xp_logs | Log: Forge and Alison

After receiving the call from Lorna and passing along the message, Forge gets a visit from Alison demanding clarification. Some humorous misunderstandings lead to a serious offer. Set early morning Tuesday.

The guttural snarling and blasting guitar chords bounced from one side of Forge's skull to the other, filling his ears with the heavy metal music that helped him drown out the rest of the world and concentrate on his work. This morning found him under the Jeep, parked out in front of the garage.

Winding his arm through the complicated gear-and-rod linkage under the front wheels, Forge found the cam he was looking for and deftly adjusted it, already visualizing in his head the smoother ride and improved fuel economy.

Slowly, he noticed that the buzzing sound from his headphones had dulled, and that even in the pauses between cymbal crashes, he couldn't hear anything from around him. Tentatively tapping his fingers against the metal frame of the Jeep, he heard barely a thump, as if the sound was being somehow absorbed.

Hauling his torso out from under the vehicle, Forge looked up to see the garage's floodlights outlining a corona of golden hair and a stern face. Popping out his earphones, he gave a grin, squinting up into the lights.

Dropping that 'pull' on the sound she still had no clear idea on how she willed into happening other than 'I just do it', Alison tapped her foot slightly as she looked down at Forge, torn between amusement and mild annoyance. Being still a bit tired from the sparring, though feeling the flush of success from it helped, mostly. "Soooo. Lorna's cousin is the baby of her father, from what you note led me to understand?" The unsaid 'she called and you did not TELL me or shake the heavens and earth to let me know now die!' somehow wasn't too scary. Some.

Forge bit his lip, trying to remember anything to do with Lorna and a baby. "She called a few hours ago..." he recalled, "didn't make her plane to Hawaii because of family stuff, there was a cousin having a baby, but she said everything's fine." He shrugged, twirling a ratchet around his fingers. "Said she was going to help the family out, then she'd be back on the way to Hawaii."

"Aaaah." There was a pause then, during which Alison smiled a bit. "That's not what you wrote." She nodded gravely at that, shifting her weight, arms still crossed while looking down at him. Hopefully, she could catch Lorna at the next call in - or just cell phone text her or something, that might be good. "Not what you wrote at all."

"Of course it was," Forge insisted, shading his eyes against the floodlights' brilliance. "or, I mean, the gist of it anyway. But hey, she's with family so no need to worry, yeah? I know Alex was probably panicked - what with being practically so close they're symbiotic."

Dimming the light a bit, Alison developed new ways to get a wry look through to someone. " Lorna call, had cousin's baby, ok may stop by all good yes. And I do quote, no less. Short message, easy to learn by heart while looking for you. Crouching down, she gave him a serious look. "You were working on the Jeep when you took the call, huh?"

"No," Forge admitted sheepishly, "getting a sandwich. It's not a big thing, is it? I mean, not like anyone's missing or kidnapped. She went to see her family, geez..." He tried to keep the annoyed look off his face. "Try and do a favor..."

Quiet laughter greeted that, Alison sitting down without much ceremony on the garage floor - after the madcap race to refit the Blackbird, really, there wasn't much in the garage that was scary in terms of grime. "Just be happy I knew better than to run down here and panic at you over Lorna having a baby, mmm? Now that would have been a hassle to deal with, don't you think?"

Forge's eyes widened as he sat up swiftly, narrowly missing braining himself on the Jeep's undercarriage. "Wait, Lorna's having a baby? Is that what the whole fuss was about? Why didn't she say something? Well, I can see where she'd want to keep it quiet, but with Alex in Hawaii... hmm..." Forge put a hand to his chin and looked sideways at Alison. "First Dani, then Doctor MacTaggart, now Lorna. You think it's something in the water?"

This time, the mad snickering got away from Alison and then some, likely a touch of 'gah, not more babies' edging things along. Tugging the crumpled note Forge had left behind, Alison handed it to him, shaking her head a bit. "You're doing the same thing Haroun does when he's working on the 'Bird. Half listening while still thinking about the next doodad you want to implement."

Forge took the paper, turning it upside down before nodding his head. "Perfectly clear to me. So, just to be certain - Lorna's NOT pregnant, right? She didn't say anything about that, her cousin... Tammy... something. She even said she might stop by before heading to Hawaii, since she'll likely miss the first half of the semester."

Rolling her eyes a bit, Alison nodded. "Tammy something. Gotcha." She half-remembered Lorna mentioning that name or one like it a while ago, too. She'd have to tell Lorna about this conversation the next time they spoke - she'd be laughing herself silly in no time. "No, Lorna's not pregnant. Yes, her cousin is - well was. I remember her mentioning that a while ago. Not an easy pregnancy, apparently…" Alison paused at that, then raised an eyebrow, turning to look at the Jeep consideringly. "So. How's this coming along?"

"Always a work in progress," Forge mused, ducking mostly back under the vehicle to adjust the tension of the torque compensators. "Machine isn't just a bunch of equations and materials. The more you use it, the more it adjusts and adapts. And it tells you things when it does. Well, tells me things. For example," Forge stuck his hand out, a grease-covered cam link in his palm glinting under the lights before he replaced it. "If I shift these cams one length to the outside, it puts more tension on the torque bars, which stabilizes the coaxial transmission linkage and makes the Jeep shift easier, which in turn saves fuel and makes for a smoother ride." Poking his head out again, he smiled despite a smear of grease across his cheek. "Constant
improvement, you know."

That she'd followed that particular explanation was a tribute to Haroun's habit of talking out loud to the Blackbird really, Alison mused to herself. "Yeah, I know." It was, after all, the same in a number of other things too. "You know. You should just talk to Haroun about an Aero Independent class at one point. Make it about planes…" Rising up to her feet, she grinned at him innocently. "Not like we don't have one right here for you to work on as a case study, hrm?"

Forge's shrug was lost under the Jeep. "I know Mr. Summers and Mr. al-Rashid are really possessive about the Blackbird, and given what it's used for, I can understand that they don't want it tinkered with unless they know exactly how it's going to be changed. I mean, I can help if they ask, it's just..." He wriggled out and leaned against the tire. "Not to be insulting, but what could he possibly teach me, Miss Blaire? That'd be like asking Terry to teach you how to sing."

"Independent study, Forge." Alison smiled a bit, shaking her head. "Step out of the traditional student and teacher thinking for a minute here. What do we do here, at this school?" she paused a bit, then quirked an eyebrow at him. "Or are you telling me you already know it and there's nothing left to explore for you yet?"

Forge scowled in defiance, but thought about Alison's words. "It's frustrating," he finally admitted. "I'm tired of building toy robots or only being useful when there's some crisis or something like that." He looked at his own arm wistfully. "I mean, I like helping. I like being useful, but I want to do MORE, you know?"

Oh good - clubbing him on the head with the wrench to get her point across wouldn't be needed after all. "So, make your own opportunities." If there was anything Alison could understand now, it was that really. "Just because you can't do the actual work on the Blackbird doesn't mean you can't present a giga-ton of suggestions, blueprints and notes included. For one." Sighing a bit, she plopped herself back down next to him, leaning on the Jeep this time. "But that's just one thing and it's still halfway, for you, isn't it?"

"Would you rather write the songs for someone, or be out there singing them?" Forge replied, with a sad note to his voice. "Maybe it's the way my power works, maybe it's youthful enthusiasm, but I'm always wanting more. Can't sit still, can't just settle. Half the time it's like Michaelangelo being told to paint the Sistine Chapel, but he's got to invent the paintbrush first." He shrugged. "So I keep doing what I do, you know?"

"I"ve…. Been thinking about this for a while, Forge, but I've been hesitant to talk to you about it. Mostly, because you're a teenager and a minor still. And for all that I've chosen to do what I do now, it's not for everyone. And heck, I'm being a hopeless optimist and hoping none of you kids will ever need to do this… but. But." She smiled a bit, then shrugged, giving in to what had slowly become inevitable. "If you'd like to consider an auxiliary position, and purely non-combatant not going out on missions not getting near trouble…" Alison smiled at him, a touch wanly. "Maybe we could work out some way for you to just go full out powers wise, in some respects," she added carefully, "without making me end up with a head of silver hair in two seconds flat?"

That time, Forge actually did slump backwards and smack his head into the Jeep. "You're serious? Like, I mean, I know I made Mr. D's psimitar for him and the adjustments to Mr. Summers' visor and... you mean like, seriously? I... I..." His mouth flapped aimlessly before he just began to nod. "Uh, yeah. Of course, yeah."

Of course he'd say yes. The look on his face was enough to make her think up at least seven ways to drown anyone taking advantage of that too, no matter how unwittingly so. "Okay. I'll talk to Scott and Ororo and Charles, and see what they think." And then, they would discuss talking to his parents about things, too, she decided. She reached out and patted his shoulder, smiling a bit. "It'll be easy for people to take things for granted, you know. If this happens we'll be watching for it, but still… don't be afraid to speak up on that, mm? And don't be afraid to say no, too, if some of the things that you end up working on make you uncomfortable."

Forge nodded, still slightly stunned. "I know... I know there's folks out there. You know, the ones who... well... Kyle. And Mr. Dayspring. And I don't really admit it much, but it keeps me up nights worrying about that. I talked to Mr. D. and the Professor about it, and Doc Samson, and I know it's normal to be scared but..." he struggled with the words, trying to put his thoughts into coherence. "What you guys do, the stuff out there. It makes a difference, and you guys come back and sometimes you're all beat up or someone's in the medlab, but it makes me sleep better at night, you know? And if I can help, then I help. Simple as that."

"…" Well, damn. Every now and then, outright being told that one's efforts were appreciated did indeed serve to reduce one to tears, it seemed. Or well, sniffling t least. "Thank you, Forge." And well, at least hugging him - as brief as it was - meant he'd not be bashing his head on the Jeep from surprise or anything.

"Hey, whoa, hey," Forge wiggled uncomfortably. "All with the hugs and the grease and the ick here..."

Snickering, Alison pulled away and decided to be utterly merciless before making her escape. "Oh my. Yeah, you have a point there. Better go clean up before Haroun sees me like this, anyway. That final maintenance report he has to turn in for the BlackBird is bound to be late, otherwise."

Forge blinked a few times at that before blushing from hairline to neck. For an older woman (like, twenty-FIVE at least!), Miss Blaire hadn't quite pushed over-the-hill yet, Forge thought. And if she and Mr. al-Rashid... wait, how exactly did that work, and...

Clearing his throat in a frantic attempt to clear his brain, Forge dropped flat onto his back and wriggled back under the Jeep. "So," he asked, "we're good on the phone message thing? Next time I'll just forward it to your cell, okay?"

Ooh. And results in the bargain for being evil! "That's perfect. I'll let you know how things go, if Charles himself doesn't call you in his office, mm?" And with that, Alison made good her escape, waiting until she was out of hearing before laughing to herself at the look on his face.