If you can change a mind, you can change the world

Erik watches Charles curiously, expecting the answer. He hasn't been able to ask this himself, but he wants to know. "Answer him," he demands. "How often has this been happening?"

From:

"No, Cerebro just changes the scale. Its one of the risks of being a telepath, getting too connected to minds. I had to learn when I was younger ways to center myself and find myself. Its nothing to worry about, just how I work,"

Charles is trying to be reassuring but its one of the stranger aspects of his mutation.

From:

"So it's a sense of scale rather than something new?" Hank says taking mental notes. "Everything is warmed up. We can begin whenever you are ready."

From:

Erik's jaw clicks as he holds it tighter together, not wanting to go forward with these tests, but aware that nothing he would say was going to change the fact that Hank and Charles wanted to do this.

From:

Erik's tension is quite palpable to Charles, but he's done all he can think of to help. Later he'll try and find more, because they need Cerebro.

He looks over at Erik and smiles before nodding to Hank, "Let's see how we can make this work better."

From:

Hank has been studying Erik as they've talked and has decided Erik likes to control things, situations, conversations, machines and experiments. Granted his access to Erik for this observation has been minute but Hank is pretty sure he is right. In fact, he decides that perhaps this will go better if Erik has some measure of control over the proceedings.

"Mr. Lehnshir, I wonder if you would tell me what the fields feel like at each stage before we connect Charles. I am theorizing that we might be able to catch the...discord that is causing Charles' discomfort this way. Would you be willing to try this?" He tone is completely polite and respectful; a student to a teacher with no hint of sarcasm.

From:

Erik lets out a slow exhalation and closes his eyes as he begins to assemble the magnetic fields around him, categorizing each frequency and feel. Finally, he realizes that some of the conduits aren't connected for optimal work. "Wait," he orders Charles, indicating the board before Hank. "Before you connect him, would you mind if I change a wire or two? It's not broken, but I think I can make it clearer."

From:

He hasn't fully put the helmet on, so Charles lifts it. Its good to see Erik participating but he can't do anything until Hank turns on Cerebro.

When Erik focuses, Charles smiles, but doesn't listen, he does want to understand how Erik feels just later.

From:

"Please," Hank replies with a smile. He can't imagine what it would be like to feel the fields Cerebro creates. "Do you need any tools?"

From:

Erik gives Hank a dubious look, wiggling his fingers as he began to rearrange the wires as best as he could, rearranging it before he takes another glance through the wiring. "Go ahead. Try it now."

From:

"I'm ready if you are, Hank,"

He's getting a little more used to the weight of the helmet and takes a deep breath to find his focus.

From:

Hank nods and says, "In three...two...one," before throwing the switch at level "one". That done, he pulls out a binder with blank paper from a shelf to take notes.

From:

In a way, Erik is glad to have facilitated this for Charles, but on the other hand, he's growing weary with the notion that he has contributed to this strange and mad experience. On that, he settles back, trying not to let the bad outweigh the good, just this once.

From:

Its the lowest setting, which means Charles smiles and doesn't feel much discomfort as he adjusts to his greater perception.

From:

Hank is just watching and observing but then a thought occurs to him.

"Charles? If you can hear me, do mutant minds feel any different then human?" Perhaps they could fine tune Cerebro to different "bands" for lack of a better term.

From:

In times like these, he wishes that he could sense out feelings to know whether Charles is fine or whether he is merely holding himself as brave in order to continue with his experiments. If it is the latter, Erik hopes that they can find an end to this.

From:

Hank's question comes from far away but Erik's worry feels close and Charles says as he mentally focuses on their minds,

"Oh yes, Erik's mind is sharp and clear like a knife blade, yours is full of movement, questing and Raven's feels like water, constantly shifting."

From:

"So each mind feels different. But say I wasn't a mutant, would you be able to tell by how my mind felt? Or would you need to read my thoughts to hear if I thought about my abilities?"

From:

Erik steps forward curiously at that. He hadn't taken the time to think about that possible use of the machine. Could it be used to ferret out the worst of humanity? His interest, before veiled with mild disgust, is now piqued.

From:

"I think I could, it would require focusing on different aspects, the whole feel of the mind versus thoughts. Just some new training,"

As Erik moves forward, Charles smiles, Erik's interest is what he needs and wants.

From:

"Would you like to try an experiment? Can you feel as far as the cafeteria?" Hank asks forcing himself to remain calm so as to not start Erik up again. "If so, perhaps I could run down there and you can see if you can feel me among the other minds. We aren't that familiar so it should be a good indication of whether a mutant mind feels different for you."

From:

Erik tries to tuck away his own thoughts and his presence so that Charles can focus and not grow overwhelmed, but it's a rather difficult thing to do when all he wants to do is keep an eye on Charles and keep him from straining himself.

From:

Charles smiles at the question, "Hank before Cerebro my range covered the entire Facility, now I can feel almost all the way to the nearest town. And you don't need to go, give me a moment and I'll find Raven."

Then he doesn't close his eyes, but he focuses first on the feel of Raven's mind. Once he finds her, he starts to look at the differences between her mind and those of the humans around her. "There is a difference, its subtle but there."

From:

"Oh," Hank says with a nervous laugh. "Would your familiarity with Raven make it easier to pick her out of a crowd?"

From: