wecanavenge: (We barely even knew the questions)
Erik Lensherr | ( Magneto ) ([personal profile] wecanavenge) wrote2012-10-29 12:36 pm

✘ | 013 | VIDEO

[The video feed clicks on to show Charles and Erik sitting on one of the couches in Charles’ room, obviously about to address the Barge about something. Erik in particular has been pretty scarce since the end of the kid flood and doesn’t exactly look thrilled to be here, but 1. when has he ever looked thrilled to be anywhere since turning up here and 2. it’s not the kind of grumpiness that warns he’s about to do something like, say, rip your arc reactor out of your chest. More importantly, he isn’t wearing his helmet, basically for the first time in public without the influence of a flood.

Charles speaks first, and is using what’s probably by now that familiar cadence that comes along with him explaining something, whether that be some science fact that’s caught his attention recently or rights for mutants.]


As I’m certain some of you know, approximately two weeks ago - starting on October 16th - began the anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. For those of you who don’t, in 1962 tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union became so pronounced that the world literally sat on the brink of nuclear war. The commonly accepted story of what happened - or, at least, what seems to be, based on the reading I’ve done since we got here - was that the Soviets were far behind the Americans in the nuclear arms race, and hatched the idea of positioning missiles in Cuba in order to act as a deterrent against a potential attack from the United States.

The Americans found out about these new missiles under construction in Cuba on October 15th, and after much deliberation, a naval blockade was set up around Cuba to prevent more Russian missiles from coming in, resulting in a thirteen day confrontation between the assembled Russian and American fleets.

[Erik snorts quietly, and straightens slightly in his seat, uncrossing his arms.] It didn't take thirteen days. [Right to the point, that's Erik.] It didn't even take three hours. And it certainly wasn't the Russians' idea to put missiles in Cuba.

[He glances back at Charles, only briefly, replaying how many people he mentioned Herr Doktor to and realizing he's decidedly glad that Klaus Schmidt changed his name..] It was at the behest of a man named Sebastian Shaw.

[Charles glances over at him until he finishes speaking, picking up on the edges of those thoughts - which was awesome, he’d desperately missed having this kind of easy communication with someone - before looking back at the camera.] Shaw wanted to start nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Union, believing that it would wipe out the human race and leave mutants to inherit the Earth. And aside from the obvious moral issues with committing genocide, the science just doesn’t work. Our mutations don’t make us any more or less vulnerable to radiation than a normal human.

[Erik cocks his head to the side, and looks almost amused - that is, if you don't pay too much attention to the dark look in his eyes. That look tends to show up as a precursor to ripping out fillings or necessary if extravagant pace makers.]

Some of us may, given the variance in our abilities. [His voice takes on a harder tone.] Shaw would have survived it. But he envisioned himself as a post-apocalyptic president for all mutant kind. He called us the children of the atom. [He's sounding harsher and harsher, and it's really a good thing the Admiral hasn't decided that Shaw is deserving of redemption, or the ship would be in bad shape right now.]

He didn't realize he'd have ruled over a handful of us at best.

[Alright, this is going in a direction Charles feels like he’s going to regret, so you’re getting frowned at before he’s just continuing with the story.]

We’d been working with the CIA trying to locate and stop Shaw for a few months before Cuba, but we weren’t certain where he would be making his final move until President Kennedy made his address to the nation about the crisis. The next morning – October 23 – the both of us, as well as a small group of our students, [And he’s careful not to let on how crappy that feels, because they’re not our students anymore, Mr. We Want the Same Thing.] went to stop Shaw from carrying out his plans.

[Erik's mouth quirks up at the corner, just a little, because he is ignoring that frown and the carefully hidden discomfort, because he likes to think he knows what he wants - and hopes that one day Charles will see things his way, too. But that isn't what's being discussed here, so he nods toward the camera.]

Meaning, you have us to thank for the avoidance of a nuclear - disaster. [There's the barest pause, like he was going to say holocaust and thought better of offering an extra reminder of the child he'd been.]

You're quite welcome.

[And Erik leans forward to kill the feed before Charles can add anything else, because he's a good friend like that.]
burnmythoughts: (Surprised)

[personal profile] burnmythoughts 2012-10-29 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[The sight is startling, to say the least, but in a - delightful sort of way. She can't help but grin a bit, as they start talking.

The smile fades as she listens, instinctively leaning closer as her brow furrows. This - if this happened in her world, she doesn't know about it.

When she speaks, it's soft and earnest, and while it's directed to both of them, her eyes keep catching on Erik. He just looks so - different, without the helmet. Less like -

She hopes he keeps it off.]


How did they react, on your world?
wedonot: (Oh this is just such a bad day.)

[personal profile] wedonot 2012-10-29 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
The government concealed our involvement. They were concerned if people knew the truth, there would be fairly wide scale panic.

[Which he figured was honestly totally legitimate, and it kept them safer, too, to continue living in the dark. If the public had turned on them like the governments had, when it really came down to it, they wouldn't stand a chance on mere numbers alone.]
wedonot: (Did I leave the stove on?)

[Backdated Spam] and then I tl;dr'd sorry :c

[personal profile] wedonot 2012-10-30 06:30 am (UTC)(link)
[Charles had kept his distance as promised after the flood. He'd woken up on the floor of Erik's room - his younger self had basically invited himself over and never left, and that included dragging blankets and pillows from his room over so he could sleep on the floor - and promptly been kicked out by his clearly distressed best friend. He'd made it clear that he wasn't angry with Charles, but he needed him to get out, and Charles had left without complaint or argument, understanding his need for space and not questioning it.

He'd still resolved to check on him in a few days, because as they'd learned, it was too easy to fall into depression here and they both coped better when they had something else to occupy their time with, so if he wasn't out and about within a few days, Charles would drop by and force him out of his room. It was just another part of how their friendship worked now.

But it turned out that apparently might not have been necessary, because a few days after the flood - earlier than he'd been planning on bothering him - he was headed back to his room and just as he was about to approach his door, he realized he could sense Erik's mind again and froze, staring silently at his friend's door.

What had used to be just a casual part of every day life had become something he only got to experience during floods (and he was fairly sure it wasn't a flood, they never had them this close together), or in rare moments where Erik allowed him access to what he was thinking and feeling, usually because whatever was happening was too painful to say out loud. It was that reminder - talking about Magda, the Vanquish, everything - that finally made him tentatively reach out, not sure if he was going to be immediately rebuked or not. He remembered what Erik had said before he'd put the helmet on - he remembered everything about that day, really, but it's not that I don't trust you was one of the things that was especially clear - but he still felt like this was a trust issue, that Erik worried Charles might somehow manipulate him into changing his mind, and so he didn't want to somehow make this worse.]


Are you alright?
espanola: (☆ somewhere else)

video 4 lyfe

[personal profile] espanola 2012-10-30 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[ History's not really his thing, but still, he knows this isn't how it's supposed to go. He tilts his head. ]

It was hidden?
wedonot: (What about everything?)

[Spam]

[personal profile] wedonot 2012-10-30 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[In the time it took Erik to reply, Charles didn't move or intrude any further into his friend's mind, even though the temptation to latch on and find out what was wrong and help if he could was pretty high. He wasn't sure what was happening, and he didn't want to push him or end up somewhere he wasn't wanted, even if in the past, he'd known he'd never really had to ask before communicating with him that way. If he did, it was out of courtesy, not because Erik had told him to stay out.

It was, after all, his belief that they shouldn't have to hide or be afraid or ashamed of what they were capable of.

He was honestly expecting the connection to be cut off as soon as Erik realized he was there, and the more it dragged out, the more he wanted to know what was going on, but he still kept his thoughts to himself and waited for Erik to make the next move.

So he probably looked startled when Erik opened the door, still not wearing the helmet and Charles swallowed thickly when Erik addressed him vocally, still really not sure what was going on or what boundaries he should be playing by right now. There were a lot of things he wanted to say, but he ended up blurting out the first thing that came to mind without thinking about it.]


You're not wearing the helmet. [It occurred to him vaguely that this was potentially pretty excellent revenge for his own stunt when he'd told Erik he was able to walk again by strolling up to him in the hallway and grinning like the cat who ate the canary.]
wedonot: (This is a bad idea.)

video

[personal profile] wedonot 2012-10-30 06:33 pm (UTC)(link)
The government was concerned what people would think if they heard what actually happened.

[And you can keep the snarky commentary to yourself this time, Erik, please explain why it would be a good idea for the world population at large to know what happened. :|]
truth_is_cold: (rhade - well now...)

[personal profile] truth_is_cold 2012-10-30 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[The comparable incident is thousands of years old in Rhade's history, so the part that has relevance is the cover up.]

Perhaps it's for the best. As unfortunate as the secrecy of resolution is, Shaw's plans would have inspired much more fear. People are always looking for someone to blame more than they're looking for a hero.

Nice hair.

[Well, he has to point it out at some point.]
wedonot: (I could really use a wish right now.)

[personal profile] wedonot 2012-10-30 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[Seriously, Erik, some people might not even have been able to say what color your hair was.]

I certainly don't have an issue with them covering it up. As soon as it came out that Shaw was a mutant bent on wiping out humanity, they would have blamed all of us. [Especially considering that's... exactly what they did like five minutes later. :V]
truth_is_cold: (rhade - scrutiny)

[personal profile] truth_is_cold 2012-10-30 07:28 pm (UTC)(link)
And there was such a limited original stock. [The second batch of Nietzscheans numbered in the hundreds after Drago was made, and they were made away from scared people. :/ Very tough break, sir.]
Edited 2012-10-30 19:29 (UTC)
silvestris: (smiling)

[personal profile] silvestris 2012-10-30 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Did you get the gratitude you were looking for? [She's betting you didn't.]
wedonot: (Telepathy is clearly the best power.)

[personal profile] wedonot 2012-10-30 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
We weren't looking for gratitude. We were looking to prevent annihilation. [And you know. Revenge in the case of one of the two, guess who.]
silvestris: (♕ who's the man behind the bat?)

[personal profile] silvestris 2012-10-30 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I think your buddy disagrees, Charlie. He seems a little disgruntled.
thestarspangledman: (uniform: we love a man in uniform)

[personal profile] thestarspangledman 2012-10-30 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, thank you both. And your students, too, no matter how the rest of your world mighta reacted. You saved a lot of people.

[He's read some about the Cuban missile crisis, the atomic bomb, too, it came just after he'd crashed. He's still not sure if he approves of all of that, but it won the war, at least. There's a beat:]

No helmet is a good look for you. You should leave it off.
deadliestviper: (sugar and cream)

[video]

[personal profile] deadliestviper 2012-10-31 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
So basically you're superheroes.

Congratulations?
espanola: (Default)

[personal profile] espanola 2012-10-31 07:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah. Was the main concern over-reliance on unreliable powers, or experimentation?
wedonot: (Hmmm yeah no.)

[video]

[personal profile] wedonot 2012-11-01 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know if I would go that far.
wedonot: (See I knew you wouldn't blow us up.)

[personal profile] wedonot 2012-11-01 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
[Alright, you probably know this already, but Charles still sometimes has minor fanboy moments and being told you did good by Captain America is pretty awesome. B(

Also seriously, Erik, leave the helmet off, this is so much nicer. :c]


Thank you, Captain.

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