005; CLOSED. and darling, i saw it all.

[norea]

Who: The present anti-CL team.
What: Meeting to discuss.
Where: Lost Society, in the library.
When: Misdi, around midnight.
Notes: plotsss. I'll have three comment sections: one for Rhade showing up early, one for the collective group (we'll have to sort out orders since there are quite a few characters), and one for separate character interactions (one on one or whatever y'all prefer). AND... we will have to copypaste in our tags from LJ, soooo.
Warnings: idk yet.

The spell that Hasibe has worked over Lost Society means that no one is going to remember they were there; service will be a bit spotty, as a result, and the waiters on hand will seem peculiarly disinterested in whomever shows up, only providing them with drinks and necessities when deliberately prodded, but that's an aspect of the magic. She partially chose this location because it's easy to find a secluded area there, and in this case, she finds a table in the library, shrugging off her white coat to rest it on the back of her chair. She is dressed in a sleek, high-collared dark-green dress that is not too flashy, in order to keep with the discretion of the venue.

The other reason she chose this place is that they don't care if you smoke indoors. So that's what she's doing, rose-flavored Black Devil cigarette in hand, sitting back in her chair as she exhales smoke toward the ceiling. She has a couple books open on the table in front of her, and nothing in the way of food, but she does have a drink. Priorities.

Comments

[magnetic]

"No, I suppose not." Oh, Ilde. You are kind of adorable.

Erik lifts a hand to the back of her shoulder, not quite ushering, but suggesting that maybe she'd like to turn along with him? Yes? (It's remarkable how gentle he can be, isn't it, given certain alternatives.) "Come, I'd like you to meet someone. I think you'll like him." He may be biased, but still, Charles Xavier is a generally likeable fellow—and conveniently enough, he happens to be right over here.

[cerebral]

Right over here —and absently leafing through a book from a nearby shelf (look, he's in a bar surrounded by them, what do you want). But he looks up with a boyish smile when he senses Erik and Ilde approaching.

There is a brief flicker to his eyes as he picks up on Ilde's forethoughts; her recent trauma rings out like a bell and reverbrates in his mind, which he has kept more open than usual due to the nature of this meeting. He purposefully takes a moment to look away and neatly slip the volume he's holding back onto the shelf. But when he turns back, he's all smiles and good graces as before.

"Well, I see why you're not content to talk to me all evening." Which is addressed to both of them, but he specifically turns to Ilde with, "Charles Xavier. Pleased to meet you," and extends his hand to shake.

[rhinemaid]

"Ilde Decima," she says, in return, with a small and polite smile; the unusually smooth texture of her hand, like the impression of her mind, is another indication she's something other than human. He seems familiar, a little - there's something like recognition that she's visibly trying to place, but she'd been a bit drunk when she bumped into the other Charles for all of a half a minute and the vague idea of a memory doesn't coalesce into anything useful. She lets it go, more curious about what that pause before they spoke was than why he makes her think of music and cocktails.

It's odd but not unpleasant, she decides, being steered and introduced to people and-- normal looks like this, doesn't it? A little bit? This is good. Okay.

[magnetic]

It is good, and if Ilde is looking to Erik for approval at all, she'll find it there. He looks about as pleased as mood and circumstances allow, standing more or less equidistant to the both of them, and...towering over the both of them a little, too, let's not deny.

"Ilde was instrumental in our admission to this gathering," he says to Charles, casual despite the formal phrasing. "And she's a lovely young woman, besides. You should hear her sing."

[cerebral]

Hands are shaken then gently let go, and Charles picks up on the vague memory before clarifying, "You may have already met my doppelgänger." It's an innocuous enough comment that it doesn't immediately suggest he's telepath, but Ilde may be able to start piecing things together on her own.

That aside, he decides to follow on with Erik's introduction and politely inquires, "Are you a musician?" He looks and is genuinely interested in hearing her own account, rather than attempting to delve into unsuspecting minds.

[rhinemaid]

"Of a sort," she demurs, slightly, not quite accustomed enough to telepaths at this present moment to make any assumptions about him beyond 'observant'. Maybe he just noticed her trying to place him? "I don't sing often, not away from the river," or in company, or as performance... "I'm a rhinemaiden, sort of like a freshwater siren, so...it's sort of a gift. Music. I usually play the cello, but Erik--" and she does look to him fleetingly, more assuring herself than seeking approval, "--found a craftsman who'll make me a harp."

[magnetic]

See, Charles? Rhinemaiden. Isn't that neat? This place is terrible, yes, but at least there are some interesting people in it. He doesn't interject here, only continues to look amicable...and, yes, quietly supportive.

(Ilde may note also that his overall demeanor has changed, if subtly, since the introduction. Loosened, perhaps.)

[cerebral]

That definitely piques Charles' interest. "Oh," before he pauses to remember something, and recites, "From the nadir / They rise, their limbs ponderous / With richness, hair heavier / Than sculptured marble. They sing / Of a world more full and clear / Than can be."

His demeanour becomes somewhat milder as he explains, "I thought I should hold off from the more traditional Die Lorelei —which the English translation spoils anyway. It's from one of Sylvia Plath's new poems. I hope you don't mind." He does realise that his efforts to be charming can occasionally be seen as him showing-off (which he also does, but this not one of those moments).

[rhinemaid]

"I feel vibrating within me all the passions / Of ships in distress; The good wind and the tempest with its convulsions / Over the vast gulf / Cradle me. At other times, dead calm, great mirror / Of my despair." ...La Musique, Baudelaire, without the slightest pause or hesitation; so there's poetry, at least, that she still has a firm grip on. Poetry is so much easier than conversation.

After a beat, "I don't speak the French as well."

[cerebral]

"I'm lucky enough that my mutation allows me to cheat at languages, when necessary." Erik gets the slightest of well-meaning (if mischievous) side-glances when he says that. Yes, yes, he admits it.

"I'm a telepath." It's not as though there's any xenian ettiquette for revealing these things, but he enjoys being honest with people when he can.

[rhinemaid]

Telepathy is--

--slightly worrying, actually, and some mental arithmetic ensues: Erik's clear fondness for Charles x Remy's wariness of Erik + Charles seems all right divided by--

"I'm sorry," she says, after a moment. It seems like it'd be tiring. She gets tired with only her own thoughts for company.

[cerebral]

He gets the meaning of the apology. And that's —oh, that's the first time anyone has ever realised that. Something wavers in him, before being smoothed out with, "Don't be."

"If it makes you feel any better, my own adventures in the city have made me more wary about poking my mind where it's not wanted." He's beginning to realise he'll have to learn new behaviours now that there's an already formed community aware of such talents. He also knows he's going to have to get used to putting people at ease with what he is.

(He's also thinking he could use another Scotch right now).

[rhinemaid]

Ilde lets it slide after don't be because-- because she's Ilde, and she more than understands let's not go there right now. (Or, indeed, ever.)

Instead: "It's funny the things you have to learn not to do. I have to be careful, when I sing and when I play, otherwise people go away with--" A vague gesture. "Feelings they didn't have before."

That's if it's accidental; she can do a lot more deliberately.

[magnetic]

"I can attest to that." He hasn't thanked Ilde outright for her gift, but perhaps the softened way he says this will suffice—that and it's a better fit to the conversation's new turn. It's nice when he can multitask, you see. It's also nice when he can find a convenient reason to escape for a moment:

"And I thought I might fetch a drink. Would either of you care for one?"

(Erik's no telepath—thank god—but he knows that look.)

[cerebral]

Oh no you don't. "Actually, I need to pop to the gents." Despite the timing, he is also very good at lying (bothered? Who is bothered? Not him) and that's where he'll head anyway. "Why don't I fetch them?"

Ilde is Erik's friend, after all, and being left alone with each other might be awkward for them both right now. Which is why Charles tacks on a mental Please that only Erik can hear.

[magnetic]

Erik's polite smile here is accompanied by a slight straightening of his posture, not exactly sudden, but still as though he's just been prodded. "If you like." This here may seem an excessively expressive look for such a casual exchange, but it is also brief enough to miss. Or not miss, if you're standing right there.

...Right, Ilde is here too. Hi, Ilde. "What will you have?"

[rhinemaid]

"A Bellini," she requests, then amends, "virgin." Alcohol just seems like a terribly bad idea, this evening. Alcohol is always a terribly bad idea, and someone as susceptible to it as she is shouldn't drink the way she does, but that's neither here nor there.

Even if it'd probably make this feel less awkward, suddenly.

Well, for her.

[cerebral]

He smiles good-naturedly, because no hard feelings and he also feels it would have been worse if he stayed. "A virgin Bellini and a bourbon, coming up."

He didn't even need to be in your head for that, Erik.

And off he goes.

[magnetic]

Is he that transparent, really? (shh.)

Erik watches his friend's departure, wearing an attentive expression that Ilde will not have witnessed until now... but she reclaims his focus soon enough, of course, and by the time his gaze turns back to her he has taken to looking comfortably mild. "It's been a difficult week," he explains.

He's feeling like a bit of an idiot right now, but doing a smashing job of concealing it, frankly. Behold one of his many tactics for doing so: a quick survey of the library on the whole. "Is this meeting ever going to begin, I wonder?" Or did they somehow get tricked into attending a Very Secret cocktail party?