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OVERFLOW AND UNFILLED PROMPTS POST
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IS CLOSED
| ALL ROUNDS | ROUND TWO >>
OVERFLOW AND UNFILLED PROMPTS POST
Rules post.
Flat view.
Round One: Fills Post (completed Fills only)
Round One: Updates Post (WIPs only)
damalur's firstclasskink on Delicious.
Volunteers always welcome.
Note: Please use the Discussion Post if you want to talk about community alterations or get ( Read more... )
The next time he was coherent, he was still lying on the bed, but now on his back. Shaw was sitting next to him, reclining on the bed. He wasn’t wearing the helmet.
Charles’ eyes went wide. He wasn’t wearing the helmet. He stared in disbelief for a moment, shock and hope welling in his chest and nearly drowning out the dull ache in his left temple. He tried not to move, gathering his energy and then reaching out...only to find nothing. It was as if Shaw was still wearing the helmet. Frantic, he tried again, and again, but he was getting nothing from the man sitting next to him. He sucked in a breath, eyes wide and round as he stared at Shaw in horror.
“Not nice to be a mere mortal, is it?” Shaw asked, looking down at him, an indulgent smile on his face. He patted Charles’ cheek, “Now your powers are locked up nice and tight in that huge brain of yours, you’re just like everyone else.”
“What does this gain you?” spat Charles, pulling away from Shaw’s hand and scooting back on the bed until they were no longer touching at all, “I thought you wanted to use my powers, not lock them up.”
“Oh, I do,” said Shaw, “And I will. I can turn that off if I like. If you’re very good, you’ll get to read minds again. If not, then you’re trapped in your own head forever.”
Charles let a trembling hand climb up his face. The chip didn’t stand out from his face too much. With the pins in all the way, it didn’t protrude much, the thin silver material smooth beneath his fingertips. The area around it was hot to the touch and Charles imagined that it must be red and inflamed. It didn’t hurt much when he touched it, just a dull ache deep down in his skull. “I don’t understand why you’re like this,” he said to Shaw, curling in on himself, “I would never hurt someone so that I could control them.”
“That, my friend, is because you can just control them with this,” Shaw tapped the side of his head, “You managed it with Erik in just a few short weeks. It took me years to train him.”
“I would never influence Erik!”
“Seems like it. His world views certainly changed pretty quickly after he met you.”
“No,” protested Charles, “I don’t tell people what to think. I let them think their own thoughts and be their own people. I just support them unconditionally while they do. Deep down, Erik is a good person. He is capable of anything, not just of anger and hate. I understand how people think - I don’t dictate it.”
“You carry on thinking that,” said Shaw, dark smile still on his face. He had gotten up and was making his way to the door, “Sleep well, you’ll need to be rested for tomorrow.”
Charles couldn’t sleep that night, palm pressed flat against the side of his head as it ached inside and out.
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I AM SO EXCITE RIGHT NOW!! I think this idea is utterly brilliant, and I can't wait to read what else you've got planned. *glee*
Edit: Also, I just wanted to say that Shaw's manipulation is perfect here - planting the whole idea that he influences without realizing it; even if that's not true... brilliant! And so Shaw-like.
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