Alright readers! Get ready for the real cringe to begin! Lady Viviane is about to make her first appearance (why did I decide to do this)
"Just an arrow wound sire. It'll take a few days to heal fully, but it will heal. It wouldn't be enough to cause unconsciousness though. Just in case you forgot the foreshadowing from last chapter. She must have been in a pretty bad state to begin with." Gaius rambled on. dude said four sentences. that hardly counts as rambling.
"But she will be fine?" Arthur asked making sure.
"Yes sire." Gaius confirmed.
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure shooting her didn't help much." Merlin said holding back laughter. Hahaha you shot a girl and she almost died! That's hilarious!
"Ah, Thank you Merlin." Gaius said indicating that it was quite enough.
"Yes, Thank you Merlin, for sharing your opinion." Arthur said sarcastically. "Now maybe you'd like to share your opinion on whether my armor needs cleaning before tomorrow's patrol?" Why would the king ever be going on patrol? oh btw he's king now. forgot to mention that.
"Um, yeah, but I have to help Gaius and-" Merlin stammered.
"I'm fine here Merlin. You go on." Gaius smiled waving.
"Come on." Arthur said grabbing Merlin by his shirt and dragging him away.
"Call me if you need anything!" Merlin called back and he was pulled out the door.
"Alright then." Gaius said and turned back to his work. Dull, dry dialogue. There was nothing interesting about that interaction. This whole scene could very easily be cut with no loss to the overall story.
.oOo. Scene Change!
"Well I'm glad your feeling better." Arthur said smiling at the girl, whose name happened to be Viviane. This is the lamest name reveal in the history of lame name reveals.
"Thank you my lord." Viviane said bowing her head slightly from her position in bed.
"Yes, we are very thankful that everything turned out to be okay." Gwen smiled. "It's unfortunate that we disrupted your travels." Alright, so this is just poorly done. Its written like a script. Jumping straight into the "action" *cough boring dialogue cough* and forgoing where they are, who's there and the context of anything that's going on leaves the entire scene to take place in a floating void, without being grounded in reality.
"Oh, it's alright. I wasn't going anywhere in particular." Viviane smiled. Well isn't that convenient for the plot.
"Well, your welcome to stay here until you get all patched up." Arthur smiled. Merlin scoffed. "Is there something you'd like to say Merlin?" Merlin nodded innocently. "Good." Merlin has a random spasm that never gets explained. He should see a doctor about that, could be serious.
"Thank you my lord. Your kindness is much appreciated." Viviane said, bowing her head again.
"Yes, well, if there is anything else you need, just ask Merlin here." Arthur smiled then left with Gwen. Merlin sighed.
"Well, if you need anything…" Merlin smiled turning to follow the King. The phrase "_ smiled" was used 5 different times in the last seven lines and Lump bowed her head twice. Its like walking through a dialogue desert! Do these characters have no other emotion but smiles? We get it. Merlin is unhappy. God knows why, but he is. They're just not acting like real people do.
"Ah, Merlin!" Gaius called to him. "If you're not doing anything, could you take this over to Gawain's chambers? He'll be wanting it in the morning." Merlin took the little glass bottle and examined it. The label read "Excuse to Get Merlin Out of the Room" but it was written in latin so Merlin didn't notice.
"Went to the tavern again this evening?" Merlin asked Gaius.
"It would appear so, hurry up and take it too him while he's still conscious." Gaius waved him out. Merlin sighed and strode off too the drunken knights quarters. Silence rested upon the room for a while afterwards, only broken by the sound of Gaius deftly going about his work. And the sound of silence snoring. It was pretty loud when it rested ironically.
"Gaius?" Viviane started, breaking the silence. Gaius looked up but didn't cease working. Cause he's just that much of a boss.
"Yes? What is it?"
"May I go outside for a bit of fresh air?" She asked sweetly. "Pretty Please Giaus?" She batted her long eyelashes which framed her doe eyes which made me want to gouge mine out.
"I don't think that's a very good idea in your condition." Gaius said, motioning to the bandages wrapped around her thigh. Yes, as we all know. Fresh air has a habit of making bandaged wounds instantly bleed out.
"I'll be careful, I just want to go out for a bit. It's rather stuffy in here." She said looking about the cluttered, dusty room.
"Well, wait till Merlin gets back and maybe he'll help you make your way outside." Gaius suggested. Can she not walk? Is that what you're trying to say?
"I don't need that." Viviane said, "I'm fine already!" She leapt to her feet to further prove the point. Gaius noticed the small wince that crept onto her face for a moment as pressure agitated the wound. He stared at her hard, she stared right back. *cue Jazz music*
"You're not allowed to go out side, but if your so eager to move around than you can go collect that small vial I lent the head cook last week." He said, resigning. Viviane grinned. So she can walk... yep fresh air must make you bleed out. That's the only explanation.
"Thank you!" She said, hugging Gaius briefly with delight. *wiggles eyebrows* Then, before he could change his mind, Viviane quickly made her way out the door and into the castle beyond. She has no idea where she's going. Gaius, you should know better.
.oOo.
Merlin rapped on the wooden door irritably. There was no answer. He rapped again louder. This time there was mumbling, a loud sound of something hitting something else, and then a decent bit of swearing. Then Gawain groggily opened the door. He blinked a couple times at the bright light from the hall candles then managed a squint. Ah drunk people.
"Ah, Merlin. Is there something I can do for you?" He said in somewhat of a daze.
"Gaius made this for you." Merlin handed the vial over to the drunken knight. "He said you'll be wanting it tomorrow." Gawain squinted at the bottle for a while until he realized what it was.
"Oh, right. Thanks." He said.
"Yeah, just try to have a bucket nearby when you drink it, alright?" Merlin asked as Gawain started to close the door.
"Right!" Gawain called as the door slammed shut. Merlin sighed, and headed back. The frick was that? What was the point of that scene? Wasn't entertaining, wasn't plot advancing. So completely useless. When he arrived, Gaius was there alone and the patient bed was empty.
"Where did Viviane go?" Merlin asked walking over to Gaius.
"She's out getting that vial back." Gaius said sniffing greenish ooze that he held aloft in his ladle.
"That's not dinner is it?" Merlin asked, making a face.
"Of course it isn't." Gaius rolled his eyes. "Oh when Viviane comes back, she'll most likely ask you to take her outside."
"Why?" Merlin asked picking up an apple on the table and inspecting it. "Are you using this for anything?"
"Hm? No. Anyway, she wanted to get some fresh air but I didn't think it was a good idea." Since, as we know, fresh air makes wounds bleed out instantly.
"So you sent her on an errand instead." Merlin finished, giving Gaius a look.
"Yes, is there a problem with that?" Gaius said looking up a Merlin.
"How have you not realized that this is what happens? Of course she's gone outside instead!" Merlin exclaimed.
"Oh." Gaius said. "Merlin-"
"Already on it." Merlin interrupted as he headed out the door. "Complete stranger to the castle random goes missing, how convenient." He mumbled to himself. Well it only took about a thousand words to realize just why Merlin has been acting like a angsty teen.
"As I thought." Said a voice from behind him. Merlin spun around to see Viviane standing against the wall next to the open door. "Your suspicious of me."
"Back from your little walk?" Merlin said a bit accusingly. Viviane just smiled and held up the empty vial she had been sent to retrieve. Is that something to be proud of? She's acting like she just won some sort of contest.
"It was very pleasant. Well, as pleasant as it could be inside a castle." She shrugged.
"Well, if you didn't sneak outside, then why were you eavesdropping?" Merlin asked. Viviane raised an eyebrow on the word eavesdropping.
"I'm not quite sure what you mean. I wasn't dropping any eaves." Viviane smiled. Merlin scowled. The writer also scowled. When you're quoting samwise gamgee in your 'witty' dialogue, you're doing it wrong. "If your asking why I didn't go in immediately, well, that's simple. I wanted to see if you trusted me." Merlin shifted uncomfortably. "If your interested," she added, "I got my answer." Oooooh look at that, she's acting all confident cause she knew merlin didn't trust her. Isn't she so cool? What a strong female character! *gag*
"It's just not a good idea for you to be wandering too much yet, your leg is still healing." Merlin said quickly.
"Indeed?" Viviane smiled. "Merlin," she started. He looked back at her. "I heard you." Her normally calm gaze seemed piercing, staring at Merlin intensely. *cue jazz music* "Why are you so nervous?" She asked. "What are you trying to hide?" Her smile slowly crept wider. Merlin swallowed.
"I'm not hiding anything." He recited automatically.
"Really?" She smirked. "Is that what you tell everyone?" Merlin stared back. "Well, go ahead. Keep telling yourself that." She turned quickly and walked into the room. "This is the vial you wanted, right Gaius?"
"Yes that's it. Thank you." Merlin heard from the other side of the door. He swallowed and pushed into the room as well.
Woahhhh another cliff hanger! The mysterious stranger seems to somehow know something about Merlin that he's trying to hide! I wonder what it is?
Find out on the next installment of "Lady Viviane: How NOT to Write an Original Character"!