xp_logs | Log: Forge, Marius, Kyle and Jay; Monday morning, the shared suite

After Tommy's first post to the journals, some of his peers have mixed reactions. Arguments get heated and finally come to the exploding point. Ironically, it's the two predatory suitemates who wind up trying to play peacemaker, with less-than-successful results.

"Bloody hell, and I thought I had it bad for pinchin' your leg," Marius said as he searched the refridgerator for what remained of Lorna's latest culinary donation. "This lot doesn't have a problem showin' its displeasure, does it?"

Forge shrugged, stretching out on the couch and balancing a can of Red Bull on his finger. "People do like their soapboxes," he agreed, "myself included."

"True enough." Marius located the renegade leftovers and grinned. "Aha, the elusive mystery-pasta-dish. And still, at least he's bein' honest. I mean, he's ex-FOH. I'd rather know he's still got issues than have him lie -- but to be honest, didn't see much sign of it when I was talkin' to him. Didn't hear 'freak' or 'mutie' and that once, so he's trying, right?"

Some muffles came from Jay's room, followed by his door bursting open and Jay stalking out. To say he was livid might be an understatement. He couldn't even speak properly, he was so angry. Although words like "fuck," "shit," "mother fucker," and "cunt" were semi-audible.

Looking over the couch and meeting Marius' eyes, Forge nodded. "Looks like Jay saw it," he said matter-of-factly. "Shit hits the fan in three... two..."

The sound of cracking plastic from Forge and Kyle's shared room puncutated Forge's words, followed by the slam of a door being flung open, and then a litany of growled obscenties. "Bigoted asshole fucking JERK!"

Marius eyed Forge with respect. "Nice coordination there."

"Don't punch him again," Jay warned Kyle, finally regaining the ability to speak, although his tone belied his desire to see Tommy beaten into a pulp.

"Not gonna." Kyle said, rubbing his hand absently. "I figured I'll go and hit the heavy bag a couple billion times, and then beg off for a new keyboard.." He held up his hand, knuckles slightly raw. "I broke mine. Because, hey, better my keyboard than the jerk's -face-."

"Especially since you only just finished your last punishment," Marius remarked blithely. He motioned to Kyle with tha hand holding the leftovers. "Care for some sanity pasta?"

Jay raised an eyebrow. "Read the journals lately?" he asked Marius and Forge. He could only assume that they weren't frothing at the mouths because they hadn't. Tommy's post should have been enough to pit everyone against him, Jay thought.

"Yep," Forge said, concentrating on walking the thin can of energy drink over his mechanical knuckles. "I didn't think you guys would be that upset about Mr. Marko taking folks to a Christmas concert."

"I think he meant the bit with Tommy," Marius said, spooning out a portion of pasta for himself before handing the bowl to Kyle, who'd been gravitating toward the mention of food. "Yeah, been keepin' up. Righteous kerfluffle, that."

"Uh..." Kyle started. "Yeah, what he said. Dude, the bigoted jackass isn't Mr. Marko, it's Tommy, who I guess felt like it was okay or something to post his big asshole I hate mutants thing up on the journals." Despite half of his words being muffled by pasta in his mouth, Kyle managed to get most of his point across, he thought.

Marius finished a mouthful of pasta and frowned. "Oi, let's be fair. He didn't say anythin' about hating mutants, and we got on all right."

Forge nodded, spinning the empty can on his palm. "If I had to take a guess, you're mad at the fact that he's not making an apology for the stuff he's done." With his other shoulder, Forge gave a shrug and kept staring at the spinning cylinder of aluminum. "He's making progress, it's just slow."

"He said he doesn't regret what he did," Jay spat, "Which is tantamount to sayin' that he still hates us and doesn't care if anyone gets hurt." He glared intently at Forge. "Still think he's changeable?"

Marius leaned against the counter, giving Jay a wry look. "All he said is he thought he was in the right at the time. As it stands, he's hardly a frothin' pit of bigotry. Treated me just fine, anyway. Guess the not bein' here for the initial bout of stupidity helps." He paused, scratching his chin. "Come to it, who all was involved in that? Told me he assaulted someone here, but I didn't think goin' into that would be a bright move, so I didn't ask the details."

The can made a crunching noise as Forge crumpled it in his fingers, suddenly very quiet. Without saying a word, he looked from Jay to Kyle, and then back to Jay, cocking his head with an unspoken "You okay with this?" look.

Normally, Jay would have been embarrassed and would never answer the question himself, much less let someone else answer it. But he was feeling particularly bold, brought on by his ire at feeling like a victim again. Jay caught Marius's gaze and held it. "Me," he said through clenched teeth. "He tried to kill me. Now do you get it?" he asked, as if Marius were a particularly dull child.

Kyle was torn. Drag Jay off into a room and hope to get him into a better mood, or cuff Marius upside the head. Except, he'd promised no more beating up of classmates, and he wasn't sure he -could- drag Jay anywhere, if Jay didn't want to be dragged. And really, he just wanted to go thrash Tommy some more. So he stared at the scrapes on his knuckles, and tried to will them to do something interesting.

Marius blinked. And then blinked again. "It helps, yeah." He looked from Jay to Forge, and then from Forge to Kyle. Obviously this wasn't news to either of them. He frowned. "Don't know how I could've missed that bit, though."

Forge nodded slowly, then turned to Marius. "He was dating Terry at the time. Caught Jay out behind a club he was performing at, beat the shit out of him and left him there. I... I found him and called for help." The aluminum can lay crushed and forgotten, along with his carefree mood. With a sigh, Forge looked back over at Jay.

"So he's not sorry, and you wouldn't forgive him even if he was. So really, does any of it make a difference?"

"Are you fuckin' retarded?" Jay demanded, throwing his hands up in the air. "It means that he still thinks that fuckin' people up is fine. How are we supposed ta live with someone like him? Who's to say he won't try it again?"

Kyle sighed. "Apparantly the teachers are watching him. Mr. Summers said so when I got my lecture on not hitting Tommy in the face again." He shrugged. "I guess with eight hundred billion people who can read minds, they've got one watching out for the asshat."

"I don't believe I'm going to say this," Forge intoned, "but Kyle's right here. The Professor and folks know better than we do. And I'm going to buck the trend here and actually trust their judgment. Besides, by that logic, who's to say Marius isn't going to attack one of us the next time he gets the munchies? How do we know Kyle's not going to steal a car when he's bored? Because people are capable of change, Jay. Even if you're not willing to believe it."

"HEY! I wasn't bored, I was dared to do it." Kyle protested. "Uh. Not .. that um, that really helps. Nevermind. I'll shut up now."

Jay shook his head. "No. People change if they want to. He doesn't. Ergo."

"And you know this because you've talked to him?" Forge stood up, staring across the couch at Jay. "No, you're believing it because it's what you want to believe. You don't have to like him, Jay. You just have to accept that he's got as much right to be here as any of us do."

Marius listened to their exchange, completely baffled. He knew he wasn't the most observant person in the world, but was he couldn't comprehend how this little drama had been going on under his nose for the past two months without Marius ever having suspected it. Although now that he thought about it, he supposed Jay hadn't been in the best mood lately . . . but then, Jay hadn't been particularly social with him to begin with. For all Marius knew, that might have been normal for him.

"He is tryin'," Marius interjected, pushing aside his confusion. "But can't happen right off, can it? Like I said, he managed to treat me decent enough. Maybe he doesn't regret it now, but who's to say he won't? He seems decent enough when he's talkin' reasonably."

"And when he's not, he calls people fags and freaks." Kyle spat. "Yeah, maybe he's nice when he's not spouting his bigoted bullshit, but that doesn't change that he's a bigoted sack of crap. As far as I'm concerned, unless he goes dancing through the streets with a sign that says "Yo, I'm pro-mutant", he's not worth much of anything. "

"You don't do that, why should he?" Forge riposted, then held up his hands. "Look, I can't defend what he did to you guys. He ought to be punished for it, and I'm convinced he has been. Hell, Jay, those guys beat him far worse than what he did to you."

Jay shook his head. "Does it matter how much he got hurt? How am Ah supposed ta believe anythin' he says about tryin' ta become a better person when he says to everyone, 'Yeah, I fucked you up good, and I don't give a shit, because you deserved it'? You tell me what Ah did to deserve that, and then Ah'll let it go."

"What he thinks and what is actual fact are two different things, Jay," Forge insisted. "And only one of them you should actually give a shit about. What would make you feel better? Him being sorry? Too bad, ain't going to happen, pick another option."

"I don't think he thinks of adjustin' to the mutant thing as becomin' a better person," Marius said. "It's not as if he's suddenly seen the light an' that. It's just something he's got to learn to live with, and he's comin' to it from a lot farther away than any of us. That sort of thing's got to mess with a bloke's head. I think he's copin' the best he can."

"Blah, blah, blah." Kyle said "Point is, he's here, he ain't sorry, and we gotta live with him. I mean, how'd you feel if Magneto was suddenly like "Oh hey, I'm actually a good guy, only I'm not sorry for anything I did." and started living down the hall?

Forge whipped his head around to stare at Kyle, visibly angry for the first time in the conversation. "I'd learn to live with it," he said through gritted teeth, "because it's the right thing to do. Even monsters deserve a chance at redemption."

Marius glanced at Forge at the heat in his voice, but his own tone remained calm. "Comparin' him to Magneto's a bit excessive, isn't it?" he said, cocking his head. "So far as I can tell the worst he's guilty of is bein' stupid."

"His worst is just 'bein' stupid'?" Jay shouted incredulously at Marius. "Fuck you. It's not just 'stupid' that rounds people up and completely destroys their livelihood. It's not just 'stupid' that leaves someone lyin' half-dead in a fuckin' gutter." Then he turned to Forge and pointed at him, his finger shaking because he couldn't stand still. "And you. You're a Goddamn liar. You wouldn't learn ta 'live with it' if the person who terrorized you came ta live with you. You might try, but you'd give up faster than the time it takes Catseye ta pounce."

Forge stepped around the couch until he was standing a hand's breadth away from Jay. "You don't know the first goddamn thing about it, Jay. I would hate it. It would eat at me, and I'd be climbing the walls with frustration. But I know he'd deserve the chance to make good on what he's done. He deserves the chance, Tommy deserves the chance. I know this, because you people gave me the chance. You might think I've balanced the scales with the things I've done, but I still don't. So if you're willing to give me that chance and not him, just because you've got a personal grudge against him? Fuck you, Jay Guthrie." Forge glared right into his suitemate's face. "Tommy Jones was a person with a horribly fucked-up mindset, but he's capable of change. Are you?"

"HE DIDN'T ALMOST KILL YOU!" Jay shouted right at Forge's face. "The only thing that kept me alive is mah mutation. Otherwise Ah'd be pushin' up daisies right now. What if Ah had been killed, huh? What if mah healin' just ran out then and Ah died? Or what if he'd taken Terry out back and beat her up just like he did me? She ain't got no healin' factor, so she'd've died. Wouldja still be so welcomin' to him?"

"No," Forge said calmly, letting his sudden anger fade in the face of Jay's raging bluster. "Because then he'd be a murderer. Right now, he's not. And if I recall, you didn't want to press any charges when it happened, so if you're wanting to see him punished now, too damn bad. Missed your chance, Jay. If you want me to judge him on 'what if's? Sorry."

Turning around, Forge whipped his foot out, kicking the crushed can across the room as he stalked towards the door. "I don't need to deal with this shit," he said, throwing up his hands. "You're supposed to be better than this, better than them."

Marius lowered his dish and hurriedly pushed himself from the counter. "Oi, let's just all of us calm down here," he said, raising his hands placatingly. "Half the school's already wound tight with this -- last thing we need's a warzone in our own bleedin' suite."

"Yeah, come on guys, chill," Kyle said, subtly stepping between Jay and the retreating Forge. "That..." he choked back a number of choice insults he was dying to spit out, "Tommy ain't worth you guys being at each other's throats over."

Forge just shook his head, not looking back at his suitemates. "If you don't give him the chance," he said quietly, "you shouldn't be giving me the chance. If you think he can't change from the things he did, what's that say about what you think of me?"

Jay couldn't believe what he was hearing. "If you don't think Ah've shown just how much Ah believe in you, John Henry," he said quietly, still shaking with barely restained rage, "Then obviously you haven't been payin' attention and Ah've just been wastin' mah time with you."

"I'm not questioning whether or not you believe in me, Jay," Forge answered. "I'm asking what you think of me. Whether or not you think I deserve the second chance I got. If my... regret was enough to merit that. Or maybe... just maybe," he said, looking over his shoulder, "I earned that second chance simply because I was willing to try for it. That's how I see it, and that's how I see Tommy Jones. Nothing's going to erase what he did. But he gets that chance to try and make up for it. And I'll see that he gets it, whether you approve or not."

The room was silent for a moment, as if time had stopped until Jay could respond. Finally, he nodded slowly. "Then you can do it with one less friend ta back you up."

Slowly, Forge turned his head, looking at Marius, then Kyle, then Jay. After a moment's thought, he gave a slight nod, then walked out the door.

"Ah, shit," Marius muttered, raising his hand to his face. "This has gotten completely mental . . ."

"Yeah, yeah it has. Jay, don't you go anywhere." Kyle said, and started to follow Forge out the door. "Marius? Yo, keep him here if you gotta. Sit on him or something." If he had to drag Forge back by the scruff of his neck, he would. This wasn't gonna end in the stupid. "Forge, goddamit, you get your ass right back here!"

Forge paused outside the door, waiting until Kyle stepped through, then shutting the door to leave them both alone in the hallway. "Listen to me, Kyle," he began speaking quickly and quietly. Kyle had to be picking up on the signs. Faster breathing, increased heart rate and blood pressure.

Forge was on the verge of a full-blown panic attack for the first time in months. Placing his hands flat on the wall, he tried to control his breathing. "Listen to me," he repeated, "If I keep trying to talk sense into Jay about this, I'm going to have a breakdown. Truth is this: what Tommy did? No different than me. And if I can make something better of myself, and you guys can accept that, why won't you offer him the same chance? Why?"

"Jay isn't gonna listen right now. Hell, I still wanna thump the guy a couple of times just for what he did." Kyle said. "And the difference is, you didn't do anything to us. That makes it easier." He ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the wall. "Dude, neither me or Jay is gonna go hunting the guy down, but it's a lot harder to want to give him anything when he's not even sorry for what he did. Maybe, and I'm not promising anything, if he was, it'd be easier. Maybe if he ever is, it might happen. Not now. Sure as hell not today."

Forge shook his head. "All you have to give him is space. Time. Change isn't an instant thing, as much as it may seem that way for us." He looked up at Kyle, blinking back watery eyes. "I'm going to head down to my lab, I need to get this out of my head before it drives me nuts, okay? When Jay's calmed down, let him know it's not him I'm mad at. I mean, it is, but... I just need this space right now, okay?"

"I guess..." Kyle answered. "But if you turn into like, sleeping in the lab and not showering guy? I'm dragging you back by your hair." He poked a finger in Forge's shoulder - the good one - to puncutate his point. "I can too, man. You know it."

Forge rubbed his shoulder, frowning. "There's a shower down there, you know. I built it to use sound waves and ion pulses. Don't worry about me. Keep Jay sane, okay?" He reached out to pat Kyle on the shoulder once, then turned and walked down the hall.

It wasn't that Kyle was going to worry overmuch. He'd just normally wait until something broke in the room, or when Forge's laundry pile started smelling like the funk. But Dani, or Catseye, or someone would say something long before -he- remembered himself, and purple cat, or crazy native girl demanding that he go retrieve Forge from the lab was so not cool. "Dude, I think it's the other way around, but okay."

He turned and went back in the room, leaning up against the wall and folding his arms. "Nobody gets to be a stupid asshat except me, and I got genes to back up my stupid." He announced.

Jay was a good boy. He stayed in the suite, pacing, ignoring the questioning looks Marius was giving him. He stopped when Kyle came back. "Far be it from us to fight your title," he said snidely. "Ah'm goin' out, too. Ah'll be back late."

Marius shook his head in disbelief. He had all the facts now, and he still didn't understand this. "Come on, mate, is that how we're handlin' this? We've got to share this flat. Maker Boy there's bad enough, but it's not very mature for half the suite to be buggerin' off anytime someone mentions Tommy. Can't we just agree we're going to disagree and have done with it?"

"Oh, go suck somebody's blood and shut up," Jay snapped. "Ah don't need this." He crossed the room quickly, avoiding the gazes upon him. Especially Kyle's.

Marius' hands twitched, then curled into fists. "Right," he said flatly. "So trashin' on someone's mutation is fine as long as you weren't a member of the FOH. Got it. Thanks for clearin' that up." Without a second glance at Jay, Marius rounded the counter and made for his room, his usually relaxed stride uncharacteristically brisk. A second later the bedroom door slammed behind him.

Jay paused in the doorway. He turned to Kyle, but couldn't bring himself to look up at him. "Sorry. Shouldn't've gotten you involved in all this. Ah'll see ya 'round." And then he left too.

Kyle looked around the empty room. Great. He wasn't sure how this whole mess got started exactly, or why it felt like the suite had turned into a war zone, but it did. And like he'd told Forge, if he had to keep dragging people out of their rooms by their hair, he was gonna make sure this mess didn't turn into anything worse. This was -his- room, even if he had to share it, and dammit, it wasn't gonna go getting stunk up with people being pissy.

Now he just had to figure out how to undo this whole stupid mess.