So, random question that just occurred to me randomly -- what are your thoughts on Nile getting to finally pick out her own clothes when she's shopping in London? Who's with her? What's that day like?
Melly. I love. that you and Laurel both sent these. before the group watch was even over 😂
@knoepfchen I just. sldjflsjflsjf how totally random right (I love you guys)
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“What sizes are we looking for?” Nile asks as they get into town.
Joe says, “Well, you wore Andy’s jeans. Seven and a half shoes. Mostly mediums, she likes room to move. Nicky’s a thirty thirty-two, ten and a half, mediums and larges. I’m the same but thirty-two thirty-four, and--”
His teeth clack together. He wears the same wounded look Nile saw on his face in the lab yesterday. She wishes she had some way to distract him, but until they know each other better, the best she can do is not press.
“They might offer to buy this off me,” she says, tugging on the hem of the Parliament T-shirt she dug out of the cache of musty clothes at the Juliet safehouse.
“Out of the question,” Joe says immediately. “I won’t part with it. God, I remember that night…” This, too, is something he can’t share with her, but at least his expression is wistful now.
A little bell over the door chimes as they walk into the shop. Joe nods to the cashier and moves down the racks against the wall, and when Nile realizes he’s casing the perimeter she does the same on the opposite side. They’re the only customers, first thing on a Monday morning.
Something catches her eye at the back: a cream wool blend varsity jacket. Just the right weight for the damp English springtime. Conscious of the staleness of what she’s already wearing, Nile waits to try it on until she has a full outfit in hand, complete with sneakers that actually fit her.
She regards herself in the mirror in one of the tiny dressing rooms. Is there something new in her eyes? It feels like there should be some spark or depth that sets her apart from other people, after what she’s been through the last three days. All she sees is a tired woman with crispy braids. She needs to do something about that, next.
The outfit is cute, though. Colorful, unlike everything in the safehouse cache. Maybe it’s a bad idea to attract attention in that way, but right now it feels like the only form of expression available to her. She puts the pieces back on their hangers and brings them out where Joe waits with an overburdened trolley. “I guess I shouldn’t get too attached, huh?” she says under her breath as she adds to the pile.
“Depends,” Joe says. “Are you gonna let me see?”
Nile coolly regards his arched brows. “I will if you will,” she says, tilting her chin at the other dressing room.
His first round is an eight out of ten, only because the pants have too many zippers to be taken seriously. Joe doesn’t hold the docked score against her; he rates her a ten and says she should definitely get attached. Nile rolls her eyes at him and picks a totally impractical sundress off the rack.
Joe comes out for the next round in a plaid sweater vest over a polo shirt, and in the third he accidentally selects a pair of jeans sized for Nicky, which look like highwaters on him.
Nile takes some of the clothes meant for Andy. They feel all wrong before she’s even finished dressing, so she lifts the mood by digging her phone out of the old jeans and turning it on in airplane mode. The battery is at thirty-two percent. This will be worth running it down a little.
With the speaker at max volume, she does a slow shuffle out of the dressing room to “Pink + White”.
Joe sidles into view with his back to her, turns around gracefully with fingerguns at the ready, and doubles over in helpless laughter at the sight of her black tank and black jeans.
Oh yeah. Worth it.
Nile’s face hurts from grinning when they finally get to the register. There’s a pair of hoop earrings in the jewelry case and the cashier gets them out when she asks. They’ll do nicely.
The counter vanishes beneath strata of jackets, a dozen jeans and athletic pants, twenty T-shirts, button-ups and sweaters for layering, assorted pairs of shoes and sunglasses, several backpacks, and a spacious duffel.
Nile starts to pay for her share with the money that was already in the back pocket of the jeans when she got them out of the safehouse cache, but Joe presses her hand away and covers it all from a bigger wad of cash than hers. They must have even more squirreled away at the safehouse.
There’s a laundromat the next block over, and when two loads are done and the clothes are packed up once more they get pizza for a late lunch, plus extras to bring back, and in the restroom Nile puts on a clean outfit she chose for herself, still warm from the dryer.
She scopes herself again in the restroom mirror. If there is a profound difference, it’s that the woman in the mirror isn’t a Marine. Not quite, not anymore, despite the tags that still hang by her heart. “Soldier” doesn’t feel like the right word either.
She’s got people she can trust to help her figure out what the right word is, even if it changes depending on the century.
Joe brightens as she comes out of the bathroom. “How’s it feel?” he asks.
“It’s a good start,” Nile says, and Joe smiles broadly at her.
Y’all please check out @morallygreywaren and @werebearbearbar’s story The Voice of Experience for the @oldguardbigbang2021!
It’s so funny and sweet. Illustrating their story was an absolute pleasure!
Summary: Exhausted, nearly propping his eyes open with his fingers to stay awake, Joe takes the time to do one last thing: He sends an email overflowing with gratitude to the owner of the food blog who has saved his life these last few weeks. By the time he realises he forgot to sign his name, Joe has already started to drool onto his pillow.
Andy and Quynh’s engagement party is full of fond memories for Joe; it’s where he met the man who might be the love of his life, and thanks to a helpful food blog, it’s the event that finally taught him to cook. Now if only the owner of that blog wasn’t such a jerk...
For the "Behind the Scenes" questions -- 6 and 30 please!
Melly! 🥰🥰🥰
6. If you’re really concentrating, how many words can you write in a day?
If I’m really, really pushing it I think I could do around 5.5k in a day? i remember writing this fic in a day, concept, research and everything but that was a huge push and something i’ve not been able to replicate without any planning since :D
30. Tell us an idea for a longfic you want to write in the future.
The Old Guard 1.5 - what happens in the six months between Andy saying “Let’s get to work” and Quynh showing up at Booker’s flat. (It is basically going to be an excuse to throw as many slice of life moments as I can into one document and add a story of how I think Nile will change the work the Guard does for the better.) I’ve posted some snippets of it already, and “the future” is hopefully going to be “later this evening”, but we’ll see ;)
Do you think that when the note said 'strange newcomers in town' they were talking about us?? (Okay but srs question now -- favorite comfort fic that isn't yours?)
L I S T E N.
it’s gotta be “4 Minute Window” by @cesperanza (the whole series, not just the title story.) not only are they my favorite Steve & Bucky ever ever, there’s a feeling of total rightness about the way the story & people interact with the city as a living thing. i don’t know if i’ll ever live in NY again but there’s something about that story that just is like. wrapping home around my shoulders like a fuzzy blanket.
Distracting ask - What skill or talent would you most like to have that you don’t already?
Fluency in languages that aren’t English, hands down. Multilingual education in the United States is such a joke (cue John Mulaney saying, “no, we all know that”). I had both Spanish and Japanese classes from kindergarten through fourth grade and if there had been any meaningful pedagogy and if we’d had class more than once a week my five-year-old brain could have soaked that shit up like a sponge, but nope, that was opportunity squandered. I was making good headway with French by the time I finished college and was definitely conversant but I’ve let my skills slip since graduating because I’m not great with self-directed study, which is on me, but I’ve got half a shelf full of books in French and a long winter ahead of me, so I’m going to try to do better.
You got it! Parents might say ‘gimme gimme never gets’ but this does not at all apply here!
15. What’s the fanfic you’ve written that your most proud of?
Oh man, I HATE picking favourites and yes I’m totally gonna link SO.
(All of these are the Old Guard, because I stopped writing fanfic for years until this movie came out SO)
July 1982
So it’s not the best written, but I REALLY like it?? I had such a good time with the atmosphere and the vibe and it’s something I want to explore again. I just love how I set it up and some elements of it. I know where my writing fails and suffers and I am working to improve but I do like it.
Touch Before Heart
This is probably the one I’m most proud of. I’m not sure why, precisely, but so many of the elements within it just work for me? I can recall how happy I felt writing it, and how enjoyable as a writing process it was. I think it came out really well too.
16. What fanfic tropes do you avoid writing for?
Oh man~! I don’t think I’ve actually thought about this one much. I tend to avoid all non-con *and it’s extensions*, as well as underage. Those are always my hard no’s and I never use them in fics. Non-con I will say is more expansive and a bit more of a grey area, but definitely never underage.
I’m not a big fan of High School AU’s and some of that is legitimate bias on my part. I don’t enjoy reading about High School, I hated every second of High School (or mostly every second) and I have no real fondness for the genre. Have used it in a humorous ‘what if’ context though. And that’s about it.
I don’t know what the trope is called, but couples drama. Drama that exists purely to put the couples at odds. I prefer my happy relationships to be mature and secure. If there’s going to be drama or angst, I want the couple to be fighting it/working through it together. To me that’s more compelling.
Angst for the sake of angst. (No happy ending) Angst is fine! But I am a mere bean man. I like happy things.
oh, excellent question, melly. listening to certain songs, and singing along with them if I have the wherewithal. they're usually songs I have a long history with/that sure do make me Feel Things, like "Letters" from Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 or "Denouncing November Blue" by The Avett Brothers or "Be Calm" by fun.
26. what movie would you want to live in?
not permanently, but I would love to visit the version of Messina that exists in the Branagh/Thompson Much Ado, and I also want the dress Kate Beckinsale wears.
