[locks, then telepathic broadcast]

[radars]

[ Locked to Erik Lensherr ]

I don't suppose I have a right to ask for this, given how I've treated you since we've both awakened.

But. Do you think we could wipe the slate clean?

[ Locked to Shepard ]

Should we speak?

[ Telepathic broadcast / significantly later ]

ooc ; If you'd like your character to feel this, assume they get slammed by it; if you would rather them not, assume that Charles' mind skipped over theirs somehow and only hit a portion of the population.

[ Early afternoon on Thursday, particularly psychically susceptible people might suddenly feel an agonizing, splitting pain down the center of their skull. Psychic overload, if any of them have experienced it before, drowning in a stream of information too much for one person to handle.

Brief impressions: the ship, no, the other ship, go back for them, four more, woke them up, the first, the first.

The contact cuts off as abruptly as it was made. ]

Comments

locked;

[lehnsherr]

Most, not all. It isn't going to stay a secret, and that won't help your cause any.

Stay out of our heads, Charles. [Not Xavier. See, a clean slate.]

locked;

[radars]

But it helped the people here, and that's more important. They shouldn't have to live in fear, and if it means spending a week nudging them out of it, then that's hardly a steep price to pay.

locked;

[lehnsherr]

From where you stand, perhaps. But you aren't the one who gets to make that decision. They are.

locked;

[radars]

If there was a deeply charismatic man standing on every street corner telling them to pick up and move on with their lives, it would have had about the same effect. Honestly, I'm not turning them into happy robots.

locked;

[lehnsherr]

And what happens next time? What happens once you realise it's not enough?

locked;

[radars]

I don't plan on brainwashing the lot of them, if that's what you're asking.

locked;

[lehnsherr]

[Pause. Pause.]

I suppose only time will tell.

locked;

[radars]

I suppose.

locked » telepathy

[lehnsherr]

I'll speak with him.

[And with that comment, he disconnects.

Only to later be stuck all but yelling at the sky when Charles' broadcast hits. At first, it's a curse at the very fact that Charles had ignored their last conversation about staying out of his mind. Hate, thanks to the rush of information. But the anger dissipates somewhat once the connection is suddenly cut and he's able to start processing what he saw.]

Charles? [As long as it's speech alone, he can deal with this kind of a connection. He has before.] If you're still listening, tell me what just happened.

telepathy

[radars]

/I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, it was an accident.../

[ From a mind unbalanced and half-panicked from an overload of information. ]

telepathy

[lehnsherr]

I wasn't asking for an apology.

[Not this time. He wants information; an explanation for what just happened. And if there's a certain amount of concern involved there too, he's not about to draw attention to it.]

telepathy

[radars]

And I didn't give it because you asked for it.

telepathy

[lehnsherr]

It's unneeded.

Why do you believe there's a second ship?

telepathy

[radars]

[ A pause. ]

I saw it.

telepathy

[lehnsherr]

Where is it?

telepathy

[radars]

The dome. I think.

telepathy

[lehnsherr]

You've been in there?

telepathy

[radars]

Of course not.

telepathy

[lehnsherr]

[The how do you know? is there, but it goes unsaid.]

Who did you read?

telepathy

[radars]

It was told to me willingly.

[ Said defensively. He also took the knowledge from someone else's mind, but there's no need to tell Erik that. ]

telepathy

[lehnsherr]

That isn't what I asked.

[Because he doubts the ethics of reading a mind without permission really matter to this Charles.]

telepathy

[radars]

What does 'willingly' mean to you, exactly?

telepathy

[lehnsherr]

Willingly or not, you gained this information from somebody else. I want to know who.

[Though the more important question is, can they be trusted?]

telepathy

[radars]

[ Charles dips, a little -- a toe in the water, little ripples across Erik's thoughts. He isn't intrusive, just testing the temperature of Erik's mind, of his emotions. Protectiveness, that's what he feels. ]

Agent Kay. The other, when we removed my collar.

telepathy

[lehnsherr]

[Agent. Why are they always involved?]

And how did he hear about it?