julienned | [IC: Forward dated to Saturday 19 May]

[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.]

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From:

mind_over_metal

*quietly*

Yes, I do.

From:

julienned

One got past me and took off both hands.

You said I'd pull you out once you started screaming? You will. No point in showing that, then, is there?

From:

mind_over_metal

Do it, Hellion.

From:

julienned

[he gives him a Look but does so. Hope you like the sensation of having both hands disintegrated, and a bunch of burns!]

From:

mind_over_metal

*bites down hard on the inside of his mouth, tasting his own blood while feeling someone else's, trying to keep from screaming -- and he does, though his legs go out from underneath him from the shock and pain and shock Ican'tfeelmylegsIcan'tfeelmylegs but he flings out his thoughts in an action part reflexive and part so very under control, mentally scanning for the thing that could enable a person to hold on, that something more*

Edited Date: 2012-05-16 04:27 am (UTC)

From:

julienned

[he snaps the memory off, very pale, as he catches him telekinetically ]

I told you, I told you, I told you...!

From:

mind_over_metal

*his mind still active, still searching, with the same sort of adrenaline that has his lungs searching for air*

I don't believe that I'd started screaming yet.

From:

julienned

I don't care! I'm not doing that! There's got to be another way!

From:

mind_over_metal

There almost always is. Whether we're willing to find it and use it is another matter.

*takes a deep breath and starts getting his legs back in working order beneath him*

From:

julienned

Then we need to think of it. I'm not doing that anymore!

From:

mind_over_metal

*not challenging him, just patiently pressing*

Then what else do you have? Besides what we're surrounded with down here? If you won't let me go through that, then you have to help me.

From:

julienned

I don't know! I'm not the telepath, that's you! I'm just — we're not doing that. Not ever.

From:

mind_over_metal

*looks at him a moment, then closes his eyes.*

I apologize for this.

*and the protective barrier that he'd been asking Julian to lower -- he pushes right through it*

From:

julienned

[oh dear. there is so much misery and pain here. this is the life of a person who has been kicked down more times than anyone can count, who drags himself to his feet only to be kicked down again. he's been abandoned by everyone repeatedly, he's been helpless, lost, tormented, tortured, and that's ignoring the physical pain too.

Frankly, this is the mindset of a severely depressed person whose pain and misery is so concentrated that it is almost suffocating. There's a few glints here and there of something better but ... yep. life sucks if you're Julian Keller.

Julian himself is trying to put up barriers between Charles and everything but ... well. he's shocked and it's Charles Xavier and ... maybe he could make things work.]

From:

mind_over_metal

*it's hard to navigate through the dense darkness that has grown over everything, like creeping vines entangling and choking the life from whatever they encounter and obstructing any path for moving forward. but if Charles is good at anything, it's at finding the good. it's somewhat akin to trying to make one's way through tar filled with broken glass, but he sets his sights on the nearest speck of brightness and dives for it*

From:

julienned

[it's such an innocuous memory. A younger Julian, his hair short and his clothing being both very expensive and very preppy is sitting at a desk doing his homework. He knocks a pen off his desk and reaches out a hand to catch it in that futile gesture people do when catching pens.

Except this time the pen stops in mid-air.

Julian's expression as he stares at the pen is incredulous, with a healthy streak of fear ("I'm a mutant?" and a knowledge of what happens to mutants and how no-one likes them) but with an overwhelming fierce joy - he has a mutant power and it is awesome.]

From:

mind_over_metal

*draws this memory out and then concentrates to highlight those feelings at the end of it: the wonder, the delight, the pride. it's not creating any illusion of reliving the memory or falsely inducing the emotions. rather, it's amplifying them to the make them audiblevisibleknowable over the deadening crush of the depression that has built up with each new betrayal and torture and loss. its existence alone, without commentary, is trying to be a reminder that yes, you once felt this way, you have the ability to feel this way, how you are now is not all there is.*

From:

julienned

Wow. I was naive.

From:

mind_over_metal

*oh, he's not done. so many things being muffled means that there's so many things to uncover. going for the next bright spot, almost systematically.*

From:

julienned

[its really a very ordinary school day, though Charles would recognise Cessily, Victor, Santo and Julian. He looks over and waves Sofia over with a grin.]

From:

mind_over_metal

*goes a little deeper into this one, following the trail to the brighter parts of those friendships, what's there when it's not all about loss*

From:

julienned

[there's nothing really that stands out as being SIGNIFICANTLY AWESOME - before everything turned to crap Santo, Cessily, Victor and Julian were good friends who did dumb things and Julian stood up for them when anyone teased them about their mutation. Julian himself was a lot more idealistic back then, though he still retains the same values with his younger self: equal treatment for mutants, freedom to live how they choose, a healthy streak that mutants are superior (look you can't have everything okay Charles Xavier), and a fierce determination to make a difference and make things better for the other mutants. And also that his telekinesis is fucking awesome.

Sofia he has Feelings for; she's one of the few people who gets Julian even if she is sometimes rather baffled about his behaviour. They challenge one another, daring the other to be better, faster, stronger, a better leader ... but when Sofia was struggling with leadership, he offered her guidance.

It's positive because it's so normal - a bunch of teenagers being dumb.]

From:

mind_over_metal

*lights this memory up strongly before moving on, reaching for somewhere bright that's further away from where he's been so far*

Edited Date: 2012-05-20 12:53 am (UTC)

From:

julienned

[do you know how fast Julian Keller can fly? He does. Because he tested it. and it was AWESOME.

FLIGHT IS GREAT OKAY.]

From:

mind_over_metal

*this memory he lights up and just straight out replays, completely untouched*

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