Cerebro Scans: Professing Love

## Characters

* Moira MacTaggert
* Charles Xavier

## Location

* New York City, NY
* April 11th, 1987 - Afternoon

## Scan Transcript

* **Charles Xavier:** Thank you for agreeing to meet me for lunch, Moira.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** Don't thank me yet. I might still go to the dean.
* **Charles Xavier:** Might I ask why you're here then?
* **Moira MacTaggert:** You said you can explain. So... I'm here to hear you out. I hope you have a damn good excuse, Charles.
* **Charles Xavier:** This is all about the deviant gene we found on some subjects' twenty-third chromosome.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** How does this have anything to do with the Xavier gene?
* **Charles Xavier:** [sigh] Moira, I thought we agreed to call it the X-gene, not-
* **Moira MacTaggert:** That's what we put in our thesis. I never agreed to stop calling it the Xavier gene.
* **Charles Xavier:** [sigh] Very well...
* **Moira MacTaggert:** So how on Earth does the Xavier gene have anything to do with giving sensitive information to that janitor?
* **Charles Xavier:** He's actually an electrician.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** Charles, don't evade the question.
* **Charles Xavier:** My apologies. That was not my intent. I only wished to clarify that the man you saw me exchanging those documents with was Erik Lehnsherr. He also works for the university.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** Oh, good. Now I'll have two names to bring to the dean when I report this.
* **Charles Xavier:** Moira, allow me to continue, please.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** You can continue if you tell me what the hell this has to do with the Xavier gene.
* **Charles Xavier:** The x-gene is an indicator of a very prominent mutation. The birth of a new species of man.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** Excuse me?
* **Charles Xavier:** The x-gene is proof of the next step in human evolution, Moira. Those who bear it can no longer be called homo sapien. They are... something else.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** Something else?
* **Charles Xavier:** They are mutants.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** What kind of mutants? Like they have a third nipple?
* **Charles Xavier:** No, this would be much more significant mutations.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** Such as?
* **Charles Xavier:** Altering one's appearance at will, conjuring illusions, control of magnetism-
* **Moira MacTaggert:** [chuckle] Are we having a laugh now?
* **Charles Xavier:** [telepathy:] *Telepathic communication.*
* **Moira MacTaggert:** ...Charles, how did you-?
* **Charles Xavier:** [telepathy:] *I am one of them, Moira.*
* **Moira MacTaggert:** How are you talking without moving your lips? Are you a ventriloquist? Is this some sort of joke? Do you have your friends hiding somewhere with a camera? Is that what this is? An elaborate prank?
* **Charles Xavier:** [sigh] Moira, it's okay. Calm down. I can explain this whole thing to you. I just need you to listen. Can you do that?
* **Moira MacTaggert:** Charles, I have been listening but everything you've said is preposterous!
* **Charles Xavier:** [sigh, clatter, liquid sloshing, slurp] [telepathy:] *I am a mutant.* [slurp, gulp] [telepathy:] *I am not a ventriloquist, Moira.* [slurp, gulp] [telepathy:] *I am a mind reader. A genuine telepath. This is not a trick.* [slurp, gulp]
* **Moira MacTaggert:** Charles...
* **Charles Xavier:** [slurp, gulp, clatter] Moira...
* **Moira MacTaggert:** I don't know how you're doing this, but it's scaring me.
* **Charles Xavier:** I understand that, Moira. I can sense it. There is no need to be scared. I would never hurt you.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** I don't know if I can believe you anymore, Charles. Not after what I saw in the lab this morning.
* **Charles Xavier:** You don't mean that.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** Yes, I do.
* **Charles Xavier:** [chuckle] No, you don't. You're just saying that. You want me to assure you some more. You're hoping I slide my chair closer to you.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** [scoff, nervous chuckle] Someone's full of- [scoff] That's not at all what I- [nervous chuckle] You're not a very good mind reader, Charles. I'm sorry-
* **Charles Xavier:** [sigh, clatter, footsteps, chair dragging, clatter] There. Just now you smiled a little. Your mind was filled with an emotion I'd best describe as subdued glee. [pause] Ah, before you say anything, just now you were going to say you hate the word 'glee' to try to change the subject. You're nervous.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** [nervous chuckle] I'm not nervous. Why would I be nervous? [clatter, liquid spilling, gasp] Oh, shit! [frantic clatter, fabric unfolding, fabric dabbing liquid, pause, sigh] Don't you laugh at me, Charles.
* **Charles Xavier:** I wouldn't dream of it...
* **Moira MacTaggert:** [sigh] It's just a glass of water. They get knocked over all the time by non-nervous people. Doesn't prove a thing.
* **Charles Xavier:** Doesn't prove a thing. [pause, clatter, liquid spilling]
* **Moira MacTaggert:** [gasp, giggle] Why'd you do that?
* **Charles Xavier:** Do what? [pause] Oh, my... [chuckle] Whoops.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** Whoops? [giggle] I've never heard you speak with such language, Charles Xavier.
* **Charles Xavier:** My apologies, Moira... I don't know what came over me. I... I must be nervous.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** What would you have to be nervous about?
* **Charles Xavier:** I just told the woman that I love that I'm a mutant. I've outed myself as a freak of nature and I'm still not sure how she feels about it.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** I thought you were a mind reader.
* **Charles Xavier:** I'm finding it rather difficult to focus on your mind right now when all I want to do is kiss you.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** [nervous chuckle] Public display of affection? Charles, this is a side of you I've never seen.
* **Charles Xavier:** It would be a display of affection, but I don't know how public it would be.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** There are all these people. It doesn't get more public than this, Charles.
* **Charles Xavier:** Look again.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** [pause, gasp] They're... They're all frozen in place. What is this about?!
* **Charles Xavier:** The other day, when you were dancing in the lab. You stopped when I walked in. Do you remember the song?
* **Moira MacTaggert:** Yes. You asked about it. You said you'd never heard it before.
* **Charles Xavier:** You said it was one of your favorites so I bought the album that evening. I've listened to it many times since and I had a revelation while listening to that same song. So I went out and bought something else. [fabric shifting, clatter]
* **Moira MacTaggert:** [gasp] Is that a-
* **Charles Xavier:** I had hoped to do this later. This is not some effort to persuade you not to talk to the dean. It's just as the song said: I'll stop the world and melt with you.
* **Moira MacTaggert:** ...
* **Charles Xavier:** Moira MacTaggert, would you marry me? [clatter]
* **Moira MacTaggert:** Charles... I- I-
* **Charles Xavier:** [sigh] Oh, that's a relief. [kiss]
* **Moira MacTaggert:** [kiss, moan, pause] Charles... I didn't say yes, yet.
* **Charles Xavier:** Yes, but you thought it. [chuckle, kiss]
* **[End of Memory Reconstruction]**
* **[Memory Synchronization: 98.7%]**

## Trivia and Notes

* This Scan takes place in Subsidiary-Reality M, within Murum Locus.
* Debut of Moira MacTaggert.