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⊗01

No? This one then, perhaps? Honestly. They should include a manual.

[It's just audio at first, muffled and distant, interspersed with the beeping of pressed buttons and the confused ramblings of a man far beyond his league with this kind of technology.]

Or a pamphlet of some sort at the very least. Maybe an explanation of my whereabouts. I don't suppose that would be too much to ask.

[How were you supposed to accomplish anything on this device? Where were the wires? ]

Is anyone there? Hello? I think it's on now. I believe it is. Sorry. I appear to be a bit lost. If you're there, please respond. My name is Charles Xavier and it is really very important I get back at once. The situation-

[There are a few more beeps from the buttons and a camera feed clicks on as well, aimed to the dirt and debris of the ground.]

Oh! Well, that did something. What is this little light for?

[The video jostles a little more and with another button press the entire feed goes dead.]

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Your name is... what?

Charles Xavier.

Sorry, can you tell me where we are?

[ And what does he even say. He wants to ask a few questions like, how old are you, what's your life been like, because it's immediately obvious what this is. It may not have been, had he not already met an Erik who is decidedly not the one he knows. ]

Ah.

Hmm.

Not really.

Well, then. I don't suppose you would know how I could go bout leaving this place? Or at the very least, who it is that has...

[Well now, there's a question, what exactly would he consider this to be?]

Kidnapped, for lack of a better word.

It's just, I really was in the middle of something, and it is of very great importance I get back as soon as possible.

Were you.

[ Freaking. Out. ]

Well, you're out of luck. No one's managed to get back.

You don't happen to know a man named Erik Lensherr, do you...?

Is Erik here as well?

[That is both disconcerting and a relief. He had hoped Erik was still back with the young mutants, but he could not claim he wouldn't feel at least a little better if he was here.

Who was this? More importantly, how and why were either of them here?]

I'm sorry. How rude of me. I do not even know your name.

[He preferred to believe this other man was being helpful, rather than assuming he might be responsible.]

You've already experienced quite a shock, waking up in a place you've never been. How much more of a shock would you like to have, today?

At this point, I doubt much more could surprise me.

I'll hold you to that.

[ Switch to video, and locked. See, Charles knows how to do all sorts of things with this nifty gadget! Actually that's the limit of his expertise. ]

My name's Charles Xavier, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm not from you universe at all.

Yes. What is it?

[There's a delay between him starting the feed and actually talking. Having that other Charles around is more than he wants to deal with. But if this one is from another place too, well...]

It's Erik.

[Another pause. How to do this.]

I need you to tell me how we met. How long have you known me for?

Erik, thank god.

[The events on the beach are shoved out of his mind in favor of dealing with the here and now, and if he has been kidnapped, then it is good to know that Erik is here, somewhere. Because surely together they can find a way to get back, if the others are not here as well.

He makes a face at the phone, and though he hasn't sorted out video yet, there is confusion in his tone.]

What do you mean, you were there. I had to jump into the Atlantic to keep you from drowning yourself, [Because no, he was not letting Erik forget that he did, occasionally, need Charles' help.] I should think it was a memorable enough occasion.

[For a long moment there is only silence. Charles busy staring at himself. But no. That wasn't quite right. There were little things he felt he could see that others might not have, but this person with his name and his face was staring back. He had been wrong. He could be more surprised.]

I see...

[Except Charles did not see. The evidence was there but the implausibility of it all was weighing heavily on his mind with a skepticism he was unused to feeling and a loss of words he rarely experienced.]

Remarkable.... [Perhaps he was dreaming. Hallucinating? Coping mechanisms. He had argued with himself before but this was so much more than an inner monologue of conflicting ideas trying to reconcile each other.]

[Just this face, because she was about to say something, but then kind of got tongue-tied, and so here she is. Because Charles is right over there and yet here is a man with his face calling himself Charles Xavier on the screen, and so--

Just give her a second.]

Ah, hello.

[Charles pauses, deciding on where to start with the mass of questions he had.]

Could you tell me where this is?

Turn to video, please.

[ He's not exactly like Charles. He's slimmer. He's tanner. He's lived a more rugged, more difficult life. It wouldn't be difficult to tell the difference between the two.

But there is an unmistakeable similarity.

More than that, he looks tired. Absolutely fucking exhausted, actually, from days without telepathy, days where he can't make himself relaxed enough to sleep. Not that he's slept much in the last six months, not since the desert. ]

All right.

[It takes a while for Charles to figure it out, but he's clever, and after some fiddling he finally has the settings figured out enough to switch the video on.

He still looks a bit incredulous, but it is a lot to take in all at once. He does not look tired. A bit ruffled, with hints of confusion, but he doesn't seem tense or wound.]

Your name is Charles.

[He's running through the genetic possibilities and the likelihood of monozygotic twins in his head with the rest of the swirl of thoughts and only then does it occur to him that he could be trying to locate this man's mind right now.And likely should be, to keep his own sanity in tact. It wasn't impossible, just improbable and a difficult idea to adjust to.]

And it's always been Charles.

[ His mind is easy to locate, and well within range. There's no bright-pulsing feel of telepathic power, and it feels like a grey cloud clings to his mind, makes a barrier around his thoughts. ]

last thing you remember.

[There's two of them. Which means...cylon. Her face is pretty much saying it all.]

Frak it all to hell. Nice one, exposing that you're a model.

[She'll be heading out now, with her crutch, headed to track down the two of them, no matter how long it takes.]

Keep the lights on.

[Is she planning murder? Why yes she is.]

Edited 2012-03-10 08:37 (UTC)

[His relief is all too clear, despite any attempts at keeping it hidden.]

Memorable to the two of us, perhaps. But it seems that ship was capable of bringing alternate versions of yourself here. Thankfully, you don't seem to hate me anywhere near as much as the other Charles seems to.

[And then there's Raven. But that can wait. For now, he has his priorities laid out for him.]

Are you still near those pods?

An alien planet. Presumably on the other side of the universe from Earth.

[Without a verbal response, it takes Charles a moment to realize the video has come on, but he has begun to figure the video settings out now and he's returning the look with a curious one of his own.]

Ah... Hello?

[Charles reaches out to his mind, and the cloud-like barrier makes him shudder inwardly at how off it feels. His brows furrow and knit further in confusion.]

How did you end up here? [There are so many questions pushing to the front of his mind and he has to stop himself from rattling them all off in rapid succession. Priorities. The other man's mind made him uncomfortable. Was it the result of a mutation? Their similar DNA? He did not have an experience close enough to this to compare it to.

This other mutant could not be his twin. A secret that big? His mother would have had to have thought of it at least once, it would have lingered like all secrets do in the minds of those not accustomed to shielding their thoughts. Alternating between hidden and pressing forward]

We can not both be- I find it difficult to believe that we could both be Charles Xavier.

[Genetic evolution, mutations, the strange new world of possibilities he was so fascinated and enamored with did not yet include alternate realities into the equation.]

I'm sorry, did you say an alien planet?

[Charles looks remarkably torn between disbelief and absolute wonderment. If they really were on another planet it would be both absurd and fantastic. If only because it was so very impossible.]

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[voice, no video, because sob collar]

[Voice as well because Video, how does it work?]

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