bridgescribble | the wisest of reddit activities

Would you do it again?

Does your being-dead make it easier, or harder, to solve cases?

So that part really happened?

[ Luke isn't such an idiot that he'd believe this in his everyday life, but this is a special place where special things happen. And he's talking to King Arthur! ]

So why'd you choose to become a guy instead of putting the sword back and telling one of them that if they were so great, they could try? You'd be the only one who could do it, right?

[ Because they were at her... his... her? at the time? mercy. ]

I have not solved cases while being alive so I do not have enough ground to compare the two options.

[He wonders for a moment.]

But being dead means cases are more straightforward. No mess.

It certainly did.

[ She doesn't mind indulging his questions. It's honestly a little fun. ]

Because I was the only one who could do it. Because I believed with all my heart that if I could bring joy and peace to even a part of the kingdom, that I should try. Because it was necessary. I could have led an ordinary, quiet life - but the realm needed a king.

I can't.

[ That's a shame, it sounded fun. ]

Is it a talent you have, or is it something that you can learn?

That's a very fair answer.

"No mess", literally, like blood and dirt, or "no mess" figuratively, like interacting with police?

So, this makes the second ancient royal I've seen who turned out to be a woman the whole time.

...Have you seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail yet?

Green and growing. It's a wonderful place... one made so by the hard work of it's people and, during my reign, by the strength of its knights.

[ She sounds wistful. ]

...I cannot say I have.

[ She frowns. ]

What is it?

Well...

[ The vampire looks amused. ]

It's a comedic film about, King Arthur and his knights.

Come now. Don't be too surprised to see me.

[ Her hair might be picked on a ponytail instead of loose, her veil split into two halves instead of whole, her lips are painted blue instead of red, and all markings of her body are also covered under the waspy gauze of a more discreet outfit. Even so, it is Morgan. The crown upon her head is larger than the princess', too.

She sends her a contemplative look. ]

You wanted to rule for humans in a land of Mystics. The Mystics were leaving after it began to die with the upcoming of the foreigners and the Age of Men. Your uncle must have warned you what would happen. What do you think drove him or your sister after his passing? It was the will of the land you wanted to rule. Britain rejected you out of self-preservation.

[ She gives a long sigh. Vortigern might have wanted all humans out of the isles, but her sister once she awoke to her claim, Morgan would have accommodated the Britons who were people of the Age of Mystics. Those Britons perished when the land was claimed by those outsiders. ]

I am not without blame for misleading you. I should have never forced that blade and spear on your hands. The burden might have been too much by clinging to a thread of hope of a bridge between men and mystics.

[ How foolish of Vivian. But she does like to hope for the best with sheltered innocence. Humans might have provided the seed for Artoria to be born, but she is truly Merlin's and Vivian's daughter, in a manner. "King Arthur" exists because of them. ]

That has passed. You should be slumbering in Avalon.

Edited 2024-05-06 21:52 (UTC)

People often remember the foul instead of the noble deeds. It helps, in a manner, because fear is more stable to command than something as fickle as admiration and something as scarce as gratitude.

Nevertheless, you should choose something else to describe you if such a thing is ill-fit. History is filled with kinslayers. That is how civilization of any kind progresses.

...oh. A different telling of my legend, I take it?

More or less. I'm not sure how familiar you are with current technology but it can be watched online.

I cared for the people of my realm. For the land itself. I was needed and I answered.

[ She's steady about that. Certain of it. She does not regret taking up the sword or the spear or doing what she had to do. Perhaps, in a way, she regrets the ending of it all. But not that she did it in the first place. No matter what her sister might have done, no matter what difference there might be between them. ]

If I failed to bridge that gap, the failure is mine alone. But I laid the groundwork for the kingdoms to come. For the people who lived. Whatever the Mystics may have thought.

[ She straightens, not flinching. ]

Obviously I do not sleep now. Later, perhaps. But not now.

Edited 2024-05-06 22:03 (UTC)

Mhm. [ She looks at him with a raised eyebrow. ] You are larger than our Cath Palug.

[ At least before he grows, the Primate Murder is a cute and fluffy small creature that can climb to selective shoulders as a kitten or squirrel. ]

Your people, our Britain, yourself needed to disappear for humanity to expand their greedy reach. You were sacrifices. How do you find that acceptable?

[ Morgan scoffs to hear that. Does she feel no rage and impotence? That ending her counterpart gave her was out of spite and love. An act of clemency while Merlin had fled like a coward without bearing to witness the inevitable. Vivian had punished him for that. The texture had already begun to change. The famine of the latest years would have become widespread if Artoria remained king. It was euthanasia. Defeat. Resignation.

The grudge in her heart flares. But Morgan's face remains calm like the still surface of a lake. ]

That is no longer Britain. Our Britain. It is someone else's land.

[ She says coldly. She has loved Britain more than anyone else. She has grieved it more than anyone else. She has built her Britain out of a dead land without salvation as a continuation of that dream. ]

Hmph. Why? Are you working for the Human Order even after it disposes of you? That is quite a pitiful fate.

The Grail has given me passing knowledge of how to use such devices, yes. I may seek this out...

[ The truth is: no. She has already tried to claw back the flow of time, to somehow self-annihilate and find redemption in freeing her people. She sought a restoration without herself and failed. And that has changed her - perhaps for the better. ]

All things end, Morgan.

[ She speaks her name quietly. ]

My reign was not destined to last forever. And what would the point be? A kingdom set in amber, never changing? My kingdom fell, yes. But the legend has endured. A fragment of what my Britain was yet remains - but the age of heroes and of gods is gone.

[ Her lips purse. ]

I sought a bargain from the World to try and turn back fate. In the end, it was not to be.

If you need something sent from one place to another but can't trek the Wasteland yourself you hire someone like me to do it.

You sound like the rangers back home.

Continuation could have been possible.

[ Morgan stubbornly argues. Yes, a beautiful garden is what she wants; one that lasts forevermore in its beauty and splendor. She has no perspective of a human's finite measure of things.

Even so, she also wants that lasting eternity in memory too. The sights of her prosperous kingdom are to be carved into the hearts of its visitors. Nothing would make her happier than hearing some praise for her painstakingly hard job over the last thousands of years.

She remains tactfully silent until Artoria's admission. ]

You tried to fight your fate? [ That surprises her. Her eyes widen, and her voice is not wholly as unemotional. Even the puppet resented her strangling threads. Perhaps she rushed in her judgment. She does harbor begrudging respect. ] You should have sought "me" instead of the World for such a thing. Look at me, Artoria, you must have noticed the differences. I am the result of your sister's own fate-changing defiance.

[ There are differences, yes. But she hasn't thought to bring them up, not until Morgan does herself. She pauses, silent for a few moments as she considers. ]

I did. I thought that even if I could not lead my kingdom or save it, that I might still somehow preserve it.

[ Another moment of consideration before she continues. ]

Who are you then, if not my sister? An imitation? One who might-have-been? What happened?

The what version of what, now?

[Wow, don't break his heart. 😔

and, he was eight years old when the government repealed tax until 1913 — long after his… eventual passing.]

Edited 2024-05-06 23:26 (UTC)

Like a courier. Where are you from?

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

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mentioning it is ok, right?

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yeah!

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