xp_logs | Log: Forge at Columbia, immediately following Amanda's speech. (Reply)

Forge, after watching Amanda's speech, literally runs into a potential kindred spirit. Blonde, pretty, engineer, female - what's not to like? Oh, that...

Forge grinned, thumbing off his recorder. Amanda's little stunt with
the water glass hadn't gone unnoticed - nor had her methods.
Well, he thought, if inventing doesn't pan out as a career,
I could always sell my services to magicians over the internet.
Even though he wasn't able to use the spells he'd modified for her,
Forge took no small amount of pride in watching them in action.

A bump from behind him nearly sent him sprawling, breaking his train
of thought. He stuck his left leg out to absorb the fall, forgetting
that after Friday, he'd stripped his prosthetic down to literally the
bare bones, and he could feel the motors strain under the unwelcome
stress. He stood up carefully, brushing grass off of his slacks and
the turtleneck and blazer that Marie-Ange had selected for him. He
turned around, a sharp retort on his lips for whatever clumsy idiot
had pushed him aside, most likely having mistaken the rally for a frat
party and looking for a beer stand.

"What are you-" he stopped, looking into a pair of blue eyes that hit
him like a hammer, "-excuse me..." he breathed out slowly. "I didn't
mean to, that is, I..."

She laughed slightly, extending a hand to help Forge up to his feet.
"That's okay, it was my fault. Sorry about that. Are you here for the
rally?" She nodded at the recorder in his hand. "With the paper? I
didn't think we had any other freshmen on staff..."

Forge shook his head, sheepishly dropping the recorder into his
pocket. "No, I mean - I'm here for the rally, but I'm not a student.
Well, I am," he corrected, "not here. High school, actually. But I'm
taking college classes!"

The girl cocked her head, strands of blonde hair sticking out from
under her stocking cap. Finally, she giggled and stuck her hand out to
Forge again. "That's okay. I'm a freshman here myself. Aubrey, that's
me. I work with the school newspaper, copysetting mostly. But my
major's Engineering."

"Really?" Forge's face lit up. "That's my background as well.
Chemical? Electrical? Mechanical? Aeronautic? Computer?" He stopped,
noticing Aubrey's amusement. "I'm sorry, I'm babbling, aren't I?"

Aubrey nodded, flashing a bright smile. "It's cute. So what brings a
high school student over to campus today... okay, I don't even know
your name. Want to get a hot dog?"

Forge blinked. Cute girl. Engineering. Hot dog. Thank you God..
"Rally. Forge. Yes."

You are SUCH a dork, his inner voice reminded himself. He
stammered for the words. "Forge. John Henry, but only my parents call
me that. I like hot dogs." DORK! "Um, so you're here for the
paper?"

"Oh, not today," Aubrey explained, leading Forge over to the
concession area. "I'm actually here on my own. Politically minded and
all. We've got to stick together, you know." She reached out
spontaneously and gave Forge a quick hug around the shoulders. "So are
you applying here for--" She stopped when she noticed Forge's awkward
gait. Although he was wearing a full pair of trousers, the outline of
the skeletal prosthesis was obvious when he walked. "Oh my god, I'm so
sorry," she exclaimed, coming to a stop. "I didn't know - do you need
me to slow down or - god, I'm such an insensitive twit. I don't--"

Forge cut her off with a quick gesture. "It's all right. I'm used to
people being uncomfortable with it." He drew up the leg of his pants,
showing off a few inches of the prosthesis. "I can keep up, don't
worry. I'm working on a better one back at the... school," he
explained.

Noticing Amanda walking over to some of the other students, Forge gave
a bit of a smile. He was... enjoying this, much to his surprise. He'd
never been comfortable around large groups, but this rally was
everything he'd hoped it would be. Of course, there'd been the
occasional hoots and boos from the less open-minded members of the
audience during Amanda's speech, but like he knew, you couldn't touch
everyone.

"That's a group of them, isn't it?" Aubrey followed Forge's gaze.
"Mutants? You know much about them?"

Forge grinned inwardly. "Actually, quite intimately," he said, rapping
on his leg. "You might say-"

"Oh my god," Aubrey interrupted, hands fluttering to her mouth. "A
mutant did that to you?"

Forge blinked, "Well, yes, but only in a manner of speaking. You see, I-"

"That's exactly why we had to be here today," Aubrey cut him off.
"They're trying to shift the blame away from mutants for what happened
here. I mean, it's obvious that it's all a slick little public opinion
trick, isn't it? If there weren't any mutants, we wouldn't have fifty
dead people's names on a memorial, right?"

"Forty-six," Forge corrected, his mood suddenly changing. "And I
stopped asking myself 'what if' all the time. You've got to think for
the future, you know."

"I know what you mean," Aubrey said with a nod. "God, I can't wait for
the day we get rid of them. Hey," she said abruptly, looking over
Forge's head. "There's my friends. I don't usually do this, but uh,
could I get your number?" She looked away briefly and blushed
slightly. "I'd kind of like to talk to you some more."

Forge just stood there, blinking at her. Good one, God. Way to let
me know I'm still on the shit list.

"I don't think... I..." he pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket
and scribbed quickly on it. "Here's my email. Drop me a line. I've got
to go meet up with my friends." Pressing the paper into her hand, he
pivoted on his heel and walked as briskly as he could back into the
crowd.

Gazing quizzically after him, Aubrey smiled. Then looked down at the
paper he'd given her. forgejh@xaviers.ny.edu, she read. "Wait,
that's..." she looked off after Forge for a moment, then shook her
head and walked away, letting the paper fall to the ground.