markedformore | (no subject)

Entry tags:

m!ways

(no subject)

Shaw's got friends...

It echoes in his mind, even as he debates the merit of staying versus leaving. He has the information he needs, but Erik finds himself caught in a constant loop that seems to highlight what will happen to him if he strikes off on his own. He will pursue Shaw and then what? He's a mutant like Erik (like Charles) and he has mutant friends who can cut inside his mind and tear it to shreds.

Still, what good will a pacifist telepath and his teenaged sister do?

The CIA is hapless, as well, confused by the power that Shaw wields. So it is a difficult decision and one that he cannot make so easily. He retreats to his bedroom and lies on the uncomfortable bed, seeking out Charles with his mind as if needing that constant baseline and regular weight in his mind, even if he has not yet made a choice as to whether he will stay or go.

Are you awake?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Erik wonders what the tome is, but he doesn't pay it much mind. Instead, he sprawls out again on his back, as restless as ever. Generally, he doesn't sleep very much and he hasn't even got a wall set up here to apply his focus to. In the absence of this, he tugs out the coin from his pocket and floats it through his fingers in a familiar weaving pattern. You should have let me leave. You know I'm here for vengeance, not honest pursuits.

Honest pursuits, that makes it sound like we'll be catching foolhardy criminals not working to bring mutants together. I know what you want and you don't have to work towards it alone. Our end goals are different but the journey doesn't have to be.

Briefly in his mind there's an image of a Hardy Boys cover to accompany a tinge of amusement.

What is your end goal, Charles? Erik's been curious about this from the start and, not for the first time, he wishes that he could turn Charles' power as if a mirror and shine it on his deepest and darkest intentions.

For mutants to be able to live openly and without fear.

It's what he's wanted for his entire life and he's had glimpses of what might be possible in Milliways but that's a special case. For Raven to be herself without fear, for him to speak of his telepathy and not be greeted with suspicion and for Erik to not have to live on anger.

Erik fixes his gaze on a pointed divot in the ceiling. It gives him enough distraction as he contemplates Charles' words, wishing that he could see a way to get there. And you would do that how, Charles? With a great hope?

With a base of hope, but I've been making changes with my own work in genetics. Laying the groundwork for us to appear and not be seen as wrong. From there, it comes down to finding way to show ourselves and connect in a way that says we exist and this is how we want to live. I expect a lot of pain and hard work but I believe the world can change.

He wishes he could see Erik's face as he's listening, Erik's face is far more expressive than he realizes.

You believe in dreams. Do you know what work on genetics did for me, Charles? It built me a prison and sent everyone I cared about into a cage. Some of them never made it there because they were given death. No grave, even. The world will only change when the next species has evolved and takes its rightful place.

He sits up, finding that even talking like this has caused his blood to pump frenetically. He reaches for a long-sleeved shirt, pulling it on so that he can pace the halls with some dignity.

I do know.

There's a weight in his mental voice as he leans back on his bed and stares at the ceiling. Erik is more than his pain and anger and he has to find a way to show him.

Each long stride through the halls isn't enough and Erik cannot escape the feeling of being trapped. He eventually takes a turn for the gym, but keeps going until he ends up outside, wishing he had a cigarette to smoke. Yes, you've seen. Well, Charles, tell me how you can sit idly by and let it happen again, then.

A buried ripple of anger goes through Charles' mind, he won't give into it but Erik will feel the touch of it.

Do you think I will let anyone harm you or Raven if I can do anything?

I think you will try and stand by reason, even then. Erik is not easily swayed, but he does feel the anger. It drives him to wanting to sate some kind of pleasure and he searches until he finds an agent, bumming a cigarette and a light from him. Compromise until we die.

No, there is a limit to compromise, but I hope to not have to find it.

He can feel some of Erik's yearning and restlessness
and it makes him want a drink of Scotch and to search Erik out. The distance isn't too far, he can feel where Erik's in front with an agent but he feels unsure of himself.

Iris understands that he craves this sort of mental connection but its the addition of the physical that's important too. He's fairly sure that Erik would consider him more of a fool and he must have a bottle of Scotch somewhere.

Erik takes great relief in the cigarette, indulging in this vice that he'd seen so many adults employ. It's almost empty, but it helps to cut back on his jitters, his body shaking with a need for something he cannot take -- a need to show Charles, to place a claim, to get him on his side. It should be scary, but he finds it simply a normal course of events. You want something, Erik says, sensing that much.

A drink to start.

There's more he wants and it feels like more Erik wants as well but he feels unsure of how to begin.

I hear that drinking alone is cause for great loneliness. Shame, Charles, that you've become such a lonely old man at such a young age, thinks Erik with a smirk, inhaling sharply and flicking the ashes to the side before he stubs the cigarette and retreats back to his room.

So join me and show me how to act my age. I'm told I never have properly.

This teasing is comfortable, not safer but this is part of what he wants, this ease with Erik.

Without even stopping, Erik pivots on his foot and manages to make it to Charles' room with no delay, koncking lightly on the door so that he gives proper warning, in case Charles is fibbing and isn't truly alone. "You know, alcohol tends to only make me rather sharper and stronger on my beliefs."

As Erik makes his way, Charles gets out the Scotch and two glasses,

"Come in. I'd expect nothing else of you."

Erik enters easily, allowing his cool gaze to flicker over Charles before he takes a seat. He's still contemplating an exit in the middle of the night when everyone has fallen asleep, but he's keeping that as a last resort. "I know this much for humanity. They're generous enough to offer a smoke."

"They are and they make good Scotch,"

He pours out a glass and hands it to Erik. The room doesn't have that much space, Charles has covered the small desk with papers and journals.

The Scotch is resting on a little table as Charles sits on the bed so Erik can have the chair. He doesn't know how long Erik will stay but he's glad to have more time to talk and this is nicer than before.

Edited 2012-05-25 03:23 (UTC)

Erik reaches over to take hold of the Scotch, settling in the chair and crossing his legs. "You're an intelligent man, Charles, but have you not looked around you? What makes this any different from a prison? If I do leave, would they have let me? Or would I have been ill-met with new guards at the next checkpoint."

"Quite a number of things actually and you'd be able to leave. That's something I made quite clear. If they want my help or the help of any mutants, its our choice. No one's considered testing it yet as they underestimated me once and found it didn't work. Please don't do the same, Erik,"

Then he takes a slow sip of the Scotch enjoying the burn of it as he wishes he knew the key to making Erik stay. He'll do what it takes to do that, even show him the thoughts of those agents who won't stop him.

This wasn't what he was hoping for but nothing ever is with Erik, he's used to the world being his enemy.

"Underestimate you? Or test the kindness of a new owner?" he demands drily, giving Charles a frustrated look. He's none too pleased with his current situation because it removes control from his hands when he'd like to take the information and go.

Erik leans forward, forearms slotted over his thighs. "What if I begged you to run with me? What if I asked you to stand at my side. We'd recruit, we'd pursue Shaw. The CIA were helpless. You were the only one worth a damn on that ship."

Charles leans forward to meet Erik's gaze, this feels tense and comfortable. He's always preferred closeness, true intimacy has always been complicated for him,

"If you think of me that way then you know nothing about me. No, not without Raven, not until every resource here has been used."

Erik sighs somewhat, given that a shapeshifter's abilities would be very helpful, but she's young and she's untrained. Worse, she's hiding. "Well, don't say I never asked you to do anything with me," is his mild reply, as if they're speaking about something far more domestic.