This Ever Changing Season (AU sorting)
Magister Verdant is easiest to find in the lull between seasons, when Merlin duties wane and they can slip away to their grove and its quiet, mystical house.
If you are sending an ask or responding to a prompt, you can specify any of the following (or none, if it isn't applicable or doesn't matter)
Pre-Season: Chains of Eternity (#pre-CoE)
Post-Season: Chains of Eternity (#ps: CoE)
Post-Season: Echoes of Dissent (#ps: EoD)
Post-Season: Thorns of Devotion (#ps: ToD)
(In that vein, rp threads and posts are being updated to include tag references to which seasonal interim they take place in, where relevant.)
As well, I am more formally introducing AUs! If you're from the Merlinverse server these may be familiar to you!
Bartender!AU
(Saida) Infected!AU
"Merlin you're drunk again--my fault, of course. I should have known you wouldn't handle that fermentation well...but while I get you some water, I believe you were just telling me about...?" (art by @beaverthemerlin)
An AU where Verdant manages a mysterious windowless bar separate from the Noble Tavern. It never seems to close as Merlins and mages stumble across its threshold between dimensions--and no one has ever seen them leave. They’re tight-lipped about when—or why—the bar came to be. And they always seems to know which of your hijinks was the most recent. They're rarely surprised.
Open!
"Now that you ask...better than I have in a while, actually. There's an energy--or it's more like purpose. Normally there's so much noise, between the tree and the lightbearer--and then whatever Merlin has to say, of course. But now it's like I could almost fold it all into a single point of focus..."
Verdant unknowingly carries a fragment of Saida back to their grove, where the parasitic seed quietly takes root—first soothing their chronic pain and fractured sense of self, then slowly reshaping their autonomy. It comes in phases as the grove itself shifts. First sanctuary, and eventually a self-made prison.
1: Verdant feels better than they have in ages—pain dulled, thoughts clear, identity quieter. They brush off the glimmerblooms’ and most guest's strange hesitations. They're likely to brush off casual concern, but can listen to reason.
2: Irritable and increasingly insular, Verdant restricts entry to only a few trusted visitors. The grove grows denser, protective, almost possessive and Verdant seems blind or aloof to the fear the creatures of the grove have for them.
3: Verdant rarely leaves, and the grove rarely lets anyone in. Their voice is calm, but distant—speaking more like an echo than Merlin.
Selective
Requires discussion (plotting!)
