[Charles listens carefully with his hands fisted in the cloth of his pockets, trying and failing to grasp on to the victory he had scored not minutes earlier. It's replaced by a cold, sick feeling in his stomach, that maybe that moment didn't mean everything he thought it did, that possibly it was the biggest empty gesture he's ever been a part of. Keeping his head bowed and nodding intermittently, he tries to lock it down, tries to stop touching Erik's mind so the blooming disheartenment doesn't spread, instead using it to maybe talk some sense into him.
Quietly.] You don't understand. You have no idea what it does to you, do you? Using it for your powers is one thing, being blinded by it is another entirely. Is it the same way it didn't fail you the last time the two of you met? [ He does his best not to make the comment cutting, but feels like he fails somewhat, internally wincing.] Let's put aside for a moment that Miss Frost interfered with your assassination attempt; was it enough to stop the submarine from getting away? No. Were you prepared to drown for it? [A slight edge of bitterness that he can't fight.] Why don't you tell me.
[Charles knows full well that he's going to be ignored, that the bloodlust is too deeply ingrained for him to be able to deter it, but he can't stand for the notion that Erik is choosing his anger, his vengeance over balance, over what would make him frighteningly powerful, over hi--his patchwork family. Yes, them.] I know you don't want me involved. And I agree, if I can avoid it, I want no part in this. I'm here to stop Shaw, not kill him, and that gets in the way of things. But merit doesn't count for much when his powers cancel yours out. Will it be enough, Erik? [Throwing his words back at him, but softer, full of a kind of hurt that Charles can't examine just now.] Will it have been worth it to let your pain and suffering consume you when it can do nothing for you? What good it is if it gets you killed?
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Quietly.] You don't understand. You have no idea what it does to you, do you? Using it for your powers is one thing, being blinded by it is another entirely. Is it the same way it didn't fail you the last time the two of you met? [ He does his best not to make the comment cutting, but feels like he fails somewhat, internally wincing.] Let's put aside for a moment that Miss Frost interfered with your assassination attempt; was it enough to stop the submarine from getting away? No. Were you prepared to drown for it? [A slight edge of bitterness that he can't fight.] Why don't you tell me.
[Charles knows full well that he's going to be ignored, that the bloodlust is too deeply ingrained for him to be able to deter it, but he can't stand for the notion that Erik is choosing his anger, his vengeance over balance, over what would make him frighteningly powerful, over hi--his patchwork family. Yes, them.] I know you don't want me involved. And I agree, if I can avoid it, I want no part in this. I'm here to stop Shaw, not kill him, and that gets in the way of things. But merit doesn't count for much when his powers cancel yours out. Will it be enough, Erik? [Throwing his words back at him, but softer, full of a kind of hurt that Charles can't examine just now.] Will it have been worth it to let your pain and suffering consume you when it can do nothing for you? What good it is if it gets you killed?