A Storm of Dreams

The team is on a con when someone hears that Interpol is on the scene cue everyone but Harry (on coms) going "no it couldn't be" "who?" "but what if it is" "he wouldn't be" "who?!" "but wouldn't he" "he might be" "WHO?!"

And then they do the classic reveal with the musical cue and everyone in sync "Sterling."

Harry: "like the washing machine?" Sterling walking into the room: "The rifle, actually"

Sophie is there standing next to Harry so Sterling looks at her and then gets close to Harry and sizes him up before stepping back and saying "him? really?" Sophie: "hes a stray found him his first time trying to steal a Rembrandt" Sterling pikachu shock face: "no, this guy?" Sophie: "with a youtube tutorial" Sterling: "really scraping the bottom of the barrel these days, huh?" Harry: "you know im still standing right here"

{[Plot ensues with whacky hijinks a la The Frame Up Job]}

Sterling and Sophie have a moment alone when everything is said and done Sterling admits that maybe he let the team get away as a last favor to Nate and Sophie tells him that she knew Sterling was going easy on them

Sophie: "do you miss him?" Sterling: "of course i do, but you already knew that" "just wanted to hear you say it" "ill see you around, Sophie. next time i won't go so easy on you" "looking forward to it, Sterling"

They share one last sad smile and a look charged with a challenge for next time before Sterling walks away and Sophie takes a sip from her drink with a look that speaks of past memories of her adventures with Nate

And that’s not untrue. Zuko has to run a government that was, a few months ago, ready and willing to burn the rest of the world to ash, and that’s a serious burden to bear, but it’s not hopeless. This is a new time of peace. A new dawn. Where are all my pieces that focus on peace and growth? About Zuko fostering friendly alliances? About Zuko leading by example?

A servant accidentally drops a serving platter of roast duck during a ball. The juice splatters a noble woman’s gown. She backhands the servant across the face and her husband is calling for punishment and people are watching as though it’s some kind of show, because this is the way it is in the palace. Until, that is, the Firelord steps forward and helps the servant to his feet. Zuko asks the shaking man if he is alright. He calls for another servant to help clean up the mess. He tells the noblewoman in a tight voice that she, nor anyone else in these walls, will not raise a violent hand to anyone under his care

Zuko is walking through a city courtyard as he speaks with the Mayor when a young child waddles up and tugs at Zuko’s golden-hemmed robes, curious at the way they catch the light. The guards rush forward and the boy’s parents fall over themselves to offer apologies and beg for forgiveness, and Zuko bends down and picks the child up under the arms, and settles him on his hip. The child reaches for his gold crown settled in his topknot and Zuko laughs and gently pushes his hands away. He gives the boy back to his parents, and says, “There’s no need to apologise. Curiosity is a valuable trait in a young boy. You should encourage his curiosity for life.” And then he sweeps away with the Mayor in tow, as though nothing is amiss, as though his gentle smile and understanding words didn’t rattle these two townspeople more than a reprimand every would

Zuko shifting the nation’s priority away from militarisation, while trying to create new jobs for displaced people, jobs that will help his nation recover. Zuko implementing a new curriculum in schools. Zuko consulting with all kinds of people, like Iroh and Aang, yes, but also other nobles, and common people, and foreign dignitaries, and historical and cultural experts. Zuko bringing culture back to the Fire Nation.

Zuko struggling with his famous temper, but working every single day to be the kind of leader his people can put their trust in. A Firelord that doesn’t strike fear into his people, the people he’s dedicated to protecting. A Firelord that’s very different to his forefathers, who decimated entire cultures, who burned the faces of their sons and cast them out for speaking out of turn.

It’s about two once-legendary heroes who are dragged out of retirement by a new and terrible threat. Nobody shows up to drag them, they just keep waiting for someone else to deal with it and then they find out a bunch of ‘chosen heroes’ (IE kids) have died and they’re all ‘... well, fuck,’ and dig out their hidden weapons and drag their asses out to do the job, complaining the whole time. 

Then they run into each other and anyone around is all ‘... oh no they were Enemies now they will fight each other instead of the greater threat’ and instead they just grunt a hello and go straight into bitching about how TOTALLY UNFAIR it is that they have to do this at their advanced age, do you realize I still have a dud hip after that one time, oh yeah, let me tell you what that other asshole did to my *spine*, and they’re just standing there complaining like two tired dads who’ve been called out at three in the morning to do something they don’t want to do at all..

Then they go off, rescue the latest batch of heroes, eliminate the threat, then hand over their magic/super/whatever weapons to the kids and are all ‘DON’T MAKE US DO THIS AGAIN’ and go home. Final scene is them both sitting on a porch, drinking a beer and *still* complaining. But now they have each other.

They're like ducklings. It's horrifying. Go do a training trip and learn the power of friendship of something, stop eating my food! (They will not. They fuckin imprinted on you grouchy old bastards. This is what you get for be Responsible.) They are like knife weilding racoons.

And like it ends with a panning shot of Chosen One Fight Club Rules(tm). No kids, get out when you can, learn to fucking dodge. Fin?

There’s three young heroes sitting in the back of a volvo or an old cart or a grimy old spaceship being harangued for falling for this shit and given nourishing snacks while these two legendary rivals are bitching about their bad backs and aching feet while casually navigating through asteroid fields or troll ambushes or whatever and the kids are all ‘... this is not at all how we thought any of this would go, but I guess we have two dads now?’ 

The final shot of the two old heroes with their grumbling and their beer then pans out to show the kids in the middle of a Proper Training Session because apparently nobody’s doing THOSE anymore and the responsibility NEVER ENDS. 

the bbs Becky and Anya hug 🥹🥹 thank you for commissioning me!

it’s a “this is my one and only life, and i’m going to milk it for all it’s worth” sort of deal 

it’s a defiant “i didn’t actually think i’d make it this far” sort of deal 

i’m not trying to say, “oh just think positive and everything will be fine” because that’s not true, but we are what we practice, and i think it’s important to consciously practice joy and appreciation and treating my life like it’s special because it is. 

And like here is the thing. That child- Faramir Took, i mean- has never felt alone . Ever.

For as long as he could remember, he felt like someone was with him. Some sort of presence. Not in a creepy sort of way. It was comforting and made him feel protected and safe. He remembers how his nightmares would suddenly shift into happier dreams and how during storms there was a soft voice telling him stories and singing till he fell asleep. Everyone described him as a happy baby because he was usually heard laughing hysterically and clapping in delight, which is normal, except that some of those times, no one was with him in the room.

Faramir never questioned it though. He only did when the incident happened.

He was never supposed to go into the forest on his own, but he saw a fluffy, white rabbit playing among the trees and decided to watch it for a while then simply get out of the forest. Except that he followed the rabbit deep into the forest and ended up losing his way in there. He wasn't scared. He thought that this was an adventure if you will. Then it started raining and he was soaked, cold, hungry, lost and alone. So terribly alone.

But then the comforting voice returned. It reassured him and told him that it would lead him home, that he just needed to follow it and he did. But as he walked, he saw footprints of one of the Big People beside him in the mud, but what disturbed him was what he saw in the water puddles. It was the face of a man with dark hair and grey eyes, but Faramir couldn't see anyone around him.

The voice did help him get back to The Smials. Everyone fussed over him and asked him where he went, but Faramir was too distracted to answer them. All he could think about was The Man.

And as his father was tucking him into bed for the night, Faramir told him about the comforting voice and how it led him home, but most importantly, he told him about the man in the water puddles.

"Do you know who that could be?" Faramir asked

And Pippin, with tears in his eyes, answered him.