xp_logs | AK/DM - Doug and Forge, pedeconferencing (backdated to Monday)

While vacationing in the Malik Dubai, Forge and Doug have a little walk-and-talk.

The two men moved at a brisk pace through the hotel's halls, neither of them stopping to admire the fine wood paneling on the walls or the ostentatiously expensive sculptures and paintings arranged in precise order. The shorter of the two was much more animated in their conversation, making grandiose gestures while the taller blond man simply looked bemused.

"And I'm saying," Forge exclaimed, stabbing at the air with one finger, "I just don't see how you can work for her after all that."

Doug shook his head with a fondly exasperated expression on his face. "She's an excellent boss. And a fine woman," he defended Emma. He was aware of the reputation she had, but she had done right by him.

Forge shook his head. "She can be one or the other, and I don't think she's either."

Doug's eyebrows shot upward and he snorted in disbelief. "You don't think she's a woman?" He had...rather ample evidence of that from her bout as impromptu sex therapist to him and Marie-Ange.

"I think she's a Prada golem animated by the spirits of the unavenged dead," came the wry response.

The pair reached the bank of elevators, and Doug leaned against the down button. "I can confirm that she is not," he retorted, folding his arms across his chest as they waited for the elevator.

A subtle chime announced the arrival of the elevator, and the two entered, standing somewhat awkwardly in front of two large Middle Eastern men in garish outfits obviously meant for a nightclub, the subdued sounds of techno music audible from their ubiquitous iPod knockoff earpieces.

"Yeah, I don't want to know how you can confirm that..." Forge groaned.

"You should see the getup she wears to the Club as White Queen," Doug murmured sotto voce so that Forge could hear him but the other two men couldn't. Now that his libido had come back, that outfit was fodder for more than a few fantasies. Not to mention Marie-Ange in a kelly-green version of the same...he shivered slightly and grinned wolfishly.

Forge rolled his eyes. "I reiterate for the record that I did not request confirmation, and yet you went there."

"And yet I did," Doug admitted, completely unrepentant.

"And yet."

Doug didn't miss the subtle note in the inventor's voice, and he half-turned to the other man. "You don't think we do good work?" he asked.

Forge sighed as the doors opened and they walked out into the hotel's mezzanine level, walking along the interior balcony that circled the lobby and event floor. "I think you do... necessary work." And it was true. While he wasn't privy to the details of the international operations that Doug, Marie-Ange, Jubilee and his other friends working under Remy and Pete were often involved in, he had since accepted that while they might not have chosen the path the X-Men followed, their methods were often the right tool for the jobs that needed to be done.

"And Emma is part of that," Doug said as he trailed a hand along the railing. The admission from Forge was slightly surprising, knowing him as Doug did.

Forge threw his arms up in exasperation. "Emma is part of Emma's work," he accused, then his voice grew quieter. "I'm just concerned that you're becoming part of Emma's work."

Doug shrugged. "What, you think she's planning on taking advantage of my loyalty?" It wasn't as though the thought hadn't occurred to him, even before his fight with Amanda over his joining the Hellfire Club.

"I think she's planning on taking over Metropolis!" came the irked response.

Doug didn't bother responding verbally to that comment, merely lowering his head and staring at Forge over the rims of his glasses.

Forge stopped, sighed, and spread his hands in surrender. "Okay, look. I'm just going to say two things. One, that this is the woman who turned your brain into a time bomb and fed you to a giant meat computer. And two, which follows from one - dude, seven months?"

He let the implication sink in and smirked. "Oh yeah, I talk to Angie, remember?"

Doug frowned. "In answer to one, I volunteered. In answer to two..." He harumphed. "It wasn't something I realized was really missing until she actually decided to say something about it." His eyes flicked skyward in irritation. "And do I tease you about -your- sex life?"

Forge almost tripped over his own feet. "You didn't realize you were missing... dude! This is what we call an open and shut case as to how bad Emma Frost fucked up your brain, man. And no, you cannot tease me about my sex life because primus, it is awesome, secundus, I am awesome, and tertius, my girlfriend can drop the mesosphere on your head."

He stopped suddenly in his meandering and looked over at Doug. "Where are we going, anyway?"

Doug blinked. "Dude, I was following you."

"Wait, what? No, I was following you..." Forge stopped, looked up and down the hall confusedly, pointed from himself to Doug and back again, then looked back towards the elevators with a hangdog expression. "Let's not tell anyone this happened."