Chris' magic flares and he can see it but he can't feel it. That gathering of mana, the specific turn of it that's uniquely Chris, he can't sense it at all, and it shakes him. He had promised. He should be able to do this, he would be able to do this, if he hadn't been the one to make it go wrong.
It's Chris' voice that makes him stop. Full name, accusing tone. Don't you walk away from me! He can hear his mother at her worst and it freezes him in place just as it did when he was young, anxious for her to point out where she can see that whatever it is, the fault lies with him.
At some point, he just started doing it for her and never stopped.
"You don't understand. It was my misstep that got all of us caught. I brought them in and they were perfect but I cocked it up!" He looks at Chris then, pleading. Tired. Aching with guilt not because they'd gotten caught at all but because he's responsible. "They were the right people for the job. I wasn't."
no subject
It's Chris' voice that makes him stop. Full name, accusing tone. Don't you walk away from me! He can hear his mother at her worst and it freezes him in place just as it did when he was young, anxious for her to point out where she can see that whatever it is, the fault lies with him.
At some point, he just started doing it for her and never stopped.
"You don't understand. It was my misstep that got all of us caught. I brought them in and they were perfect but I cocked it up!" He looks at Chris then, pleading. Tired. Aching with guilt not because they'd gotten caught at all but because he's responsible. "They were the right people for the job. I wasn't."