(Untitled)

[brightestosigns]

WHO: Morgana and Arthur Pendragon
WHEN: Today, early evening.
WHERE: Random sidewalk, then it's anyone's guess.
WHAT: They really need to talk. Some more.
Ratings: Lowish.

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[prince_prat]

Things were never what they should be here. Arthur kicked habitually at a plastic cup in his way, hands jammed far into his trouser pockets as he went. Merlin would be back at the castle making sure his father didn't take another trip into a delusional realm and try and drown the twins out of some misguided need to purge this place of its magic. It was unlikely, but he liked to know they were under the care of someone who knew them. He'd spent part of the night asleep in their nursery and his neck had yet to forgive him for it.

His shoulders ached from hunching and he nearly strode right into another pedestrian when he caught sight of familiar black hair and-- "Morgana?"

[brightestosigns]

Morgana looked up, eyes widening slightly, before a neutral expression settled on her features. "Arthur." She stated. Morgana looked him over quickly. He looked ... tired. "You could do with -- Are you alright?" She couldn't quite help the words that came off of her tongue.

He didn't look ill, simply very fatigued .. no, more stressed. The pages of his book had nearly always been comprehensible to her.

[prince_prat]

"I haven't been sleeping well." There were less truthful answers. Arthur doubted he'd given himself more than five hours sleep in the last three days, though it was something.

By contrast, Morgana looked lovelier than he had seen her in ages, certainly more...healthy since the last he'd seen her. There was a joke in there somewhere that Arthur was too tired to parse out.

He wanted to ask her where she'd been, but couldn't dredge up the bad feelings needed for that confrontation. "You look well."

[brightestosigns]

"Hmm." Morgana stated, clearly showing that she believed there to be much more than that. She shouldn't push him. He wasn't her Arthur and it certainly wasn't her business. However, old habits. "You should start working on that. A few more days of not sleeping well, and I'm certain a wind could knock you over."

Closing her purse she nodded and smiled slightly, "Thank you." She could have left it at that but, here she had this need not to cut things short. "I've been enjoying my time here. There are so many distractions in this place. It's lovely."

[secretsorcerer]

To be honest, Merlin felt Arthur's panic and frustration before he heard any of his thoughts, or his actual voice, for that matter. He'd been in the yard behind the castle with Daisy and Archie, who were finally learning how to play together, though Archie still gave Daisy many a reproachful glare. Then, in a moment, a feeling brewed that went quickly from subtle to intense. And Merlin knew he had to find Arthur.

Which, following the feeling in his chest, was quite easy to do. As he went round to the front doors, it grew stronger, and then a few thoughts filtered in, and he opened the doors and heard the voices. Then he found them, in the hall. He let Archie stay outside, and carried Daisy toward Arthur and Morgana.

"Hi! Em-- I'm not interrupting, am I?"

[brightestosigns]

Morgana's eyes flew to Merlin and it took a lot of effort to grab onto the frayed edges of her emotions, in order not to take it out on Merlin. Even the words that she begane before cutting herself off, "Yes, Merlin. You - " Were much more clipped, speaken with more suppressed upset laced with annoyance, than she had even used towad Merlin. Ever.

However, she caught herself, and not only that she thought the better of it. Turning toward Merlin, she said with a forced smle, her tone neutral, and her body held staight. "Arthur was just taking me to meet the children, my children, and he was giving me the information of how they came to be. Perhaps, you'd like to accompany us there, Merlin. Help him tell the story."

[prince_prat]

There was something small in Arthur's chest that gave out when Merlin appeared in the door and his breathing eased just slightly when he glanced at him. He may have been panicking. He really wasn't sure.

Morgana hadn't run, for all it appeared she might have wanted to. She wasn't happy, Arthur hesitated to call it furious, but she had stayed and she was going to listen.

Don't you dare walk out.

Arthur didn't know what Morgana may accidentally do, but if something caught fire in the nursery. Arthur was only one man.

[secretsorcerer]

Merlin opened his mouth, then shut it again. So Morgana knew about the twins. Her twins. And she did not look happy. Her voice had a terrifying edge to it-- he'd heard that voice directed at Uther before, even a bit of it at Arthur. But never at him.

He took his place by Arthur's side and set Daisy down on the floor. Smart little thing that she was, she skittered out the door. "I-- I'm sorry, Morgana. We never had any intention of keeping it from you."