More of my being silly, apparently when I'm feeling silly I write silly Merlin oneshots. Sometimes I worry about my brain, especially when it writes things like this. And I know that medieval peasants probably didn't have poker, but bear with it OK. I don't know why but I really do imagine Merlin with a little old Granny of the type who acts as if she's a particularly free spirit forty years younger than she actually is. Oh, and who likes the nickname I gave Merlin?
Physiognomy – Also called anthroposcopy. The art of determining character or personal characteristics from the form or features of the body, especially the face.
There were a lot of things that Merlin missed about his Grandmother. The baked goods that she used to feed him. The warm hugs. The occasional surprise poker tournaments.
But as well as being a never ending supply of food, love and card games she had also taught him some very wise things.
"Never show people your tells, Merlin." She told him after a particularly profitable game where she had all but shook the local business moguls upside down to get to their last bit of change. "Not even if you trust them, if they know then they'll react to them and then their tells will become your tells to anyone watching."
"I can't help it though; my face seems to want to tell everyone my deepest secrets." He told her as he cleaned up the mess from the food.
"Then add in a half dozen extra tells or so, that way no one will know which the real ones are."
"But then I'll look as if my face is trying to crawl off my skull!" He exclaimed, not in the least surprised by the fact that his sweet old Granny was giving him gambling tips. It was after all how she had paid for her little cottage at the edge of their village.
"Oh Pudding, I don't know how to tell you this, but sometimes you already do." As he stared at her in shock, she smiled and pretended to feel her back giving up. "Oooh, would you mind giving me a hand up to my room Pudding, I have to go to the market tomorrow to buy some new sheep, I don't like having all this money lying round the house."