wedonot | SIXTY THREE ✖ SPAM & VIDEO

[Spam for Erik]

[Being awake for the change is unsettling, and even though the deck trembling is mild at worst, Charles still has to reach out to grab one of the bed posts to steady himself. No matter how many times he's lost his telepathy, losing it again is always desperately unsettling at first, and he has to take a moment to breathe past the sudden nausea and almost panic at the feeling of being telepathically deaf.

It isn't until he lets a wave of anger and frustration cut through the forced calm (because he's so tired of this) and something (several somethings) shudder in response that he realizes he's got something else in exchange, and that there are several metal somethings floating around his head - a stapler, some pens, an alarm clock.

Oh. Oh.

He's out the door and into the hallway in seconds, trying to calm down so that he isn't trailed by anything from his room or rattling the doors on the Barge, but it's frustrating that he can't just reach out and immediately know where his friend is, and he can't just let go of that right now, as much as he might want to.

It turns out not to be that much of an issue, as he nearly crashes into the other mutant coming out of his own room. It doesn't take a telepath to realize there's something wrong, and Charles just tries not to think of all the metal that's currently singing for his attention.

This is a lot harder than it looks.]

Erik?

[Public]

[Charles looks a little frazzled - his hair's a little messier than usual, and he looks drained - but smiles, clearly at least a little enthusiastic.]

Well, this has certainly been an eye opening experience thus far. [He raises a hand, and a couple metal things carefully lift off the desk and start rotating in the air at about eye level with him. So you can probably guess whose powers he ended up with.

Eventually, the novelty's going to wear off, but for the time being, being able to experiment with something new is pretty cool.]

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone else who's found their powers swapped with anyone else's. [Zane, Alex, Jean, etc. :|] And if anyone needs help, I have had some experience with helping people learn to control their abilities, and I'd be happy to try to lend a hand with this.

[Private to Marsh]

[And this point, the metal objects have all clunked back down on the desk because THANKS, ZANE, but Charles still looks pretty calm and unflustered by the day's events thus far.]

I hope I'm not being a bother, but I'm Charles Xavier - Zane's warden. I know we haven't met, but Zane's told me you might be able to tell who's switched abilities with him, and I was wondering if you'd mind giving us a hand.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's dizzying, to have so much jumbled noise in his head - and worse, to feel unbalanced without the sensation of magnetism all around him. He shakes his head hard - not for the first time - and isn't remotely surprised when it doesn't help at all. The hand on his ear slides to his forehead, but he does what Charles asks, finds some measure of focus and keeps his eyes on Charles.]

Is it like this all the time?

Yes. [There's no use lying about it, and he frowns, trying to figure out how to explain this to someone who's never experienced telepathy before, without his telepathy to help explain it.] The shields help.

I need you to try and focus on just my mind, and I can project what I do to keep it from being overwhelming. Can you hear me? [He manages a sort of apologetic smile.] I've never been on this side of the connection before.

[Charles your life must suck. He just really wants his own powers back. Erik grimaces slightly at that, and with an almost apologetic look, closes his eyes. There's too much to sort through without sight thrown in on top. After a moment, he nods.]

I hear you. [His mouth doesn't move.]

Good. [It's a little too loud, but he dutifully ignores it and carefully clears his mind to focus on shields, opening his mind to his friend and trying to explain how he makes it work.

It's strange, he feels vulnerable, and he doesn't love it, but he trusts Erik more than anything, and so he offers up images and explanations that don't really translate well to words, which is part of why just explaining it out loud wouldn't really work. Charles' telepathic shields are almost surprisingly literal - he still sort of thinks of them as shields and suits of armor, castle walls and ramparts, because he'd been young when he'd first figured out how to do this and out of habit he'd kept them. He offers that bit of explanation too, almost ruefully suggesting that Erik can construct whatever works for him, to keep the voices out.]

[It makes him smile, just a little, and he listens, observes, really, and very carefully tries to construct his own. Instead of shields and armor, he thinks more simply: a steel ball, sleep and impenetrable, that he can close around himself, his thoughts, that he can use to shut the world out.The noise in his head starts to fade, then dies down, and he actually lets out a sigh of relief.]

[It's strange, to realize he can't just pull back on the connection when he wants to, not that he's necessarily in any particular hurry. Stranger still that he can really only see and sense what Erik is projecting to him, and while his friend's mind is still familiar, it's just strange not to be able to have the potential he used to.

He opens his eyes, blinking a little with the slight disorientation that came along with it and tries to talk.] Better?

[He ends up closing out Charles completely for a while, which is strange after all this time of constant contact. Eyes still closed, he frowns for a long moment before figures out how to filter him back in. Only then does he open his eyes, rubbing them against the sudden brightness.]

Incredibly.

[It's still odd, but the connection's been so much of a comfort for him over the last several months that he doesn't really care how it exists as long as it does, which is sort of embarrassing to admit to out loud. It's also just good to see that Erik's capable of that kind of fine tuned control this quickly - not that he really assumed he wouldn't be - because it'll be helpful as long as the flood goes on.]

Good. I know it's not easy, but you get the hang of it fairly quickly once you've figured out how to do it. [And he's obviously speaking from experience here.

... And it's right about now that he realizes he has a couple paper clips and a pen stuck to his shirt sleeve, and he's prying them off carefully with a sort of sheepish expression.]

I think I have something that belongs to you, too.

I'll have to take your word for it, [he says dryly but at least at a normal volume. The paperclips earn a laugh, though, and he reaches out to pluck off the pen.]

You'll have that under control in no time. Doesn't happen that often.

[Charles brushes off the paperclips, but on second thought concentrates and catches them before they hit the ground, bringing them up to hover at about eye level.]

Yes, well, I'm hoping there won't be too many more opportunities to panic because someone's experiencing what it's like to have everyone on board suddenly shouting in your head at full volume all at once for the first time. [Considering their luck, though...]

[Well that gets a grimace, and guess who the mind reader is now.]

With our luck? It'll be a wonder we don't both wind up mad.

[Yeah, yeah, impressive. Just don't be smug about it.]

We'll be fine. It's just for a few days.

[excuse u this is payback for your early days of super smugness.]

Just try to avoid the kitchen, hm? You don't want any knives magnetizing to you.

[Of course that would come back to haunt him.]

If you get a frantic call from the infirmary, I suppose you know what happened.

As if I'd need to wait for a call.

[Charles scowls at him, in his best approximation of what Erik looks like when he's mad, but there's an unmistakeable ripple of laughter being projected in his direction.]

[huff]

I do not look like that.

Not so much anymore, but you definitely did, back when we first met.

Yes, well, at least you're not quite so smug anymore either.

I have been knocked down quite a few pegs.

Who hasn't?

The Admiral?

If only we could change that.

SIXTY THREE ✖ SPAM & VIDEO

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;

spam;