video;

[lehnsherr]

[it's automatic now; to make a call out that's meant only for a certain telepaths mind. a yell of tell me you're back. tell me you can hear me. please, before it's gone completely. his mind wiping blank in a way that only a person who spent half their lives around telepaths would know how to do

now, he turns his attention to his network device. it's different to his last one, but similar enough that he has no trouble navigating his way through it. the draw of the ship is too strong for him to leave the area yet. so when the video cuts in, the metal hull, gleaming in the sun, is all too clear]

Glory. If this is your doing, congratulations. You got me.

[his face may look familiar, but there are differences there. his hair is slightly longer, styled differently. he seems more relaxed than his other self. even his voice differs slightly. the undercurrents of german are less pronounced. but it's still clear that he's spent a lot of time speaking another language entirely. (hebrew, to those who can tell).]

We've already discussed this, so if you wouldn't mind, I have work to do.

[he adds a ping here to the few people he cares about; to hope summers, snape, caffrey. even givens gets a message sent through. but they're all bouncing back, and that leaves him...confused. annoyed. angry]

Will someone tell me what's going on here? Is this the city playing tricks again, or...

[there's some muttering under his breath then; hebrew now. if anyone listens closely enough, they may register the word ha-satan amongst it all. yes, he's talking about that satan]

I want answers. Now.


ooc; to you pesky telepaths: you're welcome to pick up on that first message. he knows how to project his thoughts well enough to make it rise above the usual surface thoughts people have. he just can't direct it to one person :|b

Comments

[abetterway]

[Jocelyn is in the hospital when she hears his call, focusing desperately on the tasks at hand. Her hands drop abruptly from her patient's head, and his scream tears right through her before she focuses again, soothing his pain as quickly as she can before rushing off into a more secluded area.

Her hands scrabble for her communicator even as her mind scans the city, as she calls his name, taut with all the grief and rage she's tried so hard to contain, strained with shock and confusion.]

Erik?

[lehnsherr]

[his flinch is automatic the moment she speaks, walls being thrown up immediately. there's only one person who he's ever been happy to share his mind with, and she isn't him.]

Who are you? [no "how do you know my name". after his attack on the tower, there's very few left in the city who don't know who he is.]

Video!

[abetterway]

[Jocelyn winces, withdrawing immediately; she won't stay where she isn't wanted.

Her hands are trembling, now, just slightly, as she looks over the network. There - there -

Her heart sinks because that confirms it, really. This isn't the Erik she met, the Erik she's sure they've lost.

But it's Erik, all the same. So she responds with a video, trying to school her features into something relaxed, something casual. She succeeds, for the most part.]

Erik. I apologise for the intrusion; I - thought you were someone else. [Her voice is strained; she can't help that, not at the moment.]

[excessivehubris]

[Charles is ... well honestly he does not know where he is. He is currently sitting on the floor of the ship, though his mind can barely wrap itself around the idea of a stasis pod or even a ship that could look anything like what he's seen here.

He has been sitting for what may be hours, desperately trying to reconcile what reason he can lay claim too against the images being pressed into his mind via his own eyes as well as the thoughts and murmurer of feelings from others. Nothing is making sense and though he knew he had been making progress back home, the telepath is left wondering if perhaps his mind has finally savaged his reason.

The call, so deliberate and pushed towards is telepathy is startling and worse, loud. Loud enough to have him clapping his hands over his ears, a childish action that he knows does no good, yet which he can not help reverting too.]

Too loud! There is no need to yell, please. I can hear you, whoever you are.

permavideo;

[lehnsherr]

[he takes a moment to do the same, his expression evening out to hide his annoyance. or is it curiosity? beyond inara, there aren't any others who've approached him because of his doppelganger. and even she had had her own agenda.]

I assume then that you're an associate of the other Lehnsherr.

[abetterway]

I've known two, thus far - one in my own world, and one here. [It still sounds so absurd, but she's utterly serious.

Her gaze only drops for a moment.]

You've been taken from your city via interstellar travel. We don't yet know who was behind it, or what their motives were. Only that they can cross space, time, and reality itself.

[lehnsherr]

[there isn't a flinch this time. after being replied to once already, he's better prepared. but the wall still comes up, his memories hidden away on the other side and as far out of reach as he can manage.

but while there was a warning the last time, he's slightly more careful when he speaks this time. having seen how much more intrusive thoughts had affected his own charles in the past, he knows he needs to dial it back this time.]

Erik. And just who would you be?

[excessivehubris]

[Erik? Charles physically shook his head where he sat, more confused now than he had been.]

Charles. My name is Charles Xavier.

[It dawned on him a split second later that perhaps giving out his name like that was not a wise idea but the deed was already done. Curling his knees up to his chest, Charles buried his face against the tops of his thighs and tried to think.]

Where ... where am I?

[Maybe the voice give him some sort of logic or rationalization for what was happening here. Something he could get traction on and get his mind turned around into some sort of focused direction, rather than the current overwhelmed cacophony racketing about in his own skull.]

[lehnsherr]

[the idea of alternate versions and other worlds came as enough of a shock when he first arrived in bete noire. but now, he doesn't question it. he's seen it with his own eyes, time and time again.]

I'm the third then. [a pause and-] Your name?

[lehnsherr]

[his control slips there for a few moments. traces of lostneedwant make it across the connection before he forces himself to stop. he can't mess this up again.]

I don't have an answer to that yet, but I will, soon.

[he focuses now on the scene in front of him. on the barren landscape, and the buildings off in the distance. then it's the ship, and the path he'd followed out. it's each of these details that he tries to tie in to a single image to send back to charles.]

Can you show me where you are, Charles?

[excessivehubris]

[The traces of lostneedwant were ... curious. It wriggled through the near overwhelming chaos in Charles' mind, inquisitiveness always having provided a focus in the chaos. Who was this man?

The question held the telepath's attention so when the images of the landscape, the ship and path out of the ship came to him, Charles was alert to them and able to suss out what Erik was attempting to show him. It still felt, strange to have such clear and precise communication from another, something he had never experienced beyond Raven.

How did this man know to communicate with him so effectively? The sense of that question nudged its way back down along their connection, along with quick flashes of the med bay. Charles had not made it far from his stasis pod to the floor.]

Who ... are you?

[abetterway]

Yes.

[She hesitates, just for a moment.]

Jocelyn Xavier.

[lehnsherr]

[he raises an eyebrow at that. charles had never mentioned a relative by that name, so he already has an idea of just what it could mean.]

Well then, Jocelyn Xavier, I don't suppose you could tell me where I can find Glory? Or perhaps just what this place has to do with Bete Noire?

[abetterway]

[Her lips quirk, just slightly.]

I'm afraid not, no. Bete Noire was your last residence, I take it?

[lehnsherr]

[it's to be expected. from what he knows about the other versions of himself and charles, they didn't meet until far later in life. they didn't have the decade together that made this sort of conversation so easy to have.]

A friend, whether you believe it or not.

[he's back in to the ship again, letting his feet guide the way as he starts retracing his steps in order to try and find charles. he makes that all clear as he keeps his focus on the path he's taking. a warning being sent ahead of himself for charles' sake.]

I can explain myself further once we get you out of there.

[excessivehubris]

[At this time in his life Charles knew only Raven as another mutant, though much of his academic work told him that there was a high probabilities of others being out there!

A friend? Charles did not maintain friendships, not beyond Raven anyway, however as he glanced around the dark, alien looking room, the telepath made a wry noise.]

A friend, eh? It does appear that I could use one of those right now.

[He admitted softly, wincing, slightly when Erik sent that warning ahead. Without shielding it was rather like taking on a blaring bullhorn in his head.]

I can hear you!! [He did not mean to sound so sharp but dear God Erik was loud!] You do not have to shout. I ... I can hear you, regardless.

[Erik probably wasn't 'shouting' at all. It just felt that way to a mind that constantly picked up the whispers and breaths of minds over a hundred miles away.

Other than that, Charles stayed sitting in the same spot on the floor, folded up in the shadows. It might be difficult to see him, unless Erik looked down and to the left of the stasis pod. He wasn't deliberately hiding; well at least not consciously hiding.]

[lehnsherr]

Not by choice.

[though there were at least a few months spent there that he's still grateful for having experienced. ones that revolved around the other people that'd found themselves trapped in the city.]

So this is similar then. We're trapped in a land that exists as a nexus between worlds, and I assume it doesn't include the option of a return ticket home?

[abetterway]

We're trapped on a planet, actually. I couldn't tell you which universe we're actually in, or where precisely in that universe we are.

[A slight shake of her head; the frustration had been entirely overshadowed, in the last few days, but there's more than a hint of it now. She may have decided to help, but that hardly means she enjoys knowing so little, or being abducted in the first place.]

I assume, if we could repair the ship, we could use it to return home - but we don't have the knowledge or the means.

[lehnsherr]

[he winces this time in response, an apology there but unaired. instead he tries to send across the feeling itself, unsure as to just what he's doing wrong. this may not be his charles, but that doesn't mean he particularly wants to hurt him either.]

Is this better?

[speaking aloud- softer -instead. he does his best to let instinct guide him, trying to follow that connection back to the source. he'd never had any trouble when he was younger. but things had changed a lot before he was pulled away from his world.]

[calmyourmind]

Erik?

[Charles sounds completely bewildered at either Erik's reappearance or his words. Likely both. But it's the telepathic thought that gets him the most.]

I'm here, Erik. Where are you? We thought you were...

[lehnsherr]

[he looks away from the screen, attention on the ship for a few moments. repairing the hull would be easy enough, but beyond that, he knows he wouldn't be much use. this kind of technology is beyond him.]

What do I need to know beyond that? How many other people are there here?

[excessivehubris]

I'm not anyone's 'Charles' [The response was given absently, like speaking to a question heard just off to the side, rather than a direct inquiry.

He did pick up on the apologetic emotion and winced. He had not meant to make anyone feel awkward, quickly sending back an almost frantic sense of it being all right. He did not want this man angry with him, after all.

The softer tone of a voice spoken aloud, drew Charles' head up from where he'd had them against his knees. Raven had worked with him for years, to get him to be more attentive to a person's voice, rather than their mental tones.]

No wait, please don't ... [He stopped and took a deep breath. Using voices was better. Raven said so. Though except for the loudness, Charles had been enjoying Erik in his mind. No, no ... that was wrong. Voice, he had to focus on voice.] I ... I mean yes, yes that is better, thank you.

[lehnsherr]

[it's easier to attach himself to the connection this time without fighting it. the feeling is too familiar to ignore, if a little off. but after the few mental conversations he had with the other charles in bete noire, it all falls in to place with ease.]

Charles. [a pause. those words sounded a little too much like the end of a bad story. there's an apology sent along the connection as he continues.] ...I'm not who you think I am.

[lehnsherr]

[there's amusement at first. the use of a possessive word before charles' name had always been an area of contention between himself and the other erik. he may have refused to call the charles he knew 'his' aloud, but they'd always belonged to one another in his mind.]

My apologies. [even if it's not meant as anything more than a tease this time.

he slides a hand to the metal of the corridor, half to ground himself and half for direction now. he can feel the pulse of the ship, the hum of power that keeps those other pods functioning. but what he really wants to feel is the warmth that comes from being stood in the same room as charles, regardless of the version. he wants that one note of familiarity to prove to himself that he isn't alone again.]

Whichever route is more comfortable for you, Charles. [aloud or telepathic.] I'm not here to hurt you.

[calmyourmind]

[There's a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. This is another one of the times he is going to run into one of the alternate versions of himself or Erik. But it's not that that bothers him. It's the fact that this means the Erik he knows is still gone.]

I.. I see. I apologise for the confusion. [There's a long pause as he tries to reorganise his thoughts.

You may find that you are not where you think you should be. There are people who may be after you. Do not stay by the ship for too long. They have been quite a bit more aggressive of late and I fear they may come after you if they see you.