Noriko and Forge

[x-kaminari.livejournal.com]

As mentioned to Jean, Forge comes by to 'talk' to Noriko. They manage pretty well, thanks to the gifts of technology.



Forge nodded to Jean as he walked through the main area of the infirmary. It seemed almost too familiar, the number of times he'd come through here to visit someone or use some hastily-created device to assist in saving someone's life. Even still, ever since the incident with Garrison's medical records, he couldn't help but feel that both doctors were watching him like a hawk every time he stepped through the doors. Perhaps rightfully so, he figured, but it was best to at least cooperate even if he disagreed with the scrutiny.

The only occupied room was easy to find, and Forge stuck his head inside. "Noriko Kukichi, yes?"

Noriko was sitting on the bed, kicking her heels as she waited. The doctor had explained as best she could that somebody was coming to help her with her powers and she was of two minds on whether or not she trusted that. For now, though, she'd play along. "Hai," she said to the man, and then blinked and stared as he stepped into the room. "Sugei. Saiboogu da."

Forge blinked right back. "Sai..boo.gu... oh, cyborg. The arm? Yes, right. Um, hai. Saiboogu. Sort of." He fumbled around in his pockets for the bulky PDA he'd rigged up before coming down to the medlab. Loaded with a variation on Doug's translation software, Forge tapped the screen with the stylus and tried to read the pre-generated message he'd translated beforehand. Perhaps if he'd known more than one or two words in Japanese it would have been easier.

"~Name of me Forge. Naming you Noriko. I am for assistance your great genetic lightning opportunity. Understand much difficulty Japanese, know very little. Utilize technology for making communication much excellent.~"

He held out the PDA, so that Noriko could see him write "Hello" on the screen. He tapped the screen with the stylus, and the words reformed into the appropriate characters. He handed it to Noriko with a smile. "Hello," he repeated in English.

Noriko blinked, then blinked again. He spoke Japanese... sort of. His accent was atrocious, and the grammar was strange, having been composed by the computer. Actually, she realized, that was probably how she sounded in English. Or possibly better. Something to think about at some point. But then she was distracted by his show with the PDA, her eyes widening. "~Wow. You're like, the ultimate in cyborgs. Gundum's got nothing on you, have they? What the hell do you mean by 'great genetic lightning opportunity', though? That's, like, total nonsense. You're out of your mind if you think this is some sort of great opportunity, any of it.~" It was fast Japanese, and very slangy and coarse. It wasn't so much that she was testing him or his computer, it was just the way she talked.

Frowning, Forge looked at the screen as the computer tried to parse Noriko's fast-paced speech. "Um... maybe writing is easier..." he mumbled, pulling up a chair next to Noriko. Writing as he spoke, he watched his words translate into kanji on the screen. "I am here to discover how to help you with your mutant gift. I understand it involves electricity. Can you tell me about it?" - he let the sentences translate, then handed the PDA and stylus to Noriko, pantomiming for her to write on the screen.

Nori accepted the machine and spent a few moments poking at it, figuring out how it worked, then set down to write in earnest. Even still, it took a while - she was frequently having to erase kanji and write them again, as the sophisticated software made guesses at her poor calligraphy and bad focus. Several times she gave up on trying to remember the proper kanji at all and simply wrote in hiragana, letting the machine's auto-fill feature tell her what the character she wanted was. Eventually, satisfied, she handed it back over. ~Not exactly a gift. Makes me crazy, and almost killed a guy. I don't even know how it works, other than I get crazier and crazier, and downers and shit can tone it back. And when I don't have that, things go bad.~

Forge read what Noriko wrote, and made a small "hm" noise. "Makes sense with what Jean's medical report said," he murmured to himself before writing on the PDA again. "You absorb electricity," he explained. "And your body stores it like a battery. You can't control it yet, and it's messing up your body chemistry. That explains the mood swings and..." Forge took a quick look at the notes from the medical file. "Do you have trouble sleeping? Or eating?"

Reading this over she gave him a look that suggested he was rather thick, then went back to work with the stylus. ~Of course. I can't even sit still, you think I can sleep? Eating's not a problem, except I get hungry a lot.~

Forge could pick up on Noriko's attitude even before the words were translated. "I can build something that will help you control it. That's what I do," he said as he translated the words on the PDA. "It might not seem like it now, but what you have is a gift, and when you learn to control it, it can be something exceptional."

Reading over the text he'd entered, Nori sat very still (well, still for her, her fingers were drumming along the edge of the PDA incessantly), thinking. That her mutation was a gift, was exceptional, that she didn't think she'd ever believe. It made her different and the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. More, though, it made her dangerous. Finally she went back to futzing with the screen, learning how to make it do what she wanted and, when she was done, she didn't hand it back. Instead she looked up at him, eyes serious. "Control," she said, sounding out the word she'd seen on the screen. "How?"

Without the PDA, Forge thought for a moment, then tried to explain as simply as he could. He held one hand out, then the other one higher. "Noriko now," he said, wiggling the higher hand. "Bzzz! Too much energy. Crazy." He lowered the hand to the level of the other one. "Control. Less energy, less crazy." He moved both hands up and down together. "Noriko control, Noriko not crazy. Understand, hai?"

He withdrew a pad and pencil from a pocket and sketched a quick diagram. It wouldn't be difficult, he thought. Something like a bracer or a gauntlet. It would have to be large, the amount of capacitors and emitters for storage alone meant micronization would be a problem. He sketched a quick stick figure drawing of a girl with spiky hair and an angry face, lightning bolts around her. "Noriko now," he indicated. Next to it, he drew a similar picture with the girl wearing the gauntlets, with a happy face and smaller lightning bolts. "Control," he repeated.

Well, the picture made sense, although she had to restrain a snicker at the little stick figure - didn't they teach art in this school? His explanation she could also follow. But how much did she trust him? It didn't take but a few moments this time before she was handing over the PDA. ~Yes, I want to be less crazy. Can you really do it?~

Forge laughed out loud when he read the question. "Yes, I can do it," he said as he wrote. "But I cannot promise that it will be easy for you. It will be difficult, but it will be better than this." He pointed to the medlab room around them.

She snorted at his answer. ~That's not saying much,~ she wrote back, ~but I'll try anything that gets me out of here.~

"Then it's a deal," Forge said, nodding to Noriko. "We'll have you out of here and joining the student body in no time."