kiss kiss fall in love!

[pratentious]

Who: The Hungry Hungry Merlinatural Vampire Slaying Hippos
What: Beach anime episode!
When: Days 294 - 296 ( July 12 - 17 )
Where: Salt Side
Rating: PG-13 at most for language, maybe. Only fluff in here.

[ When the visitors disappear in a much cleaner fashion than they came, a mixture of anger. sadness, gratitude and everything in between is left to fill in their place all across the city. It's heavy and stifling; the perfect time to get away for some fresh air.

They leave the morning of Day 294 ( July 12 ), piling everyone onto the train that'll carry them off to Salt Side for a couple days. ( Arthur sticks a little bit closer to Merlin's side; his last train ride is still fresh in his mind. ) The ride there takes half a day undisturbed, and the sun is still lingering in the sky by the time they arrive in the small fishing village. Plenty of time to walk around and shop before storefronts start closing or to catch the sunset on the beach. From here on out, everyone is free to wander as they wish, though don't stray too far, lest the oceans carry you off to the netherworlds.

They'll leave on Day 296 ( July 16 ), after a full day and two nights of relaxation and fun in the sun. The train ride is once again thankfully undisturbed, but the same can't be said for the holy city of Asgard. Something is stirring in the water - but for now, there are only cheerful farewells and blissful ignorance. This trip was theirs and no one else's, a rare and wonderful thing in a troubled land. ]

[ ooc: Who can tell that I write the plot logs? orz This is open mingle to anyone that was invited on the beach trip! You know the drill, open/closed threads with date and location. Lots of stupid fun, guys, let's have it! ]

Comments

[foodshortage]

[ After a moment's pause, Uther moves to remove his boots. How could he deny that request? So off the boots go, and his trousers are rolled up, and then he wades out into the water to fall up by Arthur's side. ]

Yes... It is perfect.

[pratentious]

[ Once again, even brighter than before - Arthur smiles. A wonderful thing, an impossible thing; perfection, in such broken lives as their own. Something will never have in their time, that will last for only so long as the tide remains on their side.

So Arthur stands beside his father, King and King, father and son, and he smiles. And says nothing. And for that moment, it is in every way perfect. ]

[foodshortage]

[ There's silence for a good long while, as Uther stands looking out towards the horizon. Never has he thought much about what one might find beyond the sky, the clouds, the sun. But Asgard has opened his eyes to many things and suddenly he does find himself wondering. This is another world, and some of their fellow Travellers are supposedly from others as well. It makes him wonder how many there are, what they're like and what they contain.

It makes him miss his own world, his kingdom, his city and his people. He only wishes he could bring everything he has learned here back with him, for it would surely create a better place for... well. Everyone. He knows that while he has done the kingdom good, he has also done it bad. Which, he supposes, is the case with all things, but when you rule a kingdom you are not allowed to make mistakes. And he has made many.

Yet, if the... universe they live in is as vast as future generations say, then there are no doubt chances for something better, for progress and change. There is hope. And it might not be that far away, for Uther sees more of it in his son than any man he has ever met. ]

I am proud of you, Arthur. I believe it has been a long time since I told you.

[ Far too long. He's not sure he can remember saying it at all here, in Asgard. But even here, Arthur has made himself worthy of whatever good may come his way and everyone who cares for him. ]

[pratentious]

[ The words catch him by surprise, and for a moment, all Arthur can do is stare at his father with eyes wide and brows furrowed as waves unfold around his legs, a gentle crash in the background of his thoughts. The changes he has gone through during his time in Asgard are ... incalculable, beyond words because words aren't enough, have never been enough in their line of duty.

Words could not save the lives that have been lost to his father's cruelty, or the blood spilt by Arthur's hands. Words do not bring justice, and in this moment, words leave him altogether.

He's spent so much time resenting his father - resenting the King, the cold-hearted man that preceded his father - but the throne is his and Asgard has changed him, given him the chance to become his own man beyond all of that, and in its wake ... Arthur sees only the man. He sees a greyed man limned in gold by the sunset as water washes them both away and leaves only men.

Arthur sees his father. A sight he has not often been afforded; he sees the love of his people and the love of his son, even if Uther has done wrong by both of them. His father is not an evil man, he is simply a man, and even the best of men can make mistakes when gifted power and grief in both hands. Arthur stares and swallows down words that don't say enough, blinks back the heat of eyes belonging to a woman long dead. Just two men.

Two men and one simple truth that makes fools of them both. ]

I love you, Father.

[ He doesn't think he's said it at all. It will be too late, it will always be too late - except for here, on the beach of a different world in a different time where things can be different. And Arthur so desperately wishes they were. ]

[foodshortage]

[ It isn't something they say. It's always been there, Uther's certain, even if they have perhaps not always known. One forgets such things sometimes, if only briefly. There's been anger and conflict and hatred enough to cover up whatever else there might be.

More than ever he's been able to see why, here. He knows they've been given a second chance. Everything has turned out to be... different, so different that it sometimes makes him reel. But it's good, it is. And he has a feeling things go far less favourably back home. Which makes this all the more important.

Which makes such worse necessary to speak, because this is the best they have.

He doesn't look at Arthur - isn't sure how to - but he does smile, and reaches out to put his hand on the back of Arthur's head, jostling it a little. ]

I love you too.

[ It's difficult to say, as such things tend to be, he's discovered. But to be able to... He probably wouldn't have in Camelot. Wouldn't really have thought of it, and that would have been wrong of him.

He'll try to be better. It's all he can do, and Asgard has made him want to. ]