PSL; master and servant

[magnetaligned]

It's been years, but Erik has still never fully adjusted to his confinement, to his state. He still tries to fight every chance he gets, and he knows that his price has dropped and dropped and that the records on him reflect his poor temperament and his distaste for cooperation. He doesn't mind. Let him go unsold. It's better that way

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[xprofessor]

Charles has his shields tight.

This is a place of abject human misery, cruelty and appalling behavior and absurd, ridiculous levels of pain. Charles cannot save them all. He would if he could. He would without hesitation.

But there would be too many consequences.

Instead, for now, he seeks out those he can use, those he needs, those he can help find an education and learn a trade. Or mutants. He concentrates on mutants.

He is a lesser evil, he knows, not a good.

He goes through the list of mutants they have available, briskly.

"Metalbender?" he asks, and the overseer explains. Knives melt against his body, bullets stop in midair. Charles is intrigued. There are two other mutants, but as he watches, one is sold and taken away.

High demand. This one hasn't been sold because he doesn't behave.

Charles can make him behave.

"I'll take him."

No one is willing to put a collar on the caged man, so it's Charles who steps into the cage, blithely, unafraid, with the leather collar and the metal buckle in his hands.

"Hello," he says, softly. "My name's Charles. What's yours?"

[magnetaligned]

Erik glares up at the man, wordless anger radiating off him. So they're trying to sell him at last. He will show them why he cannot be sold. The collar rips itself from Charles' hand, falling to the floor of the cage.

[xprofessor]

Charles pauses.

He reaches out, with his mind. That, he says, wasn't necessary.

Erik is bound on his knees, and Charles steps closer. He crouches before Erik, as though speaking to a child.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he says. "In fact, if you come with me, you'll be free in a year or two." He pauses, then emphasizes: "It's never taken any slave I've owned longer than that to earn it."

He shrugs. "If that doesn't sound appealing to you, I can take my money and go."

[magnetaligned]

That little mental touch makes Erik still. A free mutant, then, not just another man looking for slaves. He does not fully understand, but he instantly trusts the man at least a little more than he would a human making the same offer, the same promises.

"Fine," he says at last, hoarsely. "Fine."

[xprofessor]

"Fine, I can go?" he asks. "Because I will."

He picks up the collar from the ground.

"You hold your life in your hands right now," and he nabs the man's name from his mind, "Erik. This is a moment of choice."

[magnetaligned]

"I'll... I'll go with you." Being with a mutant is better than being held captive by humans, no matter what else happens. And Erik can pull the collar away any time he chooses.

[xprofessor]

"I'm glad."

He moves to his feet, and tilts Erik's chin up. Fits the collar around his neck.

"Then," he says, "from now on, you belong to me."

He lets the keys to Erik's cuffs dangle loosely from his fingers.

"Can you unlock yourself?" he asks.

[magnetaligned]

The keys tug themselves from Charles' hands, go to Erik's cuffs. They're easily unlocked, and Erik stretches out his aching limbs, slowly standing. His body is aching all over.

[xprofessor]

Charles touches Erik's shoulder, urging him towards the door. And, at the same time, slightly dulling the pain centers of his brain.

"I have a car waiting."

He's only the funds for one slave, this time around.

[magnetaligned]

Erik lets himself be guided, feeling the pain ease a little. He takes it to be a result of being able to move and stretch again. "...If you really mean everything you said, then thank you."

[xprofessor]

"Thank me when you have your freedom," says Charles, firmly. "I don't do this for thanks, and for all you know, I could be planning to betray you."

He gives Erik a brief, pained look.

They have to go through the assembled slaves and buyers to get out. Charles makes an effort to ignore them, his fingers moving to his temple, his expression tense.

[magnetaligned]

"Hence the caveat on my statement," Erik replies, looking around at the assembled slaves with cold eyes. He could break the bonds on many of them, turn the chains against the slavers, but they've discovered ways of stopping him over the years. All he does is glare.

[xprofessor]

"Easy," says Charles, with a restraining hand on Erik's arm. "This isn't the last time we'll be here."

He realizes, a moment after he says it, that he used we. Not I.

He hides the vaguely unsettled feeling it gives him, and leads Erik out towards the valet parking.

The attendants start up a loud conversation speculating on Erik's potential uses. Charles ignores them.

[magnetaligned]

Erik ignores the men as best he can, but his expression darkens a little more. "It's hard to stay calm," he says quietly, "when you are surrounded by men who hate you."

[xprofessor]

Charles gives Erik a long glance, for that, and then he gestures, vaguely, in the men's direction.

Suddenly, there's silence.

The men wander, vaguely, blinking as though they'd forgotten what they were doing. Which they have.

Charles' car pulls up.

"After you," he says, gesturing for Erik to get in the back.

[magnetaligned]

Erik actually grins a little at that, nodding with appreciation. He climbs into the car, settling into a seat. It's strange to sit somewhere with comfort for the first time in years.