Prompt Post: ROUND ONE
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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 closer they came to the mine shaft, the more ill-defined shapes Charles could sense in its depths. Thoughts, scattered and fragmented. The formations of hysteria from men who had no idea what was happening. He fished around for a while, but couldn’t find anything solid to grasp.
Instead, Charles turned to the mine rescue communication system. Sound-powered, he noted, and while the radio would hardly be sufficient with the layers between them, it was obviously doing the trick as well as it could. “Hank, if I could borrow you a moment,” he murmured.
Hank pushed his glasses up nervously and crouched down to the coils. He examined them, then the radio box, and picked up the transmitter. “It’s a little crude,” he said, almost in apology, as if he’d been the one to design it. Charles smiled at him.
“But it will suffice. Alex, Sean-if you could, let’s keep an eye on the skies.”
“You don’t think they’d come here,” Sean said, nervous, after a long moment. He didn’t bother to specify who they were and he didn’t have to.
Charles took the transmitter from Hank and shook his head. “I only wish I was that type of psychic, Sean.”
(Oh, how many times he’d wished that. If Charles could have known-if he had seen in Erik the things that would bleed between them-what would he have done? Perhaps it was better he didn’t have the gift of foresight, because then Charles would have no excuse for not changing a thing.)
x.
“Gregory,” spoke Charles into the transmitter. He waited, hearing only spits of static. Then, “Gregory, my name is Charles Xavier. I’m here to help you get out.”
Silence. Then, amongst the uneven bursts of noise, a desperate and torn breathing. “Come near an’ I’ll blow this place sky high, I swear to God.”
“Oh, I wish you wouldn’t. I don’t think you’re that kind of man, really, though I’d believe you were frightened enough to try. You don’t have to be frightened anymore, my friend. Believe it or not, I’m here to get you out of this mess.”
There was nothing. Charles exchanged a glance with Hank.
He tried again.
“What happened, Gregory? Did you already know of your unique talents? Or did you just now come upon them, but it was too late to hide them? Are you afraid of the men you’ve kept trapped down there telling the world about you?” Charles projected as much warmth and gentle care as he could through the transmitter alone. “Was there an accident? It wasn’t your fault-”
An angry, wild cry-the radio screeched in his hand. “Who are you how do you KNOW you can’t know-”
“I know better than you think,” Charles interrupted, firm, in control, kindly. “My power manifested when I was little more than a babe, and I’m afraid I nearly damaged a maid that was working for my family. She was quite lovely, too, it was a shame to scare her away. It’s never easy the first time. Gregory. Gregory,” he implored, “you aren’t alone. There are others like you and we want to get you out of that hole and to somewhere safe.”
But there was no answer, not for a while.
xi.
Charles waited.
We have all the time in the world, he told himself, though he knew it wasn’t exactly true. Every so often, he spoke again to Gregory, telling him about Charles Xavier, about telepathy, about the school, about mutation and the beauty of evolution. Then he waited again.
It was a very long time before the radio crackled again.
“I’ve ruined everything,” whispered Gregory.
Charles felt his heart skip in empathy. “Not at all,” he replied. “Let me come down into the shaft. I’ll show you what I can do. I’ll fix everything.”
“… You can do that?”
“I can.”
Above them, the clouds roiled and started to blacken.
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And the plot! An actual, genuine, PLOT, such a rarity. I'm so looking forward to the next installment. <3
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I'm so glad that you're enjoying it so far, though it's slow-paced at first. I was so worried about my Charles and his characterization, so this was so lovely to hear. Thank you, thank you so much. ♥
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I'm so glad you're tackling Charles here and so beautifully, too. Charles perhaps is more difficult to write, I think - Erik and his rage are sharp-edged and blazing, and maybe even flashy, whereas Charles is the opposite and painfully so. It's a slow-burn for him, and I think you captured that perfectly and so heartbreakingly.
You say slow-paced and I say perfect. <3 In fact, I love that you're not afaid to take your time. I'm speculating where the story is going to go based on the prompt (CARRYING! OMG!), and honestly, I can't wait. <3
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If you update by this weekend, I'll offer you my second-hand bicycle and a slightly disgruntled cat.
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Thank you so much for the comment! I do plan to update both today and tomorrow again, hopefully with much more writing in bulk. Still recovering from getting my wisdom teeth out, so this was slow going. ^^;; AAHHH KITTY CAT. YOU ARE AWESOME.
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Totally looking forward to the updates! And ouch about the wisdom teeth!
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Writer!anon, you are tugging at my heartstrings in all the right places.
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I'm so glad you're liking it, OP. /clings ♥ ♥ ♥
Thank you so much!! I hope you don't mind how... involved it's getting, LOL. XD;; I just hope you keep liking it. I'm getting to the carrying, I promise! God, I am so in love with the carrying. /fail
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I'm blown away by how beautiful this is. So, so goo.<3
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♥ So looking forward for more.
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