Forge and Crystal, early Tuesday morning
Sep. 19th, 2006 08:34 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsAfter getting fed up with the lack of information about Jennie's absence, Crystal goes to hunt down Forge and confront him about it. Unsurprisingly, a shouting match ensues between the two, followed by a nice fire.
The ladylike thing to do would be to knock. Here was a closed door, and she should knock on it. However, Crystal was not quite in the mood to do the proper ladylike thing. In fact, at this point, she was tired of it. Enough was enough. Time to make a proper, not-proper entrance. The door to the workshop flew open, smacking the wall, and Crystal entered, mustering all of the control she could to keep a calm look on her face. "I apologize for disturbing you."
Forge glanced up through smoked glasses, lowering the flame on his blowtorch and placing it on the work bench. Given the incongruity between Crystal's demeanor and her entrance, he deduced that she was possibly upset about something.
"Crystal," he murmured politely with a small nod, pushing his glasses up on his forehead, oblivious to the thin 'raccoon mask' of soot and grease that would have been humorous at any other time. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Yes, I believe you can help me with something. I am very curious about something, Forge," Crystal replied, a slightly accusatory tone creeping into her voice. "Is 'isn't here right now' the official school's definition for where Marius is, or is that just your version?"
Forge narrowed his eyes. "Yes," he replied coldly. "Unless you've seen him walking around the halls and no one's bothered to notice yet. Right now, there's an investigation into his whereabouts because his parents are concerned, and because it's very coincidental that he and Jennie, two best friends, are both missing right now. So yes, that's pretty much the official definition of 'not here right now'," he said sarcastically.
Crystal's eyes narrowed. "I thought he left the school and was not considered a student here anymore, but on Sooraya's post you described him as a student. Not a former student, but a student. Speaking of an investigation, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you so much for having Mr. Summers speak with me instead of speaking with me yourself. Mr. Summers has been just as helpful and informative as you have been."
Forge slammed his hand down on the workbench, making small tools jump. "Just because he thinks this isn't the right place for him doesn't make it so!" he yelled, pointing angrily at Crystal. "He needs help, and as far as I'm concerned, he needs to be here! And as for having Mr. Summers talk to you, yeah, I asked him to relay what information I found out. Which he did. The same as I would have, if I hadn't been away on business. I told you I'd share what I know, and I did. If that's not enough for you, or if you think you're entitled to more - "
Forge paused, then stared intently at Crystal. "Then that's just tough, your ladyship. As far as I know, Jennie's last known point we can place her at is that airport in Paris. From there, we've got exactly jack and shit when it comes to concrete information. She might be with Marius, she might not. She might want to come back, she might not. We don't know!" he yelled again, smacking the table for emphasis.
"I don't believe in coincidence," Crystal answered icily. "Obviously, you or Mr. Summers could not give me information you yourselves did not have, but promising to keep me informed and then never saying another word was not the right way to go about things! Do you all believe that I am stupid? I trusted you! I trusted Mr. Summers, I trusted the school... and now I don't. Would it really have been so hard for someone to come speak with me or even just send me an email? Something just to stay in contact with me so I could know something, anything? I have been worried, too."
"And tell you what?" Forge demanded. "That we still don't have anything to go on? People are following her trail, professional people. And no, I can't tell you the details there because the folks involved aren't people you ask details about."
He fumed for a moment, then leaned his knuckles on the workbench, staring across at Crystal, the small flame from the blowtorch casting shadows on his grease-streaked face. "You want to talk about trust? Trust in this - we will find them. A year ago, Lorna and I were kidnapped, used as goddamn tools - weapons, almost - by the most dangerous mutant on the planet. And the moment the people at this school - these people you don't trust - the moment they knew where we were, they fought tooth and nail to get us back. They save lives, they put their own lives on the line to keep us safe. Not just us here at the school, all of us, everyone!"
Perusing Crystal intently, Forge shook his head with a look of disappointment. "It's not your sheltered little castle out here, Crystal. This is the real world. And before you start getting on your high horse and deciding that Her Ladyship doesn't trust the people who're willing to risk their lives for your ungrateful ass, maybe you ought to put the attitude away for a moment and stop acting like a spoiled royal brat."
As Crystal glared at Forge, the small blowtorch flame turned into a larger one. "I was not here then!" she shouted at him. "And I knew about your disappearance because I went through Jennie's journal, saw an entry about you and Ms. Dane being missing, and looked at your journal entry after that. People knew that you were missing! People have been hiding that Jennie is missing, and now they're hiding that Marius is missing! Do you know what I see, Forge? I see that when things happen involving a certain metal-controlling someone, everyone throws themselves into a panic and rushes off. What about the students already here? What about them? How safe are they when the teachers rush off to parts unknown to save everyone else? How safe can we feel when things are hidden from us, even when we ask questions?"
Forge's hair blew back from the wind that rushed past him as Crystal yelled, but he didn't notice, intent on her words. "Bullshit!" he shot back, "Jennie's not here, they know as much as we know! And just because this isn't your little Attillan playground with big ivory walls and fancy parties doesn't mean it isn't safe! Keeping this place safe and secure is my job, and if you think for one minute you're going to come in here and try and tell me that you've got a reason to feel unsafe just because you're not getting answers that you mistakenly feel you're entitled to--"
The next split-second seemed to stretch itself out as Forge noticed a number of things. First, that the air around them had started to get very, very warm. Second, that the sudden rush of moving oxygen had caused the flame of his blowtorch to sputter, sending miniscule glowing sparks through the air along those currents of hot air.
And third, that the smell of grease and oil from the rags on the floor was very, very strong.
It was the blowtorch's flame that sprung into actinic, oxygen-fueled flame first. Leaping back, Forge shot a hand out for the valve when he noticed the pile of rags in the corner smoldering and beginning to light. "Fire!" he shouted over the sudden rush of air. "Dammit, Crystal! Grab an extinguisher!"
Crystal was angry. Very, very angry. How could Forge dare to speak to her this way? People here pretended to be nonjudgmental, but they were really some of the most biased, judgmental people she had ever met! She had come here hoping to meet people and make friends and what had happened instead? Both students and staff members couldn't control their powers, and the students' ideas of fun ways to spend time involved wasting food and watching stupid movies!
"You do not need to curse at me!" she shouted even louder, not yet noticing the change in temperature or the lights that threatened to become more than just a spot of color, the flames and sparks intensifying even more as her anger grew.
Forge actually stopped, his jaw dropping. "For the love of..." Snapping the blowtorch off and disconnecting the gas line, he fumbled around under the bench for the extinguisher - which was right behind the pile of smoldering rags that were now bursting into open flame.
"Shit!" he yelled, practically leaping over the bench. "Fire! There's another extinguisher in the garage, move!" He stopped short of actually pushing Crystal for the door, thankfully, but inwardly Forge was cursing the moment he'd wound up in this entire mess.
Fire? Crystal snapped herself out of angry thoughts, suddenly taken in the events that were unfolding in the room. Her eyes widened as she took in the room, the rags, and the flames that grew larger and larger. She didn't know how or why the fire had started, but if something wasn't done right now, the whole room could go.
Crystal's mind raced. "Stay away from the flames, Forge!" she warned, lifting her hands to point at the flames. She had power over air. What would the flames be without air, without oxygen? She could stop the fire, she knew she could. Crystal took a deep breath and concentrated on starving the flames of the oxygen they needed in order to expand and exist.
Forge's ears popped as the air pressure suddenly dropped around him. Glancing over his shoulder, he watched as the flames shot upwards, then seemed to slow. Swirling air currents lashed the blaze back and forth, but the colors seemed to be changing. The hottest blue of the flame's base began fading to yellow, then reddish-orange as the fire became strangled, choked off from the oxygen it needed to grow.
"Don't release it," he ordered, taking a deep breath and stepping forward. Careful not to inhale the smoke-filled air, Forge reached through the cooling flames with his left arm, grabbing the fire extinguisher in his mechanical hand and smothering the pile of rags in foam, ensuring that any buried blazes wouldn't reignite when Crystal relaxed her control.
After a few long seconds, he moved over by Crystal again and let out the breath he'd been holding, gasping deeply. "You can... let go... now..." he panted.
And let go she did, nearly falling as she allowed the air in the room to return to normal. Quickly collecting herself, she looked over at Forge with a calm look. Strangely enough, she actually did feel calm. "That was...interesting."
Forge glared at Crystal. "That was stupid," he accused. "And I'm not just talking about the fire. I don't know what got it into your head that people are lying to you, or hiding things from you that you're entitled to know - but it seems that you think you're entitled to a whole lot. Like I told you, as soon as I find out something about Jennie, I'll tell you. And since I haven't found a damn thing, I haven't told you a damn thing. Stop interpreting it as some kind of conspiracy."
Crystal returned Forge's glare. "I am sorry, I was quite upset and did not notice the fire right away. What else should I think when I do not hear anything for weeks and have to make all of the effort to see if someone forgot to tell me? What else should I think when the only other student I mentioned Jennie to simply says, 'Yeah, I'm glad Forge is in Australia because having him pace around my room is not cool'? What else should I think when you come back and make a post saying 'I love my life'? What would you have me feel when I discover that Marius is also missing? Do you really think that I am so much of a spoiled brat that I do not care at all about people, especially the few who have actually made the effort to be nice to me? I know that you must be worried, Forge. We would not have entered into a shouting match if you were not concerned."
"Of course I'm concerned," Forge said softly, grabbing a clean rag to wipe some of the soot and grease from his face. "I'm concerned, but I also know that right now, I can't do a damn thing. There's no machine I can make that'll go 'ping' and find Jennie and Marius. People who know more about this stuff than me are working on it, and so far, I haven't heard an update. So if my choices are sit around worrying or try and get on with my life, I'm going to choose the second."
He shook his head at Crystal, exasperated. "Don't assume that it means I don't care, or that the rest of the staff here doesn't think it's important. The reason no one's making a public spectacle of things is because we don't know the extent of things. It's completely possible Jennie's just run off with some guy she met in Italy, or that Marius is hiding out at one of his rich father's villas. It could very well be them just being stupid, and if we overreact and put everyone into a panic - what purpose does that serve?"
"Those scenarios do not make sense," Crystal replied, frowning. "Please forgive me for being so blunt, but you seem to be in denial. Just because you believe that Marius should be here does not make him a current student. I do not believe that running off and leaving notes was the right thing for him to do, but it is what he did, and he left. No one can reach him now. Surely if he was hiding out in a villa owned by his father someone would have been able to contact him. As for Jennie, do you really believe that she would do that? I am well aware of the fact that I was her roommate for only a short time before she left for Italy, but she did not strike me as the type to do that, especially without telling the person she was currently dating. As far as not causing a panic," she continued, "I understand this, but...what if what has happened is not as simple as them just being stupid? Will what really happened be hidden from the students, or will they be told and then allowed to feel the realization that they never had any idea that something was wrong?"
Forge sighed. "One thing I've learned about people is that they don't always do what's logical, or even what's rational. I don't think..." He paused, looking away for a moment. "I don't want to think that they're in any trouble, or that they've done anything wrong or stupid - I want this to all be a big misunderstanding. But yeah, that's not likely. Even still, there's no call for jumping to conclusions without something stronger than a hunch or an educated guess."
Hauling himself upright, Forge nodded to Crystal. "If... when we find them and they come home, then it'll be up to them to discuss the details. If there's something that needs to be made public, it'll be made public. But what matters is that they're going to be found, and they're going to come home. Anything else is secondary."
Crystal nodded slowly. "Yes, I know that they will be found and that right now this is the most important thing. Despite what you might think, I have not run around the school stating my views about Jennie, Marius, and the school. Only three people who live at this school know how I feel beyond 'Crystal is worried' and 'Crystal is not very happy right now.' Two of them are in this room right now, and the other one is my sister. I know that she will not repeat anything I tell her to anyone else. Again, I am not as self-centered as you think I am; yes, I wanted to know information, but more importantly, I wanted there to be information, to feel that yes, people are looking for her and yes, they will find her soon. It...it is just hard for me to think that way while feeling that I am being kept in the dark, that surely there must be new information but nobody wants to tell me what it is."
"Get used to disappointment," Forge said coldly, "These things take time, even for experts. I know, because we have the experts working on it. Until then, all I can do is try not to let it affect my life or my work. I suggest you try and do the same."
Not let it affect his life? This had to be more denial. "I am attending classes. I work out and practice. I am even voluntarily taking Geology with Ms. Dane. I went home for a visit as planned. I organized a birthday party. I am carrying out my normal day-to-day activities while not showing outward signs of my concern, but I cannot say that I have not been affected at all by the events of this summer." And neither can you.
"Good," Forge said, picking up a broom and starting to sweep the pile of burned rags out of the corner, small clouds of dust from the fire extinguisher rising up. "Then just keep doing that, it's all we really can do. But right now, if you don't have anything further?" He nodded his head towards the open door to the garage.
"I am sorry for taking up so much of your time and shouting at you," Crystal told Forge politely and sincerely. "I do not usually act in such a manner. I am also sorry that I did not notice and stop the fire right away. Have a good day." She turned and headed towards the door to leave Forge to his solitude.
Forge watched her leave, then shut the door behind her, lightly tapping his forehead against the metal. "Good day. Right. I'll get right on that."
In silence, he returned to his sweeping and made a mental note to himself: Next time the option to talk rationality to Crystal comes up, go slam fingers in door. It'll be more productive.
The ladylike thing to do would be to knock. Here was a closed door, and she should knock on it. However, Crystal was not quite in the mood to do the proper ladylike thing. In fact, at this point, she was tired of it. Enough was enough. Time to make a proper, not-proper entrance. The door to the workshop flew open, smacking the wall, and Crystal entered, mustering all of the control she could to keep a calm look on her face. "I apologize for disturbing you."
Forge glanced up through smoked glasses, lowering the flame on his blowtorch and placing it on the work bench. Given the incongruity between Crystal's demeanor and her entrance, he deduced that she was possibly upset about something.
"Crystal," he murmured politely with a small nod, pushing his glasses up on his forehead, oblivious to the thin 'raccoon mask' of soot and grease that would have been humorous at any other time. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Yes, I believe you can help me with something. I am very curious about something, Forge," Crystal replied, a slightly accusatory tone creeping into her voice. "Is 'isn't here right now' the official school's definition for where Marius is, or is that just your version?"
Forge narrowed his eyes. "Yes," he replied coldly. "Unless you've seen him walking around the halls and no one's bothered to notice yet. Right now, there's an investigation into his whereabouts because his parents are concerned, and because it's very coincidental that he and Jennie, two best friends, are both missing right now. So yes, that's pretty much the official definition of 'not here right now'," he said sarcastically.
Crystal's eyes narrowed. "I thought he left the school and was not considered a student here anymore, but on Sooraya's post you described him as a student. Not a former student, but a student. Speaking of an investigation, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you so much for having Mr. Summers speak with me instead of speaking with me yourself. Mr. Summers has been just as helpful and informative as you have been."
Forge slammed his hand down on the workbench, making small tools jump. "Just because he thinks this isn't the right place for him doesn't make it so!" he yelled, pointing angrily at Crystal. "He needs help, and as far as I'm concerned, he needs to be here! And as for having Mr. Summers talk to you, yeah, I asked him to relay what information I found out. Which he did. The same as I would have, if I hadn't been away on business. I told you I'd share what I know, and I did. If that's not enough for you, or if you think you're entitled to more - "
Forge paused, then stared intently at Crystal. "Then that's just tough, your ladyship. As far as I know, Jennie's last known point we can place her at is that airport in Paris. From there, we've got exactly jack and shit when it comes to concrete information. She might be with Marius, she might not. She might want to come back, she might not. We don't know!" he yelled again, smacking the table for emphasis.
"I don't believe in coincidence," Crystal answered icily. "Obviously, you or Mr. Summers could not give me information you yourselves did not have, but promising to keep me informed and then never saying another word was not the right way to go about things! Do you all believe that I am stupid? I trusted you! I trusted Mr. Summers, I trusted the school... and now I don't. Would it really have been so hard for someone to come speak with me or even just send me an email? Something just to stay in contact with me so I could know something, anything? I have been worried, too."
"And tell you what?" Forge demanded. "That we still don't have anything to go on? People are following her trail, professional people. And no, I can't tell you the details there because the folks involved aren't people you ask details about."
He fumed for a moment, then leaned his knuckles on the workbench, staring across at Crystal, the small flame from the blowtorch casting shadows on his grease-streaked face. "You want to talk about trust? Trust in this - we will find them. A year ago, Lorna and I were kidnapped, used as goddamn tools - weapons, almost - by the most dangerous mutant on the planet. And the moment the people at this school - these people you don't trust - the moment they knew where we were, they fought tooth and nail to get us back. They save lives, they put their own lives on the line to keep us safe. Not just us here at the school, all of us, everyone!"
Perusing Crystal intently, Forge shook his head with a look of disappointment. "It's not your sheltered little castle out here, Crystal. This is the real world. And before you start getting on your high horse and deciding that Her Ladyship doesn't trust the people who're willing to risk their lives for your ungrateful ass, maybe you ought to put the attitude away for a moment and stop acting like a spoiled royal brat."
As Crystal glared at Forge, the small blowtorch flame turned into a larger one. "I was not here then!" she shouted at him. "And I knew about your disappearance because I went through Jennie's journal, saw an entry about you and Ms. Dane being missing, and looked at your journal entry after that. People knew that you were missing! People have been hiding that Jennie is missing, and now they're hiding that Marius is missing! Do you know what I see, Forge? I see that when things happen involving a certain metal-controlling someone, everyone throws themselves into a panic and rushes off. What about the students already here? What about them? How safe are they when the teachers rush off to parts unknown to save everyone else? How safe can we feel when things are hidden from us, even when we ask questions?"
Forge's hair blew back from the wind that rushed past him as Crystal yelled, but he didn't notice, intent on her words. "Bullshit!" he shot back, "Jennie's not here, they know as much as we know! And just because this isn't your little Attillan playground with big ivory walls and fancy parties doesn't mean it isn't safe! Keeping this place safe and secure is my job, and if you think for one minute you're going to come in here and try and tell me that you've got a reason to feel unsafe just because you're not getting answers that you mistakenly feel you're entitled to--"
The next split-second seemed to stretch itself out as Forge noticed a number of things. First, that the air around them had started to get very, very warm. Second, that the sudden rush of moving oxygen had caused the flame of his blowtorch to sputter, sending miniscule glowing sparks through the air along those currents of hot air.
And third, that the smell of grease and oil from the rags on the floor was very, very strong.
It was the blowtorch's flame that sprung into actinic, oxygen-fueled flame first. Leaping back, Forge shot a hand out for the valve when he noticed the pile of rags in the corner smoldering and beginning to light. "Fire!" he shouted over the sudden rush of air. "Dammit, Crystal! Grab an extinguisher!"
Crystal was angry. Very, very angry. How could Forge dare to speak to her this way? People here pretended to be nonjudgmental, but they were really some of the most biased, judgmental people she had ever met! She had come here hoping to meet people and make friends and what had happened instead? Both students and staff members couldn't control their powers, and the students' ideas of fun ways to spend time involved wasting food and watching stupid movies!
"You do not need to curse at me!" she shouted even louder, not yet noticing the change in temperature or the lights that threatened to become more than just a spot of color, the flames and sparks intensifying even more as her anger grew.
Forge actually stopped, his jaw dropping. "For the love of..." Snapping the blowtorch off and disconnecting the gas line, he fumbled around under the bench for the extinguisher - which was right behind the pile of smoldering rags that were now bursting into open flame.
"Shit!" he yelled, practically leaping over the bench. "Fire! There's another extinguisher in the garage, move!" He stopped short of actually pushing Crystal for the door, thankfully, but inwardly Forge was cursing the moment he'd wound up in this entire mess.
Fire? Crystal snapped herself out of angry thoughts, suddenly taken in the events that were unfolding in the room. Her eyes widened as she took in the room, the rags, and the flames that grew larger and larger. She didn't know how or why the fire had started, but if something wasn't done right now, the whole room could go.
Crystal's mind raced. "Stay away from the flames, Forge!" she warned, lifting her hands to point at the flames. She had power over air. What would the flames be without air, without oxygen? She could stop the fire, she knew she could. Crystal took a deep breath and concentrated on starving the flames of the oxygen they needed in order to expand and exist.
Forge's ears popped as the air pressure suddenly dropped around him. Glancing over his shoulder, he watched as the flames shot upwards, then seemed to slow. Swirling air currents lashed the blaze back and forth, but the colors seemed to be changing. The hottest blue of the flame's base began fading to yellow, then reddish-orange as the fire became strangled, choked off from the oxygen it needed to grow.
"Don't release it," he ordered, taking a deep breath and stepping forward. Careful not to inhale the smoke-filled air, Forge reached through the cooling flames with his left arm, grabbing the fire extinguisher in his mechanical hand and smothering the pile of rags in foam, ensuring that any buried blazes wouldn't reignite when Crystal relaxed her control.
After a few long seconds, he moved over by Crystal again and let out the breath he'd been holding, gasping deeply. "You can... let go... now..." he panted.
And let go she did, nearly falling as she allowed the air in the room to return to normal. Quickly collecting herself, she looked over at Forge with a calm look. Strangely enough, she actually did feel calm. "That was...interesting."
Forge glared at Crystal. "That was stupid," he accused. "And I'm not just talking about the fire. I don't know what got it into your head that people are lying to you, or hiding things from you that you're entitled to know - but it seems that you think you're entitled to a whole lot. Like I told you, as soon as I find out something about Jennie, I'll tell you. And since I haven't found a damn thing, I haven't told you a damn thing. Stop interpreting it as some kind of conspiracy."
Crystal returned Forge's glare. "I am sorry, I was quite upset and did not notice the fire right away. What else should I think when I do not hear anything for weeks and have to make all of the effort to see if someone forgot to tell me? What else should I think when the only other student I mentioned Jennie to simply says, 'Yeah, I'm glad Forge is in Australia because having him pace around my room is not cool'? What else should I think when you come back and make a post saying 'I love my life'? What would you have me feel when I discover that Marius is also missing? Do you really think that I am so much of a spoiled brat that I do not care at all about people, especially the few who have actually made the effort to be nice to me? I know that you must be worried, Forge. We would not have entered into a shouting match if you were not concerned."
"Of course I'm concerned," Forge said softly, grabbing a clean rag to wipe some of the soot and grease from his face. "I'm concerned, but I also know that right now, I can't do a damn thing. There's no machine I can make that'll go 'ping' and find Jennie and Marius. People who know more about this stuff than me are working on it, and so far, I haven't heard an update. So if my choices are sit around worrying or try and get on with my life, I'm going to choose the second."
He shook his head at Crystal, exasperated. "Don't assume that it means I don't care, or that the rest of the staff here doesn't think it's important. The reason no one's making a public spectacle of things is because we don't know the extent of things. It's completely possible Jennie's just run off with some guy she met in Italy, or that Marius is hiding out at one of his rich father's villas. It could very well be them just being stupid, and if we overreact and put everyone into a panic - what purpose does that serve?"
"Those scenarios do not make sense," Crystal replied, frowning. "Please forgive me for being so blunt, but you seem to be in denial. Just because you believe that Marius should be here does not make him a current student. I do not believe that running off and leaving notes was the right thing for him to do, but it is what he did, and he left. No one can reach him now. Surely if he was hiding out in a villa owned by his father someone would have been able to contact him. As for Jennie, do you really believe that she would do that? I am well aware of the fact that I was her roommate for only a short time before she left for Italy, but she did not strike me as the type to do that, especially without telling the person she was currently dating. As far as not causing a panic," she continued, "I understand this, but...what if what has happened is not as simple as them just being stupid? Will what really happened be hidden from the students, or will they be told and then allowed to feel the realization that they never had any idea that something was wrong?"
Forge sighed. "One thing I've learned about people is that they don't always do what's logical, or even what's rational. I don't think..." He paused, looking away for a moment. "I don't want to think that they're in any trouble, or that they've done anything wrong or stupid - I want this to all be a big misunderstanding. But yeah, that's not likely. Even still, there's no call for jumping to conclusions without something stronger than a hunch or an educated guess."
Hauling himself upright, Forge nodded to Crystal. "If... when we find them and they come home, then it'll be up to them to discuss the details. If there's something that needs to be made public, it'll be made public. But what matters is that they're going to be found, and they're going to come home. Anything else is secondary."
Crystal nodded slowly. "Yes, I know that they will be found and that right now this is the most important thing. Despite what you might think, I have not run around the school stating my views about Jennie, Marius, and the school. Only three people who live at this school know how I feel beyond 'Crystal is worried' and 'Crystal is not very happy right now.' Two of them are in this room right now, and the other one is my sister. I know that she will not repeat anything I tell her to anyone else. Again, I am not as self-centered as you think I am; yes, I wanted to know information, but more importantly, I wanted there to be information, to feel that yes, people are looking for her and yes, they will find her soon. It...it is just hard for me to think that way while feeling that I am being kept in the dark, that surely there must be new information but nobody wants to tell me what it is."
"Get used to disappointment," Forge said coldly, "These things take time, even for experts. I know, because we have the experts working on it. Until then, all I can do is try not to let it affect my life or my work. I suggest you try and do the same."
Not let it affect his life? This had to be more denial. "I am attending classes. I work out and practice. I am even voluntarily taking Geology with Ms. Dane. I went home for a visit as planned. I organized a birthday party. I am carrying out my normal day-to-day activities while not showing outward signs of my concern, but I cannot say that I have not been affected at all by the events of this summer." And neither can you.
"Good," Forge said, picking up a broom and starting to sweep the pile of burned rags out of the corner, small clouds of dust from the fire extinguisher rising up. "Then just keep doing that, it's all we really can do. But right now, if you don't have anything further?" He nodded his head towards the open door to the garage.
"I am sorry for taking up so much of your time and shouting at you," Crystal told Forge politely and sincerely. "I do not usually act in such a manner. I am also sorry that I did not notice and stop the fire right away. Have a good day." She turned and headed towards the door to leave Forge to his solitude.
Forge watched her leave, then shut the door behind her, lightly tapping his forehead against the metal. "Good day. Right. I'll get right on that."
In silence, he returned to his sweeping and made a mental note to himself: Next time the option to talk rationality to Crystal comes up, go slam fingers in door. It'll be more productive.
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