Back in March, I found a stash of very rough sketches I'd made after reading T. Kingfisher's A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. I've since been working on and off on seeing the sketches through to some sort of conclusion, aaaaand this is it.
Note: Take these illustrations as if they were for a fanfic with an alternate ending, in which Oberon and the Spring Green Man are redeemed (somehow) and take Mona and Spindle under their wing and teach them bureaucracy or something... A crazy take given the events in the book, but in my post-reading notes I had a whole page dedicated to deconstructing the motivations and methods of the antagonists. In an alternate universe, maybe I'd be a video essayist covering middle grade fantasy book politics... but I'll have to accept being in the struggling artist timeline.
As as an aside, I wanted to share some bts stuff...
In the third illustration, I adapted the painting Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo Da Vinci into a niche reference to Meggie and the horned marten, Gwin, from Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I can probably attribute my love for fantasy back to this book. I'd daydream about being transported into books all the time. Goodness, I still do...
Also, iirc, I posted a wip of the third illustration some time ago but it now has a different color palette. Tbh, one of the reasons I've been sitting on these for quite a while is because I've never felt quite satisfied with the colors. I've been leaning towards more 'naturalistic' color palettes lately but also...
I was not sure who I was doing this for beyond just me pouring back the good energy I felt reading the source material into drawing. Thinking of making and sharing art as my little messages in a bottle I throw into the digital sea helps? Kind of? Hopefully there's another defensive baking reader out there that was thinking about a redeemed Oberon and Spring Green Man lol... May this find you!
TC walked into the hospital well-prepared for whatever the night shift had for him, or so he hoped. Except of course, seeing Jordan. Topher had to finally succomb to giving slightly mixed up schedules, meaning he could no longer keep the two ex-lovers apart during the workday.” the shift, after a couple hours was nothing special. No big accidents or storms had happened yet, something all the employees of San Antonio Memorial Hospital appreciated. Of course when TC thought they would make it through the rest of the shift with no major incident that would send any weird cases their way is when a man stumbled through the ER doors.
Just by the looks of him, TC thought, ‘it’s a wonder this guy made it as far as the hospital,’ as he hurried over to help him. The, admittedly handsome, man had ebony hair, bright blue eyes, and multiple bullet holes through his blue shirt, brown jacket, and jeans.
As TC approached, allowing a better look at the man who basically passing out on the floor before him, TC was hit with a block of pictures flashing in front of his eyes, causing him to stumble and grab hold of the big reception desk behind him.
Images of medieval Europe shot through his brain. The young man before him, Merlin his brain provided, in a bar fight along with a fit blonde lad, Prince Arthur. They were fighting big brutes alongside, TC realizes with a start, himself. Well, it wasn’t really him, this version had longer hair and a sword and was more tipsy than what TC liked to keep it at.
Then the visions come and go faster. He’s brought to Camelot. He leaves. Merlin finds him in another. They’re by a bridge when the TC-twin, Gwaine, discovered Merlin had magic but didn’t say anything. They save the prince. Taken by slavers. Being knighted. Average duties of being a knight. More… intimate time with Merlin…fuck it, they’d gotten together and physical. It’s a secret. He tells Merlin he knows about his magic. The attack; the final battle. His death.
Tc comes reeling back to reality just as Jordan reached Merlin. “Shit, Merlin,” Gwaine, or more so TC in this time period, mumbled as he quickly collected himself and adjusted to the new identity that was so suddenly jammed into his mind.
Jordan in the meantime had risen to a standing position with Merlin’s arm around her shoulder/ “You alright, TC?”
“‘M fine, just worry about the patient.” Gwaine made eye contact with Merlin and gave him a smirk coupled with a head nod before the injured man flashed him a bright grin before he completely lost consciousness. TC put Merlin’s other arm around his shoulder. Together, the doctors brought him to trauma 3, the closest available room.
Working in unison, they set the man on the bed. TC pulled down his pants to reveal a bullet wound on Merlin’s upper right thigh. At the same time,, Jordan had torn his shirt open and was met with two more bullet holes, one on the left of his chest and the other in his right shoulder.
Jordan and TC shared a look before TC laid out the plan. “Alright, first we get the bullets out, then check for damage, and hopefully close him up.” And the two set to work. TC ‘had’ to rip a bit of Merlin’s boxers for better access to the wound. Okay, he didn’t /exactly/ need to, but it’s also going to make it easier to wake the bastard up when they were done patching him up.
TC and Jordan worked in as close to silence as they could in the hospital. Relatively soon to when they started working on him, Merlin looked as good as the first day he had walked past the castle guards of camelot.
“I’m going to go check on my other patient,” Jordan informed him, getting up.
“I’ll stay with him, let him know what happened when he wakes up.” Jordan gave TC a nod before exiting via the curtain. “Okay, time to wake you, love,” TC mumbled more to himself than for Merlin’s benefit. Gwaine moved his body so it mostly blocked Merlin’s from view, should anyone check up on them. Confidently, Gwaine glided his hand up Merlin’s leg until her got to the rip he had made earlier. Gwaine slid his hand through and squeezed whatever he could grab.
“Mmm, Gwaine!” Merlin moaned rather loudly as his eyes flew open. A momentary look of shock flashed across Merlin’s face as Gwaine looked up and gave him an innocent grin while taking his hand back. “You absolute clotpole!”
“Would an absolute clotpole save your life?” inquired Gwaine, playfully.
“Apparently,” Merlin replied, “Now get over here before I ruin whatever you just did to me.” Both men were grinning as Gwaine eagerly climbed up Merlin, careful not to mess up the stitching he and jordan had recently finished.
After what felt like ages to Merlin, Gwaine finally encased Merlin’s lips in his. It was their fireworks moment. Their not caring about the world moment. They got to experience it again. They could’ve been naked in the middle of the knights’ training and Merlin wouldn’t have cared, as long as long as they were in this position, in the most amazing and passionate kiss he had ever even witnessed. Hands down.
Obviously one of the best moments in both of their lives had to end. Unfortunately, the human body does need to breathe. Obviously and unfortunately, Gwaine had to point out Merlin’s little predicament. “You’re a little had. Seriously Merlin?!” Was mumbled against the aforementioned man’s lips.
“Of fucking course I am, you know, it’s only been centuries.” Gwaine and Merlin just layed there, faces mere inches from each other, just taking in what Merlin had been missing for literally ages and what Gwaine just discovered he was missing from his life.
The moment was ruined, Merlin expected what with his luck, by someone saying, “Hey TC…” Startled, Gwaine fell off Merlin and his bed onto the floor, face-first. Merlin felt his whole body flush with the little amount of blood that wasn’t still rushing downward. Gwaine popped up from the floor and took in the scene before him: Merlin lying on the hospital bed, still very hard, and very aware of his lack of clothes as he brought both his hands to his front to hide his situation, and Jordan standing just inside the curtain with a lot of the people who were passing by, having stopped upon seeing briefly what was happening.
“Jordan? I can explain!” Even if they weren’t still together, it was shocking and confusing to see someone who was going to be her baby daddy fooling around with some guy. Jordan pursed her lips, tilted her head back and forth before putting her hands on her hips, deciding to listen to what her ex had to say. “Okay, so this is Merlin,” the man on the hospital bed gave her a nod, “ we used to go out but we got separated.This is the first time we’ve seen each other in years,” Tc told her, extending his hands at the end as if to exemplify his point.
Jordan paused for a second, then said, “So….you’re gay now?”
TC cleared his throat. “Actually I’m pan; I like anything.”
“Yeah, there was this one time with an apple-”
“Merlin!”
“Shut up?”
“Plus, I had completely forgotten about him when we were together.”
Jordan was about to reply when Merlin cut her off. “Sorry love,” he said to her, then to Gwaine, “but you said you forgot about me. Did you forget every thing?” Merlin added a nod down while raising both his eyebrows to make sure Gwaine knew what he meant.
Gwaine thought for a second about what Merlin was trying to get at before he jumped up, clapping his hands together. “Yes! So now all we have to do is find them-”
“-because this probably happened to the whole Round Table-”
“-which means we need to find Arthur-”
“-before Morgana does,” Merlin ended with a dark undertone.
Ever thought about TodoBaku? How do you feel about their dynamic? :D
At first i couldn’t really understand the dynamic or their appeal when i first noticed the pairing gaining traction. But then when i thought it over, they are pretty much the classic “cool Cat vs angry Dog” ship. And after that my world changed LMAOOO I like how a lot of fanartists portray them, especially when there are a lot of sass and stupid fights involved.
