It Wasn't Meant To Be.

MERLINLADIES’ FAVOURITE COSTUMES Gwen’s embroidered top and fur vest in 4x13 “The Sword in the Stone: Part Two ”

Thanks @liviapeleia for tagging me, your wip excerpts made me very curious to know what's next :D!

Rules: you will be given a word. Then you share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that starts with each letter of your word!

Tagging @breadkween, @achillesuwu and @futurepastme if you're interested! Your word should you choose to accept it is FISH!

Livia you gave me 'myth.'

M

“Merlin is a-” 

But he knew, he had known for a long time. 

Across from him his servant looked like a startled hare, wide-eyed, gaunt in the dim light. The thing they had not been saying had almost been said. Did Merlin think that just because it was said aloud that suddenly Arthur would change his mind, have him executed? 

Instead he made a show of sagging in relief and Merlin hesitated and then sagged with him. 

Y

“You’re lying. You have something you must do, something that might help me. Maybe it'll turn the tide of this battle.” 

“Arthur-”

“Whatever you're about to say, let it be the truth for once. I need to hear it, finally hear it. How many years has it been? We never spoke about your magic, not once, not really, not like we should have.” 

“My-?” 

“It’s said now, I don't care, not anymore. I can't go into this battle without you, not unless I know it’s for a good cause and not unless I know that you’ll be safe.” 

T

“The spitting, what's that then?”

“To ward off curses! Anyone can do it!”

“The asphodel?” 

“The dead need appeasing!” Merlin threw his hands in the air and then towards Arthur. “You’ve seen the ghost of your father, you've fought the undead!” 

Arthur was throwing his hands too now. “The cabbage leaves? Prophetic dreams have to be sorcerery?!” 

“Yes but not the kind you get from cabbage leaves!” 

H

He is the custodian of our stories, the golden age we brought about together and he’ll be the custodian of the stories after I’m gone, learn them from him, help him to hold them and share them, I think some days he might find them too heavy to carry.

He’s the most powerful and the most precious thing to ever walk this Earth, it would be a tragedy too immense to imagine or bear thinking about if he lost what made him human. But more than that, I ask you to do this, to pass on this message to those who come after you because I love him and I cannot do all of these things myself. 

what is it abt bbc merlin that makes it. linger

I also love how audio fiction has always been a highly experimental medium, and likely always will be.

Financially, it has a low barrier for entry, a low point of diminishing returns, and a relatively small potential market. It's basically impervious to being taken over by giant studios - even the "big" networks like RQ would be considered indie in the film or game dev industries. With the exception of the BBC, they tend to dip their toes into audio fiction, figure out quickly that, although it's beloved by its fans, there isn't that kind of money in it, and proceed to leave us alone forever.

Then there's the fact that it propagates largely by word of mouth. Audio dramas owe everything to obsessive nerds forcing nearly everyone they know to listen to that podcast they just discovered.

So it's more about the thing being actually good, plus a decent amount of luck and persistence.

There's no optimally marketable success formula being relentlessly enforced by gatekeeping jellybean-counters because they don't exist here. So people make whatever they want. So it draws people to it who are looking for something different. And the cycle feeds itself, and the medium gets weirder (in a good way).

It may very well ALWAYS remain the wild west of storytelling.

So listeners tell your friends about that podcast!

And creators, make the weird thing! There are no rules! It can be an hour long or Breaker Whiskey short, or Re:Dracula all over the place length. It can be another tape recorder framing or another voicemail framing or basically just an audiobook. It can be any genre or blend of genres. This creative space gives us the opportunity to be our own target audience in a way rarely found elsewhere.

If you enjoy the thing you're making, odds are somone else out there will enjoy it too. I've already found this to be true, and my time as an audio fiction creator is still just beginning.

Peace and love on every planet, y'all!

Merlin/Arthur | Mature | No Archive Warnings Apply | Word Count: 100

Merlin's Magic Revealed | Merlin's Scars Revealed | Angst and Hurt/Comfort

For @merlinmicrofic with the prompt "nightfall"

As night falls Arthur learns about Merlin's sacrifices and fears for his safety

☾ ☾ ☾

After all was aired, once the word “lied” had been thoroughly exorcised from Arthur’s tongue, he could only listen.

Night fell and the veil was lifted from his eyes.

How could he match such devotion? He could not, he could only whisper his promises of protection, his thanks into Merlin’s skin.

Merlin wore his scars all too casually.

“They were easy,” Merlin whispered, his lips on his bare shoulder. “A small price, Arthur, and I’d pay it again.”

“No,” Arthur replied. “Never again.”  

“Fate punishes that kind of talk.”

In Arthur’s dreams, fate was Uther warming himself on Merlin’s pyre.

hey if you died right now whats your ghost outfit you cant change it be honest

NEVER listen to fiction podcastst they put viruses in your brain called FICTION PODCAST. BEWARE!!!

Leaving them in silence, lower me down

|| Merlin x Arthur ● T ● WC: 315 ● No Warnings ||

Summary: The day after you both run out of words: a board of splinters, your sheaf of lifetimes, and near a dozen languages canyon between you. // When Arthur returns, he and Merlin no longer speak the same language. Inspired by ‘Words Are Dead’ by @mightybog.

Next book to be scanned arrived!