women keep coming up to me giggling and blushing and running their finger along the edge of my mighty greatsword like STOP theres literally evil afoot
Eeee finally, the old man yaoi Christmas story I've been waiting for and it's PERFECT đâ¤ď¸! Look at our not boys being nervous and brave. And their mistletoe plans at the end, I squealed. Thank you @liviapeleia for this Christmas miracle.
for the @merlinmicrofic prompts "And the truth?" and "frozen" Gaius/Geoffrey, G, no warnings, 490 words + 500 words, AO3 link
Summary: After Alice had to flee Camelot, Gaius finds a sympathetic ear - and possibly more - in Geoffrey.
Dedicated to @mightybog, who has proven a staunch supporter of my idea that Gaius and Geoffrey should go on a Christmas market date. So, happy Advent season, and happy old man romance season!
oh hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing
chapter 1 (prompt: And the truth?)
Sometimes it's not the search for bookish wisdom that drives a person to the library. Sometimes a person might shuffle wearily that way because it is the path they've always taken when at their wit's end.
Alice had been rescued, and yet, to Gaius, she was lost, once again. He doubted he would ever see her again, and under the circumstances that was for the best â he couldn't have gone with her and left Merlin to his own devices, the foolish boy, and Alice could not stay, too great the risk of discovery.
Uther's laws had driven her from Camelot a second time. Whatever resentment Gaius might feel at that, he neatly packed it away. It was not so bad, the life of an old bachelor. At least he would wake no-one if he snored.
The library was blessedly quiet. His feet carried him to the medicine and anatomy tomes on their own accord. So much time had he spent here with Alice, more than two decades ago. Back then, the collection had been so much more expansive. Now, half of it was missing. Knowledge hidden, shunned, burnt.
He stared at the bookshelf like it was a metaphor for his own life.
âWhat is it you're looking for, old friend?â came Geoffrey's voice from somewhere next to him, surprisingly gentle and surprisingly close. The man could be more quiet than you'd think, or maybe Gaius was just developing paracusis.
âA book.â
âYou'd think so, in a place like this.â Geoffrey sounded vaguely amused, but then he focused his gaze and his concern firmly on Gaius. âAnd the truth?â
Gaius hummed. âMaybe I needed to get out of my workshop for a while.â
âEscaping the young folks?â
âMerlin was right, and I was wrong. Sometimes it's not easy to admit. That you've been blind. And wilfully so.â
âIs it about Alice?â
The bluntness felt like salt in the wound, though probably it was cauterisation, painful in the moment but beneficent in the long run.
âI had thought we could continue where we'd left off, twenty-odd years ago. But I realise I chased a dream. We've both changed, we're not the same people anymore who fell in love back then.â
âAnd she also tried to murder the king,â Geoffrey added pointedly.
Despite himself, Gaius chortled. âThat too, I suppose.â
Geoffrey betrayed his own amusement only with a twitch of the corner of his mouth, an assassination attempt being no laughing matter after all, but it was enough to show his commiseration, and for them to connect over the absurdity of the situation.
âFor what it's worth, you still have me. And now you better go back to supervise your boy before he sets fire to the workshop.â
Gaius saw right through the attempt to pry his attention away from the books, from the past, from Alice, but let it happen nevertheless, secretly grateful, and took his leave. âThank you, my friend.â
âAnytime.â
chapter 2 (prompt: frozen)
Sometimes it's not the need for a remedy that drives a person to the physician's workshop, though by the time he reached the end of those stairs, Geoffrey might actually need one.
Winter had settled over Camelot. The days were cold and crisp, the windows opaque with frost flowers, and Geoffrey's old knees a bit stiff and achy as he made his way upstairs.
âAh,â said Gaius, looking up from a phial and owlishly squinting at Geoffrey before remembering to take his reading glasses off.
âI've never quite understood why they put the physician in a tower,â Geoffrey huffed, trying to catch his breath. âAm I interrupting, are you busy?â He almost hoped he was, so he could have an excuse to delay his plan â whoever claimed that being nervous undertaking endeavours in the area of romance were the sole domain of young folks was clearly wrong.
âNothing that can't wait. You are a most welcome visitor for whom I gladly set aside my experiment.â
Most welcome? Geoffrey stood an inch taller.
âI was wondering if I might tempt you to a breath of fresh air? The merchants have set up the winter market, and...â Whatever he had planned to end the sentence on fled his mind.
âIf you don't mind being seen with an old fool?â
âPlease, Gaius, I've never once considered you a fool.â
âI'll fetch my coat then. Merlin, if you're done with your reading you can finish this, see if you can perfect the tincture, justââ
ââdon't blow it up again, I know.â
Geoffrey hadn't even noticed the boy sitting there, looking back and forth between them with dawning understanding and something between fascination and juvenile mild disgust.
Was it so obvious? Geoffrey's face was suddenly burning.
The market was lovely. Frost-coated trees glistened in the sun. Fire baskets created pockets of warmth as respite from the frozen world.
They each got an earthen cup of mulled wine to warm their hands on, which Geoffrey insisted on paying for, then took to ambling, admiring the artisans' work. Geoffrey bought himself a knit hat and preened when Gaius called it âquite fetchingâ.
Gaius acquired a bag of roasted almonds and insisted on sharing, and then they carelessly reached for it simultaneously and their fingers brushed, and both of them stilled and the touch lingered for a moment. After a conspicuously inconspicuous glance, Gaius hastily pointed out a vendor's impressive supply of dried herbs, a welcome treasure in the winter.
âAnd look at that, fresh mistletoe,â he noted, and after clearing his throat and shuffling his feet added, âI should get some for my apothecary. And you could get some to decorate the library. Or your home.â
âHm,â Geoffrey said, heart racing. âOnly if you help me hang them. And you could stay for a while. Admire the decoration.â
âI'll take five,â Gaius told the vendor, and then, mistletoe and almonds in one hand, and reaching for Geoffrey's own hand with the other, marched back towards the castle.
Merlin/Arthur | Mature | No Archive Warnings Apply | Word Count: 373
Historical AU | Festivals | Prophecies | Second Person POV (Merlin)
For the @merlinmicrofic prompts "feast" and "new year."
Will post to Ao3 once it's back up.
Arthur's halls are decorated for the birth of the sun, Saturnalia was a sennight ago, and you saw an ominous sign this morning in the movement of the birds.
small tw: for animal (bird) death
âž âž âž
Arthurâs hall is decorated with yew branches. Up and down the benches there is elaborate food upon decorated plates of a dull silver that he told you was called pewter. His hounds whine and beg for scraps from the revellers, having grown bored of the swan wing that had been tossed to them. Now it lay on the straw strewn floor, gnarled and upsetting.Â
Your eyes are on him, but everyoneâs eyes are on him, they always are. Warlord, lord, king. Tonight he wears an abolla that is a red as rich as blood (and youâve seen plenty of blood, by now). His hair and eyes are pale against the colour but not diminished by them.Â
But his eyes are on you. They shouldn't be on you, not as much as they are, they need not ever be on you, but they are. Youâre a servant, whatâs more you are of the Silures, reviled by his father, yet his eyes have been on you since you were crowned with oak leaves for saving his life.
What a strange mix of observances that he claims as his own.Â
On Saturnalia he said that you could do anything, so you sat in his lap and had him feed you figs and almonds with his fingers.
But that was a sennight ago, now above his chair there is a bower of willow and ivy, now he raises his cup and you go to his side to pour him grape wine from across the sea.Â
He would put you to death for your aurgury this morning. It was the flight of the hedge sparrows that alerted you just a breath before it happened; a peregrine claimed an ouzel, too slow to retreat to the coppice, right before your eyes. There are signs in everything, you are finding, even the strange prognostications of the Romans. Ouzel cock, black druid, guide to the otherworld. Your people go unmarked in death as they do in life. There are few left, even, to cry your name. Fewer still will survive to see the spring. Â
The fire is making you sweat, causing the woad staining your arms to run.Â
His cup goes up, the room stills.
âThe sun is reborn,â Arthur says.Â
There's a lot of pros to this, in my opinion:
Soup and blankets for me.
I have little magic at my disposal, therefore I am capable of less.
Pushing myself may result in even more magical exhaustion.
There are tried and tested things I can do to work through it or help prevent getting into this state, e.g. breathing, music, walking, finding a crystal cave or something.
Gives me permission, where possible, to temporarily expend less magic (take annual leave, ask for help with my tasks).
That's it, I'm reframing my anxiety, burnout and brainfog as magical exhaustion.
Have we taken into consideration that perhaps, the reason Merlin does not die, itâs because the Gods donât want him to? Theyâve been playing with him this entire time, and The Cailleach made it clear that even if Merlin wants to die, he canât, and he cannot change the course of his life. Merlin does not say, âyesâ willingly, but rather tests to see if the goddess in front of him knows about his destiny, and her answer proves him right. Itâs not because she sees Lancelot going into the veil. Itâs because she knows deep down Merlin cannot do anything now. Merlin is more powerful than Gods, and to prevent him to come to this knowledge, they constantly stop him from achieving his destiny.
I am once again on my soap box about @camlannpod
The heroes of this podcast are actively running from their fate, from the myths and stories attached to their names. They are trebucheted into a world of royalty, knights, monsters, enchanted forests and magic. But the thing about our heroes is they are irredeemable nerds and even while trying to escape the narratives laid out for them, they:
Get excited about the prospect of historical reenactment clothes/costumes
Enjoy being able to exercise their nerd-knowledge in this new world (e.g., Perry and how the iron in the electric fence repels the Fair Folk)
Talk about how the mythical names they were either given or chose are still special to them.
But there's more.
On my fourth listen, it really stuck me how much this podcast is about defying the path laid out for you, especially when it comes to who you love.
It's also about the complicated beauty of families of choice, the communities of love and support we build with people who we don't share blood with.
And lastly (but certainly not leastly) it's about the power of names, what it means to take, keep or let go of them.
Might have to go back and give it a fifth listen.
You ever think about Arthurâs deleted depression arc from Season 4 of Merlin or are you normal
Dale McCready was the Director of Photography on Merlin from 2008-2012. In April 2020 she released some BTS photos from this time.
đˇ Source: Dale McCready Merlin Archive
You don't need a "WIFE". What you NEED is a beautiful priestess of the old religion to lead you down a dark path.
7. The knight rescuing Golden Locks
Canât complain about a Knight. Fun ears on the helmet, impractically Triangular shield, little creature companion. Also that is a delightfully deranged dragon and I feel that merits consideration.
6. The maiden with the Brown Bull of Norroway
delightfully androgynous haircut and drapey robe, an excellent excellent bull, and an even more excellent little horned creature in the shadows going đ
5. Aladdin
10/10 gay sprawl, delightful little mustache, and extra points for the bifurcated land mermaid genie situation
4. The Master-Maid
huge bonus points for those bootie shorts and knee socks, points detracted for this not actually being a picture of the Master-Maid, but of the prince friend, because I think we can all agree that âMaster-Maidâ is a *chefâs kiss* gender
3. The King of the Goldmines
the cape. the third position ballet feet. the casual âoh these dragons and harpies and eagles etc I just killed? nbdâ position of the sword. an icon and a legend.
2. The Fairy in Disguise
this one does need a bit of context, because that fairy in the back right is in disguise, but when the disguise comes off, it is described as âthe fairy, throwing off the hermitâs robe in which she had been disguised and appearing before themâ, which to me implies that she just has that beard, which I think is very neat of her
1. Prince Darling transformed into the monster
look who wouldnât want to at once be an ethereal, flower-crowned hottie and also a chimeric monstrous beast. 10/10 no notes.
Link to the article:
I see...Merthur fanfictions writers trascending time
I redrew some Merlin characters to be more historically and culturally accurate! The text is their original names in a later Latin script, yoinked from a display in the Corinium Museum, Cirencester. (Sneaky edit to add: Y'all are incredibly welcome to use this in any way you want, I would love to see more of my home's culture being represented more accurately in media!!)
Unlabelled version under the cut!!
She/Her | 31 | Herbal Tea EnthusiastInterested in: hurt/comfort, fairytale retellings and folkloreCurrently down an Arthurian rabbitholeLeMightyWorrier on Ao3
296 posts