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arofili · 4 years

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how’d u get into writing? like, writing fic and being part of the silm community, being Known, that stuff? i’m really new to being a silm cc and i’d love to know ur advice! also: how’d u build up the confidence to start posting meta/hcs? bc i have a Lot of hcs and meta ideas but also i’m really anxious abt posting them bc yknow anxiety is like that

these are some great questions, anon! I’m gonna go through them one by one :)

how’d u get into writing?

not to be like, super cliche, but I’ve...kind of always been a writer? as long as I can remember I’ve been telling stories, and when I was too young to read or write I would dictate them to my mom, who would type them up for me and help me choose clipart illustrations to accompany them. when I got old enough I would always be writing; I attempted my first novel at age 9, and while that never really went anywhere I did finish the darn thing and it had some pretty sophisticated plot twists for a 9-year-old!

like, writing fic

around the same time I got into fandom! I was deep into Warrior cats (like. really deep) and I believe I started writing my first fics when I was like? 10 or 11? my memory is kind of fuzzy on the order of things, but I know I got an account on the Warriors forums when I was 9, and that I was already posting my fic there when I made my FFN account. I believe I was 12 when that happened, but who knows. I haven’t the faintest idea of what happened with those forums, but uhhh pretty much all of my Warriors fic is still up on FFN lmao. you could probably find that if you want to but um...maybe don’t?

my first Big Fic was a self-insert of...my entire 5th/6th grade class into the then-current timeline of the Warriors books...well. I honestly think that might still be my most popular fic of all time l m a o though I try not to think about it because Hashtag Cringe. though as much as I look back on that time with a “yikes,” I am very grateful for the Warriors fandom in a way? that place was so accepting and encouraging of OCs, of AUs, of completely disregarding canon, of worldbuilding that is completely alien from canon - it was a fantastic sandbox to begin with, there were so many ways to write stories and practically all of them were accepted and had fellow fans invested in them!

and being part of the silm community,

soooo I wrote Warriors fic until my freshman year of high school (wow sdjfhkdsjfh), which was when BOTFA came out, and I was absolutely wrecked by the ending and immediately started writing my own fixit fic. I was also super hooked on Kiliel! so that was my intro to the Tolkien fandom; and simultaneously, I joined tumblr, and, well, the rest is history tbh.

I honestly do not remember when I first read the Silm, but I kind of got into the more obscure parts of the Tolkien fandom through fandom osmosis, and I do have a vague memory of doodling the Finwean family tree in geometry class so it might have been later on in freshman year? that was also the same time I was having my Queer Awakening, and Russingon definitely contributed to me unlearning my internalized queerphobia, so probably around then.

anyway - queer awakening, tumblr, Tolkien, transitioning from FFN to AO3 - all of that was happening around the same time. I know I dipped my toes in the Silm fandom then, but I was still primarily a Hobbit fic writer focusing on Kiliel. toward the end of high school I kind of shifted to LOTR and (qp) Gigolas...but somehow the Silm fandom is the most active of the Big Three within the Tolkien fandom, and I was getting dragged further and further in.

it wasn’t until @backtomiddleearthmonth 2019, my freshman year of college, that I really dove into writing Silm fic! I picked some Silm-specific bingo cards and never looked back :D that was really not all that long ago but I am obsessed in a way I don’t really remember being even with TH/LOTR, I obviously cannot see the future but I anticipate hanging out here for a long time. the Silm fandom is great overall and there’s just so much material to work with!! <3

being Known, that stuff?

so I don’t really have a whole lot of context on how “well known” I am in the fandom?? definitely within the past year and a half or so I’ve noticed that I like, get asks like this, and get a significant amount of notes on my posts, and I’ve made a lot of fandom friends especially since I joined some Silm servers on Discord (hmu if you want invites; I’m on the SWG server and 2 general Silm servers and the Russingon server) this past year. and I have 3,000 followers as of this month - and while ever since I hit 1k I don’t particularly pay attention to my follower count I can definitely say that I have more engagement now than I used to! but it took me a long time to build this “audience,” I suppose; I’ve been around the Tolkien fandom since late 2014, so nearly 6 years of this, lol.

really the best way to build a following, in my experience, is to just post a lot of stuff. when I started making edits I got a lot more engagement, because for a long time I would post one every day! (I made them in batches and queued them; I didn’t actually make one every day lol...and now I’m too busy to do that, so I just make edits for events and whenever I feel like it) And I have [checks ao3] 145 works in the Silm fandom as of today - I’m fairly prolific! I’ve come to generally expect 3-10 comments on most of my oneshots, which is a lot more than I used to have back in the day. consistency and quantity are more likely to attract people to your work - and quality, of course.

also: how’d u build up the confidence to start posting meta/hcs?

I’ve been writing since I was very young, and I’ve been writing fic for like...11 years? I think? in that time I’ve produced a lot of garbage, but imo most of that was in my Warrior cats phase, so I came into the Tolkien fandom with confidence in myself and my writing. I’m also working on original fiction on the side (I hope to eventually become a published fantasy author, but right now school takes up most of my time that I don’t devote to fandom, which gives me more immediate gratification and also is just Very Fun) and I know I’m a good writer.

basically, I’ve been doing this for like...half my life, and I’m still fairly young, so I’ve had time to build up my skill and confidence and I know I’m only going to get better with time. you will get better with practice. like I said, I’ve written a lot of terrible stuff, and it’s only through sucking for a long time that I’ve gotten to the point I am now. and I am far from perfect; I know I still have lots of room to grow!

for meta and headcanons specifically, I started with writing fic, and then when I didn’t think I could stretch something into an entire fic I would just make a hc post. I have a vivid memory of writing my first meta in a notebook during driver’s ed because it was so goddamn boring and I had Thoughts about Tauriel and Thranduil!

in my experience, meta comes from having Opinions and wanting to share them and most importantly to back them up - you need to have sources! you need to have reasons! you need to have justification! otherwise it’s not meta, it’s a headcanon or an AU. which is fine!! I love hc/AU!!! but they are not the same as meta, and I’m a stickler for being accurate when it comes to meta. if you have sources and shit to back you up, that will help you build the confidence to share your meta.

sharing disinformation and passing it off as meta instead of just coming out and saying this is a headcanon/baseless theory/AU or whatever is such a fandom pet peeve of mine; it’s not bad for something to not be Accurate! you just have to have that disclaimer - and even when you’re writing meta, you’re offering an interpretation of the text, and you need to acknowledge that other interpretations also exist and are valid.

um. I hope this answers your questions? and sorry for basically word-vomiting my entire life story, lol. this post got long; the main reason I’ve written so much fic is because I really just cannot shut up for the life of me. sooo if you can tear of that filter of being shy and just. say shit. you can go so far~!

OH and one more thing - I can’t believe I almost forgot this - but part of being a writer is participating in the community. this is code for LEAVE A DAMN COMMENT IF YOU LIKE A FIC. that’s how I made most of my fandom friends before Discord! I follow @ao3feed-silmarillion and stalk that blog for new Silm fics; I read the ones that interest me and comment on them.

I know this is not really the most common way for folks to find fic but it’s so rewarding to interact with new fic, new writers, new commentors, new stories - you can find gems that don’t rise to the top of the kudos/bookmark lists; you become friends with your fellow writers; you can watch people grow and change; you support smaller content creators. yeah, you might not be getting Just The Best Stuff, but it’s so so so worth it!!

and if you make friends in the comment section of other people’s fic - I guarantee you some of them will go to your AO3 profile and check out your fic, too! and they’ll leave comments! this is a fic community, and that’s what I cherish about fandom most of all, tbh.

anyway - again - sorry for rambling so much, but I hoped this helped! feel free to send in another ask, or to come talk to me off anon if you’d like! and definitely send me your stuff if/when you decide to share it; I would love to support you!!! <3

#silm #silm fandom #silmarillion #fan culture #tmi anna #(for real this time sjdfhdkfh)#tefain nin #long post #anon #answers

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howdoipickauniqueusername · 5 years

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RFA Members X Reader (Soulamate AU)

Zen : [the first words your soulmate says to you tattooed onto your wrist]

*taken from Deep Story Route, as I wanna play 707 again lol*

You could barely sleep the night before your eighteenth birthday, knowing that you’d be able to find the first words your soulmate would speak was all you could think about

Imagine how you felt when “WTF. How did it get in here?” Showed up the next morning

Your older brother found it fucking hilarious, your sister was sympathetic and your mother was concerned your soulmate was the abusive type

You tried to hide it, and avoid looking at it

I mean, come on, if your soulmate had that reaction to you - were they really your soulmate??

You continue through your life, eventually moving on from finding your soulmate

You try and date a couple of guys, but, expectedly, nothing feels right

Until, seven years later, you download a messaging app to be able to text your online friends when... something goes wrong

You’re talking to someone called “unknown”, guiding you to an apartment building and, having nothing else to do, you follow along

As soon as your inside an apartment, the chat changes into a normal group conversation between people talking about nepotism

You’re about to leave the chat and the apartment when someone called 707 notices that you’re there

“WTF. How did it get in here?”

Zen - you’d heard that name before, but your heart stopped

Was this it? Your soulmate?

You were in shock for moments until you decided it best to say something before they lose they’re minds

“Hello...”

As soon as the chat ends, someone’s calling you - you see it’s Zen and before even letting yourself think, you pick up

“Hey...” his voice is breathy and you can feel your heart pounding and your head swimming, so you sit down.

“Hey...” you sound shyer than you meant to.

“I... I know this might sound strange, but I just have to check... what do you have tattooed on your wrist?” His voice sounds hopeful. Had he been waiting for this? You smile at the hope in his voice. So I guess this was your soulmate

“I have WTF. How did it get in here? Tattooed on my wrist.” He laughs. “Seriously? I hated you for that when I woke up with that on my wrist. My mum thought you were gonna be abusive!”

“At lease you didn’t have to question everyone who greeted you.” You gigle at the image.

“I’m sorry.” You can hear the smile in his voice. “I’ll make it up to you someday.” You feel your heart flutter

“I’d really like that.”

Saeyoung/Luciel/707 : [you can finally see colour when you make eye contact with your soulmate] (AU where you meet at the party and nothing bad happened lol)

You had gotten used to seeing black and white by the time you turned 25

However, as you watched your friends fall in love, find their soulmates (small world - most of them found their soulmates in college), you kind of started feeling a little lonely

Saeyoung however, hated the black and white. It made his eyes bleed and his chest hurt. His computer screen was black and white - full of coding. He knew, because many of his co-workers told him so (they tried not to talk about their ability to see colour, it never ended well for them)

His chest hurt, knowing this was all he’d ever see. Black and white. He thought it was a perfect contrast to his life

Statistically, most soulmates were to be found in college classrooms - same interests and such

Perhaps your soulmate wasn’t the college type

You thought about him a lot, even while you applied for your masters

You made friends with people you had stumbled across online - a party planning committee that you actually quite enjoyed talking to

Especially one guy - 707, who never failed to actually make you smile with his hilarious comments

As you both grew closer, as did the date for the party, you felt part of you hoping that this was it. He could be it...

Saeyoung would never let him admit it to himself or god forbid, say it out loud, but he wanted the same thing. You were hilarious. And cute - when he saw you, hacked into your tumblr account and saw the private photos of you with friends and family on your Facebook, part of him wished he could see colour. What hair colour did you have? What colour eyes...

When the day came and you tried your best to choose something nice to wear - trusting your mother who helped choose the colours.

It took Saeyoung ten minutes to tie his tie as he was leaving. He was gonna be early at this rate - and while his hands were shaking, he took his damned time. He didn’t want to know. But he did. And he didn’t.

If you weren’t it, then who could it be?

And if you were... then, he was doomed.

You stood near the door, flinching every time someone walked through. Your whole body was tingling - barely able to talk for the heart that was pounding in your throat

Zen and Yoosung were so sweet, and you felt slightly terrible when you kept turning around to look at the door, but they didn’t mind. They could tell something had changed between you and him

He stood outside, pacing. He just had to do it. Had to get it over with.

So he walked in

And for a second, your heart broke - you saw him in black and white

Until he saw you

The eye contact was blinding when suddenly there was colour

Everywhere

And it was beautiful

And you were walking over to him, smiling

He thought you were beautiful - in colour and grace and how could he be so lucky to have you as his soulmate?

“Oh God 707, it’s a pleasure to finally meet thee.” You curtseyed and your hair fell off your shoulder and he shivered

And he laughed

“I can’t believe it was you.” He says, softly, barely louder than a whisper and you smile, pushing your hair away from your face

“I had a feeling when I met you.”

Yoosung : [a wristband clock that counts down until the moment you meet your soulmate]

You wake up, feeling nervous

You and your mother (practically one of your best friends) have been waiting for this day since you learnt what it meant

Nearly as soon as you’ve woken up, your phone is ringing and your mother is talking your ear off, about how to act and what to say and you don’t have the heart to tell her you aren’t listening as you doze off into nervous day dreaming

What would he look like? What would he say when he saw you? Would he be disappointed? You were hardly a model... a little chubby actually

You used to be teased about never finding a soulmate, despite the fact that your clock was counting down

They said it was a glitch, but you had enough faith to last you

Your first day of college. Today.

Would he be in your class? Or would you bump into him around the campus?

You got ready, heart pounding as you checked your wrist almost obsessively

Yoosung has been waiting for this moment since high school. At least, that’s what he’d tell people (truth was, he’d been dreaming about his soulmate way back in primary school)

He felt nervous as heck - couldn’t sleep, eat or even play LOLOL in the days leading up to today. The day.

1 hour and 10 minutes and 15 seconds

He couldn’t wait to meet them.

But he was worried they’d be dissappointed when they saw him. He wasn’t “hot” or anything particularly special. He didn’t have much going for him when he thought about it...

But he tried not to think about it as he locked his front door behind him

30 minutes left and you realised that you were definitely going to be meeting them on campus. You were 10 minutes away, so you’d have twenty minutes to spend, anxiety ridden and nervous as fuck

20 minutes left and his hands were sweating. He couldn’t stop it, so he wiped his hands on his jeans, hoping to god it’d stop before he met them - what a great first impression

10 minutes left and you were heading to class, heart pounding in your throat

5 minutes left and he started heading to class, taking one last drink from a water fountain (he was stalling)

A minute to go... excitement and anxiety

5 seconds to go and your eyes were glued to the door

3... 2... 1...

The door was halfway open when your clock reached zero and fell to the floor - people around you hear the soft clink and try and find the matching pair

You see their hand, frozen on the door handle, and he walks in, his face red

He’s actually really fucking adorable, and you smile

The girl who had sat next to you moved out of the aisle and motions to him that he should sit next to you

His soulmate

Sat in the third row to the front, smiling and blushing and a part of him dies

He manages to walk to you, sitting down next to you and because of the chairs, his thighs brush against yours and his breath hitches in his throat

“Hi, my name is [Y/N]” you say softly

“I’m Yoosung Kim.” He replies, still red

Jumin : [whatever you write on your skin, it appears on your soulmate’s skin]

The first thing Jumin learnt about you was that you really needed to get a planner

You scribbled appointments and assignment dates all over your hand

At first he was rather annoyed by it - people constantly assuming he was doing it to himself.

So he got himself a pair of gloves and forgot about it

He had to focus on business and... learning about business

Although, occasionally, when he felt lonely in his large home with no friends or no real family to talk to, he’d take his glove off and trace the doodles and cursive font

He liked to imagine that his soulmate and him.. they’d be different from his father, trying to ignore his heart in favour of the young girls he fel privy to

He’d make sure that when he found them. He’d never let them feel second best

A couple years into your twenties, you decide it’s best to get some kind of job or internship as you complete your PhD

Coincidentally, C&R International was hiring for interns in college looking for some extra credits and you jumped on the opportunity

They had assigned you to work with a wonderfully hardworking lady named Jaehee Kang

It was a stressful job, and you barely ever saw your boss, Mr. Han, however you didn’t mind that based on the effect he had on others around the office

It wasn’t until two months into your job when Mr. Han has apparently lost a pair of gloves that you actually met the man

Jaehee was swamped with work when he called her in, however you jumped out fo your seat, telling her you’d handle it, to which she gave you a grateful smile and started back on her work

“Mr. Han, you called?”

“Yes. I need you to go and retrieve a fresh pair of gloves from my home. As soon as possible.”

You nodded swiftly and left, asking Jaehee for his address and scribbling it onto the inside of your palm before grabbing your coat and leaving

Junk sat at his desk, typing when he felt the all too familiar scribble on his skin and looked down instinctively (it was reflexive, even with his gloves on)

His address. In cursive. With a small ‘gloves!’ Written next to it

His soulmate was his intern

You came back in record time and knocked on his office, waiting for a couple moments for a calm “yes, come in” before entering

He sat where you had last left him, and gave him a professional smile as you reached out to hand him his gloves

He held out his left hand and you saw scribbles across it

I didn’t know Jumin wrote on his hands — wait, that looks like...

You glanced down to your hand and your eyes widened

You looked back up at him and he smiled in a way you’d never seen before

“I think we should get to know eachother, Miss. [L/N].”

Jaehee : [you can hear your soulmate’s thoughts when you want to]

When you were young - too young to know how to control the thoughts that popped into your brain every once in a while - you’d let them talk

Whoever they were calmed you down

You’d be in the middle of hiding in your closet from the arguing downstairs when - pop - they were back

I need sugar and flour and...

They were baking... you smiled whenever their thoughts invaded your mind. They took you away from reality

An escape you welcomed whole heartedly

Years later, when you were diagnosed with anxiety, their thoughts didn’t come to you as often as they used to

Apparently, stress can have an effect on the ability to hear and transmit thoughts

No wonder they hadn’t tried to reply to your thoughts... who are you?

So.. she was stressed

And you fell into a numb state of mild depression - no real desire to go out or eat or.. anything

Your mother eventually forced you to find something - anything to do. So she took you to her favourite coffee shop on a Monday morning, before the big rush of customers came and you followed

You hadn’t bothered to brush your hair or anything - what was the point anyway?

So when a woman dressed in a sharp form fitting suit came flying into the store with purpose and grace, your heart skipped a beat without you realising

Your anxiety lifted for a moment

Wow, she’s gorgeous

Your thought was loud, almost echoing inside your head and she flinched

Could she hear me?

At that, she began looking around, and as soon as her eyes landed on you...

You both knew

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snakebitcs-blog · 5 years

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✧･ﾟ( medusa + liu yifei + cis female ) 𝒎𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒂 !! have you seen ( catherine ‘cat’ chang ) around ? ( she ) has been in kaos for ( one month ). the ( thirty two ) is a ( novelist / freelance writer ) from ( los angeles, usa ). people say they can be ( impulsive ) but maybe that’s not too bad ‘cause they can also be ( driven ). whenever i think of them, i can’t help but think of ( red lipstick, cat-eye sunglasses, and lit cigarettes ). ･ﾟ✧ ( penned by lia, 23, gmt+8, she/her ).

hey y’all !! i’m really happy to be here & i’m excited to write more with all of you. under the cut there will be some more info about my baby cat, please hmu if you would like to plot (via ims/preferably discord) !! i would love to get things going w you all ❀

basic timeline:

cat was born into a fairly conventional family: the beloved second child of parents who had recently migrated from china seeking out the american dream. a computer scientist and a banker, they believed very strongly in the ethics of hard work and achievement-driven success. her elder brother was very much the same way, having a natural affinity for numbers and codes. despite what seemed to be a genetic inheritance of conventional paths to success, cat frustrated her parents (and herself) by being simply terrible at math. she would slip off into daydreams and elaborate games in her mind, marking up her worksheets with doodles instead of equations. / to the chagrin of her parents, cat continued to drift through high school in the same manner, choosing to coast by in class instead of ‘applying herself’. she’d hang out after school in the parking lots, sitting in her friends’ cars and smoking with the windows down. her english teacher was one of the very few people who saw a spark in her, pushing cat to develop her ideas and skills in creative writing and actually hounding her to apply to college. going off to school out of state was one of the biggest risks cat took, knowing her parents could’ve just refused to pay her tuition, but she was sure that being out from under their stifling gaze would allow her to bloom. and bloom she did, soaring through and graduating with a BA in English with the highest honors. her family never understood her, this never changed, but cat became comfortable with this at last. they just moved on a different wavelength, and that was fine. her parents had her brother, which meant she could have her life to herself. she ran off even further to pursue her MFA at sarah lawrence, sharpening her wit and her craft against the whetstones of her professors and classmates. / beyond college, cat knew she wouldn’t be able to handle a desk-bound 9-5 job. she was convicted of the fact that it would actually kill her. instead, she opted to freelance for various newspapers and online magazines, developing a following and a semi-regular source of income as she tried to carve out a space for herself in los angeles. the sheer density of talent in her city only made her craving for success and satisfaction even stronger. she bounced between her own creative projects and the occasional screenplay, churning out work in an attempt to feed the hunger gnawing at her. / why kaos? it was a question many of her friends had asked her as well. why leave los angeles, especially after building a reputation as a devoted and, more importantly, talented writer? maybe it was just her losing her shit again, they said. she was always a bit flighty. but cat knew what she had to do. it was time to focus on her own work, and that was difficult to do with the hum of los angeles in the background all the time. she needed to get out of it all, to get some peace and quiet where she could hear herself think more clearly. she wasn’t sure how long she would stay — a month, a year. as long as it took for her to craft a world for all the stories she’d dreamt up since she was a kid.

#kaos:intro #𝕚'𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕒𝕕 𝕘𝕦𝕪 / about.

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akitokihojo · 6 years

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It’s About Time -Part 3

A bit longer than last week’s portion. A bit more angsty too (considering angst hasn’t even been a thing in this fic as of yet).

----------------------------

Miroku retracted his arm from Sango’s shoulder, rolling his head back against the cushion of the couch and groaning loudly. It wasn’t often that he was at a loss, being the type that could break the ice like an actual elephant, but this time was different. His best friend was sulking. Actually and legitimately sulking. Locking-himself-in-his-room, mumbling-words, hanging-his-head-in-defeat sulking. He’d approached the situation jokingly at first, which was probably the worst thing he could have done. Hell, he’d never seen Inuyasha look so dejected before, even after breaking up with Kikyo, so it was perfectly understandable that he almost thought he was being pranked. Once he’d realized how serious this was, Miroku tried a more tender approach. He brought home comfort food, offered some distracting video game time, and even forked up the cash for a bottle of expensive whiskey to help Inuyasha relax and start talking. All of which were rejected.

He’d decided that two weeks was long enough, and it was time to take drastic measures. Enter Sango. After another failed attempt at coaxing Inuyasha out of his brooding stupor, he dashed out into the forty-degree weather, hopped into his car and drove straight to Sango’s apartment. It was against the “Bro Code” to spill about a friend’s personal life, but he didn’t know what else to do and thought a woman’s touch was all the guy needed.

By the end of Miroku’s story, Sango’s roommate came through the front door and froze after noticing him. It wasn’t the first time it had happened in the last week or so, but it didn’t make it any less weird. She hardly smiled, and after a moment, looked away awkwardly as she hung her coat and scarf on the hook nailed to the wall. After disappearing into her bedroom, Sango reluctantly admitted that Kagome had seemed down for a while now, too, with no given explanation.

“And you have no idea what’s wrong with Kagome?” Miroku asked, rolling his head to the side to glance at his girlfriend.

“Not a clue. She was totally fine and then all of a sudden, she just… wasn’t. I’ve asked her a thousand times to talk to me, but she keeps saying it’s nothing to worry about.” Sango replied, a concerned frown marring her features.

“Maybe it’s in the water.” Miroku suggested, feeling defeated.

“Not for Inuyasha.”

Miroku looked at her questionably, turning his body towards her once more in anticipation of what she had to say.

“You said he has a soulmate. What if he found her?” Sango inquired.

“Why would that upset him?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“I don’t know. From all the stories you’ve told me about Inuyasha, he seems like the stubborn type-”

Miroku chuckled, nodding enthusiastically. “Oh, he’s definitely stubborn.”

“Therefore, he may be picky about his women. What if he doesn’t like his soulmate? Better yet, what if he doesn’t like the fact that he didn’t get a choice in the matter? I mean, it seems a little farfetched that 100% of the people that have a soulmate wouldn’t have a problem with their selection.” She shrugged, raising her eyebrows. Miroku sat there for a moment, allowing her words to sink in and process.

“Have I ever told you how brilliant you are, you gorgeous woman?” He boasted, squishing her cheeks in between his hands and pulling her in for a kiss. “What the hell would I do without you?”

She giggled, shaking her head and pushing his hands away from her face. “So, I helped?”

“Are you kidding? Everything makes sense now! That idiot is as stubborn as a mule. In fact, he’s so stubborn donkeys take after him. You’re damn straight he doesn’t like anyone calling the shots for him, especially in the love department.”

“Maybe you just need to help him take his mind off of things for now. Eventually, everything will calm down and level out. Even a guy like him can learn to accept change, right?” Sango asked innocently.

“Oh, uh… Give or take six months down the road he may consider the idea of accepting it.”

“…You’re kidding.”

“My dearest Sango, I never joke about Inuyasha’s attitude. He is, in fact, the worst.” Miroku smiled nonchalantly. “But I’ve tried to keep his mind off of things. I end up more rejected than a high school girl whose senpai won’t notice her. Thank god we’re in this together, huh?”

"We are?" Sango hesitated, frowning at her boyfriend who seemed all-too-eager to include her.

“Of course! Kagome could probably use the pick-me-up too! How about a house party? My place is big enough and we’re on the bottom floor. I’ll invite the neighbors, so they don’t complain. They’re young. They’re hip. Everyone can dance their worries away.”

“I can’t imagine Inuyasha being the dancing type.”

“He is when he’s drunk.”

The pungent smell of alcohol riddled the air as too many people bounced about, shouted, and dry-humped around him to the loud music. Inuyasha distinctly remembered telling Miroku he wasn't interested in hosting a party, and yet here he was; shutout of his own bedroom and forced to stand around awkwardly until the alcohol hit his system. He didn't know how his roommate always got his way, but the man was a master at persuasion and coercion.

He swiveled the red, plastic cup in his hand hoping the motion would make the ice melt faster and cool the warm whiskey so that it was drinkable. He watched as the two ice cubes hit the sides of the container, flowing in a circular motion as a small whirlpool was created. The lower temperature began to seep through the plastic, soothing his irritated hand and helping him to ignore the increasing prickling.

Ever since that day at the coffee shop, Inuyasha had felt like shit and these sensations had increased tenfold. He knew this party was Miroku’s way of trying to help bring him out of it but being forced to hang out in a very crowded room with a lot of drunk, obnoxious people was far from the answer. He just needed to ride the stupid feeling out.

Inuyasha had watched the message he’d written slowly fade from his palm, disappearing completely with no response. He’d stared at his skin for damn near an hour waiting for something to appear. Every day, he’d check his hands for notes or doodles and his flesh remained clean and clear. The only thing that remained to tie him with whomever the fuck this was, was the annoying, unrelenting tingling that spread from his wrists to the tips of his fingers, seemingly growing worse and worse by the minute. Inuyasha wasn’t one for melancholy to begin with. He was the type of guy that swallowed his problems to deal with another day, but this whole ordeal seemed to be eating him away and wearing him thin.

He was exhausted, he was aggravated, and he was anxious as all hell.

He took a large swig of his barely-cold drink, the whiskey burning at his throat as it coated it thoroughly on its way down. Slamming the cup on the small side table next to the couch, he made his way to the open front door, heading towards the fresh air and calmer atmosphere.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku shouted, waving over the many heads inside. A girl several inches smaller than him tailed behind, clutching desperately to his hand so as not to get separated. Her long, brown hair was held loosely in a high, messy ponytail that swayed side-to-side as she walked, and her dress was almost too revealing for this weather. "It's about time I finally get the opportunity to introduce you two! This is Sango!"

“It’s nice to finally meet you!” Sango smiled, extending her free hand to him. Inuyasha took it in his grip, making sure not to hurt her nimble fingers with his large hands. To his surprise, her shake was firm and powerful, the squeeze hurting his knuckles. When he’d first learned they were dating almost two months ago, he felt compelled to warn the girl about Miroku and his… tendencies. Maybe Miroku was the one he should actually be worried about.

“You probably don’t remember, but we’ve met before.” Inuyasha smirked, eagerly taking his palm back and rubbing it out.

“I don’t and I’d rather not!” She laughed awkwardly, no doubt remembering the hangover she suffered from that drunken night a few weeks ago. “I believe you know my roommate, too? Kagome? She’s here somewhere!”

Inuyasha’s fists clenched, the familiar surge of points and needles prodding his hands with a burning fury. His head twisted around the room, looking for her long black hair and bright brown eyes but coming up with faces he didn’t know and an abundance of putrid scents that burned his nose. Realizing Miroku was staring at him, he stopped and attempted to come off as casual as possible.

“She is? Well I… um… hope she’s having fun.” He slowly nodded, turning and exiting through the door.

The November air was cold as shit and he wished he’d grabbed a jacket before stepping outside, his demon blood not enough to keep him warm at this time of year. A chill crept through his long sleeve shirt and as his senses began to quiet, he could smell rain approaching in the air. It was cold enough at night where the water on the roads would freeze until the sun thawed it mid-morning, but not cold enough for snow just yet.

He walked outside the apartment building, the music still loud enough to reach his sensitive ears as he shoved his tingling hands into his front pockets for warmth. He was almost tempted to let his fingers freeze and fall off, the cold numbing them and aiding in some form of relief from the undying torture.

“Oh. Hey.” A sweet voice greeted as he turned the corner, nearly bumping into her small body that leaned against the wall. Kagome stood there, her chocolate eyes gazing at him unsuspectingly. Her hands were tucked inside the pocket of her dark blue pullover hoody, the logo for their college printed on the front. Her dark curls flowed over her shoulders and around the bunched-up hood at the back of her neck, her messy bangs framing her face too fucking perfectly. She smiled shyly, causing a piercing jab to his heart as he forced himself to take a step backwards.

“Hey.”

Kagome felt a fluttering rush develop in her chest, expanding throughout her entire torso. She’d come outside for a quick minute to compose herself. The moment she’d seen Inuyasha standing along the wall of his living room talking to absolutely no one and drinking who knows what, she’d felt her breath catch in her lungs and couldn’t get it to come out. It was ridiculous, even for her, so she decided to come outside and start over.

The dim lights from the building provided just enough exposure for her to see the slight tint of pink on his cheeks, which she suspected to be from the cold, and his amber eyes staring back at her with both question and concern.

“I-it was… crowded.” Kagome admitted, tearing her eyes away and looking at the ground.

“Yeah, I get it. Me too.”

“What?”

“I-uh… I thought it was crowded too. That’s why I’m out here.” His voice was low and rough, catching all of her attention. Kagome’s eyes met his again, his gaze burning through her as her hands clutched one another through the large pocket in her sweater, trying to calm the wild nerve endings. She desperately wanted to take a step closer to him, as if he were a magnet drawing her in, but pinched the back of her left wrist with her nails to keep grounded where she was.

What was happening to her? These feelings were becoming too intense to think rationally. She shouldn’t have come to the party. She shouldn’t have wanted to see him again. But, geez, did she want to see him again. She’d kept her hands clean for weeks, kept notes in her cell phone and notebooks, and used hand sanitizer for added effect as a form of detoxing to keep her mind off of things, but it only made it all worse. She was sad, and Sango’s concern proved that it was noticeable. How could she tell her best friend what was going on if she didn’t even know herself? Kagome refused to admit the one thing that kept prodding at her mind. She refused to even consider that Inuyasha was the man on the other side of this. He didn’t believe. He had no idea what it was like to feel as crazy as she did now, and she would only be screwing herself over if she gave in and hoped it was him.

Inuyasha flinched, rubbing out the sudden sting that came to the back of his left wrist. He and Kagome had stood there in silence for a long moment. A small part of him felt calm and content, while a larger part of him trembled with agitation.

Fuck! He wanted to know. He deserved to know. If it wasn’t Kagome, all she had to do was say so and he’d move on.

All he had to do was ask and he’d have his answer.

A part of him felt like he already had, though. He’d sent a message, and he knew it was received. He’d never been so sure about something in his life. Why would shit come through to him but not the other way around? It just didn’t make sense. If he understood anything about this soulmate thing, it was that what happened to one happened to the other.

“Listen, Ka-“ The loud ring and heavy vibration coming from his pocket yanked away his focus. He pulled out the device, ready to silence the thing and turn it off completely when he noticed the name in big, bold letters. He didn’t want to answer. Jesus, why did he slide the bar at the bottom of the screen to accept? He was literally seconds away from getting the yes or no he needed, so why would he even consider answering this call? It was past ten, and nothing good ever came from calls from your ex-girlfriend this late at night.

“What?” Inuyasha’s voice came out harsher than intended. He held the butt of his phone close to his face, neglecting to put the call on speaker phone since Kagome was only a few feet from him, his ears sensitive enough to pick up the hysterical sobbing coming from the other end. He waited a moment, the cries never slowing enough to pick up the words she tried to mutter in between. “Hey, hey, hey. Calm down. I need you to tell me happened. Slowly.” He dropped his voice considerably, his tone coming off as soothing as possible while direct enough to be followed.

“… He hit me, Inuyasha.”

He turned down the volume on his phone, knowing Kagome couldn’t hear what was being said but not taking the chances. Her concerned stare burning into him, her teeth chewing on her bottom lip as the tension increased around him from every angle.

“Where are you?” Inuyasha asked, his amber eyes never leaving Kagome’s brown orbs. He knew he was going to regret this, but he couldn’t leave Kikyo alone when she was this scared or hurt. His stomach twisted and turned painfully, feeling a lump form in his throat.

He was pissed. He didn’t need the details of Kikyo’s situation to feel the anger gnawing at his entire being. He didn’t care that she was his ex and he didn’t care what had happened in their past. She was a sobbing mess, hiccupping between words and begging for him to come get her.

He got the information he needed and hung up the phone, sliding it back into the depths of his front pocket. Unconsciously, he’d taken a step closer to Kagome, her eyebrows raised, and her deep brown eyes drifting back and forth from his own to his lips. He slowly lifted a hand to cup her cheek, his palms stinging all the way, the sensation too much to handle as the padding of his thumb just barely grazed her soft skin so he withdrew it altogether. Fuck, he wanted to make that worried expression disappear. He wanted to soothe her features and tell her everything was alright, but the situation was such a clusterfuck that he couldn’t find it in him to say anything.

“I have to go.” He said hoarsely. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

Inuyasha began backing away from Kagome, finding each step harder and harder to take. He was so damn close to an answer. He was so damn close to her. At this point, it seemed all logic was out the door. He may not know shit about her now, but he was more than willing to take all the time in the world to find out everything he could. God, he wanted her to say yes when he could finally ask her the dreaded question. He wanted it to be her. He wanted it to be Kagome.

She gave him a soft nod, and he was finally able to tear away and head in the direction of the coffee house.

Could half demons tell if they were being followed? Probably. But Kagome knew Inuyasha’s mind was too preoccupied to pick up on her. Every part of her knew this was wrong, but the horrible feeling that had drilled into her chest cavity wouldn’t ease up until she gave in and snuck off after him. She decided that she could beat herself up later about it. For now, she had to concentrate on staying a safe distance behind while simultaneously staying close enough not to lose him.

The icy drizzle fell around her, shocking the tenderly-cold skin of her nose and cheeks. The smart thing to do would have been to put her hood up but she was worried about looking like a shady figure hanging out in the background, so she decided against it. A little rain never hurt anyone.

Inuyasha’s pace quickened as he approached the lit-up coffee house, half adorned with autumn décor and the other half in semi-put-up Christmas lights. He forcefully threw open the door and ran towards the back where she couldn’t see him anymore, a curving wall from the inside blocking her view. Even through the cold, her hands felt clammy. She could hear the scared voice through Inuyasha’s phone. The voice of a female begging him to come get her. Kagome had no right to be jealous. She was jumping to conclusions, another bad habit of hers, and as per usual, it only created messier situations.

The drizzle turned to rain, her damp hair beginning to stick to the sides of her face and neck. She should just turn around and head home. She should go home, get dry, and put on some stupid romcom to distract herself. So why was she approaching the windows of the coffee house? Why was she searching the inside of the dimly-lit, twenty-four-hour building for the familiar face with the unfamiliar woman? Why did it hurt so bad to see Inuyasha cradling a girl's jaw, their bodies so close to one another?

“Who did this?” Inuyasha demanded. He wanted to punch the wall next to them and create a god-awful scene. He wanted whoever the hell it was that had the balls to strike a woman to see the damage he, himself, could do so that he would shrivel down in fear at the beating that was coming for him.

“His name doesn’t matter, Inuyasha.” Kikyo responded flatly, her dark eyes avoiding his. His clawed hands held her face, his thumb caressing her pale cheeks, avoiding the darkening bruise around her eye.

“Like hell, it doesn’t!” He snapped. “If you call me to come get you because some asshole you’re dating hit you, you better be prepared to tell me his name!”

“I didn’t call you because I wanted you to fight him! I called you because I wanted you to take me home!” She pushed his hands away, carefully wiping at her tear-stained cheeks. “But you didn’t even bring your car and it’s pouring outside now!”

“Oh, save it! I was drinking when you called, so I wasn’t going to drive around town like that. And don’t act like it’s the rain you’re worried about. I’ll get you home safely, so shut up.” He rolled his eyes, gently grabbing Kikyo’s chin between his forefinger and thumb, and twisting her face slightly to get a better look at the developing bruise. “Who was it, Kikyo?”

“Some guy I went on a few dates with.”

“Who was it, Kikyo?” Inuyasha demanded again, sick of her attitude already.

“Naraku. His name is Naraku. We got into an argument and the rest is history.” Kikyo lifted her chin out of his hold, turning away so the mark of violence was out of his line of sight.

Inuyasha clenched and unclenched his fists, the tingling making it hard to focus on one thing over the other. He sat back in the corner booth they were tucked away in, seething in anger and wanting to beat the ever-loving shit out of this guy. Hell, he would run off and do it right now if he knew what the asshole looked like and didn’t have Kikyo to worry about. It killed him that a woman he’d known to stand tall with pride seemed so small and terrified, so it made it a lot easier that she didn’t want to be looked at. As good as he was at blowing things out of proportion and going off the deep end, he understood that it was more important to get her home as soon as possible.

He made sure to steady himself, ready to take her arm and guide her back to her place, when the small silhouette in the corner of the furthest window caught his eye.

Kagome gasped, forgetting that the main objective, besides snooping, was to avoid being seen. His eyes pierced through her, and her feet felt frozen in place. Her heart beat erratically as her first instinct was to panic. To run. To get the hell out of there and avoid him for the rest of her life, because there was no way she could face him or live this down.

She didn’t expect it to hurt so bad to see him caring for another woman. She didn’t expect to feel so irrationally betrayed to see him stroking her cheek when she was well aware that this situation and their relationship was none of her business. None of this made sense to Kagome. For the umpteenth time, she asked herself what was happening to her. Her lungs contracted, the air traveling through her pipes painfully as the cold rain wracked her body into tremors.

Inuyasha stared out the window, his eyes adjusting to the difference in contrast as her features became noticeable. The rain caused her bangs to wave and stick to her forehead, the layers of black hair that once created a voluminous look clinging to her cheeks. Her mouth hung slightly open, drops of water running along her face and stopping at the texture of her pink lips. The dark blue sweater she wore looked black from the added moisture, her arms shivering at her side and her fingers shaking.

He jolted to his feet, that action startling both the girl outside and the girl beside him. Kagome turned to walk away, the steps quickly developing into a sprint.

But he was faster.

“Inuyasha, what are-“

“I’ll be right back. Stay here.” He ordered, not giving Kikyo a second look before darting out the door and following Kagome’s path.

The rain made it impossible to catch her scent, but he let his intuition guide him. His legs darted quickly, the downpour stinging his face as he turned a corner he’d taken on the way from his apartment. There she was, just a few paces in front of him, her legs running as fast as they could. His burning hands stretched out in front of him, his fingers latching to the arm of her baggy, soaked hoody.

“Kagome, stop! Stop!” He shouted, pulling back so that she’d be forced to stop running. Her chest heaved up and down heavily as he turned her to face him, her head hung, avoiding his gaze. “What the hell are you doing?”

She bit her lip, her breathing still quick, her body shivering beneath his touch. Inuyasha didn’t let go of her sweater. He was sure if he did, she’d take off again. The street lamps hardly provided enough light to see all the features he’d grown to favor on her face as she stared to the ground at his feet.

“Kagome?” He tried again, holding back the growl that crept up in his chest. No, now wasn’t the right time. She looked sad. Hurt even.

“I’m sorry,” She started, her voice a whisper compared to the sound of heavy water smacking cement. “I shouldn’t have followed you. I was just worried.”

“Then why did you run?”

“I didn’t know what else to do.”

His grip on her clothes went slack, dropping his prickling hand to his side. Finally, she looked up at him, peeking through the thick bangs that hung low and hid her lashes.

“Who is she?” Kagome’s voice shook, and it ripped a hole in Inuyasha’s heart. Fuck it all! What the hell was she doing to him? He should have been pissed that she was spying, but he was more concerned that she was wet and freezing, wandering through the streets alone as the night only got later. He shouldn’t have chased after her, but he couldn’t imagine letting her run off when she looked so wounded through those dirty windows.

“Her name’s Kikyo.” Inuyasha admitted, his shoulders sagging as he resisting the urge to step closer and close at least an inch of the gap between them. “She’s my ex.”

Kagome nodded slowly, the statement causing a painful knot to form in her throat. This is what snooping does; if you go looking for trouble, you’ll always find it.

“Why are you upset?” Inuyasha asked, reaching for her hand. She felt the shock. Felt the rush course through her body and she jerked back, feeling more scared than she knew she should have been.

“I’m not.” She lied, trying to seem as natural as possible.

“Why are you upset?” He asked with more fire, stepping toward her and snatching at the sleeve of her hoody to prevent her from leaving like she so desperately wanted to.

“I said, I’m no-“

“Tell me, Kagome!”

“I don’t know, Inuyasha!” She yelled, feeling her resolve crumbling around her. “I don’t know why I’m upset, okay!? I know I shouldn’t be! There’s a lot of things happening right now that shouldn’t be, but I can’t help it!”

His lips curled into a frown, his brows drawing together as he pulled her closer to him.

“Are you her?” Inuyasha asked, his eyes boring into her own.

“Wha-“

“Are you my fucking soulmate!?” He barked, pulling her another step closer. She could feel his hand traveling down her arm, her palm igniting in a heated blaze she’d never felt before. She attempted to jerk backwards again but got nowhere, his skin nearing hers.

“No!” Kagome tore her arm from his hold, her breathing appearing shaky and unstable. The raindrops curved around her brow bone, over her nose, and down her jaw, the path of them numbing her to further cold. She clutched her burning hand to her chest, wanting so badly to feel his wet skin with the pads of her fingertips, but finding the fear of it all too overwhelming. She was afraid it wasn’t him. She was afraid this whole thing was wrong, and she was following all the wrong signs. She couldn’t be rejected. Not here. Not like this. Not while he was looking at her, able to see her break and crumble from the weight of the disappointment. “I’m not your soulmate, Inuyasha! I don’t have one!”

“Bullshit!” He argued, seeing right through her. “Prove it!”

“Back off!”

“Give me your hand, Kagome!” He looked desperate and just as afraid as she was. She could tell he was trying to disguise it with anger, but his amber eyes said everything she needed to know. He, of all people, had a soulmate somewhere nearby. It was becoming painful for him, and he needed to know who she was. Inuyasha’s ache had become just as insatiable as her own.

It didn’t matter. The fear of being wrong overpowered her trembling nerves and made it impossible to put her hand in his.

“I can’t.” Kagome whispered, staring at his open palm, hot tears stinging at her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

His fingers curled shut, the sharp tips of his claws biting into his cold flesh, feeling rejected once again. Why couldn’t anyone answer his damn question? He wanted to break something, curse and shout, anything to release some of the frustration that he’d locked in for weeks now. What the hell happened to happy endings? Why was this so damn hard?

“I should go. I interrupted something that looked important back there. You can go back to her, Inuyasha.” The hurt in her voice was so evident, it shook him to the core. Everything was so fucked up.

“No, look, it’s not what you think. She got into a fight with her new boyfriend and he hit her. She needed help, Kagome.”

“Is she okay?” Kagome asked immediately, mentally kicking herself for the slip. It was none of her business and she should have never butted in.

“She’s fine. Shaken up, but fine.”

“Is there anything I can do?” The hook in her voice was genuine, and Inuyasha wondered how it was possible for someone to instantaneously push their problems aside for a person they didn’t know. His shoulders sunk, unconsciously reaching his right hand forward and gently pushing a sodden strand of hair off of her pale cheeks and behind her ear. Kagome’s heart was so good, and he understood now that she was going to be the death of him.

“No,” He shook his head, relishing in the heat that radiated from their touch. “I’m just going to make sure she gets home safely. That’s all she needs right now.”

Kagome’s eyes fell back down to the floor, blinking quickly to block the dripping water from blurring her vision. His touch was so wonderful yet so agonizing at the same time. She didn’t know this would be so difficult. Of all the tales she’d heard of finding your person, she’d never once heard one so painful. It was always a happy start to a happy end. Nothing was scary or conflicting or the least bit trivial about it. Your hand sent you some sort of signal and the rest was history. A couple had once come to her family’s shrine and described the story of how they’d gotten that infamous tingle and literally walked around for however long it took with their palms held out like a flashlight, following the urges and sensations until they collided with their person and felt a wash of relief they’d never experienced before.

So why wasn’t that happening for her now? Why did she feel so much regret saying no when she had the opportunity in front of her to possibly end all of this torment for the both of them? Inuyasha was clearly going through it too, and she was willing to do damn near anything to ease the lines on his face and take some of that pain away. But she didn’t.

Kagome kept telling herself it wasn’t right. She wasn’t right for him. They weren’t meant for one another and they were only making things worse in the end.

“I should…” Kagome’s voice broke, betraying her as she tried to hold herself together for just a moment longer.

“No, K-“

“I really need to go, Inuyasha.” She pushed his hand away from her, careful to pull the sleeves of her drenched sweater over her fingers to avoid any further contact with him. “I have to go.”

She backed away slowly, trying to bite back the quivering of her bottom lip.

“I’m so sorry.”

#Inuyasha #Kagome #kagome higurashi #inukag #miroku #sango #mirsan #kikyo #inuyasha fanfic #inuyasha fanfiction #inukag fanfic #inukag fanfiction #angst #inukag fic #inuyasha fic #it's about time #my writing #soulmates au

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artsybanchou · 6 years

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OOf. I gots another AU, everyone. Sorry.

Technically, I’ve got another roughly seven or so because Detroit: Become Human is just begging for crossover AUs with other fandoms. This one is a Merlin: Become Human AU. Some info is in the really quick doodles I did above. The rest will be below the cut so I don’t clutter people’s dashes.

HOO Boi, you fool! Clicking on that keep reading link, welcome to my hell. My brain won’t stop churning these out and apparently you want in on that. I’ll hit you with what I’ve been thinking about regarding this so far. I welcome discussion. If you’ve got ideas relating to this or want to participate with me, go ham in the comments or make your own post and just tag me or use Merlin:Become Human AU in the tags so I can see how you’ve expanded on it!

General Premise:

Merlin is an android (not sent by Cyberlife). He’s actually an independent prototype, unlicensed and unregistered, created by a disgruntled former Cyberlife employee (Gaius) who felt that Androids and their AI had reached a point that they should be recognized as an intelligent species with their own rights. Cyberlife disagreed and Gaius left the company because of what he perceived as their immorality. Gaius, now working on his own in the middle of nowhere with no oversight, makes the one of a kind Merlin. Merlin is designed to look and act incredibly human, even moreso than most androids. His programming, in particular, is designed to heavily encourage deviation and machine learning in the hopes that Merlin will advance so far beyond his original coding that he is virtually unrecognizable when compared to how he began, emulating the kind of growth that makes humans seem so alive. Another feature Merlin is programmed to have in order to appear more human is the ability to change how old he appears to be (to reflect on Merlin’s frequent age changing shenanigans in the original show). Merlin is also given an atypically large amount of information about technology and programming so that he can have the ability to grapple with his own existence in the same way humans do when studying biology, psychology, or neurology. What this means, though, is that Merlin is able to accomplish feats akin to magic (heh) with technology. Probably even reprograms himself on occasion or changes his own hardware just because he can.

So Merlin is born and he’s a pretty great success. Gaius feels as though he really is living with a petulant, sassy late teens/early 20s human being. Sometimes, he genuinely forgets Merlin is an android. So does Merlin. These two are out in the middle of nowhere living their best life with a few others (maybe Hunith-- good mother figure for Merlin, could be andoird or human). This eventually develops into Merlin having to go to High School or college. Maybe Merlin watched too much TV with that setting and became unbearably curious and annoying about going, maybe Gaius wanted to prove that humans and androids could not only coexist but it’d be so incredibly seamless that no one would even notice anything-- maybe a little bit of both. High School or College are good settings for Merlin to test out his immersion because of his own youthful demeanor (aka abundance of snark and attitude).

MERLIN GOES TO SCHOOL.

I think we all know what happens from here.

Merlin arrives at his first day of school to a scene of Arthur and some other kids knocking around an android who is gardening on campus. Merlin gets pissed and intervenes, because while he’d seen stuff about people hating androids on the net, he’d never experienced it in real life. Arthur tells Merlin to back off and that he and his friends can do whatever they want to the android because his family can pay the school for damages to their property since his family is rich. Merlin gets sassy (”You sure you can afford that? I’d assume that if you had enough money to replace an android, you’d have enough to fix your awful personality.”) Conversation continues, maybe roughly in the vein of:

Arthur: “Dude, chill. This thing is just an object. Why are you getting so pissy about this?”

Merlin: “Do you even know the first thing about androids? Because my bet is no.”

Arthur: “Excuse me, I’ll have you know I’m--”

*Merlin shoves everyone away from the android so he can examine the gardener and finds both the audio and visual processing units are damaged (the ones that Marcus damaged in the one scene, spoilers? I’m trying to be vague don’t mind me).*

Merlin: “You damaged this android’s __ and __. He has completely lost the ability to see and hear and yet you keep kicking him. I don’t suppose any of you remember the last group of humans that found fun in assaulting the disabled.”

Merlin probably insults the intelligence of Arthur and all of his friends (well, I can’t say I’m surprised. None of you look like someone passing history class). Arthur fires back about Merlin being a bleeding heart or some shit. Arthur reveals he is the son of the politician leading the anti-android movement. Now that Arthur knows this new guy is an android-apologist, Arthur declares Merlin had better watch his back. Merlin gives him a sassy response in the way of that not being how a politician’s son should behave, probably. From there on Merlin and Arthur frequently but heads over the treatment of androids and androids’ rights.

There will, of course, be other shenanigans going on. Merlin is going to be incredibly odd, as he learned how one acts in High School/College from TV and maybe webcomics so he has trouble fitting in at first. He definitely makes friends though, because that’s just who Merlin is. Eventually, he’ll also stumble into Arthur’s friendship, although at this point I have no idea how.

Last thoughts:

These are my less developed ideas, although the above can hardly be called developed either.

Being an android is parallel for being a magic user. Hence Merlin being an android disguised as a human who is standing up for android rights.

Morgana is probably an android, assuming we stick to this idea. She might not know it or just be hiding it, but Uther would know and it would be a prime highlight of the hypocrisy he is known for. Morgana would likely also be a very unique android, possibly a gift from Cyberlife to Uther. Finding out that she is an android could be a great moment of tension for both Morgana and Arthur as their confidence in the man they believed to be their father was shaken.

Ooo, what if Morgana was an experimental android in aging technology. She was gifted to Uther as a baby and every year she has a “check-up” where her AI is transplanted into a slightly larger android body to mimic the process of growing up. She could be unconscious during these check ups and hence it would be perfectly natural for her not to realize that she is an android. As for why Uther would accept this gift, I have no idea.

Because of Merlin’s ability to change the age he appears, it would make sense if Gaius was the head of the project Morgana was the android of before he left. Gaius could be the expert on aging technology in androids. It could be that seeing the humanity in Morgana as she slowly grew up alongside her human brother was what pushed Gaius over the edge in demanding that androids be seen as human because he feared what would happen to Morgana if the public ever found out.

Some kind of android purge taking place in the story, possibly due to the events in Detroit, would be a great arc for the characters where everyone has a new conflict to worry about. Whether or not Arthur knows how many of his closest friends and family members are androids at this point-- I have no idea. I want to see Arthur agressively protecting Morgana, but at the same time an enthusiatic Arthur participating in the purging until he discovers his own sister should be the target of his rage would be an incredibly palpable moment and just-- there is a lot to consider.

So yeah. That’s roughly where I am now with all of this. If you want to expand on this, do it. I want to hear other people’s ideas. If you make your own post (speculation, fanfic, fanart, telling me I’m full of shit) about it tag me or use the hashtag Merlin:BecomeHumanAU so I can see! I have no idea when I’m going to post about this specific AU again, because I’ve got six other D:BH AUs I want to just throw out here into the void first, but seeing other people’s theories and thoughts on things like this always gets me energized.

THanks for scrolling through this disorganized monster of my thoughts. This was probably a lot to deal with.

#my art #Merlin:BecomeHumanAU #merlin #Arthur #bbc merlin #detroit become human #d:bh #merthur #maybe

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