Jay & Forge log -backdated september 22

[x-icarus.livejournal.com]

Jay goes to see Forge with the excuse of needing a new Amp fixed. Many subjects are discussed through patching up of a friendship.

Jay brushed a hand over his shoulder, scratching it self-consciously as he stood at the door to the workshop. He shifted the amp in his arms, a Class A American made Fender tube amp that he nabbed off eBay for three hundred and fifty bucks, Jay knocked at the door.

Since getting back and feeling well enough to do so, he had dove a little into his music, feeling the need to buy something to help make his sound better. Only that wasn't really the reason he had bought the amp. It had been more of a browse and impulse buy, a chance to snag a fender Tube amp, one that was made before Fender's decision to take production of this classic to Mexico. It needed the preamp tubes replaced with a vintage RCA, something he thought, as a peace offering, Forge could replace for him. The chrome was not perfect and the lettering was worn down, but Jay had taken to it immediately once he bought it, even going so far as to dub it 'Junior' once he picked it up. He felt out of everyone, Forge would appreciate the sound that came out of it once a few adjustments were made.

"Speak 'incomparable genius' and enter, plebian," Forge's voice could be heard calling over the sound of a spinning lathe. When he looked up to see Jay, his eyebrows rose behind his goggles and he let the lathe spin itself down as he stepped around the work table. "Computer," he intoned quickly, "move Hecatonchires 1.5 to background status, continue compilation. Execute. Jay," he turned and spoke to his former suitemate in a brighter voice as he pushed the goggles onto his forehead. "What brings you down to mi casa segunda?"

"This," Jay set the amp down on a nearby table and rested a hand on top. "This here is waitin' to be heard, but Ah can't fix the wirin'. Thought you could have a go at it and let me know?" Jay asked, smoothing a hand over it, before taking the cords and setting them on top of the table. He could rewire it himself, but he needed Forge to do this - a peace offering - because he knew they had never fixed their bad standing situation because he'd been avoiding it.

Shrugging one shoulder, Forge placed his right hand against the grill of the amplifier. "Class AB1 push-pull circuit, low damping factor, first series of capacitors are blown, and your pre-amp tubes are shot. Wow, ancient-ass valve tubes, you pick this up out of some museum or something?"

Without waiting for a response, Forge spun the amp around and began prying at various connections inside the shell. "Ironic coincidence - a few years back your sister got me a random box of archaic electronic parts for my birthday. Which I believe contains a number of the parts this needs. Third locker on the left, bottom shelf."

He went over to the locker, opened it and fished out the parts that he knew it needed. Forge would probably want to add modifications, but Jay wanted to keep it in original form as much as possible. "So what are you workin' on?" he asked conversationally, pointedly not mentioning anything about Paige despite that his sister was very much on his mind, for reasons he didn't know.

Forge held a hand out for the vacuum tubes, plucking out the useless ones and winging them over his shoulder to clatter into a bin. "Oh, you know," he said casually. "Little bit of this, little bit of that. Automation software, telepresence, just a side project of mine. You know, you could replace this all with modern solid-state electronics and you'd get a much cleaner signal out of it."

"Yah Ah know," he said automatically, giving it away that he could have done it himself. "Been workin' on some songs in Muir and got some good stuff to come of it. But Ah needed a different sound, somethin' older and a little grittier to make it come together. Gonna bug Terry later and see if she can get me a spot on the recordin' studio again. So nothin' happenin' in team trauma this month?" he joked lamely.

"Wouldn't know," Forge mumbled. "Not back on the training rotation yet." Which was technically true, he reminded himself, despite the fact that Amelia had cleared him a weeks ago.

"Still recoverin'? Ah didn't know you were off, but Ah havn't been around much," Jay admitted. He leaned on the table and linked his hands together, leaning forward on his arms until he was near crushing them.

Forge shrugged again, the sounds of burning and popping solder emanating from inside the amplifier. "Can't all have healing factors, more's the pity. Then again, not all of us volunteer for shady medical tests without checking bona fides, since we only have three of the world's most prominent mutant geneticists on speed dial, dude." He looked up and gave Jay a look of consternation. "Seriously, man. What the hell?"

"Ah know. Ah know. Ah had a bad time on a mission and wanted to do something else that didn't show that Ah'm such a screw up. It sounded legit." He shrugged. It had sounded like a lot of things but what it resulted in was him feeling like an idiot for even going through with it and not checking it out further, a simple task with an email sent to the right people. "Like you havn't done anythin' stupid like that before."

"Yes, but usually it involves attractive blondes," Forge quipped as he reached around for the amp's power cord and plugged it in below the bench. "But seriously, don't go doing crap like that again. You might have a kickass healing factor, but you're not invulnerable, you know. Next time I'll sic Catseye on your pink-feathered ass."

Jay snorted and picked up a screw, playing with it between his fingers. "Ah know. Ah already got this lecture from Amelia and Ah won't." It smartened him up in not being so naive all the time. Not everyone was who they said they were and that really freaked him out, but he didn't say anything on that, not wanting to rehash another lecture. "Catseye's around?" he asked, his interest renewed.

"Pursuing her GED, it seems," Forge answered, frowning at the feedback from the amplifier. "Apparently Brother Dearest has no clue how to deal with his mutant sister, and she's come back home." He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but it was plain to tell that Evan Smith wasn't one of Forge's favourite people.

"Good for her. Ah'll have to go see her." And soon. He had put off seeing anyone because he was too busy catching up.

He recognized the tone. It was one he used for Kevin, or at least, last time they spoke about it was. It made him uncomfortable and he set the screw down, looking at his hands. "Yanno, Ah don't know if it's me, or just whatever, but are you alright? Really alright? Not just the half assed answer but Ah wanna know that things are okay with you."

Forge sat back on the stool and pondered. "Meh," he said after a while, waggling his hand back and forth. "I'm not as bad off as I was two months ago, but then again, I also had enough time to get used to sharing a suite with my girlfriend before she decided to jet back home to Attilan for an extended time. Distance is the suck, as they say."

"So that means you're rooming alone for a little while? When's she coming back?" he asked, looking up and leaning forward again. His wings shifted behind him, not yet fully grown in. They itched and twitched behind him.

Forge just shrugged again. "When I'm actually in the suite anyway," he replied. "I don't need much sleep, remember? And she'll be back...when she's back. Royal baby on the way and all. Lots of official responsibilities."

He spun the amp around to face Jay. "There. That's as close to stock from-the-factory quality as it'll get."

"Thanks. Ah'm sure it'll sound great. If not, then Ah'm gonna come bangin' on your door again. Speakin' of roomin' alone. Kevin's been moved out for sometime so Ah'm waitin' for them to move someone else into the suite. It's kind of nice, but a little lonely. Gives me more time to write and play. Ya know, with the whole gang back together, we should do something sometime. "

"You, me, Cats, Kyle... that gives me an idea," Forge said offhandedly, scratching at his chin thoughtfully. "Tell you what, give me a few days, I think I might have something."