bakerstreet | thursday pic prompt

[That's the trick of it, isn't it? When life is less hectic. Doesn't happen nearly often enough, though!]

If Hank guessed anything, he didn't show it, but there was a brief lingering glance towards the door that held a great deal of weight. In the back of his mind, he made a note to talk to Charles when they were done here. Something was going on, but he wasn't quite sure what it was. Sometimes Charles kept things from him, but often... he knew, even if he been an enabler before. He tended to want to please.

"Well all of this," gesturing over the table, "are what we're going to make our little psuedo-volcano with." He patted each ingredient as he spoke. "Baking soda, sand, water, vinegar, red food coloring, and for a bit of fun... sparklers. They're a type of firework. Now mind you, we're building a little version of the monster sized one Charles allowed his class to build and on top of that, let's just say children with powers they can't quite control can sometimes be well, enthusiastic."

But it wouldn't be long until they had a set up volcano made out of the sand he dumped onto the lab table they were working on. He offered over the pack of matches as the sparkler was stuck into the top, looking pleased. "Want to do the honors? Goggles on first, though." Popping his own on. Safety mattered, even if they were both adults.

[For srs. /wistful sigh I've been so bad this weekend though. Properly shut my brain off and vegged which is no good considering how much work I should have gotten done.]

Aurus certainly noticed the way Hank looked towards the door when and he would have quite liked to know what he was thinking in that moment. Ironically though, that wish just made him think of Charles again: Charles was a man who could answer that question for himself whenever he wanted, whenever curiosity struck. But as Aurus now knew, he didn't simply do it whenever curiosity struck.

How had he come to exercise that level of restraint, of self control? How many times in his life had he sated his curiosity only to discover, perhaps, that the answers were something other than what he wished to hear? How did he grow to understand that the promise of small immediate knowledge was less of a pure pleasure than it must at first seem? Did he learn it as a child? For that matter, had his powers been with him his whole life?

All these were things that the two of them had not spoken of yet, and Aurus made a mental note that later, when the time was right, he would ask. For now though, there was the volcano to be building.

What was appealing about this, as far as Aurus was concerned, was not so much the science of it, but the company: Hank was an enjoyable young man to be around, his soft social awkwardness a fascinating counterpoint to his confidence in the lab. So even if the sylvari wasn't interested in learning the science of what they were doing qua the science, he was still a good attentive student who asked questions and paid attention.

He was slightly incredulous about the idea that they were going to light any type of firework indoors. Tyria did certainly have fireworks, but they were almost invariably the sort that shot up into the air and exploded in dazzling colors. He put on the goggles though (strange things that they were--not made of glass and leather or, indeed, any substance that he was familiar with) and took the proffered matches.

"Very well. This being your lab and your demonstration, I can safely say that I bear no responsibility for whatever happens next." It was all teasing though, because of course Hank would know exactly what was going to happen, and Aurus wasn't genuinely worried about any of it.

He struck the match, lit the sparkler fuse, and took a step back from the table, watching as it burned down, and more than half expecting the loud bang of an explosion--albeit a contained one--when it did.

"I'm not Charles," Hank joked, a smile coming up to his lips. "I promise no explosions, no being covered in baking soda soaked in red food dye." Which explained the crimson nightmare of a photo that Charles still got a chuckle over. He stepped back as well, eyes bright as he watched the fun.

And it was. The sparkler lit up and happily shot golden sparkles up along with fire, while baking soda-dish soap lava spurt out along with it and down the sides of the sand volcano. A little messy, a lot of fun, and the fascinating (to him) reaction to make carbon dioxide. He gave a little chuckle at the whole thing, after all this was meant for very young children, before he peered over towards their alien visitor. The golden light really set off against that strange blue skin, making him seem even more other worldly than he was. This whole thing, in many ways, was one strange moment after another but Charles clearly seemed keen on Aurus.

Inside, Hank was... worried. Charles didn't open himself up to many and he didn't assume Charles had to Aurus, but there was something in that little moment that hinted to him something was going on. Charles wouldn't allow Aurus to remain here if the other was a danger, but just what it was Hank couldn't put a finger on. Some part of him wanted to make things were okay - for Charles' sake as much as the school.

"What do you think?" He asked, the smile still remaining despite his own concerned thoughts.

Aurus shared Hank's chuckle at the display--it was fun, though perhaps the fascination of it was lost on him somewhat.

"I think," he answered, giving Hank a knowing sort of look, "that if this is a display done for children and at a school, it must have some purpose other than simply to amaze and entertain. You're trying to teach them some idea with it, and I have to assume that idea is not that they ought to make eruptions of red foamy bubbles and gunpowder sparks at every free opportunity."

He considered the differences between this world and his own for a moment, thinking on how he might answer his own implicit question. "I've spent very little time around asura. I don't trust them. No Secondborn with any sense does. But I do know that they are fond of putting on displays to inspire the inventive spirit of their youth--their 'progeny,' as they say.

"Is that your intention here as well? Or is there something else you hope for your students to understand?"

It was a simple question at its surface, but there was quite a lot behind it. Aurus had spoken relatively little with Hank about his people or their history thus far, for one thing, and while Charles would now know what a Secondborn was, Hank would not. Neither of the men, however, yet knew the specifics of what the asura had done to Aurus's brothers and sisters in their youth.

Aurus might not be able to read that Hank was worried for Charles, but he didn't need to in order to realize that there was much that he and Hank should probably discuss with each other, and to take a subtle opening where he saw one.

[*HAS TO REMEMBER HOW THE VOLCANO WORKS*]

For Hank's side of things, there were several things in those questions that he most certainly did not understand. 'Asura', 'secondborn', but also the tone in which it was asked. The smile fell from his face, brows coming together, before he decided to, cautiously, answer the questions as much in the way they came. "The point of this demonstration is, yes, to inspire the students and get them more interested in science. From here, the goal is to explain the reason why the lava happened - that the combination of baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, or NaHCO3, mixing with the vinegar, HCH3COO, produces CO2 as a byproduct of the acid-base reaction and the gas creates the foam." Rambled off easily, not too worried on the details. "In other words... get them interested in the why behind things through their own natural curiosity."

He flashed a quick smile, because really it was something he had far too much of and loved indulging the students in it, but he did peer just as curiously at Aurus. "Where or who is this 'asura'? Is that what your species is called, then, Secondborn?" Hadn't the other mentioned a different name before?

[I am so not a chemistry-type person, so I'm definitely not going to be fact checking you! lol]

The technical names that Hank used for the chemicals were so much of a foreign tongue to Aurus, but that wasn't really the point. The real question was about the consequences if the students' curiosity led them towards dangerous things. This was an oblique sort of query though, and also not precisely the point.

Aurus shook his head a little at Hank's question. "Secondborn is a shorthand--it's my generation. Amongst the sylvari--my race--there were a dozen who came first. And then there were all the rest. First among those 'rest' were a large group of us who awakened at the same time. As a designation, 'Secondborn' both means very little and very much.

"As for the asura, they're an imp-like race, short in stature with long ears, and they are our closest neighbors within the Maguuma Jungle. They're also the foremost scientists in my world. Their whole society is built on their love of experimentation and invention. And to many of their kind, my people are no more than kindling."

[Hey my facts proved to be very true! XDDD]

"Oh." Quiet, surprised, and a little bit disgusted in the mere idea. The very first thought that came to his mind were the Nazis, but he pushed that aside with a deep-down shiver. "I can imagine why you wouldn't hang around them, then," he said quietly, frowning as he looked at the mess on the table. With a shake of his head, he went to get things to clean it up, talking over towards Aurus as he did.

Really, to him it felt like there was something more in the air, something like a tension around Aurus, but he just couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He gave the other a look for a few seconds, then turned away to grab something against the wall.

"Firstborn, I'd guess? That first dozen? How many of you Secondborn are there, then?" He had a container lined with a bit of plastic tarp, and he held the container up towards the sylvari for him to take it. "Hold it right up against the edge of the table there so I can push this mess in." And he went around to the opposite side.

[I have the utmost faith in you! :D]

Doing as he was asked to help Hank with the clean-up, Aurus carried on with his explanations as they worked. He truly wasn't so mistrustful of either asura or of scientific endeavor in general as to not see its benefits. He just believed that it required a cultivated ethical mind--far more cultivated than what asura culture tended to focus on. As to the culture of this world, he honestly couldn't yet judge. (He would certainly have been shocked to know about the history of the two world wars though.)

"Yes, Firstborn, and they're rather proud of that status. By contrast to their twelve, we number in the hundreds, and the sylvari that have awoken since number many thousands.

"I will admit, of course, that not all asura are so terrible. But the trouble is not the individual. It's a culture where, when it comes to invention, the ends justify the means. I don't think they ever pause to question whether they should do something, only whether or not they can."

He looked at Hank quite earnestly then. "I don't mean to imply that I think you are similar. We don't know each other at all well yet, but I've not gotten that impression from you. Besides, you and Charles have clearly known each other for quite some time, and he strikes me as a man for whom ethical questions are paramount."

[Well yesterday was a bust for tagging... don't drop your phone into a sink. :( Got a new phone now but not happy about needing a new one.]

"Sadly, I think Humans here can be very similar sometimes. The whole 'should they', thing." Hank might have been a touch guilty of that himself, sometimes. "Usually it's all in the best interest of things, but sometimes... history has proven that it was at the cost of something greater." His lips thinned slightly; he grew up in a time when war was still something very much on the minds of people.

"You're right about Charles, though." At least that much he was certain... now. That had not necessarily been the case always, given that not even ten years ago Charles had basically given up on the entire world, shutting it all out and, even if he didn't always want to admit it to himself, abusing the drug he had created with his help. Now, though, that had changed. Charles lived for the students and the school. All for the better.

"I've known him for-" he calculated back quickly, "about fifteen years, now, and we've hardly been apart for it." Which almost sounded like there had been more at some point, but nothing ever had. Hank didn't go that way and Charles... hadn't... he still wasn't sure how that worked. Damn it, Erik.

[Oh no!! I hope it was insured at least? That is seriously rotten. :( I am having the biggest DNFW day today. I have to sit here because these are my scheduled office hours but I want nothing more than to put my feet up and have a nice cup of tea. Having to mark student work feels about as appealing as clawing my own eyeballs out... /procrastinates by tagging instead.]

Aurus was not presuming that Hank and Charles had been lovers, at least not exactly (he did wonder), but he did presume from what Hank said that there was some sort of intimacy between them. It would have been very strange, to his mind, for two people to have known each other for fifteen years and hardly ever been apart during that time without there being some manner of intimacy.

"You knew him before his injury then," it was a strangely casual observation in its delivery, though of course in substance it told Hank that Aurus had managed to learn a fair bit about Charles already.

The sylvari did not, however, go on to ask what Charles had been like before or how it had changed him or anything so crass as that. In fact, he took up a tone almost as though he was beginning a completely new topic. In point of fact, he was just going to be blunt along a different vein of bluntness.

"May I ask you something that might seem rather obtuse?" Well, he was going to at any rate.

"Are there social rules or norms for appropriate relationships in your culture--different ways that men are expected to behave with men and women expected to behave with women? Or expectations for how you will and won't behave with your students."

It was (deliberately) a question that could be taken in a number of ways, and Aurus let his meaning remain ambiguous mostly to gauge what Hank would do with it. Besides, he wasn't trying to ask directly about Charles, nor even to imply that it was Charles he really wanted Hank to tell him about...which of course didn't mean that what he'd asked didn't run the risk of raising suspicions.

[Sadly, nope. Had to pay full price for the phone. Nice phone though - pretty happy with it so far. Only real downside was I lost the photos and videos from the last six months or so which includes my recording of Adam Lambert singing when I saw him in concert. :( I thought it was backing up to the cloud... turns out it wasn't.]

There was intimacy, but not of the lovers sort. He had seen Charles naked, helped the hand through showers and baths, through horrible reactions to the initial stages of the drug and nightmares. All in all, Charles was his best friend, and he believed the same of the other in return. They had gone through more than most together.

"I did," he confirmed quietly, a brief sadness crossing his face. At the first question, Hank looked up, but before he could say sure, the question that followed made both of his brows shoot up. To be fair, the very first thought in his brain - given that question about Charles moments before - was that Aurus was... interested in Charles. After all, why ask that question when there had only been two real points of connection since Aurus arrived, himself and Charles. (It did pass quickly through his mind that he could be the face of that, but he pushed it aside a heartbeat later.)

No, Charles wouldn't let that happen, at least he was fairly sure, so maybe it came up for another reason? "Well, yes, there are, as I imagine there were in your home," Hank started with a certain hesitation. So, instead of floundering into the unknown, he actually turned it back on Aurus. "Why do you ask?"

His gaze was frank, studying, trying to understand why Aurus was asking this at all.

[Ugh how gutting. That is miserable. Nothing feels quite so bad as losing photos you can't replace. The financial part of it blows too. Hopefully the new phone will have a long and healthy life with no suicidal sink-dives.]

Aurus was, for the most part, a good person. But there were places where (as certain people would be quick to say) he was also a sly bastard. There was no maliciousness to any of what he did, but there was a certain degree of dissimulation. And there was also a masterful poker face.

So the moment that the surprise registered on Hank's face was the moment when, to Aurus's mind, the two of them started playing an oblique kind of game around meanings said and unsaid, suspicions provoked but unconfirmed. For Aurus, the game was this: just how far could he stretch playing innocent before Hank really started to catch on? And if he started to catch on (Aurus genuinely planned to avoid that) just what shape would his suspicions take?

It was all a sort of misdirection, a way of hiding a topic of discussion in plain sight.

"Fewer than you might expect," he answered honestly. "And fewer among my race than among humans in my world. That, I suppose, is why I ask: I'm used to the idea that humans find sylvari a little strange--too blunt, a little indelicate about topics humans tend to treat quite sensitively, matters like sex and death.

"I have learned the norms of human culture in my own world, but I don't know them here. I don't even know if it makes sense to speak of a mutant culture, per se--whether you have different norms of your own." He paused here and then amended, "Well, I know that mutants prefer not to be asked prying questions about themselves and their abilities. Charles told me that much."

He wasn't lying when he said any of this, but he was deflecting attention away from the underlying questions he hoped to suss out answers to--things like whether casual sex was permissible here, whether there was social censure against particular sorts of couples--the sorts of questions that he didn't think he ought to ask Charles, but that he did think he ought to know the answers to to understand the man better.

[The new phone is water proof mwhahahahaha so no more suicides by water!]

Charles would not be happy Aurus was playing mind games with his friend. Really? (No okay he would be amused.) Aurus did have an advantage that in some ways, Hank McCoy could be a little naive and think the good in people, something that would come out more and more the older he became, but he was a smart cookie. So as he listened to Aurus explain himself, his brows came together, listening closely, deciding on what road to take this down. If Aurus had some sort of eye on Charles, it felt like he should make sure there were no ill intentions there. That was... to put it politely, a hot bed of issues waiting to explode and he didn't need Charles being set back because of something this stranger did. At the same time, he knew he could be misreading it, given the differences in said cultures, and decided to be on the generous side and believe this was innocent. For now.

"As far as the mutants go, it depends entirely on the individual. The students and staff here are generally more open about talking about their abilities, some more than others," he didn't, but only a certain amount of people knew what his was at all and he was fine to keep it that way, "but outside of the school, you don't ask. Some want to hide what the are - fear of reprisal, fear of others, embarrassment." Something he and Charles had both learned the hard way.

"...is there something more specific you want to know?" And there was the next move in the game. He finished dusting sand off into the bin and walked it over to put beside the door when he left.

[Yes, excellent. If only all phones were waterproof by default.]

It was noteworthy, as far as Aurus was concerned, that Hank elected to speak about neither sex nor death but instead mutants. That perhaps gave a first indication about the relative openness these topics enjoyed.

Of course he had also set himself up to be able to pass at least a few things under the banner of cultural difference now: by saying that sylvari tended to be rather blunt about sex and death he ought to have excused himself for being blunt about the same topics. (The truth of the matter was that he personally was never obliviously blunt about either; only intentionally so. Some other sylvari that he knew would probably have scandalized either Charles or Hank or both of them already.)

"What else do you not ask about, aside from mutant abilities? You avoid speaking candidly to children about certain topics? That's a trait of human culture in my world, though it seems to me that there's little clear agreement on what age precisely the expectation changes.

"Having never been a child myself I find that the particulars have never felt very intuitive. And I am going to meet your students, so it's probably best if I know in advance."

Again, all true, strictly speaking, though also played for effect: the remark about having never been a child was deliberately placed to surprise, since that was something Hank didn't know about him yet. It also presented a detour away from the topic of Charles, a diversion so that he could circle back around an approach the subject more obliquely.

[It's so damn stupid that they aren't. The majority of phones in Japan and China are... they know they can make a lot of money on it here.]

Well Aurus' attempt to shock certainly got that reaction. Hank's brows shot right on up, blinking at the idea. So the sylvari... were born as adults? That concept was so very foreign to him that it took several moments to put it together, a hand coming up to rub at the bridge of his nose before resettling his glasses. Focus on the rest, Hank, focus on the rest.

"Please don't discuss sex or death with them? That's... considered taboo to speak about to children, even with adults to certain degrees. Your bluntness might comes as a bit of a... shock to some people, though of all people I imagine Charles might laugh it off." Here he paused and fixed Aurus with a look, a harder look. If there were certain thoughts in there, he hoped this would edge them out. "We've gone through a lot, some of us. Certain subjects might be harder than others, and some might be all but twisting a knife. Tread carefully."

Sometimes, maybe a little more of that darker (bluer) side of him came out than he would have liked.

In all honesty, Aurus did not actually need to be told not to discuss sex or death with the students. He was not nearly that tactless. The question had served a purpose though, moving the conversation into interesting (albeit not exactly anticipated) waters.

For a long moment Aurus held a level gaze with Hank--this was a side of the man that he'd not seen before, and it intrigued him to discover what there was beyond his slightly awkward geeky charm.

He did, however, find that he needed to make a decision now: he'd not intended to disclose anything specific about his relationship with Charles. He did not want to break Charles' confidence or reveal anything private that he would not wish anyone to know.

But this warning that Hank was issuing came, if Aurus read it right, from a genuine concern for his friend. Aurus could dodge the subject, but that would only build unease and mistrust. He had to weigh that against the possibility that Charles would not want Hank--evidently his closest friend--to know. This really was one instance where Aurus wished he knew more about the attitude towards intimate relations in this world, so that he could know just how secret these sorts of matters were generally kept.

In the end, though, only one approach really felt right to him. "I assume that we are no longer speaking about the students," he said, though the way he said it conveyed quite precisely I know we are no longer speaking about the students. And his lack of surprise at Hank's words on its own perhaps conveyed that yes, Aurus had already seen how difficult some subjects were.

"Charles is an exceptional person, and if I understand you right, I believe that you are worried about him. Worried because of me."

Well he had no idea just what Aurus did or didn't know and he would be beside himself if he didn't say anything and Aurus went and spoke to the students about such a thing. The older students would be fine but not the children. Better to cover all of the bases properly. For the rest, Aurus would be right. He was worried about Charles. Even after the time since Logan had left the school and the circumstances had happened those years back. Charles tended to do two things - either throw himself into the fire or barricade himself so much from it as to freeze from lack of warmth. It was just natural now to try and keep him from both extremes, to protect Charles from himself.

He reached up and took his glasses off, pulling a kerchief from his pocket and started cleaning them. "In part, I was," he said quietly, his gaze focused on his work in ihs hands. "Some of the students have gone through those tragedies and we're helping them to work past that, but otherwise, you're right. We're not." He lifted his glasses up to the light to inspect them carefully, then returned them to his face.

"I don't know what's going on between you two, but I'm letting you know to tread carefully. You asked the differences between our cultures, the relationships between certain genders, and I'm telling you. In matters of certain subjects, you take time, you learn, you walk carefully, if you know that the ground between you is hazardous. You don't want to fall into a hole, and you don't want to set off an explosion that could hurt you both. Regardless of who you're talking to."

That move--removing glasses, wiping them clean--was such a tactical way to disengage from continued eye contact that Aurus couldn't help but wonder what it was that Hank was keeping hidden. For the moment though, his attention was not on excavating that particular mystery.

Instead he took the time to think about what Hank was (and wasn't) saying and to measure how he wanted to answer him. In truth though, he was missing a fairly crucial piece of information which would shape just how he took Hank's advice.

Which meant that Hank was about to experience some of that bluntness Aurus had spoken of. Not sylvari bluntness per se; this was purely Aurus's particular version of it:

"You needn't worry for your students--I'm really not that indelicate. But I need to ask you, Hank, were you and Charles ever lovers?"

This time it wasn't merely a question for shock value. Aurus felt that he needed to know for sure, because if Hank and Charles had once been lovers sometime before Charles' injury--if they'd once been lovers and Hank had sat by and let this kind of isolation take hold in Charles' life for a whole decade since--that, to Aurus, would be a kind of abandonment from which he could accept no counsel.

Well congrats on getting him to choke, Aurus. Hank coughed hard, actually putting a hand down to steady himself for a second as he stared at Aurus before shaking his head. That certainly was blunt! "No!" Okay that probably sounded awful, so he repeated him, softer. "No. I like women, to start with," oh that felt far too personal to be telling a stranger out of the blue. "Charles... wouldn't be my type even if I didn't. He has his own tastes." Ones that ran usually to the beautiful as well as intelligent, quick thinking and sharp and well generally female from what he had seen in their years.

Erik was... an exception, but he wouldn't talk to a stranger about that.

Aurus was quite purposefully not going to ask Hank to elaborate on the topic of Charles' tastes. For one thing it seemed rather undignified to him, and for another, there was a very fine but specific line that he wanted to maintain between talking about himself with regards to Charles and talking about Charles behind his back.

That didn't for a moment prevent him from appreciating the reaction his question had gotten. (He would thoroughly enjoy that when he played it over in his mind later.) Since fair was fair though, he would answer Hank's disclosure with one of his own, even if it meant continuing to scandalize with his bluntness.

"I care for Charles, and yes I am interested in him. I've told him as much. Directly. I suppose at this point it would be fair to say that I'm trying to seduce him--I'm confident he knows that very well too, just as he knows it's up to him to decide whether to accept my offer. If you want to know his thoughts on the topic you'll have to ask him, but as I gather my thoughts are your more immediate concern I will tell you:

"For all that he is surrounded by people, Charles seems to me to be terribly isolated and alone. I don't know if it's him or your whole world that tells him that chair must be his confinement, that his body is a traitor for which he must live cut off from all sensual pleasure, but I don't believe it needs to be that way. Please don't think that I'm behaving thoughtlessly towards him. I promise that is not the case."

Aurus let this all settle for a moment before continuing: "As to the rest, I'm not sure if you're trying to tell me that the fact of us both being male presents some particular difficulty here. If so, that's something I was admittedly unaware of."

That confirmed that, then. Really, this was a wholly awkward discussion for Hank, even if he was trying to hide it as much as possible for Charles' sake. Really, this whole conversation was for Charles sake but it was entirely uncomfortable. So he sighed quietly, splaying a hand flat on the table beside him. Fine. If they were going to go there, then he would go there.

"You don't know Charles," Hank said quietly, somewhat flatly. That awkwardness showed. "Don't hurt him, Aurus. He's gone through hell and back and he's finally on the better side of things. YOu call him isolated and alone..." He looked to the other, meeting those alien eyes. "You have no idea. You don't."

He wouldn't tell everything; that was for Charles to decide, but he knew he would have to tell to some degree to make sure the other understood the full issues at hand. "Things were much worse, far worse just a few years back. Despite everything he's done, and we've tried, this is where we've managed to get at this point. Do not... set it back."

With that, he looked away and let his head hang. "Yes, the... both being male thing would be... frowned upon."

Though Aurus could see Hank's discomfort, he did not personally share it. He really was fine with this level of directness (or even more) about intimacy, sex, eroticism. He'd been playing up the sylvari element of that so far, but this was also just his personal style.

"You're right, I don't know him. And I don't know what he's been through. I don't ask you to tell me either. I believe that's for him to do in his own way, when he chooses. I'll admit that I'm concerned even about the conversation you and I are having now--particularly given what you say about relationships between men, I worry he may feel I've broken a confidence, disclosed something too private to you by discussing this in the first place, however much I try to remark on myself only.

"But it may be because I don't know him that I am purely taking him as he is. If he decides he's not interested in me then that will be the end of it. But if he closes that door because he believes he 'can't' be intimate with anyone?" Aurus shook his head, "There's no kindness in abandoning anyone to that place.

"I promise that I have no desire to hurt him." He breathed a bit of a sigh here because of course he knew that as a stranger his words of reassurance would likely mean little to Hank.

"You've no reason to trust me on any of this, but I do think you should trust him. There's much you don't know about me that he does, and if I was trying to trick him in some way I'm quite sure he'd know." He tapped his temple with his forefinger to punctuate his meaning, giving Hank a smile that he hoped would put his mind at least somewhat at ease.

"I don't think I have any assurances to offer on the sameness of our sex though, I'll admit that. Sylvari have no offspring. We engage in sex purely for the pleasure of it, so gender is of course inconsequential. I shall make it a point to be discreet in front of others. But are you saying that a male couple is something you would frown on?"

[Hank: This may be the second most awkward discussion in my life. The first was also thanks to Charles. The third is thanks to his sister. :\

Also trying to work through how someone in the 80s would think about same-sex is interesting to think on.]

Without going into all of the details, it was almost impossible for Aurus to fully understand, as far as Hank thought. About the scenario around the loss of the use of his legs, the man who, however unintentional, had been the reason behind it, how his sister and Erik leaving him, the death of the children, and his own choice to 'save' Moira all weighed on his shoulders until he had broken. The drugs, the loss of the school... he sighed even as some of those ran through his mind, feeling some of that weight all over again. Maybe part of this was guilt. Guilt because he couldn't help Charles any more than he had, because he had been the supplier of the drug, because he knew at a certain point there was nothing else he could do.

For several moments, so much moved across Hank's face, partially seen as he looked down at the lab table without really seeing it.

"I do trust Charles, but I also know that he hasn't always made the best decisions for himself. There is nothing I can do to stop what is going to happen, if it's going to, but he can be blind when it comes to certain things... which is why I'm telling you any of this." He took a breath and let it out slowly, listening, but the very last question left him needing to take a short time to think it over.

Did it bother him? He frowned, working over his own thoughts and morals in the matter of seconds, before saying cautiously, "I try not to get involved in the relationships of others. As long as it doesn't hurt anyone else, people can just... do as they want." There was the decided notion that until he had seen Charles and Erik and their strange ... whatever had been between them, he hadn't really had to deal with any same-sex relationship. It was sort of... weird to him, but in the end, when it came to Charles, he just wanted the man to be happy. He needed some joy in his life that was for him, not for the good of the world, or the students, or the x-men, but just for himself.

[Poor Hank. Aurus is...well, not really all that sorry if we're being honest. But a little bit sorry. ~~A very little bit.~~
And yeah the 80s, such a baaaaad decade for homophobia, especially in the US. There was all the AIDS panic, the government's refusal to publicly acknowledge the health crisis...and of course (later in the decade) all the direct action work of ACT UP with all the media coverage that went with it, plus the art of Gran Fury. I think it totally makes sense for Hank to have a bit of unease, even as he tries to keep a live-and-let-live sort of attitude.]

"If you're worried that Charles is rushing into something incautiously, then I can assure you that's not the case," Aurus offered, watching the troubled expression cross Hank's features like a shadow. He could not guess at the things Hank was thinking--the topic of Erik (oh he would have had many opinions on that), or of Moira, or that there was so much more conflict to the story of Raven beyond that she was just out in the world somewhere on a journey of self-discovery. His only understanding was much more general.

"Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems to me that for a man who can so freely see into other people's minds, Charles has turned strikingly away from whatever it is that haunts his own. I don't know the specifics of what haunts him, but if that's what you mean about him being blind to certain things then I think I take your meaning.

"All I can tell you is that whatever happens I intend to treat him in the best--the most honest--way I can. I tend to find that's the wisest foundation for a relationship with anyone I invite into my head. At some point with such things one finds that there's nowhere to hide oneself anyway, so it's best to not try and avoid it." Maybe that would sound odd to Hank who knew so much less about Aurus's collection of constant mental companions.

At any rate, he did feel that they ought not push the topic too much further just now. With the situation as it stood, how much more could they really say? And he did want to give Hank some manner of relief from the awkwardness that this subject clearly caused him.

"Come, let's talk about something else, and if you see me doing or saying something to Charles that concerns you may pull me aside and tell me so, and I promise to at least take it under advisement."

Edited (I'm sorry for the late edit. I've been thinking about this tag since I sent it feeling like it should have ended a paragraph earlier, soooo. Mea culpa!) 2016-11-18 17:38 (UTC)

[*pats Hank gently* He tries. And yeah, pretty much. Hank's a good guy, and as he gets older he'll mellow out even more, but right now he's still young and the world around him makes everything darker in this particular area. He doesn't quite fully know what to believe about it, but there's that part of him that says as he vocalized, but he's got that damned social stigmata to get around right now. ...Plus god damn it, Erik. (And the edit was FINE no problem!)]

"...trust me, as long as I've been around him, I wonder how a man so intelligent, capable of looking into the minds of others, can realize so little about himself." But hearing that Aurus was so easy in allowing Charles into his mind came as a surprise, which Hank immediately assumed meant that Aurus either didn't fully understand just what that meant or it was a difference in culture. Perhaps the other didn't actually mind because- well, Hank wasn't sure. The whole thing was a little bit confusing, really.

He let out a quick breath and nodded. "Fine." A little tight, clearly not entirely comfortable with the situation. "For right now... let's just see where things go." But he planned to talk to Charles about this. In the end, all he wanted from all of this was to make sure that Charles came out the other side at least as good as he was now. They had worked hard to get this far, and while he couldn't completely help Charles in the depths of all of his problems, he wanted to protect what he could from backsliding.

A part of him wondered if he was going too far, if he wasn't meant to be pushing himself to be involved in this, but he just couldn't help himself. If Raven had been here... he knew she would have been doing the same. Another part of him wondered if maybe, just maybe... Aurus could be good for Charles. Break him out of that remaining darkness. Do what he hadn't been able to. He could only hope for that bit of luck.

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