#and lancelot looks sooo sad

[buffyspeak]

save me mercelot save me

[supercalvin]

Hey! First I want to tell you how much I adore the things you write! You’re honestly so talented and I love your Merthur fics sooo much!! And now for the prompt thing, it’s kind of basic but if you could write something about merthur running away to live in a farm (On canon era)? Thank you! Stay safe

I had a bigger idea for this that I might expand into a longer fic one day. But who knows if that will ever happen. So here is this instead!

Prompts + Ficlets

Edit: now with a PART TWO

***

Merlin woke in a cold sweat, gasping as if he had been drowning. This was the third dream in as many days. First, he had dreamt of Gaius, sitting by a fire in a small house on the outskirts of the lower town. Merlin hadn’t thought much of it. Then next night he had dreamt of Lancelot, seeing him in Camelot’s red and gold, with Gwen by his side. The dream had made him sad, but nothing too worrisome. Tonight, Merlin had dreamt of Morgana. She was sitting on Camelot’s throne, Camelot’s knights at her feet, and Excalibur in her hand.

Gaius scolded Merlin for not telling him about the dreams sooner. Merlin defended himself, saying he hadn’t thought they were visions of the future. He wasn’t a Seer after all. Perhaps they were visions of a possible future.

“But Lancelot…” Merlin said, his voice trailing off and his heart sinking. “It must have been Gwen’s dream…”

Gaius shook his head, “I will try to find some explanation today. Now off you go before Arthur comes looking for you.”

Merlin thought about mentioning the dreams to Arthur. It had been a year since Merlin had told Arthur of his magic. Although Arthur had come to understand Merlin’s decisions, Merlin feared these visions would be too similar to Morgana’s nightmares for Arthur to trust them.

That night, Merlin went to sleep and almost as soon as he closed his eyes, he was opening them again. Except this time he wasn’t in his room, but in an open field. He blinked at the bright sky above him. Where was he? He wandered down the rows of wheat until he came across a small cottage. Merlin squinted and he could see a small village down the lane.

“There you are. Where have you been?”

Merlin turned around and was surprised to see Arthur. This far out in the country he had thought he might see Gwaine or Percival. He looked around, trying to see who Arthur was talking to, but no one else was around.

“What are you looking at? Close your mouth, you look like a startled stoat. Come on,” Arthur wrapped an arm around Merlin’s shoulders and tugged him along.

In his three previous dreams, no one had ever acknowledged him. He could walk around and speak, but it was like he wasn’t there at all. Merlin stumbled along, trying to piece together what was different. All his other visions were of places he had been before, but this place was completely unfamiliar. It must have been something of Arthur’s memories.

Arthur led Merlin to the cottage, but instead of going inside, Merlin was dragged around the side to where there were even rows of vegetables and herbs. Clucking and pecking between the plants was about a dozen chickens. Merlin blinked at the scene before him. It reminded him of Ealdor.

Arthur’s hand slipped to Merlin’s neck and playfully ran over Merlin’s hair.

“Look!” He said with the sort of smile Merlin so rarely saw. It wasn’t like the polite smile Arthur used with his counselors, or the comforting smile he used with while holding court, or even the roguish smile he used with his knights. It was a barely-there tilt of his lips with his eyes almost closed with mirth.

Merlin was so distracted that he didn’t see what Arthur was pointing at.

Arthur rolled his eyes and turned Merlin’s head to the back of the cottage, towards a lavender bush. Only one or two of the flower bundles had popped open to reveal the light purple blooms, but Merlin could tell it would be in full bloom in a few days.

“Lavender?” Merlin asked, looking at the plant. It had obviously been well kept, trimmed and watered.

Arthur stared at him as if he had grown two heads. “Aren’t you happy?”

“Uh,” Merlin gave a wary smile, “It’s very nice…?”

“Nice? You’ve been yammering about your stupid bush for weeks, waiting for it to bloom so you can dry it and use it in poultices, and now that it is, it’s just nice?”

Merlin opened his mouth, about to say that this couldn’t possibly be a vision. Merlin must have eaten something off before falling asleep. This couldn’t be Arthur’s vision for the future.

“This is my lavender bush?”

“Yes, of course it is. Did you think I dug up yours and put in a new one?”

Merlin looked down at Arthur, just now taking in the fact that Arthur wasn’t in chainmail. He wasn’t in his usual well-crafted clothes either. He was in a loose-fitting white shirt that was unlaced at the chest, exposing tanned skin. His boots were scuffed and his hands were dirty, as if he had just been working in the garden behind the house.

“I was feeding the girls when I saw the new blooms. I’ve been trying to find you for ages. Were you off in the woods practicing your magic?”

There was too much in that sentence to digest. All Merlin said in response was, “The girls?”

Arthur gestured to the chickens, as if that was the sane thing to do.

“Are you alright? You seem... off.” Arthur asked, before shaking his head, “No matter. Let’s go inside and we can have some of that rabbit stew you promised me.”

Arthur walked into the cottage, which must have been Merlin’s. Merlin looked at the lavender bush and the small cottage. Did Arthur… Did Arthur want Merlin to leave Camelot? Was his dream for Merlin to practice his magic where Arthur didn’t have to see it?

Merlin stepped into the cottage cautiously. The first room was a large space with a large pot hanging over a fire. There were shelves of food with a table that was cluttered with bottles and dried herbs. There was another smaller table off to the side which was obviously meant for eating. So far, it looked like a nice home. Merlin wouldn’t mind living in, if the dreaded feeling that Arthur wanted him gone wasn’t overwhelming him.

While Arthur went to look at the stew, Merlin quickly took at glance at the only other room. There was a bed, larger than Merlin had ever had. In the corner was a wardrobe and what made Merlin pause was the chest in the corner. It looked identical to the chest that sat in Arthur’s chambers. Then his eye caught on the table next to the bed. Excalibur was leaning against the bedside table.

“Merlin?”

Merlin turned on his heel to see Arthur leaning in the doorway.

“Looking for something?” He was smiling, his brows raising, almost as if to imply…

Merlin blinked at Arthur, his mind connecting the clues but not wanting to allow himself to believe it.

“The food will get cold if you dawdle any longer,” Arthur said, but he didn’t seem in a rush. No, in fact he seemed happy to take his time.

Happy. That was the feeling Arthur seemed to be radiating. Not the pride of Morgana’s vision, the love of Gwen’s, or the peace of Gaius’. He was so inexplicably happy, and Merlin had never seen him like this before. So at ease in his own skin.

Merlin opened his mouth, his throat closing with emotion.

“What is it, love?”

Merlin closed his eyes at the endearment that rolled off Arthur’s tongue so easily. So natural that Merlin’ heart ached at the sound. Merlin could feel himself shake. He tried to calm himself, knowing that too much emotion would likely wake him. He couldn’t risk that, not when he was so close to understanding.

“Merlin,” Arthur stepped up in front of Merlin so that they were eye to eye. “Is something wrong? You seem upset.”

Merlin opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Arthur’s dream was to be a farmer. A dirty farmer on the edge of some kingdom, with his knight’s armor piled in the corner, as if a forgotten past. Arthur’s impossible dream was to be here, in some unnamed village, with rabbit stew, and chickens, and…Merlin.

Merlin tried to keep an even expression, but he could feel his lips tremble, and Arthur began to blur as Merlin’s eyes watered.

A king could never be truly happy. It was a fact that both Merlin and Arthur had come to understand a long time ago. Merlin knew that Arthur would have to make choices that would weigh on him. Arthur had already lost so much through this war, and it was only the first step to a united Albion. They both had a weight on their shoulders that they could never escape.

Arthur reached out, his hand resting on Merlin’s neck, his fingers skimming into his hair. “Do you want to lie down?” Arthur asked, his voice so sweet that Merlin felt like he was about to choke on his own tears. “I’ll take the stew off the fire and we can lie down for a bit.”

Arthur turned to leave, but Merlin could not let him. He grabbed Arthur’s tunic, his fingers clenched in the thin white fabric, holding him in place.

“Don’t go,” Merlin whispered, ashamed at how desperate he sounded.

“Oh, love. What happened?” Then Merlin was being wrapped in Arthur’s arms. He could barely feel those strong arms wrap around him, his face being pressed to Arthur’s neck, before his eyes opened and he felt his own small bed underneath him.

He choked out and raised his hand to his face to find that he had started crying in his sleep.

“Merlin?” Gaius rushed into the room and when he saw Merlin, he sighed. He sat on the edge of the bed, “Oh, my boy.” Merlin let Gaius wrap an arm around him, feeling ashamed at his tears. Only the night before he had dreamt of Morgana taking the throne and that hadn’t thrown him into a fit. But a single lavender bush and an uninhibited smile from Arthur, and he was trying to keep himself from falling apart entirely.

“It’ll be alright, it was only a dream.”

If only Gaius knew that Merlin wished it wasn’t.

***

PART TWO

Prompts + Ficlets

[bluepunkmon]

This is all very spur of the moment and scattered and bad but I wanted to get it out of the way before I start working soon soooo

(this is personal and what I personally would enjoy seeing, apologies if it diverges from canon too much)

Now, let’s talk about Guinevere. Can we talk about Guinevere, please? I’ve been dying to talk about Guinevere with you all day, okay.

Ok so Guin, I’ve got lots of thoughts about her. I’ve seen Lots of far interpretations, and they’re all very valid and extremely good, we need more of them.

My grand conclusion walking around one morning was; what if she’s a grumpy cynic?

This came from me thinking about Camelot in general. In most King Arthur media I’ve experienced/seen, the court is always wrapped in a sense of nostalgia. King Arthur’s court was uniquely good, a shining beacon on a hill, and England was worse off for its loss

(I haven’t played past Fate GO’s Camelot chapter bc I’m really stuck and I haven’t read all of fate so idk how off this is w fate, apologies)

A cursory glance at the Fate wiki describes Guin as pretty fucked up over marrying Arturia purely for ideals, and the pressure, and Lancelot, and like, everything

And that’s cool! She goes through a lot of tough shit.

In a few variations of the legend I’ve seen, Guin lives after the fall of Camelot and becomes a nun? Sometimes.

(again, I haven’t played past Fate GO’s Camelot chapter and I haven’t read all of fate so idk how off this is w fate)

 Idk I just think itd be neat if, after however long of being a nun/living in isolation/being away from it all, Guin goes, ‘hey wait what the fuck was all of that’

She’s got a lot of time for self reflection, and it makes some of the sadness (some, she’ll always be sad about what happened), starts to sour. Why did the fall happen? Why did she have to marry Arturia if she didn’t love her? Who put all of the pressure on Arturia and Camelot to be perfect?

She questions more and more, and is really truly, deep to her bones angry

Anger makes her wake up a bit more to what’s going on around her. Camelot just fell, so maybe things are chaotic, maybe they’re sliding back into the warring states Arturia unified, maybe they’re facing opportunistic neighbors pushing their limits now that a major governing body has imploded, Idk, im not an Arthurian scholar

Point is things are messed up and Guin doesn’t ever want to feel as helpless as she as before, so she starts doing stuff. First nursing the wounded who come to them at the nunnery (assuming there were nunneries then that did charity work I am not an Arthurian scholar as I said), but the itch doesn’t go away, and it doesn’t feel like enough

So she leaves, and does more stuff. More medicine, helping to farm, whatever needs to be done. She tells no one about who she was. Less questions that way. Less questioning about random wanderer who knows medicine and farming and goes so far as to defend others by wearing patchwork armor and fighting, because by this point she’s learned to do that too.

She never does this to be a hero. As she reflects more, she realizes that she doesn’t like the very concept of a hero. Camelot is a double-edged memory. It was bad that it fell, and that so many died, but she’s now realizing she was never happy there. The perfect system relied on her fulfilling a role she didn’t want. And, more time goes by, she even pities Arturia, from what little she could see it was a lot of pressure on one person. The perfect system was also built on serfdom, and after more time living alone she realizes that that isn’t all that great either

So shes disenchanted with Camelot, and heroes, and kings, and probably divinity too once she gets around to it.

Gion roves around, helping out when shes asked, laying low when she isn’t, and eventually she dies. Maybe plague, maybe fighting soldiers, maybe when she tries to fistfight whatever god or gods were in charge of camelots fate. Point is she dies, and shes left behind such an impression that some part of her starts to materialize as a heroic spirit. Maybe as a mysterious errant knight (which shed hate wow), maybe as some spirit of the people, idk

But! Guin really, really hates heroes! So much so that she actually subconsciously resists becoming summonable. Hence why she still isn’t in FGO.

If she ever is summoned, somehow, she’ll be summoned as she was living post-Camelot. And it works out, because even when face is uncovered, most wouldn’t immediately look and frowning, scarred, weathered woman and think queen of Camelot

I think shed prefer it like that, and only divulging who she is to others from her time. She’s had decades to grow with what happened, but she still doesn’t really want to get into it again, sooo shes putting that off as long as possible

TL;DR, I made my own version of Guinevere ‘heroes are overrated and so is feudalism’ Pendragon

[acrispyapple]

starting the year with spam and a rambling post~

sooo, i'm done spamming! need to start the year right with some good ol' acrispyapple spam™ haha.

i hope everyone's doing okay. i'm sorry if i haven't responded to some messages and asks, but i don't have that energy at the moment. i'll get to it soon! ✿

january's gonna be a hectic but fun month for me-- game-wise that is. there's going to be a bunch of birthdays for the dudes i like! victor (jan 13), lancelot (jan 11), ieyasu (jan 31), mozart (jan 27) -- they're all january babies like me! considering i'm on the 29th, my day is sandwiched between two tsunderes. am i fated to be with a tsun boy? my wallet's gonna cry, but i'll be happy! ♡

kenshin is a february boy (feb 18), but i'll make him an honorary january baby. it's close enough! ٩( 'ω' )و

note: ryoma, logan, kennyo, jean, alyn, and leo are january babies too!

anyway, thank you guys for staying with me! it's fun to see comments and tags whenever i have time to check / look. i don't know how much longer i can keep doing this because irl is starting to need most of my time + running this blog takes a lot out of me. you guys don't notice the change much, but to continue this with my current life stuff, i've sacrificed rest hours. i sleep 2-3 hours tops and it's affecting me already lmao. i'd be sad to stop doing this, but i'd also feel some sort of relief from the pressure i feel to update. why don't i give myself a break? it's either i go full throttle or i don't do something at all. i'm stubborn like that haha. i might need to stop at some point, but until that time comes, i hope we can all have a nice time enjoying our 2D men! ☆

happy new year for the nth time, and i hope 2020 will be good to all of us! it's impossible to have a perfect year, but the most i can hope for is that everyone stays healthy and out of harm's way. i appreciate you guys.

i rarely make personal posts to talk to people sooo, bear with me haha (^◔ᴥ◔^)

ps: harr's summary crap, i actually meant OLIVER's summary is still sitting in my drafts, and i'm gonna force myself to do my followers appreciation asks soon lol. this is what i get for writing something when i'm sleepy (* ˚᷄ 艸 ˚᷅ *)

[specialagentlokitty]

Sir Leon x reader - Leon the lion

Sooo I saw your post of your dream about you having a lion called Leon and I tought what if sir Leon is turned into a lion and chaos ensues in Camelot?? And I don't know, maybe it was an accident why he was turned into a lion or someone cursed him?? And Merlin and the reader have to figure out a way to turn him back?? And poor Leon has to endure lots of teasing from the rest of the knights?? - Anon❤️

“(Y/N)!!” Multiple voices yelled.

Placing your paper down, goi turned around and faced the pale looking knights, worry instantly took over you.

“Tell me.” You demanded.

“Morgana...” Elyan panted.

“Turned Leon...” Percival gasped.

“Into an animal!” Gwaine finished.

Your worry melted away into confusion, what could she possibly gain from that? Then you were taking by the hand by Lancelot and dragged down the halls and outside where people were yelling and Merlin and Arthur where trying to calm a rather stressed looking lion.

Stepping forward, you got down to your knees and rested your hands on your legs.

“Leon?” You called gently.

The lions head turned to you and observed you, while he was doing that you observed him. He had a full main, that neatly framed his face, his fur had a glossy shine in the sun.

You saw his tail sway a little before he let out a sad little roar. Smiling gently you held you your arms and nodded.

“Come on sweetheart...” you whispered.

Slowly he padded over and lowered his head to yours, Leon purred and nuzzled his head under your chin while you ran your fingers through his mane.

“We’ll get through this together...” you whispered.

Leon nuzzled you again and laid down so his head was in your lap, his eyes closed as you smoothed your hand over his head.

“Will you keep an eye on him? He doesn’t want to go near anyone else...” Arthur sighed.

“Of course! I’ll bring him to my room and we’ll hide in there, I’m not exactly sure what we should feed him though...”

“We’ll ask Gaius, you two should get out of here.” Merlin smiled.

“True.” You nodded, “let’s go Leon the lion.” You smirked.

The others burst out laughing and lion grumbled as he stood up. You jumped up placed your hand on his head as the pair of you made your way inside, Leon kept close to you and stayed silent, even when you got to your room, he just sat by your bed.

Padding over, you sat on the edge of your bed and watched him, even though he was a lion he still had his beautiful eyes and it made you smile. Patting the bed you shuffled over.

“Come on.”

Leon tilted his head and looked between you and the bed unsurely.

“It’s alright.”

Carefully, Leon climbed onto the bed and rested his head on your pillow, snickering, you rested your head in front and reached out, rubbing his chest with a laugh.

“Leon the lion~” you sang.

You felt Leon let out a huff and you laughed, bringing your hand up to his head you tilted his face down and pressed a kiss between his eyes.

“I’m teasing.” You smiled.

For the next few hours you just messed with his fur and teased him lightly while he laid on your bed.

Merlin brought you some food and brought Leon some cook meat, before running off to tend to Arthur. Leon gulped the food down and you giggled as you at yours, placing the empty plates by the door, you flipped back onto the bed.

It dipped, and you flipped over, Leon stood over you, eyes peering down at you before he slowly leant down and pressed his nose to yours.

“I love you too sweetheart.”

You knew what it meant, you were the one that started it. Whenever you told him you loved him, you pressed your nose to his and whispered it.

Leon stepped over you and laid himself downed again, head rested on his paws as he gazed at you with big eyes.

Rolling onto your side, you wiggles closer and cuddled into his side like you did every night and closed your eyes.

“Goodnight Leon the lion...” you muttered.

Leon purred and shuffled so he was curled around you, his chin resting above your head, and that’s how you fell asleep.

In the morning when you woke up, two strong arms were wrapped around your waist, and kissed where behind placed to the back of your neck and shoulder.

“Leon...” you mumbled.

“Morning love..” he whispered.

Flipping over, you opened your eyes and took in his messy appearance, his slightly ruffled hair, shirtless upper half. Placing you hand on his bare chest, you leant closed and pressed your nose to his.

“I love you..”

“And I love you.” He smiled.

It took another hour for you to actually get up, but soon enough the pair of you were wondering down the halls hand in hand, entering the throne room you found Arthur, Merlin, Gwen, Gaius and the other knights.

“Leon the lion!” The knights cheered.

Leon’s face lit up bright red and he glared at you accusingly making you laugh.

“So Leon the lion, what’s it like to be a while animal?” Gwaine asked.

“I don’t know Gwaine, how is it?”

You snorted and the others laughed as Gwaine huffed.

“Not nice.”

Leon rolled his eyes and shrugged.

“You’re not nice.

“I’m not dropping the name.” Gwaine smirked.

“Arthur tell him!”

“Sorry Leon the lion, it’s staying.” Arthur smirked.

Leon pouted and you grinned while patting his chest. The next few weeks would be great

TAGS:

Merlin: @havlindzk @sitkafay @milleniumxhan @cassiopeia-barrow @cloudyskylines

All: @sitkafay @havlindzk @drakelover78 @sammysgirl1997 @mp0625 @tc5322 @hahaboop @captainxholmes

[thegeminisage]

Hoiii !! 01 / Pride and Prejudice ; 02 / Morgwen ; 003 / Ian Comb :3

THANK YOOOU u were the only one who sent one

from this meme:

PRIDE & PREJUDICE

Favorite character: well obviously it’s lizzie bennet who according to that personality quiz i am a lot like, so

Least Favorite character: for the first half of the movie it was darcy LMFAO now i think it’s that creepy preacher guy who proposed to lizzie out of nowhere

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): p&p doesn’t have that many ships so i can’t really answer this one...i liked lizzie/darcy in the end tho lowkey bingley’s sis and lizzie had some huuuge gay energy

Character I find most attractive: KEIRA KNIGHTLY NO CONTEST

Character I would marry: oh i’d marry darcy for that cashmoney 

Character I would be best friends with: i don’t know her name but the goth sister that inspired jane eyre

a random thought: what stupid fucker has a STATUE of himself IN HIS HOUSE? darcy what the fuck. oh also we call him mr. darcy so like whats his first name. i know its fitzgerald but doesnt he have another friend with that name. it didnt occur to me to ask until after the credits

An unpopular opinion: i don’t think i have one except for how i think the bust is stupid. also i don’t think that youngest sister should have married that gambling soldier dude but Values Were Different back then. i couldnt figure out why everyone was so relieved at first like GIIIRL she deserves better

My Canon OTP: lizzie/darcy obvs

My Non-canon OTP: goth sister/let her play the piano

Most Badass Character: LIZZIE

Most Epic Villain: darcy’s weird fucking aunt who came in like a wrecking ball at the end

Pairing I am not a fan of: probably that youngest girl and her fuckboy husband

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): GOTH SISTER

Favourite Friendship: lizzie and her big sis :(

Character I most identify with: gotta be lizzie, right. we even have a same name

Character I wish I could be: lizzie because now she’s rich with a husband who drinks respect women juice

MORGWEN

When I started shipping them: i think like in the first episode or one of the first episodes when gwen brings her flowers to cheer her up

My thoughts: im sooo angry at the lack of good morgwen after The Poisoning morgana had NO REASON to turn on gwen and i think gwen was probably the only person she would have let pull her back from the edge but no we can’t have THAT

What makes me happy about them: like it’s a very similar dynamic to merlin/arthur isn’t it...less antgonism for the same loyalty, devotion, and intimacy, the same need to keep it hidden from prying eyes, the same longing and Keeping The Magic A Secret and wondering if your nonmagical bae will still love you after it all comes out...

What makes me sad about them: everything involving morgana going evil :(

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: i can’t think of any trope that i see specifically with these two that bugs me...there’s a lot of things people do with gwen or morgana separately that drive me bananas but generally if it’s gwen SLASH morgana the author does right by them. i guess making them a convenient bg ship rather than a ship in their own right...like of course it’s convenient but they have so much to offer...

Things I look for in fanfic: morgana NOT being evil >:(

My wishlist: a BETTER season 3!!!!

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: i’m happy to shop gwen with arthur, with arthur and merlin at the same time, or with lancelot...uh for morgana really there’s only one person i ship with her and it’s gwen! so!

My happily ever after for them: reverse stockholm beauty and the beast style. when morgana captures gwen she thinks she’s gonna brainwash her but what actually happens is that gwen is kind to her and the gap between them disappears and they fall in love all over again and morgana is like i must FREE you and gwen is like i wanna stay with YOU anyway they get married and help return magic to the world

IAN COMB!!! ah bless this boy

How I feel about this character: BABY. BABY BOY

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: BRIGITTA ONLY they were made 4 each other babey

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: i like to think the alpha djinn just lets him live because she thinks he’s really funny. i definitely think he’s really funny

My unpopular opinion about this character: all my opinions are the popular ones because i’m co-creator

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: just...more of him. i miss him

Favorite friendship for this character: aw ian and ben. what a pair of dumb fucks. not a single brain cell between them

My crossover ship: so this doesn’t count as a crossover but as for characters he never met...conceptually ian/jesse would be Incheresting

[kouei116]

Seth's Bar: Zero, if you want to express your feelings, how about now?

I’m guilty for being lazy and skim through Zero’s part in the Cradle’s Scoop story, so here he is. 

In Cradle’s Scoop story, Edgar tried to distract Alice from questioning him by saying Zero was changing job. All the guys were preparing a secret party for Alice, and Zero was getting fresh flowers when Alice saw him. Similar to Seth, Fenrir, Edgar, Luka, Jonah, Blanc and Mousse, Zero had to keep the party secret from Alice - which made her sad and wondering what was happening, but the story had a sweet happy ending.

Anyway, back to Seth’s Bar. This time the guest is Zero - the Ace of Hearts.

Mousse (the former Ace of Hearts) in case you miss his story :) 

In the world of Wonderland called Cradle, there is a midnight secret bar at a street corner for whimsical people. But today, the door opens from the middle of the day for a special lamb. People call this place “Seth’s Bar”.

Seth: Alice, welcome!!!

Zero: Wel..welcome.

Seth: Seth’s Bar has a special opening today. Because our cute and lovely Alice is here!!

Zero: I was hired as a temporary staff to entertain you, please enjoy your visit today.

Seth: Come on, let’s have a drink first, shall we? Zero, please make the special cocktail for Alice.

Zero: To prepare for today, I learned how to shake cocktails from King Lancelot, please entrust this task to me.

Seth: Indeed, your boss can shake cocktail with one hand right? … Do you remember Alice?

Zero: I think it was about one year ago… Time passed like a blink.

Seth: Yeah. Alice and I met for about 2 years .. from our first date to our first kiss. We both love each other so much, and have many nights of such and so together

Zero: Is that so?

Seth: It is … well, I guess not! But I want it to happen at some point in the future. If you aren’t careful (dumb), someone will meddle in, you know!

Zero: I apologize, I’ll be more careful from now on. Seth: Ahem … pull yourself together. You have something you would like to tell Alice right?

Zero: What things?

Seth: Like how you incredibly unexpectedly love her ?? This is serious. Super serious matter!  

Zero: That’s right… I’m sorry. 

Seth: You seriously like Alice, and don’t want to let her go right?

Zero: Yes, that’s correct. I love Alice. I can’t think of a life without her. 

Seth: Our sweet pure ikemen! You really cannot be outshone, you ☆

Zero: … I’m embarrassed .. please don’t poke my stomach …

Seth: I can teach you many good things, pure swordsman

Zero: Good things?

Seth: It’s been 2 years since you met Alice, right? The 2nd year is the magical year for couples and married couples, you know

Zero: Magical year …

Seth: The so-called “Ennui Attack” (Note: Ennui = boredom, lack of excitement)

Zero: … So I should do something? 

Seth: Would you be ok if you two start to drift away from each other? Please take this seriously! 

Zero: A, ah… 

Seth: In order to keep your favourite Alice’s heart, as always, I have no choice but to help you, my new friend. Freshness is important you know, freshness!

Zero: I understand, I will study hard. 

Seth: Dear Alice, you want to see our new fresh sides too right? Anyone who agree, please clap your hands!

Zero: … Thank you Alice, but it’s hard to show you a fresh side out of a sudden.

Seth: Then how about we imitating each other? In many ways, it’s fresh, isn’t it

Zero: Is my hurdle not high?

Seth: Oh, you don’t want to imitate me? 

Zero: It’s not like that, it’s quite difficult ...

Seth: Come on, stand in front of Alice. Our fresh Ace of Hearts, 3,2,1 …

Zero: Err… Alice, please come closer to me. There are so many things I want to talk with you tonight. 

Zero: I would like to serve you the most exceptional wine. Tonight let’s drink until sun rises … And not only mine, please show me a new side of you as well. 

Seth: Hey, the last bit is sneaky

Zero: … Please forgive me, I suddenly feel very embarrassed halfway… 

Seth: You know what, it’s annoyingly cute.

Zero … Next is your turn. 

Seth: My fresh side, please enjoy plenty of it! 

Zero: Your strange confidence is scary … Our fresh 10 of Spades, 3,2,1 ...

Seth: Alice, will you eat this lollipop? It’s a candy snack of the tavern. You’re so cute, it suits you. But my snack isn’t this candy, it’s your delicious-looking lips

Zero: … Wa.Wait Seth Hyde! I definitely do not say such things

Seth: Yeah yeah, I don’t take any objections/complaints. Sooo Alice, did you enjoy our fresh sides?

Zero: … I will never imitate Seth Hyde again ...

Seth: If you are going to show us your smiles like that, it’s not bad to show a fresh side sometimes. And you can hold Alice’s heart firmly. 

Seth: These past 2 years, I have always been a good Sister Seth in front of you right? But the time will come soon when I show you a different (not-sister) side of me. In our third year, expect to see more of a man in front of you. 

Zero: The 2 years I spent with you, I have changed. Especially this year, I met Rikosu and fell in love with you…. I used to be only interested in swordsmanship, but now have become interested in many things. Thank you, Alice. In our third year, let’s make lots of beautiful memories together … From now on to forever, I love you. 

(Note: リコス - Rikosu is Zero’s pet, I think it’s a Golden retriever?)

Seth: Hey, can you lend me your ear? Whatever happened at this bar tonight

Zero: … they remained here as our secret tales, just between you and me. 

In our third year, we will deliver our unending love to you. We look forward to your next visit. 

The End ---

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

Can you do Merlin (I know again but I like reading your metas) and Harry Potter for the ask meme? 😊

5 things I’d change about Merlin:

1. Morgana’s entire arc. I briefly discussed this in the previous ask you sent where I talked about characters I couldn’t sympathise with, but I feel like Morgana’s entire arc across the series was handled terribly. The idea of Morgana transitioning from a protagonist to an antagonist was interesting and I’m perfectly happy with that, but it needed to be written so much better than it was. I think more attention needed to be given to Morgana’s internal processes and motivations. How did she change so drastically from such a compassionate and caring person to such a hardened and ruthless villain? I can’t pinpoint what specific event caused that rapid change and I think that’s the problem with Morgana. The development needed to unfold a lot slower and there should’ve been a clearly traceable line of events and growing of thoughts and feelings that led her to where she ended up. I know that she did have certain pivotal events that changed her - meeting Mordred, discovering she had magic and living with Uther’s hatred for magic, Merlin poisoning her, finding out Uther was her father and had been lying her all those years, meeting Morgause - but I still feel like none of that fully justified the sudden change in her character. I think the writing of her character in the later seasons needed to be more sympathetic and instead of reducing her to a villain, there still needed to be some level of insight into Morgana as a person. Ultimately, Morgana’s actions were driven by her desire to make magic legal, put an end to Uther’s persecution of those with magic and take her rightful place on the throne. All of that is completely understandable and even reasonable, but it gets lost in the mess of trying to make her the worst villain in the world and Merlin and Arthur’s archenemy. 

2. Arthur finds out about Merlin’s magic before the finale. We all knew from day one that Arthur had to find out about Merlin having magic at some point, but to make us wait until the very last episode was cruel and a pretty poor decision. There was so much development involved in Arthur discovering Merlin’s secret. It was the one massive barrier that was constantly between them and by making Arthur find out in the finale, they had to cram an entire season’s worth of disbelief, confusion, angst and acceptance into one episode. Arthur learning about Merlin’s magic represented the turning point for him. Already throughout the series we saw that he didn’t hold the same harsh beliefs that Uther did about magic and that he was a lot more open minded and forgiving than his father. To find out that Merlin had magic would’ve completely turned his world upside down and make him question the beliefs, morals and principles he’d carried his entire life. The prophecy of Merlin and Arthur creating a golden age never truly happened because it couldn’t happen as long as Arthur was in the dark about Merlin’s magic. It’s only through finding that out and coming to accept Merlin’s magic as being part of who he was that the two of them could’ve truly become a partnership and worked towards building a better and brighter kingdom. It’s only through understanding Merlin’s struggles and experiences with magic that Arthur could’ve come to make the decision to make the practice of magic legal in Camelot and stop the persecution of those that practised it. The central conflict throughout Merlin is essentially one between those with magic and those without it, and Merlin and Arthur are the embodiment of that. Arthur is the king, he’s the one with the power to govern the kingdom and make the laws that Camelot lives by, he doesn’t have magic and has an ingrained prejudice against those that do that’s passed down to him from Uther. Then there’s Merlin, the most powerful warlock of all time that has so much magic yet is completely powerless when it comes to making the decisions that impact the kingdom. Like the show said, they were two sides of the same coin and only together could they bring the peace and balance between magical and non-magical people. But as I said above, in order to do that Arthur needed to know everything and have his eyes opened to the fact that magic was not the enemy, and that if it hadn’t been for Merlin’s magic he would’ve been dead in the pilot and the entire kingdom would’ve fallen to ruin. 

3. ARTHUR LIVES, Gwaine lives, Lancelot lives, everybody lives! I appreciate that Arthur’s death was temporary and there’s some level of comfort to take from that, but it still felt like everything that happened was for nothing. All of the blood, sweat, tears shed and sacrifices, pain and devotion Merlin endured to protect Arthur and fulfil their destinies felt utterly pointless. I don’t even care if it’s too idealistic and too much of a fairytale ending, the finale should’ve been Arthur and Merlin side by side in the castle looking out over Camelot, the sun setting in the sky and Kilgarrah narrating that they fulfilled their prophecies and it truly was the beginning of a golden age of Albion. Killing Arthur was unnecessary and a very unsatisfying and devastating conclusion to the story. The only ending that would’ve made sense to me is Merlin and Arthur together at the end, having overcome all the obstacles and evil they’d faced and created a united Camelot where magic was able to thrive in a new way, with the future ahead of them and endless possibilities for all the good they’re going to do together. As for Gwaine and Lancelot, I think they both should’ve survived until the end. Gwaine’s death was even more unnecessary than Arthur’s, there was just no impact or reason for it. I’ve always loved Lancelot and think he was killed way too prematurely, and should’ve been a part of the round table. I also disliked the way he was resurrected by Morgana to be used against Arthur and would completely scrap that plot.

4. Merlin and Morgana’s relationship. By this, I don’t mean I think Merlin and Morgana should’ve had a romantic relationship, but I think there was sooo much potential where Merlin and Morgana were concerned. Just as Merlin and Arthur’s destinies were entwined, so were Merlin and Morgana’s, and I think there were so many layers to their relationship that could’ve been explored. Morgana’s number one fear was Emrys and in keeping her in the dark about Merlin being Emrys, it simplified the storyline a lot and made something that could’ve been incredibly interesting pretty boring. I think Morgana should’ve definitely learned about Merlin’s magic before Arthur and that Merlin should’ve been there to try and help her adjust and teach her about how to control her magic. I also think that Morgana’s transition to the dark side could’ve involved Merlin a lot more with Morgana trying to turn Merlin against Arthur by preaching that Arthur would never accept him for who he really was and that only with her on the throne would they ever truly be free and magic not be a crime. This could’ve also provided some interesting development for Merlin with him being genuinely torn between his loyalties to Arthur and Morgana, and his desire to protect Arthur and maintain his duties to Camelot and his want to be free and for magic to have free reign too. By maintaining that friendship between Merlin and Morgana for longer, it also would’ve created much more conflict when Morgana found out that Merlin was Emrys. This would also tie into the first point I discussed about Morgana’s arc, because it would’ve kept Morgana more human by building on that relationship with Merlin and having her connect with the protagonist on a deeper level. It also would’ve complicated her role as a villain, because she would still have loyalties and affection for Merlin. Whether or not that relationship could’ve gone to the romantic level, I really don’t know. I’m not a Mergana shipper, but I’m not opposed to it either. I think it would’ve worked incredibly well whether it remained a friendship or if it turned into a romance. 

5. Gwen and Arthur have a baby. This is quite a simple one in comparison to the others, but I always felt like Gwen should’ve been pregnant at some point on the show. I don’t think it necessarily would’ve made sense for the baby to be born in the middle of the series because it would’ve detracted from the main story, but there definitely should’ve been an announcement that Gwen was pregnant in the last season. The reason for this is that it would’ve been a huge celebration of the continuation of Arthur’s family line and provides a nice image of a future with mini Arthur’s and Gwen’s, but also it would’ve been another huge milestone that Arthur and Gwen had overcome after facing so many obstacles and being told that their love could never be. 

5 things I’d change about Harry Potter:

1. REMUS, SIRIUS AND DOBBY LIVE. I understand that death is part of life and in a series like Harry Potter where there’s an actual war there’s inevitably going to be casualties but not Sirius and Remus. Sirius was killed way too prematurely and still had so much to offer. He’s one of the best written and complex characters in the series and would’ve added so much to the story if he’d have lived. It’s exactly the same with Remus. He was such an interesting character that was an unnecessary sacrifice and I will never accept that Teddy had to grow up an orphan just like Harry. It’s too tragic. As for Dobby, why would anyone ever want to kill Dobby? It’s too sad and although I do think his death is effective in evoking the kind of emotion JKR wanted us to feel, I just love Dobby too much and can’t help but wish he’d lived. Also, poor Hedwig too. Let her live. Poor baby.

2. The entire epilogue. I’m pretty sure every HP fan will agree with me on this one. The epilogue in Deathly Hallows was just so awful. After everything that happened to write such a wishy washy happy ending like that was ridiculous. It wasn’t necessary for us to know that and it would’ve been so much more effective if what came afterwards was left to the readers’ imagination and interpretation. We were already given a happy ending with the defeat of Voldemort and there really wasn’t any need for JKR to take it that step further. 

3. Snape’s entire arc. As a writer myself, I can just feel that not much thought was put into Snape’s character. JKR wanted to create a villain that wasn’t really a villain but failed spectacularly. The idea that Snape was always on Harry’s side and protecting him behind the scenes completely undermines his behaviour and actions across the 7 books. And his reasoning being that he was in love with Lily just has no weight to it. Is he really so pathetic that he spent the rest of his life obsessing over a woman who never wanted him and married another man, and waded into her son’s life because he somehow felt that brought him closer to her? There’s just something incredibly disturbing about it and it’s a weak character arc. 

4. The general portrayal of villains - particularly Voldemort and the Malfoy’s. JKR has tried to defend herself numerous times about the way she wrote the houses, with the general opinion being all Gryffindors are pure hearted heroes and all Slytherins are evil whilst Ravenclaws are somewhere in the background reading and Hufflepuffs just go with the flow. JKR falls into the trap of using stereotypes and makes her villains one dimensional. Voldemort is the obvious example here. What made him become so utterly evil? I mean, there really is nothing redeemable about him yet from flashbacks we learn that he was a pretty normal, even charming child. What could possibly cause that drastic turn to the dark side? The idea of wanting to create horcruxes does not in itself mean he was evil, in fact, it’s pretty in-keeping with the ambition associated with Slytherins - he wanted to be as powerful and strong as he possibly could be. Yet the moment he learned what had to be done to make it happen why didn’t he decide against it? Why did human life mean less to him than being immortal? Draco is another example. Draco is arguably one of the most intriguing characters in the series, but his struggles are not gone into in enough depth. Obviously, there’s restrictions with how far JKR was able to go with it since the books are from Harry’s POV, but just how I discussed Morgana and Merlin’s relationship, Harry and Draco’s relationship had a very similar dynamic and could’ve been built upon so much more to make the story even more interesting. Even though Draco was supposed to be Harry’s archenemy, there’s a bond there between the two boys, a sense of familiarity and obligation that means when Harry first understood the extent to which Draco was involved with Voldemort it could’ve create so much more conflict than we got. JKR did go there, but she just didn’t take it far enough. Similarly, the rest of the Malfoy’s are portrayed as being evil but why? You’ll notice that I’m one of those people that just can’t accept someone being evil and the only explanation being because they are. Very few people are actually born evil, only psychopaths, but surely all of these villainous characters can’t be psychopaths? So what is their drive? What went so wrong in their past that they behave this way? In my opinion it is so hard to write a realistic and strong antagonist and JKR is one of the many writers that fails to do any villain justice. 

5. The time-turner. Although the time-turner was great in that it allowed Harry and Hermione to save Sirius and Buckbeak, the introduction of time travel completely detracts from the entire story. I saw this meme years ago: 

and distinctly remember laughing out loud because it’s so true. JKR can preach whatever philosophical crap she wants about how messing with time could have disastrous consequences and that’s why they couldn’t use the time turner for any other purpose, but with the power to time travel why wouldn’t the characters simply go back and change the key events in their lives that they want to erase? Why wouldn’t Harry go back to the night his parents were killed to save them and kill Voldemort for good in the process? Any rational human would and say to hell with the consequences. From Harry’s perspective there was nothing to lose in doing that, in fact, it would solve all of his life’s problems. It’s just ridicilous that McGonagall would give such a powerful and potentially earth destroying object (if it fell into the wrong hands) to a young teenage girl just so she can take on extra classes. There is no logic in it and there is no satisfying or adequate reason as to why Dumbledore thinks it’s perfectly okay to go back in time to save Buckbeak and Sirius but that it would be abhorrent to use it for any other reason. 

Wow, so that’s it. Sorry this got so long, I really wanted to put a lot of thought into it. It’s so hard to narrow it down to just 5 things and to cast my mind back to the entire series to recall what I didn’t like. For Harry Potter I was going to say I’d change all of the romances, but then the point about the epilogue kinda does that for me. Anyway, thanks for asking again, Tasneem, you know how much I love writing these kind of metas! :)