Video; Charles has his research nerd on again.
[This time when the data pad feed comes on, Charles is not sitting at his usual table in the library but rather he's at one of the tall library windows that looks out across the Coruscant night skyline. His expression is contemplative and it looks as if his mind is anywhere but with his body there in the library. For a long moment, he stands and
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You drink too much, Charles, [ Erik spoke softly, settling a briefcase carefully against the table. After unlatching it, he withdrew two bottles, settling them aside in favor of a polished chessboard as well as a small box.
He didn't wait for Charles to turn around as he continued, having listened to the entire lecture on his return to the library. ] You also make it sound as if I have no freedom of my own in this war, given what you've said about the Sith. [ As frustrated as he is over that mention, Erik is calm in his tone, though Charles is more than likely to pick up the hint of anger at having been made weak in that aspect again. ]
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Occasionally. [He agreed affably in response to the drinking comment, though there was a flicker of acknowledgement. The bottles caught his attention initially until the chessboard surfaced and Charles' eyes lit up with genuine pleasure.]
Erik! You finished it. [For a moment there was nothing else in the galaxy except his friend's accomplishment and Charles was reaching to run his fingertips over the worked board ( ... )
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Sounds just like what you told me that day, Charles, [ He said, looking up to meet blue eyes before turning his attention back to the board. Erik needed no answer from Charles to know they'd settle into a game easily that night for the first time in a while. ] that true focus lies between rage and serenity.
[ Setting the final pieces over the board, he looked back up at Charles, recalling the submarine incident and the emphasis that his friend had placed on him. The constant feel of relief when Shaw was dead, the satisfaction he had gained from accomplishing his entire life's worth. But no, Charles had been right, unfortunately - that the ( ... )
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It should feel cold to his fingers but Charles feels only a warmth as he studies the piece.]
Did you make these also?
[He'll come back to your conversation presently, promise. Just for the moment, the chess board and pieces hold his full attention.]
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Constructing the board hadn't been difficult on its own, Erik had molded the fragments easily as they came, layer after layer of metal. It was in the pieces however, where he truly placed his effort. Each one individually constructed to keep his mind wandering after he had regained his powers. They started out as separate fragments, constantly reworked over and over in a liquefied state, remolding them inch by inch until Erik had perfected them. He could have pointed out the flaws, but knowing Charles, it would mean next to nothing to the man, distracted as he was by the craftsmanship Erik had put into them. ] I made the entire set, Charles.
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To him its utterly fascinating, the level of control expressed in the graceful lines of each chess piece. For a moment, Charles loses himself in a what if scenario. What if, they lived in a world where a power such as Erik's had not been born of rage and pain, had not been molded into a weapon and then fired upon a world that would require him to stand against humans for his survival ( ... )
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Reaching for his own brandy, Erik watched Charles' move, his own expression pensive and his thoughts shoved back; he's too far gone on the activism route to make a difference now, for peace ever become an option again with a man who had taken apart a submarine and held onto missiles as easily as he now held the far left pawn in his hand. After everything's been said and done, knowing what he'll do in the future for mutantkind, that vision seemed permanently out of reach. ]
You tear them apart, [ Said as he moved the pawn two squares forward. ] ( ... )
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But you can not tear something apart without being ready with the answer to the rebuild. If you do, you plunge all of these beings into complete an utter chaos that will be worse than what is here now.
[Sitting back, Charles frowned thoughtfully, eyes on the board.]
Revan has that sort of planning to his advantage. He seeks to do just what we're talking about, though he means to put himself into the power vacuum left behind.
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If I did rebuild, I wouldn't do it alone. [ Looking back up at Charles, his eyes met blue ones as he recalled words Charles had spoken to him their first chess match together. Help me guide it, shape it, lead it. Worlds that Charles had put forth as a request in all the mutants they had found, all the minds Charles touched. ] But Revan at the forefront of this, he's too far gone to ever be an effective leader.
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Also, we are not of this galaxy, Erik. Ultimately it is not for us to think in terms of rebuilding it. That should be placed into hands that belong here, who we feel we can trust.
[And then, they would all hopefully go home. Though truthfully, Charles wasn't sure he wanted to return to a world where he and Erik not only separated but then took up position across the battlefield from each other.
Lowering a hand, Charles ran his thumb along the delicate work of the knight still in its starter position. Peace, truly was no option.]
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As if there's anyone here worth trusting, Charles. A universe like this, where you have so many players... [ And a part of Erik truly realized just how small of a scale he was accustomed to. They had barely made it off Earth and there were, multiple planets and who knows what else.
He had barely adjusted to the realization that he wasn't alone, that Erik was barely the only mutant back home, and they had been thrown into this galaxy, where it truly was more than just the two of them. ]
We could though, Charles. [ Looking up, Erik hunched his shoulders as he began to explain his line of thinking, foolhardy as it was, and he doesn't hold back the rush of emotions, guarded as they usually are. ]You saw what future we have back home, a lifetime of fighting each other over a battlefield that doesn't seem to ever stop. At the very least ( ... )
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Before his hand had lifted from the pawn, he was looking up at Erik's words, his expression stilling as the man paints a picture that, well that touches something within Charles. A desire to do just this thing, to stay here, where he still had Erik, still had his legs, where they stood shoulder to shoulder. A desire to stay here and try to make a life that wasn't lonely and where he would his life at the age of sixty.
At least, Erik will be there... Charles thought to himself, thinking that at least he would not die alone, his old friend would be with him.]
We have to be back there, my friend. If we aren't, then there is no hope for our kind. [He said softly, though his expression showed how much he liked his lover's idea.] Maybe we have a chance to make it different when we return.
[His eyes softened and Charles quickly looked down at the chess board.] ( ... )
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But to physically hear the rejection had crushed him. Charles was right, without the two of them, there truly was no hope for mutant kind.
Mimicking Charles' motions, he turned his attention at the board. Inanimate pieces that could frequently war against each other and not feel the repercussions of their actions. Despite what would happen as Erik lifted another pawn and moved it two steps forward, freeing his other bishop, there were no consequences of taking Charles' queen. ]
It's a foolish wish, Charles. [ Erik's tone easily gave way to the lie he constructed, that despite the words he spoke, he desperately wanted to believe otherwise. ] If we can't make a change here, who's to say we can't change anything back home?
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No wish is foolish, Erik. If we don't wish, we can't hope.
[Shifting forward, in one of those restless motions of his, Charles' expression was intense.]
Who says we can't make a change here? Who says we won't be able to make a change at home? Erik I do not believe that I want to be standing across the battlefield from you. If circumstances pushed us in that direction, then damn to circumstances, we can be the better men.
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[ He had seen far too many incidences of it being futile, the constant wishes from his family, the prisoners, of course his mother's persistent optimism until her death. As far as he was concerned, the thought of hope was pointless. ]
I don't want to fight you either, my friend, but I won't give up what I believe to be true for this. What matters is making the change back home, it's irrelevant here if it's only temporary.
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My friend, hope is the one thing we should always have, should never give up on. If you give up on hope then what are you fighting for?
[Despite the intensity, his voice is gentle and the expression in his eyes is a genuine concern for Erik and that Erik would feel hopeless.]
We will do our utmost here, Erik and if what Scott, Jean, John and the others say, we are certainly not passive back home.
[They might be at odds, at war with each other but they were not apathetic to the needs of their species and if Charles knows nothing else, he knows that apathy would be worse than fighting, for both of them.]
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