A year ago today, I posted the last chapter of my Arthur Returns fic, so I feel like celebrating by sharing it with you. Again...
A Little Unsteady by Saltedkiss
"Iām tired,ā Merlin said quietly as he stared into the flames. āI feel like an old man, even though I donāt look the part. I canāt even remember how long Iāve been wandering around. The lands around me are changing and I just... donāt.ā
He knew Freya was looking at him, but couldnāt bring himself to meet her eyes.
āIāve lost my magic. Iāve lost - ā
āArthur.ā
Just hearing the name was enough to make his stomach clench. Freya threw another piece of driftwood onto the fire, allowing him some time to gather his thoughts.
āIāve lost my purpose. Even if he ever returns, what use would I be? I couldnāt even protect him with my magic, how could I ever be enough without?ā
-
After fifteen hundred years of waiting for Arthur's return, with little more than his own mind for company, Merlin's memories of his life in Camelot have faded almost entirely.
All this time, Arthur has been watching from behind the veil, desperate to find a way to help Merlin restore his magic. When Arthur finally makes his way back into a now unfamiliar world, he'll soon learn times have changed since he's last set foot in Albion. Retrieving what's been lost might not be as easy as he'd once thought...
Writing this fic has brought me so much joy. Itās my take on what happens after diamond of the day. As it did to so many of us here, that episode left me utterly broken. Anyone who isnāt in the fandom might think Iām exaggerating. Youāre reading this post so you know Iām not. So I decided to fix it. To give our boys a happy ending. Even if the road to this happy ending would be covered in capital-A-angst.
A part of the showās finale kept replaying in my mind. The āI donāt want you to change. I want you to always be you.ā Over and over and over again. What if thatās why Merlin lives forever? What if thatās what happened? And I went with it. Started writing. The story starts right after Arthur dies in DOTD, but the first part I wrote was actually the scene in which we see the state Merlin is in after 1500 years of being haunted by images heād rather forget but never really can. My Merlin in this story is a broken mess, much like I was after the finale. Slowly healing him throughout the story did the same for me.
This story has inspired beautiful gifsets, memes and a moodboard by my dear friends and cheerleaders @camelotsheart @forever-rewatching-merlin and @shana-rosee and one of the storyās scenes has been brought to life by Fynnian on AO3
A Little Unsteady means so much to me, and every single comment is cherished and reread more often than youād think possible. So this is me, one year later, sharing it with the world. Again.
I'm OFFICIALLY DONE with all the itty bitty seasonal dragons :") thanks everyone for checking them out!! It was such a fun little project to do! All the seasons here:
Guys. Guys. Do you ever think about the funeral boats merlin made for freya, lance and arthur?
Freyaās boat was covered in soft green grass, like she was being gently laid back into a quiet meadow one last time. It looked so peaceful.
Lancelotās boat was overflowing with flowers, it was heartbreakingly beautiful as it floated away.
But when it was Arthurās turnā¦
Merlin couldnāt do it.
Arthurās boat was just the plain, ordinary straw one. No grass, no flowers, nothing at all.
Merlin was so devastated he didnāt even have the heart or the energy left to decorate it. He loved Arthur so much, more than anything in this world . He just stood there on the shore, watching that bare little boat carry the man he loved most down the river with nothing but straw.
Because what do you do when the person you loved most in the world is suddenly gone? what do you decorate that with? what could possibly be enough?
I was so sad to hear about Anthony Heads passing, he played roles that meant so much to us queer, softhearted little nerds. Hearing about his support of the trans community has been so warming to read about. We will always remember your pink DS on the set of Merlin, Rest in peace sir š
The irony of this new breed of self-righteous AI hunters on AO3 is that they're all just copy and pasting peoples fics into AI detectors, which are all operated by AI and therefore THEY are feeding people's work into the algorithm without their consent and in some cases no doubt circumventing the locks people put on to avoid getting scraped...
Don't copy and paste anyone's AO3 work into third party websites, you're not the good guys in this situation?
1. The court holds Google responsible for statements made by its AI, considering them Google's statements (search engines have limited liability for results in their engine as they're the words of other sites/companies/people), meaning when their AI lies/hallucinates they're liable for the defamation/harm resulting from those statements.
2. Google's defense that customers are generally aware of the lack of reliability and are responsible for fact checking was dismissed. As the court pointed out, that would "significantly diminish" AI Search's stated purpose and it can't be distinguished from Google's business practices/statements as a search tool.
3. Studies have found about 91% of Google's everyday AI responses are accurate, leaving millions of searches per HOUR with potential liability for falsehoods. 56% of correct responses weren't supported by the sources the AI listed. Both of which mean Google is now liable for a LOT more AI "errors."
4. Google was held liable for 80% of court costs in this case and this precedent is expected to reverberate around the world. This is a massive shift from the 3rd-party search provider role Google has previously played and it comes right as they've tied ALL searches to their AI search.
Ah the irony š I know itās in dutch but Google just gave me the AI-overview for the ruling after I googled the case number to fact check. The link on top of this post.
1. The court holds Google responsible for statements made by its AI, considering them Google's statements (search engines have limited liability for results in their engine as they're the words of other sites/companies/people), meaning when their AI lies/hallucinates they're liable for the defamation/harm resulting from those statements.
2. Google's defense that customers are generally aware of the lack of reliability and are responsible for fact checking was dismissed. As the court pointed out, that would "significantly diminish" AI Search's stated purpose and it can't be distinguished from Google's business practices/statements as a search tool.
3. Studies have found about 91% of Google's everyday AI responses are accurate, leaving millions of searches per HOUR with potential liability for falsehoods. 56% of correct responses weren't supported by the sources the AI listed. Both of which mean Google is now liable for a LOT more AI "errors."
4. Google was held liable for 80% of court costs in this case and this precedent is expected to reverberate around the world. This is a massive shift from the 3rd-party search provider role Google has previously played and it comes right as they've tied ALL searches to their AI search.
She was the purest most loving creature in the whole wide world. And Iād give ten years off my own life just to get one more with her. She was the sole reason I got out of bed during my depression. And sheās seen the best and the worst of me. Everything reminds me of her. Itās been six months and it still hurst just as badly as that very first day. Fuck.
