Apart from his room, there was one other room which Erik had found himself returning to; tucked away and out of the immediate vicinity was yet another study room, this house was full of them, but this one was slightly at the back of the building. Much like the others, there were stacked bookcases all around, from floor to ceiling the walls were covered with thick, heavy wooden bookcases and crammed in books. Which to be honest, looked like they'd need a crowbar to get out and free.

No one else ventured here, other than Charles, it was where they usually ended up going if there were things which needed to be discussed which weren't meant to be heard by the others. A slight promise of a game of chess was enough to prompt Erik to go to the room instead of shutting himself away upstairs.

Sure, shutting himself away down here wasn't much better, or any different. But at least he had some sort of socialising going on when here, even if that company was only Charles.

With a sigh, he reached the door and paused when he noted that it was slightly ajar. He gently pushed the door and peeked around to see none other than Valeryia sitting, cross legged with a book firmly in front of her face.

Erik sighed, loudly at that, she peeked over the book. Amber eyes flicked around, slightly narrowed before landing on him, he was still halfway around the door. But even still, she could see him and she still looked rather unhappy with being suddenly disturbed.

"Am I interrupting?"

"You couldn't just have walked in quietly like any other normal person?"

Erik moved around the door and casually walked to the sofa opposite to the one she was sitting on. The fire was burning rather brightly to the side, if anything it made her already bright hair seem ever brighter in its light. Her eyes watched him, suspicious shards of amber which eventually rolled and looked back to the book in her hands. She didn't seem to mind or care about company, or rather mind and care that he had momentarily disrupted her, as long as he remained silent to let her continue on reading.

"What are you reading?"

She sighed and hung her head, Erik couldn't help but recline slightly with a smile on his face, a good attempt at being innocent here. She looked sharply up at him, he gestured a hand to the book in her hands. Charles was temporarily caught up with some such business, so Erik might as well humour Valeryia for a moment or two, or rather humour himself by irritating her.

She lifted the book up slightly so he could see the front of it, he leaned forwards in his seat. Resting his forearms against his knees he read the title. "'Wuthering Heights'? What a depressing choice." He commented with a roll of his eyes as he leaned back in the cushions of the sofa. Valeryia frowned at him, "You disagree?" Erik asked, her face seemed to morph to an expression of confusion as she mused over a response.

"I've actually never read it before."

"Well, if you wanted a happy ending...you are looking in the wrong place." Erik said, though considering she had quoted Hamlet to him not too long after meeting, he sort of got the sense she wasn't a girl who gave much of a damn about happy endings. But he could be wrong. She shut the book with a distant expression, maybe he was wrong then. He sighed and rested his elbow on the arm of the sofa, leaning his chin against his hand he looked to the fire. "Don't stop reading based on my opinion." He said lowly, his eyes following the flicker of flames before flicking sidelong to look at her. She remained cross legged with the book in her lap, her hands rested on the cover of it. "Or not," he raised an eyebrow, honestly, he never knew his opinion was noted so much. If only by her. He rolled his eyes and turned back to look at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't know there were limitations to where we could go. From what I gathered from Raven, it's rather free reign, other than each other's rooms, unless we get invited." She said with a smirk and a nod, Erik just looked at her blankly from the little jibe. "You...you've claimed this room as yours, or something?"

"No, because that would be ridiculous." Erik said, that and she was likely to keep coming here anyway. He inhaled deeply and looked about the room. "Are you any good at chess?" His eyes had landed on the board, which he had yet to set up. What was the point until Charles appeared?

"I don't know how to play." Valeryia said with wide eyes. She blinked slowly and watched as he smiled and patted his knees before standing. He moved past the coffee table which was in between them and moved over to the small table where the board lived. She turned and watched him as he went, Erik seemed to debate over something before turning back to her, she paused in mid-motion of putting the book on the table and looked to him.

"Would you like to?"

"You'll teach me?"

"Is that amusing, somehow?" Erik frowned and crossed his arms. Valeryia had found humour in something he said because she let out a quiet laugh and grinned, she even pointed a finger at him as if to clarify his suggestion.

"No...no, not at all. Just...are you sure, Erik?" She played with the ends of her navy jumper and eyed him sceptically.

He looked to the ceiling before slowly looking back to her. "Sure."

"You're not radiating confidence here."

"Meaning?" Erik watched as she jumped up from her seat and walked over.

"Either you're going to be an awful teacher, or I'm going to be super awesome, and amazing and totally beat you."

"Or you're going to be really awful and I'll win."

"Or that..."

Erik smiled, "Shall we?" He gestured to the seat opposite and watched as she slipped into it. She looked slightly worried, slightly being an understatement. The expression on her face looked quite concerned. Erik couldn't help but laugh lowly, "You look terrified. Do things you don't normally do scare you?" He asked while setting the board up.

Valeryia watched with sudden intrigued eyes. "I don't scare easily."

Erik paused and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Interesting."

She just returned the simple look before looking downwards at the board. "Why're you opting to teach me this, Erik? What's the point? You're that bored you're going to do this," she said while waving a finger between them and downwards.

"Though you don't look like the type who'd need help when and where creativity appears, it is said that chess exercises both sides of the brain, and raises IQ."

"Did you just say I was creative, followed by calling me stupid?"

"No, those were your words, not mine." Erik pointed out with a frown. "You asked why I was opting to teach you, and I am giving you some answers. Problem solving, planning and foresight, memory improvement...knowing the game could prove useful." He paused, and watched as she thought over that for a moment. "And I wasn't directly saying anything about your IQ, Val. I think you're smarter than you're letting on. Just like I know you are definitely stronger than what you showed in your training session with Charles."

"Who else saw that?"

Erik nodded his head slowly, "Raven and Sean. Alex did watch for a bit and then he went elsewhere."

She sighed, "You don't want to teach me chess, Erik. You just want to have another go at me."

He frowned. "I never had a go. I merely stated to you that you're not going to improve if you keep holding yourself back. By all means, if you see me attempting to be constructive as having a go at you, then yeah, sure. But you've somehow gone from no holds barred, to restrained. When surely it should be slowly going the other way?"

"Not everyone is comfortable with what they can do, Erik! Sure, you're more than content with you and your powers, and what you can do...but not everyone shares the same outlook. Has that ever crossed your mind, at least at one point in time?"

He leaned back in the chair at that, he steepled his fingers and thoughtfully glanced at her with a hard look. "I never said that. I've just accepted what I am, and what I can do."

"And you think everyone should do the same?" Valeryia asked with a strained tone. Erik just looked at her with no real expression on his face. She sighed and looked away, turning in her chair she pointed back over to the sofa. "I'm just going to grab my book and leave..."

"Sit down, Valeryia." Erik said bluntly while watching her with a bored expression. She paused and slowly lowered herself back into her seat. "You do realise that Charles is probably more than aware to the fact that you were holding back, right?"

"The only difference is that Charles would approach this and be more than kind, and considerate. While you're all..." Valeryia waved her hands his way.

Erik tilted his head, "Yes?" He prompted, oh he wanted to know what words she was about to crop out with now.

"Serious."

Erik sighed, that wasn't too bad, he looked about and then back at her. "Because really, this is all rather serious. If we're going to fight, you can't do it half-measured, Val. Do I honestly need to tell you that Shaw, and his little group aren't going to hold back against us? Why should we be any different?" Erik finished simply, yet seriously as she just looked at him with a small frown on her face as she thought over his words. She sighed and nodded her head slowly, Erik pushed himself upright in his chair and crossed his arms on the table. "So, no more holding back?" Erik asked quietly, she flicked her eyes up to look at him before looking back down, yet she nodded her head slowly. "Good. Now," he said while straightening up and smiling at her. "Are you ready?" She shook her head at that, "You might be a fast learner, Val. Just keep thinking of that." Erik smirked and leaned his head against his hand, she just continued to frown at him; evidently wanting out of this situation, yet for some reason continued to stay.