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CHARLES XAVIER

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Yes?

[ His voice is sleep rough, vaguely suspicious. He clears his throat, forges on. ]

What sort of questions?

[Oh god. This is so weird.]

You have a school for mutants. In West Chester, New York.

[Not a question. But we can pretend.]

[ That gets a pause. Unexpected. ]

Had, yes.

[had.

Uhm.

Yes. This is unexpected.]

Had? Whaddya mean? You're supposed to have one. Continually.

Well.

[ There's the sound of shuffling. Repositioning posture. ]

Not everything works out as we hoped they would. It closed a few years back, or perhaps will, for you. What was your name again?

Rogue.

[No. She pauses, pressing her lips together and taking a breath.]

Anna Marie D'Ancanto.

Right.

[ Code names. But he doesn't remember that one, nor the one after it. He'd made a point to remember all of them--

But. You know. ]

And you were a friend of Alex's.

Am.

I am friends with him.

Oh. [ Unsure what to make of that. Eventually, a bit awkwardly; ] Good.

What did you want to know?

[Why you close down your school. When so many kids are depending on it. When her life depends on it.]

If maybe you could work with me again. On controlling my mutation.

[ Another silence. A longer one. ]

What sort of mutation?

A genetic mutation.

My powers... There is never an easy way to put this, Professor. But whenever I touch someone, I absorb them. Their life force, memories, personality. Everything.

[ This pause is exactly the same as the other pauses that have come before it. That it's very conflicted doesn't make it any pausier. ]

I don't really go by professor any more. Charles is fine.

[ Another shift. ]

Perhaps we could talk. Somewhere.

Edited 2014-07-14 03:16 (UTC)

I think I'll stick with Professor, if it's all the same to you.

[Rogue pauses herself, considering.] I'd like that. [How to tell him she was his student from the future? Perhaps when they met. Or... Not at all. But Alex knew. And if she ever ran into Magneto or Mystique, it would soon come to light.]

You've helped me once before. I'm sure you can do it again.

Hope is known to spring eternal. Where would make you happy?

[ A trace of irritation evident in his voice, if mostly at himself, for apparently forgetting a student entirely. It should occur to him that she's from another reality, even if she's Alex's friend

but critical thinking is hard, lately. And she's Alex's friend. He'd have sorted it by now. ]

Anywhere is fine with me, Professor.

[ Christ. ]

There's a bar on level fourteen. It'll be empty.

[ Which is what she gets for professoring him. ]

A bar. [She repeats, frowning slightly.]

I guess there's no drinking age in space. I can meet you there, then.

Brilliant.

[ Because if he's going disappoint someone, he may as well do it in person. ]

Half an hour.

I'll see you there.

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