[IC] Day 67, Afternoon

[thexfactor]

[ sometimes, future megalomaniacs like to have dates. ]

Comments

[thexfactor]

I can't feel my legs.

[grandstanding]

[his gaze flicks downwards to Charles' legs - not that he can see any difference, of course he can't - before he looks back up to Charles' face. a sense of consternation blooms to life across his mind.]

You can't... not at all? There's nothing else?

[thexfactor]

I-I -- I can't feel them. I can't move them.

[grandstanding]

[Erik stares at him for a long moment. then he's up, and moving to snatch that shard out of the mirror.]

[thexfactor]

[ he's trembling now ]

[grandstanding]

[he tosses the shard onto the dresser, then grabs Charles by the shoulders, leaning down over him.]

Look, there's something wrong with it. You just need to take it back to the Echo.

[thexfactor]

[ he nods, numb ]

[grandstanding]

We'll fix it.

[thexfactor]

[ he doesn't know what else to say, so he just leans into his arms, placing his head on Erik's chest ]

[grandstanding]

[Erik goes quiet too; he moves one hand up to cup the back of Charles' head.]

[thexfactor]

Sorry. I just --

[grandstanding]

Don't apologise.

[thexfactor]

[ laughs ]

It's not like it's permanent.

[grandstanding]

Of course it isn't, because it's not the right shard.

[thexfactor]

Yes . . .

[grandstanding]

Just take it to the Echo chamber. Get one of them to fix it, or swap it.

[thexfactor]

Swap it?

[grandstanding]

I mean get rid of it and give you a real one.

[thexfactor]

Erik, if we could do that, everyone would have done it.

No . . . An explanation will do.

[grandstanding]

A solution.

[thexfactor]

I'll take either.

[grandstanding]

[it has to be a solution or nothing; but Erik drops the matter, for now. he moves to sit next to Charles again.]

[thexfactor]

Thank you for being here.

[grandstanding]

It's fine.

[thexfactor]

Perhaps. But you deserve thanks anyway.