xp_logs | Alex, Lorna and Forge- Monday Afternoon (Reply)

Monday Afternoon, in the meblab, Forge shows off his lastest creation to Alex and Lorna so she can put on the finishing touchs. Things gets uncomfortable for Forge as it gets cute for the two lovebirds and Alex finally gets his containtment suit!

"And thus once the fibers are polarized along the particular
wavelength, the energy wavelengths become refracted along a quantum
frame, dispersing harmlessly into the surrounding biofield." Forge
finished marking his crude diagram on the chalkboard, and walked over
to the rack that he'd hung the black fabric onto.

"From what Dr. McCoy tells me, Alex isn't going to have to wear this
all the time, but if he's going to have problems with this energy
bleed-off, this'll absorb and contain anything that could be harmful,
as well as acting like a vent to keep him from, well, in the simplest
terms - going boom." Forge turned to where Lorna and Alex both stood
across the lab, having remained silent through his ten-minute
jargon-filled ramble. "I'm sorry, am I getting too technical here?"

Lorna looked up from the notes she was scribbling and exchanged
glances with Alex. "Wear the suit, don't go boom?" she guessed with a
perfectly straight face. "Seriously, I'm not a stupid person but I
got like half of that so I'm going to go with, you tell me it'll work
and I'll believe you." She narrowed her eyes to get a better look at
the fabric. "From what I can understand about what you've done with
the EM fields, it seems like it'll work."

Forge grinned. "Exactly. But that's where I kind of need you to put
the finishing touches on it. See, plasma behaves itself best where a
magnetic field is involved. And since you and Alex are... um, well,
that is... I assume you two..." He blushed deeply, then waved his
hands around spastically. "Let's just say you're probably familiar
with his energy signature in ways that the data doesn't go into. I
just need you to use your power to make the polarity of the suit's
fabric match it."

Alex had to turn away slightly to not laugh in Forge's face at his
obvious discomfort, covering his mouth to stifle his giggles. Once he
could manage a straight face again he turned back, arms crossed over
his chest. "So the magnetic goddess here needs to tune it to my power
signature, then it will filter my energy so I don't leak anymore?
That's basically what your saying right? Because if it is, that's all
I need to know." He shook his head with an awed whistle. "I'm
impressed."

"Right, exactly," Forge was thankful for the return to a subject he
knew about. "So if you could, um," he waved to Lorna and the suit.
"Just kind of, you know - get the polarization effect to match up with
Alex's signature, it'll work like a charm. Just, um, one moment..."
Forge stepped back behind a plexiglass barrier quickly, then shrugged
apologetically. "Magnetic fields tend to interact weirdly with the
sensory feedback," he explained, wiggling his hand for emphasis. "It's
like hitting your funny bone times a thousand. Anyway, oh mistress of
magnetism - the show is yours."

Lorna quirked a brow upward at Forge and suppressed a smile. "I could
have just shielded you from the fields, you know. You're one of the
easiest people to keep track of around here." With a little shrug she
turned her attention to the task at hand, trying to figure out the
easiest way to match the frequencies. Frowning in concentration, she
slipped her vision to the strange green flowing level that was the EM
fields. She reached out a hand toward the familiar array of waves
that Alex emitted and gripped it, watching her own field resonate to
match. Once she was sure it was precisely the same she tugged a line
free and threw a mental loop around the fabric, forcing it to begin to
move at the same pace. Outwardly, the only sign of her effort was the
slightly trembling hand she had rested on Alex's arm.

Used to watching her work, Alex unfolded his arms, moving her hand so
he was holding it, the other going around her waist to steady her. His
brow furrowed slightly, hoping this would work.

Forge checked the readouts on the screen in front of him. When the two
wavelengths began to merge, he reached out to give Lorna the signal to
stop. "That should do it. It's matching the data signature from Alex's
last physical, which should mean it'll do the job. So," he looked at
Alex, "if you want to try it on?"

After making sure Lorna was alright, Alex gave Forge a small shrug.
"Would help wouldn't it?" He moved over to the suit, giving it a
slightly spectic once over. It had seemed like a good idea but looking
at it...it sure didn't look like much. Sighing, he picked up. "Here
goes nothing."

Lorna gave Alex an encouraging smile then leaned against the counter
with her eyes closed to give herself a chance to regroup. It was
entirely possible that she'd need to retune the suit once he had it
on.

Taking a deep breath he turned away from Lorna and Forge and quickly
changed into the suit. It didn't take him long because ironically it
was very similar to the wetsuits he used to wear to surf. It came
midway down his upper arm and midway down his thigh, nothing his
normal wear of t-shirts and shorts couldn't cover. To save Forge the
embarrassment, he pulled his jeans back on, so only the upper half of
the suit showed. Now that he had it on, Alex frowned as he examined
his chest and the white circle there. "Yo dude, what's this?"

Forge smiled with glee, tapping the circle with one finger. "This is
kind of like an early warning system, if you will. A reactive alloy in
the fabric, it'll respond to the stored energy levels. You start
getting close to an overload, it'll start looking more like rings,
help visually focus your power and act kind of like an alarm. Extra
level of safety."

He walked around Alex slowly. "Now, Dr. McCoy says you won't have to
wear it all the time - you'll want to probably talk the details over
with him when he's feeling better. But it shouldn't be a huge problem
- you shouldn't need it 24-7, right?"

Lorna opened her eyes again and grinned. "He'd better not," she
murmured then crossed to where Alex stood, running a hand over his
shoulders to see if the EM fields were still matching. "Looks good on
you."

"Dr. McCoy said something about not having to wear it when I was
outside or in the Danger Room, or just away from people." Trying hard
not to laugh again at Forge's expense, Alex put a hand on Lorna's
shoulder. "And I don't think I have to sleep in it either, so no
worries there." He gave her a playful wink before kissing her.

Then Alex looked down at the white circle and realized it wasn't as
static as he thought. "Early warning system huh? I think I can deal
with that." He nodded appreciativly before looking at Forge. "Thank so
much bro. You have no idea how much this helps me..."

Forge just shrugged, trying not to look as uncomfortable as he felt
around the couple. "Yeah, well, it's just what I do, y'know? Better
than having to hide behind an inhibitor or risk blowing up around
someone. Just took some figuring, that's all."

"Dude, you have the best mutation ever..." And Alex tried very hard
not to flinch at the 'blowing up' comment. "So we done here?"

Forge nodded at that, mumbling something about a happy Valentine's Day
before taking the opportunity to hustle out of the lab, leaving Alex
and Lorna to themselves. Whatever celebrations they had in mind, he
wasn't inclined to spoil the joy.

Lorna called a thank you after Forge before turning back to Alex.
"Happy Valentine's Day, love."

"Happy Valentine's Day" He wrapped his arms around her waist so he
could kiss her properly. "I think we might have scared him..." He
laughed as he leaned his forehead against hers. "And I have a surprise
waiting for you in our room..."

"He'll get over it," Lorna responded, resting her head on his
shoulder. "What kind of surprise?" she asked.

Giving her a playful wink, he took her hand and, after grabbing his
sweatshirt, led her out of the lab. "You'll see my dear...you'll see."