xp_logs | Kyle, Forge: Spider-car, Spider-car, something something, spider-car.

x-wildchild.livejournal.com posting in

Kyle seeks out Forge in the lab, brings him a printout of this and they are guys.

It was relatively normal for Kyle to just randomly wander into Forge's lab. It was not normal for Kyle to rush into the lab clutching sheets of paper and wave them around madly. "Dude! Dude! You have to get on the internet and look at this cool thing. You totally need to make one!" He thrust the papers out at Forge and waved them around.

Forge continued drinking his coffee with one hand and gestured for the papers with the other. Without lowering his mug, he read through the printouts, dropping them one by one on his desk. "It's... a mechanical spider," he said flatly as he glanced over to Kyle. "Or more accurately, a diesel-powered octopedal ambulatory vehicle. Do you have any idea how inefficient this is? I mean, right off the bat, you can see where the design flaws are. You're taking an arachnid base, which occurs naturally, and trying to mimic that kind of complex anatomical architecture using existing mechanical models, it'd be like trying to create an artificial heart with two spoons and a water balloon." He stopped glancing up to the ceiling and mumbling quietly to himself. "Never mind, I could probably do that. Anyway, spider-car? Why?"

"It's cool?" Kyle answered, still practically hopping from foot to foot. "And when's the last time you built something cool? I mean, really cool?" He didn't give Forge a chance to answer before he added. "Besides a space ship. That was not built to be cool, it was built to kick Magneto's ass. Ass kicking is cool but it's not the same. Oh, and I got my SAT test dates. Week after my birthday. Which means I totally don't need you to drive me." In his head, the two events made perfect sense together. Spider car, Car, not needing a car to drive to the SAT's.

"You're getting your license finally?" Forge raised an eyebrow. It'd taken him a while to get used to the fact that after all the time gone on Attilan, Kyle still couldn't drive without a legal adult in the car supervising him. "And I build cool stuff all the time. Observe - Warlock, activate Sphere One-One-One to vocal command mode. Sphere One-One-One, assume personal orbit L-seven."

As he raised his voice, Forge's PDA warbled in response from where it was holstered on his hip, and from the other side of the laboratory, a small tube tipped over and a golf-ball-sized metal sphere rolled out before lighting up with a faint blue glow and levitating in the air. Bobbing slightly, it zipped over to Forge, orbiting the inventor's head like a small moon. "It's cooler than one of those digital pet things, isn't it?"

"Dude, you .. built a pokeball? A ... flying pokeball?" Kyle leaned in to look at the little flying sphere, tracking it with his eyes. "What's it do besides fly around your face? Not that that's not cool. I can't built a flying pokeball. Oh, yeah, and yeah, my license, criminal record sealed, probation ended, working passport." Kyle ticked off the items on his fingers, not that he needed the help to remember them. He'd been anticipating them for over a year. "I gotta go back to Montana to talk to a judge or something but, pfft, whatever, that'll be cake. Dude's been practically Nate's best friend ever since they requested for me to be able to leave the country with permission to do Red X stuff and field trip stuff."

"I don't know what that is," Forge said absently, holding his hand out. "Sphere One-One-One, deactivate." He snatched the small orb out of the air as it dropped, then held it up and inspected it closely. "It hovers using microturbines. I can fit it with a camera, or other sensory devices for remote viewing. Combine it with LED illumination, and they could be used for search and rescue in tight spaces, hostile environments, what have you. And no, before you ask, I will not test it out in the girl's locker room. I value my physical well being too much."

"So, no "My pokemons, let me show you them?" Kyle asked, hopping onto a stool and idly picking up what looked like a set of wheels on an axel. "What's this for? And dude, so, it's like, a super teeny jet engine in there? And I am not Marius, dude. I totally value not being made dead. Half the women on the X-Men are my teachers and I totally value my passing this damn year so I can be totally done with high school, and dude? If Clarice caught me doing that, I'd be ported to the Marinara Trench or something."

"It's a set of wheels. On an axle." Forge tucked the small sphere into a drawer, then broke into a smile. "And yet, after the last week's panic, we are surprisingly not dead at the hands of our girlfriends. How did we accomplish this feat, I ask you? Because we are men."

"Men in tights, always on guard defending the people's!" Kyle sang (badly), and then abruptly cut off as he dodged the wrench that Forge threw overhand at his head. "I was kinda freaked there, with Jennie trying to syke me out. But Clarice dug the goofy and traditional route. Even if, you know, she's still nuclearlized and so there is no making out. Because being barfed on would be a total mood killer."

"Sucks to be you," Forge teased with a smug grin. "At least you didn't have Jay giving you the condoms talk. And, for the record, no, not yet, and not even an issue at this point."

The thump as Kyle fell off the stool laughing was loud enough to echo slightly. "Dude, he's one to talk. That dude isn't getting any -any- time soon. Kevin can't touch anyone! At least Clarice being nuked wears off." He said, once he could look at Forge without doubling over into another series of shoulder-shaking snickers. "And I mean, dude, if what's stopping you is you guys, that's cool. I mean, it's not like, some weird Attilan law or anything, right?"

Forge colored slightly, trying to hide his expression with a shrug of feigned nonchalance. "It hasn't come up. And if it does, it'll be something we're both ready for. Right now... not so much, you know? But I've got nothing to complain about. I'm..." He shrugged again, then sighed."It's confusing. I really enjoy being around her, you know?"

"Dude, if we turn this into some kind of afterschool special on why it's okay to not have sex, I'm gonna barf." Kyle made a face, pointing with a finger down his open mouth. "Why are you confused. If Crystal's cool to be around, she's cool to be around. You guys both have that whole, like, I dunno, the whole "I don't always get people." thing going. I mean, I'm dating Clarice because she's cool to hang out with."

"Shut it, pal," Forge quipped, shaking a soldering iron in Kyle's direction. "It's just not something I'm used to, you know? Feeling... well, feeling. Not thinking. Or... feeling and thinking. I'm not about to turn into some gibbering fool or run off and propose, but she makes me feel like I can be myself and that's enough for her. It's nice. And it makes no sense."

"I dunno, dude. You're gibbering right now. Or babbling anyway." Kyle got up off the floor and dusted himself off. "And there's half a bag of Cheetos under your table there, by the way." He resettled on the stool, and rested his feet on the trashcan. "But, like seriously? If you're cool with it, and she's cool with it, then -go- with it, dude. I mean, you've never been normal anyway, so why worry about it now?"

Forge cocked his head at Kyle. "That... makes sense. Thanks. Anyway - spider-car? Dude. I already have an awesome car." He grinned and reached into a pocket, withdrawing his keys to shake them before tossing them at Kyle. "Want to take it for a spin?"