Paperlegend art entry - "Playing for keeps" by Rotrude
ART FOR :
Title:Playing for Keeps
Author:
rotrude
Artist:
puckboum
Pairings/characters: Arthur/Merlin, minor Merlin/Mordred, Mordred/Kara, Kara/Elyan
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 75,000
Warnings: /
Summary: Royal Philharmonic Conductor Arthur Pendragon thinks he has everything under control, until his solo violinist calls in sick the night of a major concert and he's cumbered with a last minute substitute. The substitute in question, Merlin Emrys, is everything Arthur believes a lead violin shouldn't be: argumentative, riotous, not properly awed by tradition. But he still catches Arthur's eye because he plays beautifully and has an endearing way about him that's not easily ignored. And Arthur does try to stick to that ignoring option hard.
Paperlegends masterpost (include author's notes)
Fic link (go read it ok? ♥)
(Warning for spoilers!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Header
~~~
Chapter divider
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Merlin though was giving the piece his all and Arthur couldn't refrain from being fascinated by his performance. Eyes closed, fingers making love to that bow, Merlin looked as though he was in a trance, as though that fiddle was his passion. All in all Merlin had a sweet air about him as he performed that drew the eye to him. That air might have made people think of him as a hobbyist, but Arthur didn't doubt Merlin's love for his instrument, nor, now that he was listening to him properly for the first time, the fact that he had talent. Conducting Merlin was a pleasure, Arthur was finding. Merlin seemed to have an instinctive feel for his cues. Aside from that Merlin was far better than Arthur had though he'd be when he'd clapped eyes on him a few hours before."
~~~
"Merlin kissed back, his hands at Arthur's nape, kneading, his tongue plunging deep in Arthur's mouth, kissing and kissing until he was rutting his body against Arthur's.
One of Arthur's hands was at his neck palming it; the other was running up and down Merlin's arm from shoulder to knuckles, which Arthur grazed with the pads of gentle fingers. Even while he did this, he licked into Merlin's mouth, rubbed his lips against it, pressing his body down against Merlin's surging one."
~~~
"Just as Merlin was about to bring the glass Muirden had offered him as a peace token to his lips,Arthur's waiter stumbled right into him. Nimble on his feet, the waiter salvaged his tray, ending up with only a glass upended, its contents spilling on the tray.
But Merlin, who wasn't as agile, dropped his glass."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Notes : First, thanks to The_muppet for being such a nice mod and for making Paperlegends happen. I had a lot of fun! I was lucky to find Rotrude when looking for a second writer to draw for and I regret nothing! I absolutely loved her story and drawing for it was a pleasure. Plus she was super nice. Her story gave me butterflies and made me want to play some violin right there even if I never touched a violin in my life ahah. Let's just say that I kept listening to classical music for a few days after reading it. ♥
I started with the drawing of Merlin and Arthur playing. First, I'm so, so sorry to every violinist, I have no idea how to draw a violin, I tried I swear but those things are hard to draw! Still, I liked playing with the colors to try to represent the music on paper. I chose watercolors because somehow traditional medias remind me more of classical music, but that's just me. c:
Then I tried to select scenes that seemed important to the story and interesting to draw. The poisoning scene of course, and I wanted to depict a moment of... sensuality (◕‿◕✿) between Merlin and Arthur but there's so many! This one was the one that came the most natural to me to draw.
I didn't create the typography in the header, I just copied it because I really suck at creating typography.
Everything was done with ink and watercolors and edited in photoshop.
So, that's it! Hope you'll like the drawings and most importantly, Rotrude's lovely fic! Go read it now! Go!
ON TUMBLR
