gimmethemap | 65 - playing with the audio feed

Entry tags:

flood,
janeway

65 - playing with the audio feed

Where's Papa?

This is Papa's room.

(ooc: As with all floods, those that are affected have a choice as to how much they are affected. In Morgan's case she doesn't even really think all that much about being a Warden. It's probably down there somewhere, but she hasn't gotten to it yet.)

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[She points at a shelf close by, where there sits a heavy leatherbound edition of the Bible and a tattered, much smaller book.]

I'm learning to read those.

[Right now she's at the point where her father just reads and she and Glasspoole listen and eventually fall asleep.]

May I?

[Without waiting, Kathryn takes down the two books, very gently, and turns them over in her hands.]

[In her own time, these books would be valued antiques. It takes her breath away to hold them now. After a moment, she replaces them carefully.]

Do you like living here?

[While Janeway is examining them, she's getting ongoing commentary from the child.]

That -- that one is the Bible. It has lots of stories in it but the words are really small and people talk funny. Papa says they talk like Quakers. My favorite's the story about the big ship and all the animals. And the one with the sea monster.

[She points at the smaller one.]

A-and that one's called The Fairy Queen. I don't think there is a Fairy or a Queen in the story anywhere yet, but this guy called King Arthur shows up a couple times.

[When Janeway puts the books away and asks if she's happy there, Morgan nods vigorously.]

I do! It's my home.

Edited 2009-05-15 16:49 (UTC)

[Janeway smiles at the commentary. She knows these stories, but only in passing.]

Your father is a pirate, is that right?

Sometimes people say so. Papa's Captain here on the Morning Star.

What do you think of that?

[She feels a twinge of guilt for pressing Morgan for these details while she is vulnerable, but her curiousity gets the better of her.]

[She pouts.] People who use that word used to like Papa, and Grandpa before him. He'd do what they wanted him to do, and now that they don't anymore they say 'pirate'.

[Kathryn crouches down once more, listening. Nautical history told of captains who were conscripted by nations to run blockades and act as privateers, and then were subsequently charged with the crime of piracy. She wonders briefly if this is what Morgan means.]

What happens to you when this ship fights another?

If Papa thinks that's like to happen he puts me an' Mister Glasspool in at port with Uncle Mordechai. It hasn't happened yet when he wasn't planning for it, but he always tells me that if it does I have to stay by him and try not to be scared.

I see.

[Kathryn glances around again. The quarters really aren't suitable for a child.]

You must spend many weeks at sea when you're aboard. What do you do during all that time?

I only get to sail with papa every month or so. Mister Glasspoole and I have to stay out of the way most times. But we get to learn about the different duties on the ship and how they're done.

Is that so? What have you learned so far?

[And she launches into a big long, child-filtered lecture about how the ship has to be scrubbed down regular-like because they don't want salt and lye to build up (she says the word 'lye' like she took it to mean 'lie', though), and how the ropes have to be tended (but that you have to be really good at climbing or else you'll break your head), and how the sails have to be kept mended and what kinds of winds to take them in for, etc etc.]

And no women.

[She folds her arms, saying this in a gruff falsetto voice to show she's imitating someone else.]

No women? [Janeway laughs at the impersination.]

You're going to be a woman someday, aren't you?

Yuh huh. [As Morgan says this she puts her hands on her hips confidently.] That'll show 'em.

[There is a hint of understanding in her tone.]

Yes, I'm sure it will.

[It's about then that King Charles decides it's safe to come out of hiding, and he swings down from a rafter above, by his tail. Hanging suspended upside-down, he clicks and whistles at Janeway. Morgan giggles.]

[Janeway is caught off-guard, and takes a surprised step backwards.]

[After a second, she regains her composure and peers at the monkey, a smile coming to her face as she tried to remember what the child said its name was.]

Hello, King Charles.

[To this, the monkey drops down to the floor, stands up on his hind legs, and salutes her.]

He likes you.

[Morgan blinks as though reminded of something.]

It was a long time before he'd do that for me.

[Kathryn looks at Morgan strangely for a moment.]

How long?

Until I got --

[Morgan trails off and for a long moment she stares off at nothing. That's right. He never saluted her until after Dawg Brown took the ship. After they found Cutthroat. And...]

...

[Morgan sat down on the floor.]

Papa's dead.

[King Charles hugged her head.]

Edited 2009-05-16 22:18 (UTC)

[Kathryn doesn't respond immediately. Morgan seems to her to be experiencing an anochronism in her timeline - remembering her adulthood from a child's perspective, or possibly regaining her memories. In a tone reserved for adults, she asks sharply,]

Morgan, do you know where you are?

[Morgan does not appear to hear her. If she does, she's ignoring the question. She covers her face with her hands, bending over herself, and she begins to shake with quiet sobs.]

Papa...

[Kathryn comes to her knees from her crouch, sighing; she's not that old, but her muscles protest from the prolonged exertion. She reaches out awkwardly to rub Morgan's back.]

Morgan?

[Memories, and words like 'barge' and 'flood' returning, Morgan is still what her form suggests, however, and therefore her first response to kind attention is for her 'pick me up' instinct to kick in, and she climbs into Janeway's arms.]

ACTION!

fear-conquered.livejournal.com - 2009-05-17 15:05 (UTC) - Expand

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