xp_logs | Sound of Silence - Isolation: Message in a Bottle

Upon hearing the news of an academy for mutants on Attilan, Forge tries a new attempt at contacting the royals.

Attilan Date: January 22nd, 2008

Forge looked at the application before him, pencil poised above the double-thick carbon paper.

Nome/Name: John Henry Forge

That much was easy. Closing in on six months now that he'd been on Attilan. Six months of waking up to the sound of the ocean instead of the low hum of his computers. That is, when he slept. Most of his nights were spent quietly working on his latest projects.

Endereço/Address: 13 Estrada Do Oceano, Attilan

Six months of going out every morning with Paulo, the diesel fumes of the Queen's Pride belching into the air as he would bring the fishing boat out along the strand. Six months of watching Enrico, Paulo, and the others haul in the lines, their nets teeming with fish. They said the fishing was better than before. For them, life had barely changed.

Abilidade Do Mutant/Mutant Ability:

Forge's pencil stopped. Last week, the third of his submersible probes had come back, after completing a hundred-kilometer loop spiraling outward from the island. And like its two predecessors, it told him absolutely nothing.

"Que você?"

The quiet voice behind him caught Forge's attention and he turned to see Paolo's daughter Cristina outlined in the doorway. "What are you doing?" she repeated slowly in English. "You are making the paper for the academy, sim?"

"Sim," Forge agreed. "Yes, I'm applying. Lady Crystal, Princess Crystal," he corrected himself quickly, "She should recognize my name, if she's actually going to be taking an active hand in teaching Attilan's mutants how to control their powers."

"It is a good thing she is doing," Cristina said softly, with perhaps a small tinge of hero-worship to her voice. "She gives of herself for the people, yes? Like her sister the Queen, and our King."

Forge nodded, writing slowly in English and in his pidgin Portugese, slowly trying to parse the words correctly. "How do you say 'mechanical'?" he asked. "Like... working with the machines? The engines?"

"Mecânico," Cristina said with a smile, sliding behind Forge to gently brush her hand over his shoulders. "Miracle, if you ask me. I have never seen anyone do what you can do."

"No one has," Forge answered automatically, writing carefully. "I'm just hoping that what I can do will figure out what's caused all this."

Behind him, Cristina frowned, her fingers pausing at the spot where Forge's skin met metal on his left shoulder. "It is because you want to go home, then? You miss your friends and family? The people you love, yes?"

Looking over his shoulder, Forge arched an eyebrow in brief confusion. "I... of course. Whatever caused this isolation, I need to find out what it was." He placed a hand over Cristina's, squeezing gently. "You and your parents have been very good to me," he said quietly. "I am very grateful. Muito grato."

Cristina blinked rapidly, then stood up to excuse herself. "It is nothing," she said quickly. "I will have Mama bring you dinner when it is ready, John."

"Obrigado," Forge thanked her as he turned back to the application.