[IC: Forward dated to Saturday 19 May]

[julienned]

[YEAH I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY YOU GUYS ARE IN HERE. it's a comatose teenager hooked up to a bunch of machines.

it's really boring.] 

Comments

[julienned]

[he takes a breath, and then takes the weight off Charles.]

Give that here. You're not made for that kind of weight. You've got me all wrong though. I'm not afraid. I'm not the one doing this. This isn't me! This is what someone has done to me, she's still out there and I can guarantee you that you won't believe me. I don't even know if you're real or whether I'm imagining you.

[mind_over_metal]

I could make you believe me. But...

*refuses to let him take it all back*

You don't have to carry it alone.

The ground that we're standing on right now. What is it? What's supporting you?

[julienned]

[he shrugs]

I don't know. I don't know how my powers work. They just do.

[mind_over_metal]

This isn't about your powers.

*crouches down, pressing a palm flat against the ground beneath them, eyes closing in concentration, as he reaches deeper, beyond what the ground appears to be, to what it actually is*

[julienned]

This is the lamest Care Bears episode ever.

[mind_over_metal]

That reference is beyond me, I'm afraid.

*continues to push mentally*

You're already helping me, even if you don't consciously know it. I can feel it. Come on. Come on.

[julienned]

[it's his friends! congrats, charles you have learned that the x-kids are codependent as hell.]

Like I said. Friendship and all that crap.

[mind_over_metal]

*well, that's nothing new. but it helps Charles to draw the bright spot of Julian's friends closer to this, where they are now, connecting the two*

You'd said your powers. This is something quite different.

*and if he'd been lifting from above before, now he's pushing from below, shoring up the support*

[julienned]

Stop. Before you finish there is something I need you to do.

[mind_over_metal]

What is it?

[julienned]

I need a way to lift the blocks on my powers, if I need to. And then I need a way to put them back down again.

[mind_over_metal]

Have you ever used your powers at full force before?

[julienned]

Yes. Once. I know what I'm asking.

[mind_over_metal]

Who created the blocks?

[julienned]

First time around? Me.

[mind_over_metal]

And then?

[julienned]

I don't remember. I blacked out.

[mind_over_metal]

*nods*

Reach for your powers.

[julienned]

[he does so. quite literally. look some of us need crutches.]

[mind_over_metal]

*he slides onto the pathway of his power, tracing his way deeper, searching for any barriers or bindings*

[julienned]

[he twitches.]

Damn, that feels weird.

[but yes, there's some, and there's a sizeable reservoir of power underneath. i'm sorry charles, this kid is scary powerful, even more so than he has any comprehension.]

[mind_over_metal]

*ignores his twitchiness as he takes it in*

...all right. I'm going to ask you for a promise. That you won't just wait until the time that you feel it's necessary. That if you are going to have this be an open part of you, you learn how to actually use it. What it actually is. Because this is... amazing. You don't know how amazing, you truly don't.

[julienned]

I don't know what you're talking about.

[mind_over_metal]

No, you don't. But you will. I'm trusting you with this.

*and he starts loosening the blocks, one by one*

[julienned]

[the only clue Charles gets is that Julian sucks in a breath sharply.]