bakerstreet | thursday pic prompt

thursday pic prompt

the picture prompt meme

i. COMMENT WITH CHARACTER
ii. OTHERS LEAVE A PICTURE (OR TWO OR THREE....)
iii. REPLY TO THEM WITH A SETTING BASED ON THE IMAGES.

THIS POST WILL BE IMAGE HEAVY.

link to an image:

embed an image in your reply:

control width and height:

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[Ffffff I would love first class tickets! Hahahahaha they're like $6k (whyyyyyyy?) but that sounds AWESOME! Rock that first class! Which is what I assume upper class is. Yep! Heading up to the farm with my partner and our crazy house of reject animals. XD]

"There isn't a great deal written about mutants," here Charles gave a little laugh, "other than what Hank and myself have written. At least writing that is factual and not hate mongering. The world history is a good start, and if you feel you've garnered an idea about the history from there, a book on World War II wouldn't be completely remiss. And perhaps the Civil Rights movement, too. It... might explain some of the difficulties we're having, even if it might make you a touch angry at times." Sometimes humanity made him more than a little angry as well. Those were the times he often heard Erik's words in the back of his mind, about the differences, and he had to push the voice and the anger aside lest he listen too long.

They came up to the door and Charles paused, believing Aurus would get it for him, and wheeled himself up into the mansion. "For right now, dinner, perhaps? The children will be doing their own thing and I'll check through them, but... I would rather wait until the house is quiet before we do... anything." Keeping it simple, for now.

Something they can possibly discuss in the future, if Charles is willing enough to trust him with that sort of information. He has always done his best to be strong, but the memories that terrorize him, drive him to hide away in his teacher's arms like a frightened child - they are something he struggles with trying to work through. Most of the time, they do not bother him. Then, there are nights like these, where he wonders how he doesn't wake others with his struggling. Maybe Peter just sleeps that heavily and his cries are not as loud as he believes them to be?

The hand on his head was a small comfort that he didn't expect to calm him, yet it did, slowing his breathing to somewhat normal and easing the shaking of his body. "I-I know," he stammered, sighing heavily at his fumbling. He wanted peace, but part of him felt as if he didn't deserve it.

He made sure to hold Charles' gaze though, head nodding firmly to show he was serious, "I am willing to do whatever it takes."

[OMG it was SUCH luxury. We were thoroughly spoiled and never want to fly economy ever ever again. It was indeed first class (we bought business class tickets but it's the first class cabin and the same service). They need to reduce ticket prices immediately so that everyone can fly this way all the time. And I'm so glad you get a house full of animals for Christmas! That's the only thing missing here, alas. No pets.]

Aurus did indeed open the door for Charles as they approached it, the gesture feeling intuitive and natural. It almost surprised him how easy it was to get used to the chair--how Charles maneuvered it and how to move with him--especially given that the night before this had all been completely new.

"I don't mind being made angry, so long as the reason is a good one," he said as they entered. "I've too often found the feeling instructive to want to shy away from it now. And I would be very interested to read your writing, or Hank's, when you believe it's the right time to show it to me.

"For now, though, I agree that dinner sounds lovely. And after, perhaps the best thing would simply be for you to join me once you've seen to your charges and you feel that the time is right."

This, subtly, was Aurus's way of offering Charles some wiggle room: an opening to back out at the last minute if he had too many doubts. He very much hoped--and indeed now trusted--that he wouldn't, but nonetheless it felt very important to him that when Charles decided to take the first proverbial step down this path that the choice be wholly and independently his own.

Besides, merely joining Aurus in his room didn't necessarily answer the question of what would happen between them. It merely opened the door to allow that something might. Perhaps the smile and the expression in the sylvari's eyes managed to say as much.

Charles nodded, accepting that serious agreement, before he gently started to pull back from Kurt so his body would stop complaining about the somewhat painful position he was in. He didn't move any further away, only settling himself back into his chair and thinking over what would be the best way to handle this. Partway into his decision if tonight would be better or tomorrow, he had to creep a hand up to hide a yawn, then gave another nod.

"We could do this one of two ways. Peter's already asleep out in the lounge, so we have this room for now, or we could do this tomorrow when you've recovered from tonight's... episode. I would make sure you had a pass from your classes. Either way, it would involve returning to that dream, but not alone. It would be... similar to watching the television - you would be able to view the events without being a part of them. Not an easy fix, but something we can work on. Together."

[UG That sounds so awesome!! Totes need to reduce those prices. (Honestly they're ridiculous.) It's funny - I can't really imagine the idea of living in a house without pets. We've always had at least one of them at any point in time.]

"Once you've read through the history, it might be something... interesting for you to read, but honestly, it's much more scientific of a read than anything else." He chuckled quietly, rubbing the back of his neck momentarily. "A great deal of medical and scientific research went into those papers, so they can be a bit of a dry read for people who understand what they're about. However, I know Hank's been working on something more broad-reaching. That's very much up to him to let you read through because it's not a published work yet."

At Aurus' suggestion of a timeline, Charles gave a small nod. "I won't be too long. Maybe an hour or two at the most. I'm not sure where you would be happiest in that time...?" He left it a bit open ended, looking up to Aurus with a raised brow. "Your room? The library?" Those raised brows dropped and knitted, thinking about it. Would Aurus need time to prepare? He mentioned needing to... ingest something. Charles felt the smallest twinge at his elbow, like a nerve misfiring, but he ignored the sensation. He was beyond that.

Several students, as they moved into something more crowded, started smiling when they saw Aurus. Some even waved, gave him a greeting by name. Charles looked amused as it continued to happen, glancing towards the sylvari. "It seems you've made quite the impact among the student body here." And for a reason he couldn't quite place, it pleased him. Maybe another unconscious relaxation that Aurus could be trusted around his beloved students, that they seemed happier for having met him even if dark topics had arisen.

When Charles began to pull away, the teleporter took the hint and slackened his grip, slowly withdrawing to sit back on his bed once more. He brought his hands up to scrub over his face, pushing his bi-colored bangs onto the top of his head, opening his eyes as wide as they could go then shutting them for the moment. If they tried tonight, it would offer him the possibility of falling asleep easier, assuming they'd accomplish what they set out to do, but he could hear the faint sound of Charles yawning and that made him pause to rethink his answer.

He rocked somewhat in his spot, shifting so he could sit with his legs crossed, hands splayed across his thighs. "Together," Kurt repeated, the edges of his lips lifting in the slightest smile. "As thrilled as I would be to try and do it as soon as possible, perhaps we should wait until you have gotten some sleep yourself? I would not want to interrupt your schedule, Professor."

[I've pretty much always had pets too, so being without is kind of gutting. But our dog died of cancer a few years ago and we've not gotten a new one because we thought we might move across an ocean and that's rough. My parents don't want any pets though and my mom Strongly Dislikes my aunt's dog, so we only get our dog fix when visiting my aunt at her house this trip.]

"I think I might have to work myself back into Hank's good graces before broaching that topic," Aurus said playfully, though he knew there was also some truth to it. He didn't want to draw Charles' attention back to that topic or to darken the mood, but he knew that Hank was not best pleased with him right now. Hopefully once he saw that Charles indeed came to no harm he would warm again.

As for where he would retire after dinner, Aurus had a ready answer for that question: "My room would be best. An hour or two of meditation before we begin would suit me well.

"My own connection to the Dream is not, if we're honest, as thoroughly intimate as some of my kin. I am far from Soundless--our word for those who work to cut themselves off from the Dream entirely--but there are times when I have explored their ways. Our current distance from my homeland organically makes the Dream feel more remote in a way that many sylvari would find quite distressing. It hasn't bothered me, so I've not spent my time deliberately deepening the connection, but tonight I will. For me, it will be like returning home after a long time away."

Of course all of this sounded terribly obscure and esoteric to talk about. It would be much easier simply to experience it all than to try to explain, and the idea that the two of them would be able to communicate all of this in a way that superseded words was one of the things Aurus was especially looking forward to.

For now, though, they still had dinner and these greetings from the students, all of which Aurus returned in kind, addressing children by name when he remembered who was who, and occasionally when he forgot and simply said hello, asking Charles quietly under his breath to confirm if a particular name was correct. All of this, for Aurus, was a very new experience if he was honest, and he didn't mind admitting it. "It's made quite the impact on me as well. Do you know, I haven't met this many people in a day for as long as I can remember. I haven't even been around this many people, total, in years! But there's something about this place you've made, Charles. It gets under the skin. It's quite exceptional."

Without giving it too much direct thought, Aurus was beginning to realize that what he was feeling extended beyond being in no hurry to leave. In fact the idea of becoming a part of the life of this place was starting to germinate in his mind, fertilized by his meeting with the students. What precisely that meant he had no idea, but if it turned out that there really was a place for him here he could, he thought, see himself taking it.

Charles quickly dismissed that concern with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry about me. I've managed more on less." He could practically feel Hank giving him a dirty look from his sleep for that statement. Really, sleep came so erratically for so long now it had become the norm for him, but he managed it well enough. The occasional pains, the nightmares, the concern for his students... nights could be long, sometimes.

"It won't be easy," he warned quietly, giving Kurt a look to make sure the other was taking this seriously. "It means getting at the base of your fear and trying to dissolve it. It... also may involve me seeing things you otherwise might not have wanted to show me. I want you to be sure about this course of action before we take it and understand what it means. This isn't something to be done lightly, but... I think it would help you." Funny, in a sad sort of way, that Charles needed this as badly as Kurt but could not do it to himself.

[That's heartbreaking. :( I mean, it might be for the best if you're planning on moving again, I don't claim to know your future plans with your partner, but I hope you guys eventually get a beautiful little fur-kid of your own. ^_^]

The idea of being Soundless, cut off from the dream-hive-mind that Aurus had been painting for him, sounded terrible to someone like Charles, so used to being even vaguely connected to the people around him, but even on the heels of such an emotion came its opposite, understanding, because immediately he could place Erik in such a position. He would want to be cut off, apart. It seemed like Erik's entire desire in life, at times. In many ways, Charles understood it all too well, now. If no one was around you, they could not hurt you. Those you love or those you fear. Fear still drove a great deal of his friend, even if it was fear turned to anger.

Through dinner, Aurus' words about his connection to the Dream stayed with him, making him a little more quite of a dinner companion than normal but still responding. The little questions about a name were answered with an equally quiet whisper if the name was incorrect, though Charles was impressed with the amount Aurus had remembered from a first meeting, or a quick nod if he was right. He wondered all over again if he was making the right decision, to feel out this connection that was completely alien to Humans, or if it would be as completely overwhelming as Cerebro had been (and in truth, still was).

The compliment to the school did bring him out of his thoughts, though, and made him give a proud smile that showed in his eyes. This was his great accomplishment, as far as he was concerned. This school, these students, this staff... they were doing something big here. Providing a service that was truly needed and making an impact for the better in more than just the lives of these students. "Maybe it was just what you needed," he offered thoughtfully as he speared a piece of fish on his plate. "After all of that time alone, wandering... maybe your soul needed something more. A little piece of the Dream, but in a different way." He popped the fish into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

[Yeah, it was gutting when it happened. She went through surgery and a long course of chemo, but it was really clear when she just decided she was done. We keep talking about dog plans now, but at this point we're so ??? even on human plans. At any rate, we got back to the UK today. Happy New Years btw--let's hope this year turns out a damn sight better than the last one.]

Though Aurus didn't know quite what it was that lingered in Charles' thoughts, it was clear enough to him that the man had something on his mind. It seemed reasonable enough to guess that it was nerves or lingering doubt about what they were planning to do.

He thought about what the night might hold as they ate as well, letting the conversation stay casual for the most part, especially given the proximity of the student body. He did, however, address the topic obliquely when he answered Charles' words about what his nomadic lifestyle might have been wanting:

"If that is indeed the case, then I'd like to think that the need is also something mutual, that what speaks to me here is not just the school but also its founder, whose own soul might also be needing something more or different, even in a place so exceptional as this." He didn't directly or simply mean something sexual. While he couldn't be completely certain what would or wouldn't happen between them that night, he wasn't expecting it to proceed as anything like a "typical" sexual encounter. What he meant instead was something intimate--the kind of intimacy that took the risk of being vulnerable with another being.

[i am so, SO sorry for my slow. i've been battling this headcold thing for the past few days and have been doped up on a lot of medication. XD]

"That is not healthy, nor is it an excuse to not get some rest." For now, Kurt attempted his best Hank impression and narrowed his eyes at Charles, arms moving to tuck across his chest in a slightly defiant manner. If the telepath wasn't sleeping well, that needed to be remedied and focusing on his nightmares wouldn't help at all; he's younger, able to force himself to run on less sleep. Charles shouldn't have to suffer more insomnia for his sake.

At the mention of Charles seeing things that he might not want to be revealed, he lowered his gaze to the edge of the bed, eyebrows knitting together in contemplation. No, he was serious about this and was ready to do whatever it would take to rid himself of the terrors. "I want them to stop. If this is a way that will actually help me, then I am willing to try it. Besides," he stopped, reaching out to take hold of Charles' hand and give it a firm squeeze. "I trust you."

[Happy New Year!!! I hope your New Year was - and continues to be - as fantastic as mine was. ^_^ I hope the partner is doing well, too!]

This was still the 80s, a time when such talk was only just becoming acceptable, and it still (despite what Aurus intended) made Charles glance around to make sure it went unheard. Maybe it was the ghost of his parents lingering over his shoulder, tsking their disapproval over all of this - his choices, what he had done with his inheritance and his life. Those, at least, he was mostly able to ignore.

"For now, that founder needs to see where things go before he could speak further on it." He gave a small, almost sly smile with those words. It felt like so much, almost all of it he couldn't name, was resting on tonight. Like something waiting to happen to lead to something far bigger, be it for better or worse. Yet despite the mixture of emotions within him, he found himself excited. That potential danger might have been a bit of a push along the path leading to Aurus' room that night.

But dinner didn't last long - Charles was a bit on the anxious side to get down too much of a meal and clearly the children were excited from the differences of the day, so the noise and even the pressure of their minds grew to be a bit much. He looked to Aurus and gave a smile of someone who knew they were about to go do work, small and knowing. "I'm going to try to get everything done as quickly as possible, but it will still be a few hours. If you want to explore the library and take something back to your room, I think you would find you have any number of youngsters willing to lead your there. Do you remember how to get back to your room, though?"

[Don't ever be sorry! Stop that! :) I just want you to feel better. I'm never in a rush; this past week has been very fun-busy so I was slow on tags anyway.]

Stop that. Charles gave his pupil a long look, almost unable to believe he was getting this from someone so young, and held up a hand. Really, really now. Still, the corner of his mouth lifted, unable to hold back his amusement. Excuse you! He wasn't some old man who couldn't handle a bit of missing sleep! (At least he certainly didn't feel old. ~~the timeline may disagree with that but none of that makes sense.~~)

"It's not about having an excuse not to rest. I enjoy my sleep, I'll have you know." When I manage to get it, he added to himself. The touch to his hand felt like a brief squeeze to his heart and he put his other hand over Kurt's. "The decision lies with you. If you want to try it now, I'm willing to work with you now. If you'd rather try to get some more rest and do this in the morning, I will." Not, in many respects, all that different from staying up with Jean to get her through the night. The power she held inside of her was incredible, stronger than his own in many aspects but also so dangerously uncontrolled. Things that still needed to be worked on.

[Ahh I am so glad you had a fab time ringing in the new year! We were on the plane so had a bunch of new years as we crossed the timezones...and blissfully slept through most of them. lol Now we're just trying to brainstorm our life plans for the next 18 months.]

Very gradually and by small degrees Aurus was perhaps beginning to appreciate the magnitude of what this sort of encounter meant, here in this world and for someone like Charles. The way that the man cast cautious eyes around them even to make sure that such an innocuous comment hadn't been overheard spoke volumes about the degree of social censure their relationship might meet if it became public knowledge.

Aurus didn't think that Charles was being paranoid--he respected him and trusted his abilities too much for that. So it just made it more striking to realize that he couldn't even extend a casual touch across the dinner table without it being untoward. At the same time, though, he couldn't deny how the idea that he and Charles were sharing something secret and forbidden was thrilling for him too.

In place of a touch, he would have to communicate everything by the look in his eyes--a momentary hint that would be disguised from the others--the incline of his head, the tone of his voice as he answered, "I remember. And I will be waiting for you when you are ready."

He was sure that the students wouldn't let him get lost at any rate. Charles could take his leave and set his mind to the tasks at hand without needing to worry: though Aurus would surely would be well looked after if needed it, he really was quite self-sufficient and didn't at all mind being left to his own devices for a while. Really, it would benefit him, given how time with his own thoughts was so core a part of his daily routine.

Once dinner was done, he would indeed make his way to the library for a short while, keeping his eyes open for Hank (though at this point he wasn't sure whether he hoped to see the man or hoped not to see him). Though he'd look around the shelves, he'd already decided in advance that he would not actually select a book to read this evening. Instead, after a short while he would go to the kitchen and get a cup of hot water, return to his room, and set aside a sort of tea steeped from dried mushrooms and some selected herbal seeds. Then, as promised, he would meditate and wait, calm and patient.

[fdsjlk;gjfldsa okay! ffffff you are too sweet. ( ꈍ◡ꈍ ) i definitely feel better after taking as many medications as safely as possible. XD i'm glad you're having a good time, though!!]

Okay, so he's not the best at scolding people, but at least his pout is enough to amuse Charles. His scowl disintegrates though, giving way to a broad grin. He's not trying to say Charles is old or anything! Everyone needs sleep, no matter what their age; he just feels like ... Charles deserves it more than he does, at the moment. (~~Exactly, let's not try and make sense of it.~~)

"We all do, Professor. The body needs rest, sometimes in copious amounts." He turned to look toward the door, his smile broadening at the thought of Peter and how often he'd seen the speedster sleeping in - not including the few times he had woken him up to make sure he wouldn't be late for class. A quick shake of the head and he returned his gaze to the older man, biting the inside of his cheek in thought then huffing, "I suppose if we are both going to lose sleep tonight, we might as well be productive and try to do something about it, ja?" And perhaps, they could both get some relief from it.

[What do you mean? Do you plan to stay over in the UK, thinking about coming back here?]

There was the normal nightly routine Charles had to go through and while his mind was having trouble focusing on the tasks like the norm, it was calming to be doing something he knew well. Go through the classrooms, make sure things were in order, check the lab carefully. An hour in his office - a time when his staff could approach him with issues while he checked through their finances (though mostly left that to his accountants now a days, bless them), he could read through mail (tucking aside a letter requesting entrance for a new student, he and Hank would most likely go out to meet this young man), and in general see to the constant work it took to keep the school running. Still, it was impossible not to feel a certain energy, a definite distraction, knowing what he had plans to do tonight. Not even fully knowing what those were didn't keep his mind from ruminating over them again and again.

When his normal time was over, he stayed long enough to place his palms flat on his desk, take a long slow deep breath, then nod before going back out. The building was mostly silent, at least at this end, less so where all of the children slept, but he could feel minds still out and about. All the normal things that made the night around him feel right. Good.

It didn't take terribly long to go back to his rooms and get both a little spruced up as well as get into more comfortable clothing, pausing somewhere in the middle of all of this to realize that he was nervous. Nervous enough that his hands were shaking ever so faintly. "When did you become the nervous one?" he murmured to himself with a bit of a laugh. Sure, he knew that answer and knew it well, but in the here and now it wasn't worth letting himself go from nervousness to upset.

Instead, he finished what he needed before he headed back through the mansion towards Aurus' guest room. It was a small ways away from the children, letting guests actually get some sleep from children who tended to be up late and pay for it in exhaustion the next day, but today he was glad. It was easy enough to say he was checking on their guest if he was 'caught' out this late, but no soul came near as he came up to Aurus' door and knocked. The pajamas he wore were soft, clean all in a dark blue, loose pants and a tee shirt, but he also had a blanket across his knees. Learned from Cerebro that a great deal of time out of his body often left him cold.

[The good old 'keeping yourself drugged to the gills' method of cold fighting. Highly valued method. XD Just keep getting better and tag as you can! <3]

Peter also could be a lazy arse and tended to wait until the last second (sometiems literally) to get to class simply because he could still make it with two seconds to go.

Charles gave a small chuckle at that, then looked around the room once as he decided how best to actually go about this. Realistically, he would need to be in contact with Kurt while this happened, but this was a young man who, while he hadn't shown any issue in touch so far, he didn't want to push too far, either. Quickly he pieced together two possibilities that might work, one he knew his back would be less happy with but might be more mentally comfortable for Kurt and the other would leave them in relatively easy physical comfort.

"Then let's try this," he agreed, deciding to offer both suggestions together. "I need to keep in some form of contact with you during this, even when we are both in your mind. Either I can sit up there with you, my back to that wall and your head in my lap, or we can use some of these pillows and put you off the end of this bed, myself in this chair, and your head in my lap. Which would you prefer?"

[This is the thing--we don't know! My partner is getting very burned out in his job and he wants to do his PhD in the states anyway, but he's looking at 2018 admission, so we are left with 18 months to a year of ???? and we can't decide where we should try to be or what we should be doing in that gap.]

It was only a few moments before Aurus answered the door, a few moments during which he allowed himself to refocus on the world at hand and get to his feet. If he was comparatively calmer and more composed, it was only because of his practice with methods of zen-like placidity. It meant that he'd not given his thoughts a chance to run away from him, instead giving his own anxious feelings another outlet. But that didn't change the way his pulse quickened the moment that he saw Charles.

He held the door open for the man and welcomed him into the room, which had been subtly rearranged to suit their purposes for the evening: the bed had been pushed over slightly so that it sat against the wall, and the pillows all rearranged so that it made a sort of divan on which they could sit as easily as lie down. The lights were low, the curtains drawn open to allow a view of the evening sky. The crystalline replica tablet Petra had made sat atop the dresser. Beside it, the shallow cup of "tea" that Aurus had prepared waited, as yet untouched.

Aurus had shed the outer layer of his leafy clothing, leaving him now clad in a dusky-colored wrapping much like corn husks--soft and pliable, it covered his legs, chest and shoulders, though not his arms, and was mostly open down the back, revealing the line of nodes along his spine where his body had once been attached to the Mother Tree.

Because it was evening, his foxfire glow had returned, a bright, slowly pulsing rosy color that limned the fern fronds of his hair, the veins within his variegated leaves, the contours where leaf met leaf. The effect overall probably accentuated how his body was truly not human at all but merely plant grown to mimic and suggest a human anatomy.

"I trust your evening's duties went smoothly?" The words were casual enough, but Aurus didn't need to try and keep the affection he felt for Charles out of his expression now, and he didn't. His natural bioluminescence already made his eyes glow, but that clearly wasn't the only thing making them shine a bit. Just having Charles here, and the more casual way they were both dressed, felt intimate already, intimate enough that he wanted to make sure Charles didn't feel rushed or pressured. He would have had to be a fool not to realize how nervous the man must be. Coming here at all was, Aurus understood, a huge decision for him, and the sylvari meant to treat that with the respect and and care it deserved.

So, something to break the ice, something that would hopefully feel easy and unintimidating: "Tell me, my friend, do you meditate?"

then charles fucked a plant and question his life choices and decided maybe is he was getting humped by ferns he needed to move into an entirely new life of work and/or life period

[I guess one thought that comes to mind is it might be better to be here and established before he starts in PhD instead of having to make ALL of the drastic changes at once, ya know? I mean obviously it's not my life, but it's what comes into my life.]

"They did," Charles said with that same attempted casualness even if inside it wasn't what he felt. Instead, he still felt that tightness in his stomach from nerves both good and bad, and when he looked into Aurus' eyes, it only made both forms of tightness worse. It wasn't something he was going to turn away from, but it felt like he was putting his toes closer and closer to the edge of that cliff. Yet his eyes strayed, studying with the natural curiosity of someone able to view more of such an alien figure along with the interest of someone wanting to know what they potentially could be dealing with this evening.

The question came not with any particular surprise and it was one that brought out a bit of a smirk to Charles lips. "I used to, when I was younger and needed more practice with my shielding. However, it's... been quite a while since I last did." A brow raised, curious of course to the reason behind the question. "Why?"

Several questions buzzed at the back of his head, and with great effort, he was working to keep the questions relevant to the moment instead of the great storm of questions that threatened to overwhelm and push him away. Taking this one step at a time. Aurus had mentioned needing... a more organic assistance in reaching the Dream, and thus it left Charles wondering if the sylvari had already partook or if it would come. He had agreed with himself to reject any offer in aiding himself, afraid of what he would find within. It would be all too easy to find himself falling on old habits he wanted dead and buried.

[it seems to be the only way i can fight it, haha. XD yes, of course! <3]

Kurt wouldn't disagree with that statement, either. He'd experienced the lackadaisical attitude first hand when they would all gather for Danger Room sessions, but if there was one thing he could admit, it was that Peter knew to shape up when the time came. Ah, the life of a speedster must be a tough one.

Unsure as to what else he could offer to the situation, he shifted to be kneeling on the bed now, flicking his tail around to fidget with the spade while Charles thought about the easiest way for them to do this, yet still be comfortable. He didn't want to think too much about how it was going to work or what they would be doing once they eventually broke into the depths of what had disturbed him in the first place, but he found it hard to simply brush off the nervousness that he was feeling. What if it didn't work? Or on the other hand, what if it made everything worse? Somehow, that seemed unlikely.

His head drew back up at Charles' voice, radiant golden eyes blinking then glancing upward in thought. He averted his gaze to Charles' chair, to his own bed then back to the telepath. "I cannot say that I have a preference. What would be easier for you?"

charles.gif

Edited (what the link text should have said) 2017-01-06 09:48 (UTC)

[Trouble is that we don't yet know what part of the country his PhD will land him in--could be California, Minnesota, Arizona, someplace else--there are several possibilities, so it's not like we can settle in advance anyway. Realistically, we'd be moving knowing that we'll move again in a year. My folks want us to be near them, but they're in rural GA which is not where we want to be.]

"I'm a great believer in it," Aurus said, sitting down for a moment on the edge of the bed. He did not add and I can see how your mind is racing, at least not aloud, but perhaps he didn't need to.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows against his knees and motioned for Charles to come closer to him. "Have you meditated on objects--on a flower or a leaf? Obviously for me that's a rather existential sort of thing, as much a question of my race's existence as it is a contemplation of the object itself. It's astonishing not just that we exist at all, but that we look the way we do, that our bodies have managed to copy your own using material that is so unlike flesh and blood.

"Look at my brow, the way the leaves come together here to form a ridge--it's like yours but also wholly unlike it." He reached out to take Charles' hand to guide it towards his face, inviting him to feel the way the leaves lay, the edges and the contours of them. It was a way of beginning to answer questions that he knew must be in the man's mind, and also of starting to break down a social barrier of propriety and formality, to bring them into physical contact without it being anything too overtly sexual in its charge.

It was clear to Aurus that words alone were not going to be enough to let them move forward together. That required touch as well. Hopefully this wouldn't be too overwhelming a step, even if it felt shockingly forward at first.

Alright then, if Kurt didn't happen to have a preference, then he would use his own. "It'd be easier if I was on your bed. I could lean back against the wall and if- well. If it becomes too much, I won't fall out." It wasn't easy to admit that last bit, but in reality, he could over set his wheelchair if he flailed or panicked, or if he collapsed out of exhaustion it would be a bit of a tough place to be.

After pushing himself forward nearly as much as he could against the bed, he reached down and locked the brakes on his chair, still speaking. "It'll be a little difficult at first though, but we can make it easier if we do this together. This bed is a bit higher than mine, so if you'll come around and make sure the chair doesn't move for me, I'll get myself up."

[Holy bleep I would not want to live in rural GA, specially given you and your partner. south tends to be so much worse for people like us. @_@]

Charles initial reaction was defensive, that faint jerk away from the sudden reaching hand coming towards him, but it was clearly an unconscious one. It was very forward, and while Aurus did bring Charles' hand up to his brow, the professor didn't immediately touch. Instead, his eyes looked more closely first, but eventually his fingertips did caress lightly over that brow ridge, feeling the completely alien texture of 'skin' that was very much plant-like. The tiny ridges, the elegant lay and color of that skin that was uniquely Aurus', at least in this world.

His fingers traveled along the ridge cutting across Aurus' cheek, then briefly along the strong jaw before he let his hand fall back to his lap. "Whoever dreamed your people into existence... they clearly had the belief of people like us," touching his own chest, "in their minds when they slept. Yet nature provided them with the material, their dreams created and built. It's fascinating to see something so relatively new to the world, even if it isn't mine. Our species... is so long here in the span of a human mind, but only a blink on our planet."

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 55 of 61

thursday pic prompt

no subject

Re: Kurt and Charles

no subject

Re: Kurt and Charles

no subject

Re: Kurt and Charles

no subject

Re: Kurt and Charles

no subject

no subject

Re: Kurt and Charles

no subject

Re: Kurt and Charles

no subject

Re: Kurt and Charles

no subject

Re: Kurt and Charles

no subject

GAG TAG

no subject

Re: Kurt and Charles

LMAO I woke up to this in my inbox first thing

no subject

Re: Kurt and Charles

no subject