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xp_logs2005-06-30 05:07 pm
x-icarus.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2005-06-30 05:07 pm
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Jay & Forge, Thursday afternoon
Jay finally welcomes back Forge after his trip. He still feels a little awkward from their last conversation, but Forge seems to have forgotten about it, so Jay doesn't agonize. Forge unveils his summer project, and the two talk about how different and frightening the real world is.
It wasn't that Jay had been avoiding Forge since his return. He just hasn't been around enough to say more than "hey, good to see you again." What with all the nothing he's been doing thus far this summer.
Forge would notice eventually, even if he'd been wrapped up in some new research project ever since he came back. So Jay finally decided to just bite the bullet and go down to his lab and talk. Not that he had anything in particular to talk about, and he was hardly expecting Forge to have come to any romantic revelations over the course of his trip. But they were friends, and friends can just hang out without any pretenses. He hoped.
"Yo, Forge," Jay called, knocking on the door to his lab, "Ya in there?"
The door slid open soundlessly, followed by a tidal wave of discordant guitar noise and an avalanche of staccato drumbeats. From behind a pile of chrome tubing and metal-wrapped tanks, Forge's head popped up, eyes hidden behind smoked welding glasses. "Jay!" he shouted over the music, waving a hand idly to dull the volume. "Hey man, how's it going? Come on in, I'm just finishing up some stuff on an idea I had on the road."
Jay winced and covered his ears the moment the door opened. That was music? Sounded more like someone was jumping up and down on a hundred cats. When the din lowered to a mere cacophony, Jay lowered his hands and stepped inside.
"That music get your brain workin'?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Helps drown out all the other distractions," Forge explained, pushing his glasses up on his forehead and rubbing his eyes. "Gets the blood pumping, gets me more in tune with myself, and thus more involved with whatever I'm making. Which reminds me, good thing you're here." He hopped up briskly, balancing for a moment on the edge of the work bench, then pulling himself up one-handed by his artificial arm using a pipe for leverage.
"It's... somewhere up here..." Forge grunted, reaching around atop one of the many free-standing bookshelves before finding his prize. "Aha!" Finally dropping to the floor, he held up a framed photograph. "This used to be one of Dr. McCoy's work labs. One of the projects he was working on was understanding how Mr. Worthington flew - he doesn't have your wacky metabolism to generate all that energy, you know. But he had a habit of writing down notes on anything he could get his hands on..."
Forge flipped the photograph over, reading the scribblings on the back as he showed Jay the washed-out photograph of Warren Worthington out behind the mansion, white-feathered wings in full extension. "Pretty cool, huh?" he remarked.
Jay blinked. Not only was Forge's new arm not in the sling anymore, but it seemed fully functional. Hell, it look a better than his other arm, if him being able to hold himself up one-handed was any indication.
He looked at the picture that Forge showed him, and not for the first time admired how handsome Warren was. A shame he was a.) already taken and b.) too old for Jay. "All that stuff's beyond me," he admitted, trying and failing to read McCoy's notes. "Hell, Ah don't even know how Ah do it. Ah just do, and as far as Ah care, that's all that really matters."
Forge smirked briefly. "Hell, check the big red binder on my desk sometime. My Flight class final, I took enough data on you and the other fliers to pretty much do a full aeronautical writeup on each of you - the winged fliers versus the blast fliers like your brother, there's no real common thread to how you all do it. It's just amazing." He smiled over at his latest contraption, which appeared to be an odd hybrid between a motorcycle engine and a windmill. "I've been kicking around a few ideas I got from it for testing. Nothing concrete though, this is just, well, I guess it's my equivalent of a jam session." He fished around in his pockets for a while, finally coming up with his eyeglasses. Blinking as he put them on, he cocked his head at Jay. "So, I miss anything big while I was away? Other than Mr. D finding his dad and all that?"
"You're gonna actually try ta fly with that, are ya?" Jay asked, eying the contraption suspiciously. His knowledge of engineering was limited to basic car and tractor maintenance, but that thing hardly looked safe. Hadn't Forge broken enough bones on account of him all ready?
"And naw, nuthin' big's happened. 'Least Ah don't think so. Haven't been payin' much attention lately." He shrugged. "A muse bit me, so Ah wrote a little. Nuthin' really any good," he added hastily. "Just stuff."
"You wrote?" Forge asked, immediately changing the subject from his flying machine. Of course Jay would have issues with him trying it out. His roommate had more than his share of a protective streak. "Like, new music? Cool. Although if it's anything like that new song Jubilee got stuck in my head, I'll have to pummel you. You know, that weird anonymous one that's getting radio play? Good for cotton-puff pop music, but-" He realized he was babbling again and stopped. "Hey, want to go get a burger?" Forge offered. "I've been cooped up for a bit too long, I think."
"Um, sure." He patted his pocket to check for his wallet, then nodded. All this talk about flying was making Jay hungry.
"And you know Ah don't write stuff like that. S'a good song, though, Ah gotta say. Singer sounds really familiar, too, but Ah can't quite put mah finger on it." Jay shrugged, following Forge out the lab. He'd listened to it a number of times (and even tried to play it himself once or twice), but he couldn't put down who the singer was. That was aggravating.
"Ah started writin' one that sounded a bit too Patsy Clineish for mah tastes, but then got sidetracked by somethin' with more of a rockish oomf." Still with sappy lyrics, though he didn't mention that.
Forge replaced the photograph on a shelf, then idly gestured to the lights around the lab, dimming them one by one before turning his wrist and pointing a finger to shut the computer down. "Rockish oomf is good," he declared with a nod. "I know most of your music's acoustic, but with some amps behind you? Man, you could blow the roof off any club in the city."
"Man, ya should see me and mah boys back home. We always blow the roof off," Jay proclaimed proudly. "And Ah, uh, was actually talkin' ta Alison 'bout that last week. Ah mean 'bout gettin' back on the scene. Ah miss it," he said bashfully. Forge had been right. Jay couldn't live without performing, no matter how sorry he felt for himself.
"Rock on!" Forge exclaimed cheerfully. "I mean, I'm no musician - I'll be lucky to pull a C on my Music final - but I know the itch. Gets burning in the back of your brain and just won't let go, right?" He clapped Jay on the shoulder, moving out into the hall. "Way of the world, man. Fish gotta swim, I gotta build, you gotta play." He wrinkled his nose slightly. "I think we can add 'Kyle gotta smell like wet dog' to that, but it doesn't really fit the rhythm..."
"Dude, you're so high!" Jay teased, lightly elbowing Forge in the ribs. Too much exuberance for such a little person. "Not that you're usually a quiet to-yourself kinda fella, but you're all crazy whoa today. Didja get lucky on the trip?"
"Huh?" Forge's eyes practically bugged out of his head for a moment. "No! I mean, not that I would, or not that I wouldn't, just... oh man." He smacked his palm into his forehead. "Carlie, that's Doc Bartlet's sister, she's cute. Smart, funny, all that stuff. But she's more like someone I connect with on an intellectual level about the political stuff. Then there's Catseye, who's... well, you know. She's Catseye." Forge said the words like they explained everything.
"And then try spending two and a half weeks in a car with Jubilee," he continued with a sigh. "She's surprisingly good conversation once you get past the airhead facade. And good god does she have a body that could stop traffic. And nice enough... but you know? If I were going there, I'd like to think I could do better than Manuel de la Rocha's leftovers."
The knowledge that Forge hadn't in fact hooked up with anyone was mildly comforting. Not that Jay thought he had any further chance with Forge, but the fact that Forge didn't go for the next available person just because he could or to prove his heterosexuality to either himself or others made Jay not feel bad. And that was good.
"Ah think ya could do that, too. Ah'd be kinda disappointed in ya, actually," Jay said with a grin.
"Just you wait," Forge replied with a grin. "Once I figure out the electron balance of pheromones, I'm going to build myself a device that'll mean I never have to worry about the awkwardness of attracting girls again. A literal Chick Magnet! It's genius!" He made it about another three steps before having to bend over in laughter and lean against the wall. "Okay, I was ALMOST serious there. But nah. Really, if it happens it happens. I figure that if my nonexistent romantic life is the worst of my problems, I really can't complain about much, right?"
Jay laughed too, more at the absurd image of women literally being pulled to Forge and sticking to him like a sock on a saticky wool sweater than anything. "Ya don't need none of that stuff," Jay said chuckling and lightly nudging Forge in the ribs with his elbow. "And iffn ya don't got no more problems than that, then Ah'd say you're pretty well off. What's your secret?"
"No secret," Forge explained matter-of-factly. "It's you guys. Seriously, I've gotten accustomed to it here. We stopped in the middle of nowhere on the way back, and it actually took me a while to realize why people were staring at the kid with the metal arm and the girl with the purple hair and the tail. Out there," Forge nodded to a window as they walked past, "I had a life where I made myself into a victim because I was different. Here? I have friends, I have a life where I can do my thing, be myself, and never be a victim again. Can't even begin to say how thankful I am for this second chance."
"Aw, shucks, man, you're makin' me blush," Jay said, thickening his accent and pulling out the farmboyish charm, which only lasted until he started laughing again. "Ah hope y'all didn't find yourselves in no trouble out there. As long as people only looked at'cha funny, then that's okay."
"In California? Dude, we were the normal looking ones. Although you should've seen when the guy in the diner tried to grab Jubilee's ass," Forge recalled. "She thought he was going for her wallet. I've never seen someone her size put a 200+ pound surfer dude on his back that fast with one hand. We ended up with a free dinner out of the deal."
Forge stopped outside the garage, thinking for a moment. "Guess some time away from everything made me appreciate stuff more, though. Not just what I've got here, but... everything, you know? Taking time to step back and see that there's more to the world than just my little slice of it, or something."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Jay asked, head cocked. "Feel disillusioned now, or more adamant than ever? Seein' stuff and experiencin' stuff can totally change a fella's view on everythin'."
"Little of both," Forge said wistfully. "I mean, we went out there because Jubilee wanted to see this mall before it was torn down. Turns out it was where she lived for a while before she came here. Parents were killed, she got lost in the foster care system, and her powers showing up made everything a mess. She got lucky to run into Ms. Monroe and Dr. Grey." He sighed for a moment, then looked up at Jay. "How many other kids are out there like that? Alone, afraid, thinking no one understands what they're going through? And it hits me that just a year ago, that was me."
"Me too, at one point. S'called adolescence," Jay informed Forge, trying to smile at that feeble joke but faltering. "Ah mean, you're right, we're the lucky ones. We get the most powerful mutant on the whole freakin' planet as our teacher, we get everythin' handed to us on a silver platter. They don't. But on the other hand, we're the ones in the most danger, 'cuz we're bigger targets, y'know?"
Forge gave Jay a very pointed look, remaining silent for a moment longer. "That's not the only reason, and you know it as well as anyone," he said firmly. "What it's like to feel lost and helpless. And the school, the Professor? Can only do so much. That's why I'm not letting up on the HeliX thing, on making a difference."
After a brief tensing of his jaw, Forge pulled himself up straight and smiled. "So anyway, I'm thinking burgers and you run this new music of yours by me."
It wasn't that Jay had been avoiding Forge since his return. He just hasn't been around enough to say more than "hey, good to see you again." What with all the nothing he's been doing thus far this summer.
Forge would notice eventually, even if he'd been wrapped up in some new research project ever since he came back. So Jay finally decided to just bite the bullet and go down to his lab and talk. Not that he had anything in particular to talk about, and he was hardly expecting Forge to have come to any romantic revelations over the course of his trip. But they were friends, and friends can just hang out without any pretenses. He hoped.
"Yo, Forge," Jay called, knocking on the door to his lab, "Ya in there?"
The door slid open soundlessly, followed by a tidal wave of discordant guitar noise and an avalanche of staccato drumbeats. From behind a pile of chrome tubing and metal-wrapped tanks, Forge's head popped up, eyes hidden behind smoked welding glasses. "Jay!" he shouted over the music, waving a hand idly to dull the volume. "Hey man, how's it going? Come on in, I'm just finishing up some stuff on an idea I had on the road."
Jay winced and covered his ears the moment the door opened. That was music? Sounded more like someone was jumping up and down on a hundred cats. When the din lowered to a mere cacophony, Jay lowered his hands and stepped inside.
"That music get your brain workin'?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Helps drown out all the other distractions," Forge explained, pushing his glasses up on his forehead and rubbing his eyes. "Gets the blood pumping, gets me more in tune with myself, and thus more involved with whatever I'm making. Which reminds me, good thing you're here." He hopped up briskly, balancing for a moment on the edge of the work bench, then pulling himself up one-handed by his artificial arm using a pipe for leverage.
"It's... somewhere up here..." Forge grunted, reaching around atop one of the many free-standing bookshelves before finding his prize. "Aha!" Finally dropping to the floor, he held up a framed photograph. "This used to be one of Dr. McCoy's work labs. One of the projects he was working on was understanding how Mr. Worthington flew - he doesn't have your wacky metabolism to generate all that energy, you know. But he had a habit of writing down notes on anything he could get his hands on..."
Forge flipped the photograph over, reading the scribblings on the back as he showed Jay the washed-out photograph of Warren Worthington out behind the mansion, white-feathered wings in full extension. "Pretty cool, huh?" he remarked.
Jay blinked. Not only was Forge's new arm not in the sling anymore, but it seemed fully functional. Hell, it look a better than his other arm, if him being able to hold himself up one-handed was any indication.
He looked at the picture that Forge showed him, and not for the first time admired how handsome Warren was. A shame he was a.) already taken and b.) too old for Jay. "All that stuff's beyond me," he admitted, trying and failing to read McCoy's notes. "Hell, Ah don't even know how Ah do it. Ah just do, and as far as Ah care, that's all that really matters."
Forge smirked briefly. "Hell, check the big red binder on my desk sometime. My Flight class final, I took enough data on you and the other fliers to pretty much do a full aeronautical writeup on each of you - the winged fliers versus the blast fliers like your brother, there's no real common thread to how you all do it. It's just amazing." He smiled over at his latest contraption, which appeared to be an odd hybrid between a motorcycle engine and a windmill. "I've been kicking around a few ideas I got from it for testing. Nothing concrete though, this is just, well, I guess it's my equivalent of a jam session." He fished around in his pockets for a while, finally coming up with his eyeglasses. Blinking as he put them on, he cocked his head at Jay. "So, I miss anything big while I was away? Other than Mr. D finding his dad and all that?"
"You're gonna actually try ta fly with that, are ya?" Jay asked, eying the contraption suspiciously. His knowledge of engineering was limited to basic car and tractor maintenance, but that thing hardly looked safe. Hadn't Forge broken enough bones on account of him all ready?
"And naw, nuthin' big's happened. 'Least Ah don't think so. Haven't been payin' much attention lately." He shrugged. "A muse bit me, so Ah wrote a little. Nuthin' really any good," he added hastily. "Just stuff."
"You wrote?" Forge asked, immediately changing the subject from his flying machine. Of course Jay would have issues with him trying it out. His roommate had more than his share of a protective streak. "Like, new music? Cool. Although if it's anything like that new song Jubilee got stuck in my head, I'll have to pummel you. You know, that weird anonymous one that's getting radio play? Good for cotton-puff pop music, but-" He realized he was babbling again and stopped. "Hey, want to go get a burger?" Forge offered. "I've been cooped up for a bit too long, I think."
"Um, sure." He patted his pocket to check for his wallet, then nodded. All this talk about flying was making Jay hungry.
"And you know Ah don't write stuff like that. S'a good song, though, Ah gotta say. Singer sounds really familiar, too, but Ah can't quite put mah finger on it." Jay shrugged, following Forge out the lab. He'd listened to it a number of times (and even tried to play it himself once or twice), but he couldn't put down who the singer was. That was aggravating.
"Ah started writin' one that sounded a bit too Patsy Clineish for mah tastes, but then got sidetracked by somethin' with more of a rockish oomf." Still with sappy lyrics, though he didn't mention that.
Forge replaced the photograph on a shelf, then idly gestured to the lights around the lab, dimming them one by one before turning his wrist and pointing a finger to shut the computer down. "Rockish oomf is good," he declared with a nod. "I know most of your music's acoustic, but with some amps behind you? Man, you could blow the roof off any club in the city."
"Man, ya should see me and mah boys back home. We always blow the roof off," Jay proclaimed proudly. "And Ah, uh, was actually talkin' ta Alison 'bout that last week. Ah mean 'bout gettin' back on the scene. Ah miss it," he said bashfully. Forge had been right. Jay couldn't live without performing, no matter how sorry he felt for himself.
"Rock on!" Forge exclaimed cheerfully. "I mean, I'm no musician - I'll be lucky to pull a C on my Music final - but I know the itch. Gets burning in the back of your brain and just won't let go, right?" He clapped Jay on the shoulder, moving out into the hall. "Way of the world, man. Fish gotta swim, I gotta build, you gotta play." He wrinkled his nose slightly. "I think we can add 'Kyle gotta smell like wet dog' to that, but it doesn't really fit the rhythm..."
"Dude, you're so high!" Jay teased, lightly elbowing Forge in the ribs. Too much exuberance for such a little person. "Not that you're usually a quiet to-yourself kinda fella, but you're all crazy whoa today. Didja get lucky on the trip?"
"Huh?" Forge's eyes practically bugged out of his head for a moment. "No! I mean, not that I would, or not that I wouldn't, just... oh man." He smacked his palm into his forehead. "Carlie, that's Doc Bartlet's sister, she's cute. Smart, funny, all that stuff. But she's more like someone I connect with on an intellectual level about the political stuff. Then there's Catseye, who's... well, you know. She's Catseye." Forge said the words like they explained everything.
"And then try spending two and a half weeks in a car with Jubilee," he continued with a sigh. "She's surprisingly good conversation once you get past the airhead facade. And good god does she have a body that could stop traffic. And nice enough... but you know? If I were going there, I'd like to think I could do better than Manuel de la Rocha's leftovers."
The knowledge that Forge hadn't in fact hooked up with anyone was mildly comforting. Not that Jay thought he had any further chance with Forge, but the fact that Forge didn't go for the next available person just because he could or to prove his heterosexuality to either himself or others made Jay not feel bad. And that was good.
"Ah think ya could do that, too. Ah'd be kinda disappointed in ya, actually," Jay said with a grin.
"Just you wait," Forge replied with a grin. "Once I figure out the electron balance of pheromones, I'm going to build myself a device that'll mean I never have to worry about the awkwardness of attracting girls again. A literal Chick Magnet! It's genius!" He made it about another three steps before having to bend over in laughter and lean against the wall. "Okay, I was ALMOST serious there. But nah. Really, if it happens it happens. I figure that if my nonexistent romantic life is the worst of my problems, I really can't complain about much, right?"
Jay laughed too, more at the absurd image of women literally being pulled to Forge and sticking to him like a sock on a saticky wool sweater than anything. "Ya don't need none of that stuff," Jay said chuckling and lightly nudging Forge in the ribs with his elbow. "And iffn ya don't got no more problems than that, then Ah'd say you're pretty well off. What's your secret?"
"No secret," Forge explained matter-of-factly. "It's you guys. Seriously, I've gotten accustomed to it here. We stopped in the middle of nowhere on the way back, and it actually took me a while to realize why people were staring at the kid with the metal arm and the girl with the purple hair and the tail. Out there," Forge nodded to a window as they walked past, "I had a life where I made myself into a victim because I was different. Here? I have friends, I have a life where I can do my thing, be myself, and never be a victim again. Can't even begin to say how thankful I am for this second chance."
"Aw, shucks, man, you're makin' me blush," Jay said, thickening his accent and pulling out the farmboyish charm, which only lasted until he started laughing again. "Ah hope y'all didn't find yourselves in no trouble out there. As long as people only looked at'cha funny, then that's okay."
"In California? Dude, we were the normal looking ones. Although you should've seen when the guy in the diner tried to grab Jubilee's ass," Forge recalled. "She thought he was going for her wallet. I've never seen someone her size put a 200+ pound surfer dude on his back that fast with one hand. We ended up with a free dinner out of the deal."
Forge stopped outside the garage, thinking for a moment. "Guess some time away from everything made me appreciate stuff more, though. Not just what I've got here, but... everything, you know? Taking time to step back and see that there's more to the world than just my little slice of it, or something."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Jay asked, head cocked. "Feel disillusioned now, or more adamant than ever? Seein' stuff and experiencin' stuff can totally change a fella's view on everythin'."
"Little of both," Forge said wistfully. "I mean, we went out there because Jubilee wanted to see this mall before it was torn down. Turns out it was where she lived for a while before she came here. Parents were killed, she got lost in the foster care system, and her powers showing up made everything a mess. She got lucky to run into Ms. Monroe and Dr. Grey." He sighed for a moment, then looked up at Jay. "How many other kids are out there like that? Alone, afraid, thinking no one understands what they're going through? And it hits me that just a year ago, that was me."
"Me too, at one point. S'called adolescence," Jay informed Forge, trying to smile at that feeble joke but faltering. "Ah mean, you're right, we're the lucky ones. We get the most powerful mutant on the whole freakin' planet as our teacher, we get everythin' handed to us on a silver platter. They don't. But on the other hand, we're the ones in the most danger, 'cuz we're bigger targets, y'know?"
Forge gave Jay a very pointed look, remaining silent for a moment longer. "That's not the only reason, and you know it as well as anyone," he said firmly. "What it's like to feel lost and helpless. And the school, the Professor? Can only do so much. That's why I'm not letting up on the HeliX thing, on making a difference."
After a brief tensing of his jaw, Forge pulled himself up straight and smiled. "So anyway, I'm thinking burgers and you run this new music of yours by me."