milleniaoffamily - Tumblr blog

[milleniaoffamily]

Joy In Finding

    “I believe we’re off the main road, Yusuf,” the reminder comes out quietly. To him his voice sounds harsh in the quiet, but it seems as though Yusuf barely even registered it.

    “Agreed,” is all he offers in reply. There’s a glint in his eyes that Nicolo can recognize as inspiration but he isn’t always sure of what it’s from. The sun is beginning to set, too, and the room they’re renting is not in the direction they’re going (at least he doesn’t think so, but he can’t be sure anymore). 

    Sometimes Yusuf gets distracted and seems to disappear. Every once in a while he’ll stop and look at the sky or leave some half-spoken words of explanation behind as he wanders down an ally he finds interesting. Nicolo follows, he waits, and he watches as Yusuf searches for whatever it is he’s  trying to find. Sometimes while they’re wandering down winding backstreets Nicolo will lose track of where they are because he’s too busy trying to see what Yusuf is following. Yusuf certainly doesn’t know where they are either.

    Nicolo doesn’t like being lost. He’s found that it generally invites unpleasant situations or at the very least unwanted encounters. That’s not to say that he doesn’t like to interact with unexpected people - in fact interactions with strangers are one of Nicolo’s favorite things. The sudden camaraderie of two people sitting next to each other who previously never knew each other, or even the breezy acknowledgement of two pedestrians as they pass each other remind him of the beautiful connection that all humans have. But being lost just leads to confusion and frustration in his experience. He can’t imagine where Yusuf could possibly hope to end up.

    “Where are you going?” Nicolo’s question is matter-of-fact, not stern or pleading. Yusuf turns as if he’s genuinely surprised that time has passed and nods.

    “Oh, I don’t know yet,” The answer only confuses him more. Yusuf’s face brightens with that smile that lights the whole sky, though, and suddenly it doesn’t matter so much where they are.

    The rest of the walk they are silent. Nicolo has no issue with this - he loves quiet. Eventually they stop at a small dock where an old rowboat sits tethered, the rope weathered and fraying. He stands a few paces away and watches as Yusuf sits. The man looks otherworldly, framed by the light of the moon peeking from behind the clouds as familiar scents of the sea tease at Nicolo’s memory. Neither know how much time passes as they remain. Each is lost in his own moment.

    Once they’re finally back in the comfort of their room Nicolo looks at his love curiously.

    “Where were you?” He thanks all the heavens for the laugh lines that appear when Yusuf smiles.

    “Who can be sure?” His tone is sarcastically mystic and it elicits a huff of laughter from the Genoan. 

                                                             ***

    The poem sits on the windowsill by their bed. Nicolo has read it many times. Yusuf is still asleep, but Nicolo woke an hour ago only to find it bathed in the early-morning sunlight by the bedside. 

Every so often

Let me be lost

For there is so much joy in finding

Let me search for words

Live in mistakes

Lurch

Stumble overboard

Give me time to float

Buoyant 

on a moment

Breath hanging

unattended 

Left out to dry

Maybe I’ll find a song

On my way back to you

    “I enjoy being lost sometimes. You don’t have to be lost with me if you don’t, though.” Yusuf has been awake long enough that the sleep has cleared from his eyes. Nicolo must have been so immersed in his words that he hadn’t noticed. There’s a very present edge to Yusuf’s gaze now and Nicolo can’t look away. The kind of smile that spreads slowly across Nicolo’s face washes over him.

    “I’m not lost, amê mæ, I am following you.” Yusuf reaches out to him - a silent request for him to come back to bed, and Nicolo has no intention of refusing.

[milleniaoffamily]

Twin Braids

Blood drips Bright against your skin You do not growl Or scream You gripe that it dried in your hair Laughter like a brook I can breathe You are so young and yet There you stand beside guiding softly Patient smile despite the times we tug your hair while learning to braid

        The scrap of journal paper feels somehow soft in her hands. It had been waiting for her by the coffee maker that morning - just sitting there for her to read. The poem is in Joe’s artistic swoopy handwriting. Also who else would leave poetry around? Nile re-reads it, wiping the sleep away from her eyes. Her body is still waking her up at way-too-fucking-early o’clock but she wants to make sure she gets all the words straight. 

        She can’t help but laugh a little at the last couple lines. A few nights ago he’d braided her hair for her. It was how her mother had dealt with bad hair days when she was little until she learned to do it herself. There was something comforting about having someone be there to do it for her again. First the braids had been too loose, then they were uneven, and finally after a few tries she helped him through, laughing while she divided her hair up for him and assured him that it wasn’t too tight. 

        The coffee machine beeping to tell her it’s finished startles her out of the memory. Andy’s leaning on the counter of the island and watching, munching on a banana. A knowing little smile spreads on her face when Nile folds the paper and slips it in her pocket. 

        “Does Joe..?” Andy nods, chuckling a little.

        “Sometimes he leaves the poetry he writes around for us to read.” The kind of light that only reaches her eyes when she’s around her family makes Andy’s gaze soft. The more she learns about them the more Nile thanks the universe that it’s really not like the action movies. They have quiet mornings like these where she can wake up slowly and feel safe between all the fighting. After a little while Joe wakes up and he and Nicky emerge and Nile hugs him tightly because something about the poem made her feel warm. And Joe gives really great hugs.

[milleniaoffamily]

Sketchdump of Joe and Nicky from Inktober so far 🖤 If you have more requests (cause I’m running out of ideas) make sure to drop me a line on Instagram

[milleniaoffamily]

[milleniaoffamily]

Different ways to say “thank you” in Levantine Arabic

You’re filled with manners | كُلَّك ذُوق | kullak ḏōq

May your hands be safe | يِسْلَموا إديك | yeslamū ideik

May he (God) give you heath | يَعْطيك العافية | ya’tīk el’āfyeh

Thank you so much | شُكرًا كتير | šukran ktīr

You embarrass me (with your kindness) | خَجَّلتني | ẖajjaltnī

I don’t know how to thank you | ما بَعْرِف كِيف أشْكُرَك | mā ba’ref kīf ashkurak

May god make you happy | الله يِسْعِدَك | Allāh yes’edak

Notes:

There are some regional variations in the pronunciation of some words.

For the feminin version (if you’re addressing a female) replace -ak with -ek; the -ni with -īni, and the -ik with -eiki

If you want to address a group change the -ak to -kom; -ni to ūni and ik to -ikom

[milleniaoffamily]

I’d just like to take a moment and appreciate the absolute beauty of the relationships in The Old Guard. The fact that it’s given me and others the opportunity to reflect on what family means. The fact that it’s shown me and others that being romantic isn’t something to shy away from. The fact that it’s shown emotional openness and expression as a strength no matter who you are. The fact that it’s displayed so many different loving relationships. The fact that it treats love as a universal part of the human experience that overrides time, space, and all else.

There’s a reason that I cry every time I see Old Guard stuff - even the happy fluffy stuff. These characters have taken something that I’ve wanted so so badly and been so so afraid of for a very long time and gently shown me it’s okay. It’s okay to want to be loved and it’s okay to be afraid. It’s okay to have feelings and have a long journey to actually feeling and expressing them. You’ll get there.

Media can touch people’s lives in very meaningful ways. To all the people who put their hearts and time into this movie, thank you for giving me that. 

[milleniaoffamily]

The Fam and Focus

My headcanons for how each member of the Old Guard family focuses. Sorta long so the rest is under the cut.

Andromache is the kind of person who thrives when she’s able to have a couple tasks going at once. Both in battle and in the normal day-to-day she’s used to managing a few things at once in her brain and she’s just fine with that. When something is demanding or important enough she devotes her full focus to it and it’s quite intense. Being able to focus on multiple aspects at once helps her to make plans in dire situations. Normally, though, she’s sharpening her ax while she discusses an old mostly-forgotten recipe with Nicky, pausing every little while to draw alterations to that safehouse’s escape plans so that they include Nile. 

Quynh focuses best when she breaks things into small, deliberate actions or tasks. When something is too big it can get muddled in her head and so she puts it all together into a precise order of events instead of one giant task. She glides through these things flexibly and with spontaneity in some instances and with meticulous detail in others. In battle she’s extremely good at quickly altering her motions and changing her plans. If she’s creating something, though, she likes to break it down into small, detailed pieces and take her time making sure the details she set out are fulfilled. Having things broken down like that allows her to choose her words and actions very carefully when she wants to but retaining the flexibility lets her let go and simply have fun when she feels safe to do so. 

Nicolo flirts with hyperfocus. Sometimes he does more than flirt. He focuses best in quiet but is quite capable of tuning out noise to make his own quiet. Whether he’s seated behind a sniper rifle for four hours straight or disappearing into the comfort of a book, he works best when he’s able to deeply dive into the thing he’s focusing on and give it his whole self. In battle it serves him to work with Yusuf and the others because they give him an anchor point for his focus. He very rarely gets into that zone of hyperfocus that’s difficult to break - generally it’s only when he has the family around him and can trust that he’s safe. Yusuf likes to draw him when he’s deeply focused. 

Yusuf focuses best when his senses are stimulated. Scented candles, places to sit with interesting textures around for him to feel, the unobtrusive sounds of traffic or the rain or his family’s idle chit-chat, the tart zing of a sip of juice or the warm spice of tea - these are all his friends. Especially things to feel. In battle the feeling of his weapons in his hands and his feet grounded on the floor help him to zero in on his surroundings and the pain of an injury is more focusing than distracting now that he’s used to it. In drawing the feeling of the paper against his hands is enough of a touchstone to bring him into it. Sometimes Nicolo, who works best in the absence of that stimulus, will joke lovingly that he thrives in chaos.

Booker gets pulled around a little - and that’s what works for him. He applies a sort of devil-may-care kind of focus to the things he does. One moment he’ll be entirely in forging a document and the next all his attention is devoted to the bet he made with Nicolo and then it’s briefly the sound he heard outside before it’s back to the forgery again. It may seem from the outside that he’s multi-tasking like Andromache but in reality he’s just really adept at rapidly switching his focus. This serves him very well in battle, especially with his haphazard sort of fighting style. A good portion of his focus, however, is taken up by avoiding/dwelling in/attempting to process his feelings and sometimes it makes it difficult for him to get things done.

Nile focuses best when she’s able to move. She paces when she’s figuring out a difficult thing, taps her foot while she reads, and the dynamic motions of battle suit her well. She’s good at thinking kinesthetically and good at thinking while active. She also likes to work with music playing (though only specific songs she’s heard around 8 billion times or she gets distracted by it). Often when there’s something she has to figure out in her head she’ll go for a run if they’re in an area where that’s possible. Similarly to Andromache, Nile is also good at multitasking but it’s more ‘body is doing one thing, brain is doing another thing’ rather than ‘brain and body are doing 2 things together’. Back when she was in school she’d snack while she studied and listen to audio-books for English class while she worked out. Once she’s gotten used to sparring with them she’ll ask whoever she’s sparring with questions - usually about history or their lives. The fam is very amused by this and they love to hold casual conversations with her between the grunts of effort as they fight. 

[milleniaoffamily]

That’s a Czech ID I spy

I keep forgetting to make this post so the chances someone else already posted it climbs higher and higher, but listen: Andy has a Czech ID. Is 31 according to it, named ~Alexandra Black~. And lives in Říčany.

GODDAMN ŘÍČANY

Říčany is this completely unremarkable small town of about 16k people, upper middle class villas and celebrity mansions, but still a very fairly typical and normal small town, so the idea the Old Guard regularly tears it up when they use it as their safehouse location is absolutely hilarious to me. Going shopping to the goddamn Penny Market. All of it.

That is all.

(And I’m fully aware it’s Říčany bcs that ID is lifted directly off the Czech rep sample ID, even tho it’s been ‘shopped to perfection, all the little details are correct, so kudos to the graphics team making it!)

[milleniaoffamily]

We did it right, Andy. For the right reasons.

[milleniaoffamily]

process gif for (x) 

[milleniaoffamily]

he’s the moon when i’m lost in darkness 

drawn in krita

(x) process gif

[milleniaoffamily]

the old guard (2020) ➤ favorite shots (part one)

[milleniaoffamily]

Luca Marinelli as Valerio in SLAM: Tutto per una ragazza (2016)

[milleniaoffamily]

cute blog! and you seem like a sweet person! quick question 4 u: when Nicky his being tortured in Merrick, I suppose he's refraining from screaming probably because he doesn't want to give her(the doc) any satisfaction but I also want to believe it's to prevent joes' awakening.. cause he knows he'll be mad/sad. what's your opinion? Am I reading to much into this (well.. probably XD)

MY OPINION IS I APPROVED YOUR HEADCANON AND YOU MADE ME HAVE ANOTHER REASON TO CRY FOR THEIR LOVE.

I believed it's both, Nicky didn't want to show his vulnerable side to the doctor but I also think that Nicky kind of have high endurance on pain (Not that advice anyone to torture him okay please leave my bb alone). I mean pain is something familiar for him, he tasted death more than he can count now. I believe Nicky and Joe are the kind of people who get hurt more if they saw someone they love in pain, this kind of pain is more unbearable to them and they both know it and try to spare each other from this kind of pain if possible.

Nicky knew If he made a sound, Joe would wake up and he would see him in pain and his husband would scream at the doctor to leave him alone [again] (probably Joe did scream a couple of time to Dr. Kozak's face before he passed out) and The doctor would poke at him and give him more stuff in his system and Nicky didn't want that for Joe. So he endured, as best as he could. 😭😭😭

I mean the way he was gritting his teeth and trying to clench his thumb down in this scene, it was enough indication that he was trying so hard not to make a sound okay. 😭😭😭

Why are you hurting me again?????????

(Also thank you for the compliment about my blog, honestly I just throw whatever I like in this blog 🤣🤣🙈🥰🥰��❤)

[milleniaoffamily]

Making The Old Guard (2020) more canon Pt 3

Part 1, Part 2, Google drive for download

This is one scene that has been edited so that Nicky is speaking in different languages

Italian and German

undefined

Just Italian

undefined

Full train scene with Nicky speaking Italian and German

undefined

[milleniaoffamily]

They got lucky in more ways than one.  Inspired by Two Men Dancing by Robert Mapplethorpe (1984)

[milleniaoffamily]

THE OLD GUARD (2020) || dir. Gina Prince-Blythewood