xp_logs | Log: Forge & Dani (Reply)

Danielle takes a reality break to have a nice, quiet breakdown. Forge won't let her and they go out and Plot instead.

Dani didn't go to work today. She never missed work and even Scott had made comments about her rivalling him on who could work longer hours. Today she stayed in bed and cried. Let the others worry about the school and what needed to be done. She'd be back tomorrow.

Forge had spent fifteen minutes - fifteen WHOLE minutes! - waiting for Dani to show up and walk him through yet more paperwork. When Ms. Munroe informed him she hadn't come in, his curiosity was piqued. She wasn't in the infirmary, or the gym, or the garage. She hadn't signed out a car - they were all in the garage at any rate.

That left her room. And so here Forge stood, paperwork in hand, paused at the threshold. Finally, he shrugged and knocked quietly.

Sniffing loudly, Dani pulled the comforter over her head and sobbed. "Go way," she managed, voice cracking. Today was not a day she wanted to see people or their fears. Today was her one day to be selfish and she was damn well going to be.

Oh, that wasn't a good sound.

Forge turned to go, then stopped himself. Folding his papers and tucking them into a back pocket, he knocked again louder. "It's me, Dani. Can I come in? Mr. Summers took my lockpick set, so you're going to have to open the door for me," he admitted meekly.

Normally Dani would have laughed at the image of Mr. Summers taking the lockpicks, but she was too busy wallowing in self pity. Struggling to unwrap herself from the bedcovers, she shuffled over to the door and opened it before immediately going back to her bed and sitting down. She sniffed again, looking at him from underneath her hair.

Instinctively, Forge recognized the signs of one of Dani's moods. She'd been good for a long time, this wasn't one of those random
powers-related things. Closing his eyes briefly, he thought back in his mental calendar. Aha!

"Come on," he said, walking over to her arm. "Get up, and get dressed nice. I'll be back in fifteen minutes."

"Mwah?" she managed as he helped pull her upright again. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. She was supposed to be in bed, maybe get some sympathy. Or being left alone. She liked that idea. "No..."

"Yes," Forge insisted. "We're going out to dinner. Your choice, my treat. You are not going to sit in your room today. You are not going to let your old life drag you back into that place. Hey," he leaned in, cupping her cheek and turning her face to look into her eyes. "You're done with him and you're the better for it."

It was her choice to be dragged anywhere and right now she was not enjoying Forge's meddling, "Hahkota, no...I'm stupid, couldn't even keep my man!" Even as she protested she was turning on the shower water and taking her t-shirt off.

Forge sat in the common area, raising his voice over the shower. "Oh, like hell," he insisted. "I was there, remember? The guy raised a hand to you. Far as I'm concerned, that drops him out of the 'man' category and into 'protozoan slimeball'."

"He wasn't always so mean," she defended, remembering the times before she manifested when they would hang out or roam the outskirts of the rez together. Stepping out of the shower and wrapping her towel around her hair she fished out a pair of black pants and a long sleeved shirt from her closet. "He didn't know what to do either."

"Well, he chose wrong," Forge said flatly. "Only time I've ever hit someone in my life, and you know what - I don't regret it. The son of a bitch deserved it, and you deserve better. Hell..." He couldn't believe he was about to say this, "even Manuel was a step up from Sheldon. Look, it's been almost a year now you've been divorced. Time to move on."

"I did move on!" she pointed out handing him her hairbrush and sitting on the couch. If he wanted to go in 15 minutes then he was going to have to help comb out her waist-length hair. "I'm here, I finished high school...but that don't mean I don't miss the good we had. Or wish it had gone better. I'm not even 19 and I'm divorced, that ain't exactly something to brag about."

Forge began carefully attacking the tangles in Danielle's hair. "Nothing wrong with that," he said with a slightly wistful tone. "We all wish things had gone differently. But sitting and moping about them won't make them happen. You have to make things happen yourself. Even I know that."

She was making things happen though, albeit not this particular moment. She had enough control of her powers to function somewhat reasonably inside the mansion and not go completely crazy if she went out for short periods of time. It was a step in the right direction. "I got a job. And I ain't as crazy."

"And you're going out to dinner," Forge added as he handed her back the brush. "As soon as I go get changed. Pick a place, meet me down in the foyer." With that, he bolted for the door, pausing to stick his head back in. "Just not the Mexican place. They use too much cilantro. Bad mojo."

Grumbling in Cheyenne, Dani headed back into her room to find her shoes and other things needed for going out. Forge was entirely too pushy sometimes, especially when she needed it.

"How about Ritter's?" she suggested as she reached the foyer about the same time as Forge. "I read a review of it, supposed to be a great place. American food mixed with attitude or something."

Forge nodded, offering his arm to Dani despite the six inch height difference. "Attitude sounds good to me."

Accepting his arm, Forge was a gentleman when it suited him and after a year at Xavier's Dani could simulate a lady when she wanted to, they headed out. "So, Hahkota, you have any plans for the break?"

Forge pondered as he opened Dani's door for her and slid into the driver's seat of the Jeep. "None yet. Don't have to cram it full of studying, all my college paperwork's just about done - haven't really thought about it. You?"

He could really be such a geek sometimes, "It's your last spring break before college and you ain't thought about it?!" That was wrong! Very, very wrong! "I've been thinking about visiting Washington."

That got a reaction. "Washington DC? There's a thought. Didn't get to see a lot while I was there last time..." Forge looked over and smiled as he merged into traffic. "Up to a road trip? Figure a day of driving each way?"

"Sure. Thought about visiting the BIA, but they ain't worth spittin' on in they were on fire so maybe just the native history museum. They got frybread there too," Dani sometimes had a one-track mind. "And I heard it was interesting. But who said you were invited?"

Forge smirked and focused his attention on the road. "Well, if you didn't want interesting conversation on the road... you could
always talk to the air like a crazy person," he said - the last part in halting but accurate Cheyenne. With a small laugh, he glanced over at Dani. "I got that right, yeah? I've been practicing with some tapes Doug made for me."

Dani stared at him, slack jawed. He had not just spoken Cheyenne her brain insisted even as her ears disagreed. "When...did you learn?" she finally managed throwing herself on him, forgetting that Forge was driving the car.

"Whoa!" Forge exclaimed, easing onto the freeway despite Dani's enthusiastic attempt to cause a massive twelve-car pileup. "Been
working on it since about November. It's coming slow, but it's fun."

"You coulda told me, I would have helped!" now she was defensive. Yay for crazy mood swings. They were less frequent now than they had been, but they could still be erratic and without warning, especially on a day like today, "I ain't that busy you know! And you ain't gonna learn it right from Doug anyways!"

Forge feigned disappointment. "Well, darn. And here I was thinking I'd have an entire road trip to practice... what exit's Ritter's off again?"

"Cheshire Bridge," she replied automatically, "And now you're trying to bribe me to let you come to DC with me. Ain't gonna work."

Driving smoothly through the streets of North Salem Center, Forge smirked under the streetlamps. "Oh, I was going to ask if you wanted to come with me. I mean, if you're not too busy with work. This being my last spring break before college and all."

Dani punched Forge lightly on the arm, his fears were practically hers by this point anyways, and laughed, "Only if I drive," she decided. She could let him think it was his road trip, "I'm the responsible adult."

"Deal."

Forge pulled into the parking lot, glad to see the place mostly empty. For an excellent restaurant, there never seemed to be a line. Rumor had it that one of the proprietors was a mutant, maybe folks were paranoid about catching the x-gene from the food.

Regardless, Forge smiled and turned off the ignition. "And I'll even let you pick the museums so long as one of them's the Air and Space."

"Native American History," Dani would not budge on this issue. It was the entire reason she wanted to go to DC in the first place. "And Air and Space?"

The atmoshere of the resturant was friendly and home-like without being country kitsch and they were immediately shown to a table near a fireplace by a friendly hostess.

This was good, Forge thought as their dinner arrived, relaxing like this. Being sane. Not having to worry about ex-husbands or college applications or lab research or anything of the sort. To pretend to be two normal friends for an evening.

With a smile, Forge raised his water glass. "To spring break. The open road, to history, to getting away from it all for a few days."

"To connect with our roots with our branches," Dani agreed, tappin gher water glass lightly against Forge's, "And to get away from the drama-trauma."