Flashfic: Thaumaturgy (Merlin/Arthur, wing!verse AU)

[b_hallward]

Summary: Each of those who is allotted a place in the Divine Order finds his perfection in being uplifted, according to his capacity. -- Dionysius the Areopagite (AN: Wing!verse, set between Sublimity and By Means of Fire.)

ThaumaturgyIt's so not much that Arthur is looking for Merlin, but he finds him anyway by a backdoor on the industrial side

Comments

[veleda_k]

There's so much here, both being said and not being said that I'm--not blown away--but quietly and profoundly moved. (And pretend that didn't make me sound like an idiot.)

You know, I've read my fair share of angel!AUs, but yours is the first makes me feel like the character is something holy and mighty, something outside human understanding. Not a hallmark angel, but something that can truly be called an agent of the Divine. I'm wowed. (And it keeps me wanting more.)

[b_hallward]

Thanks! Angels should be terrifying, I think, unknowable; emanations of the "divine"--regardless of what tradition you're working in--should be freighting, unencompassible, whether it's an angel or a bodhisattva or an apprehension of the tao. Something transcendent.

The central idea of this really has crystallized around that quote from St. John Chrysostom, that angels don't really have wings; it's just a symbol humans use to attempt to represent their divine and superhuman nature, a visual metaphor: That they leave the heights to approach human nature.

I still don't know what direction to take this, except that I want them to have sex. And I sort of want falling, like faith, not to be that simple: Do not be greatly disturbed by the arrangement of your fate. Have only the unwavering desire for salvation and, standing before God, await His help until the time comes. - Saint Ambrose of Optina

Sex with a metaphysical edge sounds so interesting.

[puckling]

Arthur blinks. Merlin grins, finite and shockingly ordinary, pleased with himself. He reaches out to poke Arthur but stops halfway through the motion and shrugs instead. "You see me according to your nature, too." He looks wide-eyed and innocent and Arthur knows that must be an act. "You're human, Arthur. There's a lot you miss."

I'm really loving how we get more and more glimpses of this verse as you keep writing these snippets.

[b_hallward]

Thanks! This universe refuses to leave me alone. And I don't even go for angel!fic.

[samescenes]

Have to let you know - again - that this is my favourite thing ever.

Still.

[b_hallward]

Thanks! Perhaps if I make them have sex this universe will then leave me alone?

[veleda_k]

I must confess that I hope that that isn't the case. I know, I'm terrible.

[b_hallward]

But otherwise I'll be cursed to write ever expanding wing!fic. Wing!fic.

[mossylawn]

I have fallen hard for angel!Merlin. There is no turning back.

And for a flash Merlin shifts, changes, a light and a flame, sharp and brilliant and stretching from the roof of the sky down into the heart of the earth. For that moment, Merlin is blinding.

This is poetry my dear, thick and smooth like caramel.

[b_hallward]

One thing I really like about the show is how much Merlin changes and how that change was gradual enough that the full scope of it wasn't apparent to me until I rewatched some of the earlier episodes, thinking about 1x13. So this was something of a bridge piece, getting Merlin to see that the world is a more complicated place than he thinks, starting him down the path that is going to lead him to that dark alley. Though frankly I really like young prideful angel!Merlin.

So, seriously, angel!Merlin or Arthur, who should top, the first time?

[mossylawn]

One thing I really like about the show is how much Merlin changes and how that change was gradual enough that the full scope of it wasn't apparent to me until I rewatched some of the earlier episodes, thinking about 1x13. Oh, it makes me want to rewatch the series again (and I probably will once my essay hell is over), I remember how much I was stunned by the change in the body language between 1x13 and the earlier episodes. He's so unbelievably still, driven my desperation and his mind already welcoming death for Arthur's sake.

Though frankly I really like young prideful angel!Merlin.
I love him too! And I like to think he can be both, just line Merlin can be this sublime warlock and an awkward adolescent boy at the same time.

So, seriously, angel!Merlin or Arthur, who should top, the first time?
YOU HAD TO DROP THAT BOMB, DIDN'T YOU? Frankly I'm in favour of angel!Merlin as a dominant bottom. He'd still be the giving entity, but yet completely in control. OR a top Merlin but a thoroughly worshipful one

[b_hallward]

Colin does a fantastic job in that episode--the scene where Gaius comes and tells him Arthur will live, just watching his face, has to be one of my favorite in the entire series.

He's so unbelievably still

That is just so so sexy. He holds himself the way you handle a weapon. It makes you realize that someday Merlin is going to be very dangerous.

YOU HAD TO DROP THAT BOMB

THAT BOMB NEEDED TO BE DROPPED. And we are scarily on the same page here. My original thought was dominant bottom, receptive and breached and willfully sinking down on Arthur's cock, in control and choosing this--something about exploring the flesh, like waking up one day and finding new colors in the world, since by canon Angels don't feel bodily desire.

And yet Merlin is an intermediary, something that stands between Arthur and higher orders of being, a messenger. So I can see the thoroughly worshipful top. IN FACT THERE MAY NEED TO BE MORE THAN ONE SEX SCENE.

[wordsofastory]

Oh, this is all so wonderful. I like the glimpses of the world we get in this piece. Also, why is Merlin in a hoodie so hot? I do not know, but it is truth.