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EIGHTY TWO ✖ VIDEO
[This post comes within minutes of the flood announcement, because Charles knows something is wrong the second it hits, even if he's still distracted and furious (with himself and the Barge, and their entire desperate situation), and it's that fury that he grips onto instinctively.
It's been what's fueling him for years. Even if he knows now how badly he'd screwed up, it's still a crutch that feels more often like a weapon he wouldn't be able to fight without.
He's in his room, and for anyone who remembers his counterpart on the other Barge, he's not dressed strangely, necessarily. Or, at least, you're probably used to seeing him walking around in the dark cape, maroon jacket and slacks, black boots and gloves, especially in his early days on the Barge. There's an unmistakeable crackle of telepathic energy for anyone on his access filter, enough to cause a uncomfortable headache and getting worse.
There's no hiding his fury in his voice or his expression because suddenly the only thing that's really mattered to him in the last twenty four hours is gone, and one of you is clearly responsible for it.]
You all have two minutes to tell me what you did to Erik before I make you rip yourselves apart.
[It's a threat he fully intends on carrying out, is fully capable of carrying out, but it's also one he can be talked down from relatively easily. He just doesn't realize it yet.]
It's been what's fueling him for years. Even if he knows now how badly he'd screwed up, it's still a crutch that feels more often like a weapon he wouldn't be able to fight without.
He's in his room, and for anyone who remembers his counterpart on the other Barge, he's not dressed strangely, necessarily. Or, at least, you're probably used to seeing him walking around in the dark cape, maroon jacket and slacks, black boots and gloves, especially in his early days on the Barge. There's an unmistakeable crackle of telepathic energy for anyone on his access filter, enough to cause a uncomfortable headache and getting worse.
There's no hiding his fury in his voice or his expression because suddenly the only thing that's really mattered to him in the last twenty four hours is gone, and one of you is clearly responsible for it.]
You all have two minutes to tell me what you did to Erik before I make you rip yourselves apart.
[It's a threat he fully intends on carrying out, is fully capable of carrying out, but it's also one he can be talked down from relatively easily. He just doesn't realize it yet.]
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She turns the feed private.]
This isn't you - this isn't your Barge.
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[She's different, he can tell even with just the fleeting contact he's had with her mind, and there's a temptation to just look and find out immediately, but. He won't do that, not to her.]
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[She's not trying to sell him, really - she doesn't believe it. But she doesn't know how to be that woman, that queen, and she can't pretend.]
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[He still wants that.]
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That wasn't me. That was - as far as I'm concerned, I was affected by that flood.
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And Erik - your reality's Erik - is safe?
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Maybe it should just be further motivation to walk over the bodies of almost everyone else on board that ship to make sure that can happen.]
I'm sorry I hurt you.
[He wishes he could say he didn't mean to, but he knows how little control he has when he's that angry. She probably does, too.]
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[The understanding is the same as on the other ship: the forgiveness is not entirely there. Morgana, the once and future Queen Morgana, would forgive him anything, easily. Now, she doesn't hold a grudge, precisely, but she won't forget that lack of control.]
I'm all right.
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After all, he probably doesn't deserve most people's trust. He's a killer, and he's never apologized for it.]
Thank you for telling me.
[He should probably leave it at that.]
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Are you in your room?
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[Why. :|]
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He just almost immediately turns away and continues surveying the room his counterpart clearly lives in, not sure what to make of all of this.]
What do you want?
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What are you wearing?
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He just really doesn't know what to make of all of it.]
I could ask you the same thing. [She's different.]
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Things are different, when your throne is denied you.
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Still. As much experience as he's had with floods and breaches, it's difficult not to hear her, to see her and not think of the woman he knows, one of the only other people he genuinely cares for on the ship.
He wonders if she remembers he kissed her. He's not sure he wants the answer to be yes.]
What is he like?
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Morgana looks around the room, lets the surroundings piece him together.]
Kind. Good hearted. Things were difficult for him, for a time, but...He found a way through. He's not so angry as you. [Her eyes settle on him again, thoughtful.]
You lived different lives.
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That much is obvious.
[He shuts one of the photo albums, adjusts a stack of books on an end table. He feels like a stranger in his own home, even if no room in the mansion has ever really felt like home to him. Even after they'd retreated there to regroup and prepare, it hadn't.
Eventually, he turns back to her, focuses his attention away from his counterpart.]
Why did you come?
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It seemed like a good idea. I can go if you'd prefer.
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[He doesn't move, and he doesn't ask her to leave. He still trusts her, even if everything feels off, like how everything in this room seems to make sense except that it doesn't, because this isn't his life and he's never going to live it.
It's not even that he resents his counterpart. It's just strange.]
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Here, she smiles. When this is over, no doubt Charles will be disappointed, but she is not concerned with acting for his benefit. Not for anyone's benefit.]
You wouldn't be the only one. But he would hate himself, when this is over.
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The smile is strange, and he watches her with interest, maybe even concern.]
What happened to you, Morgana? [It's not accusatory, it's not disappointed. The protectiveness and righteous anger surrounding the idea of Erik being hurt surrounds her too, and he hates, hates that even in a better world, one where this place is meant to give second chances instead of create more monsters, she's still trapped.
It isn't fair. He doesn't care what this woman has done: she deserves better than this.]
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I lived a very different life. No throne, no crown, no one to trust or trust in me.
[No Merlin to love or love her, no brother to mourn over, no connection to anyone to keep her strong and tempered. She is terribly bitter for the things that Morgana had.]
I'm not the queen you know. [And he isn't the professor she knows. She almost wishes she could know him better, this way.]
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