forgodssake | ic inbox } ataraxion.

No.

[ Which obviously came as a disappointment, for Charles takes another pull of beer, deep enough that their second round is coming up shortly. He turns the glass between his fingers at a fidget. ]

We found Shaw trying to instigate a third world war. We stopped him, and Erik killed him, and then naval battalions of two major and opposing powers came together to wipe out our little band of mutants, Shaw's men and mine alike. Erik saved us all.

I was forced to stop him when he went to decimate them in return, which really would have kick started a third world war, only mutantkind would have been at the centre of it. We weren't trying to hurt each other, you understand, but we wanted different things, for ourselves, for other mutants.

And then [ he tips his emptied beer glass ] there was an accident. A CIA agent was trying to help me, and she shot at him. He deflected a bullet that left me paralysed from the waist down. That did stop him.

[ He finishes his beer. Frinkle forehead at the taste and amount all at once. ]

I was healed via the Tranquility, evidently. But we've been tense ever since.

[ ... Severus summons more beer into both their glasses. ]

Tense.

[ Is certainly a word for all of that. Distantly, he wonders why he didn't ask before (this has been covered), but he also wonders if Charles would have told him all that before now. Merlin. It's insane. But so is Wizarding Britain, so what can he say? It seems like they're at the very start of something but-- Severus is only twenty-four. He's not Albus, ready to preach from on high. He forces himself to think of it smaller, to narrow his field of vision to Charles alone. It's uncomfortable to do so but altogether fine, and then he thinks of himself and Lily and--

He takes a drink. ]

This is not an ideal, stress-free setting for reconciliation.

[ Oh my god magic beer. Fortunately, Charles' mood is keyed down enough that the most he does is give a delighted grin and draw the glass back to himself, testing coolness against the palm of his hand. He settles his chin into the palm of his other one. ]

It's a bit odd, actually. Because you're quite right, but at the same time, it puts everything on a bit of a freeze, doesn't it. Our time has ceased to progress. The injury that so neatly cleaved our allegiance is healed, and sometimes Erik acts as if all else is healed, and sometimes I'm inclined to let him. Because we're in a giant horror tin can floating in fucking space.

[ --stated mildly. Sips beer. ]

Ah, well. Perhaps the worst either of us can expect of ours is heckling. That'd be good.

[ Severus gives him a thin smile that is neither full disagreement nor flippant agreement. He's a little opaque about it; Sirius has done worse already. But he doesn't feel like acknowledging it.

Until it's useful for him to do so. ]

Are you from about the same time, then?

[ And because he can't read Snape's mind, this goes entirely missed. ]

Yes. Some few months after we saw each other that day. Rather glad we didn't have your sort of time disparity to grapple with in the immediate moment.

It is surreal. Harry, strangely, is easier to deal with. I've only heard of him, the child of people I went to school with but never knew after. [ W O W THAT IS A REALLY SELECTIVE RETELLING but anyway ] Black, though.

[ .. Is still a teenager? Kind of? Severus has no idea how to react to that; it's obvious animosity is still there on his end, but it's aimed at an adult. Not this obnoxious brat. ]

I noticed you have a student of your own, lurking around?

[ The half-formed rueful smile is immediate. ]

Alex Summers, yes. Security as well. Odd scenario -- he's been here for a solid two years, which is its own disparity. Especially considering there's been multiple Charleses come through the doors since. Two, by my count.

[ He rubs his face, dragging beer closer. ]

Set us both up with some rather unfair expectations, I think.

[ Thanks Obama. He sips some magic beer. ]

I haven't been particularly interested in delving very far into the happenings of a theoretical other me. Or a future me.

[ It's not magic beer. It's normal space beer, and it's the beer from the bar they're in, he just moved it.

(Lemurs.) ]

Apparently almost two years ago, or by what I can figure must be about that long, I was here. An older me [ he sounds like he's reciting words in a foreign language he doesn't speak, at that ], after my death.

[ Severus drinks some more magic beer. ]

Perhaps Security should just deal with security and leave the rest of us be.

[ Dicks. ]

[ There's a minute widening of his eyes at that news, caught in not being certain of how to respond before Snape is low-level sniping at the Security taskforce. I'm sorry seems like it'd be a stupid thing to say. Everyone dies, eventually.

He drinks some magic beer too. ]

Their jobs must be frustratingly uphill, we mustn't be too judgemental. Forever corralling an ungrateful flock of surly captives from getting themselves killed.

--Brink of death, surely.

I've never put much stock in any powers that be. [ Governments, authority figures, self-proclaimed leaders. He'll accept accolades as it suits him because he understands political games and he values his cards in that game, but he still finds most of it offensively stupid. ] In theory what they're doing is an admirable effort but in practice...

[ He shrugs. They're giving literally anyone access to training, authority, and deadly weapons. Severus thinks it's awful and has zero respect for any of them - and he would feel the same even if Sirius wasn't involved. His shrug also seems to cover the 'brink of death' comment; he didn't say it to try and shock Charles or get pity, even though there's no other reason for a normal person to say something that morbid. In his head it's more like he's sharing because that's what people do, right? And the idea of his own mortality doesn't frighten him. He hasn't said that to anyone besides Charles, and he hasn't even asked Harry for details - Harry might not even know that Severus caught all that and made the (glaringly obvious in his opinion) correct connections. ]

But you don't want to be involved running the ship anyway.

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