universal_charm | SANCTUM IC CONTACT

Do and I'll hide a prank in that wheelchair of yours I'm building. You won't know where, and won't know when it'll hit you. But it will come, and it will be swift and mighty.

_{[ Whoops, maybe a bit of Thor rubbing off on him there. He gave him a mock glare of warning, turning, tugging his wings out of Charles' hands, albeit gently. ]}

Do you really wish to test me, Mr. Xavier?

_{[ It's a bit hard to keep himself from laughing. ]}

You ought to be grateful that I wasn't implying the other cheeks, but rest assured I shall refrain.

[Fortunately Charles hasn't met Thor so he figures it's just James, though he does tuck his hands casually into his jeans.]

Mr. Xavier? Well...I suppose it's better than Professor X...don't...don't call me professor, you know, for future references.

[It makes him seem older than he really is.]

I probably wouldn't have minded the other cheeks.

_{[ He raised an eyebrow at him, but he chuckled and nodded his head. ]}

All right, sure, no professor. Hope you don't mind if I mostly stick to Charles? I'm not big on formality if I can really help it.

That is...ah...incredibly special of you.

[There's no other way to respond to that really, none that would give him any sense of dignity whatsoever.]

I don't mind at all, it's my preference, actually. And do you prefer James or something else?

_{[ He just smirks at that, leaving it be. ]}

God, no, call me Jim. Or Kirk. I answer to both. James is for - well, never. I can't remember that last time someone actually called me James.

[See, now Charles is just terribly amused.]

Oooh...well then the name James should be reserved for special occasions, yeah? Like if ever I become agitated with you, hypothetically given that I'm difficult to agitate. And in turn, for the sake of fairness I give you permission to use Professor Charles Xavier or Professor X. And if you really wanted to get me you could use my full name, Charles Francis Xavier...not too keen on that middle name.

_{[ He had to laugh at that, arms crossed over his chest as he gave the
other an amused look. ]}

All right, sounds fair. Guess I'll have to leave it up to you what "special occasion" warrants, but sounds fair.

I dunno, Francis doesn't sound so bad. It has a nice flow - Charles Francis Xavier....

_{[ He said it slowly, as if testing the name on his tongue, but his
blue eyes glint mischievously. ]}

I normally don't do this, but since we're talking fair play.... my full name is James Tiberius Kirk. I'm not fond of my middle name either.

Special will , no doubt, be very rare. I promise.

[Charles never went out of his way to purposefully irritate people, after all.]

Charles Francis Xavier...Francis...sounds like it should be the name of a Bichon Frise.

[And how does his name feel on your tongue now that he's given you that image.]

Well I suppose we could trade middle names if you like.

_{[ Okay, that earned a small laugh, imagining just that. ]}

If your hair was white, it might work.

_{[ It feels funnier, like he expects a small, yipping animal to
respond. ]}

James Francis Kirk... But then that makes me JFK and I don't want that hanging over me. Think I'll keep Tiberius.

Well I have no intention of seeing my hair go white any time soon. I'm older than I was, but not that old.

[And that's how Charles feels whenever he hears his middle name.]

I know the man who assassinated JFK personally. [Fun fact, now that you mentioned it.] Tiberius isn't so bad a name, probably a bit too long to be my middle name so it wouldn't flow as easily as is does with your name.

You sure? Thought I saw a wrinkle somewhere.

_{[ His eyebrows go up at that. ]}

Whoa, really? Who did it? The guy the history books say did it or do the conspiracy theorists have it right?

_{[ This is a serious question Charles. You don't just drop something
like that in his lap and then walk off. ]}

Well that's settled, we're keeping our middle names. Good. I'm supposedly named after my grandfathers. You wouldn't want that on you either anyways.

I still look good for almost 40, you have to admit. In spite of everything else.

[The drinking, the isolation.]

The man was my best friend, Erik Lehnsherr...he's always had a way with guns and metal. That's why he's imprisoned, to the best of my knowledge, beneath the Pentagon. No metal down there.

[Obviously they are no longer friends, for more than the obvious reasons.]

Good, because I'm sure we'd have to trade up our last names as well and that would just be awkward. My father died when I was an infant and my mother was fairly frigid...I suspect I was named for Charles Darwin and Francis Bacon. High on expectations, rather low on love, that was my mother.

All right, you do look good - for an almost forty-year old.

_{[ It was the truth, at least. Charles didn't look bad, he wouldn't
have pegged him as being near forty on his own. ]}

Uh, so the conspiracy theorists were right. Well, at least that LHO didn't do it. And that is some serious jail time, jeeze.

_{[ He raised his brows at the mention of parents. That seemed to come
up rather quick between him and a few people he knew, but it wasn't like he
was keeping his own past a secret. ]}

My mom told me, once, that my dad agreed to to my names before he died. But I never knew him - died when I was born, and my mom wasn't around much so I couldn't really quiz her on it. So I'm either named after my grandfathers, or I'm named after several English kings and a Roman general.

_{[ Try at all. And he was not even going to mention his older brother.
He almost never did. Out of everyone, he had hurt the most. ]}

I'll take the compliment.

[He probably looked younger underneath the hobo getup and facial hair.]

He was in the middle of several life sentences when last I checked.

[Charles had no personal attachment to his relationship with his parents. The only picture he had taken with his mother had the two of them standing several feet apart. She never lifted a finger to do anything for him, unless she ordered the maids to do it.]

I am terribly sorry about your father, regardless--it seems like we have a few things in common.

_{[ Hobo chic was nice, but Kirk was sure he'd look nicer with a proper
hair cut. But that was a challenge for another day, maybe. ]}

It's okay. I didn't ever know him. He's just a name on paper.

_{[ There's no bitterness there, just bald fact. He was a hero, but
that's all he really knew of him. An image in a book, some glowing words on
paper. It was hard to feel any sort of love for something like that. ]}

Hopefully we have a bit more in common than crap childhoods and questionable middle names.

[Charles had no idea that his hairstyle was really such a commodity, but he did have a nice head of wavy hair underneath his hippy mop...so perhaps he could see the appeal? As long as no one threatened to shave his head it was fine.]

I can relate...but for a man who was simply a name on a piece of paper I inherited quite a bit of the expectations.

[If Charles was bitter with anyone then he didn't let it show. As of now he had no parents, he had an adopted sister who softened his hardships greatly, but that was a long story.]

That depends on how much you have in common with a nerd, I read books and play chess in my spare time.

_{[ Well if he cleaned it up it would be even more attractive. Hobo chic is nice, but it doesn't every inch of you must be true to form. It's not nearly as sexy if your fingers get caught in a tangle when stroking some's hair. ]}

Oh come on, I wouldn't use the word nerd. Besides, in case you haven't noticed, I'm making a business on building electronics and computer parts. In some ways I'm the definition of a nerd.

I'm actually fairly decent at 3D chess too.

[Oh come on, Charles combs his fingers through his hair every morning after waking up, though Charles might have to wonder why you're caught up in fingers being able to run through his hair.]

I use it because Raven used to...ah...but then she'd want me to read my thesis to her at night because it sent her right off. And I don't think being handy with electronics is nerdy...it's pretty groovy actually.

Well, when I came here so did my chess board...so...

_{[ Fingers are not a comb. And because it's nice hair.}

He couldn't help but laugh a little at that explanation though. ]

I'm sure it wasn't that boring. And thank you, I like to think it's pretty groovy too.

If you ever want a game, call me up.

[They do the trick in a pinch. And...he's flattered.]

Not to me, I suppose, but she did fall asleep. You're welcome.

I'll remember...I'm used to playing by myself, so it will be refreshing to play against an opponent.

_{[ Well, you know, give it a wash, a good brushing. It's quite the mane. Should make use of it. ]}

I'll have to knock the dust off my skills, so go easy on me the first couple times, okay? Been awhile since I've played regular chess.

[Pff...fine, perhaps he'll wake up one morning with an epiphany and a comb.]

You don't like it rough? [Okay, interesting choice of words, but still.] I no longer have my telepathy, so this might actually be a fair fight. Though I never did use my abilities in a game since it made it less fun...

...have you ever played chess by yourself?

_{[ It could happen. That or a shampoo and comb intervention. ]}

I didn't say that. _{[ He's grinning at you Charles, his mind went to
the bad place this time. ]}

No, never by myself. Usually played it against an AI - or is that playing by yourself? I would grab Spock when there was down time on the Enterprise.

[He needs all kinds of intervention.]

I might have picked up on an implication. [It's okay to pretend he doesn't notice right?]

Well more specifically than playing by yourself is playing against yourself which I absolutely recommend.

_{[ Baby steps, Charles. ]}

Really? I dunno, it sounds... odd. I mean, you know what you're going to do, right? Feels like it would be less exciting.

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