Reciprocation

[ann_ciudad]

Fandom: Merlin
Title: Reciprocation
Author: astolat
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Rating: oh so very explicit
Text: here.

MP3 at Archive: 49:59, 16.9 MB
M4B at Archive: 49:59, 23.1 MB

The Workplace Sensitivity Training of Arthur Pendragon, Or, It's Good To Be The King

Spoilery story notes which you probably shouldn't read until after you listen to the story:

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Damn. Dying is easy, comedy is hard. The first fic I did was ninhursag's three hour angst-o-rama, so I thought I'd try something shorter and lighter. Turns out angst is easy. The thing is, sex is funny, and comedy is funny, but sex comedies are brutally unfunny unless you're very, very careful. And I wanted to read this one because it's wonderful; but that meant I also didn't want to screw it up.

And it's a complicated story, because it is a light-hearted sex romp, but it does take place in this much darker context of the fact that Arthur and his men have undeniably been coercing girls into sex. Which I at least didn't get at first - I was willing to suspend disbelief and accept that we were in a happy Disney medieval fantasy with sandwiches and frequent baths and that it was all in good fun, because that was what Arthur thought, right up until Morgana storms in and makes it clear that uh no. For a lot of the people involved in the story it's actually been rather horrible just offstage. And even she accepts that life is just like that for lower-status women, she's just pissed that Guinevere has been treated like one of them.

Most of the comedy in this story comes from the fact that it's a very tight third person Arthur point of view, and the contrast from you as the reader knowing what's going on and Arthur having no idea. This is a hard balance to get right as a reader! It's very tempting to be in on the joke and yet I think that destroys it.

Thinking just about the reading, I believe that it's listenable and hopefully enjoyable - otherwise I wouldn't have posted it - but it's pretty clear I think that I'm still figuring things out. I read a lot of this too fast, unfortunately, and I'm still working out the balance between noise reduction and that weird tinny effect. I did futz with the gain on this recording and I hope it's easier to hear. Feedback would be gratefully appreciated!

Comments

[cybel]

I'll have a podbook up for you soon. :-)

[ctkelly.livejournal.com]

Admittedly, I am still listening, but I just wanted to ask where you were from?

Excellent so far and I can see (hear?) what you mean about the "tinny effect".

Thanks for recording this fic!

[ann-ciudad.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll continue to work on it.

I'm from California! If you're American, I should sound aggressively neutral. If you're not American, I should sound aggressively American. So what do I actually sound like? :)

[ctkelly.livejournal.com]

If you're not American, I should sound aggressively American. So what do I actually sound like? :)
I was tossing between American and Canadian because I still can't hear the difference between the two! (I feel the need to apologize for that!)

[http://users.livejournal.com/xenakis_/]

Ok, I have to confess that I've probably listened to this at least a dozen times now; in the metro, walking to work, *at* work. I love it to pieces! I love the hurt in Arthur's voice when he says "Why would you bother, since you're not afraid of me", I love Gwen's "Morgana!" and I love, love, love Merlin's "I'd really like to take you to bed, may I?"

Terrific job!

[ann-ciudad.livejournal.com]

Oh man, thank you so much for the feedback. I'm still very new at this and totally insecure and it really means a lot. :)