Morrigan is many things (whathavewehere) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-10-30 02:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, jean grey (phoenix), morrigan |
Who: Jean and Morrigan
What: Random meeting
When: Recently
Where: Bowers Museum
Warnings: Family friendly
Morrigan had felt like going to a museum. She’d finished the appointments she’d had with clients, and decided to kill a couple hours at a museum. Sometimes she felt like she’d gone into the wrong line of work, that she should have been an archaeologist. But as it was, it was more a hobby of hers, brushing up on her history, learning anything she didn’t already know. Especially pertaining to the ancient world.
The passage of time had stolen much knowledge of the ancients, though remnants could still be found if one knew where to look. So she went to the Bowers Museum. They had a couple interesting exhibitions, though her attention was particularly grabbed by the Egyptian one and the Chinese one. The Ancient Arts of China was right up her alley, but the Egyptian one which looked beneath the mask of a mummy, was also intriguing.
She went into the Chinese exhibit first. It stretched over a 5,000 year period. There was everything from ceramic pots to clothing. Morrigan studied each piece carefully, soaking in all the information she could.
“Fascinating,” she murmured as she gazed at one of the embroidered silk court robes on display. It was positively breathtaking!
Jean was wandering around the Museum. It wasn’t a school trip, or anything, but sometimes she liked to get hands on (or as close as she was allowed) with some of the things she taught. And honestly she enjoyed it. There was even an exhibit on ancient medicine, which her new set of dreams made her curious about. She was a doctor after all.
She snuck through the Chinese exhibit, and found herself distracted. “Wow. That’s really gorgeous.”
The voice brought Morrigan out of her reverie. She looked over at the woman and for a moment, she simply stared at her. “How did...I thought…” Though wait a minute, the woman’s accent was all wrong. But she did resemble Maia quite a bit, save for the hair color. She then realized she was still staring. “My apologies, I thought you were someone I know.”
“Not the first time I’ve gotten that,” Jean quipped. Though usually that involved her… alternate daughter. Could one have maternal feelings for children they didn’t actually have? Jean was still out on that. “Is it the hair? It’s usually the hair.”
“Not quite the hair. More your eyes and the sound of your voice.” Morrigan responded. Seriously, the resemblance was uncanny. Suddenly she knew what Maia would look like as a redhead. And it was quite attractive.
“Huh. I might have anot--a clone I’m not aware of.” Jean smiled. She had the kind of smile that put people at ease, and the kind of mannerism that only reinforced that. People either really liked her, or really hated, it wasn’t often in between.
“T’would seem so, yes.” Morrigan said. It was...strange. Her demeanor was one she didn’t always take to. And it was a bit different from Maia’s. It was difficult to take it all in. “I am Morrigan,” she introduced herself. Though she didn’t extend her hand, if only because shaking hands was not something she initiated.
This woman had an interesting accent and manner of speaking. It made Jean curious. She held out her own hand. “I’m Jean.” At the contact, Morrigan might just feel as though there was a great, and burning power behind and inside Jean.
It was delayed, but Morrigan did shake Jean’s hand. And she felt that sense of power. Morrigan had her own power, though hers was different. She was a powerful mage, a shapeshifter, but she also had quite a bit of knowledge of the ancient world. Perhaps even a hint that she was more than she seemed to be. “T’would seem that this was not the first time someone mistook you for another?”
“No, not the first time.” Jean tried to skim Morrigan’s surface thoughts. Anything more than that would be a violation, one that Jean was trained against. Not that Xavier ever followed his own rules, but there was a moral obligation to not dig in someone’s head unless there was no other choice. Mostly she was curious as to that power.
Morrigan’s surface thoughts were mainly focused around this woman’s resemblance to Maia. Slightly beyond that were thoughts of things she needed to do later, such as cultivate some of the herbs from her dreams to make into more potions. “Hopefully tis not too distressing for you.” She was also wondering why she was being nicer than usual to someone she’d just met, but she was assuming it was the resemblance to Maia. Maia was the only person exempt from Morrigan’s bitchy side without prompting it.
“Usually it’s….more complicated.” Jean waved her hand. “Dream stuff, and I’m gathering you’re not unfamiliar with the concept. In my case, at least one clone, a daughter from an alternate future, and a large number of alternate realities.”
She gave a nod. “I am familiar with the concept, yes. Tis strange how the dreams can give such things to us.” And then Kieran crossed her mind. The son whom existed only in her dreams, yet she still felt a void in her heart in her waking life. It was one she was trying to keep to herself as much as possible. Aside from when Maia poked at it. “I can assure you the woman I know that you bear a resemblance to you is not a clone of you.” Morrigan didn’t think she could handle two Maias.
Actually no, she knew she couldn’t handle two Maias. That would be the death of her.
“That’s actually a relief. I don’t think I want another one of me around.” The Phoenix would love that though, and Jean felt a little bit of jealousy at the idea. The Phoenix was hers. Maybe Rachel’s. No one else’s. No one.
She should be more alarmed at the idea of being Jealous, of wanting the Phoenix. She really should.
“I share that sentiment. I know the world would not be able to handle two Maias being around.” Morrigan chuckled a bit. Maia could be a lot to take in sometimes, especially when she was laying it on thick with the odd sense of humor she had. “Though I somehow think Maia would love having another her around.”
“She sounds like she’d be really fun at parties,” Jean replied. Just from her attitude, at anyrate. Though god only knew what kind of party tricks this Maia could do. A kid came running through the museum, tripping and skidding towards a priceless relic. He crashed into the pillar and the ancient relic toppled over the side. Or at least it started to. Jean held out her hand, steadying the display and righting the object. She flicked her hand and the child slid a few feet from disaster.
“Uh. How very lucky!”
“You have no idea,” Morrigan responded with amusement. Maia was a party in and of herself. Sometimes she did wonder how she’d fallen for such a woman, but there was more to Maia than that. Though as she watched the entire scene unfold, she blinked a bit, but didn’t draw any attention to what had actually just happened.
“One should be more careful and respectful in museums,” she said to the child in a mom sort of voice.
“Have one of your own?” Jean asked, watching the kid walk off. Quickly, but at least he was walking this time. “I wish I could say my students are more well behaved for being older, but they aren’t really.” It wasn’t entirely their fault. Jean had Opinions on the school system and sometimes felt like she was waging a secret war to keep her kids enjoying learning.
“Not here,” she responded as she watched the boy leave. Morrigan gave a little shake of her head to snap herself out of it and she turned her attention back to Jean. “You are a teacher, then? Sometimes I believe there are those who never learn to behave regardless of their age.” One of the reasons she likened herself to not be a people person, several people she came into contact with didn’t understand how to control themselves.
“I see.” She picked up just a little bit of Morrigan’s feelings, but didn’t pursue them. “I am. I teach at a local high school. Social studies and history.” They were important subjects and often under appreciated. Worse, she’d seen first hand how some curriculums repeated the same things over and over again, without digging deeper, just so kids could pass tests.
“History is an excellent subject to teach. Do you have a preference for time period? Or do you simply soak up whatever you are able to?” Considering Jean taught the subject, Morrigan was assuming that meant she had an outside interest in the subject. Especially since they were in a museum.
“All sorts. There’s something to pay attention to in every era. We never really cover reconstruction or the early 20th century enough, though. There’s so much emphasis on what happens on tests, and less on actually teaching kids critical thinking. But personally, I’m really into 1600s Europe.” There might be some dream related influence there.
“True indeed. I think history courses tend to be far more European-centric and ignore much of the rest of the world. People should not be ignorant of the truth of the world around them, though I understand there will always be many ignorant to much of the truth.” People saw what they wanted to see more often than not. “An excellent time period. I quite enjoy ancient China, myself. I studied there for a time as well.”
“Can’t say I’ve ever been to China. Not in this life, anyway. My dream life is something else entirely. At one point I was stuck in the 1600s. Kind of. It’s complicated.” Jean waved a hand. “What’s your favorite period?”
“Ah, I understand your affinity for the 1600s in that regard.” The dreams tended to be complicated more often than not in these regards. “The Han Dynasty which stretched for four centuries. The scientific advancements along with establishing a portion of the Silk Road has always fascinated me. Being an herbalist, I learned the art of ancient Chinese herbal medicine. Not necessarily unlike in my dreams, though my dreams do not seem to take place on this planet. Perhaps a similar one, but tis not called Earth.”
Jean raised her eyebrow. “Earth-like, but not Earth?” That was interesting. She’d talked to some people who’d had dreams like that, and she assumed it wasn’t just them being actual aliens. Morrigan seemed to be very human.
“I dream of a place called Thedas. It’s similar to this planet in that there are various countries. However, there are elements there that cannot be found here. Elves, dwarves, and horned giants referred to as Qunari. Dragons exist. Griffons existed once, but they have become extinct. Though they thought the same of dragons until about half a century earlier they began seeing the majestic creatures again.” It was difficult to summarize Thedas, even when leaving out things like the Blight. “Magic is also real there, though not everyone has the gift. I, however, have been blessed with it. Though some would call it a curse.”
"Sounds very Middle-earth." Jean folded her arms. "I wouldn't call magic a curse, any more than what I am is a curse. I'm a mutant, a genetic offshoot of humanity. We're all born with gifts." Though some did call it a curse. She couldn't always blame them.
A mutant. That would explain the sense of power she felt. “I would call it a gift as well. In Thedas, the majority of people view magic as evil, and any who develop the gift are typically taken from their families at a young age and forced to live in one of the Circles of Magi.” Her tone was enough to show her absolutely disdain for that. “There are, however, those who maintain their freedom from the Circle, either by constantly moving or by remaining hidden. I was one raised outside of the Circle’s influence, and thus branded an apostate.”
“That’s awful!” But there were places like that in her own dreams. Different, maybe. Test subjects, or worse. “Our own school is voluntary. Your typical boarding school, only with test areas for super powers. There’s a place like that a friend set up here, actually.”
Jean frowned. “But I understand. People hate and fear us too. With the natural consequences.”
“Such a thing would be highly preferable in my dreams. After all, oppress people for long enough and they will eventually fight back.” The Circles had fallen, and what had begun as a war between the mages and the Templars had grown into something far worse.
“Tis human nature to hate and fear what is different. There are also those who misuse the gifts they were given, or simply cannot gain ample control over them. Though there is fault on both sides, as is the truth in all such situations. Both sides have positives, both have negatives, neither is completely right or wrong.”
“Yes, they will eventually fight back,” Jean agreed, in that sort of tone that indicated that ‘fighting back’ was something also familiar to mutants. Mutants and Mages could very well be kindred spirits, with similar problems and similar kinds of oppressors. “My mentor dreamed of a world of peaceful coexistence. His best friend lived through the holocaust and thought that that was impossible. That we have to fight for our right to exist. It took me a long time to understand that neither man was entirely wrong or right.”
There certainly was more than a little room for Mutants and Mages to be kindred spirits. Of course, Morrigan had never been part of the Circle, but she knew what it was to have to hide herself to escape detection. Oh the Templars had come to the Korcari Wilds many times during her youth in an attempt to drag her and her mother away. They were never successful.
“The truth of the matter is very much somewhere between both extremes. I have seen the effects of what such a war can cause. Everyone seems to be more concerned with believing that they are fully in the right and the others are fully in the wrong that they fail to see both are right and both are wrong in various aspects.”
“I’m sorry that you ever had to see that.” The only times Jean had, had been glimpses into other realities. And the things that her friends had told her had happened after her death. “I can see how that could happen.”
“Tis not a pretty sight. I managed to escape the worst of it, but t’was not something I ever thought to see.” Morrigan commented. “Then, of course, something far worse came along and attempted to tear the very fabric of the world apart. Yet even then people chose to ignore the larger, more pressing matter to continue with their petty, meaningless squabbling.”
Jean’s smile was tight. She was that thing that could tear the world apart. “Our worlds are more alike than not, I think. Even if the technology difference is probably really big.” Even discounting alien tech. She rubbed a hand over her own arm. “Want to get lunch sometime? Or tea? I think there’s a lot we could talk about.”
“Considering Thedas could be considered equal to about the Dark Ages in this world, that is an accurate statement.” Morrigan could certainly see the similarities between Jean’s dream world and her own. “I would like that, yes.” Morrigan answered with a nod. Was this the beginning of a new friendship? Who really knew, but everyone other than Morrigan would say that she could use more friends. Morrigan still took the stance of not wanting or needing friends, despite that being highly untrue.
“Great!” Jean smiled. She glanced down the hall. “I wanted to check out one of the medical exhibits. I’ve got an interest thanks to parts of my dreams. I’ll text you?”
“I look forward to it.” Morrigan said with a smile and a nod. She said her goodbyes before they parted ways. There were a few other exhibits she wanted to look at before leaving. And she had Maia on the brain now. Hopefully her fiancé didn’t have plans later because she was suddenly having plans.