[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]

[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.]

[mind_over_metal]

*is about halfway through*

I'm just loosening them, enabling them to be lifted. I can help you with that at first, while you're learning to control it yourself.

[julienned]

Can they go back after?

[mind_over_metal]

As things currently are, yes. I can't promise you that one hundred percent. Powers shift and change. But we can shift and change with them. If these can't go back, we can find something that will.

[julienned]

All right. Do it.

[mind_over_metal]

*removes the final restriction*

[julienned]

Ow.