The Oregon Trail | Application
PLAYER
NAME/NICKNAME: Haley
AGE: 22.
PERSONAL LJ: ussenterprise.
TIMEZONE: -8 GMT (PST)
EMAIL ADDRESS: ozymandisauce (at) gmail (dot) com
IM SCREENNAME AND SERVICE: AIM; wings and lace.
CHARACTER
NAME: Charles Francis Xavier
AGE: 24
FANDOM/MEDIUM: X-Men: First Class, Marvel Movieverse.
CANON PULL-POINT: Just before they get on the plane to head to Cuba.
ABILITIES: Charles is a telepath. He is also super groovy.
CHARACTER BACKGROUND:
⊗
Charles Xavier is an Englishman who grew up in upstate New York (in roughly the 1940’s), the son of a wealthy family. He is a mutant, with telepathic abilities, and when he was young he became close to another young mutant - Raven/Mystique - who he meets because she breaks into his New York home. She becomes his sister (though not by birth) early on, and it is for that reason that they are very close and she follows him to university in the United Kingdom in the early 1960’s. Charles studies human evolution and scientific theory, indulging himself in his own theories as well of human evolution and human mutations. He also spends his evenings getting drunk and making quite the playboy attention-seeker of himself in bars competing in drinking contests if he is not busy spending his time attempting to pick up women in bars. He flirts incredibly actively, using his knowledge of all sorts of human mutations to attempt to charm women in his own geeky way, much to the dismay of his sister.
It is in England when he is sought out by Moira, a woman working for the CIA of the United States and who believes that she has seen incredible mutations herself while investigating and is not being taken seriously by her male coworkers. Charles agrees to help her and to assist the CIA, and moves with Raven to the United States during the Cuban Missile crisis to work for the US. It is when they are investigating the main villain of the movie (Sebastian Shaw) that he meets Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto), who is out for his own personal revenge on Shaw. Charles senses him and, knowing he is a mutant, is quick to rescue him from drowning in the sea in his determined attempt to enact his revenge. Charles befriends him soon enough, much to Erik’s dismay at Charles knowing everything about him, and Erik joins him with the CIA in working against Shaw (who is essentially attempting to start WW3 for his own benefit).
Much of Charles’ background and personality in the movie stems from his closeness to Erik Lehnsherr and his relationship with the man (their relationship is very similar in 616 canon). Erik is Charles’ close intellectual partner in their fight for mutant rights. However, unlike Erik, Charles believes that humans are inherently good and wants to convince the world of this in his fight to make it possible for mutants to become accepted in society. Charles is fascinated and passionately driven by his studies of human mutation, and he finds that Erik is his closest intellectual partner in this. It is through Erik that Charles’ earlier playboy behavior is humbled and Charles begins to mature into the man that he is by the end of the film. Charles spends much of said film building his relationship with Erik and expanding upon his own theories and excitement with human mutations and evolution, furthering his quest to essentially prove to Erik that humanity is not out to get them. Finding out that Shaw has assembled a team of mutants that they will have to face, Charles and Erik make it their goal to assemble their own team with the help of the CIA and Cerebro - a device created that allows Charles to use his telepathy to track and locate other mutants.
With the help of Cerebro, they gather a small team of mutants - including Raven/Mystique, who is beginning to show more and more affection for Charles and it starts to become clear that she is romantically interested in him. He spurns her affections out of boldheadedness and a little disregard for her feelings. He still believes she is a sister to him, and he does not wish to pursue a dating relationship with her, and this comes up roughly twice during the movie - each time Charles saying or behaving in a way that is insulting to her but he (I believe) does not realize. Be it because he is more motivated to defeat Shaw and prevent WW3, or because he is legitimately unable to find her attractive in her mutant form.
Here we come to the point where I am taking him from. The team of mutants suits up for what will become their final face-off with Shaw, a situation during which Charles must guide Erik through what Erik treats as his final act of revenge. It’s as if Charles sees himself as in control of Erik, I suppose is the way to describe it; he wants to control him, and tame him (Erik is very angry and has a lot of hate within him, and I think that is what ultimately breaks Charles’ heart about his friend) and it shocks Charles some when Erik disobeys him. I will be taking Charles from before this final showdown occurs - thus, the sort of ultimate severance of his and Erik’s powerful friendship will have yet to have happened - they will still be friends, but their ideologies will have drifted far from one another as Charles finds Erik growing more and more into himself and his rage. Charles is distressed by this, but not ultimately torn apart by it yet.
CHARACTER PERSONALITY:
⊗
Charles has quite a bit of development during the course of the movie. He begins as a sort of rich playboy, spending his days at university giving speeches on his theories about human evolution and then spending his evenings hitting pubs and getting as drunk as he can. He’ll participate in drinking contests and then spend his now-intoxicated time attempting to pick up women, telling them all about his theories and about how groovy their mutations are. He is young and he behaves as such, confident and without worry about much of anything - his priorities lie in women, alcohol, and having a good time. He seems shallow at first, with only a hint of what really makes him a well-respected academic.
However, we learn quickly that this is not all there is to him. He is incredibly intelligent and is revered in his profession as somewhat of a prodigy because of this. As the movie continues and Charles befriends Erik, we begin to see much less of his wild side and he matures much more as it is necessary for him to do so. He is still confident, but he begins to be humbled by his closeness to his friend and his knowledge of Erik’s own struggles. He worries for him and he wants to help Erik just as much as he wants to help the world, and Charles is optimistic about it. He does not believe that mutants will be feared and harmed by humans - he does not believe that people are inherently evil and badly behaved.
Charles is a firm believer in the goodness of humanity and he wants to share that with other mutants and humans. He is excited by the prospect of mutants becoming socially accepted and wants very much for this to happen and uses his knowledge and his theories (as well as his mutation) to help his cause, so to speak. He is somewhat wise beyond his years and he is motivated by his honest belief in the goodness of others and the possibilities that await the world if mutants are to be accepted socially. He is good-natured and he is kind, though he does retain his silly playboy antics from time to time and does what he believes is best by everyone he comes to know.
WORLD: Ours, but with evolved humans that happen to have super-powers. Yup. Also he comes from 1962, so there's that.
OCCUPATION: TEACHER, SON.
SAMPLES
THIRD PERSON:
It had been a great, long while since Charles Xavier had had a moment to himself. The man had spent the better part of an entire day working with several volunteer mutants, assisting them to perform both menial and impressive tasks while the professor himself took meticulous notes on their skills and performance. He always found himself in awe of the many abilities and inborn skills that so many mutants possessed. When he sat and allowed himself to think about it, the vastness of human mutation reminded him of the vastness of space. A concept that always seemed within his own reach when he only thought about it in brief, but when he truly took a moment to attempt to grasp it all - all of the capabilities, the implications, the power -- it overwhelmed him.
Charles was sitting now at his desk, both thankful for his moment of privacy and, in the back of his mind, displeased by it. When he sat, he thought. Thought of Erik and the man’s great and powerful hatred. It was something that Charles could never empathize with, and it frightened him how powerful the man became with it. Though he had trained with Erik to unleash his power in healthier ways, it did not seem that Erik would continue to listen to him. In truth, Erik’s great passion for revenge was what motivated Charles now. It was what drove his investigations, his current theories and his scientific work with his group of mutant volunteers. Charles found himself determined to see how the effects of emotional distress - be it healthy or otherwise - affected the mutants’ powers.
At times, Erik’s blind rage almost crippled the true force of his magnetic power and that fascinated Charles deeply. It made him want to help Erik (something that the professor often worried about all on its own), and made him feel as if it were his necessity to help him train and perfect his magnificent skill. Charles now felt that it would be a necessity to find the true point of emotional balance within all mutants. He wondered if he could help each of them to reach the pinnacle of their true capabilities, to harness the great power that each mutant had within themselves. It was an experiment that could most certainly be considered crazy - Charles sighed as he slumped against his desk, holding his head in his hands, weary of the implications of his research.
Sometimes, Charles had felt Erik slipping. Felt as if his own assistance in awakening the truth in Erik’s power only served to make the man more dangerous, more of a threat. He worried that by awakening this level of power in even more mutants could potentially unleash even more danger. Even so, he knew he needed to do it. It was necessary for the future of mutant rights, and for the future of knowledge. Charles sighed then, taking a deep breath before taking a sip of the scotch beside him on his dimly-lit desk, his fingers skimming across the notes he had taken from the day’s work. There was so much potential in each mutant, young and old. He could only trust it - trust that it would not prove dangerous. Trusting, after all, was what Charles Xavier was most good at.
FIRST PERSON:
[voice]
Oh.. how do I.. ah! There we are! Well, hello there, then. This device is… awfully interesting. I haven’t seen anything like it before. Very well. I shall begin.
I know this may be a very bold thing to ask of all of you, but I am looking for… mutants. I have a particular project that I am working on, and I am searching for humans with otherwise unusual capabilities who would be willing to assist me in my research. I will be conducting a series of harmless experiments and taking notes on a few of them - trying to categorise a few of my theories, if you will. I think a great many of them can benefit all of us sincerely if anyone would be willing to participate.
Might I also mention that you will be paid for your efforts, and I will certainly provide refreshments for any and all who attend.
Please, if you are interested, leave a message for myself, Professor Charles Xavier, with your name and your reasons for your interest. I am eager to hear from any and all of you!
[there is a soft click, and his voice transmission ends]
NOTES: I got nothin'.