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[mentis]

Ah. [ Straight away it's clear that the bloke peering down at the screen has absolutely no idea what's attached to him or what he's doing. He's got a boyish countenance, blue eyes that are more tired than anything, and a small almost worried crease between his brows. But he doesn't say anything for a moment, just peers at his new ... addition. He holds it from his face like a clock face and throws a glance over his shoulder, the image dipping to take in the flash of yellow and blue uniform. ] Erik, look. I think it's recording something.

[ The other voice is vaguely accented Euro-something (a panglobal accent? sure!), and carries a timbre like its owner is smiling through gritted teeth, a smile on a tether tight enough to snap. ] Mine isn’t.

[ The former person holds his wrist aloft for his partner - Erik - to see. Even glowering, he's handsome and dressed in the same leather as the first. Blue eyes flick away and look to him, mouth twisting into something of a smile despite how obviously stressed the pair of them are. ] Well, that's what one gets when they're as volatile as a powder-keg.

Call it preparedness. [ The smile slips an inch and winds itself back in like a winch, lower row of teeth showing. ] It’s metal, whatever it is. But it won’t—[ He can’t remove it, this thing attached to him that as far as he can tell is some kind of small television, and for Erik that’s as disconcerting as not being able to feel his own skin. Showing that much vulnerability is not in the cards, however, so he centers himself with a visible squaring of shoulders, light eyes scanning their immediate area. ] Never mind, that’s the least of our problems.

I agree, we --. [ Need to find the others, find Raven but he stops, touches it and lets the furrow grow more over-pronounced. ] Call this a longshot, but this reminds me of something ... [ A pause, and he arches up an eyebrow, fingertips drifting to his temple in silent request of conversing a little bit more privately. Erik nods and Charles falls silent as though that's the end of that matter. ] The CIA had communication devices like this, I believe we can use it to contact whoever brought us here, bargain for a way out.

[ Because under his bloody single-mindedness Erik is virtually always thinking in thirty directions at once, he notices Charles’ mild mimicry of his phrasing despite the bizarre and unsettling circumstances; he arches his eyebrows in a ripple of interest that quickly fades and then sharpens into focus on the much more relevant subject brought to bear in his head. His nod this time is a quick, disjointed jerk, a bodily command that looks exactly like what it is even if he’s not saying a word aloud. ] Do it.

[ Charles' smile goes from small and private to wide and bright just like a flashbulb going off, his shoulders straightening out as he focuses his attention to the thing wrapped tight around his wrist. He doesn't allow himself the time to worry or feel embarrassed about it, just talking in a smooth, mind-mannered tone. ] My name is Charles Xavier, this is -- [ There's barely a fraction of a second of silence, his knows Erik, knows he's done some things that even Charles couldn't fathom. Giving out his name mightn't be the best thing. ] -- my associate. If someone could fill us in, let us know what's going on and how we can go about our business that would be much appreciated.

( ooc: so replies will come from both mentis & violenthearted. Also there's been a little bit of an addendum to my permissions so if you can have a look that would be swell. )

Comments

[mentis]

[ They arrived literally magnetized together and still with the force of a plane spiraling out of control. He doesn't imagine it's any way close to safe but at least they're not hurt. ]

What happens when you tamper with them? [ He hasn't noticed the cameras yet, too concerned with Erik and how he somehow managed to break it apart. Erik's mutation is wonderful, it's not quite like playing with a screwdriver exactly and he wonders if that will still somehow count. ]

[thezerothlaw]

Electrical shock may occur. Successful removal or destruction will only cause it to be replaced later. Early on, I experimented with the destruction of a camera, and watched to see who or what would repair it. I was forcibly deactivated for the span of time required.

[Which is still unsettling. That's not even supposed to be possible.]

[mentis]

Deactivated?

[ Here his eyebrows meet his hairline, confusion colouring the tone of his words as he throws a look towards Erik. ] I'm not sure I much like the idea of anything being forceful. Where are these cameras? What are they used for?

[thezerothlaw]

They're in every room. I can only presume they are to watch us, although who would wish to do any of this is still a mytery to me.

[mentis]

We've yet to get into any of the buildings.

[ Because they have had no real need to explore, not from the moment they found themselves sprawled against concrete. ] Why would anyone need cameras any where? [ He's not entirely fond of them either way. ]

[thezerothlaw]

I'm not certain. I have no significant information on our captors.

[mentis]

How long have you been here?

[ Because a certain lack of knowledge seems to be the common theme and Charles is almost perturbed by this. He's a creature of knowledge, to not have it sounds horrifying. ]

[thezerothlaw]

I've been here for 46 days. To my knowledge, that is as long as anyone has been here.

[mentis]

[ Forty-six days.

Forty-six days. He needs to get back to Raven immediately. ]

And you have no idea why you're here?

[thezerothlaw]

I don't. No explanation has ever been given. If anyone here is aware of our reasons for being brought here from so many times and places, I haven't been made aware of the fact.

[mentis]

[ He tries to process that. Almost a month and a half and this person has no more idea than Charles and Erik do themselves. It's frightening, to say the least. ]

And your captors haven't even felt the need to gloat?

[thezerothlaw]

They have never communicated with us directly.

[He pauses, considering.]

I cannot count their reactions to escape attempts or interference with their cameras as communication.

[mentis]

They just watch? No interaction, nothing?

[thezerothlaw]

Not precisely.

[He has to consider this. It's not a comfortable thing for him to discuss.]

Our escape attempt was punished with some variety of hallucinogenic drug. It affected me, as well, though I should be immune to the effects of chemical compounds.

[violenthearted]

[ Erik eyes what is now basically an inert hunk of metal on his wrist, expression shuttered. The fingers of his other hand ripple low in a gesture that looks like the clawed cousin of a wave, and with no warning his feet nearly go out from under him, face going white and pinched.

So shocks definitely happen! That's good.

He looks quietly murderous. ]

That won't go unanswered.

[ B| HDU MESS WITH HIS PRECIOUS MUTATION, SCIENTISTS. ]

[thezerothlaw]

[Oh, he doesn't like seeing that, though what he just witnessed is a mystery to him.]

Please don't risk harming yourself, sir.

[violenthearted]

[Having extricated himself - gently...ish - from Charles, aside from the lingering paleness Erik manages to school himself into something resembling normalcy, where normal translates mostly into 'grim, and also quivering with suppressed rage.']

Better harmed than ignorant.

[thezerothlaw]

[He considers a moment.]

Knowledge of danger is necessary to avoid it properly. I understand. Still, please do be careful in future.

[mentis]

Erik.

[ Charles immediately drops his wrist from where he's been communicating with people to twist, his easy smile fading away to concern. ] Don't do that.

[ Because Charles couldn't really deal with Erik injuring himself on top of this - where they have no idea how they got it or how to escape again.

But then concern lowers his voice. ] It's affecting your mutation.

[violenthearted]

Seems so.

He touches his temple, subtly, using his knuckles instead of the pads of his fingers like Charles. It's fairly obvious shorthand (at least for a telepath with that motion as his best tell); Erik has no idea where he is, and every new piece of given information feels like it's fusing between his ribs and cutting off blood to his heart, so he'd prefer to keep any perceived weaknesses between them. ]

I can't be certain. [ The frustration in his mental voice clangs metal scraping metal, uncertain bitten off like a curse. ] Let me--

[ He touches one of the buckles at the shoulder of his uniform, its steel shine liquefying and reforming, mercurial and neat. ] Firing on all cylinders. [ Relief clouds his thoughts, thick enough to cut. ]

[mentis]

How strange.

[ He steps closer, gaze sliding over Erik as though he's trying to make sense of this as well as make sure the other man is all right. Though he count vouch for his sound mind, Charles might as well settle his concerns over his sound body. Because Erik feels like the air just before a storm and Charles can't get back to the others - the children they dragged into a war - and he's never felt like this before.

Lost.

Blind. ]

It's metal though, yes?

[violenthearted]

It's metal. [ He may be even more efficient in his language than usual, as if he's saving his breath, or at least his energy. ]

Inert now -- [ because you broke it, Erik ] --but I have a sense of it. Composition, dimension, all where they belong, I should--there's nothing stopping me removing it, or there ought not to be. Nonetheless I find myself irrevocably shackled.

[ The teeth in his smile come mostly through his thoughts; his face stays mostly expressionless. It's a smile Charles will know well by now: challenging, defiant, and most of all dangerous.] But give me time.

[mentis]

I have every faith in you--.

[ Where they different men Charles might have taken his arm, tried to see for himself as to the proverbial chain around Erik's slender wrist. The fact that he's more concerned for him than he is for himself doesn't cross his mind. For Charles it's like a bracelet with a complicated catch or a watch one forgets to take off before sleep, for Erik it screams of metal and barbed wire and the failure of power. Charles breathes in and he can taste Erik's ire at the back of his throat.

( He tries to not delve too far, doesn't want to know what his friend's out and out fear feels like, wouldn't find it fair. )

Clearing his throat. ] Everyone has one. From the angle of the screen it would seem they're all attached to the same place.

[violenthearted]

[To anyone else, it might seem strange or even just rude for them to do this, slip into their own private rhythms of communication, but Erik's manners are his own, and the last thing on his mind is troubling himself with whether or not he is offending anyone in what he's still not entirely convinced isn't actually some kind of Promethean afterlife. Then again, given how rarely he's permitted Charles' entrance to his thoughts in the past, if he were paying any mind to that he might also be wondering if, under other circumstances, this might be some kind of refreshing novelty for a telepath.]

I'm not 'everyone,' Charles.

[He closes his hand into a fist, eyes fixed on the communicator. What's left of it seems to shiver slightly but stays ultimately both intact and wound to Erik's wrist.]

[mentis]

[ He watches Erik, his chin tilted down and his eyes thoughtful as he does so. He can't imagine not having his own power, to be devoid of the low hum of other people beneath his own. He wonders what it would be like.

( A horrible, hideous part of him thinks it would feel wonderful but he keeps that down buried in him. ) ]

Erik. [ A step closer. ]