried my nose in his chest. He smelled of jasmine and ocean breeze.

I barely heard the sound of Mor‘s phone when she snapped a picture of us. I barely registered Amren‘s quiet murmurs, indicating she had left her book. There was only Rhys in the whole room, the whole world. And I was finally seeing him, finally able to touch him.

„If you don‘t let me go now, I‘m afraid you‘ll never be able to stay away from me“, he teased, though I knew he didn‘t want me to pull away.

„As charming and flattering as always“, I laughed again, then made a step backwards. Somehow, I managed to let go of him, not touching him anymore, though there still wasn’t much space between us.

“Feyre darling”, he whispered, his soft gaze focused on mine. There was a happy light in his eyes and that little smile on his face… I could look at him for hours.

Ever since I saw a picture of him, a month or two after we talked for the first time, I knew he was the most gorgeous person I’ve laid my eyes on. But seeing him with my own eyes, black tattoos swirling underneath his shirt, unbuttoned on the top, midnight dark hair glowing in the sunlight coming from the window, when he looked at me as if there was no one else in the room… It felt as though he came from some other world. Perhaps a world I also belonged to.

Mor cleared her throat behind me and I realized we had been silently staring at each other for over a minute.

Rhys’s eyes left mine and he blinked once, twice, remembering where he was. When we both looked at his cousin, she crossed her arms, a golden eyebrow raised.

“I’m sorry for interrupting you, but it is my birthday and we are already late for our reservation.”

“She’s eager to go, because Andromache is waiting for her. I want us to leave, because if we don’t, Cassian is probably going to burst into this room and I won’t bear the thought of any of you, horrible creatures, being near my books and jewels” said Amren. Now, when she was standing, I realized how much shorter she was. But somehow, she made me feel as though I was the smaller one. She looked young and ancient at the same time and I knew she wasn’t one to mess with. Even so, her eyes were almost soft, making it clear, that she did mean well. For now, at least.

“Your birthday. Right.” Murmured Rhys under his nose. “Do you want to come with us?” he asked me.

Go to a party, get to know my new roommates, meet new people? Get a drink or two?

Spend the whole night with my best friend, who I had never hung out with?

A part of me screamed to agree, to go with them, to have fun. To be with him. From the look the birthday girl gave me, I knew she wouldn’t mind.

“I probably shouldn’t”, my voice felt as if it belonged to someone else. “I have to unpack my things and get ready for my first classes tomorrow. Perhaps being late and falling asleep on the chair on my first day wouldn’t make the best impression.”

“Maybe you are right”, Rhys answered. Still, I could see the disappointment written on his face as clear as day.

When you come, I’ll show you Velaris. I’ll take you stargazing. And when you have savored every detail of the beautiful night sky, you’ll paint it, capturing all the lights and colors on the canvas while I watch you, pouring your love and soul into the painting.

That’s what he had told me the night I said him that I was accepted into Velaris University. That we were not only going to meet, but live in the same town. It had been a promise, one I would make sure he’d keep. Maybe it wouldn’t happen on my first day in town, but I’ve already waited three years. I could wait a few days more, if it meant having this perfect night.

So I just put a light smile on my face, looking at Mor. “Happy Birthday”, I congratulated her, then moved my gaze to Rhys again.

“Will I see you later?”

“I still haven’t left and you already can’t wait to see me. I’ll take you really like what you’re looking at”, his lips formed his legendary grin and I felt the urge to roll my eyes for what felt like the thousandth time today. At last, I decided to go with the usual “Prick”

“Can I come tomorrow? Text you to know when you’re free?” he asked.

I nodded.

I was already looking forward to it.

@hellas-himself @alexisnm95 @rhysand-darling @dreams-of-feysand @official-mort @urbisie @crimson-dusk (sorry, for some reason the tags don’t work for you..)

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior Home and Semi-Theater Edition 7/10/20 – GREYHOUND, PALM SPRINGS, THE OLD GUARD, RELIC and More!

I hope everyone had a good 4th of July weekend, even though movie theaters don’t seem any closer to opening, and I believe some in certain areas even closed! New York City just hit Phase 3 this week, and I’m not sure Phase 4 even includes movie theaters. Let’s not even talk about L.A. as it will just depress me. I literally have no idea what’s going on or if movies being back in theaters nationwide by the end of this month is even realistic.  There are a lot of available movies this week, and I did my best to see as many as possible, but honestly, I’m getting a little burnt out watching movies on my computer and even on my TV set (the few times I can), so we’ll see how far I get this week. Hold on tight, because this week is gonna be a doozy! (I actually wanted to write a defense of Quibi and its content, but I’ll have to save that for a quieter week.)

Believe it or not, Tom Hanks has a new movie out this week, too, but it’s only on Apple TV+, since Sony decided to sell Hanks’ fictitious submarine drama GREYHOUND to the relatively new streaming service. Surely, that can’t be a good sign, right? Directed by Aaron Schneider (Get Low), it has Hanks playing Commander Ernest Krause, who is put in charge of his first fleet of ships to sail across the Atlantic Ocean’s notorious “Black Pit,” bringing supplies and troops to Europe during America’s early days in World War II.  The area of the Atlantic got its name because the planes that normally escorted the fleet to keep an eye out for German UBoats would have to turn back. As Captain of the USS Keeling aka Greyhound, Krause is solely responsible for dozens of ships and men.

Greyhound is a classic case of “Well, it looked good on paper,” because when you have a piece of fiction by C.S. Forester and one of America’s most beloved actors wanting to make it into a movie, what could possibly go wrong? Well, I’ll tell you. As someone who generally loves submarine movies and movies with great sea battles, certainly this movie was made for me, but no, although there are a few decent CG battles, the majority of the movie involves Hanks calmly stating orders to his men from the control deck of the Greyhound, as they take evasive measures to protect the fleet from the UBoats. Really, it’s mostly about Hanks, because other than Stephen Graham in a small role, none of the other men on the Greyhound have much personality. The movie even has the audacity to waste a great actor like Rob Hunter on a nothing role as the ship’s cook who brings Krause food and coffee he never has time to eat or drink anyway, because fighting the Germans is very busy work indeed.

While some of the firefights do bring a much-needed level of excitement, there’s otherwise no real stakes or tension, because you always know that Hanks’ boat will never be sunk. Every once in a while, Hanks will ask for coffee or his slippers to change things up. That’s how boring this movie is. And then, despite all the “non-stop fighting,” they somehow have time to stage an elaborate burial at sea when the ship is hit by enemy fire. Maybe this would have been a better movie seen in theaters, but probably not. It’s absolutely astounding how boring this movie is, but if naval speak gets you hot then Greyhound might just be the movie for you!

Now that that’s taken care of, let’s try to get some of the other movies, hopefully some of them are better than Greyhound.

Andy Samberg stars in PALM SPRINGS (NEON/Hulu), the new romantic comedy and first feature from director Max Barbakow. Calling it a “romantic comedy” wouldn’t really be doing the movie justice, since it’s more of a quirky comedy that offers more than the simple Sundance rom-com formula of Samberg’s previous Sundance movie, Jesse and Celeste Forever. The movie begins with Samberg’s character, Nyles, waking up at a wedding with his horrid girlfriend Misty (a very funny Meredith Hagner). At the wedding, Nyles gives a rousing speech (despite no one knowing who he is) then connects with the bride’s sister, Sara (Cristin Milioti). But wait, maybe you think you know where this is going but when the two go off somewhere private to “hook up,” it’s rudely interrupted by someone trying to kill Nyles, and well, it just gets stranger from there.

I’m not sure how much of the plot and the early twist would be considered a spoiler, although maybe not if you’ve watched the trailer. Essentially, Sara follows Nyles into a cave where there’s some sort of dimensional thing that returns them back to the beginning of the same day over and over. They go to sleep or they die, and they’re right back at the start of the day, so yup, it’s basically a similar Groundhog’s Day premise that we’ve seen in movies like Happy Death Day, Natasha Lyonne’s Russian Doll, Before I Fall or others, but it’s all about what Barbakow, writer Andy Siara and the two leads do that make Palm Springs so much more entertaining and even deeper.

I have to be honest that I wasn’t familiar with Milioti at all before this film, so this ends up being an amazing spotlight for her talent, and similar to Rashinda Jones in Jesse/Celeste, she makes Samberg that much easier to palate. Not that I dislike Samberg, but I’ve never been the biggest fan when he’s given free reign like in movies such as Hot Rod. (But I did like Popstar: Never Stop Stopping, so maybe he’s grown on me.) I will admit that I’m a sucker for a good wedding-based romantic comedy—as seen by recent ones like Plus Oneand Destination Wedding -- and with its odd quantum physics twist, Palm Springs continually finds new ways of exploring the tenuous existence that is a new relationship. Oh, I should also mention that Roy, the guy trying to kill Nyles, is played by JK Simmons, and while it’s definitely a smaller part for one of my favorite actors, he also plays a significant role in the story.

You’ll probably know right away if Palm Springs is your kind of movie, but the mix of quirkiness and honest heart and emotion makes it one of Samberg’s better endeavor. It hope it allows us to see much more of Ms. Milioti, since I think she’s quite wonderful as well.  Palm Springs can be watched on Hulu or in select drive-ins starting this Friday, and since it is this week’s “Featured Flick*,” I hope you’ll check it out! (*I changed the name of this just to see if anyone is paying any attention… or even reading.)

Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández’s comic, THE OLD GUARD, has been turned into a movie directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love and Basketball) that will hit Netflix this Friday. It stars Charlize Theron and is written by Rucka himself, and it’s a fairly high concept action movie involving a group of “immortals” – warriors who aren’t able to die, so they’ve lived for hundreds of years and are now hiring themselves out as hired mercenaries. When they learn there’s a new immortal awakening, they seek her out to recruit her.

I generally like Charlize Theron in action mode as seen in Mad Max: Fury Road and Atomic Blonde, and she’s pretty kick-ass as Andromache the Scythian aka Andy, the leader of the Old Guard. Kiki Layne from If Beale Street Could Talk offers a nice counterpoint as her trainee in the form of Nile, the newest immortal, who discovers that she can’t die while serving as a soldier in the Middle East. The rest of the cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthias Schoenaerts and others, who are all okay, but I just wish there was more to the story than just watching them have to deal with a lame corporate villain named Merrick (Harry Melling), who wants to harvest their blood to create life-saving pharmaceuticals for others.

While I liked the flashbacks to historic times showing Theron’s Andromache in another light, the stuff in present day is rarely as interesting. I’m not sure I ever would have thought of Bythewood doing action, even though she was supposed to do a Silver Sable/Black Cat movie at one point, but her fight scenes pretty fairly impressive, but she doesn’t lose sight of losing the focus on characterization, at least in terms of the two women.

The Old Guard isn’t bad, and it really would have benefited from being seen on the big screen, but I’m not sure it really offers enough with its concept other than a few decent fight scenes. Personally, I felt it paled in comparison to Netflix’s other recent action film, Extraction, at least in terms of the story and characters.

A horror movie that got a lot of lavishing praise out of Sundance is Natalie Erika James’ RELIC (IFC Midnight), which you may remember me mentioning last week, because apparently, it opened in a few drive-in theaters last Friday.  I had been looking forward to this due to the amount of praise it got from Sundance, comparing it to the likes of The Babadook or Hereditary.

The story revolves around Emily Mortimer’s Kay and her daughter Sam (Bella Heatchote) travelling to their grandmother Edna’s country home in Australia after she’s reported missing. Edna (Robyn Nevin) soon returns and is behaving oddly, and with Gran clearly not herself, Kay has to figure out if she’s possessed by something or just suffering from advanced dementia.

I feel like I have a general idea what James was trying to accomplish with Relic, as it explores what it’s like being the caregiver for your elderly parent once they’ve become debilitated by something that makes them unrecognizable, put into the context of a horror film. I ended up watching the movie twice, mainly because I had no clue what was going on during my first viewing, but honestly, this movie just ended up annoying me, and it was only partially due to the fact that I had very little idea what was going on since most of the movie is so dark. More than that, I found a lot of the movie to be incredibly dull, and comparisons to The Babadook are inane, since the only thing is that it’s a horror movie (sort of) directed by an Australian woman.

The movie also involves some sort of “evil presence” and a creepy old house that was on the premises when Kay’s family moved in, but this information is revealed in such a dreary and confusing manner that makes it harder to figure out what you’re watching.  In fact, if not for a number of eerie random images, it would be hard to even consider the first half of Relic “horror” since it’s more of a family drama about these three women from different generations contending with each other in this house. As someone who has had many conversations with my sister about what to do about my own elderly mother, I could see why this might connect with viewers, but planting this idea haphazardly into a typical horror movie just never worked for me. Relic has some good things going for it, such as the performances by the three actors (particularly Nevin), plus the creepy imagery and sound design do a lot to create a mood even if it doesn’t necessarily help with the storytelling.

The problem is that this story is told at such a snail’s pace and by the time the horror elements start kicking in within the last 20 minutes of the movie, almost everything is in pitch blackness, making it almost impossible to tell what you’re watching. Any earlier qualities worthy of praise are lost with some of the bad choices in lighting and editing, as well as an ending that’s dragged on for so long and at such a drowsy pace that any good will towards the movie will likely be lost. Ultimately, Relic is a disappointing high concept but single-note thriller that fails to deliver on the scares, instead delivering a dull and slightly unsettling family drama about aging and dementia.

In fact, I actually much preferred Jeffrey A. Brown’s horror film, The Beach House, which comes to the streaming network sShudder this Thursday. It stars Liana Liberato and Noah Le Gross as Emily and Randall, a young couple who travel to his father’s beach house to reconnect. Once there, their vacation is broken up by Jake Weber’s Mitch and his wife Jane (Maryann Nagel), but as the two couples get to know each other, a freak environmental event unleashes an infection that leads to all sorts of freaky occurrences. While there was just as much weirdness and not knowing what was going on as in Relic, at least this movie mostly takes place in the sunlight, so you can actually see things that are equally or even more disturbing than anything in Relic.

Brown’s film starts out so simply with this young couple wanting to spend some time alone together, but there’s this constant menace looming that’s foreshadowed in the opening credits, and as Mitch and Jane show up and start behaving oddly, you’ll wonder what exactly is happening to them. Things get even more disturbing when Emily is on the beach and experiences even odder and grosser circumstances that lead into the film’s “body horror” portion that will make even those with the strongest constitutions slightly queasy.

Part of why the film works so well is the small cast Brown has put together.  I’ve been quite a fan of Liberato for many years, and she effectively becomes the film’s lead. Certainly, there are a few common horror tropes in place including ones that can be traced back to the likes of Eli Roth’s Cabin Fever, but there’s also enough new ideas that the film doesn’t seem like retread. While I’m not 100% sure exactly what was happening in The Beach House, Brown and his cast do a good job keeping the viewer uneasy and disturbed.  

Atom Egoyan’s new thriller GUEST OF HONOUR (Kino Lorber) will premiere this week as part of the Kino Marquee (and there’s lots of great stuff on there that will help support your local arthouse while you’re checking that out!)  It stars David Thewliss as Jim, a health inspector whose high school music teaching daughter Veronica (Lausla de Oliveira) has been jailed over an indiscretion with two teen students.

Egoyan has proven himself to be quite a master at the thriller genre, and Guest of Honour involves a complex family drama narrative that scuttles between timelines in order to keep you guessing where things might be going. I’ll freely admit that the non-linear storytelling was somewhat confusing at first, as the movie is framed by a conversation between Veronica and Luke Wilson after the death of her father. It also flashes back to an important moment from Veronica’s childhood before her mother died of cancer, which led to other things that would affect her years later.

I’m frequently amazed by Thewliss as one of England’s more underrated exports, but I was equally impressed by Ms. de Oliveira, whose work I was not familiar with before seeing her in Egoyan’s capable hands.

While we’ve heard plenty of true stories about the relationships between teachers with their students, Guest of Honour isn’t just about that, and it’s the way Egoyan reveals some of the story’s more interesting complexities, like Veronica’s relationship with an obsessed bus driver (Rossif Sutherland), that builds to some of the events that happen later. Honestly, I’m hesitant to reveal too much about the plot since there’s a way that Egoyan unveils various elements that makes Guest of Honour another compelling entry in the filmmaker’s constantly-evolving oeuvre.

A really interesting crime-thriller with a sci-fi twist hitting Apple TV, Prime Video and other digital platforms this Friday is South African filmmaker Tony Dean Smith’s own directorial debut, VOLITION (Giant Pictures), a film co-written and co-produced with his brother Ryan. It stars Adrian Glynn McMorran (Arrow) as James, a man constantly down on his luck who has clairvoyant powers that he uses to get himself involved in a scheme involving valuable diamonds. Just before this happens, he meets Angela (Magda Apanowicz), a young woman who gets pulled into the problems James gets into with others wanting the diamonds, and when he sees a murder, he has to do what he can to change the future.

I feel like this column’s running theme is that I’m being deliberately vague about the film’s plot, and in this case, it’s because halfway through the movie, there’s a pretty big twist that involves time travel. While that immediately makes the movie more interesting, it also makes things far more confusing.  Up until that point, Volition felt like a rather weakly-written indie crime-thriller from filmmakers who may have seen Memento a few too many times. In fact, it opens with such a pretentious bit of narration I was worried the movie wasn’t going to be very good, and there was very little in the first half to keep me invested. When that new element/twist is added, McMorran’s character ends up on a far more interesting journey, and that turns Volition into a far more inventive and original story. Sure, it isn’t Primer, but if you’re a fan of the twists that come with time travel, Volition does a good job keeping you wondering what might happen next, and it does this with a mostly no-name cast, which is always quite impressive. In that way, it reminds me of The Wretchedwhich opened earlier in the year, as that was also by two filmmaking brothers taking a DIY attitude towards independent film. Volition isn’t perfect but it’s far better than I was expecting, and it’s a testament to the filmmakers’ perseverance to bring their very specific vision to the screen.

I was pretty excited to learn out about the quirky Japanese coming-of-age musical comedy WE ARE LITTLE ZOMBIES (Oscilloscope) from Makoto Nagahisa, because it’s the type of movie that I would usually see at the New York Asian Film Festival that would have been going on right now if not for… well, you know what. But it did play Fantasia in Montreal last year, so I’m sure it would have been fun seeing it with that audience. It’s certainly cute and quirky, involving a group of kids who come together to deal with their parents. Honestly, I don’t have a ton to say about it, but if you like oddball Asian films like the ones that play those festivals, you’ll know whether the film is for you. You can watch a trailer and find out where you’ll be able to catch We Are Little Zombies at its Official Site.

At least that was more watchable than Gavin Rothery’s sci-fi directorial debut, ARCHIVE (Vertical Entertainment), starring Theo James from the Divergent movies as George Almore, a man in the year 2038 who is working on an AI that is as close to human as possible, one that will hopefully reunite him with his dead wife in this new form. If you watch this, you’ll immediately think that Rothery must have watched Moon quite a lot. In fact, he was the conceptual artist and visual FX artist on Duncan Jones’ movie, and the influences of that film are so obvious it’s hard to get past it. Then again, Theo James has so little personality and charisma, he’s almost constantly being overshadowed by his robotic companions. So yeah, not recommended, and I’m a little shocked this was accepted into this year’s cancelled SXSW. Honestly, I couldn’t even get through it.

Also premiering in the Kino Marquee is Nicholas Leytner’s Austrian drama The Tobacconist (Menemsha Films), starring Bruno Ganz (Downfall) as Sigmund Freud and based on the bestselling novel by Robert Seethaler, which I haven’t read (if that isn’t obvious). It deals with the friendship between a teenager named Franz (Simon Morzé) and Freud during the Nazi occupation of Vienna, when the former travels there to work as an apprentice at a tobacco shop where Freud is a regular customer. When Franz falls in love with a music hall dancer, he turns to Freud for advice.

Apparently “showing only in theaters” this Friday is Michael W. Bachochin’s sci-fi/”psychodrama” Parallax (The Primal Group) starring Naomi Prentice as a young artist who is haunted by nightmares and who wakes up to a life she doesn’t recognize. At this point, I might as well just post the actual synopsis: “As she begins to uncover the truths of the life that she's found herself in, the gravity of her failing reality weighs heavily on her psychological identity and the reliability of her sanity is called into question.”

Let’s get to some docs, and you can probably safely assume that Harry Mavromichalis’ Olympia(Abramorama) is about Oscar-winning actress Olympia Dukakis, because it is. Featuring interviews with Whoopi Goldberg, Laura Linney, Diane Ladd and more, that covers the Greece-born actress as she opens up about her struggles with depression, suicide and drug addiction, as well as stories from some of the actors she’s shared the stage and screen with over the years.

The next doc is about the Chinese artist who probably has had more docs made about him than…well, anyone else? Ai Wei Wei: Yours Truly (First Run Features), directed by Cheryl Haines and Gina Leibrecht, covers how the artist developed his 2014 exhibition, @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, inspired by his 2011 detention by Chinese authorities (which has generally inspired all his recent work?) Hey, if you’re a fan of his artwork, then you’ll probably want to see this doc, too.

One doc that I really wanted to see was Brett Harvey’s Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo (Universal), which had a virtual world premiere and is now on ITunes and other VOD, but my attempts to get a screener was met with absolute silence. The film documents the amazing life and career of the 71-year-old character actor and action hero who went from a life of drugs and doing hard time in prison to becoming an easily recognized and respected star, mainly thanks to Robert Rodriguez. I would like to see this movie, and maybe someday I will.

Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema will be adding Jacques Becker’s 1947 film, Antoine and Antoinette, this Friday, as well as the 1927 filming of the original Broadway play, Chicago, long before it was turned into a musical, although it does have Ginger Rogers playing Roxie Hart. Reinhold Schünzel’s original 1933 film Victor and Victoria (which was later remade by Blake Edwards for wife Julie Andrews) also joins the fairly hefty list of repertory films available, being shown as part of the “Pioneers of Queer Cinema” series.

Other movies I just wasn’t able to get to this week include Tito (Factory 25), I, Pastafari (Gravitas Ventures), The Medicine (1091), Never Too Late (Blue Fox Entertainment), Deany Bean is Dead (Global Digital Releasing) and Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Utopia).

Also beginning on Apple TV+ this Friday is the new JJ Abrams series, Little Voice, starring Brittany O’Grady as Bess King, a 20-something singer trying to find her voice in the rat race that is New York City. I haven’t had a chance to watch this yet but apparently, Abrams got Sara Bareilles from Broadway’s Waitress to write some of the tunes, so it should be decent.

Next week, more movies—some in theaters, some not in theaters! But most of them watchable from home in case you don’t drive or your city is exploding with the COVID after the rest of us have been in quarantine for months. Thanks bunches.

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

[elizabeth-mitchells]

Andy and Quynh One Shots - #101

Chapters: 101/101 Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020), The Old Guard (Comics) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Andy | Andromache the Scythian/Quynh | Noriko Characters: Andy | Andromache of Scythia, Quynh | Noriko, Nile Freeman, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Booker | Sebastien le Livre Additional Tags: Immortal Wives Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Immortality, One Shot Collection, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Tumblr Prompt, Originally Posted on Tumblr, just... A LOT of Andy and Quynh, it's what they deserve, it's what we deserve Words: 63518

"Just you and me." "Until the end."

Three thousand years of love, and more. All the little moments of joy, pain, adoration, and yearning. Andy and Quynh, all through history, all over the world, always in love.

Chapter 101: I'm here, at the beginning of the end, the end of infinity with you (teasing Andy for being old)

At first, Andy didn’t even think twice about it. She could be in the middle of a training session with Quynh and after landing a particularly good punch, Quynh smirked and said, “You’re getting too old, my heart” or “Age has made you slow, Andromache.” It was fine. In fact, it was good, and meant to be affectionate. She had been saying things like that in every language known to man for almost as long as the two of them had known each other. Which, really, was an eternity in itself. It was a little detail that Andy was glad to experience again after such a long separation. Their love was something capable of always growing and never changing at its core. However, little changes were unavoidable. And now that their family was bigger, it was just a matter of time before some harmless, affectionate teasing would get out of hand.

The three of them were sitting on the couch watching a movie and almost as soon as it ended Andy was out of her seat and stretching.

“Where are you going?” Quynh wondered with a slight pout.

Nile added, “We can still watch another!”

Andy scoffed, “I’m exhausted, I’m going to bed.” Without waiting for further approval she started walking toward the room she shared with Quynh.

Quynh, who wasn’t exactly happy to lose the shoulder she was comfortably leaning against during the movies. “I get it, you’re too old for this,” she called after her lover’s retreating figure. Andy shook her head fondly, and smiled because the others couldn’t see her. But there was just something about how loudly Nile laughed at that joke that just sparked a hint of worry in the older woman’s mind. She tried to ignore it, as long as she could.

--

A few days later, after a couple of minutes of lying awake in bed, Andy turned to her side and happily devoted herself to trailing feather-light kisses on Quynh’s bare shoulders to get her to wake up. Her fingertips were starting to dance in secret patterns on the soft skin of the other woman’s back, when Andy’s ministrations were interrupted by Quynh, who quickly moved so she could capture Andy’s lips with her own and give her a real good morning kiss. Though, after pulling back, she went back to lying on her stomach and said, “I know you’re old, my heart, but do you have to wake up this early?”

“Excuse me?” Andy laughed, not at the joke, precisely. But there was just something too sweet about the sight of Quynh, unable to hold back a smile, even if trying to hide her face in the pillow, but stubbornly keeping her eyes closed.

“Let me sleep!” Quynh mumbled against her pillow, and she had to bravely accept a kiss on the cheek, but she was finally granted extra time to sleep.

Still wearing a content smile on her face, Andy walked to the kitchen. She was half-way through her first cup of coffee, which she almost dropped, when Nile walked into the kitchen and without even looking Andy in the eyes said, “My grandma used to wake up before everyone else too.”

--

Soon enough, their teasing became a constant in their lives.

“I don’t get it,” Nile complained, dropping her head in a book written in Russian and groaning loudly. 

“It’s not that difficult!” Andy insisted, in perfect Russian.

Nile, assuming what she’d just said, protested, “You only say that because you’re older than the entire language.”

“That’s complicated,” Andy grumbled, still in Russian.

“No, she’s right, darling, you’re that old,” Quynh blurted out in matching Russian, with a few struggles, from her place reading a different book a few feet away on the couch.

After Nile burst out laughing, Andy looked at her with a frown, “Oh so that you understand?!”

--

Even during moments that could have been emotionally difficult, Andy was caught off guard by the ruthlessness of the women around her.

“We can’t do it, it’s too risky,” Andy insisted, about a new sketchy mission offered to them that the youngest member of the family was determined to take, “Listen, Nile…”

“What? I’ll get it when I’m older… than civilization?” Nile crossed her arms defensively, as if that could hide the hint of a smile showing in her lips.

Quynh absolutely failed to stifle a laugh. And when she received a pointed look from her wife, she returned the expression in kind and said, “Was that not the point of whatever you were about to say?”

“We are not taking this job,” Andy stated through clenched teeth, right before learning a valuable piece of information about the mission that they would, in the end, take and successfully complete.

--

“Nile!” Andy yelled, kicking open the door of their latest safe house and storming into the living room. “Nile!”

“What did she do now, and why didn’t she include me?” Quynh walked out of the kitchen with a proud grin already in place.

“Our fake identities just arrived,” Andy grumbled. “Take a look.”

Quynh hummed as she took in her hands the handful of passports Andy passed her. She glanced at them, but found nothing out of the ordinary. “What's the problem, my love? You look frighteninly pretty, as always.”

Although she was still frowning profusely, during a second, a smile broke out on Andy’s face. But then, “She did it on purpose! Look at my age!”

This time, Quynh bit her lip to hold back her smile. After taking a closer look at the passport, she looked up with a small smirk and a playfully raised eyebrow, “Fifty?”

“Fifty!” Andy exclaimed, outraged. “I’ve never been fifty! Fucking fifty! How does she dare-”

“Andromache!” Quynh was openly laughing then. “You are thousands of years old!” When her lover attempted to turn away from her in a rage, Quynh dropped the passports and quickly wrapped her arms around Andy’s waist and hugged her close. “Come on, it’s not a big deal! You don’t look a day over forty eight.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Andy scoffed, but when she turned around to kiss Quynh, there was a small smile on her face.

--

“Quynh! Please tell this crazy old woman to give me back my phone!” Nile stormed into the safe house.

She was quickly followed by Andy saying “We have rules about social media, Nile! To keep us safe.”

Quynh strolled into the living room with a smile on her face that everyone else might have assumed was patient or gentle, but Andy knew it was the kind of smile that brought trouble for her specifically. “Nile, you have to understand,” Quynh said slowly, “She’s too old for this kind of thing.”

As she finished talking, Quynh reached out to take Nile’s phone, Andy quickly blocked her attempt and laughed, “Are you serious?” It started an impressive duel where they fought for the cellphone, with Quynh coming out as the winner for being just slightly quicker, something she would probably remind Andy of for years.

“It’s just a different generation,” Quynh continued to laugh, tossing the phone over to the younger woman a second before Andy threw her arms around her.

“You’re literally older than everyone else in our family combined!” Andy protested as the two of them playfully wrestled in the middle of the living room.

“And you are twice as old as me!” Quynh replied, followed by a yelp of surprise as the love of her life lifted her up from the floor.

The two of them only stopped fighting when they noticed a flash coming from the camera of Nile’s phone. “Hm, you’re both right,” Nile smirked, quickly sending the hilarious picture to their family’s groupchat, “The two of you are ancient.”

Nile walked away from them, leaving behind two women wearing shocked expressions, though Andy was delighted, and Quynh appeared deeply betrayed. “Hey!” Quynh tried to protest, but she was happily interrupted by a kiss from Andy, who a moment later started tickling her, just to start their loving battle all over again.

[elizabeth-mitchells]

supercut of us - The Old Guard (2020) - TOGFemslashFortnight

@tog-femslashfortnight - Saturday's Prompt: Free Choice

This is especially for everyone at the TOG Femslash Discord <3

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Andy | Andromache the Scythian/Quynh | Noriko, Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Nile Freeman & Quynh | Noriko Characters: Andy | Andromache of Scythia, Quynh | Noriko, Nile Freeman Additional Tags: TOGFemSlashFortnight, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, ish, Headcanon, Friendship, Team Bonding, World Travel, Fluff and Humor, Tooth-Rotting Fluff Words: 3517

Inspired by 57 headcanons shared on the TOG Femslash Discord... (which you can find along with their creators here)

After Andy and Quynh are reunited they decide to travel the world with Nile. Andy deals with her uncertain mortality, Quynh deals with the twenty-first century, and Nile... deals with both of them. It's fun, exciting, sweet and never boring.

There was just something about the way Quynh was holding Andy’s hand, which was perfectly complemented by the exact pressure of Andy’s hold, but defied by the purposeful pattern that Quynh’s thumb was drawing on the back of Andy’s hand. Then, of course, there was also something else to be said about the particular arch of Andy’s eyebrow, or just a flash of a frown in Quynh’s face, followed by Andy biting her lip, and answered with a brief pout from Quynh. Which lead to-

“What are you guys doing?” Nile blurted out, finally exasperated by the way the two women had been silently staring at each other for four minutes doing nothing but exchanging microexpressions and holding hands. “Did you guys changed your mind?” she tilted her head.

“No,” Quynh replied slowly, “I was just asking Andromache if she’d like me to stab her just once more to check if she is still immortal.”

Andy rolled her eyes, not very happy to be reminded about the fact that she still couldn’t figure out if her immortality was back or not. She had scars now, but still healed much faster than she should. It was complicated. “We’re ready to go, Nile,” Andy grumbled, as they finally followed the younger woman to the plane. With just one look Quynh had let her know she wasn’t feeling particularly great about being locked in that small plane for a long period of time. Andy was comforting, and reassuring, let her know that she disliked it just as much. “It’s safe though, trust me, I’ve only crashed one without meaning to once, or twice. And it was back when they were considerably less safe,” she added.

“Without meaning to,” Quynh shook her head fondly, “And that wouldn’t even be you at your worst now would it, my heart? You love falling from high places.”

Before Andy could protest, Nile was exclaiming, “Oh you have to tell me about that Quynh.”

“Not again,” Andy groaned, falling into her seat in the plane.

Once inside, it was obvious that Quynh’s anxiety of the reduced and unfamiliar place was kicking in again. With a smile as kind and bright as ever, Nile offered her her phone and headphones and said, “You know what I think could help? Music. And I have just the right-”

“Just the right kind of meaningless, over simplified, repetitive-”

“Oh, excuse me, I forgot classic rock was the only valid form of music. Andy, you’re a cliche grandma.”

“I told you to stop calling me that.”

“Quynh agrees with me!”

Their always-loving, never-ending bickering stopped for a moment, so they could both look at the third member of their group looking for her evaluation of the argument. Quynh, who had been so completely engrossed in Nile’s favorite playlist of pop music that she had missed the take-off of the plane entirely, only looked up when she took notice of the silence around her. “Hm, what?” she took off one earbud, looking from one face to another and nodded, “Yes, my heart, you are too old to understand. And this is actually really good.” She went back to her music and, by the end of the flight, she may or may not have accidentally started listening to a jazz music playlist, and ended up absolutely loving that too.

--

During the first hour of their hike, Nile tried to remember that she was exploring the world with the two oldest women on Earth, women who could teach her absolutely everything, women with knowledge so invaluable it was difficult to comprehend. Women who, also, sometimes acted like annoying children. 

“You slipped on a little bit of mud and broke your skull when you fell down, that’s worse,” Andy argued.

“Not as bad as dying because you failed to balance your own axe on your head! Even after I told you not to do that, Andy,” Quynh insisted.

Teasing each other like that was as natural as breathing, but that little detail of Quynh calling her just Andy, it had the oldest woman narrowing her eyes and suspecting it was better to give up the fight. “Anyway, it was Nile who shot herself in the foot for no reason at all,” she mumbled, attempting to change the subject.

Except, “Yeah, but it didn’t kill me,” Nile raised her hands in faked innocence while the three of them started laughing. As annoying as it could be to travel with the oldest couple on Earth, it was also a lot of fun.

--

Quynh had opted to stay behind to rest and look over their camp, so it was just Andy and Nile slowly riding their horses around. 

“You’re doing great, kid,” Andy sent a smile her way, “Just a little more practice and you can join me on the Mongol Derby next year.” The younger woman replied with a genuinely frightened expression. She was just learning how to do that, she didn’t need to think about the absurd things that Andy, who apparently had loved and befriended horses before anyone had even thought about domesticating them, would do. Still, she knew she’d probably end up joining her and being dragged into whatever chaos that experience would entail. “I hope Quynh will join too, she’d be amazing. Though, I didn’t tell you this but, she used to be terrified of horses,” Andy finished with a soft chuckle.

Nile laughed along with her and as a reflex she looked back in the general direction of where they’d last seen Quynh. When she looked back at Andy she was surprised to find a not entirely unfamiliar look of melancholy on her friend’s face. Before Quynh came back, that was Andy’s usual look, but it had been a while since Nile had seen her like that. She took the risk to say, “I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for you, when you lost her.”

For a second, Andy looked surprised to hear those words. “Good,” was the first thing she replied, wholeheartedly hoping the young woman would never even have to imagine that sort of pain, that absolutely devastating loss of having your universe ripped to shreds, decades of looking over your shoulder to find out your better half is no longer there.

But, on second thought, she remembered how closed off she had been when they all first met Nile, and in a matter of months Quynh was back and everything had changed too quickly. Perhaps she owed her some part of the story.

“I never really stopped looking for her, you know?” Andy took a deep breath, her heart warmed by the genuine interest in Nile’s gentle eyes. “Just weeks before we found you I was still trying… It was hell though, back then, when it first happened. I got my revenge and a little too late I found out there was no one alive who could tell me where she was. Then I had to accept she was impossible to find, and accept I’d never be the same again. I shave this whole thing off,” Andy ran a hand through her hair, making the most of that brief moment to try to soothe her raging emotions, and remind herself she was just remembering, and this time Quynh really was back, waiting for her nearby. “I got into piracy for a couple of years, still bent on revenge and staying closer to, you know, the ocean. And a lot of regrets.”

“It brought all of us here though, right? She’s back,” Nile added with a smile that she hoped could cheer up her friend at least slightly. It worked though. Andy, not for the first time, found herself not only endeared by the young woman’s optimism, but surprisingly agreeing with her.

--

This time it was Andy and Nile waiting for Quynh by the beach. The island was just big enough for the three of them to hide without worrying that someone would figure out if was Quynh it was who had just killed one of the wealthiest men in the world. When she arrived at their spot on the beach and took a seat by the fire, she was still impeccably dressed, barely a hair out of place.

“Well, that felt good,” she sighed, getting comfortable in the sand, “Also, you’re welcome. Unless you had stock in his company. Actually, I don’t know how that works. It doesn’t matter to me, and I bet it doesn’t matter to any part of him left.”

Despite Nile’s shocked, slightly disturbed, and somewhat confused expression, Andy smiled, completely smitten by the woman beside her. “Take a look,” she told her lover, nodding her head toward the sky, not taking her eyes of Quynh, “Beautiful, isn’t it.”

“Mesmerizing as always,” Quynh replied in a whisper, leaning back on her hands to look up at the stars above them as the two of them always loved to do. “Always changing…”

“Wait, what?”

Smiling at the younger woman’s confusion, Quynh added, “Hey, Nile, bonfires are perfect for some good stories. What do you think, are you interested?”

Nile agreed immediately and Quynh expertly launched herself into dozens of epic tales that, with the power of only her words, took the three of them all over the world and all over history. She reminded Andy that this wasn’t the first time they took care of greedy dictators. She talked them through the discovery of lands for the very first time. She brought legends back from the dead and left Nile speechless. She even indulged herself in sharing one or two of her favorite stories of Andy and her, including her time spent as a sculptor with her obvious muse being Andy, and also all the myths she personally started with one of the many special swords Andy singlehandedly created for her.

A very important part of the stories was the interaction between Andy and Quynh. It didn’t take long for Nile to understand how whenever Quynh hesitated on some part of her magnificent stories, Andy was always there ready to provide the missing piece of the puzzle. It might have to do with some part of Quynh’s mind perpetually lost to the unforgiving ocean. But, judging by the way it looked like Quynh expected Andy to fill in the blanks for her, it suggested that this habit of sharing their memories as one wasn’t new at all. 

Quynh was an expert in the art of storytelling. She knew exactly how to tease the knowledge only she had about Andy’s life before immortality, including their birthdays, and yet keep it all still a mystery. She knew just how to bring Nile close to tears with the tale of the Scythian warriors’ welcoming arms giving Andy her first family, and her longest-lasting name, and yet keep to herself the memory of it being just the last name Lykon got to call her.

When Nile can’t help herself anymore and falls asleep, Andy half expected Quynh to be just as tired, but she wasn’t all that surprised when instead the love of her life stood up and offered her a hand. “Are you joining me?” Quynh asked, nodding her head toward the sea, the gentle waves crashing on the shore.

“Are you sure?” Andy asked, but immediately took the hand offered and followed the other woman’s lead in taking off their clothes and walking to the shore.

“It’s terrifying, I admit that. I wouldn’t dare do it without you,” Quynh looked unusually bashful and vulnerable for a moment, the moonlight catching the precious light in her eyes just right, “But there’s just something about it… I need to prove I’m stronger, you know?”

“I am completely certain of that fact, my love,” Andy replied with a smile, taking Quynh’s hand and going into the water with her. And she meant her words. Five hundred years of torture beyond human comprehension, and Quynh was still here, still alive, still herself. There was nothing in this world stronger than her, Andy knew that as a fact.

--

Taking some time to finally stand still and relax in a safe house was a great idea for several reasons. Firstly, Nile would be lying if she said she didn’t miss a stable internet connection, which she made quick use of to sign up for an online Art History course. Plus, the isolated charming little cabin near the woods was the only place where Andy could possibly get away with adopting an actual wild bear cub.

“You stole a baby bear?!” Nile exclaimed, lowering the sword and giving up her training for a moment, because the sight of Andy arriving at the house carrying a bear in her arms was a little too much to easily comprehend.

“She lost her mother,” Andy shrugged, as if it was the most common thing to go around the woods picking up orphan bears to raise like pets.

“She does this often,” Quynh mentioned to Nile, lowering her own sword and instead picking up her recurve bow, “Personally, I prefer big cats. But it’s cute, isn’t it?”

Nile narrowed her eyes and looked at Andy. “I mean… look, that’s not normal. I love penguins, they’re my favorites and I’d love to have one, but they’re not pets. Dogs are my favorite pets, that’s normal!” Before she could get to her arguments about bears not being fit for keeping as pets, she was interrupted by Andy’s newest friend running toward her and instinctively hugging her leg. “Oh… okay, fine, it’s cute but…” But this was her life now, and she wasn’t exactly complaining.

--

Life in the various safe houses they stayed was fun, pleasant, and a very particular kind of peaceful that was only possible when living with actual immortal warriors. It was, at least, never boring. And sometimes it was also surprisingly sweet.

Nile had the brilliant idea of introducing Quynh to many, many things about modern culture. This included a quick review of the twentieth century, and Quynh reacted horrified by world wars, fascinated by 1920’s style, and skeptical about the moon landing. This, somewhat accidentally, involved introducing her to hitmen, leverage, other shows and movies that she passionately loved or disliked, and it was hilarious to watch Andy and Quynh bicker about how attractive or definitely-not-attractive the actors and actresses were. And there was also the occasional video game. Though Quynh definitely developed a love-hate relationship with Candy Crush, often saying to Nile “I’m your friend, your family, I teach you archery tricks that no other person alive knows, and this is how you repay me? You give me this devilishly addictive little game?!” 

Later, Nile was pleased to find out that both women were skilled in doing hairstyles for her, and, even better, since they had learned with Lykon thousands of years ago, they knew ancient styles that thoroughly impressed the young woman. Cooking was, more often than not, a struggle for the three of them. Baking, on the other hand, was a wonderful experience. Maybe Andy didn’t do much beyond distracting Quynh and eating the majority of everything they made, even before it hit the oven. But it was still a good time and, judging by the way Andy nearly burst into tears whenever Quynh offered her any sweet pastry, it was easy to guess there was some sort of meaningful history behind it.

Nile was also lucky enough to witness the moment Quynh found out that same-sex marriage was a perfectly legal thing in some places. Maybe she couldn’t marry the love of her immortal life as soon as she would have liked, maybe they would need to fake a few documents or even try to take advantage of some odd American laws, but she couldn’t wait for the moment it’d finally be official. Andy perfectly understood how she felt. Maybe they had absolutely no need for anyone or anything to certify their love for each other, but it would surely be fun to get to do something that for centuries was denied to them. That was partly the reason why Andy had attended college a handful of times, as soon as it was legal for women to do so, just to proudly get kicked out.

As perfect as the dynamic between the three of them was, they all needed their moments to themselves, and Nile had learned when to give the couple the space they needed. Plus, she also got time to herself. This entire life was a, literally, never-ending adventure, but it was necessary to take the time to breathe, take a step back, and think about things. One of Nile’s favorite things to do to achieve some peace of mind was journaling. Truthfully, it started as a desperate attempt to write letters to her family that she would never send. But it soon became a helpful habit that kept her grounded. And also busy, on those times when Andy and Quynh disappeared for a handful of hours at a time.

--

It was starting to happen less and less, but it was still a common occurrence for Quynh to wake up feeling the weight of the entire ocean on her chest. She’d wake up startled, a desperate scream already halfway through her throat, and already halfway prepared to die again. Some nights were harder than others, some nights it took several minutes for Andy to convince Quynh she was safe and alive and far from the sea, and get her to calm down. But then, of course, there were some easier nights, when the warmth of Andy’s body beside her would quickly bring Quynh back to her reality. She’d be shaking, frightened, afraid. But she’d turn to Andy, even with tears and in her eyes and smile in relief.

“Hey, it’s okay, I’m here, you’re safe Quynh,” Andy immediately whispered in the softest tone she could manage, wrapping her arms around her lover, bring her closer, letting her find comfort in her touch and the sound of her heartbeat.

After a few moments, with her face pressed against Andy’s chest, Quynh wondered, “I’m sorry, did I wake you up?”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Andy promised, kissing the top of her head, “And no, as a matter of fact, you didn’t. You fell asleep and I was just reading.” That got Quynh’s attention, getting her to finally meet Andy’s eyes. “It’s been a long time but… The Odyssey, remember that one?”

“Your favorite,” Quynh said softly, granting the other woman a genuine even if small smile, before cuddling closer to her. “Read it to me?” she asked, knowing nothing would make her feel safer, feel better than that. This moment, this connection brought by holding each other tightly, reminded both of them of a time in their past. Shortly after losing Lykon, they would embrace each other just like this, usually after a battle, and it was the only way to soothe their fears, it was a silent promise. The painful memory was gently replaced by Andy’s words recounting her favorite story, a different reassurance, a sweet gesture, and everything Quynh needed at the moment.

--

“You,” Andy said, and kissed her, “are wearing my shirt,” she added, kissing her again.

“Well,” Quynh returned the kiss, “It’s obviously not mine, Andromache,” she teased her, and bit her lip. Pleased with Andy’s eager reaction, Quynh continued kissing her, and let her hands start roaming her lover’s body. She was sitting on Andy’s lap, always more comfortable there than anywhere else. She kept one hand on the other woman’s short hair, since both equally loved it when she played with her hair, and with the fingers of her other hand she caressed Andy’s jaw, her neck, shoulders, and finally arrived at her upper arm. Then she pulled back from the kiss just enough to say, “You have a new scar.”

“Do I?” Andy replied and when she tried to go back to another kiss she was gently rejected.

“I notice, you know?” Quynh added. She had a somewhat complicated relationship with Andy’s scars. They represented a new and interesting part of her lover for her to cherish, so she enjoyed checking up on these small changes every now and then. But it was impossible to ignore that they stood for the love of her life getting hurt, and being, more or less, mortal. She still healed, slowly but surely, and certainly faster than regular people, but… Before her thoughts spiraled out of control, Andy’s gentle hand on her cheek brought her back to their conversation. She had been mindlessly tracing one of Andy’s scars with her fingertips, a new habit that turned out to be comforting for both of them.

“I know,” Andy said with a small smile that was quickly returned. There was more she wanted to say, both of them, but in their case, it could perfectly well be said silently. Starting with resting their foreheads together, taking a deep breath, and holding each other just a little tighter. It was enough, because their love was loud enough to fill the silence for thousands, and thousands of years.

[elizabeth-mitchells]

Fire, help me to forget - The Old Guard (2020) - Andy/Quynh

They had taken her. They had separated them. After thousands of years, how did it happen? After killing thousands of men and surviving thousands of deaths. How the fuck did it happen?

What happens when Andy and Quynh are accused of witchcraft and separated... but Andy gets a chance to fix it.

Andy realized she had been right. Being burned alive was excruciating. There was, however, the possibility that what caused Andy the most pain she’d ever known wasn’t the flames licking up her body, but the thought of Quynh. They had taken her. They had separated them. After thousands of years, how did it happen? After killing thousands of men and surviving thousands of deaths. How the fuck did it happen?

If you are being burned alive, you are not supposed to bear the pain long enough to think about the fact that you are being burned alive. Still, Andy’s mind wouldn’t stop working, even against her most desperate wishes as she begged for her body to for once and for all let her die. She gritted her teeth and focused on every agonizing inch of her skin. She tightened her hands into fists and hoped with all her might that drowning was better than this. She closed her eyes firmly and wished the fire would last for as long as the ocean lasted for Quynh.

There was a group of people gathered around her, watching her burn and burn and continue to burn. She could hear them talking to each other even over the roaring sounds of the flames eating up her body again and again. In normal circumstances, Andy would try to escape as quickly as possible and leave behind as few casualties as possible too. But this time was different, so different. She made no move at all to escape. And she hoped, for the sake of these ignorant, foolish souls surrounding her, that they will leave before she escapes her blazing prison. Because she didn’t feel like being merciful this time.

She deserved this, Andy told herself. It was the least she could go through after letting them take Quynh. It wasn’t fair, it should have been her, Andy repeated to herself each time she healed and woke up after passing out from the burning pain. It went on and on. Andy focused on soaking in the pain and the equally as violent thoughts, she passed out, and then came back again. It was an unrelenting loop of It should have been me, I’ll kill them all, How will I find her, I deserve this, She needs me, I miss her, It should have been me, I wish we’d both died, It burns, Is she drowning, I deserve this, I love her, She loves me, Until the end, Is this the end?

Andy could only keep count of how many times she died burning there for so long. Just as the fire had to die at some point. Before she did, most likely. And yet, Joe and Nicky arrived first. They were heroes, they never give up, they believed in achieving impossible things and usually just their presence was enough for Andy to believe as well. For all the love they gave each other and the bravery in which they faced every battle, Andy admired them, she was proud of them.

They came riding horses, with their swords in hand, and they dispersed the crowd around Andy as if it were nothing. While Nicky guarded his back, Joe jumped from his horse and worked on getting Andy out of the fire. The woman collapsed on the ground. Gone was the frail, little and dirty dress that didn’t stand a chance against the fire. Her burns healed too fast for the liking of her own scorched heart. She made no movement but that required of her lungs to breathe. And she hated the relief she got from laying on the ground for she knew her love wasn’t as lucky. Or so Andy thought.

“Andromache! Andromache wake up!” Joe shook her body and turned her on her back. Hurried and clumsily he managed to cover her still-healing body with his cape that he had taken off for her. “Andromache, the ship has not sailed.”

“What?!” Andy exclaimed. This time she opened her eyes and had never, for as long as she could remember, felt as glad to be alive.

“Her ship is still here, we can get to her,” Joe stated. He sported a small, encouraging, and hopeful smile, and his eyes shone with more determination than entire armies could gather in hundreds of men.

“We should move,” Nicky called them from his horse, and threw over a sword for Andy. He was focused on the task at hand, protect Andy, protect Joe, save Quynh. Still, he couldn’t avoid meeting Andy's eyes and giving her a nod. They could do this. They would.

They were surrounded again. Nicky was doing a spectacular job at keeping their enemies at bay, but the other two easily jumped into the fight. It wasn’t difficult to get the upper hand in a fight when you have thousands of years more of experience than your opponents, and you have the fervent urgency to save the love of your life from a heinous fate. One by one the English soldiers started to fall. Andy jumped on Joe’s horse and Joe joined Nicky. The three of them with bloody swords and overflowing valor sped up toward the shore.

They had to their advantage that everyone around was terrified because, to their knowledge, an undead witch was coming to take revenge on them. They realized all was well when the witches were chained and locked down. But Andromache the Scythian, stronger than ever even after being burned alive, riding on a horse and wielding a sword, well, none of them could compete. The smarter soldiers moved away before Andy could reach them.

When the sailors and soldiers on the ship watched the chaos from afar and were notified that one of the witches was coming their way, they got to work on leaving the dock in record time. They removed the plank and got moving, but that didn’t stop Andy, Nicky, and Joe from jumping. They were grasping whatever piece of the ship they had managed to hold on to as if their lives depended on it, or something more, something that couldn’t be replicated, someone depended on it, on them. From the dock, people shoot arrows and watched in absolute horror as the unstoppable creatures dismissed the wounds and continued to climb over the hull of the ship. The difference between them was that three of them were fighting and not giving up just out of love, while the hundreds of people around them were relentless out of sheer anger and fear.

Impressively so, the men on the ship were still overly confident. That mistake would cost them their lives. The immortal warriors didn’t come to negotiate. They were taking their friend back, whatever it takes. The problem was, they did perhaps too good of a job at taking down the first wave of men that came at them. It was enough to terrify the rest of them beyond rational actions. The ship had started to move and many men started jumping off of it as they watched that woman and two men seamlessly take down the best soldiers they had, two at a time. The real problem, the actual tragedy was that they scared the captain of the ship, the priest that came on board with them, and enough sailors that would help them make the final push of the iron coffin over the board and to the ocean below.

In thousands and thousands of years, Andy was certain that no other sound had ever pained her as much as Quynh screaming her name as they locked her into the iron coffin. That was desperate fear like Andy had never seen. People think they are scared of dying but she and her family knew there were worse things. They had enough imagination to figure out what that prison would have meant. So, Andy fought like she had never fought before to make sure she got to Quynh on time. And she had heard it. As soon as she got on the ship and started killing men in any and all directions, among the deafening noises of the battle, she heard Quynh again. She heard her screaming her name. She sounded hopeful. Selfishly, Andy also felt better for herself, knowing she wouldn’t have to go on with her life carrying that one scream of her name as the last thing she ever heard from Quynh.

But then it happened. Fear drives people to act on irrational impulses, to take every last desperate measure to escape from danger. In the minds of those miserable men, the greatest threat was the two witches together. Even when facing death coming at them at full speed from every angle, their pride and their ignorance didn’t leave room for bargaining or giving up. The last thing they did was push Quynh over the board of the ship.

At least, Andy hoped that Joe and Nicky would make sure that was the last thing those men did. She didn’t have the time to make sure of it herself. She echoed Quynh’s screams with one of her own and this time, without chains, without restraints, Andy ran after her. She ran and she jumped and she fell into the water.

Andy was still holding her sword and the fall hurt like hell but there wasn’t time to dwell on pain anymore. Andy’s entire focus was the rapidly sinking iron prison. She swam with all the strength she was ever capable of and still, when she caught up with it she was met with a lock. Two soulmates met at the bottom of the ocean with a wall of iron and a lock keeping them apart. Their fists slammed against the barrier from both ends in a painful rhythm, a furious beat, a tragic symphony. And they died, they drowned together for a first time.

Coming back to life while still underwater was an indescribable feat. They awoke screaming with water already invading their lungs. But Andy fought back with nature and the unnatural and she did it all for Quynh. She used her sword and she slammed it against the lock. She managed it the best she could and still it wasn’t enough. They died once more, drowning together a second time. But giving up wasn’t an option. Andy was prepared to live an eternity under the sea until she could get heart love, her heart, her everything out of her imprisonment. It was unjustly difficult and it was tempting to describe her goal as impossible and her efforts as futile, but Andy kept going, Quynh kept hoping, they kept drowning and coming back to life together.

When the lock broke down, it felt like a miracle had been achieved. When Quynh managed to slip out of the cage and her hands touched Andy again, they could recognize the real miracle was in each other. Drowning one or five times in the process was nothing compared to the feeling of feeling invincible as they swam together toward the surface, as they met Nicky and Joe that had jumped in the water already searching for them. Finally, they got to the surface. Finally, Andy and Quynh could breathe again. They could kiss again, they could swear out loud, again and again, that they wouldn’t be separated again, they wouldn’t have to be alone ever again, they would be together until the end.

Andy’s experience through the centuries had let her know that humanity’s perception of her immortality was uncertain. Some people had worshiped her as a God for her gift. Some people had made it their personal duty to make sure she died. In different ways, but they had all failed. The result was that Andy figured that it didn’t matter if her inability to die was a blessing or a curse, what mattered was to keep it a secret, to do the best she could with it, and to protect her people, her family.

She had already lost one. Lykon. When his time to go arrived, there had been nothing she could do to fight it. It wasn’t such a bad thing, that he got to finally rest in peace. Still, the heartbreak for her had been enough to leave her absolutely certain that she would fight heaven and hell to protect Quynh, and then Nicky and Joe too when they found them. Maybe Andy couldn’t help them and keep them from dying. But about any other kind of suffering, there was nothing she wouldn’t do to save them from pain.

That day at the docks had been one of the scariest of Andy’s life. Even though they were all exhausted beyond measure, after they had escaped from the soldiers and priests and violent crowds, they continued to run. They put as much distance as humanly possible from that event in their lives and them. It was late at night when they finally sought refuge in a small and well-hidden cave. They had started a fire and scavenged the minimum of food to satisfy that need, then they collapsed down in exhaustion. Joe and Nicky laid down and curled up together and were lucky enough to fall asleep almost immediately.

Andy and Quynh, on the other hand, and despite how tired they felt, couldn’t even conceive the idea of falling asleep. Andy could still so clearly recall the feeling of the flames kissing her skin. It had burned so badly, and now she felt so cold. Quynh still felt chills in her bones, the unforgiving cold of the sea rushing around inside her. They were sitting on the ground, with their backs resting against the wall of the cave. Andy had one arm wrapped around Quynh, who had her head resting on Andy’s shoulder and an arm draped over Andy’s stomach. They were safe and sound, but still restless and upset. They were trying to pass their touches as just gentle and not at all nervous as they were and yearning for the reassurance of the presence of the other one close to them.

“Have I said thank you?” Quynh said after a while, knowing full well Andy was as awake as she was.

“There is no need,” Andy whispered back to her, “I would do it again a thousand times. I… I can’t imagine… Quynh, what if…”

“Andromache,” Quynh lifted her head to look at Andy, and found the woman couldn’t look her in the eyes. “Look at me,” she requested as she gently placed a hand in Andy’s cheek. When their eyes met each other, Quynh smiled, “It is fine, Andromache, we are safe.” She saw Andy open her mouth, ready to protest, but she interrupted her, “We can rest now, we deserve it.”

Her words worked like a charm and she was delighted to feel Andy’s body relax, some of the tension slip away from her shoulders. The cave was mostly quiet save for the crackling of the fire and their breathing. Andy hadn’t stopped feeling on high alert the entire day, but she was beginning to absorb the peace that the other woman radiated. “I feel safe with you,” Quynh whispered, as her fingers drew mindless shapes on Andy’s skin, traveling on her jaw and down her neck. The caresses dissolved Andy’s walls and fears in the most tender of ways. Her hand grazed Andy’s shoulder and finally, she settled her palm on Andy’s chest. The feeling of her heartbeat there, that was the most sacred of experiences Quynh could remember feeling. Her thumb brushed the necklace that she’d given Andy some centuries ago. “I want you to promise me something,” Quynh whispered.

“Yes?” Andy replied. It was at once a question and already an agreement.

“Promise you will never take it off,” as she said the words, Quynh’s hand toyed with the little necklace.

The moment felt so immensely precious that it drew a small gasp from Andy. She didn’t want to make that promise, because she knew what it meant. Will you keep my necklace, this tiny piece of me, even if you lose me, even if we never see each other again, will you keep this part of me with you forever?

“I promise,” Andy replied. As much as it pained her, she meant it. Her voice quivered and her eyes were glassy and even then they were the most beautiful pair of eyes Quynh had ever seen. There was nothing in this world she loved more than those blue eyes.

Quynh leaned up and placed a gentle kiss in Andy’s jaw. That act was her other side of the promise. Andy would fight anything and everything for her family, but she had to know they were there to fight for her too. Quynh specifically needed her to know, and she reminded her in every kiss and loving touch, that they’ll always have each other, that they were bound together in a way nobody could ever replicate or begin to understand.

A peaceful feeling enveloped them finally. This time, their bodies had forgotten the desperate pressure of the bottom of the ocean, and were now gently replaying the soft swaying of the waves. Still, there was something else pulling on Andy’s heart. Her hold on Quynh tightened. There was a pressure on her chest that felt like it could crush her. And if she didn’t say the words aloud she would scream and she would cry. She needed Quynh to know that above all things, beyond their courage, their power, their promises, and the fights, she loved her. She wanted to tell Quynh that she loved her, simply. She loved her, completely. She loved her in a way that was theirs and theirs only, and she said it in the words that they had claimed over the centuries and meant everything and more to them.

“Quynh” Andy whispered, her voice tense with emotion. She waited until the woman in her arms turned to look at her in the eyes. “Just you and me?” Andy asked, she was almost begging, she had desperately needed to say it, and to hear the answer.

“Until the end,” Quynh replied, promised, swore that was their truth.

Just like that, the raging fire inside Andy settled down, the furious seas inside Quynh calmed down. They were free from the terrors of that day, they were together to move on and continue to fight the wrongs of the world and love each other in the right ways. Andy smiled, she smiled genuinely and she smiled mostly because she knew that Quynh would return the smile. There was nothing she loved more than Quynh’s smile.