xp_logs | Sound of Silence - Isolation: Change of Station (Reply)

After this conversation with Crystal, Forge brings the news to his adopted family. Not all of them are exactly excited about the change.

"Teaching at the Academy?" Cristina's voice was sharp even over the sound of the gulls along the waterfront. "But... this means you will be leaving us? You said you were only trying to meet the Princess, not move into the palace!"

Forge shook his head, trying to find the words to placate the angry young girl. "~Calma, calma~," he said softly, both hands up in supplication. "It's a way I can help, as well as have the opportunity to work with Attilan's most experienced engineers and scientists. Look, you don't understand--"

"Oh," Cristina said sharply, arms folded across her chest, one bare foot tapping against the boardwalk. "Because I am just a simple fisherman's daughter, who has not been to America and learned in their universities and traveled the world? I would not understand. You insult me, John. You insult me, ~minha família~, you turn your back on our hospitality--"

Spinning around, Forge spread his arms wide. "I'm not leaving," he insisted. "It's a job, and I just work at the palace for a few days a week. I've talked it over with your father and your uncle. Your cousin Felipe can pilot the boat, Enrico's been teaching him how, and with the modifications I made to the engine, it'll be-"

Cristina waved her hands and shook her head, not willing to hear Forge's explanation. "You wish to work at the palace, yes. To find a way to leave Attilan, to go back to America, to your home." Her voice was tinged with anger, and something else indecipherable. "We open our home to you, our lives to you, to try and make you feel like one of us, and all you wish to do is leave!"

"I can't leave!" Forge yelled back, stepping closer to look the Attilani girl in the eye. "They've had people working on this since the day of the event! There's no answer, Cristina! There's nothing out there to return to!" He pointed angrily at the ocean. "Everything I ever knew, my entire life up until now is GONE!"

Fists clenched, Forge looked out to sea. "If this is going to be my life, I need to be able to contribute something." He looked at Cristina and shrugged. "You're right, you've opened your home to me. Your entire country. This is how I give back."

Cristina stood silently, arms wrapped around herself as the ocean breeze blew her hair across her face. "You want to use what you can do to help, ~sim~? To make Attilan better?"

"It's all I have now," Forge explained. "I have to do something, I can't just... this," he gestured at the ocean and the boats, "It isn't me. I don't mean to disrespect your father or your uncle or the others. On the contrary, I want to make their lives easier. In only a few months, Attilan's supplies of fuel for automobiles and boats will be exhausted. I can keep the boats running with new engines. I've designed a system to generate enough power to keep the entire nation running. This is what I do, Cristina. This is who I am."

She smiled briefly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "To hear you talk like this... it is the first time I have seen you this... ~com paixão, to speak with such passion. This is what you want, yes?"

Forge nodded and stepped forward, placing his hand on Cristina's shoulder and squeezing gently. "It's not always about what I want. But this is where I'm needed, and where I can be of use. And that... it gives me a purpose. Creo, recreo, praesto," he said solemnly. "To create, to repair, to excel. Professor Xavier taught me that, it's Latin. If I've got any real passion, as you say, that's it."

Cristina cocked her head, softly brushing her cheek against Forge's hand. "That is what you love, then that is what you should do," she whispered, barely audible over the wind and waves. After a quiet moment, she moved forward to embrace Forge tightly, then stepped back and brushed her hair behind her ears. "Mama and Papa are so proud, they want the entire ~família~ to have a dinner with us, tonight. I should help her prepare."

With a nod, Forge looked down at the pocketwatch hanging from his belt. "I should head by the palace, there's probably forms and..." He stopped, seeing Cristina's expression change. "...or it can wait until tomorrow while you and I help your mother prepare dinner, ~sim~?"

It wasn't the life he'd chosen for himself, Forge thought as they walked along the boardwalk towards the house, but it was not a horrible one. Perhaps answers would come in time, but for the moment... the moment was enough.