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home is a feeling a state of mind an abstract thing, and permanent because of its transience
Damn, son, I gotta start hanging out at the Camelot Fleet more often, especially if they're going to have a take your fandom home with you AU minifest. I totally would have been all over that and I am sadface that I missed it! Merlin in New York has already been expanded upon here, but Worcester and Manila have not yet been broached. Let us rectify that!
The thing about Worcester is that, to get to the heart of it, you can't rely on what the tourist brochures are pushing. Sure, you can say that about all places, but Worcester especially, because it's the armpit of Massachusetts. ("Don't give me that look," Morgana says. "Even the locals call it that.") They hit up the art museum and the Ecotarium, which were cool-I-guess, and then they visited the Higgins Armory Museum, which at least excited Gwen and Morgana, who began to talk shop about weaponry. Merlin and Will were mostly just bored and making length-of-my-sword jokes.
When Morgana gets a craving for strawberries, she makes Merlin find a Price Chopper and they all get a little quiet driving through the Main South neighborhood, watching the scenery (lack thereof) outside the window.
"Are those factories still working?" Morgana wonders.
"I hope not," says Will.
The factories, made with red brick and industrial optimism, are in a state of disrepair, abandoned. Windows are smashed, graffiti is rampant. ("Are," Will corrects. "Graffiti are rampant. 'Graffiti' is plural, 'graffito' is singular." Morgana replies, "Shut up, Will.") The paper industry was the lifeblood of Worcester in the nineteenth century, Gwen tells them. (She is the only one who read the guidebook.) When the manufacturing moved south, the city collapsed, and even now it's still recovering from the blow to their economy.
"But it's getting better," she says. "They say in ten years Worcester will be like Providence."
Will says, "What, run by the mob?"
They don't stay very long in Worcester. The bars are nice enough, but it seems like if they're not overflowing with screechy uni students, they're peopled by dodgy-looking fuckers. "There has to be something else we can look at while we're here," Gwen says worriedly, looking through the guidebook. And there are; it's just that with Worcester, you have to look a little harder.
The last thing they do in the city is make a stop at the Worcester Common to take a photo with the turtle-fucker statue, because Will insisted.
"Say goodbye to Worcester, folks," Merlin says as he drives towards the highway, and everyone goes, "Byyyyeee."
Once on I-90, Will, who is sitting in the back with Gwen, takes something out of his wallet and says, "Morgana, can I borrow your lighter?"
Merlin glances at the rearview mirror. "What have you got there?"
"A little pick-me-up for us all." Will, not without a hint of pride, holds it up for all to see: a joint.
Gwen says in wonderment, "Is that a--"
"Where'd you get that?" Morgana demands, but she is grinning as she hands her lighter to him.
"One of the Clark students we met at the Blarney Stone," he replies. "I have half an eighth in my bag."
"You cheeky bastard!" she crows cheerfully.
Will smiles. "Yeah, you're welcome. Windows up, guys, and turn up the music."
+
Uther reckons he'll never complain about another winter again. As soon as he stepped out of the airport and into the sauna of tropical weather, he started sweating. You sweat just standing in one place here -- it's obscene.
"There are two choices, sire," says Gaius. "Either you can slather yourself in this sunblock that I've concocted especially for this trip, or you can never leave the hotel room."
Gaius himself is covered in a shiny patina of sunblock and sweat, and it makes him look more frog-like than usual. Uther detects the tones of mockery in Gaius's words, but he lets it slide. Gaius means well, and in this case he is also correct. Arthur burnt horribly the first day here and had spent an hour subjecting himself to Gaius's ministrations with various home-made creams. Uther is not in any hurry to have that experience himself. But still, the sunblock smelled vaguely of mayonnaise, and Uther never liked mayonnaise.
"I have been given to understand," says Uther, "that in these southern regions, there are beautiful beaches to be had, yet I've seen none."
"Well, that is because we are in the city, sire."
And what a city it is. With 1.6 million people densely packed together, it can swallow Camelot several times over. It seems like Manila has swallowed several things, several times over: it is a place of bizarre contrasts. Shantytowns rise up like ghosts outside of gated communities, and ragged beggars rap on car windows at the intersections of the Ortigas business district, asking for change. And you, in your air-conditioned car, listening to the new Norah Jones CD, tell them that, improbably, you have none to spare. (Except if you're Lancelot, in which case you will give at least fifty pesos.)
The solution, Uther decides, is to go out only at night. It's still uncomfortably balmy, but at least nobody burns, and nobody has to smell of mayonnaise. They dine at Fort Bonifacio, a neighborhood named for the man who led the revolution against the Spanish, now an area frequented by well-heeled youth where the beer costs three times as much as the beer in, say, Quiapo.
"You've barely touched your ostrich in wine sauce, Arthur," Uther says. "Is anything the matter?"
"Nothing, Father," he says.
"Perhaps you should have chosen the crabmeat risotto after all," Lancelot says, smiling, "if ostrich is too exotic for you."
Arthur gives Lancelot the slightest of sidelong glances. "Yes, you are well-acquainted with the things I like."
Lancelot looks away, and Uther exchanges looks with Gaius. There has been something off with Arthur and Lancelot recently, and neither he nor Gaius quite know what it is. It is not in Uther's nature to pry into such things, and besides, if Arthur is to be king one day, then he has to learn to sort these things out by himself. He just hopes they'll sort it out soon; it won't do to have these divisions between a prince and his best knight.
They go to a lot of malls. There is a frightening number of malls in Manila, including the gargantuan Mall of Asia by the bay, which - if Gaius is to be believed - is the fourth largest shopping mall in the world.
"How strange," Lancelot muses. "The shopping malls are so large and numerous here, and yet there are people living under a tarp on the sides of the highway. Entire families! And there are people living barely above their own filth on the banks of the Pasig."
"It's the inevitable march of progress," Gaius nods solemnly. "We can't help it."
Lancelot asks, "Progress of what?"
The mall Lancelot seems to like best is Greenhills, especially the bazaar, which is a rat's maze of haggle-happy vendors selling pirated software, tarot readings, state-of-the-art tech toys, baby clothes, taho in a cup, jangly jewelry, and in short: everything. Uther buys a t-shirt with "Pearl of the Orient" emblazoned across the chest in flowing script, and finds out later that he was ripped off. They jack up the prices for foreigners, and he and Arthur have a conversation where they pretend they're not trying to soothe their own egos: so what if we paid more, it's still cheap to us, we can afford to pay the jacked up price, they probably could use the extra money. But then Uther would glance at his new t-shirt and Arthur would glance at his new watch, and they would do some ruing together.
In the DVD section of the bazaar, something catches Uther's eye. "Arthur," he says.
"Father?"
"Look at this." Uther picks up one of the DVDs, a film starring Sam Neill and Helena Bonham Carter. "Merlin. Isn't that your servant's name?"
"Yes, it is." He peers over. "What is this film about?"
Uther flips to the back, and frowns. "It seems Merlin here is a powerful magician of legend."
Arthur snorts. "That sounds nothing at all like Merlin."
"I should certainly hope not."
Uther puts the DVD back where he found it, and they move on.
I kind of wanna do that meme where, in the zombiepocalypse movie of your life, who would play you and your friends? And I will choose fandom characters instead of actors/actresses. But it's already 3 AM, so maybe another time. To close: THE GREAT GAIUS MEME!!! \o/ <333!
ETA: Oh Christ, I don't need to be tempted by another ficathon,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
apocabigbang. But my Merlin/Sandman crossover can count for this, and I already have 3000 words.
The thing about Worcester is that, to get to the heart of it, you can't rely on what the tourist brochures are pushing. Sure, you can say that about all places, but Worcester especially, because it's the armpit of Massachusetts. ("Don't give me that look," Morgana says. "Even the locals call it that.") They hit up the art museum and the Ecotarium, which were cool-I-guess, and then they visited the Higgins Armory Museum, which at least excited Gwen and Morgana, who began to talk shop about weaponry. Merlin and Will were mostly just bored and making length-of-my-sword jokes.
When Morgana gets a craving for strawberries, she makes Merlin find a Price Chopper and they all get a little quiet driving through the Main South neighborhood, watching the scenery (lack thereof) outside the window.
"Are those factories still working?" Morgana wonders.
"I hope not," says Will.
The factories, made with red brick and industrial optimism, are in a state of disrepair, abandoned. Windows are smashed, graffiti is rampant. ("Are," Will corrects. "Graffiti are rampant. 'Graffiti' is plural, 'graffito' is singular." Morgana replies, "Shut up, Will.") The paper industry was the lifeblood of Worcester in the nineteenth century, Gwen tells them. (She is the only one who read the guidebook.) When the manufacturing moved south, the city collapsed, and even now it's still recovering from the blow to their economy.
"But it's getting better," she says. "They say in ten years Worcester will be like Providence."
Will says, "What, run by the mob?"
They don't stay very long in Worcester. The bars are nice enough, but it seems like if they're not overflowing with screechy uni students, they're peopled by dodgy-looking fuckers. "There has to be something else we can look at while we're here," Gwen says worriedly, looking through the guidebook. And there are; it's just that with Worcester, you have to look a little harder.
The last thing they do in the city is make a stop at the Worcester Common to take a photo with the turtle-fucker statue, because Will insisted.
"Say goodbye to Worcester, folks," Merlin says as he drives towards the highway, and everyone goes, "Byyyyeee."
Once on I-90, Will, who is sitting in the back with Gwen, takes something out of his wallet and says, "Morgana, can I borrow your lighter?"
Merlin glances at the rearview mirror. "What have you got there?"
"A little pick-me-up for us all." Will, not without a hint of pride, holds it up for all to see: a joint.
Gwen says in wonderment, "Is that a--"
"Where'd you get that?" Morgana demands, but she is grinning as she hands her lighter to him.
"One of the Clark students we met at the Blarney Stone," he replies. "I have half an eighth in my bag."
"You cheeky bastard!" she crows cheerfully.
Will smiles. "Yeah, you're welcome. Windows up, guys, and turn up the music."
+
Uther reckons he'll never complain about another winter again. As soon as he stepped out of the airport and into the sauna of tropical weather, he started sweating. You sweat just standing in one place here -- it's obscene.
"There are two choices, sire," says Gaius. "Either you can slather yourself in this sunblock that I've concocted especially for this trip, or you can never leave the hotel room."
Gaius himself is covered in a shiny patina of sunblock and sweat, and it makes him look more frog-like than usual. Uther detects the tones of mockery in Gaius's words, but he lets it slide. Gaius means well, and in this case he is also correct. Arthur burnt horribly the first day here and had spent an hour subjecting himself to Gaius's ministrations with various home-made creams. Uther is not in any hurry to have that experience himself. But still, the sunblock smelled vaguely of mayonnaise, and Uther never liked mayonnaise.
"I have been given to understand," says Uther, "that in these southern regions, there are beautiful beaches to be had, yet I've seen none."
"Well, that is because we are in the city, sire."
And what a city it is. With 1.6 million people densely packed together, it can swallow Camelot several times over. It seems like Manila has swallowed several things, several times over: it is a place of bizarre contrasts. Shantytowns rise up like ghosts outside of gated communities, and ragged beggars rap on car windows at the intersections of the Ortigas business district, asking for change. And you, in your air-conditioned car, listening to the new Norah Jones CD, tell them that, improbably, you have none to spare. (Except if you're Lancelot, in which case you will give at least fifty pesos.)
The solution, Uther decides, is to go out only at night. It's still uncomfortably balmy, but at least nobody burns, and nobody has to smell of mayonnaise. They dine at Fort Bonifacio, a neighborhood named for the man who led the revolution against the Spanish, now an area frequented by well-heeled youth where the beer costs three times as much as the beer in, say, Quiapo.
"You've barely touched your ostrich in wine sauce, Arthur," Uther says. "Is anything the matter?"
"Nothing, Father," he says.
"Perhaps you should have chosen the crabmeat risotto after all," Lancelot says, smiling, "if ostrich is too exotic for you."
Arthur gives Lancelot the slightest of sidelong glances. "Yes, you are well-acquainted with the things I like."
Lancelot looks away, and Uther exchanges looks with Gaius. There has been something off with Arthur and Lancelot recently, and neither he nor Gaius quite know what it is. It is not in Uther's nature to pry into such things, and besides, if Arthur is to be king one day, then he has to learn to sort these things out by himself. He just hopes they'll sort it out soon; it won't do to have these divisions between a prince and his best knight.
They go to a lot of malls. There is a frightening number of malls in Manila, including the gargantuan Mall of Asia by the bay, which - if Gaius is to be believed - is the fourth largest shopping mall in the world.
"How strange," Lancelot muses. "The shopping malls are so large and numerous here, and yet there are people living under a tarp on the sides of the highway. Entire families! And there are people living barely above their own filth on the banks of the Pasig."
"It's the inevitable march of progress," Gaius nods solemnly. "We can't help it."
Lancelot asks, "Progress of what?"
The mall Lancelot seems to like best is Greenhills, especially the bazaar, which is a rat's maze of haggle-happy vendors selling pirated software, tarot readings, state-of-the-art tech toys, baby clothes, taho in a cup, jangly jewelry, and in short: everything. Uther buys a t-shirt with "Pearl of the Orient" emblazoned across the chest in flowing script, and finds out later that he was ripped off. They jack up the prices for foreigners, and he and Arthur have a conversation where they pretend they're not trying to soothe their own egos: so what if we paid more, it's still cheap to us, we can afford to pay the jacked up price, they probably could use the extra money. But then Uther would glance at his new t-shirt and Arthur would glance at his new watch, and they would do some ruing together.
In the DVD section of the bazaar, something catches Uther's eye. "Arthur," he says.
"Father?"
"Look at this." Uther picks up one of the DVDs, a film starring Sam Neill and Helena Bonham Carter. "Merlin. Isn't that your servant's name?"
"Yes, it is." He peers over. "What is this film about?"
Uther flips to the back, and frowns. "It seems Merlin here is a powerful magician of legend."
Arthur snorts. "That sounds nothing at all like Merlin."
"I should certainly hope not."
Uther puts the DVD back where he found it, and they move on.
I kind of wanna do that meme where, in the zombiepocalypse movie of your life, who would play you and your friends? And I will choose fandom characters instead of actors/actresses. But it's already 3 AM, so maybe another time. To close: THE GREAT GAIUS MEME!!! \o/ <333!
ETA: Oh Christ, I don't need to be tempted by another ficathon,
apocabigbang. But my Merlin/Sandman crossover can count for this, and I already have 3000 words.
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my favorite bit is this:
Fort Bonifacio, a neighborhood named for the man who led the revolution against the Spanish, now an area frequented by well-heeled youth where the beer costs three times as much as the beer in, say, Quiapo.
and of course even the names of the revolutionaries are in their conquerers' language. oh Spain, Spain, Spain. and the passage of time and the change in the neighborhoods, and the superficiality of names with respect to this.
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FURTHERMORE, Fort Bonifacio used to be called Fort McKinley, after the US president.
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1/2
On the seventh day, Uther went to a spa and Gaius to some undisclosed part of town to "pick up a few things", leaving Arthur and Lancelot to their own devices. Suck it up, Arthur tells himself, and asks Lancelot if he wants to go to the mall. Besides, who knows when he'll come visit the Philippines again, and he won't spend another day lolling around his room bemoaning his fate and sunburnt skin.
"The mall?" Lancelot echoes, and smiles. "Perhaps I have a better idea."
And Arthur becomes suspicious, as he always does when people claim to have better ideas than him. But in the end, he pauses only long enough to make Lancelot squirm before saying, "Okay. What?"
They take a taxi to the Salcedo, which they call a village, and is unlike any village Arthur has seen before. The neighborhood is densely packed with tall buildings, condominiums and offices, hospitals and carparks. As big as the buildings are, that's how small the roads are, and just as cramped. When they have been stuck in traffic around the corner for 15 minutes, Lancelot pays the driver and says, "Come, sire. We'll descend here."
"Is it far?" Arthur asks as they begin walking.
"It's just up ahead. And besides, if it were, you would be well-protected with Gaius's sun cream."
"I'm beginning to wonder if he didn't just transfer this from a mayonnaise jar," Arthur mutters.
Lancelot says, "I think you are too hard on mayonnaise."
It is not a long walk; here they are. The Salcedo weekend market (http://heapingteaspoons.blogspot.com/2007/04/salcedo-weekend-market.html) spills over with color and grilling smoke, and as they step through the entrance archway, Arthur realizes he is still hungry. Or maybe it's just the effect of seeing that much food around him. Food from all over the Philippines, food from all over the world; he tells Lancelot that he's going to buy himself a meal and meet him over by the tables, and spends the next fifteen minutes circling the market in a daze.
What the hell is a longganisa? Can you even eat that part of the chicken? Is that a fruit or something from the dungeons (http://pinoyuniverse.com/veggiepics/fruitpics/durian.jpg)? There are also cakes and pies and cookies and jams and jellies, and something called 'dirty ice cream', and Arthur is beginning to suspect he will be intimidated into buying only a banana.
2/2
Lancelot, with a shawarma in one hand and coconut juice in other, grins at him. "Thought you said you were hungry."
"I'm still deciding," Arthur announces, and Lancelot gestures with a jerk of his head to follow him.
Truly, he admits grudgingly to himself, if there is someone out there who knows what Arthur likes, it is Lancelot. Merlin may be a devoted servant, and Gwen may have Arthur's heart, and Morgana may have been a constant childhood companion, but Arthur and Lancelot are cut out of the same cloth. They both have an instinct for knighthood, and an honor that some might describe as stubborn. They are alike, and perhaps that is the problem.
"I recommend this," Lancelot says, gesturing to a calf carcass as big as he is, slowly turning on a spit. "I had a sample earlier and it's wonderful. The meat is quite tender."
"...Oh my god," Arthur comments, taking in the sight of it. It's not quite something he had expected to find in the square of a business district.
"It's just like back in Camelot, eh?"
Arthur's stomach is rumbling, and a large carcass has never looked so enticing. In the end he buys Lechon Baka Platter B, and lets Lancelot lead him to a table in the shade. Around them, the market bustles with families and their noises, and, oh. Oh Lancelot is right, the meat is tender, and criminally delicious.
"Isn't this much better than a mall?" Lancelot asks, watching Arthur gobble his meal.
"This is wonderful," Arthur says with his mouth full. "How did you find out about this?"
"The lady in Greenhills I bought an iPod Nano from told me about it. So," he says, "what to do for the rest of the day?"
"I don't know. We could always go to the malls."
"I don't understand your fascination with malls, sire."
"They're air-conditioned."
They banter back and forth, and Arthur finds himself settling into the rhythm of it, finds himself smiling. He has missed this. Perhaps Gaius was right; perhaps a vacation really is what they needed. He has missed Lancelot. He misses Gwen and Merlin and Morgana too, of course, but he is glad that for the moment it is just him and Lancelot, and that the tensions of recent times can be put aside for now.
"The day is young yet, sire," Lancelot says. "We can do anything."
"Yes," says Arthur. "Indeed we can."
Re: 2/2
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Merlin in Manila! Every beggar child will flock to Merlin who will do silly magic tricks to amuse them! And there will be this wide... berth around Morgana because everyone thought she was the Mother Mary come to life. And GWEN! Gwen will be endlessly amused by the countless Filipino contraptions and will carry the shortest child in her arms so he can watch Merlin's magic tricks too.
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"But it's getting better," she says. "They say in ten years Worcester will be like Providence."
Will says, "What, run by the mob?"
FUNNY BECAUSE IT'S TRUE. Says someone who has spent two years of her life in Providence.
The second one had the feel of an uncomfortable family vacation. Which, I suppose, is what it was. But the DVD thing was funny. And the sunblock. Oh, Gaius. Oh, Uther.
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I am actually that I haven't been to Providence yet. It was like, RIGHT THERE. And I know a handful of people in Rhode Island, there is no excuse.
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I LOVE THESE TWO SO HARD>
("Are," Will corrects. "Graffiti are rampant. 'Graffiti' is plural, 'graffito' is singular." Morgana replies, "Stuff it, you.")
OH GOD, HAVE I MENTIONED HOW I MADE WILL IN MY EPIC AU A LIT MAJOR? AND THIS JUST DELIGHTS ME THAT YOU HAVE THIS. DELIGHTS ME. Also I love MOrgana's "stuff it, you" ♥
And oh god, what the fuck is that statue. That is BEYOND WRONG. Did one of them get up behind the turtle-fucker and take the picture? Because that's what I'd want to do.
I think the second one is my favorite off the bat though with all the details and just this: (Except if you're Lancelot, in which case you will give at least twenty pesos.) OH, LANCELOT I LOVE YOU SO.
Yeah, so I'm reading the last one as Lancelot/Arthur and not Lancelot and Arthur kind of pouting over Gwen, who is obviously involved in some kind of crazy foursome with Will, Merlin, and Morgana, because obviously these two pieces are connected.
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Did one of them get up behind the turtle-fucker and take the picture?
Y'know, Will probably did that, then Morgana wanted to do it, and Merlin and Gwen are just like, *facepalm*. Then a cop appears and yells, "HEY YOU KIDS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" and they cheese it!
omg I am so down for a Lancelot/Arthur angle like woah. Heeeee, sometimes one group Skypes the other! There's good connection at the hotel that Arthur and his gang are staying at, but the road trippers in the USA have to rely on free internet in coffeehouses and shit, so the video gets stuttered and it becomes more a slideshow of Merlin&co of them making ridiculous faces as they drink their coffee.
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DUDE. DUDE. There was this kid who I went to school with who insisted on referring to it as a "panino" and I just wanted to be like, yeah, I know that panini is plural, but you still sound like a pretentious bastard, and then punch him in the face. Yes. I still have enough irritation that I needed to share this with you.
"Look at this." Uther picks up one of the DVDs, a film starring Sam Neill and Helena Bonham Carter. "Merlin. Isn't that your servant's name?"
"Yes, it is." He peers over. "What is this film about?"
Uther flips to the back, and frowns. "It seems Merlin here is a powerful magician of legend."
Arthur snorts. "That sounds nothing at all like Merlin."
"I should certainly hope not."
Uther puts the DVD back where he found it, and they move on.
OH MY GOD I LOVE YOUR BRAIN. LOVE LOVE LOVE.
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Arthur gives Lancelot the slightest of sidelong glances. "Yes, you are well-acquainted with the things I like."
!!!
Also, I hear you on the factory thing. It seems like there are so many New England cities that used to thrive before the factories shut down, and also Providence, lol, yes.
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It seems like there are so many New England cities that used to thrive before the factories shut down
Ya, right? Up in Nashua, you used to be able to know what color paper the factory was making by what color the river was. I took a summer class on rivers where every other class was a canoe trip somewhere in central MA. It was the best, but also kinda gross because the rivers were way yucky.
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...Also, I would have demanded, like, two hundred.
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AT LEAST.