#and that arthur can't unpack

[eyes-of-nine]

truly what a guy

[swiftiethatlovesf1]

Back home p.2

Hii guys I hope you enjoy part 2 of this story featuring a love triangle between Arthur and Charles Leclerc. If you've missed part 1 here it is.

As Arthur parks the car, the familiar Italian restaurant you used to frequent comes into view. The sight of it immediately warms your heart, bringing back a flood of memories. "Arthur, this is perfect! It's like you read my mind," you say, turning to him with a smile that reaches your eyes.

"I'm glad you like it," he replies, his own smile genuine as he steps out of the car. He quickly circles around to your side, opening the door for you like the gentleman he's always been.

Inside, the cosy atmosphere of the restaurant feels like a comforting embrace. The soft lighting, the smell of freshly baked bread, and the quiet hum of conversation from other diners set the perfect backdrop for your reunion. As you begin to catch up over plates of pasta and glasses of wine, it feels like no time has passed at all.

"I'm so sorry, Arthur," you say, your voice filled with concern as you reach across the table to take his hand. "When you told me through FaceTime that Carla had broken up with you, I couldn’t believe it. It must have been so hard on you."

Arthur squeezes your hand gently, his expression softening as he looks into your eyes. The truth is, Carla didn't break up with him—he ended things with her the moment he knew you were coming back. After all these years, it had always been you. But he can't bring himself to say that, not yet.

"It was hard," he admits, his tone measured. "But I'm much better now, especially with you here." His words bring a smile to your face, one that he mirrors, feeling a sense of relief that you're finally back where you belong.

After lunch, the two of you drive to your apartment, chatting and laughing the entire way. The sun is setting, casting a warm, golden glow over the city as Arthur pulls up in front of your building. He helps you with your bags, insisting on carrying the heaviest ones despite your playful protests.

As you both reach the front door, the sound of a door opening catches your attention. You turn just in time to see Charles stepping out of the neighbouring apartment, his eyes widening in shock when he sees you.

"Y/N?" he exclaims, clearly taken aback. "I didn't know you were back!"

You smile, surprised but pleased to see him. "Charles! I just got in today. Arthur was kind enough to pick me up and help me with my bags."

Charles glances at Arthur, his expression unreadable. Arthur, on the other hand, remains calm, giving Charles a polite nod. He had deliberately kept your return a secret from Charles, knowing that his reaction might complicate things.

"Here, let me help," Charles offers, quickly stepping forward and grabbing one of the bags from Arthur's hand before you can protest.

"Thank you, Charles," you say gratefully. "Why don't you both come in for a bit? I could use the company while I unpack."

Arthur hesitates for a moment, but Charles is already nodding. "We'd be happy to help," Charles says, flashing you a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes.

As you walk into your apartment, the familiar scent of home fills the air. You set your bags down by the door and turn to Charles with a curious smile. "So, are you still living with your mom next door?" you ask, remembering the days when you used to spend so much time at their place.

Charles pauses, a brief flicker of something unreadable passing through his eyes as he answers. "No, I’m just visiting. I’ve been away for a race, but I thought I’d stop by to see her." He adds casually, "I’ll probably come by more often now." His tone remains light, but there's an underlying intention, now that he knows you're back he'll come around more often.

You smile at his words, completely unaware of the hidden meaning behind them. "That’s great! I’m sure she’s happy to have you around. How’s the season going with Ferrari?" you ask, genuinely interested in hearing about his racing career. You remember how passionate he was about it when you last saw him.

Charles’s face lights up as he starts talking about the season. He dives into the details of the latest races, the ups and downs with the car, and the challenges he’s faced on the track. His enthusiasm is contagious, and you find yourself caught up in his stories, asking questions and laughing at his anecdotes.

But as the conversation flows between you and Charles, Arthur’s mood shifts. He stands a little further back, his jaw tightening as he watches his brother monopolize your attention. Every laugh, every shared smile between you and Charles grates on him. He had been looking forward to this moment—just you and him, reconnecting after all these years—but now Charles is here, and it feels like his brother is stealing his time with you.

You, however, are blissfully unaware of the tension simmering between the brothers. To you, it feels like old times, catching up with people who mean a lot to you. You’re focused on the stories Charles is telling, completely missing the way Arthur’s hands clench into fists at his sides, or the way his eyes narrow slightly whenever Charles makes you laugh.

Eventually, Charles wraps up his latest story, and you glance over at Arthur, who hasn’t said much. You flash him a warm smile, hoping to bring him back into the conversation. "Arthur, you should tell Charles about the restaurant we went to earlier. It’s one of our old favourites."

Arthur forces a smile, though it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. "Yeah, it was nice," he says simply, his tone clipped. He’s trying to be polite, but inside, he’s fuming. All he wanted was a quiet afternoon with you, but now he’s sharing it with the one person who always seemed to overshadow him.

Charles, not as oblivious as he might seem, catches the flash of envy in Arthur’s eyes. The subtle tightening of his brother’s jaw doesn't escape him, and it only spurs him on. "That sounds great," Charles says, his voice smooth as he locks eyes with you, a hint of challenge beneath his easy smile. "Maybe we can all go together sometime."

He lets the suggestion linger, his gaze lingering on you with just enough warmth to make his intentions clear, even as he fully registers Arthur’s growing tension. Sensing an opportunity, Charles shifts a little closer, his body language open and inviting as he continues the conversation, deliberately drawing you in further.

Arthur, feeling the shift in the air, fights to keep his composure. Every instinct screams at him to pull you closer, to remind Charles that you were always meant to be his. But he knows he can't afford to lose control, not now. If he's going to win you over, he needs to play it cool—even if it's killing him inside. So he forces a tight smile, holding back the words that threaten to spill out, determined not to let his brother see how deeply he’s affected.

But Charles, fully aware of the silent battle between them, isn't about to back down. And as you remain blissfully unaware of the tension swirling around you, the rivalry between the two brothers only intensifies, each of them silently vowing to win your heart.

Here's part 3

Tags: @iamapersonwholikesunicorns, @janeh22

[tinycoffeeroom]

new home | arthur hill

face claim: none ♡

request: here !

requested: Hey saw you were looking for requests for Arthur hill maybe like going on your first holiday together or like moving in together x

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👤 arthurnfhill liked by arthurnfhill, lisahull_hill and 18,028 others

y/nstagram all moved in ! new roomie seems ok, he keeps singing a song about an old cowboy though?

arthurnfhill FEEL LIKE JOHN WAYNE ↳ fan RIDING THROUGH THE CITY ON MY OWN ↳ fan JUST AN OUTLAW ON HIS WAY HOME ↳ fan THE GOOD THE BAD THE UGLY ↳ fan I'VE SEEN IT ALL ↳ y/nstagram thanks for the karaoke guys x

lisahull_hill my big boy all grown up :( can't wait to come see what you do with the place x ↳ arthurnfhill mum i've not lived at home for years... ↳ lisahull_hill you've never lived with a girlfriend though! x ↳ y/nstagram lisa i need you to come round soon and help me i'm about to have a breakdown over sofa cushions x ↳ lisahull_hill i'll pop round tomorrow x

fan why is the champagne in the sink tho ↳ y/nstagram freezer machine Broke ↳ y/nstagram on a real note though, fuck currys bc WHY has our freezer been delayed by a week ↳ fan i'll fight them queen ♥️ y/nstagram

fan the books... can't wait to see the book nook!!! ↳ y/nstagram i'm so excited!!! annoyed arthur half to death talking about different bookcase options but i found a gorgeous set on facebook marketplace and its gonna look SO GOOD!! ↳ fan pls give us a tour!!!! ↳ y/nstagram keep a look out on my stories xx

georgeclarkeey it's not too late to come home arthur, your side of the bed feels so empty x ↳ y/nstagram womp womp go shag the other arthur or something ↳ georgeclarkeey he won't open his door :( ↳ arthurtv im protecting my peace ↳ georgeclarkeey im grieving the loss of my boyfriend and you won't even give me a cuddle </3 ↳ arthurnfhill i'm not dead????? ↳ georgeclarkeey it's like i can still hear his voice sometimes... ↳ arthurnfhill i hate it here

bffstagram georgeclarkeey can u have arthur over the weekend, i want a girls night with my gf x ↳ georgeclarkeey only if you take him back on the monday, i have stuff to do ↳ arthurnfhill feeling very much like basil right now ↳ willne uncalled for? ↳ miaxmon i have sole custody of basil pls delete arthur it's a sore spot for will ↳ arthurnfhill only if he apologises for making fun of my mullet AND THEN getting one himself ↳ willne y'know what the basil jokes aren't too bad

fan need a relationship like theirs PLEASE ↳ arthurnfhill all she does is bully me??? seek help ↳ y/nstagram ARTHUR i only bully you like 50% of the time... and you do it too ↳ arthurnfhill i would never bully my girlfriend ↳ y/nstagram the notebook night? ↳ arthurnfhill ok point taken ↳ fan parents <3 ♥️ y/nstagram, arthurnfhill

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Even with all the preparation that had gone into the move, you were still unprepared for the overwhelming amount of boxes that lined the halls of your new flat.

You and Arthur had discussed the idea of buying a house, but with his job being based in central London and the two of you still being young, renting a flat seemed like the best option before diving head first into the nightmare that was mortgages and white picket fences.

The first night the two of you moved in, only the TV and mattress had been unpacked, the stress of bringing all the boxes in tiring the both of you out to the point where the mattress lay haphazardly in the middle of the room and the TV lay slanted against the living room wall.

Arthur lay beside you, eyes half heartedly looking through Uber Eats open on his phone. "Chinese or Indian?"

You took a moment, trying to decipher what you would prefer most. "Hmm, maybe pizza? The other two require utensils and to be honest, I have no idea where our kitchen stuff is."

Arthur hums in response, turning his head to look past you. "I'm pretty sure they're in the bathroom, I think I tripped over our bowls when I went to pee."

Exhaustion must be catching up to you as you don't even question how the boxes labelled "KITCHEN" in black sharpie had ended up there.

After the pizza had been ordered, the two of you lay in comfortable silence, the quiet drone of whichever episode of Friends was queued on the TV floating through the air. A bottle of red wine had been opened at some point and the two half full glasses sit precariously on fake wood floors.

You must have slightly fallen asleep at some point, coming around to the smell of freshly cooked dough and a smiling Arthur staring down at you.

"You were dead to the world, not even the sound of me stacking it over our bathroom towels could wake you." He laughs at the memory, sitting down beside you and handing you a box.

You raise the lid, welcoming the mouthwatering scent of pizza as you shuffle up to sit. "I could smell the pizza."

Arthur guffaws around the piece stuffed halfway into his mouth, eyeing you playfully. "Of course it was the food that raised you from the dead."

Shoving his shoulder with your own, you tuck into the meal in front of you, eyes tuned on the TV as The One with All the Thanksgivings starts playing.

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arthurnfhill uploaded 3 pictures to their story

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It had been a stressful few days. You weren't lying when you told Lisa you were about to have a breakdown over sofa cushions. Luckily, she'd popped round the next day, armed with a small mini fridge and freezer which she made Arthur carry into the house. You could have cried when she produced a cute "congratulations on your new home" card and a bouquet of sunflowers.

The two of you sat on the half put together sofa and scoured the Dunelm website for all their cushion options, opting for some light brown teddy bear ones and some darker brown velvet cushions. Arthur stayed out of the interior design chat, instead opting to run some water into a pint glass for the flowers and bring over two cups of tea for both of you before he disappeared off into his studio room to sort out the wiring.

"Typical man, leaving us to make the place look pretty."

You giggled at Lisa's comment, pointing out the framed artworks sitting propped against the wall. "He picked those out, to be fair to him. We decided he'd do the decorating and I'd just focus on the furnishings."

You continued on your Dunelm hunt, bookmarking everything you thought would look good in your new home, Lisa throwing in a few suggestions as to what you may need. By the time the two of you felt you had sufficiently scoured the website, it was nearing dinner time. Arthur popped his head round the corner to ask if you wanted him to run out and grab something to eat, but Lisa shook off his question, grabbing your hand and her car keys.

"Y/N, we'll nip out now and pick up a few bits, including a vase," she eyed the pint glass begging to tip over, "and we'll pick up some dinner too."

Arthur shrugged his shoulders, smiling at how Lisa had taken you under her wing. Ever since he'd introduced the two of you, she'd taken an immediate shining to you, often sending you silly pictures that reminded her of you or organising coffee dates for the both of you to catch up.

One round trip for a vase and some cleaning essentials as well as a nice pub that did takeaway carveries later, you and Lisa bundle through the front door, giggling about the man in the elevator who had assumed the two of you were mother and daughter. Lisa had replied a cheeky "not yet" and had thrown a wink your way.

Arthur had moved from his studio to the living room, head popping over the back of the sofa at the sound of the two of you laughing. "What did I miss?"

One look at Lisa had you both giggling again, waving Arthur off as you unpacked the takeaway bowls of carvery and scoured the boxes for cutlery.

Arthur eyed the two of you warily, directing his mum to the sofa as he came to search for some glasses for the bottles of Coke you had picked up as well. Dropping a small kiss to the back of your neck, he smiled fondly when your eyes meet.

"This is nice."

You hummed, working on taking off the plastic lids. "Yeah, we were lucky to find the pub, Google Maps was useless."

He shook his head, one arm wrapping around your waist as he looks at his mum setting in on the sofa. "No, I mean this. Being sat in our home and listening to you and Mum laughing about god knows what. I was so worried when I introduced you that she wouldn't like you, I don't even know why, it's impossible to hate you. But, it's nice. I'm happy."

You turned in his grasp, hand coming to rest on the side of his neck. A soft smile overtook your lips at the serene expression on his face. "I'm happy too. I'm glad we did this. I love you."

He matched your smile, a small "I love you too" passing his lips before he pressed a soft kiss to yours.

"Hey, hungry mum over here!"

Lisa's voice broke the bubble around the two of you, both of you looking over to see Lisa smiling fondly from the sofa.

"My apologies, dear Lisa, let me bring it over now!" Laughing softly, you press one last kiss to Arthur's lips before sliding out of his embrace.

The three of you eat in comfortable silence, accompanied by the quiet sounds of the TV and the occasional comment about the dinner from one of you.

The sun had long since set and you and Arthur tried to convince Lisa to stay, but she shook her head, stating the two of you needed your own space and left soon after, leaving behind warm hugs and a kiss to both of your heads.

Choosing to tidy up tomorrow, you both head to bed. You slid in first, welcoming Arthur's warm embrace as you settle in for the night. He peppered soft kisses to your shoulder blade, nuzzling his head into the spot afterwards. "Goodnight, I love you."

Brushing a hand through his unruly hair, you dropped a kiss to the crown of his head. "I love you too." Taking in the surprising quietness of central London, you closed your eyes, excited to wake up to a new day in your new home.

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a/n: love love loveeeeee doing arthur hill requests <3 had to include my queen lisa x

[live-laugh-lenney]

hi lovely, could I request something? If yes then could you write something about Arthur proposing? ‘Cause I feel like he’d probably cry more than us hahaha he’s just so ahhh ❤️🥹

oh lordddddy.

arthur is a huge romantic.

so when the time comes for him to propose and take the next step in their relationship by asking her to be his forever, i can see him taking her away on one of the most beautiful and most romantic holidays where it's just the two of them and the culture around them. with no social media notifications, no work calls to take, no youtube videos to upload and film and no tiktoks to post for promotional ads or gifted reasons. a complete and total relaxing break from their work schedules.

somewhere with beautiful scenery.

somewhere with gorgeous culture.

somewhere that was unforgettable.

he kept their destination a secret until the day they flew from gatwick airport because he figured it would be difficult enough to hide where they were going when it was on screens all around them. he told her to pack appropriately, of course; he wouldn't leave her in the dark and let her pack a piece for every weather possible... he told her that she needed the kind of clothes that she would usually pack if they were going somewhere hot, somewhere where they could lounge by a pool all day, somewhere that didn't require a lot of walking but she'd need comfortable shoes.

everything was planned.

even though he wanted to ask her as soon as they'd stepped foot in their villa - a villa that was so beautiful on the outside with it's white-washed walls and bright blue roof and the most delicate of flowers creating arches and paved their pathways, tucked away neatly from the main roads but overlooking a stretch of sea, in the backyard, that was decorated with yachts and boats travelling on the waters surface - he didn't want to ruin the evening he had set to ask her. but all he could think about was the ring box, that was wrapped up tight in a pair of beige chino shorts so she couldn't see it if she peeked inside his case, and how all he wanted was to ask her so he wasn't a bundle of nerves for the entire week.

"why have you booked us into a three bedroom villa?" was the first thing she asks him once she'd finished taking in their home for the week, "not that i don't appreciate all the planning you've done for this week. just... there's only two of us."

"i wanted to book the best one," he admits and she can't help but grin at him with a stupid open-mouthed smile, "what?"

"nothing," she walks across the open-plan living space and wraps her arms around his neck, bringing his head closer to hers so she could slap a kiss on his lips, "i love you so much. this is going to be the most loveliest week."

"whatever you want to do, we'll do it," he says, pressing one last kiss to her cheek before pulling away from her, reaching for the handles of their suitcases so he could lift them up the stairs and leave them in their bedroom, "shall we unpack and then head out for a walk? look at the area? get some food?"

"i was thinking something a bit more... active."

"a swim in the pool?" arthur questions and she's glad he has his back turned to her because he couldn't see the devilish smirk that curved a corner of her lips upwards, "i actually think this place has a hot tub we could try out. maybe we could get some greek wine, sit in the tub, watch the sun go down."

"so many places try out," she cries out excitedly with a clap of her hands and he looks at her from over his shoulder with a confused look pinching his features up, "oh, come on, you're such an innocent sweetheart."

he feels her hand stroke the curve of his bum before she squeezes at the clothes flesh and, oh...

... how naive he was...

... there were so many places to christen that week.

"anywhere we want. however loud we want to be," she's close behind him on the stairs and it took his entire willpower to not drop the cases and have his way with her on the stairs with the way she was hinting, "anytime of the day. no one to walk in. no one to hear us."

oh, boy.

it was only day one and he didn't want to leave, ever.

and, despite the bundle of nerves that sat low in the pit of his belly for the time they were there, the whole week was peaceful.

the kind of peaceful that they usually always took for granted.

because, back home, peaceful had a whole different meaning.

peaceful, back home, meant no unexpected visits from their friends because they were bored and wanted to go and do something; a trip to the pub or a cycle around london until they found something to do. it meant no videos to film for their channel's or for anyone else's, and it meant no livestreams to stream. it meant lounging in bed or on the sofa, all day and with no need to get up for any reason, with disney+ nature documentaries half started because they were far too cosy and comfortable and kept falling asleep.

peaceful, in a hot country, meant time to themselves with only each other to talk to. it meant intellectual conversations and compliments to the surrounding area as they took slow walks into the town centre for dinners. it meant laying in the sun, whether it be on the beach or by their private pool, with no silliness around to disturb the quiet and no one to take their attention away from the other.

-

"i figured, since tomorrow is our last night here, maybe we could go out for one last meal at our favourite place? get that dessert we keep eyeing up," yn suggests to him, wearing nothing but one of his tees which hung low enough to show her naked flesh, dried bikini still on her body from spending the afternoon in the pool, "i really need one final gyros so i can go home happily fed."

"yeah," he nods softly, looking up from his phone and over to where she was sitting crossed-legged on a sun lounger, skin beautifully sun-kissed and tanned but a little burnt around her shoulders. the sun setting in the distance, painting the sky with the most gorgeous mix of oranges and yellows, creating a beautifully bright reflection on the surface of the sea in the horizon that even his sunglasses couldn't protect his eyes from, "that sounds good. fancy going out tonight or shall we cook here?"

"may as well eat the last of the food here, no? do another barbecue or something," she suggests, rolling her head back as she basked in the last minute sunshine before it disappeared behind the walls of their villa, "maybe we could give the hot tub another go, as well."

"i'm gonna miss that thing," arthur laughs softly, "maybe even more of a reason to move out together and get a house."

"you wanna live with me?" yn asks sweetly, uncrossing her legs and placing her feet on the tiled floor beneath her, still warm from where the sun had been bathing it all day, "you really wanna live with me?"

he watches her as she stands to her feet, arms stretched out and her fingers wiggling in his direction, hopeful that he'd take hold of her hands and stand to his own feet... which he did. guiding his arms to her waist before wrapping her own arms around his neck, forearms on his shoulders, fingers stroking the damp hairs at the nape of his neck.

"i think i love that idea, mister television," she grins up at him and he gives her a squeeze, tightening his arms around her waist and lifting her off the ground, "maybe we could look into that when we get back home? not right away but-"

"no, right away," he smiles, her legs wrapping around his waist and her ankles hooking at the base of his back, "i want to spend every single day of my life with you. i want to wake up next to you, i want to go to sleep next to you, i want to cook you breakfast and cook you dinner every day. having you be a part of my daily routine."

"this sounds like a marriage proposal," she says it in a joking manner and raises her eyebrows, but all he can muster is a roll of his eyes - he really couldn't give himself away. he'd managed to wait all week, with perfect opportunities coming up, but he wanted to do it right. a way she would remember and gush about everytime someone asked. "i want all of that, too,"

"good," he presses a kiss to her forehead and sets her back down on the ground, "go get in the shower. i'll get dinner started then i'll come and join you."

"or we could just," she drags her hands around his upper body before settling just above the waistband of his swimming trunks, "we could just have a late dinner tonight? you can come join me, right now, then i can help with the food prep, yeah? i can make the salad?"

"are we really gonna talk about food right now?"

she teasingly tucks her fingers into the waistband beneath her tips and she can see the blush covering his cheeks.

"you really can't turn me down, can you, arthur?"

she retracts her hands and moves away from him, starting her walk back into the villa, hearing his shuffling footsteps behind her... of course he couldn't resist her.

-

if there was one thing yn hated about a holiday, it was the last day.

how she had to pack away her belongings and fold all of her clothes up neatly, how she had to have one final shower under a shower head with the most perfect water pressure that never amounted to her own shower back home, how she had to figure out what outfit she wanted to wear during their plane journey back to gatwick because the london weather was so unpredictable - she wanted to show off her tan but she wanted to be warm, knowing the temperate was never going to reach the temperature they'd become used to over the last week or so.

the dreaded final night's sleep where the strong desire in not wanting to go home sat low in her stomach and played on her mind, wanting to stay in the sunshine for more than just their holiday.

she wasn't quiet in letting him know her desire to stay for another week, too... in every moment of silence, she broke it with her want to spend every day of her life there. and as tempting as it was to book them into another hotel on another island, arthur thought that it felt too late.

but he made it clear that they would be back. without a doubt. and she was okay with that.

with their suitcases almost packed and their dressing tables looking bare from their belongings and their bedside tables looking sparse from their gadgets and chargers, the room felt boring and empty as the two of them left for their final night in the greek town they'd been calling home for the week. one more night with yn dressed in one of her summer dresses and one more night with arthur dressed in a pair of shorts and a loose shirt that complimented the tan he had picked up from the days spent in the sunshine.

except, this time, his pocket felt a little heavier.

all day, his stomach was in knots; his mind fearing for the worst. because, regardless of how well the week had gone, she could still say no... and, really, he had no idea what he was going to do it she said no to his marriage proposal. and that's why he wanted it - no, it's why he needed it to be almost perfect.

their favourite restaurant had been one by the sea, under a fabric cabana, located just a steps distance away from the sandy beach. the atmosphere of traditional greek music, the gentle lighting and the laughter bringing them back almost every night of their holiday and it was one place they were going to miss.

a table laid out in its usual format; a vase with some fresh flowers poking out the top, a citronella candle lit to keep the bugs away, big wine glasses ready to fill with their choice of red or white and place mats that matched the vibe of the entire restaurant. the smell of fresh seafood filling the air and

and it was the one place that arthur felt was just right.

with their bellies full of chicken gyros and tzatziki and chips, having demolished the food that came out on their plates, he needed just a moment before he popped the question.

"i really am going to miss the greek food," yn frowns down at the empty plate in front of her before she looks up to meet his eyes, "no matter how many times we try to perfect it at home, it just never hits the same."

"i don't know, i think you nailed it the first time you tried it," he smiles, his hand laid upon the table and holding her hand tightly, his thumb brushing over her knuckles softly, "george still goes on about it, to this day."

"i was terrified i gave him food poisoning that night," yn cackles out loud and arthur just rolls his eyes, "seriously! it was the first time i cooked it properly and i was so nervous for everyone to try it."

"but it was delicious," arthur admits and yn grins widely, "like a taste of home away from home."

the two of them fall silent and it's just the remaining customers in the restaurant who are filling the silence between them, mixed with the crashing of the waves just a few feet away from where they were sat, and he can feel the ring burning a hole in the pocket of his chino shorts.

it was now or never.

"have you had a good time this week?" arthur asks her and she nods with a smile on her lips; the kind of smile that could have split her face in two, with crinkles forming at the corner of her eyes and her teeth on show, "it was all about you, this week. you've been working so hard and you deserved a break."

"not as hard as you," she claims and he shakes his head, "seriously, arthur, you paid for all of this as a surprise for me. i know you've been working your arse off these last few months to make this happen, it was clear as day once i figured what was happening. and i don't know how to thank you for all of this."

"you don't need to thank me," he says, "just you being here, spending time with me, coming away with me. that's all i can ask for."

"i'm so lucky to have you," she squeezes his hand and he can feel his eyes beginning to sting with rampant tears that he was trying to hold back, "seriously. i love you so much and you've excelled yourself this week."

"well, i'm just as lucky to have you in my life," and this was it... the moment the whole week had been leading up to; he had no words, no script, no notes to go off of. everything he was about to say, it was on the spot and from the heart and he hoped, to god, that he didn't miss anything he wanted to say, "and i am. i really am the luckiest guy in the world to get to call you my girlfriend. we've done a lot together in the last few years and i can't wait for many more trips here or any country in the world."

he stands up from his chair and, for a moment, he can see the sudden realisation in her eyes as she clocks on to what was about to happen. her hands clasping over her mouth is shock. and as he dug his hand into his pocket, he grips onto the box for dear life... scared to lose it, to drop it, because that would be the perfect start to their next step.

"i love you, i'm always going to love you, and it would be an honour to get to love you, and only you, for the rest of our lives," he bends down on one knee beside her sitting stance and opens the box, "will you marry me and make me the happiest man in the world?"

he watches as her eyes swell with tears and he can feel his own begin to dribble down his cheek, his big brown eyes looking softer than ever, and she can't hold back the emotions that were bubbling to escape.

"of course i will," she grins widely and he slides the ring onto her ring finger, shining under the lights above them, and as they stand to their feet in front of each other, her arms wrap around his neck, "god, this whole week, you had me fooled. i didn't think this was how we were spending out last night."

"i'm just full of surprises," he squeezes her to his front and he never wanted to let her go, "i love you so much."

"i love you too," she whispers into his ear, pressing a kiss to his cheek before she pulled away, "fiancé." xx

[junespriince]

Hal: weird, you're not afraid of bats, I mean Barry wasn't as afraid but you know he had the manners to not say it out loud what he's thinking about.

Wally: wow, speedsters being different from other speedster, it almost like we're different people with different personalities and such.

Hal: rude... Barry never act like this.

Wally: hold on, *looks through his lunch bag* oh, would you look at that, out of fucks to give.

Oliver: well, Mr. Sass, can I ask you a question.

Wally: I don't know, can you?

Oliver: damn, really shouldn't have let you get corrupted by Roy.

Wally: wrong, I always been this way. Just aged, like a fine wine.

Oliver: ... I mean Barry was horrible, but you're worse than him.

Wally: yeah, because he's not my blood dad, I take after my momma.

Oliver: Mary?

Wally: Iris.

Oliver:

Oliver: yeah I see it, anything that's not my question, my question is why ain't you scared of him or creeped out at least.

Wally: easy, I saw his ditsy civilian persona, how the hell am I supposed to be scared of that? Hm? I can't be, all I see is a emo furry ditz with a punching problem.

Oliver: well, how do you feel about this Diana? Someone bullying your mans

Diana: well, let's see, my love how do you feel getting bullied by your son-in-law in front of your teammates?

Bruce, grumbling: horrible.

Diana, smiles and cheerful: I love it then.

Clark, sighing: dia, give Bruce a break, he has gremlin children he needs a break.

Wally: he doesn't deserve a break, not after he took one of his child's own mantle away from him, but we don't have to unpack that small rock in your fucky wucky quarry now.

Arthur: I thought this meeting was about the rate of high level crimes spiking...

Martian: Aquaman, shut up I'm enjoying our new flash bullying Batman.

[charon-cries]

Gently: as a cisguy under 5’6 who has been described as “scary as fuck” and is fully capable of breaking things and fighting, may I suggest that you unpack why you assume that someone using physical intimidation or being aggressive is going to be larger and very (by Western standards) masculine in appearance instead of accusing your fellow fans of being racist. For making a guy short. You don’t need to post this, just maybe mull it over.

hello?? first, you don't have to be racist to do or say racist things. i'm not accusing anyone of being anything when i'm pointing out that this obviously well-meaning fanbase may have accidentally done something offensive by relying on racial stereotypes to flesh out their visual library in character design. if you have an issue with me pointing out potential racial biases i've observed then, gently, you have stuff to unpack, not me.

second, i literally never said that he couldn't be scary and intimidating while also being short. i AM a short guy, shorter than you, and have been described as intimidating on multiple occasions after meeting people in person, including by people twice my age. i'm not a stranger to the concept of a short guy being scary, and i never once said that short guys can't be scary, or that parker cannot be short.

the issue is that i've seen so much art where he is shorter than you or i, AND thin, and looks completely incapable of doing the things he's described as being able to do. once again, i do not care when people give him an "average" build. my issue lies solely with making him, as i said, "pocket-sized when compared to arthur."

if someone made him 5'6" and physically capable, great! i literally don't care. but i've seen people draw him so small that i have genuinely mistaken him for a CHILD at first glance. i am talking Half of Arthur's Height. based on your ask, i'm assuming you haven't seen this art, because it's a far cry from a character design who looks short and strong.

it is the fandom's job to make itself welcoming to minorities, and this happens in every single fandom. every single fandom engages with racist stereotypes, it's just the reality of living in a world where racism is this normalized. respectfully, it is our responsibility to point these things out, it is our responsibility to think through these biases and ask ourselves WHY we think the asian guy is the tiniest one in the cast, and whether that's a depiction worth keeping. i stand by my observation.

[ajokeformur-ray]

Packing up my teenage/adulthood bedroom ready for moving out soon and swinging between absolute peace and some strange kind of heart break. I want to cry, I want to jump for joy. A little part of me wants to stay, I most want to go. I wonder if Jareth or Morpheus would help me pack up my things. I wonder if Arthur would help me dust off my bookshelves and clean my room. I wonder if Astarion would crack jokes to make me smile through the tears I'm telling people I'm not shedding. I wonder if Hannibal would help me organise the actual packing because I don't know what I'm doing so I'm packing and unpacking and repacking. Maybe if I do it enough, my thoughts will form some order too. I wonder if the Doctor would help me load boxes into the TARDIS for easy transport, if he would tell me that I'm gonna be okay and that he's proud of the risk I'm taking.

I wonder I wonder I wonder, but ultimately I know this is the right and best thing to do. I can't keep living like this, the way I have been for years and years, and soon I won't have to. I'll have a new life. A better life.

[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.

[verdemoun]

Okay, but what I want to know is how does Arthur and Kieran’s friendship change in the “very chill about his murder and befriending said murderer” Isaac timeline??? While I am very much hoping that not much does, you can't tell me Arthur (and Eliza) wouldn't hold a bit of a grudge for WHILE after finding out, to the point they go out of their way to keeping Issac away from Kieran/lessening his visits (which of course, eventually leads to Bessie and Hosea running interference and forcing the three to address their issues. Not just for Arthur/Kieran/Eliza’s sake, but also for their own. No way in hell will they allow their precious grandchild, who’s still way too relaxed about this entire situation for it to be healthy, to be kept from them).

How do the rest of the gang who weren't present for the initial reveal react when they do find out— if at all? Is this entire thing something only a few are privy to and kept under wraps, or does it become common knowledge?

very, very slowly.

arthur couldn't bring himself to talk to kieran for a long time or look at him without glowering, which only left kieran a mess despite feeling/knowing he deserved far, far worse. finds it really unnerving that isaac had known all these years and still considers kieran one of his favorite people and for all the times he is a little shit he has always been really kind and decent to kieran

also arthur has known kieran for 5 years at this point. he still lived with bessie and hosea after sean+lenny and their gang moved out. kieran was part of his daily life. he cares and worries about the little wimp and finds kieran delightful to be around how can that be the same person who destroyed his life

eliza absolutely forbids isaac from visiting or arthur taking isaac to hosea's on his days, which arthur agrees to. but isaac is a certified shit he's sneaking out and going to bessie and hosea's on their own and they just cannot resist grandbaby time despite knowing eliza will be furious when she finds out and isaac is still trying to check in on kieran because he knows his autistic uncle/murderer will not be handling it

arthur has to do a lot of self-reflection and unpacking because isaac in one of his tantrum about not being able to stay at bessie's weekends anymore makes the point aren't all the gang murderers you don't get to pick and choose which murders are considered bad just because it actually impacted you. arthur carries a vague sense of guilt over all the lives he ruined with his many, many, many murders over the years. acab but that was still someone's son/husband/father. he saw what happened to the downes', and how that lead to his own death (also one of the cops who is buddy buddy 'oh you' whenever isaac is in trouble is the grandson of archie downes isaac loves accidentally becoming besties with people who haunt arthur's past)

also... no one can hate kieran as much as he hates himself. nightmares about colm might leave him in a cold sweat and trembling but nights where his brain reminds him what he did? all he can do is cry because that guilt never lessened or went away. arthur sees and knows that. really, there is nothing he can do to make kieran feel worse about it than kieran already does

so they end up becoming friends again. it's sort of a thing where sometimes the anger is a fresher than usual and he'll avoid kieran for a while but he can't just turn his back on kieran because he does care about the weird little guy

eliza agrees to isaac staying nights again on the condition if anything happens to isaac she will personally be taking it out on kieran, who she understandably still hates. but even if she hates him, being around him passively it's so hard to actually see kieran as the young man who murdered her? he's so awkward and terrified of everything and pathetic. even if she hates him she would still stop to help if he was having a panic attack in public because she's just a good person.

arthur will sometimes awkwardly explain it to people who knew about isaac in canon era eg john, abigail, grimshaw (charles, obviously) but for the most part people are too awestruck by wait holy fuck arthur has a kid to immediately follow it up with who killed him and arthur doesn't make a point of telling people it was him

[crispycreambacon]

The Journey to Break Free • An Analysis of Malevolent's Themes

This is more like a ramble, but analysis sounds more professional y'know y'know-

Major Spoiler Warning for Episode 19

-

Episode 19 may be my favourite episode at least for Season 2 – bear in mind that as I type this, I haven't gone past Episode 19. Regardless, it is definitely a highlight of this podcast for me. It unpacked a lot about Arthur and John, and it explored many interesting themes. The strength of kindess and letting yourself be vulnerable, the reality that healing and becoming a better person isn't always a clean journey, the significance of the connections we make and the memories we carry from them...

The first one is subversive in how despite Arthur losing some of his morality in order to survive, he still retains some of it and uses it ro his advantage. It may be baffling to see Arthur still wanting to trust others and treat them kindly, as seen with Arthur wanting to offer water to the cana, because this world can turn on you so quickly. However, that may be the point. The fact that Arthur can still find it in himself to care about the beings in this world is a true testament to his resilience. The Dreamlands is unrelentlessly cruel and tests you, trying to mold you to become the monsters that roam this realm, and I think that is why Arthur won't succumb to this world's terrors like so many before him did.

It ties into the tone of the podcast and how it shifts. Arthur may need to be cruel at times, but that doesn't mean he needs to be a monster. Likewise, Malevolent may be a bleak story, but it is not one which needs to overly indulges in tragedy and darkness. Even within the episode itself, there are moments where Arthur and John laugh. There's an entire section in which Arthur interacts with a buopoth, and it's the most adorable thing ever. These moments provide a balance that help emphasize the impact of intense moments even more than if the entire story had just been trudged in grimdark.

(Putting the rest under a "Read More" section as to not make this post too long to scroll through)

As for the second theme, I particularly appreciate it as people who try to heal, typically victims of trauma, are often villanized for not being perfect, nice or behaving. Anyone who doesn't fit the mold of being sad and helpless via lashing out or express anger about their trauma get dogpiled with insults and accusations from those who refuse to understand them. Those who only want to imagine a narrative that recovery is always pretty and always going up with no relapses whatsoever. That narrative formed because society crafted it and enforced it with media tackling trauma victims in a shallow way at best. Because it's uncomfortable for society to face the truth that trauma is ugly, and those that went through it won't come out unscathed like people want them to.

The theme of names being significant is an uncommon but meaningful one. John Doe is a name to give the King in Yellow a new identity, a way to rebuild himself. Lilly is a name that meant a lot to John as the only form of human connection he had while Arthur was comatose and the catalyst to John becoming a better person. Faroe is a name that Arthur keeps recalling because he can't let go of his daughter and the trauma that came with it.

Even the name of the episode is important. I think "the Prison" truly is an apt title for this episode. Not only because this involves Arthur and John escaping the pit they're trapped it, but it's also a metaphor for Arthur's situation. His body is a prison for John that both want him to get out of, yet Arthur is the real prisoner as he loses control over everything from his body to his life. He is trapped in the past because he can never let go of Fareo. He can never forgive himself for causing her death through his neglect no matter how unintentional it was.

And he gave in at the end. He gave in to the past and went to the city to search for Faroe even though the cana instructed them to avoid the city. Even though so many signs point to it being yet another trap. Even though the chances of Fareo being there were next to none.

Yet John didn't protest. It really shows how much John has grown to emphathize with humanity. How he has grown from someone who is selfish and uses others to his whims, discarding them when they no longer serve him purpose to someone who may not fully understand humanity but can genuinely appreciate and care about it. He may not understand why Arthur still clings onto Faroe, but he understands Arthur deserves closure, so even if this may be a trap, he lets him walk in. We, the audience, may not fully understand either, but we understand this is a necessary step for Arthur even if it may be one that leads to his doom.

[badsalmonella]

Unhinged Guinevere Lancelot propaganda:

- First of all I stan a dysfunctional ship so don't come at me with a write up about how they are not getting a good grade in couples counseling. That's the🤌🏼 SAUCE🤌🏼 for me

- They spends the middle section of the show exchanging catatonic levels of eye contact across a stage the size of a mega mall parking lot and honestly? It's nastier than whatever you can find me on pornhub. FACTS.

- The radioactive levels of VIBES he is giving off when he says "No one can refuse your wish~"

- but the SECOND they actually hook up my guy Lancelot is ON THE FLOOR. In his SLUTTY BLOUSE cross necklace CLUTCHED and Genny is like "....heyyyy..... you're a nice guy 🫤 but uhhhh......"

- If they existed in a modern context Lancelot would be like "post sex waffles???? Shaped like hearts??? M'lady???🥺" And Guinevere would be pulling on the pants, already half way out the door like "no." And Lancelot would idk do some true freak shit like put his hand on the pan to punish himself for low rizz levels

- "Your Majesty~" "jjjjaCk ass". I wish I was joking when I say I lost all class when I saw this live and let out a small yell in my seat AT THE LINCOLN CENTER.

- I do have a bootleg though where he immediately smirks after and I'm taking notes sweetheart. That's going in the diagnosis write up babe. <3

- We gotta unpack the exchange between Arthur and Genny where he calls her out like "uhhh??? I know you don't like the dude but your hate is obsessive 🤨"

- The fact that even Arthur knows what's up. Oh my GOD.

- WHERE IS THE C L A S S GUINEVERE?!??

- The fact that Lancelot apparently just hangs out, outside rooms where Guinevere goes??? But also the second Arthur is like "she's actually coming here right now" he's getting the FUCK out of there.

- Guinevere twirling her hair around her finger like "ohhhh the knights will kill Lancelot? 😍 Murder him dead you say? And then what? 😏 Teehee"

- " yOU'LL OPEN WIDE HIM? 😩💦" I'm also putting that in the notes too girlie.

- Guinevere is like if someone doesn't make me come in the next 5 seconds I'm gonna start killing hostages and Lancelot is like "hey what if no nut November was every month? :)" but that doesn't stop them #lovewins

- I'm constantly torn between I think if Genny called him the specialest lil guy who's going to heaven he'd insta-nut, but also I think you'd get similar results if she called him the saddest wet napkin of a man. Thoughts? Vote below! Kidding

- I KNOW that potato show they attended had RADIOACTIVE vibes. Families were probably there just to see the qualities of a prize winning potato and they were out here idk rubbing pinkies and going on about how King Arthur doesn't give them enough attention :(((

- THE FACT THAT Guinevere is like "why won't someone become ridiculously obsessed with me? :/" and then Lancelot does and she's like "oh GOD not like that" and then he's like "oh ok then I'll leave" and she's like "NOT LIKE THAT EITHER". <3 I love her and she's never done anything wrong ever<3

- I think if we gave them facebook in the middle point of the events of the show, they would be THE MOST ANNOYING PEOPLE on your feed.

- Courtly love is really just medieval edging if you think about it.

- I like how the moment that broke these two, where they decided they couldn't hold back any longer is them speaking mediocre French. He said "terriblement" like THAT and she was like "uGH. I can't NOT fuck him"

- The fact that WAY too many people are aware of their thirst. They just do this shit. In PUBLIC. IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN.

- And I haven't even brought up the King Arthur of it all.... The fact that the guy who likes BIRDS gets around more than these two. INSANE.

- who calls the other Arthur in bed by accident? CALL THE NUMBER BELOW TO CAST YOUR VOTE

[mooremars]

Camelot 2023 Act 2 ramblings about the music and book and also the visuals again because turns out one post wasn't enough.

I still cannot possibly recommend anyone actually read this because it is so absurdly, comically long but I still needed to get even more feelings out.

Act 2, Scene 1: The castle courtyard one year later:

• "We shouldn't be alone together" like girl

• I love how she's almost exasperated by it

• When she fantasized about this all-consuming high-stakes love she probably didn't think about how exhausting it would be to actually live with it all the time

• Like having this conversation every single month does sound exhausting

• The way she's actively trying to drive him out of Camelot, Genny is so much and I respect it

• She's really doing her best in a way that involves truly torturing Lance, he should really do some soul searching about why he loves someone who treats him this way

• "I've trained dogs to chase you"/"And those dogs were fast.. the expression his bark is worse than his bite that wasn't my experience"

• Sorkin slightly breaking the tension of this scene which is so needed

• "You're not English"/"Neither are you"/"I think that changed when I became queen of England"

• I also feel like there is a lot to unpack in this exchange

• "And when would I do that Genny?"

• The angst in that delivery

• If Ever I Should Leave You is so gorgeous

• I think it was Sorkin who basically said that the show doesn't need magic because the songs provide enough magic on their own and this is the perfect example

• Jordan Donica is tremendous

• I knew him from Charmed and it took me a bit to place him but holy shit

• I may have actually seen him before, I'd have to check but regardless I need to be paying attention to literally any theater he does because I want to go

• This applies to all of them, who am I kidding

• Anyway, he's amazing here and I am probably underselling him in this post because I only saw him half the times and so my memories are much less clear

• And my reference is closing which was not him by this point

• And the outro music (? sorry I know nothing about music) is absolutely stunning

• This song is so romantic but also very shallow

• They're fulfilling a version of love that is all big gestures and big feelings but not necessarily substance

• Because they're trying to fill a void in themselves using the other and when you do that, you can't see the person as an actual person

• Just an extension of your unmet need

• Which is too bad because I think if they weren't, they might actually like each other

• But fuck is this song so romantic

• Every lyric is good, the way they're sung, I think I may for the first time have use of the phrase swoon worthy

• Specifically the end

• "I have a thrilling engagement. I'm giving prizes at the potato show. I'm eager to find out what the qualities of a prize winning potato are"/"I'll be at your side Ma'am"/"Thank goodness for that, those potatoes can be dangerous"

• The lines are so funny and her delivery is so heartbreaking, I am suffering

• I do just love Genny so much and she deserves happiness dammit

• "So the rumors are true, the chain of wedlock is so heavy in Camelot it takes three to carry it"

• Mordred coming out with the one liners immediately

• "He's willing to make any old man a knight I see"

• Pelli immediately threatening violence, beautiful

• The whininess of "I shall be busy tomorrow afternoon" and slapping the bench

• Fourteen year old edgelord Mordred

• Very interesting to have him be a year younger than Arthur was when he became king, really underscoring how young he was

• "I was raising by a mother with a fatally broken heart. Makes for a dark childhood"

• Like do we think Mordred is just trying to drum up Arthur's sympathies or is this actually true?

• "And when you speak to the king, you should remember you're speaking to the king"

• Arthur literally never insists on any manner of kingly respect but his son is a little shit that he hates, so he will

• Love that

• "Dispatch to the court, the king has a child he fathered out of wedlock. Problem solved."

• The blackmail just instantly failing is very funny

• Also would love to know how the conversation about this between Genny and Arthur went

• "I'm not ashamed of you. You don't embarass me though it's not for lack of trying."

• That's too generous, Mordred is embarrassing

• "It's always been my wish that you and your mother stay here where I can take care of you both"/"Stay where, in the servants' quarters?"/"In any quarters you like"/"Except the queen's"

• I wonder if Mordred is the one who feels this way or if he's just parroting back what Morgan has said

• "I was a boy when I met your mother"/"And my mother turned you into a man"/"A man named Merlyn turned me into a man"/"That's a new bit of palace gossip"/"No you idiot, he was my teacher"

• Obviously sarcastic Arthur is always a treat and specifically the facial expression and tone of no you idiot

• But just so curious about Morgan and Arthur because Arthur gets pissed at that whole turned into a man bit

• And he has been pretty chill with Mordred being terrible for this whole scene

• He's very much not comfortable with what Mordred is saying and this is the only moment where Mordred gets under his skin and like that is very interesting

• "In this place the law applies equally to everyone"/"Even the king and queen?"/"Especially the king and queen"

• You are literally watching the light bulb pop over Mordred's head and it's played perfectly

• Everyone in this cast is perfect

• The Seven Deadly Virtues has no right to be this funny

• "Making my Beelzebubble burst" is my favorite but really this entire song is great

• It's such a petulant performance and it's perfect

Act 2, Scene 2: The King's study

• Another amazing bit of scene change music

• The intimacy of them spending their evening playing chess together and talking

• Presumably this is just what they do on a lot of nights and I love it

• I feel like there's definitely potential in a their relationship through chess fic

• Someone please

• I firmly believe they are at like a full 50-50 split in terms of who wins

• "Are you really reading while you're chasing me around the board?"/"Sorry I didn't hear you, I was reading and chasing you around the board"

• And his okay in the middle like he knows he set himself up to get mocked

• Making fun of each other is one of my favorite love languages

• Also same structure as Arthur telling her it will seem that she's rooting for Lancelot to lose and she says that's because she is rooting for Lancelot to lose

• It's just a fun little dialouge thing that I enjoy Genny doing

• Makes her lines feel hers

• I love that Arthur has Merlyn's final warning on his mind so naturally he consults Genny

• And then it devolving into a philosophical discussion about what is and is not possible

• "I was 10,000th person to try, how do you explain that?"/"9,999 people loosened it"

• A perfect and funny line that becomes sweet and profound later on, I will never not love that

• "We have greatness in our grasp, humanity does, but for some reason every time we see it we assign the responsibility to some supernatural force. Or to god."

• You would think given the structure of the love triangle that Arthur would be set up to scoff at the idea that god has responsibility for human greatness in contrast to Lance being extremely devout

• And like I do think Arthur and Genny are actually on the same page but I enjoy that she gets to voice that thought

• This is the woman who first ran away and then threw prayer on top after as a little afterthought so yeah perhaps Genny is not the best catholic

• "Perhaps when he died, his soul transmogrified-"/"What did I just say?"

• Arthur immediately needling her and doing that stupid little hand motion on transmogrified

• They're adorable

• "I enjoy seeing you get riled up"

• This is what you say to a woman you're about to call your business partner? In that way?

• I don't know who to blame because I can't tell if the line or delivery is more of the culprit

• No it's the delivery, I have literally put in the audio as proof

• The audacity, I'm obsessed

• He's got it so bad

• Could've had this Genny

• Like Mr. Purity of Soul who thinks women can't possibly understand politics has absolutely never considered the concept of female pleasure, for sure has never heard of foreplay, and definitely believes the clit and g-spot are both myths

• I love Lance but proposition: there's no way that man is good in bed

• Everything else mean I've said about Lance has been out of love but I love Genny and she doesn't deserve mediocre dick

• And yet he's playing by Jordan Donica so it is also valid and understandable

• Sorry, I digress but gotta find the humor in the whole none of them get to be happy business

• But actually I really appreciate that even in this tragic narrative with big ideas and a lot of angst, they get to have fun and be fun

• Even as their relationship is about to hit its breaking point, you can still tell they're not just torturedly in love but they actually like each other so much

• "And while you're enjoying it, let me ask you this... how often do you write to her?"

• Genny is attempting to play it cool but boy is she not

• The little pause between often and write and then to her, oof

• It's so soft but like the hint is there

• The silence while Arthur makes his move on the board, ugh

• "I send a letter a week"/"Every week?"/"Yes"/"For how long?"/"Mordred's fourteen, he came to me when he was ten so four years"/"That's 208 letters"/"I have a responsibility there, I'm trying to do-"/"Do the chivalrous thing"/"Yes"

• It's so painful to hear their deliveries and realize they're having two separate conversations where they're both upset and they don't understand the other person is feeling the same

• Like Genny getting alarmed at 208 letters, Arthur getting frustrated and defensive about it and cutting Genny's last line off, and then Genny delivery of do the chivalrous thing like she's so tired

• It is so besides the point but how exactly was Arthur expecting the fucking soap opera and/or sitcom situation he's trying to create going

• Like his piece of shit kid, his ex who hates him, his wife that he loves whose feelings for him he doesn't have a handle on, and his bestie whose feelings for his wife Arthur definitely does know

• I know castles are very big but I don't think they're big enough to make that situation good for anyone

• "You've never asked me her name"/"Is it Morgan Le Fay?"/"How did you know that?"/"And she's a scientist"

• Genny has been holding this in for a whole year and she's finally ready to use it

• She says it like she's caught Arthur in some kind of lie which obviously she hasn't but I do wonder if she's had this conversation in her head enough times that she's already thinking the worst

• "He blames me for her condition. All the more reason why I want them both to be here at the castle. She needs care."

• That long pause before condition and the way he says it like maybe Arthur also blames himself

• And they're still playing chess throughout this whole thing as if they can pretend that this conversation isn't causing them both pain

• The sound of the pieces getting moved on the board while during the tense silences, yes

• And now we get to me being emotionally destroyed

• This scene is a roller coaster and the writing and acting of it is perfect in every way

• "We're more than king and queen, you and I. Don't you think?"

• He's so unsure, he's always so unsure it is torture

• The emphasis on you

• But also he does in some way recognize that she's upset about Morgan and he gets so close but spectacularly fails

• Genny is so hopeful on the "Yes, yes I do"

• Him stammering out and Genny trying one more yes to get him to come up with something

• And then that something is business partners

• In my brain I am screaming

• I have done nothing but make fun of Arthur for business partners (and friends) since I first saw this show and I will continue to do it now

• However I do think that for him, in the context of his experience being thrust into royalty, he is actually expressing a very romantic sentiment

• He meets Genny and tells her about Camelot and she doesn't think she's worthy of that

• But here he's affirming that she is, that she's his partner in this and he recognizes her worth

• They talk in the second scene and she mentions that as a princess she doesn't have friends

• And here he's telling her that they are friends, that she isn't alone

• And we see how uncomfortable Arthur is being treated as the king

• And he's trying to tell Genny that he cares for her as a person and not just the queen he traded for in a treaty

• He wants her to see him that way because if she sees him as just Arthur and not the king, then maybe he can tell her how he feels

• But also maybe it you are a man and your confession of love to a woman contains the words "I know this is an unusual thing for a man to say about a woman but" you have turned down the wrong path

• "Yes. Friends. And business partners"

• Her delivery is so ice cold, it's perfect

• The fact that she says this and even Arthur picks up on her tone and knows he fucked up

• Arthur trying to fix things and being interrupted

• His frustration with himself is so heartbreaking

• I am still screaming in my brain just louder now

• Pelli is great but also he is the cause of so many of Arthur and Genny's resentments and miscommunications, the man's a magnet for drama

• He's so funny in this scene trying to complain to Arthur and Arthur already knowing all of Mordred's bullshit

• And yelling dammit so many times in the most perfect way like me with every person who has ever annoyed me

• "Because England doesn't have a law against limericks"

• The fact that even though they're in the middle of this weird emotional mess, Arthur looks to Genny when he's talking about how Pelli's question is complicated

• His thinking buddy

• And business partner

• Also the idea that Arthur is so chill with the fact that he doesn't have the answer, that he's laying groundwork for future progress instead of assuming it will be accomplished by him

• Which is just inherently a concept I think I struggle with, that the world will not change in all the ways it should in my lifetime but the work now still has to be done

• So I like to see it

• Not going to write out another good Sorkin speech about ideas but I love this one too rest assured

• And we've had a nice little break, now we're back to chess and Arthur trying to force out something coherent and me screaming in my brain again

• I still can't get over the way they're still playing chess I'm sorry

• Genny saying "you're in check" with a different delivery every time to convey her emotional state

• The range

• Arthur just trying so hard to come up with anything again, I am personally suffering

• "What I feel-"/"I thought it was right on the money"/"Oh you do?"

• Then I think he says "oh okay" but I don't even know

• They were so close this is the worst

• Still chess

• "Do you regret being born a princess?"/"I'm confident that most people would gladly trade their problems for mine"/"But you're not talking to them right now"

• Firstly the show does an amazing job recontexualizing What Do the Simple Folk Do and everything around it so A+ for that

• But also Arthur is so empathetic in this moment

• "I know you're sad sometimes. That you miss whatever life you were searching for the night you ran from the carriage. The simple joys of maidenhood you called it. You do a good job of hiding it from the court but when you feel sad you-"/"can talk to my business partner?"/"Well I think I might be good at cheering you up"

• The delivery is so sincere

• He sees her pain and he cares so much

• He feels responsible for the life that she missed out on by marrying him

• And he wants to help

• In many ways, he is terrible at expressing his feelings but again in some small respects, he does absolutely knock it out of the park

• Even if Genny can't see it

• "If there was a tournament for cheering you up, I think I'd win"/"Oh as long as there wasn't a bird nearby"/"It wasn't just any bird, it was a white tailed eagle both times"

• The way they move from emotional conversations and annoyed miscommunications back to humor with such ease

• Arthur's bird obsession continues to be one of the best bits of characterization ever

• Genny making fun of Arthur's various words for peasants

• I love What Do the Simple Folk Do so much

• It's just perfectly constructed and the rhymes are pretty genius

• I love every single lyric

• And I love that this song gives Arthur and Genny a chance to be charming and reconnect after the second half of act 1 and the beginning of act 2 were so focused on Genny and Lance

• And then this scene has so much going on that it reminds you why they're the couple of the show

• I didn't need reminding because I'm trash for them but other people might

• All of the little jokes between the lyrics are so funny

• The delivery of "the very last thing you should have is encouragement" is so much funnier than on the cast recording

• Like what is this? So charming

• "My father used to say I sang like an angel who'd been blessed with a particularly pretty singing voice"

• I'm so glad this is at least on the cast recording

• She plays it so straight, it's so good

• This may be my favorite of the songs

• And the dance, they're so cute, the squeeling kills me

• I can't adequately express how much I need to find a bootleg so I can witness this again, the whole scene really but mostly this

• I cannot handle the way they say "Genny"/"Your Majesty"

• Fuuuuck

• The groan in the audience at "a letter from my mother", the pure expression of fuck Mordred

• "He's been waiting a long time."/"Yes"/"My mother was his first, you know"/"I had that sense, yes"/"They say you never fully get over your first love"

• Genny hates Mordred so much and she's right

• He's hitting her exactly where it hurts but Arthur can't even tell

• Also fascinating that Mordred can actually see the dynamic between Genny and Arthur and Lance so much more clearly than the people involved

• "You think you might possibly be spending the night?"

• Like her deliveries were getting more panicked but then this one

• Like she can't even believe what she's hearing and he doesn't even get it

• The long silence after Mordred says Lance has the queen's protection detail

• As people make mmms in the audience

• And then their last little exchange

• Ouch

• Genny telling Arthur what she herself actually needs to be told and Arthur having no clue

• "His queen's in danger"

• Mordred is the absolute worst and it's perfect

• The reprise of the Simple Joys of Maidenhood, so sad and I can't handle it

• I think this is her moment of just fully sitting in the idea that her husband doesn't love her and sees her so completely separate from that that he doesn't even understand why she's so upset to see him dash away overnight to see another woman

• And that he therefore doesn't and won't love her in the way she's singing about

• And thinking that she has the knight pining for her but it isn't enough and sets up her trying to make it enough

• She's grown so much since she first sang the song but she still can't fill the void of wanting this kind of love

• But also knowing that kind of love isn't enough

• I love her

Act 2, Scene 3: The home of Morgan Le Fey/Guenevere's Chamber/ Castle corridor - on that evening

• The into music to Morgan is gorgeous, perhaps my favorite

• It's hard to introduce an important character this late into the show and make them so memorable, even if they've been hanging over the narrative for a while now

• And still have them knock it out of the park but once again, this show is perfectly cast

• The tension of this whole scene is everything

• Morgan's laugh and then "Jesus christ it's the king of England"

• Immediately sets her up perfectly

• And we get something totally different out of Arthur

• I love their dialouge which I am once again trying not to just fully write out, I love their chemistry, I love how quickly their friendliness breaks down

• He does sound genuinely happy to see her at the beginning but as soon as he asks if she's feeling well, they start to cool

• I can't even pick specific lines because everything is such a vibe

• You feel the history and complication and the years apart where everything has changed for both of them and the way that she's the one person who knew him as just Arthur

• "I know exactly who you are"

• Like of course this one was gonna have a line reading that lends itself to multiple things but that's always good and I like it

• Genny ranting to Lance about the number of letters Arthur wrote to Morgan

• She finally gets to be pissed and Phillipa Soo plays it so well

• "Don't review my arithmetic in your head, it's 208"

• Even at her most angry, she still must make sure Lance knows she's right, very relatable

• "I questioned the king, we've all questioned the king"

• This adaptation has built in the knights discontent so well that it's believable that they've just been growing more resentful over time

• "Because one cannot legislate goodness Pellinore, which at the end of the day, is the mission of the round table"/"And what say you Sagramore?"/"Well tell me, when we're all equal will peasants live like knights or will knights live like peasants?"

• Their entire speech is amazing

• The knights growing angrier as they realize they're all on the same page

• The way that it all fits seamlessly into the story we see on the stage but there's also no denying it's about the time we're living in right now

• But again, not in a way where it feels out of nowhere or too heavy handed

• "I throw away the letters, I give away the money"

• I love the way she delivers her lines so dismissively

• I wonder how much of it is her feelings and how much of it is trying to hurt Arthur as much as he's hurt her

• "That part gets left out of the legend" I think is the first moment where Arthur gets under Morgan's skin just a bit

• Like I'm not sure what she wants/wanted from Arthur but maybe it was just that she doesn't like being erased from the story

• "What wife could possibly object?"

• I love her bitterness mounting leading up to this line and actually hearing her call herself Arthur's wife which is I don't think is something she does before

• "I admire the king's commitment to doing the right thing no matter what. That's what a man does, and god knows it should be what a king does."

• I love watching Genny justify her anger because on one level she knows it isn't fair to be angry

• That she really does admire Arthur's goodness and believes he's doing the right thing

• That it's not that he's going to see Morgan, that he wants to bring her to the castle, it's about his actions with Genny

• Or I suppose the lack of consideration of her feelings in maybe the most hurtful way where there was nothing deliberate, it just didn't even occur to him

• She's so hurt

• Everyone in this scene gets to be extremely mad and I love it

• "When he ran out of here, he didn't think it would trouble me at all. He didn't think the letters would mean anything to me. Or staying overnight. Mordred said his mother was his first true love. Business partner. He said it right in front of me as if I wouldn't mind"/"Do you?"/"No, of course not. It's just that it was the first time that it's been demonstrated to me that-"/"Your husband doesn't think of you as his wife"/"Yes"

• Everything is on her face and in her voice

• She's so hurt, so angry, so tired of not being loved

• And when she says of course it doesn't bother her, when she pulls back her feelings in front of Lance

• And her delivery of yes like something clicks in her brain, probably their entire relationship is flashing in her brain and she's building up evidence that it's true

• Lance has articulated exactly what she didn't know she was feeling

• And the music under it underscores each emotion perfectly

• Again Phillipa Soo is just emotionally devastating in this scene

• But also gotta go back to "Your husband doesn't think of you as his wife"

• Like right now I'm just thinking back to Arthur referring to Genny as French to Lance when they first meet and again when he asks her to tell Lance he's being invested

• While Genny in that scene and in the first scene of act 2 keeps referring to her country as England while Lance claims her as French like him

• I wonder if that distinction is one of the things that feeds into her (and Lance?) feeling like Arthur doesn't think of her as his wife

• That she's trying to keep proclaiming her loyalty and he keeps putting a border between them

• At least in her point of view

• While he's as always trying to show her that he sees and respects her as an autonomous individual and not a thing he owns

• Am I reading too far into this? Probably

• (You're not my homeland anymore, so what am I defending now - honestly that it took me this long to make a Taylor Swift reference is a marvel)

• Anyway back to this tremendous scene

• Part of me does wonder if Lance really doesn't know how Arthur feels or if he's in denial because it's easier for him if Arthur doesn't think of Genny as his wife

• Like he does make a point to tell Arthur in the last scene that he and Genny aren't together

• He's gotta realize in this scene how Genny feels about Arthur but curious about the other way around

• Or ya know, maybe he doesn't, maybe he's just as emotionally inept as everyone else in this show

• Don't really have a point, it's just an interesting thought

• How do so many versions cut Fie on Goodness?

• Like not only is it an amazing song but also it's sort of the whole damn point

• If you cut it, the ideals of Camelot are barely even a plot, it's all love triangle

• Also just want to take a moment to appreciate how gross the lyrics to this one are

• This is for sure my favorite sequence

• The intro speech to the song is perfect

• Them just getting worked up about how England is special, it is better, that they're the ones who should be listened to

• "Don't dare question our loyalty to the king"/"A king who encourages debate"

• Again I just love the knights' conflicted feelings about Arthur

• So it's easiest to shift all the blame to Genny and Lance

• This song is so good, this cast is so good

• "That day that I became king, my cousin gave me his tutor, a man named Merlyn. And Merlyn spoke to me of a great cause that I could lead. But I would have to stay unmarried until a young princess in France came of age"/"And you left me unmarriable, a woman with a child"/"I didn't know about the child until he came and introduced himself"/"You raise your voice to me? Have I displeased you your majesty?"/"Stop calling me that"/"I know all about the French princess-"/"The queen"/"and the grand cause-"/"great cause"/"I don't give a damn"

• This is a stupid amount of text that I've typed out but I love their back and forth here

• Arthur trying to justify himself and not wanting to take responsibility and them both getting angry at each other

• Morgan and her relationship with Arthur have been changed pretty drastically to the point that she's not even the same character and I like it and her so much

• I do wonder what the intent was here because I feel like you could read a lot of different things into their dynamic

• And to what that means about Arthur

• I mean I get the sense that she's maybe always been maybe a bit of an outsider, maybe always was a little more world-weary (or maybe not, maybe getting left pregnant while he became king hardened her)

• And maybe their power dynamic has been completely flipped but also maybe Arthur still has a hard time not letting it flip back

• Because like there's no doubt for me that for whatever reason, she was the one holding the cards originally and he doesn't know how to deal with her now

• Like I don't know if she's older or Arthur was always bad at love so she would have just been the more confident person but there's something there

• She obviously has a completely different point of view than anyone else in the show which I love

• And she gets under Arthur's skin so easily

• I guess because she's the one casuality of his great cause, the one wrong he can't right

• Also "stop calling me that" is so petulant teen

• And he was that when he knew her so of course it comes out

• "You seem quick to betray the king"/"I would die before I betrayed King Arthur"/"Yet here you are"/"I can't rise above being a man, a human man. I can't transcend it no matter how hard I try"

• My favorite Lance line

• Ugh it's perfect

• He's so tortured and so good at conveying that in his delivery

• He's getting some character growth

• Genny being both not wrong but also putting it on him so she doesn't have to think about her own behavior

• "My duty is to god, King Arthur, and the round table. I can best serve all three with my absence. It's a small price for one person to pay for a greater good"

• Ooh the self-loathing hits so good

• And Genny panicking because she's about to get left for the second time tonight

• The playing of If Ever I Would Leave You

• Because he is, or he's at least trying to

• To do the right thing

• Genny and Lance speaking French together, always good even thought I can't understand shit

• "No more talking"

• And the bed just being pulled out of the scene

• I just love how the song is interspersed with these scenes, this sequence is truly brilliant and the energy of it in the theater is truly unmatched

• "All the letters that followed-"/"All the letters that followed offered me room and board along with the cash. Imagine how moved I was by the chivalry"

• Ah mocking chivalry, a family pastime

• Again, I just love the way she goes in on Arthur's attempts to do the right thing over and over

• And again I don't know if it's because he wouldn't give her what she actually wanted or pure vengence

• "Guilty and alive once more" is probably my favorite line from the song

• "Let me ask you this question and I'm entitled to the truth. If there hadn't been a cause, a great case, would you have married me? No."/"I was fifteen years old that night and the next day I was king. I was anointed by the archbishop of Canterbury in York and those men think they put me in direct contact with the divine. There was a cause."

• Clearly in her mind he was never going to marry her but we know from Pelli that when he met Arthur when he was already king, he was still very much in love with Morgan

• More than 10 years (plus then a year that's passed in story) before this could be lots of different amounts of time but it could have been up to a few years into Arthur being king which is a long while

• So the answer was probably yes

• But he doesn't say any of that because his feelings don't matter, he's too focused on justifying his cause, that it was important enough to make up for her life

• And ya know Camelot is what's important now, Camelot is what he and Genny have devoted their lives to, he can't fail

• This is the scene where I just conspiracy board Genny and Arthur's relationship

• This is fine, I'm normal about this show, that's why I wrote all of this

• Either way I think it must really bother Athur that Morgan might think he's not a good man

• We saw it with Genny and the courtesans thing too

• Like obviously part of that was being in love with her but also I think it fucks with his self-image as a person who does the right thing which is his entire life

• And Morgan's the biggest crack in that in his mind which is why he gets angry pretty much constantly in this scene

• At least that's my theory

• I love that we get see him cracking a bit under the strain of being good and trying to rise above being a human being just like everyone else in this scene

• He's got a lot more moral fortitude than the rest of the characters so it just manifests as him getting to be angry and express it to another person for once but still

• He makes excuses, he gets mad, he won't accept that Morgan's version of events is also true and he can't force her to be okay with it

• I don't know, there's something nice about narrative not saying that making the choices of the knights or Genny and Lance is inevitable, Arthur does make the right choices but he still isn't perfect here

• "And I won't live in a spare room in a castle and be the used and discarded former mistress of a king... but I will be the mother of one"

• So like how much of Mordred's plans are Mordred and how much is Morgan?

• And you know used and discarded former mistress of a king is killing Arthur

• "And he didn't"/"What?"/"Put you in direct contact with the divine"/"That is made clear to me every day"

• Morgan did a good job of pretending indifference at the beginning but the more she lays into Arthur, the more hostile things get between them, it's so clear that if the opposite of love is indifference then they haven't managed to get over loving each other

• It's just soured and rotted but won't die

• More so for Morgan because she paid the price, she couldn't move on in the way he could

• "And I wouldn't want to see your face when you realize it didn't make a difference. There'll be greed and injustice and hate and horror. You can change the stuff but people stay exactly the same. No one whose opponent was human nature has ever won a fight. Human nature responds to-"/"Inspiration"/"Fear. And that's it"

• It's so cruel but also a great illustration of the ways that they're fundamental opposites

• "I don't forget anything"

• Another extremely loaded line delivery

• (Don't make an All Too Well reference, don't make an All Too Well reference, don't)

• The panic and realization of "he's not stupid" and the music that builds to it and Morgan's laugh ugh perfect

• The intro music to I Loved You Once in Silence is gorgeous

• Lance and Genny in white feeling guilty as hell is a good visual

• So much regret

• Just instantly

• I feel like the moment they've actually acted on their feelings, they know that it's not only a mistake but also that their feelings aren't actually what they thought

• Well maybe Lance doesn't quite have it yet in this scene but he gets there

• Not to repeat what I said about the first scene in act 2 but

• My take is that they intentionally deepened Arthur and Genny's relationship and Lance's character but not Lance and Genny's relationship

• They intentionally left it shallow

• That these are two people who are missing something and the easiest way for them to get that is to frame what they have as love

• I mean for Genny it's sort of obvious, she's married to a man she's in love with but that she thinks doesn't love her

• Lance makes her feel certain about his feelings for her and that's validating

• But Lance, I feel like I have thoughts but I'm not sure

• Lance has never been forced to reckon with temptation before

• And instead of facing that in himself

• He just makes Genny part of the list of things that define him

• A goddess on earth and a god above

• Along with the table

• And he can worship them all to avoid having to figure out who he actually is

• It's not him admitting he has a human weakness, it's a grand tragic love story that he can suffer for

• And suffering, well that's what lets him cope with whatever about himself he feels is so terrible that he needs to punish himself for it

• He's so terrified to look inward, so afraid of something in himself that he just finds his identity in other people and institutions

• And he can't hide behind that anymore because he's betrayed it all, every single thing

• I feel like this makes it sound like I don't like Lance and I very much do

• He's just particularly flawed because he's the only one who doesn't start the show knowing that about himself

• They all make choices out of self-loathing and fear of unworthiness but I do think Lance thinks consciously he's above that for most of the show even if subconsciously he knows he isn't

• He's the only one of the main three to not really finish his character journey within the confines of this narrative

• Arguably he only starts right now and finally realizes he's not the man he thought he was

• Again fic potential somone???

• Well that was a tangent

• Jordan Donica's performance of I Loved You Once in Silence is so heartbreaking

• "Lance I made a mistake. I'm sorry but you're a good man and I should have been nicer to you."

• I love that, I love that she takes her responsibility (even if she's already trying to cover up what happened)

• But also it's just the clearst indication that acting on her feelings killed them

• She doesn't need to push Lance away anymore to stop herself from doing anything

• I love that Lance tries to surrender peacefully

• He's willing to take responsibility not for his noble suffering anymore but because he is a good man and he knows he's done what he's been accused of

• And he only attacks because he has to

• Mordred's evil laugh

• Lance being slightly disheveled and grabbing Mordred's sword to fight off the guards and escape

• I don't have any kind of intellectual take, this is just a personal problem for me

• My jaw was on the floor when Lance started yelling back about coming for her if he survives

• Such a tense ramp up into Guenevere

Act 2, Scene 4: The trial/The Battle

• Guenevere has such amazing lyrics

• The entire "more than love met its doom"/"came the sundown of a dream" verse destroys me

• And I love every word of added dialouge, so correct to put it on the cast recording

• I feel I must explain my love for the staging of this song some more because it is so simple and I understand that some people are not into it but I so much am

• I love the way they close off the back of the stage for I think the only time in the whole show and it becomes claustrophobic all of the sudden

• Now Arthur is stuck in this little box in front of the audience while everything falls apart for him and that's what you have to look at so there's no getting away from how devastating it is

• We just get some full force Andrew Burnap acting and I love it, I think by now it should be clear that I would

• In other versions that I've seen, there's a lot more happening and we see Genny

• And we see Arthur see her tied to the stake and Lancelot show up to rescue her

• Which I do like in theory

• But we don't really see Genny have any actual role or even seeming to have any particular feelings about what she's done or what's about to happen

• Like she's about to die and I've yet to see a version where I have any idea if she's got a single emotion about that

• Despite the name of the song, I think this show decided this scene isn't about Genny, it's about Arthur

• It's about the consequences of his laws

• It's about the beginning of his new war

• Arthur screaming "Pelli I know" like we see him start to crack

• Oh to know who told Arthur and how he took it

• "Well do something"/"She's under arrest. She's been accused of treason"/"Arthur I understand that you're angry but"/"She's been accused of breaking the law. She has to be judged"

• The delivery of that last line, ugh

• He keeps it impersonal, it isn't about what she did to him or his pain, it's about the law

• The law they lovingly crafted together

• "What a magnificent dilemma: let her die and you're a monster, let her live and you're a fraud. Which will it be? Do you kill the queen or the law?"

• Fuck

• The delivery is so good

• Mordred is having the time of his life shrieking about Arthur's pain

• The killing the queen or the law bit seems to be mostly unchanged and it's maybe the best single line from the original book

• Although it went from kill the queen and your life is over to you're a monster

• Mordred has to know Arthur is in love with Genny, right?

• Maybe he just can't imagine Arthur could love a person more than he loves his ideals which I guess would make sense given Morgan and Arthur's relationship

• Arthur drawing his sword on Mordred!!!

• "Ooh careful your majesty, you wouldn't want to be barbaric"

• The fact that Mordred thinks that's going to work, that he can continue to poke at Arthur and he won't respond, he really does believe in Arthur's goodness doesn't he?

• "You are exiled from this court. Return and I will show you what barbaric looks like"

• Arthur screaming at Mordred with his hand around his throat is so intense

• It's so good

• Another gasp out loud in the theater moment

• Arthur is fully unraveling and I'm obsessed

• "I know my way out"

• It's such a teenage delivery and like Mordred is just a kid who feels abandoned by his father

• And as much as this is a tragedy for the three main characters, it's no less a tragedy for Mordred

• Aging down Mordred, also a great choice

• And again, just another stellar performance

• Every single person in this cast just knocked it out of the park in a way I never could have anticipated

• "Arthur please, I'm an old man and I know I'm ridiculous but for the love of god, it's Genny. She made a mistake, she knows that."

• I love that Pelli loves her too

• That he isn't judging her

• "She broke the law Pellinore. A law signed by the king. So say the people"

• He starts trying to be calm but then the fact that it's his law brings up the anger and then he breaks on so say the people

• He's written his own destruction

• And empowered others to take the decision out of his hands

• I love the dialouge in this scene so damn much

• "Neither you nor I nor god himself can stop this terrible thing that's been put in motion"/"What are you waiting for?"/"I'm waiting for what's inevitably coming next"

• The delivery of coming next...

• Like obviously he wants Lance to save Genny but he knows that no matter what

• No matter if she lives or dies, peace is over and the round table has been destroyed

• And he needs to prepare

• Also the way he frames what's happening

• It's not what Genny and Lance or even Mordred caused

• It's just what's been set into motion by all these tiny and giant choices throughout the show that have bubbled over into the death of Camelot

• "That's Lancelot du Lac out there and he's brought a battalion. Double the guard, triple the guard, those guards are going to die tonight"

• How many times can I just copy a bunch of text and write the delivery

• Because yup

• The lack of hope from Arthur is chilling

• Arthur getting dragged back into the war he worked so hard to end

• Just every line delivery in this scene is perfect

• Every lyric of the song

• Every acting choice

• And I love to see it visually

• Preparing for war isn't an exciting spectacle, it's tragic

Act 2, Scene 5: Outside Joyous Gard - on the eve of war

• The way they fade in on the eve of war just broke my heart every time

• I would love to know how much communication there was between Arthur and Lance and how

• Like how much of a role did Arthur play in the whole Genny not getting burned business?

• And the fact that his first question is whether they've been injured

• Even after everything, he's a good man who cares

• And Genny and Lance too, being willing to come back and die

• They're all good people who made mistakes but still good people

• "I assure you, if I thought it would end all this, I would light the fire myself"

• Absolutely brutal but like after he lays out all the death and rebellion that have already happened I guess brutal is fair

• Ya know, if I thought he meant it even a little

• "Lance, come morning some of your countrymen are going to be at the end of my sword. It's not personal, it's just my job. Stay safe Lance."/"I can't do that. And neither can you. Godspeed your majesty."

• I just love the idea of Lance and Arthur as these two people who love each other spearheading this war neither of them believe in

• It's so tragic

• Their goodbye is so understated which for Lance is like truly a great bit of contrast

• They've had enough big declarations, these few sentences just distill everything perfectly

• And then we come to Genny and Arthur, fuck fuck fuck

• The first time I saw this I spent like all of intermission and act 2 with a loop in my brain of but they love each other, right?

• I am unrepentant trash for them in this version as though that wasn't abundantly clear

• And Aaron Sorkin delivered for me so hard in this scene

• "Please let me die, Arthur"

• The pause before his name

• And now we get to the part where I start to get like teary-eyed in the theater

• "Two very powerful men did this to you... not Mordred and Lance, your father and me"

• That long pause before and me

• I love his whole speech, I almost typed it all out

• And they allow so much silence during it

• And the way he's like trying to hold it together but he can't by the end

• "You were treated like a queen but you were my hostage Genny, what the hell did we think was going to happen?"

• That he recognizes and actually admits the ways that his choices have harmed Genny, the unfairness in the entire situation he's put her through

• That he can see even through his own hurt and the enormity of what has been set into motion, his own responsibility for what's happened

• Like he's not right but he's also not wrong

• "And for it's worth, I've been in love with you this whole time"

• Not even looking at her so we have to see it instead ugh

• And then watch that long silence while Genny just like rearranges her entire view of their relationship

• "For what it's worth? Did you just say for what it's worth?"/"Well I thought maybe you'd like to know that. But I wasn't sure."

• Just smashing my heart into tiny little pieces

• After everything they've been to each other, after all they built together, he still doesn't even know if his feelings will matter to her

• While Genny is getting ready to lose her mind after for what it's worth

• They're so absolutely emotionally inept

• "You weren't sure? Why didn't you ever tell me before?"/"It doesn't matter"/"Why?"/"How could I? I'm the king of England. You'd have been forced to pretend you felt the same way"

• Again they are delivering lines in a way that is continuing to smash the little pieces of my heart into complete dust

• Like Arthur is again not wrong but not right

• His life is so lonely because of this crown he didn't want and his desire to actually be responsible with that power

• And even now he tries to get out of explaining that to her

• I love him so much is the problem

• And then her mmm like all the pieces are coming together in her brain that they've both been suffering for nothing and she is pissed

• I love her so much which is also the problem

• Incidentally, both of these things are also their problem so very relatable

• "Out of curiousity, if I had told you, what would you have said?"/"That I loved you from the moment I saw you, from the moment you spoke, from the moment you sang me that stupid song about the weather"/"It's not about the weather it's a metaphor"/"I know it's a metaphor"

• The way Genny overlaps him asking, she can't even wait for him to finish

• The way she says stupid song

• The way that she's like, I did fall in love with you over that song but also I still hate it and think it's dumb

• She says it with such contempt

• Icon

• Even standing before the wreckage of their lives, they still can't stop bickering about the song, I'm obsessed

• "I prayed every night that one day you would see me the way I saw you. And then you told me I was your business partner. Yes I was and I am in love with you"/"Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse"

• She prayed every night???

• For two years???

• That he would return her feelings???

• Fuck

• Like I don't know if I can convey how much them being in love with each other and thinking it's unrequited for two whole years ping pongs around my brain and just lights up all the synapses

• "Do you really think 10,000 people loosened that sword for me?"/"I do"/"So do I. That's a nice thought isn't it?"

• It is a nice thought

• I love the philosophy of this show, I love that there's no convoluted Arthur is actually the son of the last king so he was destined to be special

• These are just two people who though birth or circumstance ended up in this position of power and chose to do good with it

• Genny begging for just a little more time like the only reason I kept anything together was being in a theater but if feel confident that if I ever get my hands on footage of this show, I would have already been sobbing by this point

• "They won't let me let Lance save you twice so you have to go Princess Guenevere"

• Hearing him call her by her name is so deeply distressing

• Literally not once before in the show does it happen and it hurts

• And then they're playing Before I Gaze at You Again what an amazing choice

• Turning a love song she sang about Lance into this romantic moment for her and Arthur because theirs was the love story the whole time like brilliant

• That they chose the show's first love song and brought it back for Genny and Arthur being unable to leave each other without that hug and that kiss

• Like this song that is originally about the pain of unfulfilled love for the wrong person and then flipping it to the pain of fulfilled love with the right one

• I am so not okay

• Also people did very loudly applaud at closing when they kissed and I was so glad because truly in my head I was doing it every time

• "I love you"/"I love you too"/"God save the king"

• I mean these are some good last words to say to each other, I'll give them that

• The thing about the original version of the musical is that the ending was already a perfect concept

• Here it just feels more meaningful because they lay that groundwork about inspiring the next generation throughout

• Tom trying to con Arthur about his age is very funny

• This kid is so good and adorable

• "You're speaking to a king"/"I'm twelve years old"

• Like his comedic delivery, very impressive

• "And when did you decide upon this nonexistent career?"

• We get a solid 60 seconds of cynical Arthur and that's about it

• The entire concept of this kid being inspired by the stories of Camelot is just deeply moving and beautiful

• And just the entirety of Andrew Burnap's performance of that realization hitting Arthur

• I love a story that's about the power of stories

• People also applauded at the last show when Arthur says the stories were all true which I also just deeply love

• Arthur's I know exactly how you feel when Tom says he's not ready to be a knight and putting his arm around him, so cute

• "And you will return to your home alive"

• The way he says alive

• Like I think Arthur knows that he's not making it out of this

• Even if he would manage to survive the battle and Mordred, he knows his time is done

• But the the future is still there

• And there is about to be so much death

• Some of it from his sword or his orders

• And the rest of it of his men

• But at least this kid, he's going to live

• The reprise of Camelot... I just love it so much

• "I've won my battle, here's my victory"

• Not a new line but just such a gorgeous one

• The entire idea of the story of Camelot as a tragedy but a hopeful one just gets me

• It's such a beautiful conclusion that this version sets up so so well

• I love that we end on a speech again, just like act 1

• Also that last bit of music as they walk off, stunning

• I have attempted to track down as many older productions of this show as I can including the movie which was good but I am biased and I do sort of think Sorkin and Bartlett Sher and the actors and everyone else involved had the more interesting take on the themes and characters

• A Broadway musical is best when it has simple but impactful themes and big emotions

• And that's exactly what this version gave us

• The highest compliment I can give this show is that not only have I not stopped thinking about it, not only did I tell everyone I know to see it, not only did I want to see the show again (and again and...), but it also just made me feel inspired to see more theater in a way I haven't in a serious while

• I just love this show so much and I'm so glad there are some people here who can't get over it either

• This is what I have to offer, the longest possible unhinged rant and bad quality closing audio, that is all

[women-of-malevolent]

All references to women in Part 41 - The Windmill

I've never heard this before (I quit after Intermezzo)! I'm sure I'll love it

The audio engineering is, as always, great

I'm taking sides, John is right and I'm glad he's sticking up for himself. If I was him I wouldn't trust Arthur to be in my corner. Keep yourself safe, John, is how I feel. Don't kill

I can't believe the story is still unpacking the Oscar thing, god I don't care.

I wonder if John and Arthur will meet Edward II. I think he was in charge around this time. Probably not relevant to the magical (but still patriarchal) (don't be crazy that could NEVER be different) multiverse version of England these two are in. We really get patriarchy earth, then patriarchy Dreamlands, then patriarchy fantasy-book-setting England.

Arthur names an owl friend Alexander, and says he can't tell the difference between male and female owls.

Uh oh... rot smell... old woman approaching....

Is this the witch hole? Stinky rock puss?

Yes it sure is. It's a whole fucking vagina dentata.

They feel around in a straw pile and Arthur pricks his finger on a brooch and bleeds. The brooch is two deer or gazelle running from a lion. The lion is biting the older one while the younger one escapes.

The witch hole kinda moans or something? So the boys want to block it off, maybe go inside it.

They fall down the ladder.

Arthur says, fuck having an inventory. Throws everything out including Anna's letter (it got destroyed anyways)

John feels like the yonic hole is watching them

Toss Marie's keys too

They see a castle on a cliff through the Glass of Leng, it reminds Arthur of Addison

more moaning witch hole

Why take Kayne's dagger!!!

These two take cues from Kayne's vague suggestions even when he's not even there. He's like their what-would-jesus-do for violence. Maybe he should stop taking violence cues from racist!Nyarlathotep who encouraged him to piss on his dead wife's grave with her prior legal patriarchal owner who she hated.

I mean, maybe it's all intentional and it'll be explored later!! I really don't know anymore!

lmao, speaking of taking violence quest tips from racist!Nyarlathotep: Arthur remembers the Vanguard and gets excited. Ugh! Stop saying Stanzig! That's not how youf ucking say Stanczyk you fuck

In the inventory: Marie's locket and Faroe's picture

Hole time.

Yuck. Okay. Hopefully there are no animals in there that could hurt us, but if there are, we can use the dagger.

Don't fucking use racist!Nyarlathotep's dagger!!! Omfg. I cannot believe-with Lilly the Buopoth- meta post coming about it later

One could say that John and Arthur are Kayne's dogs now. If one were so inclined.

We're in the hole. I don't want to do a blow by blow of this honestly. I don't like it.

Popping membranes, maggots, etc. Aren't pussies gross.

Something blows the torch out. It's in the room with them but John has no idea where. Aaaa. Listen, I'm rushing this because I want to catch up. I don't enjoy this season so far.

They look around. They're stuck in a dungeon with a captive man.

[rake-rake]

On Chaldea #2

Thinking about Vortigern hiding behind Oberon at Chaldea. On one side, it is true that he's simply too disgusted by everyone as to actually have any kind of civil interaction, but on the other I believe there's an actual fear of bumping onto certain people, something he simply doesn't want to deal with in different senses. Here's a few.

First one is Merlin, and there's plenty of things to say there, but I will make it short. Shame and fear, mostly, even if he doesn't truly know why. He can't show him his face, and hides behind Oberon's smile like a coward for a long while. Of course he does eventually come out and things turn out well, but it doesn't change the inner turmoil that continues to repeat afterward with the next person.

Emrys. So much to unpack. Shame, all shame. Can't look him in the eyes, can't look at his face. Absolutely not dealing with that. He and Oberon can become best friends for all he cares because never putting his bug foot out there. The fact he genuinely loved his younger brother is what makes it so bad, because Vortigern became a monster willingly and doesn't regret it, but that doesn't mean he's ready to see Emrys's face.

Last off is Arthur, which is surprisingly not so bad considering the man killed him. Vortigern doesn't truly care for him as he never had anything personal against his nephew, and always saw him as a simple pawn at Uther's shadow; they just happened to be on different sides. Had things been different, Vortigern would have taken him in as family without much thought. He knows the curse that Uther blood is, after all. However, this doesn't change that he certainly doesn't want to deal with him. They went to war, Arthur killed him; that's it. That's the end. How do you just become coworkers at Chaldea? It feels anticlimactic. It was a damn good end to Vortigern's tale, one he's almost grateful for, and he hates unnecessary sequels. Drop the curtains and let the play end.

[arthursbubblebutt]

It would have been really cool if they used Cornelius Sigan as like that final villain over the horizon. Building up to it, always out of reach

So I thought, what if Arthur, having already become king, came across one of Sigan's plans to have a dragon in his army.

Arthur journeying with his most loyal knights is tired and hungry but presses on. He has heard of his father's purge of magic from the man himself, the executions he has seen from when he could first pick up a sword, and the crying families he has felt in his very bones when swallowed by their sorrow.

His father was not a good man, but he did teach Arthur many things, and one of those teachings that he holds close to his heart is to never subjugate a living being of their free will. That is what Cornelius plans to do with this dragon.

They find a clearing as the sun is setting, and the wind is pulling at their cloaks. Lancelot scouting their surroundings and Percival keeping watch till the knight comes back, once he does they start to make a fire and unpack their things from the horses. While Gwaine makes his jokes and Elyan joins in, Arthur feels as if he is being pulled. The compulsion is not as familiar as his gut, but he follows the pull nonetheless.

He is at the treeline when he feels a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright, my lord?" Arthur turns to Leon's concerned gaze and immediately deflects as is his reflex.

"You know you don't have to call me that out here, Leon. We have been through too many things for you to keep calling me lord in the company of friends."

Leon nods, and they head back to the camp. Arthur sits on the fallen and gets lost in his thoughts. If Sigan manages to bring this dragon under biding, Camelot will be destroyed. It will become a memory, a warning for others to not defy Sigan. They will be made into an example. Arthur wished he still had his father to ask for advice for what Sigan might do next. Arthur knows if he warns the dragon of Sigan, he can not expect the dragon to come to Camelot's side in this war. Why would it?

While his father was fading away, Arthur had time to finally think for himself on the neverending discussion of magic that always ran rampant in his head. The ban was still in effect, but Arthur hadn't the heart to hear his people's cries or stiffled sobs whenever a sorcerer was found and executed. Now, though, as Arthur is king of Camelot, there had been no executions, and he wants to keep it that way. Lift the ban altogether, but his people are still wary and fearful of magic. Arthur won't lie to himself and say magic is not dangerous, it is, but even so, he knows of what good it can do.

Morgana had shown him how, and with that, he felt the blood of sorcerers who were just victims from Uthers wrath soaked in the stones of the castle. He knows whatever he does won't completely wash away the blood, but maybe it will at least lessen the burden. Dragons are magic itself, so if he does this, then maybe it will lead to a future of what he envisions for his people. Maybe he can further understand magic from the dragon.

The fire crackles and spits heating their dinner for the night. His knights talk and laugh, enjoying the atmosphere of being away from Camelot. Sometimes, being in the castle will wear down a person who has been used to not caring about titles, ranks, and responsibilities when they mostly spend their time with people from the lower towns or the forest. He sees his knights have relaxed despite the reason why they're here in the first place. Arthur smiles to himself when Gwaine trips and is caught by Percival, pretending to swoon like a damsel, making everyone laugh at their antics. Percival's eyes roll fondly with a smile that is always aimed at Gwaine Arthur has noticed.

The knights settle for their bedrolls, Gwaine and Arthur keeping watch despite Leon's grumbling. Arthur just can't sleep. The pull he feels in his chest is still there, and his eyes keep being drawn to the place where Leon stopped him last.

"Distracted princess?"

Startled Arthur turns to Gwaine and feels a bit ashamed for his lack of focus. "It's nothing." Arthur huffs shifting to sit more comfortably.

Gwaine nudges Arthur with his foot, catching Arthur's attention again. "I'll keep watch," he lifts his brow with his smile, "Go see what's go you so distracted, but if it's just you wanting to wank-" Arthur shoves his boot away from him making Gwaine fall into the grass and fallen leaves with a breathless laugh. He tries to tamp down the giggles when he remembers the others are sleeping.

Arthur stands and dusts off the dirt Gwaine's boot put on his trousers. He glares at Gwaine when it starts another giggling fit from the man but rolls his eyes and stalks off to the direction where the pull from his chest is leading him too.

[khaleesiofalicante]

Damn I feel like it's been forever for some reason lmao. Last week's hell is finally over and I get to relax this week! I'm going out with some friends on Friday and I've also cleared my phone and organized my notes!!! It feels so good😭 Now I have some thoughts about last chapter BECAUSE WOW

First of all fuck Mallory, I hate her and I will never get tired of saying this and I am now divided between wanting to read the next chapter so bad and dreading it with my whole being 🙂

My heart broke into a million pieces with the first part!!! Rafael's fear for Max is shown so damn well and Max's thoughts are messy and all over the place and the way you can see him moving in and out of reality is overwhelming!!

I kinda guessed the "why isn't he smiling?" part but fuck if it ripped my heart 😭😭

"Tears of grief" Max loving him so much he literally recognizes his tears and knows these ones too.... And saying he looks as if he is grieving something that was his everything, not knowing David was grieving him. Grieving them. The life they had built. Gone.

"I wanna see daddy" WHEN I TELL YOU I WAS SCREAMING INTERNALLY ON MY FLOOR!! When we first saw on the first chapters I was so confused and now that the dots connected I am in pain 😭. And you wrote that scene so beautifully, their pain and horror and how you see Max slowly losing himself because it's just too much. The pain is too much. Losing David, Lance's pain, his job, his home...

And the scene with Magnus!!! GOING TO MY FAVE COLLECTION 🥺. Also him giving the band to AJ later, because Magnus said he could give it to someone else when it hurt just a little bit less HOLY SHIT😭😭

I can go on a three hour analysis so Imma stop jdhdjdjkd. BUT THE PRESENT TOO JFC

Max's growth. That ends me everytime. Seeing how much he has changed and how he survived through all of this. Thinking of the was Alec told him how proud he is of Max because he made it. Not the way he planned. But he did it. He got so far, and that took so much strength but he still survived. Same Alec, same🥹

But also the fucking parallel:

"He was careful now (...) Just in case. Just in case he'll get his heart broken all over again."

///

Not without an explanation. Not without getting his heart broken into a million pieces one last time.

Then, just like everything else in life, things slowly got better. This whole fic is a prove of it and I can't even-

YES LANCE CALL HIS IDIOTIC SELF OUT!!! TELL HIM DAVID LOVES HIM MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF!!! I WILL NEVER GET TIRED IF HIS SASS BTW

You once said that tlnd was was about acceptance and healing, but IALS is about forgiveness, about learning to forgive the people we love, but mostly about learning to forgive ourselves (I have the receipts don't @ me) and this scene portrayed that so well. Even though Max knows it wasn't his fault he still blames himself. Because knowing is not the same as accepting it. As Max said, shit is hard to internalize.

THIS GOES TO MY TOP 10😭😭 LANCE AND MAX TALKING TO EACH OTHER IS EVERYTHING I KNEW I NEEDED FROM THE VERY START I AM SO EMOTIONAL!!! Also Lance and Max's detective skills together??? ✨ Iconic✨

Tell me how to love you as you want to be loved and I'll do it to give you the comfort and safety you deserve is something I'll never get tired of😭😭 istg I could go on a whole speech about this part because it's so true. Sometimes parents don't love us the way we want to be loved, but that doesn't mean there's no love there. It's just different of what we expect. And sometimes people go their whole lives not knowing of that love and that's just sad.

That is one unproblematic child,” Max noted. “Really doesn’t fit into this clusterfuck of a family.”

“I’m waiting for him to set Hollywood on fire,” Lance informed. “Don’t lose hope yet.”

HOLY SHIT I JUST REALIZED I'M THE ARTHUR OF MY FAMILY. WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS KNOWLEDGE???

I have so many feeling about that apartment and Harry and them but I will not unpack them bc this shit is already long enough 🙂

Their conversation. The way they've both changed so much. Talking about how they wished they were there for Lance and for each other. I was in TEARS

Everything of the last scene was *screams internally* David fucking pushing Max to the wall, stronger than hate. "He's scared of something". Fucking Mon ange, *what did Mallory do to you?"

I just want you to know I will combust into confetti or tears in the next chapter. Probably both...

Anyway this turned long and I better go. Take care and drink lots of tea!!!!

💙.💙.💙.

This made me so 😇😇😇😇 and gave me some motivation to write the next chapter 😭😭😭😭 Thank you 💚💚💚

This is Lance sleeping in Arthur’s room 🥰🥰🥰