#all he is worth is in Arthur

[dollopheadedmerlin]

Personally, I hate when people say that Merlin is king of the druids. Merlin isn't meant to be a king. He's meant to serve. Serve Arthur. Serve magic. Serve the earth beneath his feet and the waters falling from the skies. He gives and sacrifices and fuels the world around him.

King is objectively Arthur's role, and I think making Merlin a ruler of another people kind of dampens that. Merlin would not be king of the druids, he would be on his knees and beg and convince those with magic to follow his king. Even if Merlin is a god, he will always hold Arthur up high upon his shoulders. Worship him in my stead.

[sneakyboymerlin]

Merlin is kind of like a dog to Arthur. I mean this in all of the good and all of the bad ways.

[epic-sorcerer]

“Arthur can totally dress himself he’s just spoiled” why are you giving him that much credit

[nextstopparis]

do u ever think about “…for the kingdom you helped me build” “you could’ve done it without me” “maybe” ? do you ever think about that. do u ever think about how merlin literally could have just been a manservant with no powers at all and that convo wouldve still happened. hello. do you.

[sxnbleachedfliez]

might sound like an hater but i find absolutely hilarious when in ff people portray the knights more loyal to merlin than to arthur when they stated multiple times they would sacrificed their life for arthur’s sake and not only out of duty

[chaos-has-theories]

Hunith leaned on her rake and watched as the car swerved into the driveway. It had barely come to a halt when the passenger door opened and Gwen climbed out. She looked tense. She was also drenched from head to toe. The hem of her jeans sagged, the rest of it looked damp and clammy. Her shirt must have dried during the drive home, but it had bits of seaweed stuck to it. Her hair was eighty percent frizz. When she saw Hunith at the fence, Gwen smiled unconvincingly, and sped towards her house just slow enough that it couldn’t be called a run. The driver’s door slammed loudly and Arthur came stomping around the car. He looked no better than Gwen: If anything, he was wetter than she had been. He didn’t even grab anything from the trunk, much less wait until he could lock the car. He just marched into the house and slammed that door behind him, too. Just as Hunith thought that scene couldn’t get any stranger, the back door opened and her son climbed out. The greeting died on her lips before it could escape. Merlin looked like a storm warning. Hunched shoulders, pursed lips, flashing eyes - oh, and he was wearing a dress. Not even a good dress. It was an oversized grey monstrosity and looked like it came from the garbage bin of a secondhand store. It was definitely not one of Hunith’s. Merlin had bunched it up at the hips in at attempt not to stumble over the long skirts, and he stomped past her and into the house with no sign that he had seen his mother at all. She could hear him all the way up the stairs, and then the slam of his bedroom door. Alright then. All the noise must have roused Gaius from his afternoon nap. He stuck his head out the door, looking exactly as bewildered as Hunith felt. „Was that Merlin?“, he asked. Hunith nodded. “And... a wig?” Another nod. „Hm.“ With a final puzzled look up the stairs, Gaius retreated to his study. Hunith turned back just in time to see Mordred clambering out like the smallest clown in the clown car. He was dry and dressed normally, but he was wearing an expression of utter defeat. With his towel held in front of him like a terrycloth shield he walked towards Hunith as if he’d much rather write a difficult math test. He dithered at the gate for a moment, and then met Hunith’s gaze only to sigh the world-weariest sigh she had ever heard. (Which was saying something. Hunith had lived with Gaius for most of her life, and would have previously named him world champion of sighing. Somehow this was still the most normal thing that had happened in the past ten minutes.) „My dads will pick me up in a few minutes“, Mordred told her morosely. „Can I wait here?“ „Of course“ Hunith hurried to say. „Do you want something to drink? Bal made cookies, if you want any. They’re in the kitchen.“ Mordred gave the door Merlin had stormed through a long, dubious look. „I think I’d rather wait out here.“ „Alright.“ Hunith watched as he settled himself on the doorstep, towel in his lap. With a deliberately casual air she picked up the shovel and continued weeding. „I probably don’t even want to know“ she said conversationally, „but what exactly happened at the lake?“ The child behind her made a noise like an upset mouse. „I don’t know“, he whined. „Merlin doesn’t tell me anything.“ Hunith looked over her shoulder to see Mordred scuff at the earth with his shoes, a frustrated expression on his face. „But I had to help Merlin put on a costume and Gwen and Arthur fell into the water and they both cried and everyone shouted and I think they broke up.“ „I see“, Hunith said faintly. That would fit with what she’d seen, but - she’d thought Gwen had broken up with Arthur a week ago? And anyway, none of this explained the costume, or really anything, but she’d decided to ignore that for now. „I’m sorry that happened. It sounds uncomfortable.“ „I’m sorry it happened too.“

[saturnisfallingdown]

lydia and arthur.

[ID: A gif of a calico cat biting into a pillow and thrashing it around violently. End ID]

[lightasthesun]

merthur love confession but make it river song style!!!

When you love the Doctor, it's like loving the stars themselves. You don't expect a sunset to admire you back! And if I happen to find myself in any danger, let me tell you... the Doctor isn't stupid enough or sentimental enough and he is certainly not in love enough to find himself standing in it with me...

River is Merlin. Merlin is River. Arthur is the Doctor.

[prettyboykatsuki]

arthur morgan is so eldest daughter coded GOD

[jokerownsmysoul]

‘‘Held’’

A5 pencil sketch

[britneyshakespeare]

Arthur T. Demoulas is like a New England folk hero

[bardinthezone]

Watching Making myself sit through Moffat's Who, trying to give it a decent chance and I can't stand it already. Y'know why?

The stupid fucking love triangle.

Because not only is it just generally annoying as a trope, but it is so poorly written here. It takes over the show in a really obnoxious way and completely flanderizes characters who, in the first episode, were decent people.

Rory is portrayed as a fool for being... concerned that his fiance is cheating on him with the not-actually-imaginary friend she's been obsessed with since childhood, who she ran off with and kissed (A normal thing to be concerned about!!). And just generally, he's portrayed as a bumbling idiot. As the one who just gets confused and makes one-liners about being insecure. And both Amy and the Doctor just brush him off, leave him behind! Mocked by the woman who's supposed to be there for him and abandoned by the Doctor who's meant to keep him safe. He's being reduced to basically just comic relief here, and it sucks.

The Doctor is so.. aloof. More so than 10 and DEFINTELY moreso than 9. He's a silly, childish man who often fails to recognize the emotional consequences of his actions. He has his emotional moments, yes, but a lot of his writing falls victim to what I call "Sherlock Syndrome." When Moffat just writes an aloof super genius and expects the audience to fawn over him because he has good outfits and witty one-liners. Matt Smith is a fantastic actor and he carries a lot of his run, but putting glitter on a turd doesn't stop it being a turd.

Amy is yet another victim of the "every woman falls madly in love with the Doctor" pitfall. Worked with Rose, got old with Martha and after that almost every one-off woman who flirted with him just made me roll my eyes. Her obsession and anger with the Doctor didn't have to be romantic, but Moffat just couldn't resist writing a "strong female protagonist" who's sexy and she knows it, who loves having all the boys fawn over her and flirts without a care in the world. Who's a brash girlboss in charge of her boys, but who also turns into a sobbing damsel in distress at the slightest sign of danger.

All three of these characters are so blatantly characatures of themselves right now that it takes me out of it. They're all just quippy one-liners of their smartness or their brashness or their insecure foolishness. Can these types of people exist in real life? Yeah. But the way they're written about here is just obnoxious. I'm willing to accept that later Moffat seasons might be better than this (at least on the interpersonal conflict side of things), but it's season 1 and he's already dropping the ball so hard.

We could've gotten something truly marvelous, with a PLATONIC conflict based on the Raggedy Man from her childhood finally coming back and offering her freedom from a boring adult life. She's enamored with him, but doesn't entirely trust him because hey, he massively fucked up once already. Maybe Rory is concerned about his place in Amy's life, and Amy tries to be comforting. Maybe she messes up, maybe she says the wrong thing. Maybe she says the wrong thing right before losing Rory to the crack in space and time. But she has to try, because why should I care about a relationship where one person doesn't care about the other's happiness, at least a little? And right now it just feels like she doesn't.

I'm not saying shows shouldn't have interpersonal conflicts and flawed protagonists. They should! But to pull that off well, you have to make us want to see these characters grow. You have to give us a reason to enjoy watching these characters interact, even at their low points. And revisting Moffat's run as an adult, I don't feel enjoyment. I just feel annoyed.

[tattoos-and-ballgowns]

To feel so vulnerable in the world (and to BE so vulnerable),

And then to look at these bombings and feel “this is right”

[krys-loves-otome]

OC Brain Rot Post #1: Thea and Abby and the Rivals Fight at the Mansion

OC Brain Rot (originally based on this post) is where I basically ramble some about my OCs and what they're up to currently outside of my writings and arts. Basically, these posts are, in essence, brain dumps. Sometimes there might only be a couple sentences and half-formed ideas, others might go into meta involving my ocs and whichever game universe they are apart of.

Most post will be based around my otome OCs but some original ones might slip in once in a while! You just never know where my brain might take me.

I'll also make a big, huge note here that these posts won't be spoiler-free! At the beginning of each post, I'll try and make note of which game and OCs I'll be talking about. Spoiler parts will be under the cut.

For this post, there will be Spoilers below about the Interlude route of Ikemen Vampire, right around Chapters 10 and 11.

Thea and Abby will feature in this rot. Normally, they are two characters that have their own universes. However, I also fall inevitably into joining their universes together just so I can have them both interacting with the boys and being friends (Thea is quite protective of the shy and timid Abby), so I'll also include some thoughts about both of them together in this part of the Interlude route.

Here we go, onto the brain rotting!

-----

For Context: The Interlude Route in Ikemen Vampire is a transition arc between the first and second acts, right before the act 2 for the suitors are released and two new characters are introduced. MC is stuck in the past because Comte's magical time door is broke and going home is likely an impossibility at this point, unless you want to be lost in the time soup for all eternity. So now, MC is trying to make the best of the change in her plans.

Vlad, still bent on not letting the vision he saw in the future come to pass, revives the rivals to our suitors and they have been terrorizing everyone the past few chapters. Where I'm at currently, Vlad has met with Comte and Leonardo and they tried to talk things out, purebloods to pureblood, but Vlad still refuses to stop his mission and the three part ways.

He then sends the ones he's revived to the mansion in an all out attack. Napoleon and Jean take the most brunt in fighting Wellington and Gilles with Leonardo and Comte assisting them. Dazai and Sebastian were guarding the door while the other non-fighters (Mozart and Isaac) were in the piano room. Theo had gone on his own to face off against Gauguin to get revenge with Arthur following him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, such as going through with the revenge quest he was on.

This is initially where the girls start off in. Vincent is also in the piano room but soon goes out on his own because he also figures that Theo was about to do something stupid and while I initially thought it was dumb of him because he left the non-fighters defenseless (his little info blerb he's the strongest of the non-purebloods and I had many instances of 'why you do that, something bad gonna happen to the non-fighters! Vincent, my love!') but he didn't want for Theo to do his stupid thing, so he goes to Theo and it's sweet (me still thinking it was dumb but whatever, narrative gonna do what it wants).

For Thea, she goes with Vincent after Theo. No risking yourself for your brother nonsense! She cares too much about Theo too, she's gonna stop him. And she knows a little bit about fighting (as stated in this power-scaling reblog I did), so she'll be mostly okay. Theo pulls her to him as he flips the pool table in the game room and all four of them are dodging bullets, currently.

For Abby, she stays with Mozart and Isaac in the piano room, scared as this is some terrifying shit going on! When Vincent said he was leaving for Theo, Abby was very, very scared, numerous things running through her head, all of them not good. Worried for everyone outside fighting currently, for Sebastian and Dazai guarding the door, for Theo and Arthur out on their own, and now Vincent going on his own to find Theo. She wishes she could curl up in a corner somewhere, close her eyes and cover her ears until all of this was over, but she can't, not when all of her friends are fighting right now.

Before Vincent leaves, she does tug on his sleeve, wanting to ask him to stay. She knows how strong he is and wants him to stay with them, but seeing his eyes, how worried yet determined how he is. He was set on finding Theo.

So, in the face of that, all she could do was let go of his sleeve and say "Be careful."

Vincent smiles and gently pats her shoulder, promising to come back soon, with Theo in tow.

Once he's gone, however, Salieri comes after Mozart with a knife and we're back in terror time again. Isaac stays the closest to her, they're both terrified! Mozart shielding both of them. He manages to break the mind control over him with standing in front of the piano, reminding him that he had admired his music in their first lives, what has happened to you to attack another music lover? Things seem to simmer down in the music room because of that.

In the combined universe of both girls, it's relatively the same, Vincent still goes off to find Theo, but Thea goes with him, determined to find Theo and to help him or stop him from doing the stupid thing. Abby still tugs on Vincent's sleeve, still sacred but ultimately lets him and Thea go. They both cared a lot about the younger van Gogh, so who was she to stop them just because she's scared?

And... this is as far as I've gotten with this brain rot. Just a fun little brain exercise to put the girls in the goings on with what I'm playing currently. Hope to be able to share some more brain rots with you guys soon!

[trealamh]

I'm sorry if you've got these question before but I have to ask: what made Alisdair speak to Arthur in Glasgow Scale? Did Arthur and Dai have any other family? What life did Arthur leave behind in Kent, and was Alisdsir's life much changed afterwards?

I love how your short stories pack so much life into them, they can be unfolded ten times over and I still would want to know more

always ask anything you'd like! i love your questions. And aaaa thankyouthanyouthankyou for your kind words <3

hehe I have been wondering whether it would be too indulgent to write TGS from Alasdair's point of view, actually. It would be a longer piece and much more dialogue heavy, covering from the night they met to Arthur moving in.

(Here is where I confess that TGS was going to be a multi-chapter fic/ one of those 15k single-chapter fics until i got worried I would disappoint people by taking too long to update or missing scoteng week entirely orz sorry everyone)

But to answer your questions!

Alasdair, as i mentioned here had just been released from custody and made his way straight to the hospital (no time to rush home and hop in the shower when you're naw even sure your brother is still alive). He is still running high on adrenaline a when he goes to find a seat in the waiting room, having been dismissed by the nurses that won't let him into Sean's room. It may not show much on him, but emotionally he is all over the place; angry, furious, even, and worried. Exhausted and fed up with the proceedings of loss; the bureaucracy of pain. Having someone in hospital is one of the hardest things to go through; a lot of the time it is worse to be the one waiting outside than it is to be the one hooked onto an IV. Alasdair is burning for a smoke and out of filters but the truth is that the reason why he sits next to Arthur is that something in him recognises him as a younger brother-- Dai was older. Call it instinct. I don't believe he would rationalise it and I do think that at some point Arthur would ask him outright "Why did you choose to sit next to me that night? Why me?" Alasdair probably would not have the words o explain it beyond some vague sense that Arthur was the only person in that room that made sense to him in that moment.

Arthur and Dai only had each other, really. Maybe a distant relative here and there but no one close. I won't go into detail to spare anyone who might come across this without a cw but it is partly why Dai is almost meticulous with the instructions he leaves behind; he knows that Arthur won't have any support going forward so as much as he can he tries to make it easy.

(It is patently not. It could never be. Nothing about loss could ever be but losing someone under those circumstances especially is unmanageable.)

When Arthur calls Dai's workplace to try and let them know he is not coming in to work they seem a little baffled and tell him that Dai had put in his two weeks already. It makes Arthur nauseous; it almost brings him to his knees. It makes him realise how long Dai had been planning this for and that as much as the loss of him itself is worse than any nightmare.

Moving onto lighter things, what Arthur leaves behind in Kent is a slightly bemused flatmate and a few odd pieces of furniture. He only moves in with Alasdair after he finishes his degree! Dai and him grew up nestled deep in the Welsh borders (I needed them both to have a piece of their namesake countries with them! so the borders it was) lost their mother in their late teens, shortly after Arthur gets approved for his student loan. Some more deep lore for TGS: that the reason why Dai is studying in Edinburgh are the student fees. He is older than Arthur, as I mentioned, so went off to uni a year before he did with his mother's support. She was already sick when Arthur was finishing up school and gone before he got his A-levels back. That summer, Dai comes down from Scotland to help him back and move into his first-year accommodation in Kent and that is the last time they spend more than a couple of weeks together at a time. Everything they own between them and whatever their mum left is split even; they get a few boxes each and a couple of furnishings, and that's all they really need. Eventually, Arthur might start feeling that loss as well and he might feel nostalgic about his home town, the flat they shared with their mother, and he might return to seek out familiar sights. Dai never grows old enough for her loss to lose its sting. They have different fathers (both still living) but neither keep in touch; their wee family of three (and then two) was plenty enough for them.

(Alasdair, contrastingly, comes from a Big Family. They fold Arthur right in, don't ye worry.)

And last of all, Alasdair's life does change pretty significantly after the events in The Glasgow Scale. He stops smoking, for one, but he also starts drinking less. By the time we meet him in this AU he has already done a lot of the work to get a hold on his temper and it's partly why he is not one of the brawlers in the fight that puts Sean in a coma. But he still has a ways to go and Arthur helps with that, more than he knows. He learns to think about someone else's needs in a deeper way than he ever has before and starts to see his own actions through someone else's eyes. Alasdair post-TGS is guilt-ridden to a fault and being good to Arthur helps him get a grip of himself.

This is a bit of a spoiler but a few months after Dai's death, Arthur gets a call from one of his classmates. Dai left behind a few things (he was an artist, Dai was you see) and he offers to hold onto them until Arthur can travel back up to pick them up. Arthur mentions this to Alasdair, who he's kept in touch with (a little awkwardly at first ksks do not be fooled they are deeply emotionally constipated in this AU despite the way they latch onto each other in the midst of their respective trauma) and Alasdair offers to bring them down for him instead. He kinda just blurts it out actually haha and is afraid that it was too forward of him when Arthur takes too long to answer that aye, that would be good actually, if Alasdair is sure (he cannae afford a ticket up to Scotland is the truth).

This is a whole wee story in its own right but essentially they get to meet each other again, under better circumstances, and that lays a stronger foundation for their eventual relationship. It is also an incredibly awkward visit at first adgfjdhgj which oddly enough helps them get over a lot of personal hang-ups.

One thing about this fic though is that for as much as their lives are changed irrevocably by what they lose and earn that night, they are still very ordinary people hhh and that's what I love about them both.

[supjello]

hehehe