Here Because Of The Immortals

(source: carielisefletcher)

so during the Merrick scene when Joe says: 

(source: buckeybarns)

that’s just him translating for Nicky who can’t understand wtf Merrick is saying because he doesn’t speak British

(source: buckeybarns)

“you brought us here to talk about mice????”

I have to say, in the old guard, I am absolutely living for Protective!Nicky! 

Out of Nicky and Joe, Joe is the more visibly obvious protective of the two. His grand, intimate declaration of love in the convey, and how he deliberately goes to kill Keane after he shoots Nicky are undeniable, very visible representations of Joe’s love and protectiveness towards a Nicky. 

But I think that that very visible, passionate protectiveness can mislead the eye into camouflaging Nicky. Because if you look a little bit closer? Nicky is just as protective of Joe as Joe is of him. Nicky is just a bit quieter about it. 

For the most part, throughout the movie, Nicky is a calming, moralising influence. You never see him get really, outwardly angry- that is, until Joe is hurt.

You can see this at the first ambush, when they’re going to rescue the kidnapped girls, but instead are set up and killed. After they wake up, immediately both Nicky and Joe instinctively look for the other. (Can anybody say soulmates?) You can see the complete and utter relief both feel when they see the other- awake and alive. Together. 

(Credit to @strangehighs for capturing those heart eyes. #soblessed)

But if you look closer at Nicky, at first, all you can see on Nicky’s face is that overwhelming relief. But then as the details of what happened start to register, as he sees the multiple, fresh bullet wounds on Joe’s face… When he sees that Joe was deliberately, maliciously hurt… You can see that relief give way to reveal the holy wrath and insurmountable rage of the angry, righteous crusader he use to be. Sword and all.  

That expression of rage? That’s the face of a man ready to kill a bitch for killing the love of his life. 

I think it’s an interesting commentary on their personalities that before this, Nicky had been the sniper whilst Joe used his scimitar. To be a sniper embodies cool patience, calm breathing and calculating distance. Nicky is very much like that; more laid back, calmer, and more likely to have a cool head. But as you can see here… in this beautiful gif by @wordsofwarning​ …

…after he sees the aftermath of the ambush, when he attacks… He uses his handgun to incapacitate, but his sword for the close up kill. 

It maybe be that he instinctively goes for the weapon that’s been at his side for so many hundreds of years, but I think there’s something poetic in forgoing the distance of a gun for he close up kill of his sword. Because his soulmate had just been killed in front of him, and he wants to protect Joe by exacting retribution, and he’s angry. 

You can see this again when Dudley Dursley Merrick attacks Joe in an infantile, sadistic temper tantrum. Before that, Nicky had been outwardly calm and collected, watching and observing (like a sniper). But the second Joe is hurt? Boom. He loses his composure and flips into angry and protective desperation. 

He gets stabbed for his troubles, but he doesn’t stop desperately fighting and trying to get between the threat and Joe until he sees Joe is okay. 

(This gorgeous gif belongs and one below belong to @beanabouttown )

Nicky might be more cautious, but he’s just as down as Joe is to fight for and with to protect each other. They both protect each other. 

You can see this in Joe and Nicky’s sleeping arrangements. I think I’ve seen this discussed in a post by @sockich But if I can expand on that… In all the times we see them sleeping next to each other, Joe is the big spoon. 

(And can I just say how much I love the parallel between Joe covering Nicky’s back whilst they sleep with how when they’re in fighting formation, Joe is almost always protecting and covering Nicky’s six? *chefs kisses*) At first, it appears that Joe is protecting Nicky, which he is. But if you look a bit closer… Nicky is protecting Joe too. (Equal and reciprocal, together. A partnership.) 

Nicky might be the little spoon but he’s also always putting himself in front of Joe; he’s between Joe and the enemy at the door. Everytime… 

You can see more clearly on this wider shot… 

Nicky is using his body to shield a sleeping Joe, putting his body between Joe and the world outside their sanctuary. (Credit to @malex-yes for these two beautiful gifs!)

And here… (in this beautiful gif by @dinasbracelet !) 

…at every turn, Nicky is protectively shielding Joe from any outside hostiles. Nicky instinctively reaches for his readied loaded gun to protect Joe before they even know what’s going on. 

You want to get to a sleeping, vulnerable Joe? Sorry. You’re going to have to get past a protective Nicky with a loaded gun pointed at you first. 

I think it’s reflective of their partnership that their protectiveness follows the same pattern of their personalities. Joe is more outwardly, visibly passionate, like a wildfire ready to spark into life at any minute. Nicky is calmer, quieter, with steady ground to stand on… until Joe is hurt, and then he erupts outwards, like a volcano. 

Anonymous said: I have a headcanon that with Nicky having been a priest, that he was a virgin when he met Joe (I don't know enough about Islam to know their ways about virginity and their warriors, etc.)... so how's about Joe's being careful and loving for Nicky's first time?

Combining two prompts into one because they’re both in the same vein (in my brain at least lol) 💕 Thanks for prompting me Nonnies! Hope you lovelies enjoy this one. To everyone else, yes my ask box is still open for prompts x

Many thanks to @janiedean 😘

-

me: "what happened in Budapest?"

joe and nicky: "i was thinking about Malta" "what time in Malta?" ... "oH, THAT TIME IN MALTA"

mE: "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED IN MALTA!??!"

i don’t think that nicky can draw. at all. so every time joe draws something he is SO impressed. every time. for 900 years.

after they’re all resurrected in south sudan joe immediately runs diagonally ahead to take on the shooters that are in front of nicky, rather than the ones directly in front of himself, so they can work through them together

in the first establishing shot in the train you can see joe and nicky holding hands as they spoon. they’re not holding hands when you get the close up of them sleeping together, so maybe they fall asleep holding hands and their arms just end up wrapped around each other after they drift off

when nile asks how old they are instead of answering with a number or just the era joe frames his answer by when he and nicky met

the way they’re always looking at each other. not just in the heavy glances and winks, but it’s like how you always subconsciously look to the person you’re closest to when you’re in a group when you’re laughing and talking. the way joe was looking at nicky when he was saying the shoes were a particularly grotesque touch, the way they end up looking at each other in the van when the doors open and nicky asks if they can maybe take the chains off them

there’s a tv, joe!/champagne?

nile asks why they stop seeing each other in their dreams after they meet and you see joe draw in a breath like he’s preparing to answer but he stops, and nicky answers like he was finishing joe’s sentence that he never even started

and then nicky looks at joe to prompt him to answer nile’s next question about how old they are

the way nicky doesn’t take his eyes off of joe as he recovers from being stabbed by merrick until joe dips his head for head touch, which is when nicky knows he’s ok

when andy says they can die and nicky looks at joe and joe’s already looking back at him. i won’t even attempt to put words to the expression on their faces.

the way they use italian when they just want it to be just them, it’s a comfort and an intimacy

the shared look after the shakespeare quote. it can be read as them both reacting to definitely knowing that line and also knowing shakespeare, but they also fucking hate this guy immediately

The historical and political context deepens their enemies to lovers journey, it connects to the events leading up to the first crusade, it gives Joe a plausible motivation for joining the Fatimid army, it lends our husbands Romeo and Juliet vibes, and it respects Marwan's Tunisian heritage.

I'm working on some reference materials for anyone who wants to join me on this bullshit.

considering when joe was born, canon situating his birthplace in "the maghrib" actually makes tunisia the least likely of current day northwestern african countries to place him in, because at vast what was called "the west" at the time was the territory of the almoravid and then of the almohad (modern day morocco and parts of algeria, expanding into the sahel). modern day tunisia, with eastern algeria and most of lybia, formed a separate geopolitical region with separate leadership refered to as ifriqiyah or el magrhib el adna. but i still like to imagine joe as "tunisian" (an appellation that wouldn't have existed at the time) because

1) while as stated above it is debatable that early 11th century maghreb included "tunisia", its inhabitants were inarguably imazighen,

2) marwan is tunisian,

3) kairouan was one of the radiant cultural and intellectual centers of the islamic world for centuries, but under zirid rule specifically the region flourished commercially, politically, spiritually, and artistically to new heights. this is directly relevant both to joe's canon background as a literate merchant with artistic aspirations, but also to my favorite headcanon as to how he could have found himself in jerusalem: that joe, like many many mediterranean merchants at the time, also doubled as a spy.

the zirid broke with the fatimid caliphate and converted to sunni islam (which part of the population was already practicing before the zirid conquest) ten years before joe was born. in response, the caliph ordered the sack of kairouan, destroying the city so thoroughly the zirid had to move their capital to mahdia, and forcing local inhabitants back into semi-nomadism. with mahdia, tunis was the only other urban center that was left intact, but the arab tribe sent by the fatimid settled in the area around it, effectively making life for the people of tunis complicated enough that they revolted against the zirid dynasty, which led to tunis being under hammadid influence for a short while, and then finally to the formation of the independent principality of tunis under khurasanid rule.

all this to say! joe was born and grew up at a time of political unrest and division not just in the muslim world at large (a huge reason why the first crusade happened the way it did), but specifically in the region. with princes and caliphs and governors constantly vying to expand their spheres of influence, and considering the geographical importance of a city like tunis, a bustling commercial port, it is of no surprise that many businessmen, while conducting perfectly legitimate affairs, were also sponsored by their local ruler to gather information on their travels. this is a recorded phenomenon, although it obviously knows no religious borders: european courts also had innumerable informant and spies roaming the mediterranean under the pretense of selling and buying.

i like this origin story for joe for multiple reasons:

1) it allows me to place him in jerusalem at the time of the frankish attack. it in fact allows me to place him... pretty much anywhere at any time before that too, even in places where an arabized amazigh man and a sunni muslim wouldn't necessarily be otherwise

2) there's another meta hidden in there somewhere but i have a lot of thoughts about joe (and by extension nicky, but that's not the point here) Choosing Sides throughout history, as opposed to a more individualistic (Saving People) approach andy might have, for example. we see it in the pictures on copley's wall (they consistently appear as a duo in revolutionary situations) but also in nicky's "we fight for what we think is right". i think joe serving the interests of a lord in order to serve the interests of his people on the great chessboard that is the political situation of the islamic world at the time is a fitting starting point to that

3) i like the depth it adds to joe's character on two levels; a man in contact with nobility and power but not quite in it, existing between two worlds. joe's talents also take on a new meaning - good with languages, keen eye and a swift hand.