#merlin:thread

Surprisingly, for once, Merlin has done nothing wrong. Well, 'wrong' is a subjective concept and he is pretty sure some stuffy courtier is bitching about his antics, but Merlin considers that a relative win. Even if he had done nothing wrong (today), the magician is still a pariah of the court and he has no interest in having a tea with those who question his motive (they absolutely should). Instead, he climbs up the stairs to the library where no one would look for him. A perfect spot for a nap...

Except that someone is already there, reading a book. Gwynedd is definitely a person of interest in Merlin's book. Despite his best effort to thwart a certain future, some threads are not so easily untangled. This boy is one of those threads. Humming to himself, the magician sneaks up on Gwyn, taking a peek at the cover and announces himself, "y'know, if you wanna know something about magic, I'm right here. That's what court magicians are for." He's reading up on magic, interesting. Grinning mischievously, he pokes at Gwyn lightly with his staff. "Trying to steal my job?"

Merlin is leaning against the wall of the room where the party is held, an ice cream cone in his hand. He takes a bite out of it every now and then, though however slow he is enjoying it, the ice cream is not melting. Elves sure know how to make desserts, and ice creams that don't melt until it's touched? Ingenious. Though the magician has already gotten what he wanted from the North Pole, he is sticking around for his king to finish up. Though right now, Merlin is getting a little bored. Which is usually a bad thing...

And then he spots a familiar face. A welcome distraction!

"Rome-Paul, dude, it's been forever!" Merlin walks up to the dealmaker, grinning like a boy who just found the presents under the Christmas tree. "How've you been? Any interesting deal lately?" And then Merlin remembers, he has a tendency to owe people some stuff and forget about it... And Rome-Paul would be the last person you want to be indebted to. "...you're not here to collect, are you?" He asks, backing away ever so slightly.

Merlin runs through the royal palace. He is infamously fast only when he is running away from something he wants to avoid, which is usually a trouble he started. He might have done a favor for one of the servants at the palace. A simple love potion, supposed to help with virility... except Merlin messed up the ratio and, well, let's just say some of the servants are infected with horny fever. It is spreading through the exchange of bodily fluids... like some R-rated zombie movie. Thankfully, it will wear off in a few hours so the servants will just have crazy orgy and pass out.

The magician sits on a bench and watches the northern lights dancing in the sky. Merlin never tires of that view... well, actually, that's a lie. Though he does think it's pretty and the science behind it interesting, aurora is nothing but a light show and that is not enough to keep his attention. Sighing, he figures he should grab a cup of hot chocolate from Santa's kitchen, steal a cookie maybe. Merlin stops on his track when he spots something interesting. "Well, well, well... look what we have here." He whistles, mildly impressed by Eris' appearance. He makes sure to suppress his gift of premonition. Deities, gods, entities of that variance possess too many possibilities and it can easily overload him. "I suppose it's better to invite you than risk the Apple of Discord thrown in their faces... or is that a different part of the story?" He walks up to the god of chaos, an amused smile on his face. "I'm a big fan of your works, actually."