withbox‌:

     ‘ That’s what I said. ’ He didn’t. He knows he didn’t. But if you just keep at it long enough, people will eventually give up and allow you to go on believing your own version of the truth. Sometimes, they even believe it themselves.  Somehow, he doesn’t think that’s going to work here, though. ‘ I’m not being vague! It’s just the truth sounds a little ridiculous. That doesn’t make it vague. Go on, then. What’s your name? Bet it’s something weird too; you’re all called weird stuff, around here. ’ 

❝ Eggsy. ❞  He repeats. Putting emphases on the ‘s’ in the young man’s unfortunately chosen nickname. Merlin doesn’t need to resist the urge to roll his eyes because that’s been well trained out of him at this point after many YEARS of dealing with Harry, a few years of dealing with Eggsy, and a lifetime dealing with a slew of other grown men who have the temperaments of moderately well behaved children.  ❝ Merlin. ❞  It’s not, not his birth name at any rate, but it might as well be. He hardly goes by anything else anymore.

copsaint‌:

𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚍      𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖     𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚍      𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜           ‘neath     furrowed     brow    ,            scrutinization     of     agreement    a    concept    reluctant    to    even    consider    .           but    he    supposes    the    other’s    right            –––            whatever    it    is    ,            it    must     be    important    .            at    least    ,          enough    to    warrant    a    listening    ear    ,           even    if    for    only    a    short    time    .            arms     come    to    cross    against    holstered    chest    .                 ❛              you    have    five    minutes    .              ❜

Once the other man seems more agreeable, Merlin gestures to the conference room behind them, giving a glance to the officers around them that seems more or less OBLIVIOUS to what they’re doing. For the best.  ❝ Can we talk in private? ❞  This isn’t information he’s willing to wave about in front of the general masses. There’s a very good reason that Kingsman is a SECRET organization and he’s hardly going to compromise that for the assistance of the Santa Barbara police department.  ❝ There’s a situation in the area ah think ye’ll need te be informed of. ❞

lastheretics‌:

an exasperated sigh left him and for several long moments he allowed an uncomfortable silence to settle between him and the other man. five hadn’t anticipated anyone being here, but this wasn’t nearly as problematic as it could have been. one man was easy, practically nothing. “i suppose you just felt like switching up your schedule today,” sheer dumb luck. five’s hand traced over the book that he’d been in pursuit of. on the seemingly never ending list of crimes he’d committed - theft was at the bottom of the list. still, people didn’t take kindly to having their things unexpectedly stolen from them. the book? wasn’t nearly as detailed as he would have liked, but everything was digital now and he hadn’t had enough time. printed documents that he wasn’t going to get unless he smashed his way through their digital security system. which he also didn’t have the time for, he would take what he could get. in this case it was a physical copy of the history of the kingsmen, or at least an outline, he felt he was owed that much. as far as potential threats went he wanted to know where they landed on his mental list. 

“people are normally a bit more predictable,” he sounded bored and disappointed. the goal had been to get in and get out without getting caught - right in the middle of the act of theft. 

@singlemaltscott

❝ Nae. I ‘ave precautions set in place fer situations like this one. ❞  It was hardly a coincidence that he’d caught the boy in the middle of his attempt. It was his job to protect and FORTIFY Kingsman, after all. They had plenty of enemies and a great deal of secrets to be kept so. It would’ve hardly done to have anyone be able to stroll in and take what they liked. He’d already let enough slip through the cracks in the last few years between V-Day and Poppy Adams.

The boy seemed far too serious and far too composed for his age but then, Merlin had been rather the same at what seemed to be...FIFTEEN, perhaps.  ❝ Now, let’s discuss how ye go’ in here. Or, perhaps, wha’ ye think ye’re doin’ with tha’ book. ❞  He gestured to what the boy held, something he’s very familiar with. And what a teenager wants with an abridged version of Kingsman’s history is something he’s very interested to find out. The majority of their data is held behind miles of FIREWALLS of his own making but they do still have a limited amount of physical information stored away in places like this. Always good to have backups of all sorts, after all. Especially in a day and age where hacking and cyber terrorism seem to be becoming old hat.

enigmatii‌:

“Don’t you worry. Q knows full well Double-Ohs have a very SHORT life expectancy. He wouldn’t be that surprised.” A bit of morbid humor yes, but it was his way of acknowledging to be careful. There was truth in what he said. In fact that was one of the first things he was told when was given the opportunity for the promotion. ‘You probably won’t live beyond your first two years’. Well Bond had stubbornly seen to it that he had. They were playing a game of cat and mouse with two russian operatives. Only it wasn’t entirely clear which pair were the cat and which the mouse. Really whoever ended up on top. “See the building up ahead — on the left? That’s where we are headed. Fifth floor is where the cipher machine is said to be.” He stopped moving to look back Merlin with a perked brow. “Как твой русский в случае, если нас поймают?”

Merlin was well aware of the life expectancy of people in their line of work. He’d already lost most of his apparent nine lives. By all rights he should have already DIED. But either by stubborn persistence or sheer dumb luck, he was still around.  ❝ Aye but this’ll ‘ave been on my watch. ❞  He certainly wouldn’t have appreciated if another quartermaster had gotten one of his agents killed. Not that it’d have been his own fault if 007 decided to rush in HAPHAZARDLY and got himself killed. But it was more the principle of the matter.  ❝ Мой русский в порядке. Беспокойся о себе. ❞  While his field experience had always been limited as quartermaster, there were certain skills that were still USEFUL for him to have and languages were one of them. Especially when it came to coordination with Kingsman outposts in other countries. His accent, however, was another story. That wasn’t his forte and he’d be leaving most of the talking to the other man for that reason.

HEADCANON: V-DAY AFTERMATH

at the end of the film we leave off with eggsy and tilde getting it on and merlin left in the plane, presumably to wait until eggsy is done so they can go pick up roxy.

that’s not to say that merlin was just waiting.

with chester dead, merlin became interim arthur until a new one was nominated and voted upon. he has a great deal of kidnapped celebrities and dignitaries to transport back to their respective homes so the first thing he does is call in backup to their location so that can begin to happen. but before he can even do that he has to start taking a body count. he has to reach out to all agents and staff to check their status. he has to take down a list of casualties and then make arrangements to retrieve their bodies and inform their families.

once that’s done, once they’re back at central, he has to start his work taking stock of the true extent of the damage worldwide both in terms of death count and the political and economic effects. he and his techs have to keep an eye on the stock markets, on political movements (because lord knows they blew the heads of so many world leaders they’re going to need replacements) and criminal activity from anyone trying to take advantage of the chaos.

he, his staff, and the kingsman agents have quite a few fires to put out. now, presumably they’re not the only organization doing this so it’s not solely on them but they are able to operate at a more discreet level than most.

suffice to say, he doesn’t get much sleep that first week if at all. not much that first month, in fact, even after a new arthur is chosen and inducted. at any given time during this period you’d be able to find him in his office running solely on a steady diet of coffee, caffeine pills, and pure adrenaline.

there’s no time to decompress post mission as they normally allow their agents. there’s too much to be done. too much fallout to try and contain. he doesn’t have time to process harry’s death, much less grieve. nor does he have time to process the massive number of people he killed by activating those implants, regardless of whether or not it was necessary to complete their mission.

it’s not until a couple months later that it finally comes crashing into him and the guilt is fairly stifling. guilt for not being able to save harry, agonizing over what he could have done differently. guilt over the people he killed (not for those who chose to take the implant but valentine’s employees who perhaps didn’t know what they were signing up for, family members of people who took the implant who were merely trusting their spouse or parent and the people that those who died left behind). guilt over any staff that they lost during v-day.

but, as usual, he merely sheds a tear in private and returns to work.

likeprotege‌:

        It’s right up their alley, then, when they’re not quite cut from the same cloth; he appreciates that it’s less manners and more rough-and-tumble, a taste of the life before Kingsman, before he’d learned which fork to use for what dish and which hand a signet ring belonged on. In that regard, Eggsy’s confident — not that he tends to lack it, as far as missions go. He’s started racking up his own headlines, after all, of the days where he’s thwarted the plans of whichever criminal mastermind has become Kingsman’s villainous flavor of the month.

        He feels great, knows he looks great, too, after he’s checked himself out in the mirror, casual wear as opposed to pressed bespoke and flattering accessories. But Merlin? He’s always looked great all done up. And this choice of wardobe’s bloody fantastic, as it always is, and while he’d initially laughed at the prospect of it, the wig actually looks, well.

        Mouthwatering, he’d say, if he thought of it fast enough.

        After a moment of staring — gracelessly, at that — he breaks out into a grin, part amusement and part very apparent approval. He looks just the part for this mission, and, god help him, Eggsy wonders if he can coax Merlin into having them adhere to their roles even when they get back, just for the indulgence of it.

        Or maybe before they head out —

        ❝ — Lookin’ good, Merlin. ❞

The wig is meant to serve two purposes. When he’d used this cover previously, Archy had had a full head of hair and while enough time has passed that he could have lost it, it just helps solidify his COVER. That and a shiny, bald head tends to stand out when they’re very much trying to blend in. Particularly him since he’s just meant to be the muscle here. But judging by Eggsy’s reaction to the sight of him...well, it serves a third purpose as well.

❝ Aye, lad? ❞  Merlin grins at the younger man, matching Eggsy’s smile. It fades away as he adjusts his cuffs and then his jacket, turning to look at himself in the mirror and make sure that everything’s in it’s place. He smooths a hand over the wig, far too REAL. It’s somewhat unsettling considering he doesn’t even really remember what it felt like to have a full head of hair. That’s how long it’s been.

Merlin turns back to the younger man, really taking a good look at the outfit they’ve got him in and smirks.  ❝ Lookin’ good yerself, Eggsy. ❞  He’s FOND of the young man regardless of what he’s wearing but his hair is tousled just so and the business casual look suits him.  ❝ Ah do believe we’ve some time before our meeting. ❞

HEADCANON: DOGS

merlin has always had a soft spot for animals, dogs in particular. he didn’t have a dog growing up, but there was a friendly stray in his neighborhood that he used to sneak out of the house to feed scraps from his suppers.

while training under his predecessor, during the first recruitment he experienced, he adopted the dogs that weren’t chosen in the process. they would’ve just been sent back to the shelter they were taken from but he thought they deserved a loving home. 

his first dogs were a german shepherd named captain (cap), a golden retriever named curie, a pitbull named faraday, and a shetland sheepdog named tesla.

in the second recruitment he experienced (lee and james’) he adopted a bernese mountain dog named darwin, a greyhound named apollo, a german shepherd named charlemagne, and a shiba inu named newton.

in the third recruitment he experienced (eggsy and roxy’s) he a adopted a bassett hound named winston, two english foxhounds named remus and romulus, and a harrier named athena.

since he started adopting the dogs, most have passed at a healthy old age. the second group he adopted seventeen years ago and since then all but newton (now eighteen) have passed in the last few years.

at present he has five dogs: newton, winston, remus, romulus, and athena. all are expertly trained, obedient, and will listen to only his commands.

HEADCANON: TATTOOS

you wouldn’t be able to see them during work because he always keeps them covered but merlin has four tattoos. each hold meaning to him and he did not get them for the purposes of aesthetics but for the purposes of keeping a physical reminder of certain events or times in his life and experiences he went through.

the first tattoo that merlin got was after he fought in the falklands war. he served with a great deal of english and irish and once he returned to uni, began to school his accent to something softer in order to fit in. he wasn’t ashamed of his heritage but recognized that there was a natural bias towards his scottishness in some of the circles he ran in. he wanted something to honor his heritage. the design looks like THIS but the scrolls say nemo me immune lacessit, which is the national motto of scotland. it means “no one provokes me with impunity”. it’s on his right shoulder/bicep, his dominant arm.

he got his second tattoo after the completion of his sas training. he was one of seven men who actually made it through to the end of training and he went to get the tattoo immediately afterwards. it’s a modified version of the sas insignia, which looks like THIS. his tattoo is black and white line work and the sas motto, “who dares, wins”, is written in script. underneath the scroll on either side of the point of the large dagger there are two smaller daggers, representing two men he served with that died in combat. it’s on his left shoulder/bicep.

after merlin lost an agent in the field for the first time he got his third tattoo started. he worked with a tattoo artist to create a design of celtic knotwork that could grow continuously up his right leg through multiple session over time. he had the first part done immediately and went back over the years each time he lost an agent or anyone else in the field. there is a section for lee, a section for james, and one for harry. each section includes the date, small, in one of the knots. he also added to it when his mother died. by the time they went to kentucky, the design had reached up to his knee. you can still see some of the ink on the stump of his right leg just below the knee. it seemed, to him, ironically fitting that it was blown off after kingsman’s fall and absent for it’s subsequent rise from the ashes.

merlin’s fourth tattoo was the kingsman insignia. he got it after being shot in 2003. he was forty at the time and had been working for kingsman for almost seven years, five as merlin. the tattoo features on his left pectoral over his heart, with his scar from the bullet at the center of it. he had “manners maketh man” added to the horizontal bar of the insignia after harry died in kentucky.

                                                       i am not PURE OF HEART.

HEADCANON: INJURY & REMOVAL FROM ACTIVE FIELD DUTY

the position of merlin has never been one that has specifically required field work but since he had a history of army service and had participated in agent training, merlin did find himself in the field more frequently than his predecessors. after twelve years in the military, merlin was content with a less active position but he’s always been very hands on. when a certain mission required someone more adept with technology or his particular expertise, he would join agents in the field.

merlin had been working for kingsman for about seven years, five as merlin, when he was shot during an assignment in spain. it had been necessary to send in an operative who was capable of complex hacking and there wasn’t enough time to teach an agent in more detail so merlin took the lead with galahad as his backup. his mark, however, was tipped off during one of his meetings with him and it turned into a shoot out. severely outnumbered and with harry en route, merlin was pinned down and a bullet struck his chest just over the lapel of his jacket.

after a great deal of blood loss, a great deal of surgery, and some very close calls, merlin was stabilized. it was decided that, because of the nature of his position and the necessity of having a merlin, he would not be put on any active field assignments in the future. since then merlin has primarily remained at his desk, observing from behind a screen. every so often he will provide on site technical support but always from a nearby building and never actually getting into the action itself.

he still has a heart murmur from the injury.

what she says: the fact that you’re alive is a miracle

what she means: the fact that nobody has killed you just to shut you up is a miracle

soulscatter‌:

he drives to the pub himself, a not entirely common occurrence, seeing as he’s usually being driven. but he parks the car before climbing out, entering the pub he assumes merlin is at. 

By the time Harry gets to the pub it’s nothing short of a miracle that’s kept his glasses firmly on his face and his ARSE firmly in his seat, though he has already nearly fallen off it entirely whilst returning to it after his turn at karaoke. He grins when he sees the man, lifting his pint in the air. “’Arry!”

Inspired by Drunk Merlin, enjoy Scottish Twitter Merlin

HELP ME PICK A URL THANKS! the last one ended in a flat out tie with four votes and two to each. also i saw the movie again tonight. 

This is an absolute religious experience that I was not prepared for

HEADCANON: RECRUITMENT & TRAINING

Hamish Sangster joined the army at the age of eighteen, serving during the Falklands War. He completed his schooling after the war, getting his degrees and later joining the SAS. After serving for twelve years he was approached by Kingsman. He was brought into the organization with the intention of having him study under and ultimately replace Merlin when the time came. The decision was made based on his test scores, evident genius level intellect, ingenuity, and performance during his time in the army which was watched closely by his predecessor prior to contacting him.

While he was not a candidate for an agent position, he did train alongside a group of recruits, the timing of which was not coincidental. He participated in field training with the group (including picking a puppy though he wound up adopting all four that were left after the candidates chose theirs), and observed all tests the candidates were put through alongside Merlin. He had to meet the rigorous physical, marksmanship, and combat requirements that were expected of all agents, a feat that he found slightly challenging even given his previous army training.

He was treated in a similar classist manner to Eggsy by the majority of the candidates given his middle class upbringing and Scottish heritage (in spite of the fact that he’d schooled his accent to something softer during his time at uni). He was met with further disdain for his lack of participation in the additional tasks the candidates were given as well as the fact that he was older than the recruits. Hamish merely ignored this and focused on completing his own training to the best of his ability (though he may have put one particularly pompous boy in his place during a sparring session).

Upon completion of his training, Hamish was given the codename Emrys and started shadowing Merlin. He learned the ins and outs of Kingsman, assisted Merlin in the creation of new weapons tech, and occasionally ventured into the field for on site tech support that Merlin (a senior citizen by this point) could not provide himself.

It was two years later after initial training that he became Merlin.

I’m a sucker for characters who see troubled kids in dangerous situations and basically go “they need parents, guess that’s me now”