#arthur recap

[storytellering]

It's that time of the year again ✨

[pawsitivevibe]

Favourite Photos of 2024: Arthur edition 🍪

[forelsketparadise]

[rosalette-roxburgh]

Can i just say these are the cutest things ever…

[topoet]

Recap July 2024

The WP map shows my hits have come from 19 countries around the world, with Canada & the US still in the top spots. Most popular post was my review of the disastrous Hedda Gabler at the Stratford Festival. Being disappointed makes me more aware of what I do like – though in Hedda case I suspect it may be the text as much as the production that let me down.  Watched lots of great movies in July…

[cloudcountry]

watching you lose your mind over arthur today made me mentally visualize the image of you aggressively shaking the mirror and telling me about your confusing guy (tm)

-but even with that aside, does that imply that Arthur's family members are alive?? is it just his uncle??? what's going on over there bestie

OKAY RUBIA YOU DONT UNDERSTAND TEH SECOND FOUND OUT EDGAR WASNT AROUND I WOULD HAVE CALLED YOU AND CRIED ABOUT IT

honestly i have no idea. how many people in his family are alive. but i DO know that i got very freaked out when i saw his uncle. HE EVEN ASKED TO KISS MY HAND AND I DONT LIKE TOUCH IDK. I KNOW THATS NICE AND ITS MANNERS OR WHATEVER BUT HE GIVES A VIBE

i want him to come back soon :((( i want to have discussions about gummies :(((( if hes not weirdly flirting not flirting w me what do i even have in cradle :(((((

[yallemagne]

So, on a plane yesterday, I skimmed through the rest of P.N. Elrod's book, Quincey Morris, Vampire.

It's not very good. It's poor fanfiction. I do not support attacking fanfic writers or the stereotype of fanfiction being the epitome of bad writing (most of my writing is fanfiction and I'm rather proud of some of it [some bc a good deal of my older work is amateur]), but it's a rather amateur plot where Elrod spends the entire book rewriting the book she's supposed to be building off of, not desecrating.

Now, Elrod has quite a few vampire books, so I think this story is just a self-indulgent take on a neat lil idea she had, but she felt the need to discard all of Bram's vampire lore and all of Bram's plot and squish her own in. I respect Elrod as a fellow fanfic writer, but I don't respect her character assassinations of Jonathan and Renfield and the attempts to justify the assault of Lucy and Mina. Though I guess that Dracula was an unreliable source? Hopefully, the intention was not for the reader to take Dracula's claims seriously.

Since I skimmed, I cannot say that I am the best source. I did read the beginning part up until Dracula starts claiming Jonathan is an insane adulterer. Then I just couldn't take any of it seriously. I mean, I couldn't really take it seriously when Dracula and Quincey were just... having a calm conversation but whatever.

Spoilers of course.

So, in the story, Quincey's body is dragged from the sleeping team's side by wolves and they cannot find him once they wake. Why did the wolves drag him? Because Dracula is apparently alive and has figured out that Quincey is a vampire. Dracula blackmails Quincey into coming with him back to his castle. If he had refused, Dracula would have murdered Quincey's whole team.

And yet after that, the book tries to claim that Dracula was secretly in the right the entire time.

Dracula has green eyes. It has no plot relevance, I don't believe Quincey remarks on the change from red to green, it's just a dumb detail that keeps being shoved down our throats.

Through Dracula's guided questions, Quincey realizes that a woman he had sex with years ago that drank his blood and forced him to drink hers was a vampire (apparently she's also a character from one of Elrod's other books). Why didn't he change into a vampire sooner? Dracula claims there are two different types of vampires, and he's the cooler one while Quincey is the lamesauce one. So Quincey only has to drink animal blood. Quincey worries that his tainted blood may have killed Lucy but Dracula's like "... nah".

Quincey confronts him on everything, but Dracula has a bullshit answer for anything. I feel the only bearable way of reading this is the interpretation that Dracula is gaslighting Quincey. Quincey says "you killed Lucy, you fed on her repeatedly and she died of blood loss". Dracula says "no that was your fault. she would have gotten better if you just left her drained of blood". Dracula claims that Mina's still gonna become a vampire, but bc she wished hard enough I guess she got to not be hated by God anymore. And he claims he broke off his connection with her amicably, and they're totally cool now.

He claims that he was in the right to kill Renfield because Renfield was a madman and would have hurt the team... when he only attacked Dracula in defence of Mina. This is so damn ableist. Dracula, you can't claim self-defence when you are a fucking vampire with the power to hypnotize people. That was a gratuitous use of force against a mentally ill man that was of no great threat to you.

Worst of all, when told of Jonathan's account of the Weird Sisters assaulting him, he's like "oh, I didn't interfere. I watched. they had their way with him several times. and he liked it. I mean, he had an ensuing mental breakdown, but he was totally down with being raped in his sleep every night." He claims that Jonathan was just oversensitive to the paranormal and that everything he wrote in his journal was delusions. He gaslights Jonathan. Apparently, there were servants in the castle. Dracula, you fucking twit, that would be the strangest thing to fucking lie about, and you know it. When questioned why he locked Jonathan in his castle and left him for dead instead of taking him to Whitby with him, Dracula waves his hand like "eh. couldn't. don't ask me to elaborate. I'm still an amazing host."

Quincey later denies Dracula's claims about Lucy's death being all their fault, but he never contradicts the claims about Mina and Jonathan. In fact, he constantly repeats the part about Jonathan being oversensitive. So? He agrees with Dracula that Jonathan and Mina being assaulted was okay? He agrees with the ableist notion that Renfield needed to be "put down". Maybe I just skimmed over a part.

Dracula forces Quincey to drink animal blood and stuff. Shows him the ropes. Quincey goes out and actually finds Arthur and Jack still grieving him. He does not reveal himself. I was glad that Arthur and Jack don't have their characters assassinated. They end up shooting a wolf and Dracula gets mad and Quincey is like "you literally had my body dragged away by wolves, they were acting in retribution, you don't get to kill them for it".

Blah blah I dunno, Quincey moves back to London. He tries out his cool vampire powers to harass some lower-class people. He bites a sex worker (super uncomfortable with this part, he says himself that he felt betrayed by the fact his vampiric paramour forced vampirism onto him without his consent while he was in the throws of passion, and he does it to someone else?) He meets Elrod's OC.

Bertrice Holmwood is a Mary Sue. Okay? She's a manic pixie dream girl, she's a strong independent woman that needs no man (except that she sorta blackmails Quincey into sleeping with her), and she doesn't feel like a real human being.

She's yet another hastily shoved-in plot device. She's Arthur's older sister by exactly one year and her whole deal is that she's the black sheep of the family because she's a girlboss. Ugh. She's less of a character and more of Elrod's vague idea of a cool woman.

"Black sheep", Arthur loves her! They're on good terms and they're very protective of one another. She's not ostracized at all. But here's the thing, if she always existed and she and Arthur had such a close relationship, why was she never mentioned in the original book? Now, I'm not gonna get mad that Bramothy didn't make Elrod's OC canon. I'm gonna get frustrated that Elrod so poorly shoved her in. If Arthur is not an only child, why did all the managing of his father's funeral fall to him? Why was she never present or mentioned in scenes pertaining to Arthur's grief? Because she's not... real. And it doesn't fit the original story for her to be real.

I would have vouched for her role in the story if she had been Jack's secret sister instead. Jack having a sibling that he doesn't really interact with during the course of Dracula is realistic because he has a job and he's not a noble. You could even make her Quincey's sister visiting from Texas upon receiving news of Quincey's death. But. Well. They're not Alabamian so the sex would be out of left field then /j.

She is told the events of the book and is like "I'm gonna kill VH for hurting my baby bro" and like. Fair. Honestly, I appreciate that the book calls out VH's manipulation methods instead of trying to twist it like VH was the secret evil all along and Dracula was the good guy. It seemed like that was how it was gonna play out in the beginning, but Quincey empathizes with VH while still criticizing his methods. It's a human take on VH. Sucks what Elrod did to Renfield, Mina, and Jonathan, though.

Bertrice hangs out with Quincey a lot, but my eyes glazed over for those parts bc of all the written-out lower-class accents. Despite her being rich, she hangs out in exclusively the slums of London apparently. It makes her less likeable honestly. Stop gentrifying the neighbourhood, Bertrice. But one scene I did read was when she took him to a fortune teller that used tarot cards to explain his whole situation. One of them was "you've been lied to" and from Quincey's later insistence that Lucy's death was none of their faults, I think he rightfully took it to mean that Dracula was lying? But he doesn't apply that logic to his interpretation of Mina and Jonathan's story, nor Renfield's death...

Quincey reaches out to Arthur and Arthur is a bit spooked.

Arthur: You're dead! You're a vampire! Begone! Quincey: I'm actually a good vampire. 'Just drink animal blood. Arthur: You're lying! Quincey: I'm not. Arthur: Oh, okay. It's good to have you back.

Quincey tries to talk to Van Helsing, but Van Helsing refuses to believe him. Jack on the other hand...

Jack, on the other side of a door: Quincey, is that you? Quincey: Yeah. Jack: If it is you, open this door. Quincey: Okay, but don't freak out. VH: DON'T LISTEN TO HIM HE'S A MONSTER. Quincey: *opens door* Hey. Jack: Ah, hey bud, good to see you again.

It's funny how easily Jack accepts that Quincey is alive and totally chill, especially with VH screaming at him that it's all lies. You would think that he'd at least be equally as unsure as Arthur. VH storms out I think, and Quincey explains to Jack everything-- that VH is probably just defensive bc if Quincey is a vampire and totally chill, that opens the door to the possibility VH was wrong about Lucy. But he restates numerous times that Lucy was dead, she died of blood loss, the Bloofer Lady was not Lucy because that vampire fed off of children, and there was no part of Lucy left to reason with.

VH apparently kidnapped Arthur and Bertrice. Why? I dunno, because he was paranoid about Quincey. But he cages them and that's just super weird. Quincey tries to remedy this by having Jack reason with VH. When that doesn't work, Quincey tries to reason with him with a *bit* of hypnotism. It doesn't work. VH shoots him several times in the chest and, assuming Quincey is dead, crosses himself and leaves.

Quincey isn't dead, he's fine.

Uh? The End? The Harkers never show up, so they're unable to defend themselves against Dracula's claims against them. It really frustrated me. And of course, Renfield couldn't defend himself, and Quincey only barely argues on his behalf before blindly believing Dracula. VH serving as an antagonist felt okay seeing as he's not vilified, he's just painted as a grieving, irrational old man. That's realistic. Except for his kidnapping of Arthur and Bertrice... which was just... so melodramatic.

Also just... so I mentioned that Bertrice and Quincey have sex and it was kind of coerced. I don't recall when this happened, it's really that pointless to the plot. So Bertrice springs it on Quincey that she knows he's a vampire, and in the high stress of that confrontation, she asks him to have sex with her and bite her. He does. Eh.

All in all, the book kind of reads like a very self-indulgent work of fanfiction. Whatever Elrod wished to put into the story, she put in with disregard to the actual events of the book she was basing her work off of. It honestly wasn't the worst Dracula fanfiction I'd ever read, though the victim-blaming was atrocious. I appreciate that Bertrice was a bit more than just a fuck-buddy for Quincey. Her protectiveness over Arthur is a bit of a character trait. I also like that the Suitors are still bros. The conversations between Jack and Arthur that Quincey listened in on felt like I was reading a better story for a bit, their friendship felt real.

[sweet-vanilla-sims]

1500-1599 Recap Part 79:

Arthur became a child. 

Philip and Satoshi became toddlers and Joyce became a teenager. 

Frideswide became a toddler and now that the toddlers don’t look the same it is interesting to see the genetics of the cousins at play. 

Cuthbert and Matilda became children. Amy became a teenager. 

The Carlisles (and Carlisle descended) who died in the plague are: Wilmot Jaleel, Julian Laurent, John Ashtor, Bartholomew Ashtor, Gregory Blair, Glen Blair, Josian Blair (Carlisle), Nathaniel Watson, Asher Martin, Clemence Moyer, Christine Silversweater, Oliver’s son who I can never remember the name of, Jarod Upton, James Upton, Jordon Volkov, Bethany Volkov, Blair Volkov (Mayne), Guy Jernigan, Jase Vatore, Pedro Dalton, Johnathan Martin, Angelo Landgraab, Ronan Bell, John Moyer, Charity Moyer, David Ember, Laurent Ember(Margery’s husband), Giovanna Ember, Julianna Ember, Sophie Pancakes, Chanel Cahill, Deshawn Cahill, Thomas Cahill (Thomas Silversweater’s unseen son), Marielle Landgraab, Mack Landgraab (Marielle’s husband), Lilly Chopra, Athena Chopra (Stephen Tanaka’s daughter), Roxanna Patel (Dane’s illegitmate daughter), Randall Pancakes (Ruth’s son), Elisha Charm, Millicent Landgraab (Mayne), Dan Jernigan, Ellen Soto, Aleah Faba, Josef Oliver, Elaina Iona, Mackenzie Iona, and more that I probably accidentally skipped over from my notes. 

As you can see, I was quite busy.  

[awkwardplant]

relistening to malevolent, up to episode 20 and GOD season 2 is so good. all of it better now that i actually know what happening bc on my first listen i tended to zone out and forgot a lot. also amazing that harlan can do a character voice with a different accent yet still have it sound like them

[kahran042]

Random fun(?) fact: This episode is the only place I've seen that particular dessert referred to as a moon cake instead of a moon pie.

Arthur Recap Season 13 Episode 4 MacFrensky

Personally, I love it when classic literature is reimagined in different settings. West Side Story is Romeo and Juliet, 10 Things I Hate About You is The Taming of the Shrew, Clueless is Emma, and now MacFrensky is, well, MacBeth.

At the school carnival, Muffy convinces Francine to have their fortunes told by Prunella. Prunella makes her fortune based on the objects closest in proximity and tells Francine that she will have lunch with a stranger. “Stranger? I don’t know any strangers!” exclaims Francine. That’s sort of the point, kid.

Arthur and Buster enter the tent to ask if anyone wants to get lunch. Muffy gets excited and points out how Prunella’s prediction came true. Francine reminds Muffy that they already know Buster. “There’s no one stranger than Buster!” jokes Muffy.

Ratburn’s Student of the Month competition is coming to a close. So far, Francine is in the lead! Ratburn finally announces the special prize: lunch with local weatherman Thunder MacDuff! He also adds that the winner can invite a friend along. Muffy and Francine get excited because this has to be the fortune Prunella was talking about.

However, Brain comes in late and explains to Mr. Ratburn that he was helping another teacher change her tire and then he had to turn in a wallet to lost and found. He also turns in his science project a week early! Ratburn is impressed and moves Brain to the lead for Student of the Month.

I hope he verified Brain’s stories because what if Brain just rolled around in the mud for a couple minutes to cover up the fact that he overslept.

Because they are masochists, Muffy and Francine decide to drown their sorrows at the ice cream shop owned by their nemesis. Arthur and Buster are also there to show of Buster’s new toy. Brain admires the toy and Muffy gets an evil, awful idea. She suggests to Francine that they frame Brain for stealing the toy in front of Mr. Ratburn to knock him out of the running for Student of the Month. Francine is reluctant because she doesn’t want to steal Buster’s toy but Muffy convinces her that they’re just “moving” the toy and Buster will get it back and they will get their prize lunch back too.

Muffy distracts the boys by convincing them to go to class early, which gives Francine plenty of time to grab the toy. It squirts out green goo when she grabs it but no one notices Francine secretly stuff the toy into Brain’s bag. Muffy sets off the toy and Ratburn docks Brain points for interrupting class and stealing a classmate’s belongings. Since it’s the last day of the month, Francine wins the lunch with Thunder MacDuff instead of Brain.

Nevertheless, Francine is paranoid that they are going to get caught so Muffy takes her to see Prunella again. Prunella tells them that Francine will be Student of the Month until “the moon is swallowed”. Since that’s physically impossible, Muffy assures Francine they are in the clear.

Buster and Arthur don’t think Brain would have stolen the toy and think someone framed him. Now Francine and Muffy have to figure out how to deal with those two! Muffy suggests that they frame the two for cheating so no one will believe them if they accuse Francine.

Francine plants cheat sheets on their desks before lunch but in the cafeteria, Muffy sees Buster eat a whole moon cake in one swallow. Muffy realizes that Prunella’s fortune has come true and Francine, wracked with guilt, confesses to Mr. Ratburn what she and Muffy have done.

Ratburn strips Francine of her title and sentences both girls to cleaning up litter after school. Brain is awarded Student of the Month and he generously allows Muffy to be his plus one to the lunch meeting. Francine has learned her lesson and is no longer MacFrensky.

Grade: A (Love love LOVE the MacBeth parallels. Seriously, watch the episode and see how many references you can catch. I also love how Muffy gives Francine ideas on how to commit the crimes but when the girls discuss getting punished, she tries to distance herself. Thankfully, Francine calls her out on that shit. This gets major points taken off because Muffy got away scot free (hehe get it? ‘Scot free’? Like The Scottish Play?) and didn’t seem to learn a lesson.) But damn, Muffy had plans for how to frame people already up her sleeve. That was kinda scary.

Rating: 100% intense. Shakespeare references are intense.

[stateofsport211]

ITF M25 Heraklion (Nov 6) QF: Arthur Gea [JE] def. Yshai Oliel [7] 6-3, 6-4 Match Recap

Arthur Gea's point to *2-3 0-40 (left) and to take the first set 6-3 (right) (📸 ITF Media)

The action in this week's ITF M25 Heraklion continued with a quarterfinal match featuring seventh seed Yshai Oliel, who had a hard-fought revenge win against Niels Visker 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7) in the second round, and a promising potential (entering with junior exempt) Arthur Gea, who previously defeated qualifier Sasa Markovic 6-1, 6-1, as well as becoming last week's runner-up. Knowing both players, the return game will play an emphasis with the balance as one of the most important aspects during the match, especially with their aggression.

It turned out that A. Gea had an interesting start to the match, controlling the flow from the baseline with a pace where it could be prone to Oliel's unforced errors. After five consecutive holds, Oliel's forehand errors resulted in the gate-openers to A. Gea's possible break, which was further confirmed when his pacing got Oliel into a backhand error in response to his preceding forehand while trying to get the angles, creating A. Gea's break point before it was eventually converted to 4-2. A. Gea then consolidated the lead to 5-2 and had the chance to serve for the set two games later, which he did at the cost of Oliel getting run over through the forehand side while trying to respond to A. Gea's preceding forehand to take the first set 6-3.

Arthur Gea's point to *0-0 0-30 (top left), to *0-2 30-15 (top right), to *2-2 40-ad (middle left, second break point of the game), Yshai Oliel's point to 4-3* 15-30 (middle right), Arthur Gea's point to *4-4 40-40 (bottom GIF), and to convert his match point to take the second set 6-4 (bottom video) (📸 🎥 ITF Media)

Oliel tried to step up and even had his chances in the second set, especially through his forehand side when he tried to find the lines. However, A. Gea's power and precision appeared indisputable under pressure, which left Oliel with lesser options to advance his offensives. A. Gea started his point construction tidily with a volley finish to set himself 2 points ahead right in the first game of the second set, eventually breaking early to 1-0 at the cost of Oliel's error before he went on consolidating the lead to 2-0. He even had two other break points in the subsequent game, one of which came from his inside-in forehand winner before Oliel ended up massively holding his service game to 2-1 before breaking back to 2-2 a point after A. Gea missed his backhand for Oliel's break point creation.

Both players then played some see-saw game marked by several breaks of serve before the ninth game, which became the crucial part toward the ending of the match. One of those involved A. Gea's forehand winner to create his second break point before he broke to 3-2, only to be broken back to 3-3 over several consecutive double faults. Ultimately, after two service game holds, A. Gea foiled one of Oliel's game points through another forehand winner to force a deuce before he broke to 5-4 due to Oliel's forehand unforced error, paving him the way to serve for the match. He sealed the second set 6-4 thanks to a working drop shot on match point, thus securing the path to his second semifinals within the fortnight.

In the semifinals, A. Gea will face Vladyslav Orlov, who earlier stunned second seed Francisco Forti 7-6(3), 7-6(2) in the quarterfinals. Knowing V. Orlov in singles, this could be a doable but tricky affair for A. Gea considering his deep capabilities, but knowing the latter's potential, it could be exciting to see how everything goes with the finals on the line, with a possible rematch against an in-form Guy Den Heijer, who just defeated Harry Wendelken 7-5, 6-2 in the quarterfinals later that day, should he successfully defeat fourth seed Cezar Cretu in the semifinals.

[deconstructthesoup]

*sighs* All right, just to recap, the Quangle gave us:

-Big Barry Syx and Sofia Lee

-Margaret Encino and Annabelle Cheddar (briefly)

-Lapin Cadbury and Arthur Aguefort

-Sundry Sidney and Prismy Coldbottle

-Sundry Sidney and the Identify Spell

-Amanda Maillard and Queen Carmelinda (which would have been canon if the unthinkable happened and Liam died in the original ACOC)

-Cody Walsh and Loose Duke/Baron

-Rosamund du Prix and Aelwyn Abernant (briefly)

-Rosamund du Prix and Princepts Zorch (which, by the way, is my new favorite thing)

-Baba Yaga and Arthur Aguefort

-And, of course, La Gran Gata and PIB (which now stands for Puss In Bed)

[ramblings-of-a-chaotic-neutral]

Hello again everyone! Since the "Merlin accidentally conquers Camelot" au won the continuation poll, here's part 2!

NOTE: Part 1 can be found here!

EDIT: Part 3 can be found here!

As a quick recap of this au, during the season 4 finale Merlin was caught by Morgana while trying to plant the burning doll curse that would temporarily lock away her powers, and they have a magic battle that ends with both Morgana and her army slain. Merlin thought that no one saw what happened, but Camelot's lords who serve on the council secretly saw everything. So, when Arthur storms Camelot, ready to take back his throne, he's met with the news that Morgana's already dead and a new sorcerer has claimed the throne of Camelot through the right of conquest, and the lords have unanimously agreed to make this powerful sorcerer king in order to appease him. To everyone's shock, Geoffrey then puts the crown of Camelot on Merlin's head, and Merlin promptly passes out.

And now, onto the new stuff!

When Merlin finally woke up, he jolted awake with a start, frightened by what must have been a terrible nightmare! And truly, it was one of the most horrifying scenarios Merlin's sleeping mind had ever conjured to torture himself with: everyone finding out about his magic, Arthur thinking that Merlin betrayed him, and unintentionally stealing Arthur's kingship!

If the idea wasn't so frightening, Merlin would almost laugh at the absurdity of it: Merlin, king of Camelot! What nonsense! Merlin was Emrys, the other side of the coin to the king; he was certainly never meant to be king himself.

Still, the idea gave Merlin a slight chuckle as he climbed out of his bed and changed into his usual clothes, the soft light of the dawn flittering in through his window. Thank every god out there that his outfit didn't involve a crown!

After he finished tying his neckerchief and pulling on his boots, Merlin opened the door into the main area of Gaius's chambers, ready to eat a quick breakfast with Gaius before collecting Arthur's breakfast and starting his work for the day.

Stepping out into the main chamber, he couldn't find Gaius anywhere, but that wasn't too unusual, given how busy Gaius could be with sudden injuries or illnesses popping up in the lower town at all hours of the night. Humming a bit to himself, Merlin began fixing himself a small bowl of porridge in the chamber's cooking pot, making sure to leave an extra portion for Gaius whenever he returned from his duties.

Merlin ate his breakfast quickly, enjoying the birdsong outside and the beautiful sunrise. Yes, this was exactly what he needed to wash away the awful ideas that his nightmare had conjured up.

After cleaning up their dining table, Merlin made his way towards the door, ready go about his day and do his job as a manservant to moderately acceptable standards! Besides, on the heels of Morgana's invasion, Arthur would need a supportive friend far more than a manservant today.

As Merlin opened the door from Gaius's chambers, however, something was conspicuously different. Namely, the fact that there were two armed guards standing on either side of the door, standing with their backs to the door.

The two guards stiffened and stood at attention as soon as he opened the door, uncrossing their polearms so that they would not be blocking his path as he left Gaius's chambers. Merlin froze at the sight of the guards, staring at their backs. What... what was going on?

"Is... is everything alright? What's this about?"

Was it just him, or did the two guards somehow stiffen up even more at Merlin's words?

After a tense beat of silence, one of the guards cleared his throat and replied, "We were assigned to stand guard over these chambers."

Merlin's brows furrowed with confusion for a moment before he figured out what must have happened, realization dawning on his face.

"Oh, I see! Arthur must have increased security around the castle since Morgana's latest attack. I'm not sure why he considers the physician's quarters to be a potential target, but I'll ask him about it later. Well, I'd better get going or else I'll be late to wake the prat up. Say hello to Gaius for me when he gets back!"

The guards looks confused at his words and opened their mouths to call something out to Merlin, but Merlin was already down the stairs and halfway down the hall before either of them could blink.

Merlin got a lot more strange stares than usual today as he made his way towards the kitchens, with many people outright stopping to gawk at him as he passed. Did he have something odd stuck to his hair or something?

Merlin shrugged off the strange stares for now. He'd have time to look in a mirror and figure out what was so odd about how he looked later, after Arthur had eaten and gotten dressed.

Merlin was still a few minutes away from the kitchens when a caped figure emerged from a servant's passageway and barreled into him, drawing him into a sudden hug. Instinctively, Merlin tensed up at the perceived attack, but he quickly relaxed at the familiar smell of ale and apples that surrounded his laughing "attacker".

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you, Merls!"

Merlin sighed with both relief at seeing his friend in one piece and in high spirits, but also is exasperation.

"Gwaine, I'm very glad to see you again, but what are you doing here? You just spent a week in captivity under Morgana, you're supposed to be resting and recovering, not ambushing unsuspecting servants!"

Gwaine pulled back at Merlin's words, wearing a look of confusion as he studied Merlin's face.

"Ah, but I'm not ambushing a servant, am I?"

"Yes, yes, you're ambushing your friend, since friendship gives you more rights to pull stunts like this and give me more reason to worry over your health."

At that, Gwaine's face pulled into an outright frown, a rare sight to see on the perpetually-grinning knight. Merlin shifted around a bit nervously, unsure of what exactly was happening. Finally, Gwaine spoke again, this time very slowly and gently, as if he was trying to calm down a spooked horse.

"Merlin, what do you remember from yesterday? What was the last thing you remember before falling asleep?"

This time, it was Merlin's turn to frown in confusion at Gwaine's odd questions. What did any of that matter?

"Well, I suppose the last thing I remember was... was storming into the throne room with Arthur and Gwen and being informed of Morgana's death anything after that... I don't quite recall."

He must have hit his head or something after that point, because everything after that was what happened in his nightmare, and there was no way any of that was real. Right?

Merlin watched as Gwaine's frown pulled into a strained smile, his confusion only growing. What was Gwaine so nervous about?

"Well, Merls," Gwaine began, slinging an arm around Merlin's shoulders as he started to lead Merlin away from the kitchens, "a lot happened in between then and now, including some great news!"

Gwaine turned to face Merlin, his smile genuine and mischievous this time, and Merlin knew that grin. That was the grin Gwaine wore right before he was about to get himself into some trouble for a noble cause but would hide it under the guise of "fun".

Merlin sighed deeply, not awake enough to deal Gwaine's antics, even if they was coming from a good place.

"Alright, what's this news of yours?"

If it was possible, Gwaine's mischievous grin grew wider.

"For starters, I got a promotion!"

Merlin stopped in his tracks with shock, halting their walk to... wherever Gwaine was leading him.

"A promotion?! How? Why? What's your new title? Will you be leading other knights?"

Gwaine just shook his head, his hair whipping around and smile still present on his face. He started leading Merlin again as he answered Merlin's questions.

"I know, I had hardly believe it myself! But I took some initiative when it really mattered, and I landed myself this new job! It's not really a leadership role, but I might be leading some knights, and probably some guards too!"

Gwaine finally started to slow their march down as they reached what Merlin assumed was their destination: the doors to the main throne room, where Arthur took his audiences.

As Gwaine stopped before the doors, he turned to look at Merlin again, his smile still bright, but his eyes, Merlin noticed, growing strained again, like there was something greatly troubling him.

"You still haven't told me what this new job actually is though."

This time, Gwaine's smile faltered a bit, and Merlin knew at once that this new job was what was causing Gwaine so much inner turmoil. What job could possibly give Gwaine of all people so much stress?

"Ah, silly me, how could I forget! You'll want to hold onto something before I tell you this, because this will blow you away my friend! I got promoted..."

Gwaine leaned in close, almost like he was about to share a secret with Merlin. Merlin leaned in as well, curious about what position Gwaine's surprising promotion had been to.

"to the king's official bodyguard!" Gwaine revealed in a stage whisper, playing the moment up for dramatic effect in a very Gwaine-like manner.

Merlin jerked backwards in surprise, startled by such unexpected news, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

Arthur did seem to be stepping up security in the aftermath of Morgana's latest invasion, so it made sense for him to appoint a loyal and trusted knight to look after Arthur's own safety.

Merlin was strangely pleased with Arthur's decision on this. Arthur was finally prioritizing his own safety, and he had picked a great knight for the job! This might make Merlin's own secret job of protecting Arthur much easier! Gwaine would certainly take any of Merlin's warnings of danger to Arthur seriously, and he trusted Merlin enough that he wouldn't question where Merlin got any of his information.

Merlin smiled back at his friend, happy about both this new opportunity for his friend and about the changes it would bring. Yes, this was great!

"That's amazing Gwaine! Do you want to stop by the tavern tonight to celebrate?"

Gwaine laughed a bit at that, still looking oddly tense. For some unknown reason, apprehension started pooling in Merlin's stomach, telling him that something wasn't right here. No, there was something else going on.

"Thanks for the offer mate, but I'm afraid that it wouldn't be a good look for me to be seen drinking on my first night on the job. Besides, I have a feeling that you'll be a little busy this evening too."

Merlin's confusion only grew with each passing second.

"What do you mean by that?"

Gwaine didn't answer him, only giving Merlin a small, almost sad smile. It looked disturbingly out of place on the boisterous Gwaine, ratchetting Merlin's confusion and dread up even further.

Without another word, Gwaine turned and opened the doors to the throne room, revealing the entire council of lords congregated within, giving Merlin rather violent flashbacks to his nightmare.

No, no, nothing as disastrous as Merlin being publicly announced as a sorcerer and then getting crowned king in front of Arthur and Gwen could ever happen in real life. It was simply too absurd.

Merlin watched, frozen at the threshold of the room, as the lords' heads all turned towards the door at the sound of it swinging open. To Merlin's rising dread, they all rose from their seats at the sight of him.

No no no no....

Merlin frantically looked around, hoping to all of the gods of the Old Religion that Arthur was somewhere nearby, because the council only rose for the entrance of the king...

Merlin turned around, hoping to find Arthur standing around somewhere, anywhere, as dread began closing its claws around his heart, which was beating at the rating that Merlin would be concerned about if he could process anything other than his own all-consuming terror at that moment.

Because it wasn't a nightmare, was it? No, that was real. His worst fears had come to life in the most horrifying way possible, and he was powerless to stop it now.

If the lords of the council noticed Merlin's frantic terror, they didn't acknowledge it. Instead, apparently, they decided to only confirm Merlin's deepest fears. After a tense moment of utter silence in the room, broken only by Merlin's jagged breathing, Geoffrey finally stepped forward.

"Ah, welcome Your Majesty! I hope you're feeling better now after you've rested and recovered from your battle against Morgana. There is much to discuss concerning these first crucial days of your reign, including your public coronation, having all knights who are willing to renounce the Pendragon line swear their fealty to you, and determining the fates of those who already refuse to accept your rule."

For what felt like an eternity, Merlin simply stood there, his mind refusing to cooperate or even process what he was being told. He couldn't move a single muscle in his body, paralyzed by horror. He was only snapped out of his fugue state by Gwaine taking ahold of his arm and guiding him towards the table.

Inhaling sharply as he was pushed by Gwaine closer to the lords, he finally processed what Geoffrey had told him. Oh gods, a coronation?! So all of Arthur's kingdom could see how he had stolen Arthur's throne?! Forcing knights to turn their backs on Arthur and renounce their loyalty to him?! This was madness and, not to mention, the exact opposite of what Merlin wanted!

And what was that about punishing people for refusing to accept him as king? Hell, Merlin should reward the dissenters if anything, since they were apparently the only ones who still had any good sense left in this kingdom! Who in their right mind would immediately accept Merlin as their king anyway?!

Right, Merlin thought as his eyes wandered over the faces of the lords, spineless cowards with no loyalty who would turn their backs on their true king to save their own hides, that's who.

Well, the applied to the lords at least, but that still didn't explain what Gwaine was doing here, by Merlin's side, when he should be with Arthur and the other knights!

... Where were Arthur and the other knights?

A jolt of fear once again shot through Merlin, this time alongside guilt. Where was Arthur? What had happened to him? The council had foolishly stripped him of his title, and then what?

Clearing his dry throat, Merlin finally responded, "Geoffrey, what happened after I lost consciousness yesterday? Where is Arthur?"

After Merlin was finished speaking, the lords started shifting around nervously, which began to set of warning bells in Merlin's mind.

Something had happened after he fainted yesterday. Something that involved Arthur.

"Well, Your Majesty, following your loss of consciousness yesterday, the former King Arthur lost his temper and began yelling, shouting everything from accusing us of lies and treason to cursing out the sacred laws of the land. He then ran throughout the castle and began calling upon his knights for aid, explaining the situation to them in crude terms and demanding that they take back the crown from you by force."

Merlin grimaced at Geoffrey's monotone explanation, horrific visions of Arthur calling for his execution as a sorcerer and traitor running through his mind.

"Many of Arthur's knights rallied to his cause, but there were some who were hesitant to turn their blades against you, no doubt recognizing your power and your true claim to the throne. It was from that group that your loyal Sir Gwaine arose, leading a small group of knights and guards in a surprise attack that concluded with the former king and his knights locked in the dungeon cells, awaiting your judgement."

Merlin eyes flew wide at Geoffrey's words, his heading whipping around to meet Gwaine's gaze. Gwaine had betrayed Arthur in such a terrible way? For him?

In response to Merlin's horrified stare, Gwaine simply gave him his most innocent smile, as if nothing was wrong at all and Merlin's world wasn't crumbling around him.

No, this wasn't happening. Merlin had to fix this, and he had to fix it now.

"Look, Geoffrey, I am honored that you and the other lords feel so strongly that I am supposed to be Camelot's king, but that is not meant to be. I was never meant to rule over anything. This is Arthur's kingdom, and I will not be the one to take it from him."

All of the lords around the table look utterly confused, as if Merlin was speaking a completely different language. That was expected, Merlin supposed, if they had never seen anyone willingly give up power. Gwaine, however, just looked amused, like he knew that this was exactly what would happen.

"While that is a most gracious sentiment Your Majesty, I'm afraid that it isn't that simple."

Merlin groaned at Geoffrey's words, bemoaning the fact that the world could never let anything in his life be simple.

"Shouldn't it be?! I'm apparently the king now, so I order you to release Arthur and the knights from the dungeons and to give Arthur his kingship back!"

This time, it was Geoffrey's turn to sigh deeply, as the old man pulled a rather hefty- and dusty- scroll from his bag.

"This," Geoffrey began as he unrolled the yellowed parchment, "is Bruta's code, written by the Great King himself. This set of laws are the foundation on which all of the five kingdoms are governed, and Camelot is no exception. All kings of this Isle, no matter how powerful, are subject to these laws, lest the entire realm fall into anarchy."

Merlin was valiantly holding back the urge to bash his head into the council table. Why couldn't he clear this situation up as painlessly as possible?!

"The code addresses many subjects, and both the right of conquest and the rules of succession are outlined within. I'm terribly sorry Your Majesty, but the code clearly states that when a king who is not of royal blood ascends to the throne through the right of conquest, the previous royal family loses any and all claim to the throne, alongside their lands and wealth, essentially leaving them with no titles or claim to nobility at all. This measure was originally put in place to ban the defeated family from endlessly challenging the victor of the conquest in a bid to regain their former throne and wasting the new ruler's precious time."

Merlin's heart dropped even more at Geoffrey's words. Great, he had not only stolen Arthur's kingdom, but he had also stolen everything Arthur owned! Gods, what did Arthur hate Merlin more for at the moment, being a secret powerful sorcerer ever since they met or inadvertently stripping him of his title, lands, and all his possessions?

"I still don't see why this would forbid me from freely giving Arthur the throne back."

"Your Majesty, the former king is no longer a noble, as the Pendragon line is no longer recognized as a noble house. As such, Arthur is now, by law, a peasant, and it is against Bruta's code for a ruler to cede their throne to anyone but a noble for any period of time."

Merlin bit back a frustrated scream. Why, why?! Why couldn't he just make Arthur a noble again and be done with this farce and-

Wait a minute.

There was a way to make Arthur a noble.

Oh no, Arthur was going to hate this. But, Merlin steeled himself, this was the only way to make things right.

And that's all for now! I had a lot of fun making Gwaine the ultimate "ride or die" bestie for Merlin in this situation lol! I'll definitely be doing a part three of this au soon to resolve this cliffhanger!

Please let me know what you all thought of this continuation!

A huge thank you to everyone who supported my last au post and asked for this continuation! I'll try to tag you all here, my apologies if I missed anyone!

@cookie-player , @miyriu , @nebulousconstellationwriter , @insane-multifandom-brainrot , @elementalpirate4 ,

@tidalwavesandthunderstorms , @gaiussleechtank , @arrowlovesdragons , @lordmushroomkat , @bucketheadpunk14 ,

@retro-wallflower , @ryeallytired , @verxen , @mind-of-a-crow , @aostrek-236 ,

@thedragonkinproject , @orliththedragon , @theroundbartable , @my-own-quiet-corner , @tireddruid ,

@coffee-shop-gay , @sable-nakahara , @deadhotpocket , @bennedict , @samwinjester ,

@linotheghost , @aerismoon , @merthurogies , @ahumoki0 , @chairwiththreelegs ,

@achillesuwu , @pancakesandpigs , @the-king-and-the-druidess , @sugar-coated-prat-dragon , @isaidno ,

@justaz , @auldsusie

And, as always, thank you for reading through my ramblings! :D

EDIT: A question for those of you I'm tagging, I'm not sure if this is a tumblr issue or if I'm screwing something up on my end, but after the first few tagged blogs, it shows up on my screen like the tags are just plain text and not linked to anything. So, for those of you that are tagged, can you confirm that you're getting a notification when I tag you? I want to make sure everyone who requested a continuation knows when it's posted!

2nd EDIT: I've tried to fix the tag problem, I'm very sorry if you already saw this post and then got a notification!

[kahran042]

"I have to say here that the salon lady looks eerily like Dr. Iris from the previous episode. Maybe they are sisters."

Not likely, seeing as Dr. Iris is a cat and the salon lady is a rabbit.

Arthur Recaps Season 1 Episode 1 Part 2 "Francine's Bad Hair Day"

Ugh, this is a Francine centric episode. I don’t know why but whenever there’s a Francine-centric episode, she somehow becomes less of a bitch and that’s supposed to make me sympathetic to her. Whatever, Francine. I just saw you called Arthur a “four eyes” less than ten minutes ago.

Anyway, the kids are now in their normal third grade classroom and Mr. Ratburn announces that school pictures have been scheduled. Muffy stands up and refuses to have her pictures taken “in these rags” but someone in the comments of the YouTube video pointed out that she was wearing the exact same dress for her picture.

Anyway, the continuity is still better than Glee’s and Degrassi’s combined.

Arthur breaks the fourth wall to talk about what not to do on picture day or else your picture will look like crap. This always bugs me in TV land–how picture day is SUCH a huge deal and you only get one shot of a good picture and you can do whatever you want in your picture.

That would never happen. Those people who take school photos take their job very seriously and at least try to make sure that you’re not blinking or sneezing in the pictures. Also, I remember this one time, my friend Nina wanted to wear a fedora in her picture but the lady made her take it off.

Fascist.

Keep reading

[decemberspeech]

more gushing about warframe 1999

i will never stop talking about the lore reveals that wf 1999 is giving us. the drifter being able to recap the story so far, confirming that they do need to eat + sleep (and cut their food into cubes because it reminds them of the Zariman which is bittersweet as hell)

as well as just how cute the KIM chats are!! this entire update is the definition of "charming" thanks to every little detail. the way the Hex member's personalities shine through in their typing style which is SO good (arthur is formal, short sentences and abrupt ends to conversations. amir types extremely quickly and keysmashes. aoi's emoticons, lettie's animals running across her keyboard, quincy's shortening of words, eleanor's long and deep conversations.) i cannot stop myself from stimming from how the conversations range from cute to hilarious to sad, and just how real they all feel.

my favourite is the small details of the hex designs like how amir has a TAMAGOTCHI!! NO ONE POINTS THAT OUT!!!!

the OST is amazing. besides the Onlyne songs which already have so much praise, the heavy guitars and bass really make for an enjoyable experience in missions. there has never been a warframe song that doesn't go hard.

also DE listening to player feedback is always wonderful to see. the atomicycles in normal missions thing was a glitch but everyone loved it so much that DE is keeping it in, which leads to hilariousness like beating The Sergeant with your bike. i love DE's willingness to roll with the punches and to just listen.

[topoet]

Recap June 2024

The WP map shows my hits have come from  16 countries around the world. Most popular posts was one of the photo blogs, with a music post almost at the top. Who knew Dan Hartman was still so popular. lol. June brought some wonderfully too hot days & days mixed with enough rain to get my garden off a good start. Plus we know our a/c is working lol. I also got my 2nd shingles shot – the only pain…