(Untitled)

[sour_idealist]

Title: The Luck of the Draw
Fandoms: Merlin & The Traitor Game
Characters/Pairings: Gwen, Tom, Merlin, Hunith, Morgana, Gorlois, Arthur, Francis, Francis's Mum, Michael, Michael's Mum, Uther, Luke, [Francis/Michael, Gwen/Morgana, Arthur/Merlin]
Rating/Warnings: PG-13, swearing, homophobia, hateful language (mostly self-labelling but not in a

Comments

[wake_the_dragon]

I love Hunith and Michael's Mom (though I have never read Traitor's Game and can't tell you if I think the characters from it are in-character).

I liked Tom too; I really hated when they killed him off on the show.

Of course I feel bad for Morgana (that her father isn't accepting) but I feel the worst for Francis and Arthur (whose parents would disown them for coming out).

Good fic.

[sour_idealist]

Thanks! I like writing good mothers (and I think, like, three people in the world have read The Traitor Game so I am not surprised that you have not.)

Tom was interesting to write; he and Gwen had a really sweet dynamic and you're right, I wish we'd seen more of it. I was trying to write him as a father who doesn't really get it and isn't at all sure about this, but loves his daughter and is going to do his best to be supportive.

Yeah, I seem to be tormenting Morgana a bit. Francis and Arthur... Francis's parents probably wouldn't actually disown him, but they would freak out and not stop. Arthur... yeah.

Anyway, thank you so very much, and I'm truly thrilled you liked it.

[simply_shipping]

Okay, I really need to get my hands on a copy of The Traitor Game. I love how all the kids handle coming out differently, and I just want to reach in and hit Uther and Francis's family. And Hunith and Michael's mums are awesome. And I love Tom for trying, even though he doesn't quite get it.

[sour_idealist]

Not to be pushy, but YES YOU TOTALLY DO. That book deserves so much more love.

As to the kids, yeah, this was a fun exercise in characterization and balancing dynamics. I need to do more with this kind of format, I think; I did one about a year ago(!) and it was great to write too.

Uther, and Francis's family... yeah, they suck. I'm glad I managed to provoke such a response, though! And with Tom, I'm glad he came off as sympathetic still.

Thank you so very much. I'm really so, so glad it worked for you.

[simply_shipping]

I tried to buy it when I was at the bookstore last week, but they didn't have it in stock, and neither does my local library, so I'm gonna have to buy it online. *sigh* Bookstore, why are you not psychic enough to know what I want before I come in?

[sour_idealist]

Damn non-psychic bookstores :(. They don't have a handy stack of The Good Stuff, either. And occasionally they have every volume ever of that manga series you've been meaning to read, except for the first.

[silver_sandals]

AAAAH. AAAH. MICHAEL'S MOM. Oh that is so painful and sweet and aaaah. And oh, Michael. You're really, really good- I empathize with him to an incredible degree in this, it's really painful. And so I'm so glad she's there for him- I think maybe he needs it the most.

But your Morgana is also brilliant. Oh, gosh, she's so hard and determined and I bet she went up to her room and cried into her pillow after that.

[sour_idealist]

afsklfjf thank you. I'm not sure if it's Michael or Francis who needs help the most - look at the scenes where Francis is trying to talk about it, even when he thinks Michael already knows he can't actually bring himself to say 'gay' or say anything clearly - but they definitely do. I'm so glad I managed to make the scene work for you, with all the confusion and everything, and just - ugh.

And Morgana is just so awesome canonically. I think she was too proud to cry after that, but she definitely wanted to. :(

[silver_sandals]

Oh, yes, Francis is definitely in a terrible place too, but at least he doesn't have that terrified-of-everything quality that Michael exudes. He's definitely tormented- mostly, I think, because of his obvious feelings for Michael- but he at least seems to be honest with himself, most of the time. I can't imagine him being like Michael, curled up in a ball pretending he doesn't exist anymore.

MORGANAAA. It's so easy to see why Gwen loves her. //season two never happened, okay.

[sour_idealist]

Yeah, Francis has way more confidence in his ability to keep up a likeable facade and to ingratiate himself, and in general he's got a much better opinion of himself than Michael, but I think he's also got a lot of internalized homophobia going on. And I don't think that he was honest with himself at all, actually, ever.

(And his feelings for Michael, oh Lord, he's so clearly - not exactly admiring, but he thinks of Michael as different and he's intrigued and even when he's at his most furious and betrayed he can't stand to see what Michael does to himself or even to hear Shitley rip on him and - augh. OTP forever. Especially because it sounds so much like Michael felt the same way about Francis, sort of.)

And yes, exactly! Although I actually like Gwen even more. (I still haven't watched more than the beginning of Season 2.)