#also rereading this I realized it kinda made Arthur out to be the issue

[forgotteneithne]

arthur/eithne: "why are you talking like we'll never see each other again?"

Eithne took a deep breath before speaking again.

"That's not what I meant to imply," Eithne answered slowly. "I just..." she paused. She'd had this conversation again and again over the past weeks but she had known with him it would be different-- with him her heart would hurt in a different way than it had when she'd seen the despair on her sisters' faces.

"You will always be welcome, of course, at Malconaire. My husband-to-be and I would be honored to host you and your family as our first guests after our wedding."

"Your husband-to-be?"

"I'm marrying Cassimir."

Arthur was rendered speechless and Eithne was ashamed at her next action: she fled into the garden, unable to stand the silence. He was following her within seconds.

"Why? What does he have over you to convince you to do such a thing?" Arthur demanded, grabbing Eithne's arm to stop her as she made a beeline for the chicken pen. Eithne whipped around to face him.

"Nothing. This is my own decision," Eithne answered sternly. Arthur seemed unconvinced.

"I won't let this happen. He doesn't deserve you."

"There are reasons I just cannot explain. You have to believe me-- I am doing what is best for myself. My family. My home."

"So he does hold something over you!"

"No, you're not listening--"

"I'll challenge him. For your honor," Arthur proclaimed. Eithne wrenched her arm out of his grasp.

"You will do no such thing!"

"You cannot tell me what I will and will not do-- I am your prince!" Arthur snapped suddenly, almost without thought. The words hung in the air between them and you could see the regret on his face as he realized what he had said. Something ended in that moment-- they'd been balancing on a precarious edge for months now and with that one sentence, they'd slipped into the abyss below.

"Eithne..."

"My most sincere apologies, Your Imperial Highness," Eithne answered, taking a few steps backwards from Arthur. She looked up and met his eyes-- he was silently pleading with her but she knew this was how it had to be.

"I am due to be in the village this afternoon," Eithne continued, trying to keep her voice even. "My step mother and step sister should be home by now-- I am sure they will be more than happy to receive you for tea should you wish to have some refreshments before your trip home."

"Eithne, please," Arthur was walking towards her, arm outstretched. She shook her head and he stopped. "Eithne..."

"Good afternoon, Your Imperial Highness," Eithne sank into a deep curtsey before turning and fleeing through the garden gate before he could see the emotion flooding her face.

#arthur varmont #ask meme #drabble #welp just some normal every day heartbreak drama #no big deal #how torn is valentina rn: eithne is marrying her son but that opens up a prince for her daughter? #also rereading this I realized it kinda made Arthur out to be the issue #and I meant it more as they both are… like neither is communicating well for their own reasons #and eithne just straight up keeping running away #so the bubble is definitely broken

[arthurandhisswordbros]

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Thank you so much for tagging me @burglarhobbit !!!! Ily!!!

Rules: post the top 5 works you’re most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular), your top 4 current WIPs that you’re excited to release in the new year, your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year, your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year, and your number 1 favorite line you’ve written this year!

5 works in 2022

Well, I only posted like 4 works total in 2022 so I’ll rank them lol.

1. You Have To Chase It: My Merlin Twitter fic that I did for glompfest 2022. Or, Immortal!Merlin goes on Twitter to complain about his dead king. Unrelatedly, Arthur joins Twitter. This was a labor of love done in the midst of finals and I genuinely think it’s the fic im most proud of out of everything I’ve ever written. It makes me very very happy lol.

2. Chapters 7-9 of You, Servant!: okay this is kinda cheating because it’s technically still a wip, but I had a horrible period of writers block between chapter 6 and 7 and I’m just so proud of myself for getting back into it and churning out some of, imo, the best chapters of the story.

3. Questions: or my ace!Arthur and grey ace!merlin fic set around The Changeling. Listen, I am NOT a short form writer by any means. My brain doesn’t work like that usually. So, to my surprise, I was so so happy with how this one came out. It was a valentines mini exchange fic and my giftee liked it, so that also made me very happy.

4. The Little Things: I made a post earlier in the year that got a lot of traction and wrote a little drabble based on it that was sitting in my wip folder for so long and I had some future plans for it, but just couldn’t find the time to write more, so I posted it. I think it came out great and I’m still hoping to either return to it one day or hoping that maybe someone else will do something with it Lolol.

4 WIPs I’m excited to post in 2022

1. My RTGE fic that I still haven’t posted but have about 3 chapters for. It was supposed to be a simple prompt, but kinda turned into a s1 rewrite. Oops. I really really love where it’s going so far though.

2. The rest of You, Servant! This will be my first ongoing WIP that I finish and I swear I will finish it if it kills me. I’ve had the ending planned for almost two years now, it’s just about getting it written.

3. A series of snippets set in the You Have to Chase it universe. Aaaaaand a possible sequel. I have Plans hahaha.

4. Futuristic Merthur Soulmate AU: I have a vague idea of where I want this to go and a few plans for how I want to write it, but I probably won’t get to it until later in the year. It will probably be my next big project though.

3 things I’ve improved on

Ughhh i think one of the biggest issues in my writing is syntax. Sometimes the words just sound right to me but don’t sound right to anyone else. But I think I’ve gotten a lot better at being more concise and getting rid of clunky descriptions/dialogue. I also think I’ve gotten better at writing romance, which was very hard for me for a long time. I think I was just worried that anything I wrote would be too cheesy, but then I realized that romance is cheesy. That’s kind of the point. Last thing is I’ve gotten better at not using em dashes every four lines. Like I still use them a lot, but not as much.

2 resolutions

1. I want to get to a point where I don’t have to reread what I’ve written four hundred times before I settle on something I like. Just two hundred times is enough.

2. I want to be able to incorporate more motion in my dialogue scenes. I’ve always admired people who could make a scene feel grounded and alive while their characters are speaking. I want everything to move and breath and vibrate like it does in real life.

My favorite line I’ve written in 2022

“You deserve everything you want in life. But the thing is, sometimes you have to chase it. You can’t wait for it to come to you and you can’t pretend that it doesn’t exist when it doesn’t.”

Tagging: @loanmeadragon @spiritofcamelot @tolkienlockian @sauraunderscore @follow-your-fire @peaceheather @fifty-5ty and anyone else who wants to do it!!