Fic preview: "Pet" Project, part two
I am so NOT going to do this entire fic in little preview-y snippets on my main journal. No, really. I will have it written, coherently and with some sort of chronology, on my fic journal. HOWEVER. I would appreciate some feedback.
Arthur watches Morgana and Gwen, like he always has, and wishes. Quietly, and to himself he wishes, but wishes nonetheless, for the companionship they share, for a pet as lovingly devoted, as loyal as Guinevere. Not that Gwen is blind to her mistress’ faults - she simply loves her mercurial Lady in spite of them.
And Arthur wishes.
*
He received his first pet when he was twelve, after a year of working with Lord Stuart, his father’s Master of the Horse, in the kennels and the stables. He knew how to break and train dogs and horses, and he knew the responsibility of the trainer.
Mark was his first pet; a boy older than Arthur by three years, already trained, broken. Arthur tried very hard not to sulk. Morgana’s first pet - Guinevere, the blacksmith’s daughter - hadn’t been trained at all when she was gifted.
It’s different for girls, his father claims, and if you had no duties more strenuous than embroidery, you would have an unbroken first, as well.
And that mollified Arthur, because it meant - in the roundabout way of his father - that Arthur would begin training with the knights.
*
He kept Mark for six years, until the older boy left to marry Joanna, the baker’s daughter from the lower town. Arthur provided a house for them, as was custom, and offered Mark a place in the royal household for as long as he wanted it. Mark was dutifully grateful and complimentary, and they parted on the best of terms, if not the friendliest.
By that time, Arthur had three other pets - gifts from his father or visiting nobles: Claudius, Margaret, and Gareth. Claudius was the youngest - five years younger than Arthur - and attracted trouble like moths to a flame. It was from Claudius that Arthur learnt his hardest lesson.
*
Training his pets had never been an issue. Mark, obviously, was already trained when he was gifted; Margaret’s quiet temperament and eagerness to please meant she took to the collar like she had been born for it; and Gareth, eager for Arthur’s sponsorship to join the Knights of Camelot, fell into step easily enough. Claudius, however, was a constant challenge.
He was slow, to start with, the unfortunate result of consanguinity between his parents and their parents. He was slow, but he had a good heart, the disposition of a puppy. However, that meant he was also as easily trained as a pup. And Arthur, at seventeen, hadn’t the patience for it. So he passed him off for training, letting fellow knights try their hand at disciplining him.
It was an arrangement that worked well, until Sir Bors had too much drink and not enough luck on the training field or the dice. When they finally got him off of Claudius, the boy would do nothing but whimper and cry in the corner. He stank of piss and sweat and ale, and not even Gwen - gentle Gwen - could coax him out for over an hour.
Claudius was sent away after that, and Arthur finally recognized just how vitally important training was, for both pet and master.
*
By the time he meets Merlin, he is nearly twenty. He has five pets, Roger being one of the newest and his current favourite, with his eagerness to serve tempered by the exasperated tone he gets when Arthur nit-picks too much. (Roger - at twenty and two - thinks Arthur a brat. Arthur thinks Roger great for a laugh.)
Merlin very obviously does not approve of Arthur - does not even like him, but he still saves his life. Arthur wonders at that as he contemplates his new pet - gifted jointly by his father and Gaius. Training, he knows, will be difficult. Breaking Merlin isn’t an option - he mourns the very idea of a docile Merlin. It will take a gentle hand. Perhaps he should consult with Lord Stuart.
Arthur blinks. Or, he thinks, maybe he should consult Morgana.
Now, I don't know where this will be, in the story itself, or even if it will be there at all, because the story is planned from Merlin's POV, exclusively.
Here's the part I need fb on: Aurora suggested I do little snippets - interludes - from Arthur's perspective, things that won't really add to the story, that readers can skip over if they choose, they'll just expound on Arthur's motivations, thoughts, that sort of thing. What do you think? Yes/no/maybe?
I AM SHAMELESS IN MY NEED FOR VALIDATION. ALSO, I AM HORRIBLY INDECISIVE. I NEED OPINIONS.
OH, AND. I almost forgot the meme!
For one week, recommend/share:
Day one: a song
Day two: a picture
Day three: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day four: a site
Day five: a youtube clip
Day six: a quote
Day seven: whatever tickles your fancy
Since I showed off my beautiful new nephew, Joshua, here's his brilliant, sweet older brother, Thaddeus:
(And it is downright SCARY how much they both look like my dad. lol)
Arthur watches Morgana and Gwen, like he always has, and wishes. Quietly, and to himself he wishes, but wishes nonetheless, for the companionship they share, for a pet as lovingly devoted, as loyal as Guinevere. Not that Gwen is blind to her mistress’ faults - she simply loves her mercurial Lady in spite of them.
And Arthur wishes.
*
He received his first pet when he was twelve, after a year of working with Lord Stuart, his father’s Master of the Horse, in the kennels and the stables. He knew how to break and train dogs and horses, and he knew the responsibility of the trainer.
Mark was his first pet; a boy older than Arthur by three years, already trained, broken. Arthur tried very hard not to sulk. Morgana’s first pet - Guinevere, the blacksmith’s daughter - hadn’t been trained at all when she was gifted.
It’s different for girls, his father claims, and if you had no duties more strenuous than embroidery, you would have an unbroken first, as well.
And that mollified Arthur, because it meant - in the roundabout way of his father - that Arthur would begin training with the knights.
*
He kept Mark for six years, until the older boy left to marry Joanna, the baker’s daughter from the lower town. Arthur provided a house for them, as was custom, and offered Mark a place in the royal household for as long as he wanted it. Mark was dutifully grateful and complimentary, and they parted on the best of terms, if not the friendliest.
By that time, Arthur had three other pets - gifts from his father or visiting nobles: Claudius, Margaret, and Gareth. Claudius was the youngest - five years younger than Arthur - and attracted trouble like moths to a flame. It was from Claudius that Arthur learnt his hardest lesson.
*
Training his pets had never been an issue. Mark, obviously, was already trained when he was gifted; Margaret’s quiet temperament and eagerness to please meant she took to the collar like she had been born for it; and Gareth, eager for Arthur’s sponsorship to join the Knights of Camelot, fell into step easily enough. Claudius, however, was a constant challenge.
He was slow, to start with, the unfortunate result of consanguinity between his parents and their parents. He was slow, but he had a good heart, the disposition of a puppy. However, that meant he was also as easily trained as a pup. And Arthur, at seventeen, hadn’t the patience for it. So he passed him off for training, letting fellow knights try their hand at disciplining him.
It was an arrangement that worked well, until Sir Bors had too much drink and not enough luck on the training field or the dice. When they finally got him off of Claudius, the boy would do nothing but whimper and cry in the corner. He stank of piss and sweat and ale, and not even Gwen - gentle Gwen - could coax him out for over an hour.
Claudius was sent away after that, and Arthur finally recognized just how vitally important training was, for both pet and master.
*
By the time he meets Merlin, he is nearly twenty. He has five pets, Roger being one of the newest and his current favourite, with his eagerness to serve tempered by the exasperated tone he gets when Arthur nit-picks too much. (Roger - at twenty and two - thinks Arthur a brat. Arthur thinks Roger great for a laugh.)
Merlin very obviously does not approve of Arthur - does not even like him, but he still saves his life. Arthur wonders at that as he contemplates his new pet - gifted jointly by his father and Gaius. Training, he knows, will be difficult. Breaking Merlin isn’t an option - he mourns the very idea of a docile Merlin. It will take a gentle hand. Perhaps he should consult with Lord Stuart.
Arthur blinks. Or, he thinks, maybe he should consult Morgana.
Now, I don't know where this will be, in the story itself, or even if it will be there at all, because the story is planned from Merlin's POV, exclusively.
Here's the part I need fb on: Aurora suggested I do little snippets - interludes - from Arthur's perspective, things that won't really add to the story, that readers can skip over if they choose, they'll just expound on Arthur's motivations, thoughts, that sort of thing. What do you think? Yes/no/maybe?
I AM SHAMELESS IN MY NEED FOR VALIDATION. ALSO, I AM HORRIBLY INDECISIVE. I NEED OPINIONS.
OH, AND. I almost forgot the meme!
For one week, recommend/share:
Day one: a song
Day two: a picture
Day three: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day four: a site
Day five: a youtube clip
Day six: a quote
Day seven: whatever tickles your fancy
Since I showed off my beautiful new nephew, Joshua, here's his brilliant, sweet older brother, Thaddeus:
(And it is downright SCARY how much they both look like my dad. lol)