Light A Way

07

It could be said that really the last thing Charles expected when he walked into the spacious recreational room was silence. He stood looking around, there was nothing. No sounds of speaking, no laughing, nothing. Walking through he did tentatively peek into the room which Raven had taken as her own, only to see the bed made and the room to be in darkness. She was not here. Which meant that if she wasn't here, nor was Elsie.

He couldn't keep the groan in which escaped him. Slapping a hand to his forehead he turned and walked briskly out of the white bright room. The last thing he honestly wanted after a meeting was to hunt out two escaping mutants. He was pretty sure however that they weren't escaping from the base. Just from the room.

Not that he wholly blamed them, Raven more so than Elsie. His sister had to spend numerous hours on her own at times within that space. He'd visit when he could, and a few times he had spied Hank in there too. The two of them seemed to civilly talk, then stop when they caught sight of him. It was like catching a child with its hand in the cookie jar. Endearing yet a little annoying. He was all for socialising, by all means they shouldn't let his presence deter them.

"Charles?" Stopping in his brisk walk when he heard a curious female voice. He turned slowly and tried to smile reassuringly and casually at Moira MacTaggert. Out of all times to cross paths with the brunette, Charles really wished it was not now.

"Hello," he said as nonchalantly as humanly possible. It didn't seem to work. Her brown eyes darkened as she looked him up and down.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, just going for a walk is all." Charles shrugged and placed his hands in his trouser pockets. Moira still didn't look bought. With another smile, and a slightly awkward silence, Charles nodded backwards to the stairs. "See you later," and with that he turned and walked rather quickly away. He was making his way to the roof. He had sworn to never impose on Raven's mind, so as such the next person to lock onto was Elsie, and it just so happened that they appeared to be on the roof. As he ran up the stairs and pushed open the door, which was already half open, he peered curiously out. Leaning against the door frame he just stood and watched the two females. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had seen his sister look so pleased, and happy with having someone to talk to. Elsie for the most part he could openly say, he had not seen her smile so much since meeting her. "So this is where you two have disappeared to, hm?" The two of them turned and looked to him. "Not that I blame you. It can be quite stuffy down there."

"And boring." Raven sought to state.

"And white." Elsie said while Raven gave an agreeing nod.

"Not to mention boring." Raven repeated with a smile.

"And not forgetting clinical." Elsie said while rewording her earlier words to get her real meaning across.

"I get the feeling you two dislike it." Charles rolled his eyes and walked out onto the roof. It was a slightly cool night which caused him to shudder. He was inwardly cursing himself for not hunting out his coat before trying to find the two of them. Standing in a shirt and trousers did not exactly deter the cold night air from hitting against his skin at all.

Elsie wasted no time in nodding, perhaps a little too enthusiastic to agree. "When you said this place was interesting, you said nothing about it resembling an institution."

"Well it is an institution to a point." Charles said while pushing some brown locks out of his eyes when they decided to flop and obscure his vision.

"Not a psychiatric institution. Or a hospital."

"I have to say there's something quite airport departure lounge about it." Raven mused while rubbing her chin in thought.