#mer!arthur au

[fury161]

im sure this has been done but im doing it anyways. fruk mer x pirate au

[saltysunflowersugar]

WANNA HEAR THIS BATSHIT INSANE AU I CAME uP WITH A COUPLE DAYS AGO?!!

no? TOO BAD! I recently learned about the existence of THESE motherfuckers and my first thought when I saw them was “HOLY SHIT THEY LOOK LIKE AUDREY 2!” They’re called Predatory Tunicates, here ya go

Also I forgot their name briefly and searched up “Transparent crinoid that looks like a venus fly trap” and discovered that the Venus fly trap anenome exists, so maybe that could also be Twoey, either or this isn’t a complete au. 

ANyways, so a little before that my brain made ANOTHER connection between Little SHop Of Horrors and marine biology was that dolphins will sometimes beat up pufferfish simply to get high off their venom, aND IF THAT ISN’T EXACTLY WHAT ORIN SCRIVELLO WOULD DO AS A MERMAN THEN I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS!!! (yes, I am aware that Cleaner wrasses also exist, but the difference is that they’re supposed to be good at dentistry and they can’t just go around inflicting pain for funsies because if they do, they’ll get eaten so a dolphin was just more fitting) Also, should Orin be a bottlenose or an Orca? because both of them enjoy tormenting other sea creatures beyond what’s necessary for survival and Orcas are a type of dolphin and the black and white color scheme would be fitting, but I also fon’t know if Orcas can get high off pufferfish venom

Update: research still inconclusive, I’m just gonna say that in this AU where mermaids are real and crinoids make Faustian power bargains, that yes, Orcas can get high off pufferfish venom

With that part out of the way, I guess Seymour should be a pufferfish, and I’m imagining that he just sits there and lets Orin bite him until he ODs on tetrodotoxin instead of nitrous oxide. Alternatively, I could imagine him being a shrimp, would be really funny if somehow a shrimp managed to kill an orca, plus there could be some symbolism or whatever with the size of any given merfolk showing their status, IDK I’m just spitballing.

Mr. Mushnik is gonna be a crab, Because he’s basically already Mr. Krabs, the connection was too obvious.

I actually don’t know what species Audrey would be in this AU, I was maybe thinking Angelfish? 

Somehow, I decided to get Arthur Denton involved here just because I remembered that one Drawfee bit about the Kinky Christmas Carp and I just decided that Arthur is gonna be carp SOLELY as a reference to that

The muses are gonna be human Marine researchers who aren’t getting involved in the drama, but do have cameras set up on the ocean floor and commentate over everything they see in song form

[currentfandomkick]

Master post for Mer!Danny as reincarnated Arthur Curry Junior/ Aquaman’s son.

Someone please name this AU something better

Working title (thanks to everyone helping with that!) Lost but not Forgotten, aka You Gotta be Squidding Me

If you want to be tagged, comment or reply as such on This Post and i will do occasional mass taglist checks using this post.

Origin Here

Danny Wakes Up here

Topo-napping here

Topo-napping pt2 here

Skulker Skulks here

Skulker and Sampson Here

Sampson Sanctioned Kidnapping Here

Skulker, Unwilling Hospital Translator Here

[destielaureversebb]

Coming soon for the @destielaureversebb: “Seolnlîd” 

Author: @adunaphel-the-quiet Artist: anyrei @anyreiart

Rating: Mature Archive warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence Length: 18,100 words Tags:  Mermaid AU, Deaf Castiel, Mutual Pining, Soulmates, John Winchester's A+ Parenting Relationships: Dean/Castiel, Gabriel/Kali, Cain/Colette, Sam/Jess, Benny/Andrea, Garth/Bess, Arthur/Meg, Charlie/Dorothy

Summary:  

Every mer is born with a soul song: a song only they can hear.

A song so powerful that it vibrates deep within, with every heartbeat, every thought and every fiber of the mer’s being.

When two soul songs resonate with each other, they form a profound bond that ties the two souls together for life.

This is how they find their soulmate.

Which is why Dean finds himself swimming south for the fifth day in a row to take part in the annual mating festival.

Excerpt: 

Still deep in thought over Gabriel’s words, Castiel does not pay attention to where he is swimming until his chin makes contact with an obstacle in his path.

Looking up, he surprisingly notices that said obstacle is a broad chest that belongs to an even broader mer. 

Catapulting himself back in shock, Castiel raises his eyes to find an unknown face looking down at him with unexpectedly kind dark eyes. The man's face erupts into a bright grin, but Castiel cannot make out what he is saying, as he bumps right backwards into another person. 

Trying to extract himself from this new situation, he makes eye contact with the second stranger he so ungracefully encountered on this day, and all he can see is: green. 

The stranger’s eyes are the most enticing green Castiel has ever seen. 

He feels the stranger’s chest rumble with an upcoming response to his clumsiness, but he is not willing to wait for the unavoidable blow he is going to receive, so he frantically extracts himself and swims away as fast as he can manage in the crowd, ignoring raised fists and shouted insults of the people he bumps into on his flight.

“Aww, you scared him, brotha,” Benny says before erupting into roaring laughter as he and Dean look after the fleeing stranger. 

Posting date:  February 15, 2025

[larluce]

AU where Merlin is Arthur's familiar

Firstly, for everyone that doesn't know, in European folklore of the medieval and early modern periods, familiars were believed to be supernatural entities or spiritual guardians that would protect or assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic. They're almost always represented as some kind of animal, like a cat or a bird, sometimes a demon.

So, having that cleared up, how would Merlin be a familiar and how would he be Arthur's familiar of all people when Arthur isn't a sorcerer?

That's the thing, in this AU a group of evil druids or sorcerers find out about Merlin's identity earlier and his whereabouts while he is still in Ealdor. Not wanting Emry's magic to be under the command of some prophesied king and desiring that power to themselves, they kidnapped him and make a ritual to turn him into a familiar (a merlin especifically). They also erase his memory so Merlin doesn't remember he was ever human. Just when they where about to bond the bird to the sorcerer/druid leader to have Emrys magic under their command, Merlin manages to escape. He doesn't know who he is or where to go, he just knows he has to go far away from there.

Somehow, probably through his run away ordeal, familiar Merlin ends up in Camelot's castle, with an injured wing. He's chirping in pain when the young prince finds him in his yard.

Arthur: (covering his ears) Why are you making so much noise? Shut up! (looking closely) Wait! you're hurt? (picks him up carefully) I think your wing is broken. (Merlin chirps louder) Alright, alright! I'll find help. (runs as fast as he can) Gaius! Gaius!

The court physician bandages the bird's wing, but he can't take care of it due to his work, so Arthur does it. He makes a place for the bird in his room and feeds it. He tries to not get attached to it knowing the bird will have to return to its natural environment as soon as it recovers. However, after the bird's wing is healed, it doesn't want to leave, not matter how many times Arthur frees it in the forest, it always comes back, so finally Arthur decides to keep it. He has a bit of a fight with his father, because he never let Arthur have a pet, but after the bird protects the prince of a witch that was in disguise by stinging her eyes out, the king finally allows the prince to keep it. The prince, very happy, brings the bird to his chambers.

Arthur: (with Merlin in his forearm) Now the you're oficially my pet- (the bird chirps in protest) Well, my, eh... animal companion? (the bird deadpans) We'll work on that later. The point is, I should probably give you a name. (the bird moves its wings, excited) What about...bird? (the bird shakes it's head) Yeah, I've been calling you that from the start, so no. hmmm. What about falcon? Gaius says you're a falcon, though you're too small to be one, honestly. (the bird chirps, offended). I should just call you falcon or little falcon. No, it's still too long. Lil' falc? No. hmmmm. I think Gaius said you were a especific kind of falcon? How was it? Mar... Mer...Merloni? Merlon... Merlin! That was it. I'll call you Merlin.

Without knowing, Arthur just finished the last step of the ritual: naming the familiar, and with that, becoming the familiar's master. When the bond is created, a flash of light blinds him and, suddenly, the bird is replaced by a boy, who now is sitting on him, while he's spread on the floor.

Arthur: (looking up, shocked) What the fu-

Merlin: (looking down, confused) Arthur! Why are you smaller now? Wait... I can talk? (brings his hand to his face surprised) And I have... hands? Where are my wings? (panicking) Arthur, I lost my wings! And my feathers!(crying)NOOOOO!

Arthur: Merlin? That's.. you? Merlin? Mer...Merlin, shut up! (Merlin stops crying) And get off me! (shoves Merlin aside) How did this happen?

Merlin: You think I know?! Maybe that witch cursed me to be as ugly as you as a revenge for turning her blind. (sobs) My wings, my beautiful wings.

Arthur: (offended) Excuse me? Is not like you were a "handsome" bird either, you poor excuse of a falcon.

Merlin: How would you know, human with so little imagination that names his bird after their species?

After their stupid fight, they go to Gaius, in secret, of course. They can't have the king knowing the prince's bird was cursed. The physician does his investigation and, after Merlin discovers he can turn to his bird form and his human form at will and do some magic stuff, he concludes Merlin is, in fact, a familiar.

Gaius: Incredible! I thought they were a myth. It's said they're spiritual guardians of magic itself and that just the most powerful sorcerers could summond one and tamed them to become even more powerful.

Merlin: No... it can't be. I'm just a bird! I can't be a magical creature! I can't!

Arthur: (Knowing Merlin's scared due to his father laws and believes) Merlin. It's okay.

Merlin: (crying, almost hysterical) NO! I'm not a monster! I swear! I'm not evil!

Arthur: I know. Human, bird or familiar, or whatever, you're a good person. Well, a good being. Nothing is going to change that and nothing is going to happen to you, alright?

Merlin: (calms down) alright (snifs)

Arthur: But we need you to remember. Do you have any memory of you being anything but a bird?

Merlin: No, I've always been a bird. Although... (thoughtful) I don't... remember being a chick before.

Arthur: A what?!

Gaius: He means a baby bird.

Arthur: Oh, right (blushes). I knew that.

Merlin: Yeah, my very first memory is just before I came to Camelot, when... I was trap in a... cage. (he trembles at the memory) There were humans with capes, I think. They said they wanted to... control me, to had me at their mercy. I don't know what they wanted to do with me but I escaped. I thought I wouldn't make it. (with tears in his eyes) I was.. so scared.

Gaius: They must be the sorcerers that summonded you.

Merlin: Great. So not only I'm some magical entity but I'm sorcerer's slave now?

Arthur: (fiercely) You are NOT a slave! You are... ("mine" he is about to say, but stops) your own.

Merlin: (suddenly scared) What if they look for me?!

Arthur: I won't let them take you. I promise.

Gaius: And I don't think you have to worry about being some sorcerer's slave, Merlin. If you were bonded to one, you wouldn't have been able to escape in the first place.

Merlin: That means... (hopeful) I'm free?

Gaius: And in Camelot where magic is forbidden, so you're safer as you can be. You'll just have to keep pretending you're a bird, if that's not a problem with you.

Merlin: I'm completly fine with that.

Arthur: (joyful) And me! (composes himself) I mean, I like him better when he can't talk. (Merlin frowns at him)

Times goes by. At first, Merlin stays in his bird form and tries not to do magic, because, apparently he's been doing magic all this time without knowing (honestly, how was he supposed to know all the things he accidentally broke or dirt in Arthur's room were repaired and cleaned by him? He just thought Arthur has very efficient servants!). But it becomes impossible, not only because not doing magic makes him sick, but Arthur keeps running into danger time and time again, so he has to use magic to protect him. Arthur scolds him everytime he does that, he doesn't want his friend to be discover, but eventually it becomes rutine. Also, Merlin starts to take his human form more and more frecuently, because he needs Arthur to understand him, sometimes to give him a piece of his mind, to warn of some danger he finds out, or simply to cheer him up when he's sad or pass time.

Merlin: Is magic really evil? (he looks at his hands)It doesn't feel evil when I use it.

Arthur: How does it feel to you?

Merlin: It feels like... flying (he smiles and closes his eyes) So natural and beautiful, like the earth under my feet and the wind moving my feathers. And I feel it everywhere, not just inside me, but in every living thing. In every flower that blooms, every pup and chick that is born. Even in you. It's suppose to corrupt you, but instead of feeling wrong, I feel so good and... so alive.

Arthur: (looks at him for a moment, completely in love and then composes himself) I don't believe magic is evil. Not anymore.

Merlin: (open his eyes, surprised) Why's that?

Arthur: At first I thought you were an exception to the rule, but then Morgana-

Merlin: (even more surprised) She told you?!

Arthur: (just as surprised) You knew?!

Merlin: I could feel the magic inside her (he admits, guiltily). I wanted to be wrong. She's one of the kindest human I know, but then I saw her doing magic and... I just couldn't tell you. It wasn't my secret to tell, I'm sorry.

Arthur: It's alright. I understand. (he sighs) She was... so scared, Merlin. She begged not to tell my father, like I could ever do that (he laughs dryly). And she didn't learn magic, she just have it. She didn't even know she was a sorcerer until recently.

Merlin: Oh... (thoughtful) That explains a lot of things.

Arthur: What do you mean?

Merlin: Morgana isn't the only one, I think. Sometimes I fly around and I feel people with magic inside them. Some of them are evil, so I call you, but there are others that just do minor stuff, like healing spells and potions. But there are other too that… don't do magic at all and yet… the magic inside them is so strong. I thought maybe I was seing the potential of magic, but now…

Arthur: (in heavy realisation) So it's true. My father's been killing innocent people all this time.(with tears rolling down his eyes) I've been killing innocent people all this time.

Merlin: (hugging and comforting him) No! Arthur you did nothing wrong. You didn't know.

Arthur: (crying and hugging tightly in return) I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!

Aaaand that's it. I don't know what else could happen. Apart of merthur getting together obviously. There would be a lot of pinning and confused feelings. Arthur first meets Merlin as a bird after all, so accepting he has a crush on his bird friend is not going to be easy. The same goes to Merlin. Lets not talk about when they both discover they're bonded and Arthur could technically control Merlin and use Merlin's magic at his will if he wanted. And I guess at some point the evil sorceress/druids would try to get Merlin back. And then Merlin finding out he was human before and has a mother in ealdor… Damn that's a lot of angst.

Anyways, I still have a couple of fics on going so I don't think I'm going to write this anytime soon... or ever. So if anyone wants to write it feel free to do it. Or just comment any ideas you have for this concept/prompt below so I can keep them in mind if I write it in the end.

EDIT: I DID A PART 2, GUYS!!! -> LINK

[puppetmaster13u]

Vibrates. OH you are Speaking My Language.

There definitely is associated meanings with each item, not unlike flower language. Even the type of shell or color of a pearl shows different things. It's all grown with time, spreading from not just them, but to other people in Gotham too.

But oh my god yes, Jason was definitely buried with so many things. Hair braided with such care that is visible even with what each family member chose to give. (God I bet Bruce gave him some of Martha's pearls too)

Jason and Damian deserves to be brothers (and yes, good Mom Talia (she's just also morally complex and was raised in a cult) and he definitely shows tiny Damian how to braid his own hair. (God the image of his casket is- I love it)

Gosh, Jason like, after his Pit dip? He's going to be so startled when he feels Gotham's waters again and ah. His Form is suddenly Much Larger, more like Bruce's size than the tiny guppy he was before. How fun :)

Love the idea of aspects sometimes leaking through in Gotham. It is a very wet and swampy area. Lmao, the idea of them all looking dry outside of the city is great.

PFFT, they can drink through their skin (or that's what it looks like) and that's great for pranking I bet. Bet they've all pulled a no one will ever believe you or a when was the last time you slept.

Mermay Special Prompt 3

“Are you kidding? No one goes to Gotham, that place is like,” Aquaman made a motion with his hand, a not-quite grimace on his face. “Like things should not be living in the water, like it should be impossible, and things should be dead, but they aren’t and it’s like, like the equivalent of an undead apocalypse over there!” 

Bruce rolled his eyes behind his cowl, taking a sip of his coffee as the others continued drinking. Socialize, they said, it’ll be fine they said. Well excuse him, but the waters weren’t that bad. Sure there were always dumped bodies, and chemicals from the rogue attacks, but it was far worse at one point.

One thing he’ll always be relieved for is how the… curse (thank you broken statuette back in the beginning of his vigilante career that fused with the other many curses of Gotham) made the people of Gotham actually care about the waters around them. 

Though also, he couldn’t help but thank anything that might be listening for the fact that the curse only interacted with Gotham waters, because losing legs with any risk of a drop of water would be downright annoying. 

“No dude, you don’t understand, no one goes there for a reason! That shit is horrific- someone saw a big thing with bits of rebar stabbed straight through it and still chased after a big alligator-thing!” Oh. Oh that had been him. Oops. Hopefully his kids didn’t find out about this, but they were probably already on the cameras. Dammnit. 

[thedragonlies]

if I did a mermaid AU (with fic and art) for MerMay would you give it a chance?

(Arthur would be the mer-prince destined to rule the undersea kingdom of Camelot and Merlin would be a human)

[inscribedlighter]

I should do a mer!au just based on Kayne and all his fishing metaphors in The King. Putting an Arthur in a fish tank is very him.

[carraways-son]

Vendredi soir

Cet après-midi, d'autres plages, de la Milady à Anglet en passant par Ilbarritz, avant de saluer le rougeoiement de cette fin de journée. Je pense que si je restais assez longtemps ici, je volerais moi aussi.

L'éternité, c'est la mer mêlée au soleil. Arthur Rimbaud.

[chocolateteapotsvis]

Halbarry Recs: Mermay!

Pearl

Hal takes a dive to prove a point, he doesn't expect what he finds.

Sous l'Océan by 6Starlight6

Bruce et Clark parcourent l'océan, explorant sa beauté. Jusqu'au jour où ils font une bien étrange découverte quelque part dans l'immensité du Pacifique.

(via Google Translate: Bruce and Clark travel the ocean, exploring its beauty. Until the day they make a very strange discovery somewhere in the vastness of the Pacific.)

Just the Two of Us (We Can Make It If We Try) Ch5 by layspotatochipabs (@layspotatochipabs)

mermaidBarry! au Hal and the League travel to Atlantis to help Arthur with something. Although the situation may be grim, he can't wait to see Barry again. They've been separated for too long. And no, Arthur, Hal and the mer aren't dating. At least not yet.

Out of Red and Green: A HalBarry Week Tale Day 6: AU by StyAndTheBunnies

Hal falls from the sky after a rude battle; luckily, he falls into the sea - unluckily, his ring is discharged and he is drowning. /AU where Barry isn't the Flash/ (halbarry week, day 6: strange and weird)

Summer Halbarry Week 2019 Ch6: Peacefully by ceeloilights (@ceeloilights) (warnings in the notes)

Barry saves a brunette from drowning but doesn't seem to want to be saved when he's in danger.

If I missed your favorite, share it so we can all enjoy it too! And here's some other people's gorgeous Mermay art. Happy Mermay!

Pic inspired by Just the Two of Us (We Can Make It If We Try) Ch5 by layspotatochipabs

Halbarry Fic Rec Masterpost

Epilogue (basically straight from the fic):

[beautyconsumer]

so i realized writing a fic in which unpacked trauma is dealt with and is planned to have characterizations closer to canon is gonna be heavy as duck,

so now i gotta write some humor/fluff to balance it, it still gonna have drama because that's how I am so-

Please help me decide what to write alongside the body swap fic

More info on each promt in the cut

The Robins and Bees Talk. Batfam alpha/beta/omega dynamics fluff but with a tint of gender analysis in the form of abo verse, protective batfamily (especially Dick) and jaygrant being horney af

Of Paws and Claws. Fluff, so much fluff and Good Dad Bruce Wayne, pack dynamics and Wilson's drama

Heartbeat Song. Fluff and awkward teeneagers being in love, familiy drama. Self discovery, featuring team cheerleader captain Dick Grayson, theater kid-book nerd Jason. internalized homophobia on Grant's part and so much teeneage awkwardness oh my God. Grant bullies everyone but Jason type of dynamic

Egoist. Jason and Dick teaming up with a recently reconciled Grant and Slade but when they meet Dick and Slade feel tension between Jason and Grant.

At this point Jason and Grant are bitter exes who broke up because Grant fucked up but both still love each other so very much. Slade and Dick are hilariously unaware of this and just think they can't stand each other. In this one Slade actually tries.

Iridiscent tears Mermaid au where Bruce adopts his mer kids. Being a hybrid himself from Martha's side.

Has a heartbreak over Jason leaving (cause Bruce Wayne has abandonment issues). Jason’s species' instincts makes him want to leave for years to mature (a la Jason’s death) Arthur in the one who tells him this.

I'm planning on including Atlantis lore in this one along Gotham type of vibes for the mer lore of the robins. Jason comes back home with a partner, and yes you guessed it, it's Grant. I'd play with a lot of merfolk culture and biology (no mpreg tho lol) but I do plan on giving Jason and Grant kids in this one

Like a bat out of hell 5 times in where Bruce meets his son's boyfriend, he hates him until he doesn't. Comedy, drama and obvs JayGrant

Same Kind of Eyes. In which Grant thinks he's cheating on his very hot and very rich boyfriend Jayce Wayne with the hot, tall, dark and handsome Red Hood. Jason thinks Grant is role playing.

[transparentgentlemenmarker]

Je sais les cieux crevant en éclairs, et les trombes et les ressacs et les courants : je sais le soir. L'Aube exaltée ainsi qu'un peuple de colombes, et j'ai vu quelquefois ce que l'homme a cru voir. J'ai vu le soleil bas, taché d'horreurs mystiques illuminant de longs figements violets, pareils à des acteurs de drames antiques les flots roulant au loin leurs frissons de volets. J'ai rêvé la nuit verte aux neiges éblouies, baiser montant aux yeux des mers avec lenteurs, la circulation des sèves inouïes, et l'éveil jaune et bleu des phosphores chanteurs

Arthur Rimbaud, extrait Le Bateau Ivre

[iboatedhere]

WIP ask game . .

Oooh, am curious about the - Lighthouse keeper/merman AU

I think Arthur used to care for the lighthouse when Henry was growing up. The whole family would spend summers out there so Henry has fond memories of the island and the house.

I think Arthur disappeared on the journey back to the mainland. Everyone assumes it was a mer attack so Henry should really know better than to trust the one that washes up, weak and wounded, on his shores after a storm.

[kiki-de-la-petite-flaque]

Je sais les cieux crevant en éclairs, et les trombes

Et les ressacs et les courants : je sais le soir,

L' Aube exaltée ainsi qu'un peuple de colombes,

Et j'ai vu quelquefois ce que l'homme a cru voir !

J'ai vu le soleil bas, taché d'horreurs mystiques,

Illuminant de longs figements violets,

Pareils à des acteurs de drames antiques

Les flots roulant au loin leurs frissons de volets !

J'ai rêvé la nuit verte aux neiges éblouies,

Baiser montant aux yeux des mers avec lenteurs,

La circulation des sèves inouïes,

Et l'éveil jaune et bleu des phosphores chanteurs !

Arthur Rimbaud, extrait de Le Bateau ivre

[dandelionsandderivatives]

Oooh, tell me about Mer Lin and/or The Magician’s Guinea Pig! (your choice)

Someone else asked for The Magician's Guinea Pig, so you get to hear about both!

Mer Lin is the working title for a Tam Lin/Merlin (BBC) crossover. Merlin was a huge guilty pleasure for me and my siblings back when it had just been released, and it's a very weird show because it combines some genuinely cool ideas with some genuinely baffling creative choices (my poor Morgana and her arc). As far as I can tell, the vast majority of fic authors also feel a great love for the characters and a great frustration for the writing, and so there are a ton of very interesting AUs and fix-its and such.

Anyway, about two years ago I was listening to every interpretation of Tam Lin I could get my hands on, and somehow I came up with the idea of doing Tam Lin but in the Merlin universe – and the pun, of course, made the whole project worthwhile. (Sometimes I'm not sure if it's kind of me to subject my readers to my sense of humor, but it's not like they're compelled to keep reading if they don't like it.)

This is, like a lot of Merlin fics, set in an alternate universe where Everything Turned Out Okay, and Merlin and Morgana ended up together. Except everything's not okay; Arthur is on the throne, but everything is slightly off in Camelot. Gwen sews on the same project every day but never seems to finish it; Arthur's knights joust and play chess and never do anything else. And only Morgana seems to remember that they used to have a court sorceror, and that she was married to him. So yes, this is essentially Tam Lin + a sort of time loop (which, now I think about it, is very similar to the one from the first season of Once Upon a Time). The backstory was supposed to be a slow reveal wherein we find out that Camelot has been at war with a magical army for some time. Merlin managed to avert at least some of the danger, but as a consequence he's now magically enslaved to the queen of said army, and he's also lost his memory. Given that he's possibly the most powerful sorceror ever, this is bad news for the world at large. Morgana's the protagonist and is trying to rescue Merlin so that they can break the time loop – which will, of course, happen through faithfulness, as in Tam Lin proper.

I like many things about this idea – for one, I think that fantasy novels based on Tam Lin are almost always great. But I'm actually not sure how well it interacts with the source material. The fun of fanfic, imo, comes from making the source material work with different storylines, characters, themes, etc., and I'm not sure that the canon material adds much to this plotline. It might be better with original characters, but then it might feel uncomfortably similar to Fire and Hemlock.

I do still think the idea has its interesting points – I think the situation is the sort of thing that would have made a good episode of the show, and it fits pretty well into the formula, which goes something like this:

Magical crisis envelopes Camelot

Our protagonists (usually Merlin) have to scramble to figure out how to stop magical crisis

Arthur is oblivious

The crisis is averted by throwing more magic at it

End with Merlin, somehow, having to do some unpleasant menial labour

You'll notice I've innovated by cutting out Step 5 and having Morgana do the investigating in Step 2.

All joking aside, though, I think the real heart of this fic would be the tension and romance between Merlin and Morgana, and the idea that, as in canon, they're the only two together against the world that doesn't acknowledge or understand them. (I think this is maybe where the idea came from originally.) I think one of the issues I'm having with writing it is that a good amount of their tension in canon comes from the fact that their arcs are inverses of each other, and in this AU they would obviously have a different relationship. I'm pretty good at writing yearning, but I don't know if I can write it convincingly enough to make this story feel worthwhile. Maybe it would help if I flipped the roles? But then I think that part of the fun of this is having Merlin, who's generally rescuing everyone else in canon, be the rescue-ee. (It's a fairly popular plot in fanfics, so I'm not the only one who likes it.)

Anyway, this is one story idea that has a very cool vibe in my head, but I'm not sure it's enough to build a story on. I do like the fact that I haven't seen quite this plot in Merlin fic before, and I think it would be possible to set up some cool echoes of canon (in that Morgana would essentially be doing the same thing Merlin did in the earlier seasons). But I think it needs more justification to be set in this universe.

I still think the name "Mer Lin" is hilarious, though.

[aurevoirmonty]

Aventuriers ?! On pourrait en coller des définitions à cette épithète ! Une chose au moins peut mettre tout le monde d’accord sur ce qui caractérise ce genre de fripouilles célestes : l’aventurier, c’est celui qui repousse les limites.

Les Aventuriers de la Vie, ou les épopées de quelques hurluberlus, certains renommés et d’autres bien plus délaissés par l’histoire. Avec eux, direction les lointaines expéditions et les frénétiques embardées. Au plus loin des continents parsemés de déserts et de jungles, des horizons maritimes et des montagnes au firmament, embarquez-vous avec ces frénétiques forbans, ces toréadors de l’existence, honorant de leurs coups de sabre et de leurs coups de reins la petitesse de nos vies d’homme.

Amateurs de gangsters des limites, de personnages impétueux et de destins grandioses, vous voilà servis !

François-Xavier Consoli, essayiste et journaliste, auteur de l’essai La République contre la France aux Éditions du Verbe Haut, signe son deuxième ouvrage avec cette galerie de destins d’exceptions.

Liste des aventuriers, par ordre d’apparition :

Albert Spaggiari, braquage, cigare et sans haine

Jules Brunet, le vrai dernier samouraï

Richard Francis Burton, gentlemen explorateur

Vincent-Yves Boutin, l’espion de Napoléon

Ungern-Sternberg, l’enragé dieu de la guerre

Dém��trios de Pharos, l’opportuniste magnifique

Eustache le moine, le premier des corsaires

Robert Sexé, motard de l’impossible

Jean Bart, l’invincible corsaire

Arthur Cravan, artiste sans œuvre et boxeur des mers

Robert Surcouf, le dernier des corsaires

Jacques Balmat, par delà les sommets

Charles-Louis Du Pin, l’incorrigible colonel

Cizia Zykë, pour l’amour de l’or et ne rien prendre au sérieux

Antoine de Tounens, noble roi d’opérette