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cherik-bingo · 2 years

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Cherik Bingo Information/FAQ

What is a bingo?

A bingo is a fandom event in which upon signing up, you'll be sent a bingo card with prompts to use to create fan content. These prompts can be interpreted however you’d like, but they must be connected to whatever it is you create.

What types of fan content is permitted in the Cherik Bingo?

Anything at all, so long as it is centered around Cherik! Writing, artwork, edits, videos, crafts, moodboards, music, literally whatever you’d like! Be creative!

Is there a minimum amount of works I need to create?

Nope! You aren’t required to get a bingo or fill out your whole card or even make anything at all if you don’t want to. It’s all about having fun and celebrating the wonderful ship that is Cherik.

How long do I have to submit my fills?

You can submit your fills from the time you get your card through July 31, 2023. No fills will be counted after that point.

How long will it take before I receive my card?

It could take anywhere from a few hours to a few days depending on how busy I am. If a week has passed after you’ve signed up and you still haven’t received a card, please dm me on tumblr or reach out over discord, and I will make sure to help you out.

Can I request a second card?

If you fill up your whole card, you can request another, but if the first card is not filled, no second card will be given.

Can I use multiple squares for one fill?

No, sorry. While you can create something that adheres to multiple prompts, each singular work (or singular chapter if it's a longer fic) can only count for one prompt.

Can I crosspost with other events?

Absolutely, so long as the other event allows it too.

Can I collaborate with others?

Of course! Just make sure everyone is credited properly!

Can I trade or replace my squares?

I will not be replacing squares on anyone's card after they are sent out, but there is an option to swap squares with other participants, and there will also be a set of prompts each month that can be used to replace any square on a card (but only one square can be replaced by a monthly prompt each month).

Can I submit works I’ve posted prior to this event?

The goal of this event is to add to the existing library of Cherik fanwork, so this event will only be accepting new works.

Are there rules about creating dark or NSFW content?

Create whatever you want! Just make sure everything is tagged properly, so that people looking to avoid certain content are able to!

Where do I submit my fills once I’ve made them?

Fill out the fill submission form here! This way, I can make sure you are able to receive any badges you've earned!

You can also submit to our Ao3 collection, though this is not mandatory.

What are those badges you mentioned?

There are four badges that can be earned.

- Completed a square

- Got a bingo

- Blacked out whole card

- Used a monthly prompt every month

I may give them titles at some point, but I haven't yet.

This all sounds great! How do I sign up?

Fill out the sign up form here!

Is there a place where I can chat with others involved in the Cherik Bingo?

If you’re interested, you can join the Cherik Bingo Discord server. You aren’t required to sign up for the bingo to join; it’s open to any and all Cherik fans!

I have another question that wasn’t mentioned here.

Send an ask! I’m happy to answer any and all questions!

#cherik #xmen #fandom event #faq

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awackyphdinadorkable · 4 years

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Cherik Moodboard - Casino AU

As Sebastian Shaw’s security manager at the Hellfire Casino, Erik has seen people gamble their lives away for just another roll of the dice or because they foolishly believe that no one can beat the cards they have in hand. As a result, he never tries his luck with the slot machines or by playing poker. After all, Erik knows the house always wins.

When Azazel and the others inform him that they have taken someone who supposedly cheated at the poker table, Erik is shocked to see the one gambler he ever played against - and lost to - roughened up in the basement.

“Charles?”

Erik makes arrangements for the man’s release. After all, Charles broke no rules by using his innate abilities as a telepath against human scum. Things are only different once you bet among your own kind, the mutants. At least those are the rules in the Hellfire Casino. And Erik enforces those rules with the same iron-clad fist with which he can control metal.

Erik still can’t believe it, though. He thought he’d never see Charles again in a lifetime.

“Vice versa,” the telepath assures him as Erik takes him to his apartment to allow Charles to clean himself up after Azazel and the rest went a bit too roughly on him for supposed cheating. But leave it to Charles to “forget” to tell them that he is a telepath and sport that ridiculous smile even with a split lip.

They met about five years ago, at some bar downtown. Erik only ever went there to get away from Shaw for a while, after the two winded up with an argument about how to handle the “mutant question”. And out of nowhere, Charles sat down next to him and wanted to convince Erik to buy him a drink. And that even though Erik made it very clear that he was not searching for company of whatever kind. But Charles kept at it, arguing about how this was his first time in the city, “finally free, for a couple of days” and how he wanted the “whole experience”.

Long story short, Erik didn’t wake up in his apartment the next morning, and he was not alone in bed. Because apparently, he dared to gamble, and of course, he lost to a gambler. You always lose when it comes to gamblers, one of the first rules you learn in the business, and yet, Erik forgot it when he looked into those big blue eyes, full of hope.

It was a blissful time, against all odds. Room service, playing chess, talking about everything and nothing, and enjoying a seemingly endless appetite for one another over and over again. Charles fascinated him in ways Erik couldn’t put into words even now. There was something mysterious about him, just like it is now. The perfect poker face.

The only thing Erik knows about Charles is his dream and how it came into existence. Charles told him that much the morning he woke up, sitting on the window sill, watching the lights of the casinos fade in the light of dawn. Charles started playing poker “professionally” when he was still a child. He helped his stepfather keep the family estate. Because Kurt Marko was about as good at playing poker as he was raising his son and his stepson. Young Charles had spent numerous nights in the room next to where his stepfather invited wealthy businessmen to gamble with him, forced to look into their minds and learn the game. Charles only ever planted the “inspiration” for his stepfather to raise the stakes or fold, but never told him that he was silently watching on with his telepathy.

“I wouldn’t have wanted him to know that there was a sure way to win. Or else he would have kept at it even more.”

When Kurt Marko passed away, Charles hoped he’d finally gained his freedom, but no such luck. His stepbrother had since learned of his abilities and just raised the stakes. As the oldest, he was in charge, and Charles would only inherit once he was 21. And so, Charles was forced to play along, continue the game without a chance to fold and start over new. That was when he got dragged to the casinos by his older brother, or rather, to tell him what to do, sitting behind the dumpsters while Cain pretended to be the ace at the poker table.

The night he and Erik ended up in bed together was the time Charles ran away from home. Because his brother got an “inspiration” to pursue his dream of becoming a soldier and join the military. Charles just wanted to wait until Cain was gone, so he wouldn’t have a chance to put the family estate on the line at a last round of poker, as he had threatened to do if Charles did not oblige.

“He wanted to go to the military long before he started gambling. It’s merely a push. At least that’s the more comforting thing to think… that we both will be free afterwards.”

Charles came to the city to get a bit of starter money and then pick up his education again. Genetics, Erik learned, because “mutations are groovy”, apparently. Thus, the trip to the city was a way of saying goodbye for Charles. And so, when Erik and he left the hotel room later on, they understood that it was not just a goodbye to the city but to each other as well.

But now, five years later, Charles is back at gambling - and Erik can’t understand why. He thought Charles wanted to make something out of himself, become a teacher, do some good in the world. And yet, here he is, sold on the belief that he can win against the house. Shaw’s house, no less.

“Why are you back, Charles?”

“It’s a free country, you know?”

Still that same smile, still that same attitude. Erik knows he shouldn’t be surprised, but he is shocked. He thought that given the chance, Charles would be smart enough not to try bet away his freedom again.

“I mean it,” Erik insists. It’s not like they are a couple or anything. They winded up having sex - lots of sex - over a weekend five years ago. Erik knows Charles doesn’t owe him explanation the same way he knows it’s not his place to lecture him. And yet, he can’t help himself. Because no small part of him had hoped that Charles would gain his freedom and would keep it.

But it seems that the game’s already swallowed him and Erik just didn’t see the signs.

“I mean it, too, Erik. You of all people should know what a gambler would do in the city this time of the year.”

“You want to take part in Shaw’s tournament.”

Charles just laughs at him, brighter than he should after delivering such news. “And we have a winner!”

Erik can’t understand any of this. Charles is so clever, so kind-hearted, and yet, he sounds like one of the gamblers he watches throwing their lives away as they roll the dice, day in, day out.

Even the short time with him five years ago assured Erik that Charles was an inherently good person, which is rare enough, especially in this kind of domain. While Charles has a wicked side to him, his intentions always come from a good place. At least that was the impression Erik was most sure of by the time they bid farewell. A telepath who spends a weekend with a stranger, for casual sex only, only to then hold the stranger close as he cries for the mother and father he lost, though he didn’t allow those tears for so many years? Such a man can’t be a bad person, can he?

And even if not, Charles is clever. And so he should know that there is no way he can win a tournament in the Hellfire Casino, even less so when Sebastian Shaw himself is playing. Charles won those games because he was playing against humans, people without telepathy. Which makes it not that much of a great gamble beside the danger of being discovered. But things are different from Shaw’s internal tournaments, hosted specifically for mutants and thus adapted to “make them all equal” at the table.

But Charles doesn’t seem to care much, no matter what Erik tells him.

“I thought you wanted to finish up school and become a teacher.”

Charles shrugs. “Been there, done that. You can call me Professor, by the way.”

“Then why would you be here for Shaw’s tournament? If you have your professorship, if you are a teacher?” Erik demands to know. “I thought that was your dream.”

“Dreams change.”

“When did yours change?” Erik wants to know.

Charles just smlies at him, brighter than he should have any business smiling. “Isn’t that obvious? The day I met you, of course.”

“What did that change?”

“Wrong question. Who changed my dream is the appropriate question,” Charles lectures him. “and the answer to that is just as simple: You.”

“Me?”

“Before I met you, I thought I was the only one, I told you. Don’t you remember? I thought I was the only one with such abilities. The dream I had before, of teaching, getting out gambling, it was just about my life, but after I realized that there is people like us out there… I had to raise the stakes. I want to build a school for the likes of us. To train together, grow together. But you know how it is… dreams cost money.”

Erik still tries to wrap his head around what he is hearing. “I thought you prevented Cain from gambling the estate away.”

“I did, but it turned out that Kurt initially used the money out of my inheritance to gamble with his friends. Some loophole in the contract. And he went to their places, so I didn’t know. It was never on his mind. He didn’t care. By the time I wanted to open up the treasure chest, there was a big nothing in there. I have the estate, but I have no means to make it a school. And for what I have in mind, I don’t get federal funding. So… I have to get the money somehow.”

“And so you think winning it by gamble is the honorable solution?”

“In my experience, the people running casinos are no angels. And even if they weren’t… I’d find it about just right that somoene like Sebastian Shaw would come to fund my school. After all, he is such big talk about the mutant question, right?”

“Shaw’s rules will make it impossible for you to use your telepathy. He’s never lost in his entire life,” Erik warns him.

“Well, he will lose to me. It will be a valuable lesson to him.”

“Charles.”

“And it may be one for you as well.”

Erik frowns. “What now?”

“Shaw is not invincible. Even if he likens himself to be one, he is not a god. His opinions are not absoulte. What he thinks about mutantkind doesn’t have to be absolute either. And if you asked me, there is more than just one shady thing about a man who keeps a telepath in his company but is too afraid to take off his helmet in the presence of one. I told you as much already five years ago. It seems I failed to teach you that lesson back then.”

“That man took me in. He raised me as his own son after my mom died. He made me his right-hand man. He gave me a purpose.”

“When it comes to Shaw, you have a perfect poker face, because you believe in the cards Shaw handed to you all those years ago. But once you are ready, open your eyes and think deep if those cards are not biased in any way.”

“Shaw would never…”

“Wouldn’t he? You know, you say that about a guy who runs a casino.”

“And you are a gambler,” Erik scoffs.

“And you are worth more than being some lackey to watch the security cameras for a guy whose only intentions are power and more power, with his means of acquiring it being money and more money.”

“And you just want money.”

“I want money to build a future. Shaw wants money to destroy one,” Charles tells him. “And even if all of that were untrue, you can trust me on that one thing, gambler now or not.”

“Which would be?”

“I am here not just for my dream, I am here for yours, too. So you may choose your own future instead of just following Shaw’s lead. It’s a free country, I told you. I will show you. Because I am a gambler at heart.”

Charles excuses himself shortly thereafter and is gone before Erik can come up with a great rebuttal. What’s it to him anyway? Fine, the two were involved for a short amount of time, and Charles was on his mind more than any other fling he’s ever had since, but Erik knows he can rely on Shaw. That man was him like a father. And even if he does not always agree with the methods, Erik knows Shaw is right about how mutants are superior and have to fight for it.

Much to his dismay, Charles winds up at the tournament despite his warnings, full of himself and absolutely sure that even Sebastian Shaw can’t beat him, even as they put the collar on him to supress his telepathy, even as he sits down at the poker table with the likes he wanted to get away from as he watched dawn wash over the city lights five years ago.

To his credit, Charles keeps winning the first rounds. No less did he expect. Charles spent more time in casinos than most men twice his age have in their entire lives. For better or worse, Charles has played poker for almost all of his lifes, trying to beat the odds. Erik just cannot understand why Charles chose this tournament, why he chose such a risky game. There are other tournaments, against humans, that he could have won in a landslide.

Instead, he is here, back in the city, his eyes always set on the man sitting next to Erik, watching, laughing, enjoying himself, Sebastian Shaw. The man who saved him, the man who gave him purpose, who handed him a deck of cards and told him to shuffle.

For so many years, Erik watched people gamble, gamble their lives away. And so he knows they aren’t to be trusted. People who have something worth keeping shouldn’t be that foolish to give it all away. If it’s worth keeping, you’d have no reason to put it on the line. It should be enough.

Then why does he want to trust the gambler smugly grinning at him whenever he wins another round, gets one step closer to Shaw’s table? And why do Shaw’s words suddenly sound so different in his ears, when he was so sure that they were the groundwork not just for his future but that of mutantkind?

Why does he want Charles to win? After all, Erik knows that the house always wins. The odd thing though is that Erik is suddenly no longer sure whether he wants the house to win…

#cherik #charles x erik #cherik au #moodboard #aesthetic #cherik moodboard #cherik aesthetic #charles xavier x erik lehnsherr #charles xavier #erik lehnsherr #fanfic #in smol

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