EIGHTY ONE ✖ VIDEO & SPAM

[wedonot]

[Charles is back, and while he doesn't look any different - he doesn't look older, he's got the same hair cut and navy blue sweaters - there's still something different. He seems... happier, more enthusiastic than he's been in a long time before Erik graduated.]

Well, I'm glad to see the ship hasn't burned down in my absence. [And if he sounds mildly surprised about that, can you really blame him?

Anyway, moving on.]

I'm very happy to report that things are moving along quite smoothly at home. Erik says hello, [Or some variation on that to some of you, let's be serious graduation didn't suddenly turn him into a super fluffy fun guy who particularly cares about 90% of you.] Although he remains fairly adamant that he's absolutely not coming back in this lifetime, if at all possible.

[Which kind of begs the question of what the hell is he doing back here, but that's for him to know and you guys to find out at some point maybe.

And with all that said and done, he sobers a little, although he's still looking pretty upbeat and generally pleased.]

I've spend two years on this ship, and in that time, I've had too many people tell me some variation of "you can't change your future", or that I was wasting my time putting my faith in someone who's too incompetent to ever do anything right, and I understand where all of that stemmed from. It's incredibly easy to lose hope here, especially in regards to both those things, and if anyone tries to tell you you're weak for doing so, they're wrong.

But it does work, and you can change your future. This place has done everything it could to drag me and the people I love under, but we've still managed to overcome it, and you can, too.

[And he means that, seriously. He's got the proof to back it up now, too.]

For any new arrivals, I'm Doctor- or I suppose it's really Professor Charles Xavier, now. I'm a warden, I'm a telepath, [Mutant and proud, right?] and I'm one of the wardens in charge of the garden, if anyone's interested in lending a hand. I'm also available as a counselor for anyone - warden or inmate - who feels they need someone to talk to.

[Spam for Jonah]

[He'd been a little concerned when he'd first returned that he might not remember everything about the ship. It's not uncommon - he can still remember how jarring it had been to see Merlin staring at him with a combination of confusion and wariness when Charles had told him they were friends - but it seems like he shouldn't have worried. Everything feels familiar, and he knows most of the people he sees in the hallways, remembers the amenities and physical layout.

Still, it's been a few months for him, even if it's only been a few weeks for everyone on the Barge, so taking some time to re-acclimate himself seemed to make sense.

The library is a logical first stop, if only because he seems to have inherited the books Erik had "borrowed" from the library and never. Brought back. And he does actually need some space on his desk and coffee table for other things.

He enters the room with a stack of books, and instead of leaving them for Chromie or someone else to put away, he chooses to return a couple himself, if only so he can go on an investigation to see if anything new has turned up since the last time he's been here. There usually is, and honestly, he thinks this is going to be the thing he misses most about the Barge when he does leave for good.

Whenever that turns out to be.

He's reshelving a copy of Through the Looking Glass he'd been borrowing before he'd left when he spots a familiar face and gives Jonah a friendly smile.]

Hello again.

Comments

[geminorum]

Hi.

[ Jonah looks a little pale around the gills, because he has, as his brother would say, 'been eating like shit,' but that's neither here nor there. Paleness is not exactly new for a young man who looks like he spends most of his time with his nose buried in ...exactly places like this, nor is the dreamy remoteness that burns off like a fog instantly once he registers who Charles actually is. ]

You're a telepath?

[ What, he reads absolutely everything on the network. Like the little creeper he is. ]

[wedonot]

[He's not especially bothered by the question. It's not as if it isn't common knowledge, and he had made sure to say it when he came back.

And it's not even especially odd that he'd find that interesting, so he keeps his answer politely simple, even though he is curious.

It's not like it's a surprise that he likes helping troubled teenagers, and while this might count as profiling? He's seriously doubting Jonah is a warden.]

Yes.

[geminorum]

[ What, lots of wardens are twitchy insect-childr--no they aren't. ]

Like Jean.

[ This seems to be ...cautious approval, leading conveniently to Jonah putting back the Pynchon novel he was going to hide in, and instead contemplating Charles with incisive grey eyes. ]

She talked to me [ he points to the rough area of his frontal lobe with a forefinger ] like this. Can you do that?

[strangehistorian]

Welcome back! You look well.

[wedonot]

Thank you. How have things been?

[this_corrosion]

You're one of those mind readers?

[wedonot]

I suppose you could put it that way.

voice

[fire_punk]

How can anyone say you can't change the future? That's kind of stupid. It hasn't happened yet. It's not like the past. And maybe there's a way to do that, too. [He'd like to think there is.]

voice

[wedonot]

It's easy to think that way when you're feeling hopeless, or when you've been told the same thing your entire life.

[video]

[routemistress]

[Iris tends to avoid Charles; it's always too easy for them to get on each other's nerves. But she's watching him and Gary and she's amused as hell, and her I-Love-Everyone-On-This-Barge is set very high right now. So she flicks on her video feed and grins and waves at him.]

'Ey Charles, welcome 'ome.

[video]

[wedonot]

Thank you, but I just left home.

video ; private

[godsays]

You need to talk to Anya.

[ This, first and most important. Then a brief pause, and he says: ]

I'm glad you're back.

[ Softer. He didn't want to lose two mentors at once: Kelsier and Charles. ]

video ; private

[wedonot]

It's good to be back. [Sort of. He'd rather be home, but it's good to know not much time has passed, that he's made good on his promise to return.]

What happened with Anya?

[youwillgotohell]

[She feels like he is talking to her, and though she's glad for him - glad he was able to leave, glad he looks better than so many other occasions - she doesn't want to think about his success in terms of her own future. She's tired of her future.

And she would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't a little bit pleased to see him again.]

Professor, now?

[wedonot]

[It's obvious that parts of what he said had some significance to her, and maybe there's a part of him that intended her to hear it that way, but at the same time, he was saying that for him, and for Erik. They've proved everyone wrong, and he wants to be able to revel in that.

In any case, he's certainly happy to see her again, and it's apparent in his expression when he responds.]

Well, I actually have a teaching position now. It seems appropriate.

[enchangement]

Why did you come back?

[wedonot]

I promised someone I would.

[fireincarnate]

[Hi, Charles, Jean is beaming at you.]

Welcome back. How long was it, for you?

[wedonot]

[You're being beamed at right back because he missed you. u__u]

About three months. I'm glad it wasn't that long here.

[Private]

[logistical]

Welcome back, Professor.

[Although it's from a communicator that Charles wouldn't have heard from in months, Spock thinks it best to touch base. Charles was always kind to him.]

[Private]

[wedonot]

Thank you. How long have you been back?

[private]

[fridgetothefire]

That's really good to hear.

[About Erik, and about him, too. She's - actually never seen him quite this bright, this buoyant . She came after the Vanquish, met him after the Overlook. It suits him.]

[private]

[wedonot]

[It feels good to be like this again, and he hopes - really, really hopes - that it's permanent. That he'll be strong enough to keep this up no matter what else this place has to throw at him, and right now, that feels possible.

Hopefully it'll stay that way.]

I hoped it would be. We haven't done much recruiting at all, so you still have relatively free choice in which room you'd like to claim. [Because even if she isn't going to be with them permanently, she'll still always have a place there if she needs or wants it.]

I've heard there have been some interesting developments on your end.

[surfaceshine]

Well, ain't you just a regular ray of hope, Charlie?

[But Dean is grinning. He's glad Charles found his happy.]

[wedonot]

[Charles is glad, too. u__u]

I do my best. I hope you're doing well.