theoldguardkinkmeme | Fills Post #2

Fills Post #2

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Fill for theoldguardkinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/1468.html and theoldguardkinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/2726.html.

I've gone pretty heavy on borrowing from the movies in question, although I intend to have everything suitably explained in-story so you can understand it regardless. (That said, Il Padre d'Italia is fantastic, and you should watch it, especially because there are spoilers for it here.) I hope that works for both prompters!

I can't promise how fast updates will be (I do have a lot of emails written but not a lot of other content), since I have another fill I also have to finish, but prompt combo week was too good an opportunity to let slip by. (There's a fancier version with fonts and stuff here.)

~

The Pen Friend Program is an international initiative to help foster international friendships and encourage English skills!
Because it is easier to learn a new language at a young age, the Pen-Friend Program matches grade-school students of proximate age and English skill to become pen pals over email. Thoroughly vetted by the program’s workers and the individual classroom teachers, the Pen-Friend program aims to create meaningful relationships and a fun way for your child to learn and practice English.

~

“Did you finish your letter?”

“Yes, Baba.”

“Do you want me to look it over?”

“No, Baba.”

Joe stopped cutting radishes and fixed his daughter with a look. Unfortunately, after nine years she was immune.

“It’s only for my pen friend!”

“If you need help posting it to the website–”

“Jus Marieke is going to help us at school tomorrow,” Saar said, eyeing him as if she knew he was full of shit.

“Just remember,” he said, ignoring her, “that I don’t have to read your letters, but I am definitely reading all the letters this person sends you.”

Saar rolled her eyes. “It’s not a person, Baba. It’s another kid.”

“You never know –” Joe started, but was cut off when his daughter chorused, sing-song, “Anyone can say they’re anything on the internet!”

All right. Maybe he’d let his own bad experiences get the best of him.

But also, maybe it wasn’t insane to worry about his nine-year-old daughter conversing with a complete stranger online. So what if all the kids were vetted through their schools and teachers and the organization’s own staff? It wasn’t as if unscrupulous parents had never taken advantage of their own children as a smokescreen before. (At least, that’s what he’d told Andy when she bugged him about being overprotective and ridiculous.)

Probably it was unlikely that anyone would abuse a school program that way. But was it impossible? Or was it impossible that someone’s older brother would think it was really funny to play a mean prank on their penfriend? Was it impossible that Saar would get attached to this person and then they would simply drop off the face of the earth? Was it impossible that this would end just as badly as…

…Was it, after all, really so wrong not to want his baby girl to get her heart broken?

“Well, they can,” he said, resolutely ignoring both his memories of Katje and his daughter’s disbelieving snort. “And I want to make sure you’re safe. That’s my job.”

“Okay, Baba. Whatever you say.” Quynh was a bad influence on that girl. “Do you think my pen friend will like swans?”

For a moment, Joe wished all this pen-friend nonsense had happened during Catharina’s week with Saar. Then he changed his mind. At least he knew. Even if he did regret letting Jus Marieke talk him around. Besides, if Catharina had signed off on it without asking him, he would be furious with her right now, and it was probably better that hadn’t happened. It was possible that if it had he might have ended up being slightly unfair to her.

Maybe.

Briefly, Joe wondered if there was some alternate pen-friend scheme for parents. Dear Stranger, I know I’m being completely irrational and bizarre, but I can’t help it. I just know my daughter is going to get kidnapped and murdered and catfished, and if she isn’t she’s going to hate me for being a terrible controlling parent. What are you insecure about?

Then he realized he was concocting an imaginary answer in his head that relied on quirky half-lies and absurd speculations and possibly a Buster Keaton reference, and squashed that train of thought immediately. How was his mind still doing that?

It was only because all this internet shit was dragging it back up. He hoped.

“I don’t know anyone who dislikes swans,” he told Saar.

“But what if they do?”

Putting aside your own shit to help your kid is the point of parenting, so Joe does. “Then you can find out what they do like, and talk about that. You like other things than swans, right? Like ice cream?”

“Ice cream?” Saar’s on that like a pouncing tiger, like he knew she would be.

He lets her think she’s gotten one over on him. “I didn’t mean…”

“Please, Baba?”

“Oh, well.” Joe makes a show of giving in. “I guess.”

~

Maria was still frowning at the piece of paper where she’d painstakingly written out her English letter. Nicolò had decided very firmly not to interfere until and unless she asked him for help, but after about five minutes letting one’s daughter stare sadly at an incomplete letter became cruel as well as impossible.

“Vita mia,” he said gently, “are you having trouble?”

She looked up at him with eyes gone huge in quiet distress. “It’s a bad letter.”

“No.” He pushed off the counter and pulled one of the chairs around so he could sit next to his daughter, crowding the two together on one side of the table. “Let me see.”

She pushed the paper in front of him, silently.

It wasn’t a bad letter. The English itself was entirely comprehensible – Nicolò wasn’t as adept with the language as he’d like, but he was fairly sure there weren’t even any mistakes. But it was very short.

Her name. Her age. Two sentences about Italy. It is nice.

His heart ached, even though the briefness was more likely to be about Maria’s limited English vocabulary than anything more profound.

“I think it is a good letter,” he said, choosing his words carefully before he spoke so she wouldn’t hear him hesitating. “But maybe it should be longer, what do you think? Your new friend might be nervous about writing in English, or shy about writing to a stranger. If you ask them some questions, it might help them know what to say when they answer you.”

“I could ask some questions,” Maria said, slowly. “Like…”

“Is there anything you want to know?”

“How do I say… spero che…”

“I hope,” Nicolò told her after a moment to locate the word. He’d meant to ask what she wanted to know about the student she was writing too, but it didn’t matter that she’d misunderstood him, if it got her started again.

He watched Maria carefully write another sentence. It still surprised him, how just sitting there watching her could quietly overwhelm him with so much love it made his chest ache. She was so young, still, and so fragile, and she cared so much – and yet she was so old, already, talking and writing and making decisions for herself; about to be making friends in a new language.

Sometimes, when she was particularly worried or nervous, or when he was a particular kind of tired, or when it was raining late at night, Nicolò thought that maybe Maria was like him in that they were both always just a little sad, even if they didn’t know it. The thought always made him quietly desperate; once or twice it even made him wish that Maria was more like her mother, which just terrified him in a different way.

“Papà, will you fix my English?”

“Are you sure it needs fixing?” Nicolò said automatically, blinking as he emerged from his thoughts. “It might not be wrong.”

“When I finish the letter, will you fix my English? Please?” She was so earnest about it that he could hardly refuse.

“We’ll fix it together,” he told her, “so you understand how it works.”

Maria nodded solemnly. She’s never been opposed to work – but she’s never liked putting herself forward. The hardest part of any large project was never the time or the work, it was when she had to present it in front of people.

The end result was mostly her own, though Nicolò helped her with a slightly more complex sentence and the appropriate use of the English word but. He wanted to take out the part where she apologized for her English, but he bit his tongue. There were better ways to build his daughter’s confidence.

“It’s a good letter,” Maria said finally. She looked at him as she said it, but it wasn’t a question, which made his heart sing, quietly.

“Yes,” Nicolò told her. “It is.”

~

Dear Pen Friend,
Hello! I am excited for this pen friend program. I am too excited to be learning English! I hope that we can help each other speak English and become good friends.
My name is Saartje, but you can name me Saar. Or you can name me Sarah, because it’s English for Saartje!
I am nine years old. I like blue and purple. I too like swans very much. What animal do you like? I am very very excited for you to tell me where you live and what language you speak. And you speak English, of course!
I am from Nederland, which is the Netherlands in English. Or sometimes my country is called Holland! (But actually that is only part of it.) We speak Dutch here. Too I speak Arabic with my dad and my Tata and Gido (grandmother and grandfather), or French. My dad says it is good to learn languages when we are young because it is easier for our brains! He has lots of friends who speak French and English so that I can practice. Maybe one day I can meet you and we can practice our English together.
I am excited to get your letter and learn things about you, and in my next letter I am excited to tell you about my family and the street I live at with my dad. (My mom’s house is nice, but her neighbours are not exciting.)
I hope my English is good and you can understand the letter! Nile helped me because she is American. But I did not let her read the letter! :)
Love from, Saar

Dear Pen Friend,
Hello
My name is Italia Maria. I am seven years old. I live in Italy with my papà. We live in Turino. It is nice.
I hope you are a girl like me. But if you are a boy that is okay if you are nice. I like to read books and I like to sing.
I am not good at English but I will write back all of your letters. Papà helps me.
Do you speak Italian? Which country do you live at? Do you have a dog? I like dogs but there are not dogs allowed in my house.
Thank you
Italia from Italy

I’m already sobbing from the adorableness of this fic. Great combination of prompts. I’m here for it <3

<3 <3 <3 Thank you SO MUCH, I can't even tell you. <3

Oh precious, my heart is bursting

Oh gosh this is next level adorable, I love it!

full disclosure, i'm not big on kids and tend to avoid kidfic but!!!! this is so so good and kudos for getting ne invested so quickly!! what's great is the kids actually feel real, not just conveniently placed for plot purposes. i also really liked hoe much joe and nicky's personalities shined through in their interactions with the kids and how they approach parenting.

and the letters?? so so adorable, with developmentally appropriate wording and english mistakes?? my heart melted. i'm shockingly as excited to see the friendship between the girls as i am for the inevitable matchmaking!

I am super glad they feel real (full disclosure: Saar is half stolen from Hartenstraat), not least because I am Very Invested in them as people now. :) It's good to know I'm not the only one - especially since I am Wordy, so the actual matchmaking might be a little longer coming. (But it's coming!)

'Developmentally appropriate' is literally the best compliment you could have given me, I am so happy and joyous about it, I can't tell you. <3 <3 <3

Ooh, this is beautiful! I love how characterized the girls and how their personalities shine through in their letters.

> Sometimes, when she was particularly worried or nervous, or when he was a particular kind of tired, or when it was raining late at night, Nicolò thought that maybe Maria was like him in that they were both always just a little sad, even if they didn’t know it. The thought always made him quietly desperate; once or twice it even made him wish that Maria was more like her mother, which just terrified him in a different way.

This sentence was absolutely perfect.

Ahhhh, thank you! The letters were the first thing I wrote so I'm thrilled they served their purpose. <3

*incoherent flailing* I've deleted three responses to the rest of what you said because they Weren't Working, so I'm just going to say thank you again!! :)

This is so fucking sweet, Joe with his mind going into overdrive, and Nicky patiently waiting to help. It's so sweet, Im so excited. Thank you <3<3<3

I love this so much! The part where Nicolo thinks about how both he and Maria are always a little sad, oof, that went straight to my heart. Such a beautiful sentence, and such an... unobtrusive? I guess, way of expressing both the situation and how Nicolo feels about it.

I also loved the letters! The girls' personalities really come through, but what really shines for me is the detail of both letters having these small language/grammar mistakes that are very realistic for someone who speaks some English but is still translating in their head from their native language. Most authors I've seen trying to convey that the character isn't a confident English speaker go for very in-your-face mistakes, when actually most of the time they're pretty subtle, like getting the word order wrong. Your take on this just makes the character so much realer for me.

Thanks for writing this beautiful story! I'm really looking forward to the updates <3

Thank you so much! I'm very proud of that line, so I'm so happy to hear it resonated with you. <3

I'm glad to hear the English seems realistic! I really wanted it to be, but I only speak English and very bad French, so I put in a lot of effort but I didn't know if that would be enough. :) (I can reverse-engineer a little bit since the grammar of Italian and French isn't entirely unalike when compared to English, but honestly I never spoke French to a high enough standard to even be MAKING the kinds of mistakes they would be! XD)

Thank you for commenting, first update is finally here! (And it's a little longer too.) Thanks again for your encouragement, it definitely helped.

This is so magical- I love how you're blending Joe and Daan, and Nicky and Paolo. I cannot wait to see Italia and Saar get along, and I love how Joe has Issues about online friendships/relationships after Kaatje (listen, I can be 100% into it when I'm watching the movie and love it etc, but I can also recognize how not cool it was, Kaatje!)

And Paolo-!! Paolo's anxiety and the internalized values from the more conservative society around him and his whole love-but-also-not-healthy thing with Mia, Paolo crying when he sees Italia for the first time, Paolo with the found family and the sweet, loving religious upbringing at the orphanage! Paolo fucking stole my heart, so to have some of that mixed into Nicky is so damn good.

Also as a mom I cannot handle how very true-to-life this feels for two 9 y-o girls. These letters and their dialogue with their dads feels so real, excellent work!

I considered changing Katje's name, because I'm going to be pretty harsh to her character (though mostly in retrospect) and I didn't want anyone to think I was alleging she was Entirely Horrible, but... look, honestly? I had my heart set on a pun that doesn't work if I change it. :P (But also, like... WHY does she decide to mess with Daan in the first place? I couldn't figure it out when I watched the movie. Like, is she just fucking with him? Is she In Denial, and if so, what is she telling herself, exactly? What's the deal???)

Honestly, as much as I love TOG, after I watched Il Padre d'Italia it far and away took first place as my favourite movie and I am a little sad there's no straight-up fic for it. But this is the next best thing. :)

Thank you so much! I did used to work as a nanny, but all the kids I took care of were younger, so while I can avoid, like, the baby-talking five-year-old (...stories written by people who know nothing about kids are a TRIP sometimes), it's super nice to hear I've gotten the developmental stuff right so far. I hope it continues to pass muster!

So I finally got my act together, but part two is too long for one comment and I am too tired to go through and html the italics, so it's up here!

Thank you again for commenting (or thank you twice to anybody I missed), and I hope you like this instalment too. :)

I’ve now officially read this update 3 times because I love it that much. It’s so sweet and I can’t handle it. My poor heart strings 😭😭😭😭😭

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Fills Post #2

Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids), Part 2 (/??)

Re: Pen Friend Program (Joe/Nicky, Hartenstraat/Il Padre d'Italia + matchmaking kids), Part 2 (/??)