Magneto's Hotel Room

[Magneto]

Magneto ignored her retort, not really caring what she was doing in New York or why she'd drug a child into the hotbed of mutant-human hostility. He didn't care. She was the one who started flinging accusations. Besides, they had more important things to do than quibble over morality and leadership.

"Yes, they are here," he agreed, then proceeded to explain about Colonel Hampshire, the upcoming hearing and Xavier and Phoenix's odd behavior. And the dissension in the X-Men's ranks. He knew she would find that interesting. "We haven't had much of a chance to plan anything solid yet, but now that you are here, whenever Charles and Ms. Frost are ready to talk, we can plan our strategy."

[Mystique]

She raised an eyebrow as he spoke. Interesting, it looked like they could actually benefit from this little outing in more ways than she had anticipated. The fact that things were far worse off than they had seemed was a little bit disconcerting, but with so large a group on their side now, there was no way that the humans would be able to prevail. They could now not only outfight them, but outthink them as well. After agreeing that they would meet again in a bit to discuss things with Charles and Emma, she headed back to her room.

((OOC: Yay, we're caught up. And Mystique exits to her room.))

[magdaleina]

Magda was aware there were more people in the chamber beyond the bathroom, which was probably why she lingered in the shower so long -- not that the warm jets of water did not feel amazingly refreshing on a body that was long from its last bath. Banking on her old instinct -- to take advantage of this opportunity as though she would not have another anytime soon -- she did a more than thorough job, though most of it was spent on her hair, and working all the tangles and braids out of it. This proved to be a suitable enough distraction to keep her there until all but one of the visitors remained, and Magneto had notably returned by then as well. Feeling she was more equipped to deal with two people than four or five, she shut off the water and emerged to dry herself.

The last visitor departed as she finished, though she had other things to linger on. Terry-cloth robes hung on the back of the door, and compared to the dirty scraps that were her usual garb, they looked most inviting. Convincing herself that her clothes could stand to be aired out, she grabbed a robe and pulled it on over her shoulders, immediately discovering it was entirely too big for her. The sleeves hung past her hands, the hem nearly dragged on the floor, and she had to fold the sides of the robe over almost double for it to close all the way. It probably fit her husband perfectly, mind.

But heavens, it was soft. And warm. She imagined she could curl up just about anywhere and sleep in it comfortably.

Standing before the mirror that lined the wall opposite the shower and tub, she began straightening her hair with her fingers, once again braiding some strands to keep them out of her face, and to have them dry as she wanted. When satisfied, she buffered her resolve with a sigh of resignation and emerged into the room beyond.

[Magneto]

Magneto magnetically sealed the door behind Mystique, not desiring anymore company for awhile. At least, no more company than he already had. He moved to the table and poured himself another glass of wine, taking an idle sip, swirling the warm, fragrant liquid in his mouth. His mind was divided between what he had seen and learned this evening from Xavier, and the woman in the shower. What was he going to do about Magda?

He sat down on the sofa, taking another drink of the wine, idly notng the smashed television on the floor. His white brows furrowed and he wondered what had happened in his room whilst he was away. He'd told Exodus to make certain Magda wasn't disturbed and was safe and yet he comes back to his room to find the television smashed and both Mystique and Black Tom in his room. That was not his idea of not being disturbed. If Madga was at all angry about this when she emerged from the bathroom, Exodus woudl deal with teh consequences when they returned to Genosha. He expected his orders to be followed.

Magda did finally emerge from the bathroom, wrapped in a bathrobe that was far too large for her. She looked much better rested and cleaner than she had likely been in awhile. Erik turned to watch her walk into main room of the suite. "You are looking much better," he told her. "Forgive me. Obviously, Bennett needs more explicit instructions then for you not to be disturbed. I thought the task would be simple enough for him. Perhaps I was mistaken." He nodded towards the broken television. "You were not bothered or upset by anyone, I hope?" If she was, Exodus and whoever was responsible for the congregation of people in his room would deal with him.

[magdaleina]

"You are looking much better."

Magda bowed her head, nodding some in thanks as she settled onto the couch in the main room, making a nice comfortable nook in one corner of it. She could fall asleep here, she realized. It'd been a long time since she'd ever just thought of falling asleep anywhere.

"Forgive me. Obviously, Bennett needs more explicit instructions then for you not to be disturbed. I thought the task would be simple enough for him. Perhaps I was mistaken." He indicated the broken television. "You were not bothered or upset by anyone, I hope?"

She shrugged at that. "Not really," she allowed. "I took a short nap and then chose to treat myself to a bath; I didn't mind keeping to myself while the man handled what I assumed was business." Mind, it'd been the crash of the television that'd jarred her awake, but she did not say that. She'd needed an excuse to get up anyway, after all.

[Magneto]

Magneto nodded in agreement with Magda's observation. She said she'd slept, but she looked ready to fall asleep at any moment, curled up on the sofa. "It is late," he observed idly. "You should get some more sleep. I have more work to do. I will nap out here, on the sofa, should I grow tired enough." It was hardly an order, but it would have been bad manners on his part to make her sleep on the couch. Just because he was perceived as an evil terrorist did not mean he need to behave as such.

He stood up and crossed to the table, picking up Magda's glass and the bottle of wine. He refilled it and carried it over to his wife, offering it to her. "Do you plan on saying as little as possible to me or is there merely nothing you wish to say to me after so long?" he asked, trying to sound gentle. He knew this must be as strange for as it was for him, but her jumpiness was making him nervous. Of course, they could both just be tired.

Erik sat back down and looked over at Magda. He chuckled softly and shook his head. "God has a strange sense of humor to have me discover you are still alive today of all days," he remarked.

He was feeling emotions he did not often experience. Uncertainty and doubt, and very awkward. He shook his head at himself. They were not the same people they had been all those years ago, but somehow, being around her was bringing out part of Magnus that he had not allowed out since she had fled from him all those years ago. The question was, was this a good thing?

[magdaleina]

"It is late. You should get some more sleep. I have more work to do. I will nap out here, on the sofa, should I grow tired enough."

Magda glanced up at that, taking a moment to realize that he meant where she was settled, now. It was his room, she supposed, and he could ask her to move if he wanted to. However, as she understood it, she wasn't the one who needed the rest. Odd that that old instict would rear its head after so many years. She half wanted to scold him for overworking.

-- Until, of course, he offered her another glass of wine, which she gingerly took.

"Do you plan on saying as little as possible to me or is there merely nothing you wish to say to me after so long?"

"Oh," she uttered, not really noticing until then that she'd been so quiet. "I -- I don't know what to talk about," she offered lamely.

"God has a strange sense of humor to have me discover you are still alive today of all days."

"Why do you say that?" she murmured prior to another sip.

[Magneto]

Magda took the wine glass from him and sipped it hesitantly. She admitted to not knowing what to talk about. Erik was hardly surprised It had been a long time and much had happened to both of them. It was difficult to know where to begin. Granted, he had dozens of questions for her, but he did not wish to seem like he was prying or interrogating her.

When he commented about the irony of finding her that day, Magda paused with the wine glass just before her lips. "Why do you say that?" she said softly, taking another drink of her drink.

Magneto had to think carefully how to respond. There were many reasons. Of all the people he expected to encounter in Washington that eve, she was not among them. And if anyone would have suggested she was a mutant, and spying on his oldest friend and often nemesis, he would have shocked the life from them for blaspheming her memory. And there was one more thing that was most prominent in his mind.

"Tomorrow could toll the death knell for our kind if the American Congress passes this bill," he explained quietly. "And there is little hope that they will not. Nearly impossible." He took a drink of his wine. "But then, I believed I'd never see you again, thought you had died alone wherever you had disappeared to. Perhaps this is a sign to have faith in in the impossible."

Magnus paused, musing to himself that sounded somewhat more naive than both of them could ever be again. "Or perhaps it merely a sign that Almighty wishes to remind me to be careful how I use my powers. Or all of this could be too much wine and too little sleep." He shrugged.

"Regardless, I must admit to being at a complete loss. I have no idea what to say, or even think," he told her. "You've taken me completely by surprise Magda. Something I was beginning to think was not possible." He took another drink of wine. "I feel like I did when we first escaped. Completely uncertain about everything, but afraid this is all a dream and I am going to wake up alone again."

[magdaleina]

Magda weighed his words heavily, though mixed with the many things already on her mind, the collection seemed to wish to teeter and overflow unexpectedly. Her eyes were drooping slightly, a sure sign that she was entirely too comfortable -- more than she had been in a very long time. She set her wine aside just to be careful. She knew only the bare minimum to do with the new legislation, as was the case with any political news she had the proper linguistics to process.

She understood what he meant about how he felt, though, about how it reminded him of escaping, but for different reasons. After all, she was almost always escaping something these days. She could remember the first escape, though, and that she'd found it difficult to speak to him at first. Despite his care, he'd still been a stranger, but a welcome one; he chased the initial nightmares away. Together, they kept warm, they found food, and in time began to look and behave like people again.

And here she was now, before him, feeling almost as though, under his care, she might start to walk fully upright once more, and speak clearly, and live in a house, eat normal food, and worry about things that normal people worried about.

And that, she realized with half a smile, was something she hadn't felt in a very long time.

[Magneto]

Magda didn't reply to any of his musings, nor to his confession to feeling awkward. He took another drink of his wine and looked at her. It aggravated him slightly how she always kept her eyes downcast, he understood why, but it reminded him far too much of the submissive creatures they both had become under the Nazi's boots. Creatures they had both struggled long and hard to leave behind them, like the rest of the horrors of Auschwitz. He sat down on the other end of the sofa and took another drink of his wine.

Erik knew he should be sleeping. The hearing was later that day and he did not know when Charles would be contacting him to discuss the strategies they would take against the bill and this Hampshire. He looked over at Magda, saw the half smile creep across her features. She was exactly as he remembered her, save for the scars. Just as beautiful, but so she was so distant. It was understandable, after all, it had been decades, and from the scars that marred her body, rough decades, and she had fled him in fear. That had hurt more than anything else. He remembered, remembered how she had only trusted him, how hard he had worked to gain her trust and love. All that had been shattered by a bigoted mob. They had cost him his daughter, and his rage had frightened her away. He shook his head and let out a long heavy breath and took a longer drink of his wine.

"I buried her near that tree, the one she enjoyed to frighten the life from us by climbing too high in," Erik said, completely out of blue. "I stayed by her grave for days, wishing for death. I had nothing to live for. Then I tried to find you. I searched for years and found nothing. The Rom would tell me nothing, save that I had gotten what I deserved." He took another drink. "So, I decided to start my life over. I went to Israel and worked as a volunteer in a hospital that treated holocaust victims. That's where I met Charles Xavier. At first, I was sucked in by his naive visions of humans and mutants living in harmony. But I saw the same bigotry shown to mutants that was shown to the Jews and Gypsies by the Nazis. I knew another holocaust was coming. Charles thought I was being paranoid. But then, he never spent any time in Auschwitz."

Magnus paused long enough to take another drink of his wine. He understood partially why he was telling her all this. If he wanted to regain her trust, he had to show trust in her. And he found he dearly wanted to regain her trust. "Regardless we drifted apart, he went to go build his School for the Gifted and create his X-Men to police the world. I moved around awhile again, encountered Pietro and Wanda, and was told you had disappeared soon after their births and were presumed dead. Had a few run ins with Charles and his X-Men. I was deaged, I'm told, then returned to maturity, my genetics altered. I cannot say I remember much of that well." He took another sip of his wine, knowing how bizarre that had to sound.

"Then I turned myself in for my crimes against humanity and was to stand trial. Until someone tried to kill me and instead destroyed the courthouse. I disappeared for awhile after that, I was injured in the battle, it took time to recover. Of late, I and a reluctant business partner freed some mutants who were being tortured in a 'containment facility'. That is where I found Exodus. I had left Genosha again, which is my usual base of operations, and investigated this bill, having only returned to my home to gather my Brotherhood of Mutants to deal with the issue. The rest, you know, save for my brief conversation with Charles earlier."

Erik drained the glass of wine, wondering idly if telling her his life story since she'd left him did any good, or merely put her to sleep from boredom. She looked exhausted, yet oddly comfortable. "You look tired," he observed quietly. "And I have likely just bored you nearly unto sleep anyway."

He set his wineglass on the end table and looked over at Magda again. "I hate that you will not look me in the eyes. I understand why, now, but...you do not have to hide anything from me. Whatever you might have done in your life to survive, I am hardly in any place to judge." He could only ask that she trust him. She either would or would not. Somewhere deep inside, he knew he'd never let go of his love for her, and now, that love would taint any judgement he could make of her. Even though she seemed frightened of him and they were as awkward as they had been when they had just fled the death camp, Erik still wondered if she had any feelings left for him. And he knew looking into her eyes, truly windows to her soul, would tell him that. "Magda, look at me, please."

[magdaleina]

As Erik recounted the years that went by after she'd left, she found herself lingering on the first words. The tree Anya used to climb in. She remembered startling Erik from his work, simply because she'd quite literally shrieked when she saw her five year old daughter near the peak of the winter-barren tree, legs wrapped around a branch and hanging upside down like a little blonde bat. Poor Erik. Between his attempts to calm his wife, all the while barking at Anya to stay where she was so he could come up and fetch her. She didn't, of course, and he nearly fell out of the tree, himself, when she finally climbed down to meet him.

He scolded her, though Magda knew he had a little more faith in her agility then she did, because his reprimand centered more around her making her poor mother cry than nearly breaking her neck. Contrite, the little one apologised, and did not leave Magda's side the rest of the night. She remembered that when she tucked her into bed, Anya caught her hand before she departed, and said to her, "I'm not afraid to fall, Mama."

She could not recall what her initial reaction was. But now, she could only think sourly that the girl had certainly been her father's daughter. Magda never had the courage to climb trees, or even pretend to fly the way her firstborn used to.

She listened to the rest of his story with interest, though some parts she knew, just from glances at the news and such. It was not until he spoke to her directly that she had an opportunity to comment, however.

"You look tired," he observed quietly. "And I have likely just bored you nearly unto sleep anyway."

Magda shook her head. True, she was tired, but hardly bored. She'd almost forgotten what that could be like.

"I hate that you will not look me in the eyes. I understand why, now, but...you do not have to hide anything from me. Whatever you might have done in your life to survive, I am hardly in any place to judge."

There was a venturing glance and little else, her eyes moving as though they themselves had heard they were mentioned. It was more a force of habit than anything; she was used to being addressed by people that did not like to be stared at, or by people who considered themselves of high stature. It was a sign of submission more than anything.

"Magda, look at me, please."

She winced, biting down on her bottom lip in apprehension as she raised her head, arms crossing over her chest self-consciously. It was strange looking at him, acknowledging she was in the same room with him, even. But she wasn't so afraid. Not really. "I am sorry my way unsettles you," she said, wanting to add that if he'd just let her get away in the first place, he would not have this to worry about at all.

[Magneto]

Erik watched tensely as Magda lifted her head and finally looked at him. Well, in his direction, not the eye contact he was hoping for. "I am sorry my way unsettles you," she replied, obviously irritated.

He let out a soft snort at that. "Magda, you have unsettled me from the moment we met," he pointed out. "I truly doubt that will ever change." He rose and picked up his glass, knowing he really should just order her to bed and get some well needed sleep. The problem was, he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. She would haunt him even in slumber, guilty dreams of what she must have suffered without him to protect her.

Magnus walked to the table and retrieved the wine, pouring another glass. "And 'your way' is not upsetting me," he continued. "You are acting like I am one of the Nazi guards who would swoop down upon you and beat you for merely daring to raise your eyes." He took a long drink and turned back to face her. "You should know me better than that, Magda. I can understand you being afraid of me then, you'd just watched your only child burn to death, your husband become a murderous monster before your eyes." He closed his own steely eyes as guilt and pain at that memory shot through him. "But if I truly wished you ill, do you believe you would have left that garage alive?"

It was a harsh reality, but in truth, if Magneto wanted Magda dead, she would be right now. Worse still, the thought of anyone, especially himself, causing her a moment of pain tore at his heart. Didn't she realize he still loved her? Or was that why she wouldn't meet his gaze? Because she knew it and did not want to believe it. Could she want to believe that his vows meant nothing to him? He said to death and he'd meant it. He took another long drink and looked at her, again. Even with the scars and horrible thing she'd done to her hair, she was still as beautiful as he remembered her to be. He wanted to touch her, stroke her hair, take her into his arms, if anything, to truly convince himself she was really there. Sitting in his room. Alive.

Setting down the glass, on the table, Erik crossed to the sofa and crouched in front of her. He looked into her face, trying to catch her gaze, not as much to gauge her feelings, but to allow her to see his. Perhaps if she could see into his soul, she would realize he that he still loved her as much as the day she'd fled from him. He reached out for one of her hands and touched the tips of her fingers to his cheek. Yes, she was real, she was alive and she was there, sitting right before him. He refuse to pull his steely gaze from her face. "Please, look at me," he pleaded quietly.

[magdaleina]

Magda knew she was being unreasonable. She felt as though she were standing outside of herself and unable to control anything she did. Her eyes would not level with his, mostly by compulsion; her throat would not open up again, her chest would not untighten. It was a wonder she could order herself to breathe.

It just couldn't be happening. That was why. She was dreaming. This wasn't the way it was going to happen.

A hand touched hers, and she felt her palm and fingers press against a warm cheek, and she bit her lip. It looked probably more painful than it should have because of the scar. Why did she have to be afraid? Everything here was so warm and quiet. And he was speaking so softly. Just like he used to.

And he was right. She had a right to fear him back then. She had a right to fear him in the garage before he saw her face.

But right now? No, not really. Even with his past deeds, it was not as though she hadn't done nefarious deeds since then as well.

"Please, look at me."

Somehow, the quiet plea drew her eyes near again, and she stopped on his, looking almost surprised that she'd done so, and afraid to undo it, now. Blue. Gods, were his eyes always so blue? Pure. Endearing. She'd always seen so much of him in Anya's eyes.

A brief, meek smile found her face. It was almost bashful, as though she'd heard someone unseen ask her "there, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

[Magneto]

Erik was relieved when she finally met his gaze. Her blue met his, and he could see the trepidation in them. Then she gave him a small, weak smile. He was finally breaking through the walls a bit, finally getting her to understand she had nothing to fear from him, in any way.

Then voices from the hallway distracted him. He couldn't make them out until one of them started shouting. "...ya had tha right ta go spying on me last night and run ta Tom like a little gossip monger? What I do on my own time is none of yuir business. Stay out of my head from now on, got it?”

That was Tom's cousin, Miss Cassidy. Shouting about about people staying out of her head in the middle of the hallway in a highly populated hotel. Magneto let out a long breath. He was beginning to regret heavily recruiting her. She was naive enough to be easily swayed to his cause, but too naive to make an effective follower. He pressed Magda's hand to his lips gently. "Excuse me, I have buiness to deal with," he said softly, rising to his feet.

Unsealing the door, he let Magda decide if she wished to follow. She of all people had no illusions of what he was capable of and he was not about to try misleading her into believing he was someone he was not. He was not the man she'd left all those years ago. He was Magneto and he expected more sense from his followers than this.

[[ Exit Magneto to Hotel Hallways ]]