AND THEN THE DAWN CAME, upcoming chapter excerpt from the band of brothers fic
featuring mercy codona and floyd talbert
coming soon!
"You sure Bill's not gonna have a word with me for stealing his foxhole buddy?" Tab said as he dropped down into the foxhole, shuffling a bit, before situating directly beside her and glancing her way, tilting his head downwards slightly to get a better look at her from under his helmet. Mercy watched him, quietly in the bit of moonlight they still seemed to have, before her eyes darted away and she smiled, chuckling quietly to herself.
"No, no, I've been replaced," Mercy said jokingly, "it seems Philly boys band together and Babe was a suitable counterpart." Tab let out a bark of a laugh before glancing at her.
"How the hell have you been replaced then? There's only one half-pint," Tab said before chuckling again, "he's like twice your height."
"Okay, asshat, no need to beat a dead horse when the name is evidence enough." Mercy said, which got Tab laughing again. They quieted down, falling into a companionable silence, as Mercy stared at the opposite side of the foxhole, the smile that was on her face slowly dropping.
"What are you gonna do when the war's over, Tab?" Mercy asked quietly, listening to him shuffle a bit more to get comfortable beside her again. She could see him staring at her out of the corner of her eye again.
"Well, I....I don't know," Tab said softly, his voice barely above a whisper as he leaned a bit into her side, "can't even think past tonight, who knows about tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll head back to Kokomo, get a job, start making money of my own again." Mercy glanced over at him with a quiet smile. He grinned a little wider. "Get married at some point, have a few kids. All with my smile."
"You really like to talk yourself up, huh?" Mercy said as Tab laughed and shook his head.
"All I know is that I'm going to get as far away from this place as I can," Tab said again, quieter this time, his smile falling as his eyes went a little blank, "I don't want it to change me." Mercy's eyes watered slightly, before she turned her gaze over to him again.
"Yeah," she managed out, nodding, "sounds like a plan, huh?" Tab laughed slightly, sounding more choked than he probably wanted.
"Well, what about you?" Tab said, bumping her shoulder. Mercy smiled a bit and shrugged.
"I don't know..." she said, wrapping her arms around herself, suddenly embarrassed at the thought of what she could possibly want for her future. She never usually got what she wanted, to even dream about it was a stretch of the imagination. Like when she was a kid, in her bed, tucking her own self into bed, rather than her mother or father, dreaming of a life where she had a mother who tucked her in and kissed her forehead goodnight, or a father who was there in the morning, breakfast made, an actual smile on his face, love in his eyes.
"Oh c'mon....I see the look on your face, you must have that vision of something in your mind," Tab said, "c'mon, what is it, huh?" Mercy looked to him.
"It's stupid."
"I can promise ya, it ain't stupid, half-pint, you just heard me a few minutes ago, talking out my ass about my kids having my smile."
"That's science though isn't it?"
"That's not the point." Mercy chuckled and then sighed. She shrugged.
"I want to wake up in a house that feels loved," she said, tucking her arms in tighter to feel smaller, "you know....like in the books or movies. Where you come downstairs and it smells like cinnamon and lemon, there's coffee brewed, fresh toast with jam." Mercy smiled to herself before looking over at Tab and found him watching her, a strange look in his eye that sent her stomach swooping. She could feel her body warming and hoped to God that with Tab pressed into her side a bit, he didn't notice. She nervously laughed a bit and shrugged it away.
"And there's probably a dog." That got Tab to break a bit out of his stupor, laughing lightly at her words and nodding.
esther armstrong, on d-day, in and then the dawn came (a band of brothers fic)
lyrics: nostalgia's lie by sam fender
They continued to walk on their desired path forward, continuing on in both the stillness and the quiet of the morning, their footfalls the only sound besides rustling leaves with the breeze, or cracking of sticks and boots on rock.
It was an uneasy peace that Esther managed to find that early morning.
For once, after the chaos of their landings, their fateful jumps from those planes, Esther found the peace she was hoping she'd find in the dawn. Because the dawn always came, even after the horrors of what the night could bring.
Despite the sweat on her brow, her slightly aching feet, her limp leg and how dry her throat was beginning to feel, she finally felt like this was where she belonged. Like everything leading up to this moment had both been worth it and more than anything, needed. It was like that point in the children's books where the main character was forced to grow up, plunged into an unlikely situation where they were suddenly unfamiliar with every single aspect of their current environment. That's what she was reminded of now.
HI YALL!!!!! WOWWWW it’s been a minute and i apologize for that 😭 ive been working SO MUCH since graduating college and have had days off here and there but they’ve been filled with grad school prep and so otherwise i’ve been literally just racing around doing things for that. i’ve been updating ATTDC weekly but haven’t been able to this past weekend because of work (lol). so im hoping to update today at some point! OTHERWISE! now that the busiest time at work is basically over, im going to try and be on here a little bit more, maybe make some things for ATTDC and yap a bit about it too!!!! ANYWAY! hope you all are well!
September 4th, 1943
Camp Mackall, North Carolina
War Correspondent Esther Armstrong
Before her company shipped out to England, I did a sit-down interview with her in the Hotel Manhattan. Armstrong came in a little bit fidgety, but I disregarded it nonetheless once that first article had come out about the successes of the Airborne and I had read her writing and was vividly amazed by what she was able to put on the page. She introduced herself and shook my head and sat down a bit stiffly in the chair across from myself. She adorned her Class-A's and her Jump Wings proudly from what I could tell; it made me all the more excited to interview her. She had a lot of stories and ideas and thoughts that all blended seamlessly into a story and she was able to keep your attention with whatever she said; I thought, this girl's incredible! I could tell though how serious this was for her and I could see what other articles meant when they spoke to her. She had a job to uphold, a serious one and she wasn't going to risk that, especially in the public eye. I respected her and she respected me.
- Calvin Sparrows, TIME, on Esther Armstrong, War Correspondent; Excerpt from Stroke of Luck
[read the rest on AO3!]
taglist: @thoughpoppiesblow
-> if you would like to be added to the taglist, please just let me know! :D
The boat ride across the Atlantic lasted from September the 3rd to September the 18th and was by far one of the more interesting parts of the last year. Not only was the war practically a stalemate at all fronts, but we'd been moved from camp to camp for training - you know, a change of scenery to brighten the spirits, a new mountain to run up and hope you don't die on! And so a boat ride was honest to God the best thing for the whole company - though it meant leaving home; it meant leaving America. Seeing Lady Liberty fade into nothing but sunset-bathed clouds was by far one of the strangest emotions I felt. A part of me wondered when I'd see it again - (there was that word again) home.
- Esther Armstrong, from her book, Stroke of Luck
[read the rest on AO3!]
taglist: @thoughpoppiesblow
-> if you would like to be added to the taglist, please just let me know! :D
How it works: I search for the words previously assigned to me in my latest WIP and then choose four words for you to search for in your WIP.
thank you so much for the tag @hesbuckcompton-baby !!!!! VERY excited to do this! the words: yes, smile, run, laugh
all of these will be from upcoming chapters of And Then The Dawn Came, my Band of Brothers fic i'm currently (slowly) working on!!! (but has been an utter joy to!)
YES
"Congratulations, half-pint, thank you for stating the obvious. And yes, last I saw of her was her curled at one of the tables here last night at 2300. I told her to get the fuck to bed." Tab said with a chuckle, taking a bite of his toast, "Christ, this thing tastes horrible."
SMILE
"Well, ain't this a sight to behold." Floyd said, standing to his feet and holding out a cup of beer towards Mercy, "Two of Easy's finest, what did we do to deserve you two?" Mercy turned to Floyd with feigned surprise and eagerly smiled up at him with glowing eyes.
RUN
"Armstrong." Esther looked up and found a gruff-looking Lieutenant Nixon pouring coffee into his own mug, coughing irritatingly and then looking up at her, "Run-in with Sobel?"
LAUGH
"I would ask you how you got involved yourself," Speirs said, "but I'm afraid some of the articles spoiled that." Esther couldn't help letting out a slight laugh and shrugged her shoulders.
i think i've seen a few people do this but i'll tag a few of the besties in this again: @softspeirs @thoughpoppiesblow @saturnwisteria and @mads-weasley + anyone else who is interested!!!!!
November 12th, 1942 - 2100
Camp Toccoa, Georgia, United States
War Correspondent Esther Armstrong
I felt different in November 1942. It wasn't like it had been years since arriving at Camp Toccoa or that I had gone though this entirely monumental moment that changed my entire perspective for the rest of my life, but there was an evident change. We all knew training at Camp Toccoa was evidently coming to an end and it seemed that flipped a switch inside my mind. That I could actually do this. There was plenty of doubt that became shadowed by blood, grit and sweat, but once November hit, when there was order and routine and a whole lot of Captain Sobel, I came to the conclusion that I would get past this red clay pit in the Appalachia of Georgia and earn my jump wings. The physicality is a major part of the training of the airborne, but having the tact mentally to convince yourself as well, was a whole other level that had yet to be anticipated until now it seemed.
- Esther Armstrong, in her book, Stroke of Luck
[read the newest update here!]
my last taglist for this was pretty old haha....so if you would like to be on a taglist in the future let me know! (if not all good!)
October 2nd, 1942 - 1800
Camp Toccoa, Georgia, United States
War Correspondent Esther Armstrong
Resentment of another within a company will benefit no one else other than the enemy. That was simple enough to have learned in basic classroom instruction in training or read from a textbook; to actually apply it was another. In war, pushing your differences aside or not, meant life or death in many cases. In basic, I could feel half the men take one look to me and assume they would never like what I was doing or who I am. Yet, when we ran nighttime maneuvers and I'd take point, we all trusted one another with our lives. Any man in that squad could've taken the second to dislike me for who I was and what I did, but there was always something greater than that. We had a war in front of us and a fight that was only being fed more wood to brighten the flame. It might have taken over two months for that to get nailed through all of our heads, but realizations like that grow you right up and make you realize there is greater things than the hatred of someone just like yourself.
- Esther Armstrong, in her book, Stroke of Luck
