[So. Jailed. Unfortunately not an unfamiliar situation for Merlin, which could have worked to make him calmer than pacing back and forth in the virtual cell, muttering and occasionally tapping on the walls like that's going to help, but well - it didn't. He's restless if nothing else, scrambling for a quick and easy way out of here, stealth and style be damned. The things he's looking at seem to be completely random - a brick here, a spot on the floor there, a few experimental taps against the bars to this cell...

And then abruptly he spins around to you, oh very patient (or perhaps not so patient) cellmate. Hello.]

I need you to pretend to kill me.

[So there's that.]

[The stasis unit is something Merlin's been avoiding, all things considered. As long as he doesn't go, if he doesn't see who's there and who isn't, which people he hasn't managed to protect enough—as illogical as protecting people from a space cloud is, he feels responsible—well. As long as he avoids it, he can keep pretending something about this is fine.

That never works long term; it's inevitable that he makes his way down to the stasis unit eventually. For a while he loiters just outside, wandering past a few times like he can't convince himself to go inside and very overtly gesturing to anyone trying to get around him to please, go ahead, ignore him completely thank you very much—

But eventually he'll make it in, and he'll make it as far as the first pod containing someone he recognizes (looks like a big jerk tbh) before he stops, the confidence he mustered to come in here already draining quickly.]

...I don't understand what I've done wrong. [so the stasis visit was going great]

[fuck it up, linda]