milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Charles has been taking advantage of the fact that time stops in Milliways to do work and learn more about the people who pass through here. There's such a variety to the minds and experiences that if he didn't have to finish his editing, he'd probably spend most of his time with his eyes closed and just listening.

As it is, one of his sections isn't going as he'd like and he keeps going back over a certain sentence until he's quite lost track of time.

When he finally gets it right, he looks up and realizes that took a while and allows himself a break, so he leans back in his chair and observes the Bar.

Tiny tag: Charles Xavier, Antinoos
OOC: If you approach him while he's working then he's not mentally listening except quite passively. After he's stopped working, he is actively listening to the conversations and minds around him. Feel free to interrupt him or wait until he's on a break. Please let me know what he'll encounter in your pup's mind. Thank you.

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"No, my sister is named Raven,"

In truth she's adopted but that doesn't matter to Charles, she's the person he trusts the most.

"Oh."

Beat.

"Okay."

That is kind of a relief, inasmuch as X is ever relieved.

"You said she comes here too. She likes it?"

"I think my past might not match up with your future. That seems to be true of the other mutants I've met here. She does, she very much approves of having a pub in our linen closet,"

Her relief worries him but he's trying to make himself not ask too much about futures with mutants. He wants to know but he also knows he probably shouldn't know.

"It is not uncommon," X agrees.

And, because this seems like a conversation that will continue, X gets up from her chair and moves over toward Charles.

"Being from different times. Or timelines that do not overlap. I do not mind."

Beat.

"You do?"

"I don't know. It takes some adjusting to,"

When she moves, he shifts his papers into a neater pile.

"I have been coming here since I was small."

Never from the labs, though. Just on a mission.

Or two.

It was both more and less confusing when she lacked the capacity to understand.

"It is not confusing to me."

"Do you have any advice on how to handle interacting with possible futures and pasts?"

He wants to ask about what it must have been like to come here while young but that can wait. Her experiences were probably rather different from Fry Sandhu.

"Do not be surprised. Or afraid."

That is important.

"And do not be angry when people will not answer your questions."

"I can do that,"

It means keeping more of his reactions internal but he's been doing that for most of his life.

Her nostrils flare, checking his scent.

Biochemical tells are more useful for her than verbal or facial cues.

Go figure.

"It is easier when you know timelines do not overlap. Or worlds."

He's calm and thoughtful along with being slightly resigned to not knowing many things,

"How does that help? It would seem that would cause more problems."

X blinks.

Twice.

"You will not affect your own past, then. If you make a mistake."

Beat.

"And other people being careless will not affect your future."

"Because once you know it's one more thing to be aware of not saying and reacting to?"

That seems to make sense though it's not how Charles likes to live. He prefers to be as honest as possible.

"No."

X's response is prompt.

This time she does not blink.

"If it is not your timeline, reacting is not problematic."

"True, but how do you know if it is your timeline or not?"

This conversation is ending up slightly more convoluted than he expected.

X considers that question for a second, studying Xavier carefully.

Very carefully.

"Paying attention helps," she ventures.

"Significant details will often be altered."

For instance, the Charles Xavier X knows does not have a sister named Raven.

And her Alex Summers was not alive in 1964, let alone a teenager. Not that X knows that part of it.

Yet.

"Past events are a safe topic of discussion."

"Yet for most of the mutants I've met, my past is also their past. It's difficult to create a baseline that way,"

It's much easier when you're the one in the future looking back instead of the past one looking forward.

Given that X does not share the bulk of her timeline with many mutants in-bar (and is unaware of this) --

She cannot deny the difficulty of a baseline.

But sometimes it is easy.

"You said your sister is named Raven. The Professor Xavier I know had a -- "

Here she pauses, looking for the best words.

" -- an evil twin. Named Cassandra. Nova."

Beat.

"They are not the same."

"That's quite useful. If there's a good moment, I'll check for who is aware of Raven,"

Though he won't be mentioning that detail to Raven, he doesn't think she'd like it.

"It can help," X says, after a momentary silence.

"You will not worry?"

She thinks it is not very productive.

Milliways is too unpredictable.

"I'll try not to. Mostly the future timelines make me more hopeful than anxious,"

After all they all seem to involve mutants coming together.

X thinks about that, too.

"I am allowed to ask why?"

"Yes, it's nothing too complex simply that there are more mutants and you feel comfortable telling people you are a mutant. Jean and Noriko were also open with it which is wonderful. Raven and I are still hiding,"

Here they're finding out they don't have to.

"It is easier here," X offers.

"People are not afraid."

When she was smaller, that was a revelation.

"Good, we need places to not have to be afraid. Everyone does."