Unbetitelt

I had this Merlin/Arthur fic idea (I prob won’t write, and even if I do, more cake scenario etc)

Consider a canon-ish immortal!Merlin fic with a back-from-the-dead!Arthur that is less ‘i’ve been waiting so long’ grief!porn and more ‘lol wow you’re shit at *common modern thing*’

It struck me that there aren’t enough adapted and happily immortal Merlin fics.  Fics where he’s this kinda hipster, incidentally sage jackass with a flat and a job as a medieval linguist.  He’s not sad, he’s not apathetic towards people, he’s just Merlin.

where he does pub trivia regularly and answers questions with wild hyperbole anecdotes like “Isaac Newton came up with that theory while I was giving him a handjob behind Trinity College.  Virtus Vera Nobilitas, ay?” while taking a drink of his pint

His friends think he’s pretty hilarious.

He CAN drive, and does own a car, but mostly he walks or takes transit or rides his bike.  He’s not playing a how-well-can-I-blend-in game, he just is who he is despite technically being 1500 yrs old, because eventually age is a social construct, especially when he can choose how old he looks.  And the novelty of being a crotchety old man wore off a millenia ago, though it serves its purpose.

He probably has a blog where he draaaaaaags current politics with well reasoned arguments, inventive swear words, and reaction pics of portraits of historical figures.

[Henry VIII fucking sees your swerve and approves. 

that’s not a good thing]

So, my point comes down to: establishing a normal modern immortal Merlin.  One who hasn’t forgotten Arthur, but who doesn’t spend 1500 years crying beside a lake. At most, maybe he did that for a century.  There has to be a good equilibrium here, like maybe sometimes he uses his magic to break into a private collection that claims to have an authentic Arthurian ring just to see if it is, even though it being legit happened like TWICE ever (and one of those the person didn’t even know what they had). And sometimes he does stop by Avalon to look out over it and spend a weekend, but he learned a long time ago to stop putting all his hopes and dreams on it

etc etc

And then Arthur wakes up. 

10. The Merlin fandom feels like it’s suddenly super active. Like, it never stopped, but it feels really alive at the moment.

9. It’s been 10 years since the original series first aired, meaning that the actors will have grown in their craft and will be able to bring the intensity and drama to the roles that the more gritty and angsty story will require

8. Colin Morgan won an award for his performance in the original series

7. Bradley and Colin have been fucking amazing in pretty much everything I’ve seen them in since

6. The ending of the last series teased it. Why do that to people who are hurting already if y’all aren’t going to make it right eventually.

5. We’re living in the golden age of television and the bbc has made some fucking amazing shows, so if it’s well-crafted there’s a chance it could be a real hit

4. Most of the world is obsessed with Game of Thrones at the moment so high fantasy is a good genre to invest in. Having it set in the modern era will give it a unique feel

3. Revivals and reboots seem to be a thing at the moment

2. Since Arthur is the Once-and-Future-King who’s supposed to return when Albion’s need it at its greatest, you can take your fucking pick of storylines. The world is a shit-show at the moment