xp_logs | Log: Forge and Jubilee, the lake, Saturday morning

While out jogging, Jubilee finds Forge after his first few dunkings of the day. But not his last.

Jubilee was jogging back toward the mansion by route of the lake when she saw Forge sitting by the bank, looking somewhat sodden. Smiling to herself, she changed course and trotted up to him. "So, who'd you upset?" she asked, conversationally.

"Where do I start?" Forge replied, wringing his hair between his hands. He frowned at his wet shirt, peeling it over his head and draping it over his mechanical arm, adjusting the prosthetic's running temperature until small wisps of steam began to waft from the clothing.

"First Catseye tackled me into the pool. Then she and Kyle carried me all the way down here before dawn. Apparently it became a group activity, since Dani asked me to go for a walk, then pushed me off the pier. And then Mr. Marko chucked me in once I climbed out." Sighing, Forge looked melancholy for a moment before breaking out into a small cascade of laughter. "I'd be pissed, but I haven't had this much fun since, well, flooding the basement."

Jubilee laughed, sitting herself down beside Forge and watching his arm with interest. "Okay, Dude, that is the coolest thing I've ever seen. How do you get it to dry like that?"

Sure, she could have commented about all the lake throwage, but there were priorities.

"Redirecting heat distribution from the thermocouples," he explained. "My artificial parts don't sweat, but they do generate heat. So they've got these components that dump excess heat every so often. I borrowed the design from Mr. al-Rashid's schematics." Shaking the now-dry t-shirt out, Forge flexed his arm a few times, waving his fingers in the air to cool them off. "I just tell the arm to behave like I've been lifting weights for an hour, and the thermocouples respond. One advantage over the original design, I suppose."

He shrugged his t-shirt back on, self-consciously tucking it in around the left side, where the mass of scar tissue crept around his hip and side.

"Haven't seen you around much, aside from the pizza delivery last night - thanks again - ever since our trip. Things still on your mind?" he asked.

"Nah, it's more I've been trainin'. Trying to catch up with the other trainees since I started out later then them. Been kinda lettin' everything else go as a result though. Only realised it a little while ago when I talked to Mads. That whole trip to Hank's parents, I completely missed it cause I was too busy doin' other things to even notice that people had been asked to go." Jubilee replied, picking some grass seeds out of her socks, and then looking back up at Forge. "Don't know how long this 'making up for ignoring people' thing is gonna last though. I get...focussed, I guess. It's hard to think outside that."

Jubilee's words struck a chord in Forge and he reached out, tugging on the hem of the older girl's shirt until she dropped down to sit next to him as he turned to face her. "Remember who you're talking to? The guy who gets so focused he forgets to sleep? You see anyone else here getting prescriptions for road trips and farm vacations, to make sure they don't obsess themselves into catatonia?" He laughed quietly, chewing on a grass stem thoughtfully. "If I had a proton and neutron pair for every time I've boned something up by ignoring people, I'd be composed of high-scale einsteinium by now. And not a stable isotope, either."

At Jubilee's confused blink, Forge laughed out loud. "That means I know what you're talking about."

"Okay, I seriously have to start reading more science books, just so I can understand what you and Paige are sayin' to me. That, or find some kinda translation device, like the ones you see on those shopping channels that 'let you understand what your cat is sayin' to you'. Only, you know, that work." Jubilee replied, teasing grin firmly in place as she stretched her legs out.

Smoothly rolling to crouch on his artificial leg, Forge stood up silently, walking over to the small dock that stretched out into the lake, pondering the canoe moored at the end. "It's okay, I'm used to feeling misunderstood. Not your fault," he explained, "I'm just... you know I think if I added up all the actual conversations I've had with people in my entire life, easily 90% of them would be in the past nine months I've been here? I never had people to talk to before, and now? I keep forgetting that, and screwing things up either by ignoring them or by not paying attention to things." He flipped a small rock in his hand, skipping it over the surface of the water.

"I mean, I can build anything, I can fix anything. But I've got no gift with understanding people. And that sucks."

"Forge, no one understands people. Most everyone I know just tries not to put their foot in their mouth 100% of the time. I am so, so jealous of the Telepaths, they at least can 'hear' what isn't bein' said. Kinda like advanced warning if they're making jerks of themselves. We just kinda stumble along, tryin' not to make too many mistakes." Jubilee replied, pushing her braid back over her shoulder. "Thing is, you can't constantly beat yourself up over yer nature. We're your friends, right? If we think you're gettin' too insuler, we'll come drag you out of the lab. Take you out, introduce you to loose women, then get you out of trouble when their boyfriends come lookin' for them."

Forge blushed a deep red at that comment, coughing into his hand. "Um, er, that is... I... uh... pass?" Stammering uncomfortably and waving his hands in a frantic gesture, he looked for anything to change the subject to. "I know, I know. And it's sinking in, you know? I can try and be a little more thoughtful, it just takes work. And my friends - once I keep remembering I have them - are here to help." He frowned suddenly, looking down at his wet shorts. "Even if that means dunking me in the lake at godawful hours in the morning."

"What were they dunking you in the lake for, anyway? Catseye's not the type to just randomly throw people into bodies of water." Jubilee replied, grinning at Forge's blush and following the change of topic.

She did like to tease him, but she also knew when to leave it alone.

"Blaming myself for putting Catseye through the past month of crap," he explained. "I mean, I found out about her parents, and kind of dropped everything on her at once. Then she decides to go see them, and we find ... well, her post said it. I mean, if I'd just taken five MINUTES to do some more research, I'd have found that out."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I wonder if it would have been better if I hadn't told her, still. She was doing fine without parents, and now... well, I just wonder is all."

"No, it wouldn't have been better. I've gone my entire life without my folks, since I was young, and then I only found out I had relatives in the last couple of years. But no matter how hard growin' up without them was, I at least knew where I came from. I could look at myself, and say 'I've got my mother's eyes.', or 'That way of thinking, that's my Dad in me.'. You gave her a chance to know her family, Forge. That's the best gift a friend could give." Jubilee replied, standing up and walking over to stand beside him.

She frowned, looking out over the lake, thinking about everything she'd done in her admittedly few years. Sometimes she felt so much older then eighteen going on nineteen, and sometimes she felt so much younger then that. But family, that was something she knew a little bit about, something she felt she could give advice on. She placed a hand on Forge's shoulder, squeezing softly in comfort. " The fact that they turned out to be F.O.H doesn't matter, not in the long run."

Forge nodded slowly. "I know. I keep forgetting - I'm so used to hating my parents, and then getting to know them again - I keep forgetting that not everyone's got that. And you're right. It's the choice that matters."

"Yep." Jubilee replied, grinning suddenly as she thought of something. "Just think of all the fun she gets to have in those 'My family sucks more then your family' debates now."

"She'd tend to win those," Forge agreed, "Unless anyone's parents turn out to be secret supervillains who are responsible for all the woes of the past year or so. But what're the odds there? I think the worst we have are Clarice's parents and mine. Lawyers. Ew."

"Well, Nate's a lawyer, so you might not want to say that too close to him. But yeah, we at least seem to have beaten the curve with that particular factor. Well, unless you count the demon who raised Illyana, but they're not blood related, so." Jubilee replied, picking up a stone and flicking it over the lake. One.Two.Three...damn, no fourth skip.

THAT got a definite double-take out of Forge. "Demon who... you know, that explains so much. Talk about alternate dimensions, variances in temporal flow... well, that wraps up that particular little bit of Russian mystery. Anyway," Forge said, stretching his arms above his head in a yawn. "Didn't mean to interrupt your jogging. I, for one, think I am done with my involuntary swimming for today. "

Jubilee blinked. Wow, there was putting her foot in it. She hadn't realised that part of Illyana's history wasn't apparent. "S'cool. Was just heading back to the mansion anyhow. Want some company on the walk back? Oh! I just got a really cool DVD in the mail too, we could see if the others were interested in watching too."

Forge grinned, reaching down for his shoe. "Movies are always good. I think it's a good weekend for doing the social thing. I for one have had enough solitary moping for a month."

Jubilee's eyes took on a look of mischief and backing up slightly, she aimed a shove at Forge's shoulder blades before taking off at a run. "Last one back has to do the other's chores!"

As the world did a flip around Forge, he was acutely aware that perhaps this was, indeed, just the kind of therapy he'd been needing.

There would still be payback, he thought, as the lake's cool waters surrounded him.

Just not today.