xp_logs | Log: Dani & Forge

Forge's third letter of recommendation comes in the mail and Forge comes down to talk with Dani about it. Bonding and advice ensure.l

Dani sorted the days mail, quickly stuffing the staff and student boxes when she noticed a letter for Forge with no return address, only about twelve international postmarks. Wherever this letter had come from, it had taken a rather round-about route. Wondering who would have sent it to Forge, she put it on a table and called him down. If someone had taken this much effort to send it, then it must be important.

"You beeped me to come down to pick up my mail?" Forge asked, still puzzled at the text message on his cell phone. "I usually grab it when... ooh. Ooh, is that it?" His curiosity was almost tangible in the air.

"It?" Dani asked, one eyebrow quirked. His excitement was almost tangible. She was glad that it was as important as she thought, "What is 'it'?"

Forge flipped the thick envelope over, pulling it open with swift mechanical fingers. He had only to read the first few lines before
letting out a whoop. "I'm in."

"Mile high club?" she asked, still not understanding. If it had been a university then it would have been in a nice, offical looking envelope, not a simple letter. "Or is that your mensa membership?"

"I was in MENSA at twelve," Forge muttered, flipping through the pages. "No, this is the third letter of reference I needed for Empire State University's Business School. Or a copy of it, says it's already been sent on... wait a minute..."

Forge began flipping through the pages, puzzlement crossing his features. "Oh. Oh, that crazy bastard. This is the dumbest idea he's had yet but it's going to work. Not only work, this is going to land me another scholarship."

As entertaining as it was to watch Forge run the gamut of goofy excitement, Dani had no idea what he was talking about. Sighing she deposited the last of the mail into the student boxes and headed back over to her desk, "Either tell me or don't, but don't act like I ain't here."

Forge set the letter down quietly and sat on the counter next to Dani. "You remember me talking about my crazy uncle Nazé? The one who thinks the government's got spy satellites checking out the pueblos with x-rays? Well, setting aside all his crazy, he's also technically still tribal chief of his old rez - kind of by default, since he's the only one left that's still registered as a member of the tribe. He managed to get six elders from the tribal council to not only sign a letter recommending me for the ESU Business School, but for one of those Native Heritage scholarships."

Laughing, Forge picked up the letter and waved it at Dani. "This is irony, I tell you. I spend a weekend in DC looking for leads on
scholarships for being a mutant, and one falls into my lap just by
chance of me being Cheyenne. I love how this stupid messed-up system works sometimes."

Dani rolled her eyes, that would have been the first scholarship she looked into, "We don't live in pueblo's," she said, annoyed that he would use the world in association with their tribe. He should know better, "Those are the southwest tribes. And You're smart enough and enough minorities to get a full ride. Cheyenne, mutant, disability, brains...you got it made with money."

"I know we don't live in pueblos," Forge replied, "Nazé is an equal opportunity conspiracy theorist. That's why he sends all his mail internationally via a private mailing service, he doesn't even trust the post office." Forge waved the envelope for emphasis. "And I turned down the disabled scholarship. I'm a paraplegic, I'm not disabled. Distinct difference."

He extended his metal arm, flexing proudly. "I'm a self-made man, or at least about 38 percent of me is. So, enough about my soon-to-be-certain college career. You're doing well." He nodded at Dani's impeccably-ironed blouse and skirt. "I mean, you work here inside the school, and you manage to look like you're kicking ass in corporate America. You've seriously found a niche. It's good."

"Most people would say a paraplegic is disabled, you know," Dani pointed out, although she was proud that he hadn't accepted the scholarship even if he had been eligible. Despite his physical imperfections, Forge wasn't really disabled. "You like it? I saw it online...thought maybe if I looked like a real secretary it would help."

Dani paused and looked down at her bare feet, "I ran my pantyhose."

"Talk to Clarice," Forge said with a smile, "I developed a run-proof silk blend for her to work with. Another one of those things I'm eventually going to look into mass-producing. Once I get my degree, and some operating capital. I mean, I could go into business now with my ideas - I just got my tenth patent approved Monday. But that means investors I'd have to answer to, and that's not what I want to be doing."

"So you're going to leave me, that it?" Dani sat down at her desk, shuffling already neat papers around into neater stacks and diligently not looking at him. "Going to go off to college and be the big man on campus?" Dani wasn't jealous, not at all. And the Grand Canyon was just a small hole in the ground. Her forays into college hadn't gone so well.

Forge hunched his shoulders, looking around. "That's... kind of why I was looking at ESU. I was thinking about... y'know... staying here. I mean, I've talked about it with the Professor and there's stuff I can do around here to justify my existence. I just... well, it's home."

"Ain't it?" Xavier's was home, whether they all liked it or not, "Glad you ain't going away. Don't know what I'd do if I couldn't steal your clothes. And they don't serve frybread!"

"And any place that doesn't have frybread is no place I want to be," Forge agreed. "Besides, to read Jubilee's emails, living in New York isn't exactly what I'd call the high life. Maybe someday, but...there's more I can do here."

"When's it going to enough? Ain't ever gonna be 'enough', Forge. Can't solve every problem or invent everything. You ain't immortal and there are some problems your machines can't fix. You know that, right?"

Forge nodded. "Yeah, I do. I'm no miracle worker but I can do good here. I mean, remember that girl that I helped Dr. McCoy and Ms.
Munroe pick up in Scotland? They needed a way to safely get her around, and I did that. I might not be saving the world or even making a difference, but I can do something here." He shook his head. "Corny as it sounds, I believe in this place."

And all she did was paperwork and cook a little, great way to help save the world. "This place ain't bad." that was an understatement. "It does what it can."

"We all do what we can," Forge said sagely, "That's all that's asked of us."

Dani smiled, fuzzing Forge's short hair, "When'd you get so smart, Hahkota?"

"When I met people who taught me perspective," he answered plainly. "A little bit of wisdom, a whole lot of common sense. It sinks in over time, you know."