wedonot | FOUR ✖ VOICE

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FOUR ✖ VOICE

Nice of the Admiral to renovate the library, greenhouses and pool, but leave us to deal with an invasion of ninjas. It's not like I've been expecting much, with the way you all talk about him and his potential policy of stripping us of our powers without warning, but it does seem a bit counterproductive.

Not that I'm complaining about the changes, mind. I'd just love to get a look into what he's actually thinking.

[Private to Gaeta]

Felix Gaeta? Charles Xavier. We should probably find somewhere to talk.

[Private to Valmont]

Valmont? Charles Xavier. We, ah, spoke briefly, while Shendu was in charge. Are you alright?

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[This gets another long, narrow look. Felix really has no reason to believe him, particularly, but he supposes that all he has to lose is an ally he's already not sure he has or even wants.]

...Fine.

[He shifts back in his chair, mouth downturned, thinking about how best to begin. When he finally does, it's still calm enough, but there's a growing edge of passion, of rage, beneath his words.]

I believed... I still believe that the leadership of both the military and civilian fleets had grown dangerously out of touch with reality. They accepted an alliance with the Cylons without so much as hearing arguments to the contrary-- like the fact that the Cylons had already killed billions of us, or that the last time they attempted their idea of peace, they continued to kill, enslave, and torture our people.

I objected to the alliance, as did a huge number of people in the fleet. I had reason to believe it would lead to the total destruction of the human race. I have reason to... But no one would listen, no one would even try to listen! ...So it seemed to me the only way was to remove command from power and install someone who was capable of reason. I thought-- at least Tom Zarek had stopped trying to kill us all.

[Charles listens, nodding when Felix is finished, understanding where he was coming from even if he wouldn't have made the same choices himself - although it's familiar enough that it reminds him of someone else who's also stuck on this ridiculous boat - and wondering vaguely just how many worlds had similar issues. It seemed like it was becoming a running theme.

And while that made sense for the annals of history or something, it was a little unsettling to hear that he had yet to be faced with a society that had actually solved these problems.]

Can you tell me more about the Cylons? Your file doesn't explain much beyond events that you were directly involved in.

[Seriously?]

It was... hard not to be directly involved, I suppose. They involved all of us when they attacked us.

[He sighs, pressing his hands briefly to his temples.] The Cylons are sentient machines. Androids. Toasters. We built them, or... [He grimaces, suddenly.] That part of the history has become a little confused, actually. But there was a war about forty years ago, we signed an armistice, and they disappeared to their own end of the galaxy... Until they came back and destroyed our Colonies. All of them. Billions of people died in the space of a few hours. We've been running ever since.

[... There's a little bit of temptation to just see what Gaeta was talking about, but he's got enough self restraint and knows it's a bad idea to do without asking first or even this early into their assignment to hold himself back. But seriously, casually mentioning running off to the other end of the galaxy? Unfathomable back home.]

What do you mean, it became confused?

The identity of the... original Cylon creators has been called into doubt. There's evidence that they're older than we thought, maybe even as old as we are... But does it really matter? I don't see how that's relevant.

Your world is a lot different from mine in some ways, Felix. I'd like to get a better idea of what it's like and what other factors led to your being here before I go about pretending I have all the answers for you.

I don't expect you to have any answers for me, Charles. But what else do you need to know?

[Charles considers the question for a moment before switching topics slightly:] Is there anything you need to make your time here more comfortable?

[He's slightly surprised by the shift, but the answer is still almost immediate:]

Well, assuming you can't grow me a new leg -- [Tacky, probably, considering the warden's own situation, but he's bitter and it can't be helped.] -- I'd appreciate it if the Admiral would change my room to something a little more civilian.

Right now, he has me still living in the junior officers' quarters. [He glances away for half a second.] It's like I'm being mocked every time I wake up.

[He nods, not having a problem with that at all - it did seem a little unfair that inmates couldn't pick where they lived - and if he was bothered by the other comment, he didn't show it.

Then again, with the technology and capabilities of those on board, it didn't seem like it was that far out of the realm of possibility.]

I can ask for you, certainly. Is there anywhere in particular you'd prefer?

No. I don't really... [He sighs.] My home on Picon was destroyed in the attacks. I've lived in that room on Galactica for the last four years, except for a year and a half in a tent on New Caprica. Nothing... there's nothing that would... [...feel like a home.]

...Something simple is fine.

I'll ask. Hopefully the Admiral will be able to come through with something comfortable. [Not that Charles has a hell of a lot of faith in the guy, but...]

How is your leg, by the way?

It's... tolerable. [This is sort of reluctant, like he doesn't want to admit anything not-horrible could be happening on this ship.] Dr. McCoy provided me with a prosthetic that's very much superior to what I came on with.

[Again, a moment of hesitation, and then...] Have you seen...?

What?

Have you been to the infirmary? They can't regrow a leg, but... [He has no idea what's wrong with Charles, but he appears to at least have everything more or less intact, so, hey, maybe? Not that he has any reason to care. :|]

I haven't. I sincerely doubt they'd have anything that could reverse the damage. [He's... not really at the point where he's made his peace with what happened to him - he wouldn't be here if he was - but he's more or less alright with telling people what happened.

Maybe not in explicit detail, but it wasn't like he was going to lie and say he'd be able to get up and start doing hand stands on the deck railing any time soon.]

[He doesn't really want to feel sympathy for this-- not even a man, what did he call it? a mutant? But they do have one regrettable thing in common, and so Felix finds himself nodding, rubbing a hand idly over his bad knee.]

Maybe not.

It is fascinating, isn't it? I don't know if I would have written off the possibility of alternate realities before I arrived here, but I certainly wasn't expecting a population so diverse.

[Oh, and now he's gone again. It's almost mechanical, the way his expression shuts down.]

Neither was I.

You're working in the engine room, correct? [He may have done his homework. :V]

[OH AWESOME THANKS CHARLES.] I do what I can to help out down there, yes.

[SORRY BRO.] Are you enjoying it?

It... fills my time.

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FOUR ✖ VOICE

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