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[balancingminds]

Charles is tired and everyone at the Facility is feeling a bit too close. Cerebro is at the point where they can start finding and meeting other mutants which he should be celebrating but he's not ready yet.

Dealing with Javert in Milliways and wondering if everything will come together has left him tired of selling what he believes. He goes up to the roof to watch the sun go down, there's some space up here.

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[markedformore]

Erik has yet to feel comfortable in this strange labyrinth. Charles' presence is the anchor that he pulls on whenever he feels like fleeing because he's nearly run off, only to be told that his life is an open book. Now, it seems, that book is perpetually going to tie to wherever Charles is present. He cannot sleep and follows the strange itch that tells him to continue wandering.

It leads him, eventually, to the roof.

Odd (but not surprising) that he finds Charles there. "Shouldn't you be asleep? I did think you needed rest," he notes wryly.

[balancingminds]

When he feels Erik's mind, Charles smiles though it has a tired look to it,

"I recently slept for quite a while in Milliways after dealing with someone even more stubborn than you. I was just enjoying the sunset."

[markedformore]

"You lie, there is nowhere more stubborn than I am," Erik replies smoothly and though it's intended to be teasing, he's aware that there might be a degree of truth to the words. "What great help from Charles Xavier did they require?"

[balancingminds]

The teasing is pleasant and Charles relaxes, some of the tension going out of his shoulders,

"They believe themselves in Purgatory in Milliways and punish themselves like a penitent. I'm just trying to get him to accept that not all life is suffering. If he stopped believing I was a demon that would be nice but I'm not expecting it."

[markedformore]

"You can delve into people's minds and I can manipulate the magnetic fields of the earth. To someone who has never seen such things before, we are demons," Erik says, disgusted with that hatred and fear. "Humanity is simple, that way."

[balancingminds]

"Yes, I know all the reasons why. That doesn't mean I have to like them. And some of them do change and accept the help that's offered and even provide it. I should have brought the bottle up,"

He's tired, Javert seems to be the worst of humanity's fears of the other in one person.

[markedformore]

"Yes, you should have," Erik agrees, not offering any apology or any gentleness. Let Charles be tired of this conversation, but Erik does not intend to let it simply dissipate. "Why are you up here if you look as though you're going to pass out?" he asks, with a cluck of his tongue.

[balancingminds]

"Because its quieter up here, next time I'll bring it,"

It would be odd if Erik was gentle with him, he enjoys the bite of their conversations.

[markedformore]

"And what do you expect to do now, Charles? You look as though you're seconds away from falling asleep," Erik feels compelled to point out. "Quiet or not, I don't think you've earned me carrying you back to your room. Perhaps you can summon up Moira to do it for you? Or another of the lackeys?"

[balancingminds]

"I'm not going to fall asleep yet. How would I earn being carried?"

That's a distracting image and he starts wondering how Erik would manage it.

[markedformore]

"I suppose you might appeal to my whims," Erik deadpans, but the truth is that he would likely crook a finger and use the metal in Charles' body to carry him back down to his bed, if only for the looks he'd earn from the guards he passed on the way. "Honestly, though, Charles. What's the point of sitting up here?"

[balancingminds]

"Other than you all the other minds are below me or out there somewhere. Its good for more restoring my balance and the sunset's lovely. Your whims, I look forward to getting to know them better."

[markedformore]

"Why not reach in and skim them?" Erik suggests. It's not an invasion that he's suggesting, but he thinks that perhaps Charles skimming the surface of his thoughts might offer him a glimpse into why Erik thinks it ridiculous to watch the sunset where there is so much to do.

[balancingminds]

"Is that an actual invitation into your mind?"

He turns to look at Erik with a smile, he can feel some of Erik's impatience but doesn't want to move yet.

[markedformore]

"Only to the surface, Charles. You shouldn't take a mile when I've given you an inch," Erik chides with a cluck of his tongue, but he sits there poised and ready. His mind is guarded to the lower depths, but he's trying to offer Charles somewhat of an open vibe.

[balancingminds]

"I wouldn't do that,"

His mental touch is incredibly light as he doesn't want to startle Erik as he looks in. He's turned to rest his hand on his face as he looks at Erik.

[markedformore]

He still feels it, akin to a light tickling of the nape of his neck. It's disturbing and comforting at once to know how aware he is of Charles when he does that. "Well?" he prompts. "What do you sense?"

[balancingminds]

"Your impatience at this entire situation but at the moment, me, how strange it is to you to feel me in your mind,"

Since the light is fading, his small smile isn't fully visible but Erik will be able to feel some of his joy that Erik allows him in even this far.

[markedformore]

"It is a strange thing. I've spent my whole life trying to keep people out and even when you aren't traipsing inside my thoughts with your reach, you're there," Erik accuses, in a way that doesn't speak highly of his thoughts, which directly contradicts how comfortable he actually finds it. "You're happy," he says, taking a measure of it in mind.

[balancingminds]

"Pleased, yes, I'm always happier when you let me in a little farther. You've done the same to me, I find myself constantly comparing others to you, few of them quite match you,"

He nods at that acknowledgement that he's found a way inside Erik's mind and life and does his best to temper how much of that warmth and want that goes through the mental connection.

[markedformore]

"There are none like me," Erik says, firm in that belief. If not for his human characteristics, his mutant ones make it a sure bet that there will never be another Erik Lehnsherr, not in name or in body. "Well? Have I woken you up or put you further to sleep?"

[balancingminds]

"No, there aren't and you've woken me up. I will leave the roof, come join me for a drink."

[markedformore]

"A drink, now?" he muses to himself, but it's merely teasing. Honestly, for all that Erik holds impatience for a great number of people, it never extends to Charles. He truly always enjoys the time they spend together. "What sort? And where?"

[balancingminds]

"I've got a bottle of scotch in my room since I'd rather not have it out where anyone can get it,"

Erik though is Erik and so Charles will always choose to share with him.

[markedformore]

Erik isn't sure what to think about drinking privately in Charles' room, but it does afford them the privacy that he does so enjoy. He inclines his head with a brief nod. "Sounds amenable to me," he allows. "Tell me, was the bottle for a special occasion of sorts?"