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FE 2024 Prompt Table 2 Fill 40 - Today
Feb. 21st, 2024 08:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
innitmarvelous_og
Today was a day that both Morgan and Jiya had been anxiously awaiting, which was the arrival of their anniversary, As they sat on the balcony of their apartment and watched as the sunset painted with sky in colors of orange and pink, Morgan took Jiya's hand in his own as his heart overflowed with love for the woman beside him.
"Happy anniversary, Jiya, my love," he whispered, gently kissing her temple.
"And to you, my dear Morgan," she replied as she laid her head on his shoulder. In that moment, wrapped in the peacefulness of their love, they both knew that today was only just the very beginning of part of their journey through life together.
Part 2 | Part 3
FE 2024 Prompt Table 2 Fill #39 - Museum
Feb. 21st, 2024 08:30 pminnitmarvelous_og
Morgan and Jiya walked with fingers intertwined as they made their way through the Avengers Museum, their daughters Zara and Meera were skipping ahead with excitement. The museum was truly a treasure trove of information about Earth's Mightiest Heroes who had saved the world countless times in the last sixty years. Morgan could not help the pride he felt as he watched his daughters soak it all in like sponges.
They wandered from exhibit to exhibit, Zara's eyes lighting up as she spotted the section that was dedicated to Iron Man. "Daddy, Daddy, look! It's Grandpa! It's Grandpa!" she squealed in excitement, causing other people who were nearby to look in her direction.
Morgan smiled at them as Jiya wrangled their oldest daughter in, and he said, "She just really loves Iron Man. You know, kids?" The entire time he is saying this, he was hoping that no one would recognize him — for being either the son of Tony Stark or Dr. Stark, the doctor whose research team whose research would eventually wipe cancer off the face of the planet.
The nearby parents smiled, nodded, and went back to their own families.
"Daddy!" Zara called out again.
Smiling Morgan walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders, "I see, sweetie. I see it's Grandpa."
He smiled as she went back to looking at the glass encased suit of armor. He smiled on the outside but on the inside he couldn't help but feel a tiny ache of sadness. His life had been a good one, even an amazing full of people he loved and that loved him. But among all of those people, the one who had always been missing was the man whose face he was now staring at.
Oh, his Mom and Dad had made it a point to tell Morgan everything they could also his father, about the kind of man he had been beyond the public persona and what history would record about Tony Stark. While Morgan was grateful to have those stories about his father, in the end, they were still just stories without any personally lived context for, and because if that, Morgan knew he'd always have an ache in his heart that could never be filled.
His inner turmoil didn't go unnoticed by Jiya, and she put a hand on his arm murmuring, "It's okay, Morgan. We're here so you and the girls can see your father and celebrate his legacy."
Morgan blinked away tears, and nodded, so grateful for his beautiful wife's love and support. Zara slipped away to run over to where her sister was looking enraptured at another glass enclosed piece of armor. Taking Jiya's hand again, they walked over to where their girls were.
"Daddy, did Grandpa really make all of this?" Meera asked, her beautiful dark eyes wide with wonder.
Morgan ran a hand over her hair, a bittersweet smile on his face, "Yes, baby, he did. Your grandfather was one of the most brilliant men to ever live. He loved to invite and build things, like these suits of armor."
Zara pulled on her mother's sleeve, her eyes excited as she asked, "Mommy, did Grandpa fly in that suit? The signs says that he did! Did he?"
Like Morgan, Jiya had only heard the stories about Tony's exploits as Iron Man, but nevertheless, she nodded, "Yes, Zara, he did fly in that suit. He was the one and only Iron Man."
As they continued to explore the museum, Morgan felt a sense of gratitude for the man who had been the father he had known, James Rhodes, or Rhodey as he had learned his father had called him. His Dad had raised him, loved him, and had long with Morgan's mother, and had guided him throughout his life. He had done so with his father's blessings as Morgan had heard the message his father left behind in the days before his death. Thanks to his father, Morgan did not spend his childhood wanting a father to love him. He had everything he had needed and so much more.
***
After having lunch in the Museum's cafe in which they all feasted on Iron Man themed Arc Reactor veggie burgers with fries and Tiny Treats by none other than Ant-Man himself, they decided to go to explore the second exhibit that they were all excited to see, which was the War Machine exhibit.
Morgan and Jiya stopped just short of entering the exhibit, having let the girls go ahead of them some Morgan could take a moment to prepare.
Jiya squeezed his hand, "Are you certain that you want to go in? I can go through the exhibit with the girls if it's too much?"
His Dad had been gone twenty years, and Morgan still missed him beyond words.
Morgan took a deep breath, and shook his head, "No, I'm okay. I want to see the exhibit. I want to see how the world remembers the man who was my Dad."
"If you're sure?"
"I am... but thanks for being concerned, honey. Come on, we'd better get in there before the girls wander too far ahead of us," Morgan replied, kissing her hand before leading the way inside.
Meera spotted them first, and she excitedly pointed to the larger than life portrait of Morgan's Dad, "Look, Daddy! It's Granddad!"
Morgan smiled, looking at his Dad in his military uniform that proudly displayed every medal he'd ever been awarded, and he nodded, "Yep, sweetie, that's your Granddad all right."
In the meantime, Zara was entranced with the War Machine armor his Dad had worn as part of his Air Force and Avengers careers.
While he stood there gazing at the portrait of his Dad, so many memories came flooding back to his mind — memories like how his Dad taught him to ride a bike, playing catch in then backyard, and helping him put together the most intricate LEGO sets he could find.
He cherished the memories of the late-night conversations they'd had when he'd gotten a little older talking about life, love, and how doing what was right echoed in his heart. He could still hear his Dad cheering him on from the sidelines during the years he played baseball and the wonderful laugh his Dad had when they'd laugh together until tears of mirth ran down their faces.
Once more Jiya must have sensed how he was feeling as she wrapped her arm around his waist offering him her love and support. Morgan wrapped his arm around her in return, leaning into her embrace, so grateful for her presence and for her love.
"Daddy, Daddy, come see!" Zara's excited call broke through to him. "Come see the tanks Granddad picked up!" She was jumping up and down in excitement, along with her sister.
Morgan looked at his wife, gave her a kiss, and then he walked over to where his girls were chattering away about their Granddad.
innitmarvelous_og
Eva looked up at the little bell over the door's jingle as she stepped into the cramped bookshop. She inhaled, allowing the musty scent of the aged paper and leather bindings to wash over her senses. There were rows of overflowing shelves were towering in every direction, and there were waterfalls of novels and tomes of that threatened to spill their contents all over the creaky hardwood floors.
"May I help you find something, my dear?" a silky voice asked from somewhere in the stacked maze. A moment later, a slender man with a playful sparkle in his emerald eyes who appeared somewhere from among the packed shelves.
Eva could feel her cheeks warm at his words, wondering if he were the owner of this bookshop or just an employee. Either way his gaze was intense yet also charming. She held the worn book in her hands closer as she turned to answer him, "Um yes hello, I um actually have been looking all over the place for a very hard to find first edition copy of the play Cynthia's Revels."
The owner, for she decided he must be the owner, tutted a bit as her came over to her. His fingers were deft as he plucked Eva's book from her hands, and looked at the title, "Ah I see, an illuminated soul who seeks the Bard of Avalon's lost work. There are not many who share a refined literary passion these days."
Eva resisted the urge to close her eyes to better enjoy the richness of his voice as he appraised her with loft approval of her taste in reading, "Your battered copy sings the praises of a true lover for such relics. Pray well met, Book Pilgrim. May I present myself? I am Loki, and I am the keeper of this fine realm's Novel Nest."
Eva smiled, finding her shyness falling away at his world flair and charm. She decided to meet him head on.
She smiled, "Well met yourself, Loki. Per the object of my quest, I want to see if someone as well-read as you might have any leads on where I might be able to find my prize."
Loki's smile grew even wider, with his green eyes sparkling, he beckoned to Eva to follow him into the stacked bowels of his bookshop.
As they went when he said to her over his shoulder, "Perhaps, O lady lover of the written word. But I must caution you, treasures of such caliber usually have a way of being evasive. But I will do my humble best to aid you in acquiring that which you seek and have without a doubt proven unobtainable up to this point. Now, shall we scour my volumes and see if we cannot locate your literary gem, hmm?
Part Two
Part Two
