[ voice ; open ]

[xprofessor]

I wonder if anyone here would care to assist me with an experiment.

All you need is your location, your mind, and perhaps two or three minutes of your time.

[ Xavier is testing the effective range of communicatory telepathy. He's currently in the harbor, northeast corner of BN, as far away from land as one can get without actually getting on a

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[voice]

[fixdpointintime]

In the sewers underneath the Magistrate's Tower.

What are we doing?

[voice]

[xprofessor]

Testing.

[ And he leaps out to Jack's mind almost trivially easily. ]

/You're too close; it's not a challenge./

[ A pause. ]

/Why are you in the sewers?/

[voice]

[fixdpointintime]

/Must be at least a little challenging if you don't already know./

[Yes, he's teasing Charles.]

/I was just... taking care of something./

[Actually, he'd been hunting something predatory and nasty, and now he's sitting on top of the corpse trying to figure out if he should just leave it or attempt to feed people with it while he waits for the bloody mess that used to be his leg to heal.]

[xprofessor]

/...heal? Just like that?/

[fixdpointintime]

/More or less./

[xprofessor]

[ He peers in with curious seeking hands, drawing out the idea of healing so quickly and finding the reason. Not a mutant, like Charles had imagined at first, but a human stuck with something ... incredible and horrifying. He doesn't hide either the awe or the fear that flickers in response to this revelation, instead touching the emotions to Jack's mind and waiting for Jack's response. ]

[fixdpointintime]

/Surprise./

[It's a little wry but Jack's had a long time to come to terms with what he is.

He feels the Professor's mind in his, his fear more than his awe. He's used to that. Used to both. He's done more good than harm. That's the only thing that lets him keep going, but he knows that the fear of the unknown will always be part of his life.]

/So, trying to figure out your range?/

[xprofessor]

[ No, no, no changing the subject. Not yet. ]

/Does that mean if I changed you, if I hurt you, you would stay the same?/ [ He means telepathically. And there's an odd caught breath, with this question. Charles has never found someone he could speak to and couldn't hurt. ]

[fixdpointintime]

/There is nothing you can do that won't be undone./

[He's been vaporized. You can't get much more broken than that. The leg is taking a while, and there's a much easier way for Jack to make the point, especially with Charles feeling his mind. It's the practiced work of a moment for him to prep his weapon, press the barrel against the bottom of his chin, and pull the trigger.

He'll be back in under a minute, same as he ever was.]

[xprofessor]

[ Even though Charles feels him prepare for it, knows what's coming, it's a brutal snap of shock to feel the life go. His mind casts about, searches, and fixes on the emptiness where Jack was, heart fluttering as he waits. ]

[fixdpointintime]

[When Jack comes back, it's sudden and bright, like a controlled explosion of life, a fire burning away the black in a fraction of a second and replacing it with everything there ever was before it settles down to just one mind.]

/Fuck. I should have done that on the surface./

[Nothing says welcome back to life like the cloying stench of mostly human waste.]

/But the point still stands. I doubt you could do more damage to my brain than a sonic blast./

[xprofessor]

[His mental touch is actually a little shaky as he touches Jack's mind, presses against his thoughts, makes sure he's alive and there.]

/Jack.../

[The thought trails off. Charles can never get used to that feeling of a life being snuffed out, even when he's experienced it so much.

He's physically shivering from a bit of a sensation overload.]

/That's oddly reassuring./

[fixdpointintime]

[Jack lets Charles into his mind and doesn't put up any objections as he roots around, makes sure that everything is as it should be.]

/You going to be all right?/

[It's a shock, Jack knows that. It also replaces potentially hours of conversation. Conversation he so rarely enjoys having. He'll let Charles take his time getting his feet back under him again. It's not so bad having someone else in his mind. There's so much in there already, what's one more voice?]

[xprofessor]

/Jack, it's been a long time since I've met someone with a mind that makes me feel.../ [ Psychic shorthand time. He just expresses it in a burst the length of a word: the feeling of wanting to just slip inside and shift around and look at all the amazing things that Jack has seen and understood. He's catching glimpses of stars and life and -- well, sex, that too -- and that aching thirst for knowing is flaring sharp in his throat. ]

[fixdpointintime]

[Everything about Jack has at least some element of sex in it. It's a root element of what he is - pleasure, and the celebration of the body, human or otherwise. Jack knows that Charles comes from another place and time, a time when the world, as different as it is from his, is still so relatively repressed and stilted.]

/I'd apologize, but I wouldn't mean it, and you don't really seem all that upset by it./

[It's overwhelming, though. Jack knows that. Maybe Charles needs a minute.]

/So. Testing your range. Magistrate's Tower is too close, how about the forest?/

[Jack activates his vortex manipulator, and Charles probably gets a brief flash of the technical aspects of it, though the likelihood of him understand it is slim. Then his mind has moved, instantly pulled through space, though not time. The city doesn't like him trying that one.]

/Still in there?/

[xprofessor]

[ He is. Easily, actually. ]

/The southeast is farthest from where I am. Could you try that, by chance?/

[ Thrilling, eager for discovery. ]