#coming through with the mordred feels...

[punkxcalibur]

I just know that if Arthur had lived post-Camlann, Mordred's last smile would have haunted him. There's something so offputting about it, it's so full of pain, but peaceful at the same time?? idk how to properly put it into words.

But this would show up in Arthur's dreams every night and while Merlin tries to understand and help him through it, he doesn't truly get it, since he wasn't the one to experience it first hand. That menacing stare wasn't directed at him.

[changeofpace]

hello dear artist… ur art is giving me brain worms. may I humbly request merthur and mordred? The show did them so dirty he could have been their sweet little magical boy 🫶😔

thanks anon, had some fun with this one. mordred said mind ya damn business!!! feel free to keep them requests coming :) i have some more to get through but i've been loving doing them

[the-kingshound]

Mordred snippet as a gift to my lovely followers❤

Arthur will get married.

Mordred thinks of that, instead of reading the book that is open in front of him on the library's desk. The book is interesting, in his opinion, but he can't help but wonder about the new Consort.

A spark of longing makes it way through Mordred's chest. If the person Arthur is marrying, as Mordred understands, is from a rival House to the Crown, then he and Evaine won't be the last outsiders in the castle.

Looked at and spoken to differently. Left horribly out of place, like plants eradicated from their soil and left in a vase to whither.

He doesn't belong here.

He wants to belong, though. His... Arthur has tried very hard to help, but... As Mordred takes the perhaps too heavy tome, cradling it against his chest, and getting up from the seat to leave the library, hardly anyone spares a look in his direction. And if they do, it just ends up making Mordred feel uneasy.

He hastily goes through the exitway, having to push quite hard in order for the heavy doors to open. He thinks about going to Evaine, but then discards the idea, because instead a more pressing thought, or rather a realisation, takes up his mind.

Mordred is generally ignored, no one looks at him for more than a few instants, and though it sometiems makes him feel uneasy, it also generally sits well with him. He prefers to be left alone anyway, and Arthur provides enough company for when he doesn't.

But the thought of being ignored by the Consort too, just as everyone else, makes Mordred's insides twist.

But to avoid that, Mordred probably has to make the first step... maybe, he thinks as he walks, maybe a gift will make him be noticed? Just enough for Arthur's spouse to see that Mordred wants to be friendly them.

And then... they can talk. Maybe.

But... Mordred stops walking and takes a look around to locate the eastern tower, where the servants reside. Because he has just remembered that they are mute, as Arthur told him.

So Mordred has to learn to sign.

With a pointed focus that doesn't waver has quite a lot of servants greet him politely as he passes, Mordred walks towards a room he has been to before. He knocks, and waits, face set in a very serious expression.

A servant that Mordred doesn't know answers the door, his eyes widening as he recognizes Mordred.

"Greetings, my Liege. What can I do for you?"

But before Mordred can talk, his shoulders drooping a bit as his plan loses shape, a more familiar voice comes from behind the man.

"Oh, hello, Mordred."

His spirits lifted, he nods in greetings. Gwyar murmurs something to the other servant, who excuses himself, and Mordred gets inside the room.

He breathes in and gathers the courage to ask, "Can you teach me sign? Please."

[euniexenoblade]

Choose Your Own Smutty Halloween Adventure - Round One

"Hi there dear readers! This is technically a sequel, the prequel being here. Go read it! It'll introduce you to the characters! Or don't and read the actual smut. Up to you!"

"Who are you talking to?" The naked Delilah questions from the stage.

Mordred walks up to Delilah, leans down, and whispers in her ear. Delilah gasps in horror. "So, you gonna be quiet while I do my show?" Delilah nods. "Thank you."

"Welcome back to The Fucking Game!" A mysterious studio audience cheers. "Thank you, thank you! Last time on the show, I introduced you to our lovely contestants, and the fuck toy to be, Delilah!" More crowd cheers. "Well, now, let's see how everyone voted!"

"So, the fan picked winner was non other than The Demon Queen herself, Lilith!"

Audience applause and cheers are heard.

"And now my dear readers, here is Lilith's date with Delilah!

A curtain falls, blocking your view of the set. Shuffling is heard from behind it. When the curtain finally rises again, the game show set is gone. No chairs, no chains, no yellow wallpaper, no traces left. Instead, what you see is a room of rock and fire, as if you were in a cave that has flames spreading all around. But, in the center of this room, is a slab of rock, and on this slab of rock sits Delilah, coming to as if she had been asleep. As she shifts you can see that a pentagram has been painted on the rock slab. She is an offering.

Delilah groggily speaks out, “Where am I? What’s going on?” Her naked body sweats from the heat of the flames that surround her. She would run, but the fire is trapping her in place.

And then, Lilith walks into sight, walking up to Delilah and runs her hand through Delilah’s hair. Delilah begins begging, “Please let me go, please, please, please-”

“Now, why would I allow my new soul go? You’re mine. Given to me.”

“Please, please, please let me go-”

Lilith begins to slide her black panties down, slowly revealing her red cock. Delilah slowly watches this confused, her cock is way bigger than those panties could have hidden. Lilith takes her panties by two fingers and hangs them over Delilah, and suddenly they are set ablaze. The panties morph, slowly becoming a black liquid dripping onto Delilah’s back and neck. Like hot wax it burns Delilah’s skin, causing her to squirm and whine.

“Please, please-”

Drip. Drip. Drip. Lilith watches with a smile as she slowly burns her toy. A slow agony that feels like eternity, finally the panties are gone, and finally Delilah knows some form of relief. “Please let me go…”

Lilith uses her right hand to lift Delilah’s chin so she’s looking right into Lilith's eyes. “Oh, sweetheart,” Lilith’s left hand starts to run through Delilah’s hair slowly, “Do you truly not want what I have to offer? What you want is important…”

Delilah is about to ask to leave, but Lilith’s left hand penetrates her head, almost phasing through. She can feel Lilith’s nails pierce her brain. Her mouth moves on it’s own, “Please fuck me, please use me like I’m nothing, destroy all the humanity I have left, make me drown in your cum!” Delilah is shocked at what her own voice said.

Lilith laughs as she pulls her hand out of Delilah's head. “Well, if that’s what you want, fuck toy.”

Delilah doesn’t understand, that’s not what she wanted to say. “Mm, fuck me please, ruin me~” Delilah would never say that! Her body moves against her will, crawling on her hands and knees in a circle until her butt faces Lilith, and then she pushes her ass in the air, presenting to her. “No no no this isn’t right” Delilah thinks. “Please fuck my ass, my Queen.” Delilah says.

Lilith grabs Delilah by her hips. “If that’s what you wish!” Lilith lifts her cock and rubs the head on Delilah’s hole. Delilah lets out a slight moan. “Please, please, please, please let me go” is what she thinks, but “Please, please, please, I need your cock!” is what she says. Lilith, not one to disappoint, pushes her cock in, nice and slow. Delilah moans long and slow as Lilith’s huge cock forces its way into her. Once Lilith’s crotch finally hit’s Delilah’s ass, she pulls it out, all the way. And, then she forces her way back in, all the way. Delilah is moaning in pure ecstasy.

From the other side of the room, another person walks out of the shadows. It’s also Lilith. A second Lilith, cock and all. “Look at you, you were born to be a hole!” The second Lilith laughs. The second Lilith begins to undo her bra, revealing her huge, red tits and holds the bra above Delilah with two fingers. Just as the panties did, the bra catches on fire, and becomes a black liquid that slowly drips onto Delilah’s back. Delilah let’s out an agonized cry as the hot liquid hits her while Lilith speeds up how fast she fucks her. Drip. Drip. Drip. Lilith fucks her faster. Drip Drip Drip. Faster. Drip. Drip. Drip. Faster. Delilah is having a hard time knowing what to feel. Pleasure from the anal. Pain from the liquid. It’s getting fused together in her head, both hurt, both please.

Once the bra is completely gone, the second Lilith wastes no time to lift her cock and force it into Delilah’s mouth. Delilah feels it force her way down her throat, though only momentarily, as Lilith then begins to thrust back and forth, slamming the cock into Delilah’s throat again and again. Both her holes are full of demon cock. No matter how much she resists it, she can’t escape it. She is nothing but a toy for the Demon Queen.

Both Lilith’s moan as they finally let go inside Delilah. Delilah doesn’t even notice Lilith cum in her ass, because she’s preoccupied by Lilith cumming in her mouth. There’s so much cum, and Lilith is still fucking her throat. Lilith keeps cumming and cumming, it’s all Delilah can taste, it’s all Delilah can smell, Delilah can’t breathe. There’s so much cum, air can’t get in. She’s choking on it. She’s breathing cum. And, then, when Delilah thinks she can’t take it anymore, she blacks out, drowning in Lilith’s cum.

A curtain from nowhere falls, blocking the scene of Delilah’s deflowering. When the curtain rises, we are once again met with game show set, all five contestants sitting in their chairs, Delilah laying stomach down on the ground her wrists chained to the wall. As Delilah regains consciousness, she begins to cough, cum coming up her throat that she spits out. A studio audience laughs.

The host, Mordred, walks back on screen. “Wasn’t that just lovely?!” A studio audience cheers. Mordred walks up to Lilith, sitting in her chair, “So, Lilith, how did you feel about your date with the lovely Delilah?”

Mordred moves the microphone over to Lilith’s mouth, “Well, I’d say it was a lot of fun! I think Delilah and I still have a lot that we can learn from each other. But, whether I win or lose, her eternal soul is mine!” The studio audience laughs.

“Well then!” Mordred says looking directly at you, the reader, “The night is young, and The Fucking Game is just beginning! We will once again take an audience poll to decide who else gets a chance to fuck Delilah in round one!”

The audience cheers.

“But, this time, it’ll be a flash poll! Only a one day vote, not a week long one!”

The audience gasps with surprise.

“After this next date, we will have another poll to decide who is the first contestant eliminated from The Fucking Game! But, for now, who is Delilah fucking tomorrow?”

[tongjaitongjai]

CrypticGod!Merlin and Worshipper aka fanboy Mordred CRACK AU - Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Merlin learns that being a god in semi-mortal form is very difficult when having a strong follower like Mordred.

Mordred, like many who pray to their god as some kind of anchor, will often pray something along the lines of ‘Emrys, give me strength and courage’ or ‘Emrys, please be with me through this difficult time’ unconsciously.

Except, unlike the normies, his commitment and belief are EXTREMELY STRONG, so when he prays strong enough, HIS GOD ACTUALLY SHOWS UP:

Arthur, charging him during sparring: Come on, Mordred! You can do better than this!!

Mordred: (anxiously praying) Emrys helps me

Merlin, suddenly appears between Arthur and Mordred, with Arthur about to smash him with the sword: THE FUCK—

Obviously, he is banned from praying during sparring, but occasionally Merlin will still pop up out of nowhere when he is anxious, and the knights eventually have to get used to it:

Arthur: Today, the neighbouring kingdom’s knights will join us for the practice, and there will be some competitions. I hope all of you are ready to protect and uphold the honour of Camelot’s knights. Any defeat is unacc—-

Arthur:

Arthur: any defeat is understandable, for one must lose before learning true victory, so please don’t get too stressed, especially you, Mordred.

Mordred: How do you know I am stressed?

Gwaine, carrying Merlin, who pop up above his head the moment Arthur said ‘defeat’, on his neck : Yeah, I wonder how

As their relationship improves, the power of Mordred’s prayer gets stronger. Not only can Merlin feels his emotions and more in-depth thoughts through the prayer, it also affects Merlin’s power, in both endearing and also straight-up ridiculous ways.

Lancelot, whispers: You are very upset because of that Lord Asshole’s shitty comment toward the Druids, aren’t you.

Mordred, calm and composed: No, I am a knight of Camelot and a grown man, I will not be bothered by something so trivial. I am not upset at all.

Lancelot: You aren’t praying to Merlin now are you.

Mordred: How is that relevant?

Merlin: *BARGING INTO THE MEETING* *SHOOTING FIRE BEAMS FROM HIS EYE, DESTROYING THE PATH AS HE WALKS* *GRABBING LORD ASSHOLE BY A COLLAR THEN PROCEEDS TO GERMAN SUPLEX HIM ON THE TABLE*

Arthur, watching this happens for the third time this week:

Arthur: Mordred, we talked about this, you have to express your thoughts and feelings verbally, not by praying to Merlin

Merlin: Don’t force him Arthur! He will talk when he is ready!

Arthur: STOP SPOILING HIM YOU ARE JUST HAPPY YOU GET TO PUNCH NOBLES

Also, when he is extremely happy, he prays to Merlin as well, like ‘Thanks Emrys for all the good fortunes that happen to me today’

Elyan: Arthur complimented Mordred at training today didn’t he? Maybe saying something like ‘you are going to be one of Camelot finest knights soon’

Percival: How do you know??? you were not there today????

Elyan, watching Merlin’s skin glows, not even in an oh so beautiful ethereal way but like a radioactive sun way: It’s .. hard to miss…

The first time Mordred wins a tournament, Merlin radiates for three days straight. His voice also sounds godly with all the weirdly smooth echoes and harp melody complimenting his every word. Mordred is exhilarated. Arthur is going insane. Merlin finally officially bans Mordred from praying to him.

[jq37]

neme(sis)

Summary: The Rat Grinders actually fight the Bad Kids on the Hangman instead of just sending dragons and Adaine has to do some quick thinking.

"Adaine Abernant."

Adaine winced, clutching her head as Raulothim's Psychic Lance pierced her mind. It figured Oisin knew the spell. Raulothim was a dragon after all. She wondered if he learned it in class like her or if he'd come to school already familiar with the spell because of his dragon ancestor who was currently trying to swallow Gorgug, axe and all. She didn't wonder for too long though. There wasn't time.

"See what you can do with access to proper spell components?" Oisin called from the other side of the room, his tone mocking.

"That spell doesn't even have material components!" Adaine called back in spite of herself. Insulting her was one thing but getting basic spellcraft wrong while doing it? Unacceptable. She ignored his expression, smug from getting a rise out of her no doubt, and surveyed the battlefield. The Rat Grinders had caught them on their back foot. Things were going OK but they were playing defense. And no one was where they needed to be. Spellcasters too close to melee, fighters out of range. Only Gorgug was arguably in the right place but he was far too close to being dragon food for her liking. Fabian needed to be closer to the action, Riz needed cover, and she…

Adaine suppressed a smile, idea forming in her mind. She needed to be in punching distance.

"Scatter," she said, raising a hand. Five creatures: Gorgug, Riz, Fabian, Kristen…and Oisin.

Her party members didn't fight the spell, well used to the feeling of her magic working on them mid-battle and knowing that it never meant harm. As she moved them to more advantageous positions, she was hit with a flash of the future: Oisin resisting the spell. She reached out and nudged fate just a bit. Nearby, Ivy walked dangerously close to a breath weapon attack. Oisin startled, moved to grab her, and--pop. Suddenly, he was standing right next to Adaine who was already rearing her fist.

"Counterspell!" Oisin called, runes on his forearms glowing. The expression on his face was even more smug as the blue energy charging on her fist fizzled.

"Predictable," he said.

"Gullible," Adaine thought, halting her fist without following through on the punch and stomping her foot on the ground to activate the teleportation circle they were both now standing on. Because of course the boy with the empty house and unlimited funds would have a teleportation circle installed so he could have his friends over as often as possible. Teleportation via spell needed a willing creature but a Circle? That just needed proximity.

As the spell went off, she concentrated. The benefit of a teleportation circle was that it couldn't go wrong like a normal Teleport spell could. It wasn't supposed to anyway. But any magic could be tweaked if you pushed hard enough. She remembered winding up in the wrong room in the twisted version of Mordred inside Riz's briefcase and concentrated on that feeling. She was sure she was going to have a headache in the morning but that was more than a fair price. She wrenched control of the spell, just enough to force the circle to spit them out a little bit outside of the paired circle in Mordred. There was a flash of light and--forget having a headache tomorrow. Her head felt like it had been bashed in with a pickaxe the moment they landed on the floor of her bedroom. She didn't think she'd be able to get back up for a minute or two--she didn't even try. Oisin didn't seem to have that problem though. He got up and stood over her.

He smirked. "I thought the elven oracle was supposed to be more of a challenge. I knew we'd come out on top but I didn't think it'd be so easy." He raised his hands, readying a spell, but the sparks at his clawtips died as quickly as they were produced. He tried the spell again to the same result, too focused to notice the sudden subtle sheen to the patterns painted on her bedroom walls.

A Sending spell pinged in her mind. "Ten seconds, dear sister."

A smile played on Adaine's lips.

"What?" Oisin demanded.

"Just that you all have been so obsessed with being our nemeses this whole time. But that was never gonna happen with you and me. That position is already filled."

There was another flash of light and before it even cleared, Adaine felt the tingle of magic settling over her like a second skin. Her sister's abjurer's ward extending to cover her reflexively. Just beyond the ward, she could feel the temperature in the room start to drop--a side effect of the Cone of Cold that was about to erupt from Aelwyn's outstretched hands.

"You're familiar with my bitch of a sister, right?"

[churrochamp]

Let's talk about Merlin and lying. This isn't meant to be character bashing, but it might not be the most generous take either.

In All About Love, bel hooks writes: "In our culture privacy is often confused with secrecy. Open, honest, truth-telling individuals value privacy. We all need spaces where we can be alone with thoughts and feelings - where we can experience healthy psychological autonomy and can choose to share when we want to. Keeping secrets is usually about power, about hiding and concealing information."

(hooks has a lot more to say about the reasons why people lie in relationships, and our need for love and difficulty with love in general. Book is fantastic, highly recommend.)

The question is: was Merlin's years of lying about his magic, and all that he did in Arthur's defence, justified? Why'd he do it?

I've been trying to think through how the fandom generally interprets Merlin's character and choices in the show, and how this character makes me feel. It's really complicated and interesting (to me at least lol).

I often see the claim that Merlin lied about his magic for years out of fear for his safety, but it's never fully satisfied me as an explanation. Given that as a fandom we pretty much all agree that magic can be a metaphor for queerness, there's a natural alignment with the claim that queer people aren't ever obligated to come out, for any reason, but it's often said, especially if their physical safety might be jeopardized (which I agree with btw).

And it's true, given Camelot's genocidal laws, Merlin's life could be threatened if he revealed himself as a sorcerer. On the other hand, Merlin is basically all-powerful in the universe of the show, and I don't think the rest of Camelot could do much to him if he were prepared.

What's more convincing to me is the claim that Merlin's afraid of the potential emotional harm that could come from revealing himself. What if Arthur hates and rejects him? That's something his magic can't defend against.

I think Merlin's heart is in the right place. He believes all his work is done in service of Arthur and their joint destiny, which is the good of Albion. And he does save Arthur's life a whole dang lot.

The issue is, probably a good half of the show's major conflicts directly relate to Merlin's actions and inactions - usually, lies he's telling (Morgana, Mordred...). Conflicts that maybe could have been resolved with much less harm if Merlin, who often is the only one with crucial knowledge, had made different choices (and Gaius too oh my GOD). Dude is shooting himself in the foot. Merlin's lying isn't just about personal privacy and autonomy. It becomes a fundamental part, baked into his relationship with Arthur and his role in their prophecy (and the governing of a kingdom jeez).

In addition to plot SNAFUs, the way I see it, Merlin's lying has two major consequences for him:

His most important relationship, with Arthur, is deeply flawed and incomplete.

Merlin remains the most important, influential character in the show. His energies go to trying to keep the power for himself.

As bel hooks argues, there can't be true intimacy in a relationship if one or both parties withhold and deceive the other. This could look like lying to manipulate the other party to get what you want, or even lying to make the relationship go easier. Relationships built on untruth aren't fair to all parties - the deceived person can't make informed choices in the relationship, and the deceiving person robs themselves of the opportunity to be fully supported and loved for who they are. When Merlin lies to Arthur about magic, when he tells Arthur that magic is evil, even if it is for "his sake," he's taking choice away from Arthur often at crucial moments, for both their relationship and the well-being of the kingdom. Without knowledge of the truth about magic, and about Merlin, Arthur can't make fully informed choices as a king or a partner. Things go to shit, and it's terribly lonely for both of them, even if only one of them know about it. Merlin's reason for this might be fear of pain. However, when you don't give someone the opportunity to love or reject you for who you are, how can you feel held by that person? You deprive yourself of the chance.

Another reason to lie can be desire for power and control. By keeping the secret of his magic and their destiny, Merlin keeps all the responsibility and power to himself. This is the premise of the show: Merlin is the only person who can turn Arthur into a good king, save magic, secure Albion's future well-being--and he must do it all secretly. The show jokes about it, the characters joke about it. This premise is a kind of power-fantasy - being the secret power working from the shadows, using all your wit and guile to succeed despite the secrecy, risking life and limb for no recognition, but having the satisfaction of knowing that you are instrumental. It's very James Bond. Without the secrecy, what would be the point of Merlin? The secrecy might be part of what makes Merlin feel special, worthwhile.

As the years go by, the lies compound and the relationship becomes inseparable from them. The most significant on a personal level, probably Merlin's poisoning Morgana, Mordred, Ygraine, and Sophia.

Merlin can't control all the factors, he can't do it all by himself, he can't make Arthur into the ideal king and boyfriend of destiny, and from the start it's a doomed endeavour. Luckily Arthur loves him all on his own, and does get to see him at the very end, and they'll get a second chance.

So in summary, why does Merlin lie about his magic and his actions for so long? Fear, love, and power, is what I suggest. And ultimately it leads him and Arthur to ruin. It's not exactly exemplary behaviour, but it is very very human.

[muzaktomyears]

In 1980 Peter Brown, a former assistant to Brian Epstein who later ran Apple Corps, managed the Beatles and was best man at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s wedding, started work on the definitive account of the Beatles. With the American author Steven Gaines, he spoke to the three surviving band members alongside wives, girlfriends, managers, friends, hangers-on and everyone else in the Fabs’ universe. The book promised to be the last word in Beatles history. Then in 1983 The Love You Make was published, and all hell broke loose.

“They were furious,” recalls Gaines, 78, still sounding pained at the memory. “Paul and Linda tore the book apart and burned it in the fireplace, page by page. There was an omerta, a code of silence around the Beatles, and they didn’t think anyone would come forward to tell the truth. But Queenie, Brian Epstein’s mother, told us above all else to be honest.”

“Even she didn’t think we would be quite so honest,” adds Brown, 87, his upper-crust English tones still in place after five decades in New York.

Why did The Love You Make, retitled by Beatles fans as The Muck You Rake, incite such strong feelings? The suggestion of an affair between Lennon and Epstein on a holiday to Barcelona in April 1963, only three weeks after the birth of Lennon’s son Julian, had something to do with it, but more significantly it was taken as a betrayal by a trusted insider. Brown and Gaines locked the recordings in a bank vault and never looked at them again — until now.

“Very good question,” Brown says, when I ask why he and Gaines have decided to publish All You Need Is Love, an oral history made up of the interview transcripts from which The Love You Make was drawn. He is speaking from the Manhattan apartment on Central Park West where he has lived since 1971. “When [Peter Jackson’s documentary] Get Back came out, a journalist from The New York Times wanted me to talk. I told him I hadn’t talked about the Beatles since the book was published and suggested he go to someone else. He said, ‘There isn’t anyone else. Paul, Ringo and you are the only ones left.’ And I thought, do I have a responsibility to clear it all up, once and for all?”

After the death of Epstein in 1967, Brown assumed the day-to-day responsibilities of managing the Beatles and Apple Corps. He had on his desk a red telephone whose number was known only to the four Beatles. Unsurprisingly, given his insider status, the interviews make for fascinating reading. Paul McCartney, yet to be asked the same questions about the Beatles thousands of times over, is remarkably unguarded. Asked by Gaines if the other Beatles were anti-Linda, he replies: “I should think so. Like we were anti-Yoko.” On the image the Fabs had for being good boys on tour, he says, “You are kidding,” before going on to reference a notorious incident involving members of Led Zeppelin, a groupie and a mud shark, concluding: “No, not in the least bit celibate. We just didn’t do it with fish.”

Ono, speaking in the spring of 1981, not long after Lennon was killed in December 1980, reveals that she didn’t sleep with Lennon for the first two years of their relationship — “John didn’t know how to make a move” — and claims that she was blamed by the Beatles camp, George Harrison in particular, for getting Lennon onto heroin in 1969. “Everything we did in those days, anything that was wrong, was my responsibility,” she tells Gaines. But everyone, from the Beatles’ notorious late-period manager Allen Klein to the Greek electronics wizard/hustler “Magic” Alex Mardas — “the Mordred of the Beatles’ Camelot” according to Brown — has their own version of events.

Going through the transcripts reminded Gaines of the long shadow cast by Lennon. “I didn’t realise how sensitive the other Beatles were to John’s opinion,” he says, speaking from his home in the Hamptons, Long Island. “Paul worried about what John would say [in the event Lennon died before being interviewed] and was still longing for his friendship. George said that John didn’t read his autobiography because it was called I, Me, Mine. Those interviews were done before John’s death and Paul’s heart was broken, even then. It wasn’t just the break-up of the Beatles. It was more personal than that.”

From around 1968, the transcripts reveal how the key Beatles duo started to come apart. McCartney’s enthusiasm was only getting stronger. But Lennon grew increasingly bored and disillusioned. “You have to remember that John wasn’t in love with his wife Cynthia,” Gaines says by way of explanation. “He wanted to get away from the life he was leading and that’s why he started to experiment with drugs, all the way up to heroin.”

Brown says Ono was, and probably still is, a distant, mysterious character, exactly the kind of person Lennon was looking for, having done the right thing and married the sensible, quiet Cynthia after she discovered she was pregnant with Julian in 1963. “John told me about meeting this woman, and how frustrated he was that he couldn’t get to know her better; he couldn’t take her to lunch because it would cause gossip. I gave him the key to my apartment so he and Yoko could be together in private and thought, naturally, they were going there to f***. When I went home that evening, the apartment was untouched. They did nothing more than sit on the sofa and talk. That’s what they wanted: to know each other.”

Regarding the long-held, unfair suggestion that Ono broke up the Beatles, Gaines says: “Yoko came along at the right moment to light the fuse, but the dynamite was already packed. They resented her, she was difficult to understand and had a deep effect on John, but they were getting more and more unhappy with each other and needed to have their own lives. As people in the interviews say again and again, [the split] was bound to happen.”

It was Brown who in May 1968 introduced McCartney to Linda Eastman, an ambitious young American photographer whom he knew from his business trips to New York, when she came to London on an assignment to shoot the Rolling Stones. “I was having dinner with Paul at the Bag O’ Nails [a club in Soho] when she turned up, so I introduced them and he was obviously taken with her,” Brown recalls. “The following Friday, May 19, we were holding a party for 12 top photographers at Brian Epstein’s house in London when she walked in. Paul says I didn’t introduce him to his wife … but I did.”

If the book has a villain it is Klein, the New York accountant who took over management of the Beatles and sacked everyone around them, much to McCartney’s horror. As Brown puts it: “He was a hideous person. He even looked like a crook: sloppy and fat, always wearing sneakers and sweatshirts. Everything he didn’t like was ‘for shit’.”

You wonder why Lennon fell for him. “The interviews suggest it is because Allen Klein offered Yoko a million dollars for her movie project,” Gaines says. “She was enticed and John would do anything Yoko said.”

“I asked Mick Jagger to come over and explain to the four Beatles who this Allen Klein was,” Brown remembers. “And John, in his wonderful way, had Klein turn up to the same meeting, which was deeply embarrassing. It made Mick very uncomfortable too.”

Epstein, the man who saw the Beatles’ potential in the first place, is a central figure in All You Need Is Love. It includes a transcript of a recording of him from 1966, not used for the original book. It was in the possession of Epstein’s attorney Nat Weiss, and seemingly made by Epstein to mark the end of the Beatles’ final tour. He claims not only that Lennon felt remorse for the infamous comment on the Beatles being bigger than Jesus — “What upset John more than anything else was that hundreds of people were hurt by that” — but that the Beatles would tour once more. “There’s no reason why they shouldn’t appear in public again,” Epstein claims. They never did, unless you count that rooftop performance on January 30, 1969.

“Brian was driving them around the north of England in his car for a year,” Brown remembers of the early days. “This Jewish guy from Liverpool, who was gay, was with these guys who had been hanging around in Hamburg, so both had interesting backgrounds. They understood each other.”

For Gaines, a self-described “gay Jewish boy from Brooklyn”, Epstein is at the heart of the story. “Brian never felt the love of a real relationship. Then he found the Beatles. Everyone thought it would be just another of his phases, but he had tremendous feelings for John, both sexual and intellectual, and that’s what really pushed him. If there was one thing that started the whole thing off, it was Brian’s love for John Lennon.”

That love affair was the contentious issue of the original book. In his interview, McCartney says of Lennon going to Spain with Epstein: “What was John doing, manipulating this manager of ours? Sucking up to him, going on holiday, becoming his special friend.” It wasn’t the suggestion of a homosexual relationship that was troubling McCartney, but the balance of power tilting in Lennon’s direction.

“Paul wanted to be in charge, and he deserved to be because he was the motor, the driving force,” Gaines says. “Paul felt that John would steal away the power. He felt threatened by John’s relationship with Brian.”

“Paul always wanted to be active,” Brown adds. “After Brian’s death the world had to be carried on. Who was going to do that? It wasn’t going to be John, George or Ringo. Brian was my best friend and I was very upset [at his death]. I had to go to the court to convince the magistrate that it wasn’t a suicide, and the following day Paul set up a meeting so we could discuss what we would do next. I said we’d do it next week, and he said, ‘No, it has to be now.’ He was right.”

How did Brown and Gaines feel about the horrified reaction to the book, not just from fans but the Beatles themselves? “The world has changed,” Gaines says, by way of answer. “Now, after all these years, hopefully people can see it as a truthful, loving and gentle book.” It has been decades since Brown spoke to the surviving Beatles and he has not contacted them about this new publication.

What the interviews really capture in eye-opening detail is the story of four young men who became a phenomenon, then had to deal with the fallout as the dream ended. On December 31, 1970, the day McCartney sued the other three to dissolve the partnership, Brown handed in his resignation as the Beatles’ day-to-day manager and officer of Apple Corps. Ringo Starr said to him: “You didn’t want to be a nursemaid any more, and half the time the babies wouldn’t listen to you anyway.” Brown moved to New York and became chief executive officer of the Robert Stigwood Organisation. But the Beatles never fully left him, and in the wake of Get Back — and the news that Sam Mendes is to direct four biopics, one on each Beatle — he decided he had one last job.

“We have finished our responsibilities,” Brown says with quiet authority. “It is the end of the story.”

EXTRACTS

‘It’s like bloody Julius Caesar, and I’m being stabbed in the back!’

Paul McCartney on the Beatles signing Allen Klein as manager against his wishes

[John Lennon] said, “I’m going with [Allen] Klein, what do you want to do about it?” and I kind of said, “I don’t think I will, that’s my roll.” Then George and Ringo said, “Yeah, we’ll go with John.” Which was their roll. But that was pretty much how it always ended up, the three of them wanted to do stuff, and I was always the fly in the ointment, I was always the one dragging his heels. John used to accuse me of stalling. In fact, there was one classic little meeting when we were recording Abbey Road. It was a Friday evening session, and I was sitting there, and I’d heard a rumour from Neil [Aspinall, road manager] or someone that there was something funny going around. So we got to the session, and Klein came in. To me, he was like a sort of demon that would always haunt my dreams. He got to me. Really, it was like I’d been dreaming of him as a dentist. Anyway, so at this meeting, everyone said, “You’re going to stall for ever now, we know you, you don’t even want to do it on Monday.” And I said, “Well, so what? It’s not a big deal, it’s our prerogative and it could wait a few more days.” They said, “Oh no, typical of you, all that stalling and what. Got to do it now.” I said, “Well, I’m not going to. I demand at least the weekend. I’ll look at it, and on Monday. This is supposed to be a recording session, after all.” I dug me heels in, and they said, “Right, well, we’re going to vote it.” I said, “No, you’ll never get Ringo to.” I looked at Ringo, and he kind of gave me this sick look like, yeah, I’m going with them. Then I said, “Well, this is like bloody Julius Caesar, and I’m being stabbed in the back!”

‘You don’t like to see a chick in the middle of the team’

Paul McCartney on Yoko Ono

Give Yoko a lot . . . that was basically what John and Yoko wanted, recognition for Yoko. We found her sitting on our amps, and like a football team, an all-male thing, you really don’t like to see a chick in the middle of the team. It’s a disturbing thing, they think it throws them off the game or whatever it was, and these were the reasons that I thought, well, this is crazy, we’re gonna have Yoko in the group next. Looking at it now, I feel a bit sorry for her because, if only I had been able to understand what the situation was and think, wait a minute, here’s a girl who’s not had enough attention. I can now not make this into a major crisis and just sort of say, “Sure, what harm is she doing on the amps?” I know they would have really loved me. You know, we didn’t like Yoko at first, and people did call her ugly and stuff, and that must be hard for someone who loves someone and is so passionately in love with them, but I still can’t — I’m still trying to see his point of view. What was the point of all that? They’re very suspicious people [Lennon and Ono], and one of the things that hurt me out of the whole affair, was that we’d come all that way together, and out of either a fault in my character, or out of lack of understanding in their character, I’d still never managed to impress upon them that I wasn’t trying to screw them. I don’t think that I have to this day.

How Cynthia Lennon was driven to drink — at an ashram

Alexis ‘Magic Alex’ Mardas on Ono’s love letters to Lennon

Alexis Mardas was also known as Magic Alex, a name John bestowed on him because he was so taken with Alex’s inventions. Alex was handsome, charming, and a charlatan. (He sued The [New York] Times in Britain for calling him a charlatan and settled out of court. He’s dead now.)

[The Maharishi] was fooling around with several American girls. The Maharishi was making all of us eat vegetarian food, very poorly cooked, but he was eating chicken. No alcohol was allowed in the camp. I had to smuggle alcohol in because Cynthia wanted to drink. Cynthia was very depressed. John was receiving letters from Yoko Ono. Yoko was planning to win John. She was writing very poetic and very romantic letters. I remember those letters because John was coming to me with the letters, and Yoko was saying to John that “I’m a cloud in the sky, and, when you read this letter, turn your head and look in the sky, and if you see a small cloud, this is Yoko. Away from you but watching you.” Poor Cynthia was prepared to do absolutely everything to win John. She was not even allowed to visit the house where John was staying. She was longing for a drink. Now, drinks, they were strictly prohibited in the ashram, but when it was discovered that Maharishi had a drink, I said, “Just a second, at least equal.”

‘He’s become so nasty’

George Harrison on reaching out to John Lennon

What’s wrong with John, he’s become so nasty. It sounds like he hasn’t moved an inch from where he was five or six years ago. I sent Ringo, John, and Paul all a copy of my book. I got a call from Paul. He called me up just to say how much he liked it. I shouldn’t have called it I Me Mine, because that title was a bit much. I sent a copy to John. I’m wondering if he’s actually received it, if he’s received it, he probably doesn’t like it or something offends him about it.

‘I told John that ... it was just a nice feeling’

Yoko Ono advising John Lennon how to take heroin

George said I put John on H, and it wasn’t true at all. I mean, John wouldn’t take anything unless he wanted to do it. When I went to Paris [before I met John], I just had a sniff of it and it was a beautiful feeling. Because the amount was small, I didn’t even get sick. It was just a nice feeling. So I told John that. When you take it properly — properly is not the right word — but when you really snort it, then you get sick right away if you’re not used to it. So I think maybe because I said it wasn’t a bad experience, maybe that had something to do with it, I don’t know. But I mean so, he kept saying, “Tell me how it was?” Why was he asking? That was sort of a preliminary because he wanted to take it, that’s why he was asking. And that’s how we did it. We never injected. Never.

‘It was time’

Ringo Starr on the end of the Beatles

Ringo Starr: Well, I’m pleased it happened because in so many ways, I’m glad it’s not going now. It was time. Things last only so long. Steven Gaines: The Rolling Stones are [still] going. Ringo Starr: Yeah, but they’re old men.

(source)

[dullgecko]

Sleepover cuddle/sleep pile position headcanons:

Gorgug: center no matter what, orcs run hot so he’s like a living furnace which means everyone just piles on top of or around him, has mastered the art of sneaking away and coming back to his original spot without waking anybody up

Adaine: stays on one of the edges, she has a tendency to get up in the middle of the night once she’s done officially trancing to go do stuff before lying back down and snuggling back up (although she will occasionally wake up to Fig wrapped around her and she never has the heart to wake her up), rearranges blankets when they get kicked off in the middle of the night, if they’re at Mordred will usually grab one of the cats to cuddle up with unless Fig has already koalaed

Kristen: immediately starfishes next to Gorgug and gets partially laid on by everyone, sleeps in the least comfortable looking positions ever but it works because everyone just ends up molding into a comfortable position around her like puzzle pieces

Riz: climbs on top of whoever he feels like and curls up, usually Fabian but if he’s running cold he’ll lay with Gorgug and occasionally gets convinced by Fig to lay with her, keeps the sword of shadows right next to where he’s sleeping so he can misty step out of the pile without disturbing anyone (can’t be gone for too long though or Fabian will wake up and start blowing up his phone), really light sleeper when he isn’t essentially being forced to sleep so he tends to wake up at like 3 am and take a walk to tire himself back out

Fabian: always where Riz is, really bad news for whenever Riz is laying on somebody else because they will also get Fabian partially laying on him, sleeps like a brick so good luck trying to do anything if he falls asleep on you, being half-elf there’s about a 50% chance he’ll start accidentally trancing instead of regularly sleeping, whenever that happens him and Adaine have a cup of sleepy time tea together, after which he will immediately pass out

Fig: picks a person and clings to them like a koala, usually Kristen or Adaine, has to be touching each of the Bad Kids with some part of her body to sleep peacefully (one hand on Gorgug, an arm on Kristen, a leg on Fabian, etc), if somebody wakes up in the middle of the night and tries to get up to do something she has a tendency of grabbing them and pulling them back down in her sleep, if she falls asleep on Kristen or Fabian and they has to get up in the middle of the night they will just pick her up and do whatever they needed to do while carrying Fig (Fabian keeps a beanbag chair just outside most of his bathrooms to deposit her in, when they’re at Mordred they just put her on the floor and pick her back up when they’re done)

Excellent. Love it.

Gorgug has also mastered the art of lying pefectly still while at sleepovers. Too many people are surrounding him/on top of him and one of them is small enough to squish so he has to be careful. He is Figs favorite target for cuddling which is good because he can easily lift her one handed and walk around if he needs to get a glass of water or something in the middle of the night. Riz might as well be a two tonne weight on his chest though, you do not wake him up if you can help it he gets so little sleep as it is. More of a sin than waking up a sleeping cat in your lap.

Adaine will try to be the last person to join the sleep pile at night so her waking up from her trances is close to when everyone else will wake up. Usually ends up staying up late with Riz if he's having another bout of insomnia and helping him work through cases until he calms down enough to sleep. Tries to keep her crystal in arms reach in case she gets stuck in one spot by Fig clings.

Kristen gets laid on by everyone except Riz. She rolled over and kicked him in the head once and he's not the kind of person to forget that. Snores like crazy if she sleeps in some positions and her party has to readjust her until she stops.

Sleepovers really manage to satisfy that goblin urge to sleep in a big pile with the rest of your clan so he is a lot more well rested since they started doing them fairly regularly. Riz will only allow Fig to cuddle if he is incredibly tired and cold. She runs almost as hot as Gorgug but he knows he wont escape if she gets a hold of him. Accidentally woke all of them up in a panic once because he tried to escape the Fig cuddles without misty stepping in the middle of the night and she grabbed and yanked on his tail in her sleep hard enough to make him yelp. Has a ranking system of who makes the best sleeping spot, updates it regularly, changes to your body wash scents will affect your score (Fabian still gets top ranking no matter what though but he has bonus points assigned to him).

Fabian sleeps like a rock when he finally passes out, sleeps on his side with pillow under one arm at home. Replaces pillow with goblin if it's availible. WILL steal Riz from whoever he is sleeping on in the middle of the night if he has a bad dream. Is the only person who can move the rogue without waking him because he 100% does not register as a threat on Riz's radar. Gorgug will sometimes have to reach over and smack Fabian awake because he really needs to pee but he's pinned down by 3.5ft of goblin that is completely zonked out on his chest.

Fig can sleep through basically anything once she passes out. Grabbed Riz in her sleep once and wouldnt let go, didn't even wake up when he bit her on the arm pretty hard because she'd rolled over and he couldnt reach his sword to misty step and escape. Has woken up in weird places before because Gorgug or Fabian had to go to the bathroom and just left her on a couch or on the floor because they're not taking her in there with them.

[bisexual-lemon1]

I wanna talk about the main four mechanisms albums, and the ways in which they tackle tragedy. This shouldn’t be too long, and I’m kinda new to writing essays like this, but it seemed like fun.

Firstly OUATIS, I could go on and on abour OUATIS, like how the tragedy of OUATIS is baked into the genre. from the get go it’s about war and trauma and fascism, all things that while not exclusively, lend themselves to death and murder. You can listen to the first half of OUATIS and realize “oh shit, everyone involved is gonna die” by genre and the thematics of it alone.

Because that’s what war does

That’s what war is

For UDAD it’s a little more esoteric, and I probably have the least to say about it cuz it’s not my least Favoirte, not bad, just my least favorite. I think the best way to describe it is the line from twisted threads “how can you expect to escape if you were caught in a web before you began.” It’s made clear from the base set up that the olympians control everything, and as much as a heroic victory and triumph would be nice, some things just truly are too big to fail. Though arguably, amongst all the albums it has the best ending, the Olympians may not be brought down(in the album), the city might not be saved

But Ulysses gets to die, truly die and rest.

Something billions, perhaps trillions had stolen from them.

HNOC is definitely one of my favorites on this, being such a distinct and fun story and narrative. The tragedy is of the people themselves, and in a way I think it makes it the “most tragedy” out of the four, all of its preventable, yet entirely understandable. Hell, “just this once there could be a happy ending” is literally a line in it. Mordred’s actions are deplorable and violent and ruin everything but they’re understandable. He lost everything, why should the world live? It’s a dip into true nihilism and whag could lead someone to feel that way. Sometimes worlds are saved, and sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes worlds are killed, sometimes they simply grow old, but sometimes they kill themselves. And I think what makes it the most special compared to the other three is when it becomes doomed. OUATIS is about a bloody war, UDAD they were born into a web, TBI yhe conflict itself was resolved 80 years before the modern day the story is told through. But HNOC wasnt doomed from the start, the station wasn’t guaranteed to die, the Saxons weren’t guaranteed to be slaughtered. Yet nonetheless they were.

And finally TBI, now it’s what rly got my brain going on all of this, because I had the question “where does the tragedy become inevitable?” And frankly, there’s a lot of answers. TBI is doomed because the nuclear chaos was on its way before lyfrassir was even before. Because Odin wouldn’t stop no matter what. Because even if they hadn’t of messed with kyvasir there would have been dozens of other bifrost trains. But more than ALL OF THAT I think that the tragedy is inevitable because, as the album says. “A day, a week, a thousand years, means naught to what the train draws near.” It doesn’t matter, even if Loki’s missile had killed Odin and stopped the bifrost, someone else would have come along. Even the victory we got in the album itself, it wasn’t a victory, it was merely a prolonging, inevitable death was merely stalled, that’s the closest thing anyone could ever get to victory against the roiling nuclear chaos.

[llamagirl28]

The Patreon/Kofi demo has been updated!

What's new?

More of chapter 5! (it's a big one)

Elaine's POV. Note that it doesn't come up where the demo last left off; it takes place right after the magic lesson scene and before bumping into Elaine in the inner courtyard.

Play wingman!

Greet the guests! So far, the only guest you're actually greeting is Elewen. But Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin and the others are on their way! How does Mordred feel in anticipation of finally meeting the Royal Sorcerer? 👀

And also, edits, edits edits!

One of them is very relevant in order to get the right text/choices during a little convo you can have with Elaine while waiting for the guests to arrive.

Added a new variable in Mordred's chamber scene with Elaine; it keeps track of your romantic status with her, so it's very important to replay through it again, otherwise you'll receive her platonic scenes

I think it mentioned in a previous update that Mordred also keeps in touch with Guinevere if they're close to Arthur. In chapter 4, we find that Guin regrets missing Mordred's birthday party due to a spell of illness. Additionally, Guinevere knows about Arthur being their father, the prophecy and everything else. This info has been added in chapter 3, where Guin is mentioned alongside Kay in Arthur's POV. And if you choose to spend time with Arthur by the river, either to bond or find out more about your Pendragon powers, Mordred gets a chance to ask him if Guinevere knows.

Some changes to dragon lore I teased a while ago. It's kind of a long rant, so I'll be going into it in a different post. (you can also find details on the update post on Patreon/Kofi)

Hope you enjoy the update!

Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/llamaswriting

Kofi link: https://ko-fi.com/llamaswriting

[your-enby-antihero]

Aelwyn Abernant Might Go Blue Dragon(born) Hunting

———————————————————————— Summary: What if The Rat Grinders got revivified and Oisin had a crush on Adaine. Well more so what if Aelwyn knew all the shit he put Adaine through and she wanted to send a message.

Also available on Ao3

————————————————————————

Aelwyn Abernant, a woman reformed, hadn’t thought of murder in like two weeks. Which honestly was a super big deal for her, had she done a shit ton of extorting and taken like six people’s bones to try and find the one pirate in Leviathan that dies if you pull out their bones, well maybe. But who can blame her? It's how she was raised. But now she was starting to slip back into old habits. 

The whole world was saved once again by her beautiful baby sister and the rest of The Bad Kids. Aguefort had come back and fixed all the weird shit that had happened, though the school was closed for the rest of the year so everyone just had to take the Last Stand to try to pass the year. But one of the many unfortunate things that happened, in Aelwyn’s opinion, was that those stupid Rat Grinders were revived. Adaine had said something about second chances and manipulation and corrupt adults and blah blah blah whatever. Something about them failing the year and doing remedial classes monitored by the Bad Kids to make it up or you know. Aelwyn knew all about villain reformation, being a reformed villain herself, but something about the Rat Grinders set her teeth on edge. Especially that waifish nerdy-looking Dragonborn, he was giving Adaine a look that Aelwyn found disturbing. Aelwyn was well aware of Adaine’s fleeting crush on the boy, though, after the whole Porter-Ankarna debacle, she was so very sure that the crush had faded. Even when Aelwyn tried to tease her about it Adaine looked absolutely disgusted.

“Why the fuck would I fancy some old money turncoat? He literally was just using any affection I had for him to end the fucking world. I’d punch that spoiled bitch in the face again just like I did with the dragons he sent to ruin Fabian’s birthday,” she spat.

It started over that summer, Adaine and some of the Bad Kids had taken to “tutoring” the Rat Grinders on how to adventure properly. Adaine had brought Oisin over to the tower in Mordred to discuss some sort of thing to do with Adaine’s mephits, the ‘Dry Guys’ if Aelwyn recalled correctly. Before she had left for work Aelwyn had made sure to bolster the Nemesis ward in Adaine’s room before she left. She would not be having that boy mess with her baby sister, not in a millenia. Aelwyn spent the next hours of her shift at the Compass Points feeling the arcana of the ward for anything amiss. Though she felt nothing that didn’t stop her from texting Zayn to peek in on Adaine and Oisin to see if he was pulling any funny business. She received a photo back from the ghostly fellow of Adaine looking down at a piece of parchment on the floor of their shared room, quill tip set between her teeth in concentration. Next to her was Oisin, who sat cross-legged with his face leaning up against his clawed hand gazing doe-eyed at her sister. God, Aelwyn could see that look that now followed Fabian whenever he talked about Mazey. She looked at the clock and decided that the library would just close early that day because she had a pest to scare.

As she walked through the door back into Mordred she was greeted by Sandra-Lynn and Jawbone before she stormed up to the tower, rocketing past Fig and Kristen who coincidentally were also spying on Adaine. As she walked through the door she did so calmly, years of repressing any feelings other than jealousy and pettiness really did give her a good resting bitch face. 

“Adaine, I see you have a guest over,” she smiled, though the glare she was giving Oisin was anything but subtle. 

Adaine of course shot her a dirty look as Oisin’s scaled face blushed purple, “Aelwyn I thought you were working late tonight. I didn’t expect you to be back so early with Ayda not being there to run it today?” 

“Adaine you’re so funny, dear sister. Now let me have a look at this spellcraft, you know I’ve always been so good with these things.”

Aelwyn sat down with the two, purposely placing herself in between the teens. Adaine had taken it in stride, literally nothing about the interaction changed for her. Aelwyn truly just joined in on their spell crafting, she could tell Adaine was grateful for the extra set of eyes. However, Oisin was notably more shut off. He really kind of just ignored Aelwyn, trying to lean in toward Adaine when he was asking questions about Adaine’s rune work. The night went well otherwise, she had successfully defended her sister from the boy clearly all moony eyed over her. 

As Adaine sees Oisin out the door Fig and Kristen both leap at Aelwyn in the halls.

“So what happened in there Aelwyn, why did you come home early? What. Did. He. Do.”

She is bombarded with all the possible questions and observations that Fig and Kristen had made and in return dishes out all that she noticed back. She hadn’t remembered the last time someone had fancied Adaine but Kristen and Fig did. Apparently, the last person was that freak Biz Gilitterdew. Aelwyn shuttered in disgust and mentally noted to take a trip down to Hell to kill the tiny little pipsqueak basement scum for trying to put the moves in her sister even when they hated each other and she was evil at the time. She also got the download about all the history with Oisin that Adaine had conveniently left out when Aelwyn had pressed to know about the boy her sister fancied. So to say that Aelwyn was contemplating hunting Dragonborn for fun wasn’t a lie. From what she got from Fig and Kristen was that Oisin had used the cover of being a love-struck idiot (or maybe he was a love-struck idiot) to lead Adaine on so that he could plan a bunch of arcane whatever to make Seacaster Manor go airborne. Then after he had supposedly tried to cover for his friend for being assholes and then killed one of his party members he had said that she ‘must not be a very good oracle’ because she didn’t forecast that there was going to be a storm at Fabian’s birthday. Now that was something that Aelwyn could not forgive, not only was she the only one who was allowed to tease her sister about oracle things but he wasn’t allowed to say those exact words to Adaine, especially about storms and oceans. Aelwyn knew what Adaine saw in the Nightmare King’s forest and she knew that anything about the previous oracle and storms haunted her sister. 

Adaine soon made her way back up to where the little cabal of the girls of Mordred Manor had been gossiping. She yelled indignantly and threw a book at Fig when she started teasing. Aelwyn could tell from the look on her sister’s face and her voice, no hot flush or any enamoured quiver in her voice, that she really had gotten over Oisin completely and that this was all just in the name of sister bonding.  

“Kristen was the one who said we should try to fix the Rat Grinders, I’m just doing this so that they won’t join another teacher’s weird cult,” Adaine shouted indignantly. 

— — — — — — — — — — — —

It had been many weeks since Oisin had started to come over for tutoring, of course, the ever patient Adaine Abernant was gracious to the fool even while he was literally (to Aelwyn) staring at her like a lost puppy. Aelwyn made a habit of always crashing their little study sessions. Sometimes it was a text to Adaine telling her to get away so that she could gossip and other times it was Aelwyn straight up just coming home early. 

Every time Oisin gave her a smile that she could tell was laced with the ‘you ruined my life’ vibes, not that he’ll ever be able to pull off that smile like Penelope Everpetal. He was always polite but always insisted that he and Adaine were fine on their own.

“I’m sure you have so much stuff to do, me and Adaine have got this one.”

“Oh I’m sure my sister has everything under control but you seem to be lacking- I mean look at your rune for conjure elementals. This linework- here let me.”

Most of their interactions were passive-aggressive at best and outright venomous at best, Aelwyn had offered to see Oisin out one night, and Adaine had to take care of business relating to Gilear and some cursed object he had found at a yard sale. 

“Sorry Oisin, good work today! By next time I’m sure your party is going to be fine during the Last Stand,” Adaine shouted as Fig was literally pulling her out the door.

The room was silent, just Aelwyn perched on her bottom bunk holding Boggy in her hands. Oisin got up and started to pack his things, heading for the door. As he did, clawed hand on the doorknob to leave. With a click, Aelywn pushed the door closed with a mage hand.

“Hakinvar, you and I have something to discuss.”

Aelwyn didn’t look up, her eyes glowed as did the runes she had lovingly, carefully painted onto the floor. Oisin didn’t move, frozen in fear as he let out slow fearful breaths. 

Aelwyn set Boggy down, scritching under what she assumed was the frog orb’s chin, and motioned for Oisin to move away from the door. He did. Stiff as only a body once caught by rigour mortis could. He faced Aelwyn, just slightly taller than her due to his ancestry. 

“I can see you getting all ensorcelled by our dear oracle but as her older evil sister, I will have to intervene. You know the last guy who messed with her had his fingers shot off by her little rouge friend. I heard that Gorgug cleaved your ass into two. They brought you back because they are good moral people. Had it been up to me, well I’m sure you know I worked with Kalvaxus and The Nightmare King so I’m sure such a capable wizard like you could figure it out. I know what you’ve said to her, what you’ve done to her, and I’ll have you know that I can be very tricky if you cross me.”

She draws her fingers along the ground tracing the nemesis ward with a manicured hand.

“You are aware of what this ward means, yes?”

“Yes, I know what you mean,” Oisin finally replied.

Aelwyn smiled, “Good then I’m sure you’ll be far more careful in future when it comes to that blabbering mouth,” she allowed the glow to cease, picking up Boggy as she rose. 

Oisin practically bolted out of the room, nodding as he collected his gear. Aelwyn nuzzled the perfect familiar as she followed. Good, always good for people to know their place.

[gertritude-art]

mordred core dare i say

So I was going to write up a fake AITA post in response to this, but instead I just got really into the idea of mordred arguing with people in the comments of it (examples shown below):

---

"Have I been an "asshole" for belittling my peer over her religious beliefs?" discussion

Flyguyy posted: YTA. Even if you think they're stupid, it's never okay to make fun of someone for their religion.

Dawinniwad replied: NTA. It's always okay to make fun of someone for their religion, especially if you think it's stupid.

destineystreamer replied: ATY. It's always okay to think someone is stupid, especially if you're making fun of their religion.

polarbear378 replied: YAN. It's never okay to think someone is religion, even if you're making fun of their stupid.

XXXDemonLordXXX (OP) replied: I wrote this with the intent of generating a serious discussion. Either take my question seriously or don't bother commenting.

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NormieGuy posted: ESH. You shouldn't have made fun of her, but getting called a "demon-worshipping heathen" is kind of crazy and deserves a comeback imo.

XXXDemonLordXXX (OP) replied: I made fun of her because she said my desires are foolish, not because of that. Do not spread misinformation on this post.

NormieGALhastagfeminism replied: INFO. What were your desires? You didn't mention those in the post?

XXXDemonLordXXX (OP) replied: It's to become a demon and cannibalize this wretched earth. (-200 karma, 27 comments)

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Formaldehype posted: Isn't this the kid who got banned from r/askDocs for cutting out and posting an uncensored pic of his eye?

nick555 replied: He what

XXXDemonLordXXX (OP) replied: This isn't relevant to my question.

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jellyRoll posted: Hey this guy's entire post history is him arguing in the demonology forums and rping as though he's going through a demonic possession, maybe we shouldn't enable him here in the comments? He's clearly got some problems

DemonExpertSwag replied: Demons can't even possess people. This kid's mom needs to come and get him off the internet lol

XXXDemonLordXXX (OP) replied: Demons can absolutely possess people, and if you mention my mother one more time I'll report you to the moderators, swine. How you claim to be an "expert" when your comment history indicates you can't even tell a demonic coil from a spring is a sign that the whole demonic community is going to the dogs.

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Mrs-Baggins posted: INFO. OP, who is your acquaintance that's "of an unknown age and male" who told you that you may have hurt her feelings? Are they a family friend of yours? Maybe it would be better to talk to an adult about this than post about it to a random internet forum.

XXXDemonLordXXX (OP) replied: I apologize for the confusion on this matter. He's a cowardly demon who lives inside of my right eyeball. As he does not know how old he is, and ages are a customary addition on reddit, I thought it best to indicate such rather than leaving it out or guessing.

Mrs-Baggins replied: What?

XXXDemonLordXXX (OP) replied: As I just said, he's a cowardly demon who lives inside my right eyeball. Is anyone here capable of understanding basic English, or must I dumb it down more for you peons? (-700 karma, 500 comments)

[wlwinry]

may i see your gorgug headcannons plsssss 🫴

one order of gorgug hcs coming right up

he can cook like nobody's business. he doesn't have to often rn bc yknow everyone is teenagers who live at home and usually get food there but can absolutely cook like crazy. wilma and digby helped him try a bunch of hobbies to channel his rage and while none of them worked bc they (while well meaning) were focused on suppressing it and he gravitated towards music, he absolutely loves cooking

on that note, sometimes when fabian talks about not knowing where anything in his kitchen is his eye just starts twitching a lil. wym you have a state of the art kitchen and you do not USE it

in the summer between freshman and sophomore year and through a lot of the year overall he'd take road trips to see gorbag and roz or they'd come up to visit him

he learned a lot about orc culture from them! and from lydia too, who is THRILLED that ragh has friends that aren't dayne blade and who love him

he starts doing a lot of his tinkering outside bc his room fills up incredibly fast. which is great until he's working with intricate electronics

locker? generally neat. room? a mess. mostly bc all the non-element proof projects end up there

he can absolutely sing, he just prefers not to take point on most sig fig tracks bc fig has wayyyy more crowd-facing energy than he does

when he does sing it's usually with his friends or on a special occasion

he's been known to blast the radio and belt along to whatever's on it if it's a particularly nice day for driving

totally the driver friend. also the fixer friend. regularly offers to help with the cars at mordred and also the hangman, who is always absolutely thrilled to see gorgug

if motorcycles could bark it would bark

the hoodie is a pretty much constant staple in his wardrobe but he's been known to replace it with a nice wool jacket or fleece-lined leather on special occasions. he prefers it over all but the weight of it is really what's most grounding to him

cannot dance. at all. you'd think he'd have better rhythm since he's a drummer but he just. cannot do it

despite quitting bloodrush he still likes roughhousing with ragh and fabian!!! his biggest frustration with his schedule and school is that he can't really do anything that doesnt have more work and stress attached to it, even just hang out with his friends

sunburns easily. i don' t know why i just feel this in my heart

[the-kingshound]

This is 'missing-my-siblings-hours' . So, here you go, Emyr's (Tried my best not to be ooc) (Which I think I am, and I'm sincerely sorry) if MC and Saraah really succeed in bringing him to Camelot:

When Emyr woke up, he didn't expected to have sliced cucumbers along his face, nor did he expect to seeing his older and younger brothers whisking some sort of a gooey mix, while excitedly muttering how much skin care they'd get to work on him after all these years.

And so, when Ghaven walked up to him and applying the mixture on him, Emyr did what others mostly seen on him. He doesn't move at all, too numb to fight back even within a dream that feels like long ago.

Until Saraah, with his own beauty mask still on, eyes stand out among the sliced cucumbers and awkward little braids that somehow reminds Emyr of the one MC used to do with his eyes, look at him with a blank expression, poked his daydreams.

"...Are you seriously thinking you're still just dreaming, my dearest brother who keeps him away from us?"

Saraah's always managed to poke on others nerves, and they're never been easy to get it away.

Instantly, Emyr crawls out his bed, pushing away both his brothers as he flings himself to the nearest window and opens it.

And that's when he knew there's no way back now.

Emyr looks down along the window. He watches as his oldest sister, Adrei, keeps tight hold of Mordred, the only young child he can think so living with the Queen, and there's Radel, his youngest brother, who seems to be in better and healthier states as before, given how he can heard the latter go out his way teaching flowers to their little nephew.

But what holds most is when he saw — the one and last of them all, the youngest one, his little sister who's been trying to get hold of him, who's still reach out despite his distance — appears among the garden.

Emyr always know she'd been beautiful. But nothing can't stop him from worrying back when Adrei's letters come through about her going on battlefields. He'd remember what's like back then for him, his mind goes through those eyes resembling of the purest pearl that always soothe him, when he's still young, and could get a firm hold of his little sibling in his arms.

Ghaven weren't surprised at all. When Emyr's stunned. They kept silence as Saraah sneaks back up to Emyr and offer painful but nonetheless comforting touches, "Yeah, yeah, I know too." His next words, though, ouch. "After all these times... Can't belive we're all together again, huh? Except for Osi—— OCEANA! I mean that boring kingdom in the old mermaid tale! OCEANA! Emyr, stop hitting me! Ah! Ouch!"

If isn't the fact Emyr's still too timid (they'd change it, given now where they are) to even commit a murder, Ghavem would've step in to stop them from a supposedly crime scene. Still, they moves up between both their brothers, and cast away Saraah who's now running off to join in the rest in garden.

He didn't spoke anything. Waiting patiently for Emyr.

"I... H-how did... Is the King——" How did I got here? Is the King aware of this? "W-What will... I can't... They'd got... Of me... S..." What will happen to them? What will happen to you and Saraah? I can't be here! They'd get me! You'd get killed because of me! Sent me back! "I... I... Ah——..."

Emyr crumbles at last. Luckily, Ghaven's there to make sure their knees wouldn't hurt much as they catch him as they gradually fall to the ground. Ah, Adrei'd lecture them on this, definitely. Being too harsh on the joke.

"To answer your questions." They pulls him up back to the bed and throws up every warm blankets from the one mother hen knight closed to their little one. "MC'd been plotting to get you here since the last time we all met. Ironically, your... former house, got some issues."

Emyr don't need to hear anymore to know what's been going around. So he decided to do the thing he's been good at. He closes his eyes, nodding off soundly in his found peace as Ghaven lights up a few candles.

Osia can screw off. Emyr thinks. She can't do no harm to him now that he's faraway than she'll ever think.

A-And... He'd like to hug everyone when he's awake.

(Sorry for grammatic mistakes =+

Aww omg that's so adorable... bestest of ways to start my day❤ Thank you so much for sending it, anon, I actually think Emyr was quite in character! Having all the siblings together is very nostalgic and makes me want to hurry and get them all to Camelot...

[tgrailwar-zero]

FRAN: "Uuhh!"

She waved goodbye as you headed out, having made the choice to leave the resting MORDRED in FRAN's care. Thus, you left the Point of Sealing.

Leaving it seemed easier than coming in. It also didn't seem to take as long. You walked upwards through the path, and while it was a bit of a trek, it didn't feel as heavy.

Eventually, you made it outside.

SALIERI: "Well, that was a busy…"

He looked up at the sky, brows raising slightly as the sun shone down through the trees. The feeling was understandable- it had felt like you had spent hours down there. Days, even.

SALIERI: "…Morning? Hm. We still have the rest of the day ahead of us."

KUKULKAN: "Ah- feel that breeze!"

It was nice being back in fresh air again. This place wasn't as bright or cheerful compared to the rest of Sunbeam Row, but it was a drastic departure from the oppressive atmosphere of the Point of Sealing.

NERO: "I feel like I can finally stretch again..."

NERO: "Hm? What's that sound?"

You heard some aggressive voices speaking through the brush.

Following the path towards commotion you heard off in the distance, you saw a scene off to the side, several assassins with their blades drawn, surrounding a young woman. You recognized her, vaguely. For one, she was a fox- one of the foxes, one of the entities that called themselves 'TAMAMO'.

Secondly, you had seen her briefly at SIGURD's banquet. The current acting Priestess, ARIA.

One of the assassins brandished a dagger.

ASSASSIN: "Really, are you a fool? A young lady as important as yourself, just wandering around in the wilderness. With all of the commotion that Saber is making, killing you will drive the tensions in the Solar Cell to a fever pitch! But-- uh, seriously, you didn't bring any guards or anything? You just came out here alone?"

PRIESTESS ARIA: "Well, you know what the say… if you haven't seen a person in three days, then you should pay careful attention to them… or something like that, right? And since everyone's attention is all over the place, I wanted to bring everyone back on track, so I decided to try and vanish for three days so that attention would come back to the Priestess and people would feel good again…"

PRIESTESS ARIA: "It's only been three hours… and it seems like people are looking closer to me if I'm being found like this by so many people… so I think I'm on the right track."

ASSASSIN: "I mean… I think that if you went missing for three days, people would look for you, but that isn't what that proverb means."

PRIESTESS ARIA: "Oh… so I shouldn't have wandered away from the Imperial Palace?"

ASSASSIN: "Well, of course not! Listen, young ladies aren't supposed to wander about like that. Especially not so close to the Point of Sealing, isn't this one of the most dangerous areas in the Solar Cell?"

There were some murmurs from the other assassins.

ASSASSIN: "A naive girl like yourself needs to at least have an entourage before you just blithely wander about."

ASSASSIN: "Right… there's a ton of dangerous stuff out here. You should get back home. Do you remember where it is?"

PRIESTESS ARIA: "I think so. Thank you very much, Lord Ninja."

She turned, beginning to wander away in the opposite direction, as the ASSASSIN's stood and watched. One of them stepped forward, nudging their leading Assassin on the arm.

ASSASSIN: "…Zayd."

The lead ASSASSIN watched the PRIESTESS walk, looked down at his knife, then back at the PRIESTESS, before suddenly shouting--

ASSASSIN: "Gah! W-Wait! You wait right there, girlie! Don't move a muscle!"

PRIESTESS ARIA: "I thought you said I could leave?"

ASSASSIN: "No, you can't leave! We're here to kill you!"

PRIESTESS ARIA: "You are…? Well that's rather scary… can you do it another time, when I'm more prepared?"

You... weren't really sure if this was an urgent situation or not.

KUKULKAN: "What… is happening over there? Should we go help?"

SALIERI: "I'm not entirely sure. I can't tell if she's in control of the situation, or if she's entirely lost the plot..."

NERO: "...Let's just observe for now."

One of the Assassins looked over, before nudging their leader on the arm again, as he looked over.

ASSASSIN: "Gah! She has reinforcements! Fine- we'll retreat... for now! But don't get too cocky, Priestess! And don't wander alone after dark, you could get hurt! I mean… uh, actually, you should do that! Ugh, my head hurts! Assassins, we're going!"

…And like that, they left, disappearing into the shadows.

The PRIESTESS looked over in your direction, before calmly toddling over. She moved without any real sense of worry or urgency, just ambling about like she had all the time in the world.

PRIESTESS ARIA: "…Hello there. Thank you kindly for saving my life, brave heroes."