xp_logs | log: Sunday morning after The Rally

Sunday morning after the rally, Dani wakes Forge up and they talk about the rally and life. Despite pushing each others buttons, they decide everything is okay.

Forge had been pretty good recently about eating semi-regularly or what passed for semi-regularly for him but Dani was pretty sure he hadn't eaten since the night before and it was nearly noon. Tray in hand, she kneed the door to his room open, hoping he was awake and had just forgotten to come down for breakfast.

"Wake up, Hahkota," Dani said, putting the tray on top of some papers on his desk.

"Whosawhatthehuh?" Forge spluttered, sitting up rapidly from where he'd tunnelled under the covers on his bed. Pulling the sheets away from his face, he rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times. "Dani? What are... hey, breakfast!"

Kicking his legs out from under the covers, he donned his glasses, squinting at the plate. "Eggs, pancakes, potatoes, sausage... isn't noon a little late for breakfast and holy cow, I slept until noon!" Looking flustered for a moment, he finally cracked a smile and fell back on his bed with a laugh. "Man, what a great day."

"Breakfast is the first meal of the day, it don't matter what time you eat it," Dani pointed out, sitting on his bed cross legged, "And what's got you so...." she struggled to find the word, "perky?"

Reaching down to grab a pair of jeans, Forge wriggled around under his bedsheets until two demin-clad legs stuck out and he shifted into his desk chair.

"The rally, first off. Man, I didn't expect that to go so well. Hell, even the opposition was nice and polite and asked questions. THAT I totally didn't expect."

"They felt like dirty ash trays," Dani replied, wrinkling her nose. It wasn't waves of hatred or even revulsion, just low level pity and fear from most of the crowd. It hadn't been a lot, just steady. "They were scared of us."

"The ignorant ones are afraid of us," Forge corrected, "others, of what we represent, or what they think we represent. Change. Stuff they're not ready for." He shoveled a forkful of eggs into his mouth, gesturing with the fork as he chewed and swallowed. "I talked to one of them, you know? Fellow by the name of Buckley, local bigwig. Wasn't argumentative or hostile at all. Just... on the wrong side of the fence, you know?"

"What'd he have to say?" Dani couldn't differentiate between the emotions in a large group like that, she was just glad she had enough control now to not be caught up in it, or whatever it was that was working to make her powers managable.

Forge thought for a while, trying to figure out how not to push any of Dani's buttons relating the FoH vice-chair's words. Then again, the girl had enough buttons for a Space Shuttle console. "He thinks we pose more of a sudden change than a danger, he said. He thinks it wouldn't be a bad idea to encourage mutants to segregate, live separately from society. Like..." he took a breath. "A lot like the reservations. Just put us somewhere where they don't have to acknowledge us, and we won't rock the boat."

"Waht?!" she screeched, jumping up, "He can't be serious? Does he know anything about reservations and what they've done? You got his name, lemme talk to him! I'll even be civil, you can come, he can't be serious!" Dani paced around the room, disturbed and shaking her head, "He can't be serious!"

Forge held his hands up, trying to calm Dani down. "It's not a practical solution," he insisted. "It's that kind of thinking that's why we're not going to be held down or held back by people like the FoH. There's no use getting worked up over it, we're not in any kind of danger."

"Not now, sure, but some ve'ho'e thought this would be a good idea a hundred and fifty years ago and it ain't changed yet! People don't think or know what living on a rez is like, it ain't 'separate but equal' or whatever they're calling it!" Dani was working herself into hysterics, "I ain't doing it Forge! I ain't! We gotta stop that idea before someone else thinks it's a good one!"

Setting the plate aside, Forge reached up, grabbing Dani's arms and sitting her down firmly onto the bed. "Listen here," he insisted. "What good's it do to go into a conniption fit every time someone thinks they're going to back us into a corner? We're not going to get our point across by yelling or by force.

That's their way, and it's as anachronistic and outdated as... well, as what Mr. Buckley's proposing. Besides, can't be done. Takigawa versus State of California, he quoted. "Dr. Grey wrote a paper on it the first time Senator Kelly suggested a similar idea. She got it shot down before it even reached the legislature."

Breathing deeply, Dani tried to focus but her mind was protesting, "We ain't in a corner and we don't gotta yell, we just gotta explain to Mr. Buckwheat that he doesn't understand what he's suggesting. I can do it calmly. I can," she insisted feebly.

"Then we'll find a way to," Forge conceded. "I think yesterday gave us a good launching pad to work with. Showed people that we're here, we're serious, and that means they'll take us seriously."

Dani nodded, absently grabbing a sausage from Forge's plate, "Eat or it'll get cold."

Obediently, Forge resumed his breakfast, enjoying the food and the company. Stretching his legs out beside Dani, he swallowed another mouthful. "So, what're you doing this year once the semester starts?" he asked. "What with the baby and everything keeping you busy last semester, seems like you've got a ton of options now. Thought much about it?"

"I passed my classes this summer," barely, "and I got a couple more to take at the community college. Ain't sure what I'm going to do though, 'cept work in the kitchen still. Maybe see if I can do the hands-on portion of his car class, since I couldn't last semester."

Forge nodded, downing another forkful of eggs and sausage. "Welcome to normal life, huh? Must be nice. I've got to buckle down with these business classes this semester. I mean, I'm eighteen in a year. My inventions aren't going to make money by themselves, unless I take up counterfeiting."

Dani snorted in derision, "My life's normal? Hello? Crazy mutant divorcee at 18? What's normal?"

"Normal's getting on with your life after all the crap," Forge explained. "Taking charge of it instead of letting circumstances decide for you. Compare it to where you were a year ago, where either of us were a year ago. This might not be the textbook definition of normal, but it's still pretty good."

"A year ago, I was happy. I was normal. I wasn't married or pregnant, and my grandfather was alive. A year ago, I knew what I was doing. Now I ain'got a clue," Dani was depressing herself and Forge wasn't helping. "This whole Helix this is good though. You did good."

Forge arched an eyebrow, then set his mostly-finished plate aside and took Dani's hands in his own. "A year ago I was barely able to walk. I hated my parents, myself, and everyone I came into contact with. Things change. You just gotta take them as they come. And despite you thinking you're flailing and lost, you've always been here for me, and that's got to be something, yeah?"

Dani laughed quietly without mirth, "You just need to learn the old ways, like I am learning the new. A year ago, who would have thought I'd be teaching you about the Cheyenne and you'd be teaching me how to use a computer? I heard a line in a song the other day, dunno who was singing it though, 'time may change me, but I can't change time'. It's true."

"Just you wait, I'll invent a machine for it one of these days," Forge joked, "And yeah, I'm actually studying some of the native history stuff on my own now. Found a few good books, and learning about a bit of the cultural history. Not saying I'll take it to heart and start living it, but it's interesting to know."

"So you're okay?" Dani asked, "I mean, we're okay."

"I'm more than okay," Forge replied with a wide grin. "I am on top of the world."

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