xp_logs | Forge and Yvette, Thursday morning

After the Christmas festivities, Forge gives Yvette a present, and then attempts another one - with less than ideal results

Forge paused and checked around the corner, eyeing the arches of open doorways and the peaks of light fixtures before walking slowly down the hallway. Every so often, he would lean on the translucent blue cane that Moira had forced upon him and lift his prosthetic left leg from the floor, bending the ankle and knee slowly. Movement and sensation still seemed to have a bit of lag, but aside from the annoyance, everything seemed to be fine after the ordeal only days prior.

Ahead of him, there was movement in one of the doorways, and a flash of blue light. Then a small, spiky head peered around the corner. "Mr. Forge! You are back!"

Forge jumped briefly, startled for a moment, then noticed Yvette in the hallway. "Oh, hey there, Yvette. Yes, I'm back. Europe was..." he thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Cold. Definitely a lot colder than here this time of year. Oh, which reminds me..."

He tucked the cane under one arm, rummaging around in his pockets before producing a small snow globe topped by a bow. He gave it a small shake, watching the white particles inside surround a tiny castle. "I picked this up while traveling through Slovenia. It's not exactly Albanian, but I thought you'd like it. Merry Christmas," he said, handing it over to the small red girl.

Yvette's eyes grew round. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Forge!" she exclaimed, sounding awed. She held her hands out for the snow globe, cradling it carefully between overly-long fingers. In doing so, a piece of paper slipped from where she'd been holding it.

Forge snatched for the paper, cursing silently as he only managed to bat it across the hall. Clenching his metal hand into a fist and relaxing it a few times seemed to help, but these occasional glitches in the mental interface he had with his prosthetics were beginning to become quite bothersome. Awkwardly, he bent over to pick the paper up with his other hand. "Hmm," he said as he turned it over. "What's this?"

It had been on the top of Yvette's tongue to ask if Forge was all right - the cane hadn't escaped her notice, or the trouble he was having with his hand, but then he asked his question, and she looked down, a little shy. "A photograph," she said softly. "Of me, before I was changing."

Surprised, Forge looked at the small brown-haired girl in the photo, then back to Yvette. "This is you?" he asked, eyebrow arching. "Huh. I'd always thought of you with red hair, you know, like..." he motioned towards Yvette's crimson spikes of hair. Idly, he held up the photo next to Yvette's face and glanced back and forth. "Okay, I can kind of see it now."

Carefully, he handed the photograph back to Yvette. "How long has it been?" he asked quietly.

"Two years?" Yvette sounded doubtful - the coma made things tricky. "It was not all at once to begin. I was having the patches of skin that would change and change back again, to be normal. But then there was the bad men, and when I woke up from the coma, I was like this." Her voice dropped a little wistfully. "I was very pretty, yes?"

"Aw, you're still pretty, Evie," Forge said, poking at Yvette's cloth-covered arm. "Uniquely so. In fact..." he paused for a moment, an idea coming to him. "Here, I think I can show you something. You've been to the Boiler Beach, right?"

Yvette nodded, looking a little doubtful. "The pretend beach, yes?" she asked. "I have been here a little, with Angel."

Heading down the stairs, Forge held the door to the former boiler room open for Yvette, then walked over to the touchscreen computer panel on the wall. With a few quick commands, the hologram generator activated, projecting the illusion of a beach and ocean stretching out for miles. "Could I see that photograph again, please?" Forge asked, opening a small scanner.

Yvette pulled the photo out of her pocket again, smoothing it a little before handing it over to Forge. "What are you planning to do, Mr. Forge?" she asked, curious now.

Scanning the photo into the computer, Forge typed in a few commands and waited for the hologram generator to process them. "Just something to show you. Yvette Petrovic, meet... Yvette Petrovic."

In a shifting blur of colored lights, a wireframe image began to form, quickly filling in with color and definition, sharpening and focusing until a three-dimensional version of Yvette stood in the middle of the beach - only the small brown-haired thirteen year old from the photograph.

A small gasp escaped her, and she walked forward towards the image, hands clasped in front of her. "It's me!" she breathed, walking around the illusionary girl. "Just like I was!"

The hologram mirrored Yvette's pose, clasping hands and smiling. Forge watched Yvette's reaction, then activated another program. The hologram-Yvette stood a little straighter, growing slightly taller as her face thinned subtly and her body filled out slightly.

"This is just a computer-simulated age progression," Forge said, "but using that photograph as a base and statistical data from similar age and ethnographic projections... well, there you are."

"You mean... this is how I should be looking? If I were not the mutant?" Yvette went still for a long moment, her face dropping into the unreadable mask. The image was not so different to what she had been before manifesting but definitely older, with long chestnut-brown hair falling in loose curls about her face.

"We just had to come back for a second look 'cause we couldn't believe how ugly your freakish ass is."

Yvette's eyes dimmed, and she bowed her head. A moment later, a muffled sob escaped.

"Well, it's just a simulation," Forge explained, not noticing Yvette's reaction until he turned around. "Wait, whoa, hold up. Are you okay? Computer, pause," he barked. In response, the images of the waves on the ocean, birds in the air, and the image of a human Yvette all froze in place as Forge walked over to Yvette. "Yvette, what's wrong?"

"It is nothing," she managed after a moment. When she looked up, her eyes were dry, but their glow was still dulled. "I am being the silly girl, that is all." Her voice was a little siff, as was her body language. "I am sorry, to not be grateful for what you are showing me. Thank you, for this and for the gift. I... have to go now. There are things I need to be doing." And with that she turned and practically fled, leaving the photograph in the projector.

Forge watched Yvette bolt away, confused. Slowly, he took the photograph from the scanner and carefully slid it into his pocket as he turned to look at the frozen hologram that had seemed to upset Yvette so.

"Computer," he intoned. "End program. And... erase all logs dating back fifteen minutes."

As the room went black, Forge turned in silence and walked out the door, mulling over the effect of good intentions.